Having managed to stop Scaly from diving down into the seemingly endless sea of skeletons and undead below just to fill her stomach with the delicious looking grilled monster meat of one necromancer, Verdell found himself letting out a silent sigh of relief on the inside as he silently went through the spices he still had on him. Calculating that he just barely had enough on him to keep the promise he had given with Scaly, something he hadn’t exactly been sure about before he had made the promise in question.
As for going back on the promise he had made with Scaly... He doubted that would be possible, as there was a good chance that she wouldn’t let him leave before he kept the promise and even if he did somehow manage to run away, he had a feeling she would track him down in the future to ensure he kept his promise. Not to mention, if he really did run away, he had a feeling that the monster meat he would have to pay back in the future when he was caught would far exceed what he had promised.
Not a single part of him believed that he would be able to escape from Scaly by growing his own strength or hiding away somewhere within the main headquarters of the adventurers guild within the dreamscape, as the growth of Scaly’s strength made it clear that she would only become stronger in the future and any attempt to hide within the dreamscape was rendered useless by the simple fact that the dragon beneath him already possessed the ability to travel between the material world and the dreamscape.
In other words, he had already resigned himself to keeping the promise with Scaly no matter what it took before he would inevitably have to leave the dungeon and part ways with her in the future.
Of course, before any of that, they first had to deal with the necromancers of the Eternal Life Sanctum that stood before them, though he didn’t take these necromancers too seriously after finding out they were being led by an inexperienced crypt guardian rank necromancer. If anything, he felt it wouldn’t be long before the group sent out by the adventurers’ guild showed up and dealt with this leading necromancer. Putting an end to this dungeon core seizing attempt by the Eternal Life Sanctum.
In fact, he was waiting for the group from the guild to show up, as when they did, the battlefield that the necromancers had been carefully maintaining so far would be thrown into a state of complete chaos.
After all, it was impossible to hold back a group of SS Rank Adventurers with numbers alone. Especially a group that had been fully equipped by the adventurers’ guild to ensure they could take down the ones daring enough to eye the dungeon core of a valuable resource producing dungeon that the guild considered theirs. Different from the Howling Caverns Dungeon that didn’t produce any significantly valuable or rare resources and mostly served as a place for lower-level adventurers to train.
During their approach to the main battlefield, he had also made sure to inform Scaly about his intentions and she had been willing to listen to his suggestion because of the simple reason that it would be easier for her to hunt down powerful undead or monsters if the battlefield became more chaotic.
Thinking about this to himself as he gazed towards the terrifying battle that was now visible in the distance where countless towering undead creations and a seemingly endless number of cannon fodder like undead and skeletons clashed with an equally large number of monsters, Verdell found himself silently shivering in fear at the terrifying battle involving millions of monsters and undead.
Even if he had been an adventurer for a long time and could be considered a senior who had witnessed a few dungeon breaks and monster stampedes over the years, this kind of battle was a first for him and the sight alone made him feel insignificant even with his strength as an S Rank Adventurer.
The scale of the battle even made him feel like becoming an SS Rank Adventurer wouldn’t change these feelings of helplessness faced with this kind of terrifyingly large battle and at the same time also made him understand why even a massive organization that spanned the world like the Adventurers Guild was unable to stamp out the Eternal Life Sanctum.
After all, the sight before him was far from the full strength of the Eternal Life Sanctum and could only be considered a small fraction of the Eternal Life Sanctums full strength, as the one in control of this massive battlefield was only a crypt guardian. Not even the highest ranked lich.
If a lich had been present, the scale of the undead army that numbered in the millions would likely number in the tens of millions.
An army of undead of that size not only made horror of the Eternal Life Sanctum clear but also showed how terrifying the Adventurers Guild was in turn, as even a powerful faction like the Eternal Life Sanctum could only hide away in hopes of not being wiped out by the Adventurers Guild.
Of course, there was also the Holy Light Church on the side of the Adventurers Guild when it came to dealing with the Eternal Life Sanctum, but at the same time, the Eternal Life Sanctum didn’t stand alone either, as it had two other similarly powerful factions on its side to hold back these two world spanning powers.
RUUUUUMBLE-!
Momentarily lost in his own thoughts upon getting a glimpse of the true power of one of the three major hidden organizations that existed in the world, Verdell was brought back to the present by a sudden loud rumbling sound behind him-
BOOOOOM-!
A loud rumbling sound that was soon followed by an even louder explosion, as he could barely glimpse what looked like a towering wave of fire emerging at the edge of the undead army from a different place than where he and Scaly had entered the main battlefield through.
"This kind of fire magic... An SS Rank mage skilled in fire magic..." And seeing this wave of fire spreading, it didn’t take Verdell, a fire mage himself, long to realize the origin of this wave of fire. Knowing from a glance that it was a simple fire spell that had been executed by a mage far above him in strength. A mage that had surpassed the S Rank and reached the SS Rank.
Huh? An SS Rank mage? Did the adventurers show up?
Also, sensing the powerful fire magic going off in the distance, Scaly didn’t show the same look of awe as Verdell had but instead showed a look of profound interest and anticipation. Interested because she was curious about how strong the mage using that powerful fire magic was and anticipation because she realized that it wouldn’t be long before the entire battlefield descended into chaos and presented her with a perfect opportunity to join the battle and start harvesting the weakened monsters and undead alike.
Soon enough, finding her gaze landing on the figure that was now floating in the air commanding this powerful wave of fire to spread forward towards the core of the battlefield where the clash between the dungeon core and the necromancers of the Eternal Life Sanctum was taking place. The cute nonhuman appearance of the figure alone made it clear that it wasn’t a human mage, but instead as beastkin.
[Beastkin (Owl), Burning Sea Mage, lvl 192]
Still, upon seeing the high level of the mage in question, Scaly still felt somewhat surprised. Not having expected the mage in question to be that powerful. Not just someone at the SS Rank, but someone close to the limit of the SS Rank.
Not just this mage, but as the other adventurers began emerging following this wave of fire that spread forward, it became clear to Scaly that these SS Rank Adventurers were far stronger than she had initial expected. Every single one of them being an existence above level 190. Far from the other SS Rank beings she had encountered so far that now seemed like an inexperienced bunch compared to this group of adventurers working in tandem with one another to push forward towards the main battlefield.
No matter what undead, skeleton or necromancer that attempted to block their path, they were cut down and trampled into the ground. Unable to slow this group down even the slightest.
The power and cooperation displayed by this group of adventurers even made her feel a deeper sense of apprehension compared to what she had felt facing off against the dweller of the deep mist, something she hadn’t thought was possible considering how one was a monster that had already exceeded the SS Rank, while the other was ultimately still only at the SS rank.
The difference in strength between the two not something that should have been possible to close with teamwork alone, but this group of adventurers made her consider otherwise...