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SPAAARK!
Lightning was unleashed, and it quickly took over the water that Aquarina unleashed, the wolves who were drowning also were electrocuted in an instant, and even the wolf pack leader was groaning in agony with its two heads, while drowning in the water and being electrocuted to death. There's no way that thing could survive such a powerful combined attack so easily!
BOOOM!
An enormous quantity of lightning was unleashed, as the water quickly evaporated. When we reached the end of the forest and looked back at it, the entire place was completely dried out and covered on steam. I believe that should be more than enough, right?
[You defeated [Giant Blazing Wolf] x4]
[You defeated [Two-Headed Giant Blazing Wolf Tyrant] x1]
[You earned 20000 EXP]
[Ignatius] earned 38500 EXP]
[Ignatius] has reached Level 6!]
[Naturia] earned 38500 EXP]
[Naturia] EXP will be stockpiled until it can be redistributed after evolving]
Yep, they were defeated. It would be a pity to leave them behind, so I quickly sent Ignatius to bring back the corpses for me. He seemed grumpy about it, but ultimately agreed because he wanted to taste Blazing Wolf Meat.
"Ugh, that was too much." Sighed Zack.
"Agh, we are finally out of the forest?" Aquarina wondered.
Our parents had stopped running and awaited for the three of us to reach them, quickly finding them looking into the distance. There was a large mountain some hundreds of meters away, and in front of us, there was a dry land as well.
When we finally reached them, we couldn't help but gasp for air, running at full speed while fighting those deadly monsters really exhausted us, especially overusing Mana. As I had infused a lot of it to both of my friends, they were experiencing similar symptoms that I do when I overuse it.
"Well done! You impressed me once more! I'll make sure to reward you three when we get back home." My father said.
"Amazingly done." Shade said.
"Ugh, can't we take a break though?" I sighed. "Also there's nothing in here, are you sure there is any hideout?"
"There."
My father suddenly pointed with his index finger into the ground in front of us, the vast steppes, in the middle of it. But I was only able to see an empty and deserted land, so I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Huh? There's nothing there, papa…" I sighed.
"Uncle what are you talking about?" Aquarina treated my father as "uncle" most of the time.
"Maybe there's something underground." Zack suspected, sitting over the floor. At the same time, Ignatius was back from collecting the corpses and I quickly saved them inside an inventory bag I was given.
"Come, let us show you." Said Shade.
"You might be tired but we can't take a break right now, let's continue, we are close, Sylphy." My father said.
There was a lot of tension in the air for some reason. I also felt rather tense, there was certainly something underground. Could this be the hideout of the cult of the resentful demons? (provisional name).
We followed my father and Shade until we reached the area they pointed out. The two nodded at one another and then, summoned their powerful Legendary Weapons.
FLASH!
An enormous blazing sword made out of pure red fire materialized into my father's hands.
FLASH!
Meanwhile, Shade invoked two daggers that seemed to concentrate the darkness of the void itself within them.
In a single second, both of them hit the ground with all their might.
TRUUUMMM…!
The entire floor around us trembled. Cracks began to appear everywhere, as the floor started to crumble and fall apart!
FLASH!
My father and Shade quickly grabbed us and then jumped into the air, walking over empty air as if it were the simplest of things. This was a special Technique named [Air Step] that those with a Physique Above Tier 4 could develop if they trained diligently.
CRAAASH!
The entire ground where we were standing some seconds ago crumbled down, and what was left was an enormous sinkhole that led down, alongside what looked like a tower of sorts, made of gray bricks. It had an entrance and a spiraling staircase leading down.
This was certainly not constructed recently by the cult; this is something ancient.
A dungeon, maybe?
"Is that… a dungeon?" I wondered.
"No…" My father said, quickly correcting me. "That is one of the Ancient Ruins of the Gods… To think there was one in here…."
"Wait, like the one we left behind in the Amazon Jungle?" Asked Aquarina.
"Indeed." Said Shade. "This place… Why did the gods never told us about this place? I thought they wanted us to protect these areas."
"Maybe this is a place that not even the gods care much about? Perhaps there is nothing dangerous in here…" My father hoped.
"Yeah, right…" Shade said slightly teasingly, as he let Aquarina sit down over his shoulders. "This place is emanating a lot of mana from within, is there miasma down there?"
"This foul smell is unmistakably." My father replied. "I also sense some life down there, but they're running away, let's go."
"Alright!" Shade said.
"Kids, grab tightly on me!" My father said, as he suddenly generated a belt made of flames that didn't burned, and tightly wrapped us around his body, meanwhile, Aquarina was put behind her father's back while being wrapped by belts made of shadows.
"Then let's go!"
FLAAAAASH!
In a single second we suddenly began flying at a speed that easily broke through the sound barrier. Shockwaves began to spread through our surroundings, shaking the ground as we descended down the enormous sinkhole that was guarding these ruins from plain sight, most likely created by magic.
CLAAASH!
In five seconds, we reached the depths of this place, finding ourselves right in the middle of an enormous cave system, with many entrances to different areas in the depths of these places. However, there was something noteworthy as well.
An enormous lake of Miasma.
What is this thing doing here?!
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