Rewinding time a few minutes to before the group of adventures found themselves crashing through the stone ceiling of the bathhouse with the exit leading out of the Swirling Sands Dungeon, the group of adventures had unknowingly ended up following in the footsteps of Scaly and Verdell through the underground tunnels and caves below the surface of the ninth floor of the dungeon during their escape from the cave ceiling that had started to cave in on them because of the high heat of the magical flames above starting to melt through it.
The main difference from Scaly and Verdell who had encountered no small number of monsters during their quick descend of the mountain-shaped pillar holding up the ceiling of the underground space that the dungeon core had made its new home, was the fact that the group of adventurers hadn’t encountered a single monster after entering the underground space. Instead, they had only found an empty mountainside with a seemingly black abyss in all directions around them and what looked like an odd-shaped path leading down the mountain.
Of course, unknown to them, this odd-shaped path had been created by Scaly and the different monsters who had ended up rolling down the side of the mountain earlier. Still, they had no other direction to follow and had ended up choosing the only seemingly viable path down the mountain. Leading to them following in the footsteps of Scaly and Verdell, who by this point in time had yet to reach the bottom of the mountain.
In turn, because of this, the loud monster roars and rumbling sounds caused by the descend of the dragon and dwarf could still be heard by the group of adventurers who now found themselves at the very top of the mountain-shaped pillar. Not only making them far more cautious during their descend down the mountain but also making it clear to them that their dark surroundings were far from safe and monsters could lurk around every corner.
In a way, because of how using light in their current dark environment might end up turning themselves into targets to every single monster lurking within the darkness, the group quickly came to the decision to not use any light magic or fire magic. Instead relying on the two people in their group with the night vision skill to lead the way through the darkness- or more accurately, one led the way while the other kept an eye out for any potential ambush.
At first, this had worked out fine, but around the halfway point down the side of the mountain, a loud mechanical thumping sound caused all of them to freeze on the spot.
Not because the sound was especially terrifying, so to speak, but instead because all of them recognized that this sound belonged to the guardian construct that had been guarding the dungeon core.
Although they couldn’t see the guardian construct through the veil of darkness that shrouded their surroundings, they could at least follow the sound of the mechanical thumping...
"Hey... Isn’t it getting closer..."
And from this, it quickly became clear that this mechanical guardian construct whose strength exceeded the SS Rank was rapidly growing closer to them.
"That much is obvious! It isn’t just getting closer; it’s obviously targeting us!"
To the point where it made it clear that it wasn’t just accidentally getting closer to them but was obviously targeting them!
"Everyone! We need to get out of here! FAST!"
"You don’t say so! Who here doesn’t know we don’t stand a chance against that kind of mechanical guardian construct!? Especially now that the dungeon core has enhanced it to an unknown extent following the addition of a new dungeon floor!"
The panicked voice of one of the adventurers followed by a somewhat annoyed voice of another adventurer echoed out within the darkness before the group of adventurers worked together to gather around the mages for a quick emergency escape before the mechanical guardian construct could reach them.
WHOOOSH-!
And with everyone gathered, the mages of the team didn’t hesitate before they pooled their magic together and formed a bubble around the group that was quickly launched into the air at a terrifying speed. An emergency procedure that was designed to allow the group to avoid a potential encounter with a monster whose strength exceeded the SS Rank.
The reason why they had avoided using this kind of method in the past was soon enough revealing itself, as outside of the initial direction, the group had no control over where the bubble containing all of them would land.
After all, the only objective with this bubble escape technique was to get as far away as possible from a monster whose strength surpassed the SS Rank... And to ensure they could escape, speed became the one and only priority outside the integrity of the bubble itself so it could hold all of them together during the chaotic rollercoaster journey they found themselves being forced onto as the bubble itself soon enough hit the ceiling of the underground space-
Boing~
But because of the strong outer shell being kept stable by the constant supply of mana from the mages inside the bubble, it didn’t break on impact. Instead, it bounced off the ceiling of the underground cave and flew towards the ground at a terrifying speed-
Boing~
Hitting the ground from which it was once again launched, flying into the air at a terrifying speed. Giving the adventurers inside no time to react as they found themselves thrown all over the place inside the bubble that crossed the distance of thousands of meters within only a few short seconds.
If not for the mana keeping the bubble stable being tied to the mages outside their control, it was clear that this impact would have broken their concentration and ended up shattering the bubble.
Fortunately- or maybe not so fortunately for the group of adventurers, the bubble remained intact and continued flying through the darkness even as one of the mages whose mana was drained to keep the bubble intact was knocked out by the wild ride they had been forced onto.
Even worse, this was only the beginning, as the space of the underground world that the dungeon core had created for itself was ultimately limited...
Boing~ Boing~ Boing~
And soon enough, the group found itself bouncing from one end of the underground space to the next without any way to stop themselves. At one point, the bubble even slammed into the mechanical guardian construct they had been trying to escape from, but luckily enough, everything happened so fast that the mechanical guardian construct couldn’t react in time before they had bounced off it and disappeared into the darkness.
The entire chaotic roller coast ride that ended with close to half of the group fainting ended with them crashing headfirst into the roof of the bathhouse Scaly and Verdell were in the process of exploring, but different from the past, the fainted mages mana had been completely drained by this point, causing the bubble to pop upon contact with the bathhouse ceiling followed by them smashing directly into it.
CRAAAACK-! RUUUMBLE~!
Splash~ Splash~ Splash~!
Something that in turn caused the ceiling to crack loudly followed by them crashing straight through it before tumbling into the water below alongside parts of the ceiling.
The sudden splash of water causing those who had fainted to wake back up, as the first one to raise his face out of the water, was none other than the leader of the adventurer group who came face to face with a confused Verdell and Scaly. "Huh...? You are..." Muttering a few shocked words upon seeing the two of them. Having not expected to find himself encountering these two again. Especially in this kind of situation.
Even though he knew that this senior who had even tamed a dragon would undoubtedly been around the dungeon core before it finished up the ninth floor to obtain the mana circulation skill, he hadn’t expected him to end up underground after the tall grass was lit on fire. Having originally thought he would have escaped through the air using the dragon instead of going underground like they had ended up doing.
Verdell was equally surprised upon seeing this group of adventurers and had no words to their rather chaotic entrance. All the while the dragon beside him looked upon what should have been potential prey in disappointment. Knowing that there was no way for her to take on this group of powerful adventurers even if she wanted to.
Not to mention, these adventures weren’t outright enemies like the other adventurers she had fought in the past and more so fell into the same category of adventurers Verdell did.
Of course, the main reason behind this also had to do with the fact that she wasn’t confident in taking on this group of powerful adventurers with her current strength.
Because of this, the situation between the two sides soon enough descended into a somewhat awkward silence as the two sides just silently stared at each other trying to figure out what to do next.