Chapter 553: Caught In a Sea of Flames
"Don’t worry too much about that necromancer and her bone construct. The disturbance caused by the dungeon expanding is bound to have alerted those higher ups and someone above the SS Rank is bound to have mobilized to personally investigate the situation. For now, our main goal isn’t to defeat that necromancer, but instead to ensure that the necromancer doesn’t escape from the dungeon or takes the dungeon core.
Although... Her getting her hands on the dungeon core is unlikely now that the dungeon core is fully prepared and properly sealed itself off and created another monster above the SS Rank to protect itself..." Seeing the uneasy looks on everyone’s faces, the leading adventurer stepped forward and eased the mood with a few words. Ensuring everyone that they wouldn’t have to kill that powerful necromancer, but instead just had to drag things out long enough for reinforcement to arrive.
Not to mention, something he didn’t mention was the fact that the necromancer likely also had to worry about being targeted by the dungeon core, as it was clear this dungeon core carried a grudge against her for forcing it to expand ahead of schedule.
After all, though they might not be able to notice anything different about this dungeon floor compared to other dungeon floors of a similar depth that they had encountered in the past, it was clear that the dungeon floor itself still had some incomplete areas that the dungeon core had been unable to complete in the end. Leaving behind several barren lands with no monsters or unique environments that would help the dungeon core in its continued growth and would instead force it to remain at its current level for longer until it fixed those few flaws that had been left behind.
Of course, this kind of knowledge regarding the expansion of a dungeon floor wasn’t well known even to SS Rank adventurers and only a rare few beyond those dungeon researchers and scholars knew about something like this.
In a situation like this, with the dungeon core actively looking for a chance to take revenge, the necromancer was bound to try and avoid an active conflict with them and would make it far easier for them even if they ended up running into her in the future.
As for where to find this necromancer... It wasn’t that difficult, as the second the construction of the ninth floor of the dungeon came to an end, she ended up willingly revealing herself by having the bone construct suddenly grow back to its original size not too far away from where they had been hiding. Making it difficult for them to avoid noticing her as she stood on top the large bone construct. Ignoring the different monsters below who fearfully retreated in the face of the terrifying presence that surrounded the bone construct.
"Should we attack...?" And as he was observing the necromancer getting ready to leave, one of the mages, an older woman came up to him and asked cautiously.
"... Try throwing a test spell to see if she is weaker than she appears..." Thinking about it for a bit, he ultimately decided it wouldn’t hurt to test the necromancer and see if she had sustained any injuries after falling into the ninth floor of the dungeon. After all, their combined strength was still more than enough to hold her- or more importantly, her bone construct back.
Not to mention, this was extremely close to the dungeon core and a battle would alert it to what was happening above ground and could even result in it sending out one of the monsters above the SS Rank that guarded it over to investigate the situation, something the necromancer would also know about along with the simple fact that she was firmly on the dungeon core’s kill list and would be targeted by whatever monster the dungeon core sent out to investigate the situation.
In other words, there was nothing for them to lose by testing the situation and it might even end up with the necromancer dying if she recklessly insisted on attacking them and drew the powerful monsters under the dungeon core’s control over.
"Got it, I will start with a compressed fire vortex." Nodding her head in response upon receiving the approval of the leader, the older woman didn’t hesitate as she channeled her mana into a small spinning sphere of fire mana that quickly grew in size several times over before being compressed back into a small spinning sphere that soon enough took the shape of a small spinning vortex made entirely of highly compressed fire magic.
This wasn’t her specialty, as fire magic was just something she had picked up along the way during her journey as a mage, but it was by far one of the best spells she had learnt when it came to testing opponents, as it was difficult to dodge and covered a vast area.
Whoosh~!
And so, as the compressed fire vortex took shape, she didn’t hesitate in the slightest before throwing the highly compressed spinning vortex of fire mana towards the necromancer in the distance. Unaware of the deadly situation she and the rest of her companions would soon find themselves in.
Her companions, who were similarly unaware of the unique properties of the tall grass they were hiding in, carefully watched as the fire vortex flew through the air towards the necromancer on top of the bone construct-
BAAANG! FWOOOSH-!
"WHO DARES!? COME OUT YOU RATS!"
Unsurprisingly, the necromancer noticed this attack immediately and conjured up a pitch-black barrier to block the incoming fire vortex, causing it to explode into a violent sea of flame above her as she yelled out loudly filled with anger before her gaze focused on the group of adventurers in the distance. Not having a difficult time finding them after tracking down where the fire vortex had come from.
"DAMNABLE ADVENTURERS! I SWEAR I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU AND TURN YOU ALL INTO UNDEAD!" Cursing loudly upon spotting them, she was completely unaware of the increasingly dangerous situation she found herself in as the flames from the flame vortex that exploded above her head descended and reached the tall grass below.
FWOOOSH-!
Igniting with a splendid blue colored flame that rose high into the sky before starting to spread rapidly through the sea of tall grass all around.
Still, this wasn’t something the necromancer nor the group of adventurers felt the slightest bit worried about, as from their point of view, dealing with ordinary flames was far from difficult and this kind of sea of flames could easily be put out or resisted with magic.
"Huh? Why do the flames have such powerful magic fluctuations...?" But as the flames continued to spread and reached within a hundred meters of the adventurer group and less than a dozen for the necromancer and bone construct, the older woman who had thrown out the fire vortex spell earlier noticed the abnormalities within the blue flames- or more accurately, she sensed the terrifying magical fluctuations within the blue flames that was only growing stronger.
Still, though they were still growing stronger and hadn’t reached their pinnacle, the flames had already reached a level that left an SS Rank Mage like her proficient in fire magic to some extent shivering in fear.
"Leave... WE HAVE LEAVE! THE FLAMES ARE MAGICAL!" And without the slightest bit of hesitation, she yelled out loud enough to drown out the cursing of the necromancer in the distance and instantly draw the attention of her companions who all quickly realized what she was saying and began panicking before the leader took quick command and had everyone escape towards a nearby underground opening leading below ground. Knowing that even if they wanted to escape from the tall grass, it wasn’t possible given how fast the terrifying flames spread. The only way out was to seek shelter underground and hope the flames couldn’t reach them while also potentially finding a way to the underground world that the dungeon core had hidden away inside.
This... Why am I so unlucky!?
The one who had it the worst was undoubtedly the necromancer, as she had found herself surrounded on all sides by the magical flames with little to no way out, as the flames themselves had already started affecting the bone construct by the time she heard the yell of the mage in the distance and realized these blue flames weren’t as harmless as she had originally thought them to be.
In simple terms, she had no way out of her current situation that didn’t involve her charging through those terrifying blue magical flames that surrounded her on all sides, but... Doing so wouldn’t come without a cost, as the bone construct beneath her feet wouldn’t be able to endure those magical flames for long. Especially as they continued to grow increasingly powerful with each passing second.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have much of a choice and could only bite her lips before commanding the bone construct to charge through the magical flames before they fully consumed them...