CHAPTER 74 - ESCAPE
AS the larger Queen began devouring the smaller one, I couldn't help but become perplexed by what was happening in this dungeon. There were more than 10 floors in this dungeon, with minions Snarlers inhabiting all but the 10th floor, where the Queen Snarler dwelled. The reason this dungeon was considered a beginner dungeon was because the Queens never left the 10th floor, allowing for easy training up until the very last floor.
Although the Queen Snarler was a B-class mana beast, a large party of E-class Adventurers were still enough to defeat it.
But then… was it normal to have more than one Queen in the dungeon? They were territorial beings that began battle against any potential competitors to maintain control.
Yet, this brings me to my last inquiry… How are those two Queens so much stronger? From what I read they shouldn't be any stronger than Professor Glory, nevertheless they were.
Yeah, perhaps she would have a hard time against these two B-class mana beasts that are considered dungeon bosses, but losing to them is another story.
Before I could get my thoughts together to unveil this situation even more than what it is, Professor Glory's words brought me a chill.
"Ugh… why is that one so much stronger?" As Professor Glory got up, she had to cleave a couple of minions out of her way.
As I fended off waves of Snarlers, my attention kept on drawing back to the Queen Snarler eating its formal ally.
"Professor, does this usually happen?" I asked.
"Well I've heard that some species of mana beasts do indulge in cannibalism but I've never really seen this particular case. Why now of all times, I have no Idea. Let's just hope that things end up where I think they will." Shaking her head, she picked up her other sword on the ground and made her way towards her opponent.
"GRRAAAHHHHHH!" As the Queen Snarler finished consuming her fallen comrade, a bizarre change occurred. Its once grey fur turned jet black and the small horn on its forehead that I failed to notice at first grew substantially and curved upwards. The once beady red eyes turned sharp and menacing, almost psychotic as its mouth started foaming.
Its eyes reminded me of Lu.
Where are you now, Lu?
Then Tessia shouted amidst the growls and hisses of the enemy, she was looking pale compared to before. "Cough… Professor! We can't… cough… keep this up!"
"Everyone! No more fire spells! The entrance of the cave is blocked so our supply of oxygen is limited!" I roared out.
From the burnt pile of corpses accumulating, the air was becoming thick as some of the weaker students began coughing uncontrollably.
The Queen and Professor Glory were in a stalemate, without Professor on the losing side. As I focused on the main battle, I could see that the fighting style of the Queen Snarler completely changed. There was no trace of hesitation or sense of self-preservation. Each attack it lashed out at Professor Glory was with the intent to kill without caring for its own body. Usually that should've been its downfall, but that unique Queen Snarler's black fur was able to absorb most of the damage from our professor's attacks.
"Cough… Arthur… I think… my mana core is beginning to cough… act up." Tess, who was a few meters away from me, fell to her knees as she began clutching her abdomen.
Fuck.
'Papa! What's wrong? Are you okay?' Sylvie's voice popped into my head.
'We ran into a problem, get here as fast as you can and head down the stairs.' I respond before focusing my mind on what's happening to me.
Several factors began weighing down on my mind now and I began to get a sense of nostalgia from my trip to the Dire Tombs. Did I have the power to clear the mountain of rubble blocking the front entrance to the stairs and even if I did, should I just take Tess and escape by ourselves?
No. Tess would never forgive me if she knew that I left everyone else in here to escape.
Then after making a way back up, do I stay behind and help Professor Glory kill the mutated Queen Snarlers?
Whatever decision I choose to make, the first thing I had to do was to clear this rubble. It was important that I clear a path back up in one try; since it was obvious the Queen wasn't going to let us all escape.
"Professor, keep the Queen busy. I'll try to find a way out of here for us!" Professor Glory had to work even harder to keep up with the Queen since she couldn't use any fire techniques. After giving me a nod in affirmation, I get to work. Tessia wasn't in any state to help and everyone else was too busy fending off the army of Minion Snarlers. Lucas had to resort to using heat spells to try and deter the Snarlers since oxygen levels were becoming more and more scarce.
I would have to do this by myself. I had to calculate this well. If I were to use a large enough fire spell in this state right now and fail, we were all going to begin suffocating in here. Water? Ice? There were too little water elemental mana particles in this cave to release anything strong enough to attack. I thought of maybe using phase two, but with Tess in the condition she was in right now, I had to stay conscious at least until we got out of this dungeon.
Was there really no other option? As my mind begins spinning for possible solutions, I see Professor Glory receive a pretty large blow to her right arm.
'I'm about there papa! Hold on!' Sylvie's voice gave me an idea.
That's it!
"Curtis! I need your help right now!" I roared across the battlefield.
"Arthur, I don't think I can afford to…"
"Come, NOW!" I barked back before he could refute.
"What is it?" He pants heavily. I could tell he was exhausted by the wear on his face and body. His shield was badly dented and his sword looked dull from the repeated use.
"Do you think your beast ability, World Howl, is strong enough to clear the rubble?" I turned his head to snap him back into attention.
"Arthur, I don't think I have the mana to even be able to go into my first phase." He shakes his head hopelessly.
"Okay. I want you to not question what I'm about to do and just focus on going into your first phase and producing the blast strong enough to clear that mountain of rubble. Got it?" The amount of urgency and authority must have gotten through to Curtis because he just nods and turns around.
Taking off my seal and putting it in my dimension ring, I make sure to control the amount of fluctuation in the mana so as to not tip anyone off. Everyone is occupied with the Snarlers but if I don't control the mana release like Professor Glory did after she released her seal, I would draw attention from the Queen Snarler.
The thing that appalled me the most and what I hated to admit was that I was, in a sense, a bit like Lucas. I was nowhere near as much of a jerk as him and I had people I actually cared for besides myself, but I was becoming arrogant, like Lucas, arrogant to the extent of carelessness.
"I-I don't know what you just did, Arthur but I feel great. I think I'll be able to go into my first phase!" The Prince says, bringing me back to reality. I sense the change his body is going through internally since I'm the one transferring my mana to him.
[King's Wrath]
Curtis lets out a growl as his body begins to change.
*CRACKLE*
I jerked my hands back in pain as Curtis released his first phase of his Beast Will. Confused, I try transferring mana to him again but the rejection from his body is even stronger than the first time.
Before I had the chance to try again, Curtis began gathering mana for his World Howl technique.
During this time, I rushed to where Tessia was curled behind the front lines and scooped her up. Getting Tessia out of here would be a priority. I was partly to blame for this mess. I should've done a better job to prevent something like this from happening in the first place.
[World Howl]
Curtis unleashed his powerful breath attack, but the mutated Queen must've sensed that something was wrong because it immediately changed its target from the wounded Professor Glory to Curtis.
"BOOOOM!"
As planned, my mana transference paid off as Curtis' trump card blasted a large hole through the rubble, clearing a path to the now visible stairway entrance back to the surface.
"EVERYONE! HEAD FOR THE STAIRS!" I roared through the sound of rocks falling and Snarlers growling.
"GO! NOW!" Professor Glory shouted too as she struggled to hold her own against the Queen Snarler.
The exhausted class makes one final push towards the entrance as Professor Glory holds the Queen at bay while the wall of Snarler corpses keeps the ones alive at bay for a brief moment.
"Claire, I'm trusting Tess to you." I handed Tessia over to Claire, who seemed to be in the best shape right now.
"You're not planning on staying are you? You can't be serious. As your commanding leader in the Disciplinary Committee I forbid…"
"Just go…" with the limited amount of time that we had, I released a sharp killing intent to get my point across, making her flinch backwards in surprise.
Helping the drained Curtis back to his feet, I pushed both of my Disciplinary Committee teammates towards the front entrance of the cave before turning back to where Professor Glory was fighting.
"Why the hell did you come back, Arthur!?" I could almost feel the amount of frustration in my professor's voice as she snapped at me through gritted teeth.
"We're going to need both of us to kill this thing." Taking Dawn's Ballad back out from my dimension ring, I unsheathed it.
"You better hope this thing kills me because you're going to be regretting not following my orders!" She responded, blocking a blow from the Queen's sharp claws.
"Hey, I'm a professor too, remember?" I gave her a weary smile before making a sharp swing with my blade.
"You're too smart for your own good, Arthur." Shaking her head with a smile as her situation wasn't good enough. The transferring of mana made me use most of my mana. If it weren't for mana rotation, I probably would've gotten backlash already.
"GRAAAAAHH!" As the fight continued, I managed to sever one of the Queen's wings so it wasn't capable of flight any longer, but its thick fur was preventing us from doing anything more than giving it shallow wounds. This mutated Queen, which was almost 3 meters tall on its hind legs, was filled with wounds from both Professor Glory and I, but it didn't seem to bother it at all.
"I don't think we can kill this thing." I shouted to Professor Glory, who was on the other side of the Queen Snarler.
"We'll need to at least bind it somehow so we can escape. I don't think the Queen will follow us out of the dungeon!" She responds as the Queen howls in anger.
"I need you to keep it busy for 5 seconds, professor." I repositioned myself so Professor Glory was in my view.
"Okay." She didn't question what I was about to unleash.
With the seal gone, I used the last of my mana to will lightning into Dawn's Ballad.
"HAAAA!" Without mana strengthening my body, my dash towards the Queen Snarler feels like a crawl.
"Move!" At my signal, Professor Glory dashes out of the way as I stab my sword into an already existing wound that I managed to inflict just earlier between its shoulder blades.
*CRACKLE* *CRACKLE*
"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!" The sudden shock seemed to be effective against the Queen as it began to spasm.
"LET'S GO!" Without even being able to pull my sword back out from the Queen Snarler, Professor Glory grabs me by the waist and carries me towards the front of the entrance.
As the horde of Minions got in our way, Professor Glory cleaved our way through until we reached the front entrance.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
"H-How?" Professor Glory could only gasp as both of us looked up. The Queen, with my sword still embedded in its spine, somehow recovered enough to make one desperate leap to keep us from escaping.
"Hurry!" I was currently dangling on top of my professor's shoulder as I tried to snap her out of her shock. With the mutated Queen Snarler almost upon us we just managed to avoid her sharp claws before she landed on the ground.
Without the luxury to even look back, we made our way past the minions and into the hall when I saw the mutated Queen crawling her way towards us. I guess my last attack did some damage because it wasn't freely mobile as it awkwardly limped towards us, using its claws to drag its body.
Reaching the end of the hall where the stairs began to ascend, I noticed something odd about the Queen Snarler that was just a couple meters away from us.
Well… every bit of that mutated Queen was odd, but this was different. As it reached closer and closer to the beginning of the staircase where we were, its face and body began pulsating. Tumors began growing sporadically in random parts of its body and face.
Don't tell me…
"BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!"
Before Professor Glory could even turn around, the force of the explosion pushed her forward while she lost her grasp of me, who was still on her shoulder.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the explosion caused by the Queen opened up a large hole.
"ARTHUR!" Through gritted teeth, I heard my professor's desperate cry as she reached her hand out for me, but it was too late.
"Save Tess!" I called back out weakly before using my last bit of mana I've been gathering for a short amount of time to augment my body.
"Not on my watch."