Chapter 551: Completion of the Ninth Floor of the Swirling Sands Dungeon
Knowing that they wouldn’t be in danger was one thing, but seeing the constant slaughter that had been left behind by this powerful monster that had seemingly swept through massive monster strongholds with ease, the adventurers naturally found themselves becoming increasingly uneasy watching the dead bodies scattered around them... And not much different from them, the necromancer riding on top the lizard bone construct was similarly uneasy faced with the death along her path. Understanding that whatever had left behind this scene of destruction should be a monster the dungeon core had specifically designed to counter her and ensure she wouldn’t be able to threaten the dungeon core itself.
In the end, the two sides arrived at the tall grass equally nervous about the powerful monster that didn’t exist and used their own methods to sneak through the tall grass to get close to the massive dungeon core still in the process of developing the ninth floor of the dungeon.
This was simple enough for the group of adventurers who could make use of the tall grass to avoid being noticed by the dungeon core, but for the necromancer riding the massive lizard bone construct, it was a bit more difficult, as she had to pause for half an hour outside the tall grass and use a unique necromancer technique to shrink down the bone construct so it wasn’t any taller than herself before she could begin moving through the tall grass.
A fact that resulted in her being slower than the group of adventurers to make it through the tall grass. Finding somewhere safe to settle down while observing the dungeon core in the distance just barely in time to obtain the mana circulation skill before the dungeon core finished fixing up the last few strongholds Scaly had messed up.
Of course, the main reason why the blame for this damage ended up falling on the necromancer herself having to do with the few corpses whose death energy she had drained along the way making the dungeon core misunderstand and attribute everything to her, this little necromancer none the wiser about the hatred the dungeon core was feeling towards her.
RUUUUMBLE-!
And with the dungeon core having finished up everything and fully fleshed out the place that had been left empty before, a large hole suddenly opened beneath the massive dungeon core, as it began floating downwards. Soon enough, disappearing along with the hole in the ground closing behind it. Leaving behind no sign of the dungeon core that had been sitting there just a few seconds earlier.
From start to finish, the dungeon core had no intention of giving the necromancer who might try and chase after it an easy way to find it, as Scaly and Verdell, who found themselves sitting close to the entrance of a cave connected to the underground world where the dungeon core had hidden away, felt the ground shaking around them.
Looking back, the cave entrance that had been easy to spot in the past sunk into the ground until only a small sliver of the entrance was visible above ground. Making it close to impossible to notice under normal conditions.
Even if one ended up tripping over the entrance itself, the lack of light didn’t give much insight as to what might be hidden underground and looked more so like a small burrow that had been dug out by one of the local monsters. Not exactly a place one wanted to spend time trying to explore.
In simple words, the last actions of the dungeon core had been to hide away all the possible entrances to the underground world of the ninth floor. Making it close to impossible for the necromancer to find these passages in the short term. Not to mention, without the dungeon core shinning like a sun above the underground world, it would be far more dangerous to navigate compared to when Scaly had passed through it earlier.
Still, this wasn’t what was on Scaly’s mind. Instead, what occupied her mind was the mana circulation skill she had been training by observing the majestic flow of mana around the dungeon core.
[Mana Circulation, lvl 4]: Observed the majestic flow of mana circulating around a dungeon core in the process of developing a brand-new dungeon floor. Allowing you to glimpse some fundamental truths regarding the movement of mana. Increases natural mana recovery speed, +10 M per level.
During the past few hours spent sitting together with Verdell single-mindedly observing the dungeon core working in the distance, she had managed to successfully push her mana circulation skill all the way from level 1 to level 4. Bringing the increase in magic per level all the way up from the measly one it had started as. Increasing it ten times over.
The progression of the skill going from one magic stat per level at level one to two at level two, five at level three and ten at level four made her feel somewhat excited about the increase when it reached level five and made her feel a bit sad that she hadn’t been able to raise its level to this point before the dungeon core had decided to hide away.
The increase was like her dragon bloodline skill in how many stats it gave, only it was solely focused on magic instead of being split between magic and vitality like her dragon bloodline skill was.
"Ah... How unfortunate, I only managed to increase the mana circulation skill to level 5 before the dungeon core decided to run away. How unfortunate, I hoped I would be able to raise it to level 6. Still, at least I made significant progress and should be able to raise it to level 6 with a little extra effort over the next few weeks."
But as she was feeling happy with the progress she had managed to make and the fact that she had managed to raise her mana circulation all the way to level 4 before the dungeon core decided to run away, a disappointed voice next to her was like a bucket of cold water being dumped on her head as the excitement she felt instantly vanished into thin air.
Level 5 mana circulation... Capable of reaching level 6 with a little extra effort on his own...?
Silently echoing these thoughts inside her head as she slowly turned to look at the little dwarf beside her who had a face filled with disappointment looking towards where the dungeon core had vanished, Scaly felt an instinctual desire to teach this greedy little dwarf a lesson welling up inside her. Suppressing it just in time before she sent the greedy little dwarf off to meet his ancestors.
"With the dungeon core finishing everything on the ninth floor, the alternative exit should also have emerged, we should get going before those adventurers and the necromancer shows up. Not just them, but if you want to avoid the true upper echelon of the Adventurers Guild that should already be on their way to this dungeon or in the process of descending it, the only way out will be that alternative exit." Unaware of the fate his earlier words had almost resulted in, Verdell quickly recovered from the disappointment he was feeling as he laid out their next plan of action now that the dungeon core had finished the construction of the ninth floor of the dungeon.
A plan that Scaly agreed with following wholeheartedly, as she understood full well that there was no way for her to face off against those so-called upper echelons of the Adventurers Guild whose strength should have surpassed the SS Rank.
If anything, the thought of the danger that she still very much found herself in made any joy she could feel over the improvement she had made so far on the ninth floor of the dungeon vanish entirely.
"Did you encounter any place that looked like it could be a place where the exit formed while travelling underground?" Knowing that his companion was aware of the importance of escaping while they still had time, Verdell quietly asked the question he hoped to get a positive response to from Scaly who had travelled quite a bit of the central part of the ninth floor on her own.
Hoping that she had encountered the place where the alternative exit of the dungeon would form during this time, as the exit itself tended to form close to the central part of the dungeon floor where the dungeon core rested.
Of course, it didn’t mean that it couldn’t appear outside the central part of the dungeon floor, as there was still a chance that it was located within the capital city of the undead kingdom beneath the throne of the lich in control of said undead kingdom.
Then again, that kind of awful location for an alternative exit was a worst-case scenario and hopefully not one they would run into, as it would essentially be impossible to get anywhere near it if it really was located beneath the lich in control of the undead kingdom with their current combined strength.