Chapter 552: Completion of the Ninth Floor of the Swirling Sands Dungeon (2)
Hearing what Verdell said, Scaly decided to ignore his earlier bragging and instead began silently going over the different locations that could have given birth to an exit out of the Swirling Sands Dungeon following the official completion of the ninth floor of the dungeon... And unsurprisingly, she couldn’t really think of anything beyond the unique mountain shaped pillars that held up the massive underground space that the dungeon core should have retreated into to hide away after finishing the construction of the ninth floor of the dungeon.
Thump~ Thump~
Because of this, her response to Verdell’s question was just her stomping her feet on the ground where the now hidden cave entrance was located.
"Underground? Indeed... it would make sense for the exit to be located somewhere underground close to the dungeon core itself. From what I read during my earlier years, most of the exits do indeed tend to form close to the dungeon core itself, so it’s a safe bet for us to start searching there." Nodding his head in agreement as he said this, Verdell suddenly narrowed his eyes as he looked back up at her. "Although... The danger involved in getting that close to a dungeon core already fully prepared for another war with a powerful necromancer won’t be simple and we will have to remain hidden and not cause any commotion that could draw the attention of the dungeon core."
"..."
Knowing exactly what Verdell meant by avoiding any disturbance, Scaly shifted a bit awkwardly before slowly nodding her head in agreement. Understanding that this was him warning her not to attack every monster that came her way once they descended into the underground world.
Even if following along would result in her gaining less experience, she also understood that it was of paramount importance for them to find the way out of the Swirling Sands Dungeon in the shortest time possible.
Not just because the ninth floor of the dungeon was a dangerous place even for someone with their strength, but also because the powerful figures from the Adventurers Guild were already on their way according to Verdell... And with how he described them, it would be best for her to avoid any interaction with these senior figures with how even an adventurer like Verdell was doing his best to avoid running into them.
Of course, there was no way she would know that the main reason the little dwarf wanted to avoid running into those seniors had to do with him knowing the trouble he had ended up causing throughout the Swirling Sands Dungeon together with Scaly.
Even if he would be able to avoid any problems in the end given how he hadn’t done anything to get others killed knowingly, it would undoubtedly take months for everything to get figured out and he had no intention of wasting away in some branch guild for that long. Not to mention, Scaly was indeed in danger of being flayed alive by those senior figures, as she wasn’t a tamed monster like others had misunderstood, something that would come to light if they were caught.
In a way, the only one in any real, life-threatening danger if they were caught by those seniors from the guild would be Scaly, as she was ultimately still a dragon. Not some half-dragon like a drake, but a real dragon that had directly been confirmed by his class advancement quest.
For this reason, he wanted to escape the dungeon not just to avoid being locked up for a year or a half if he was lucky, but also to ensure this companion of his didn’t end up turning into a brand-new belt for one of those seniors.
A pitiful outcome, but not an unrealistic one given how enhanced dragon scale belts were indeed a thing.
...
"Haha, I managed to get the mana circulation skill just in time before that dungeon core decided to hide away! Never thought this kind of mission would give me something this valuable, as a mage, my future is pretty much secure and those old ones back at the headquarters will undoubtedly be more than happy to help me complete my class advancement quest in the future when I reach level 199!"
Disconnected from Scaly and Verdell who had already started digging out the entrance leading back into the underground cave system connected to the underground world of the ninth floor of the dungeon, a joyous laughter erupted from one of the mages that was part of the adventurer group.
A kind of joy that was contagious, as the entire group began laughing happily in response, as every one of them had just barely managed to obtain the mana circulation skill in time before the dungeon core finished the ninth floor of the dungeon and disappeared below ground.
Joy not only because they had managed to obtain a unique skill rarely obtained by anyone who hadn’t surpassed the SS Rank, but also the fact that they had managed to survive the expansion of a dungeon.
Given how experienced they were and how long they had been working as adventurers, every single one of them understood just how low their chances of survival had been once they were caught up in a dungeon’s expansion and ended up on the floor that was currently being created.
The only reason why they had been able to survive this deadly turn of events not only had to do with them holding on long enough back on the eighth floor to not end up somewhere outside the development zone of the dungeon core and instead land somewhere within the boundaries of the ninth floor that had already been developed.
Outside of just that, there was also the simple fact that the necromancer they had originally been chasing to kill had unknowingly ended up saving their lives by carving a clear path towards the dungeon core for them. Allowing them to avoid the constant ambushes they had to face so far and get to somewhere safe where they would be able to avoid being swept up by the dungeon core when it did a final sweep of the ninth floor and finished what had been left incomplete.
In fact, the most dangerous part wasn’t so much the earlier journey they had gone through nor the monsters they encountered along the way. Instead, it was the final sweep of the dungeon core when it checked if everything was in order before officially deeming the construction of the new floor complete.
Without the necromancer and her bone construct to clear a path for them, they would have never reached the tall grass and in turn the dungeon core in time and would likely have ended up being swept up by the dungeon core when it went through doing a few final repairs and changes. After all, a group their size would leave behind a trial of death in the shape of the different monsters they killed along the way.
The only reason why the path of destruction by the necromancer hadn’t ended up with them being noticed had to do with them exploiting a little-known fact about dungeon cores in the process of expanding their dungeon... And that was the fact that they couldn’t see an area a few kilometers around themselves through the powerful senses they could use to observe the rest of the dungeon floor.
In fact, the tall grass’s existence was also there to make it easier for the dungeon core to see what was around it, but at the same time also ended up serving as a perfect place to hide, as one would be able to avoid the seemingly omnipresent senses of the dungeon core by finding somewhere close to hide.
All things considered, it had allowed the group of adventurers to smoothly make it through this deadly situation without dying, something that was more than enough for them to celebrate amongst each other.
The only unfortunate thing about this entire situation being that the necromancer they had been chasing behind and her bone construct was also very much alive and well following the completion of the ninth floor and they still very much had to ensure she didn’t end up destroying the dungeon core of the Swirling Sands Dungeon that had by now become far more important after it had expanded and shown its clear potential for future development.
Not just that, but they also had to ensure this necromancer didn’t run away and inform the Eternal Life Sanctum about the undead kingdom that had emerged on the ninth floor of the dungeon.
In other words, the joy they had felt from not just surviving a deadly situation but also from obtaining a unique skill, died down rather quickly as the reality of the struggle before them set in. Every one of them realizing that they would likely have to face off against a powerful necromancer- or more importantly, her bone construct whose strength exceeded the SS Rank before any help could arrive from above...