Several stone rats attack Caelan and Liam, who defend themselves as best they can, using his spear to cut down several. Liam spins and pierces one that was about to attack Caelan from behind.
"Water Jet"
Placing his hands together, cutting water shoots out, slicing through five stone rats in a row. Placing his hands to each side, a three-layered water barrier pushes everything back, showing that around them there was much more than they thought, even from the side they had come from.
"How is this possible if there was nowhere else to go besides the path we were making?"
"Maybe with some hidden magic circle."
Liam tried to analyze how to get out safely since the water magic around them wouldn't hold with so many attacking nonstop. Pointing his spear forward, he decided to push ahead.
"Caelan, give me a boost and then open the front part of the barrier."
"Alright, I'm right behind you."
With Caelan's touch, Liam felt his magic increase, then focused his mana on the spear's blade, making it take on a spectral form.
"Spectral Spear, Phantom Form."
Pushing his arm forward, he hurled the spear, which pierced through all the rats, creating a path. The two quickly followed behind the spear, which kept moving forward, unwilling to stop.
"This is a really good power, Liam."
"Until I give the order, it won't stop… at least until my mana runs out."
Liam's spear could also have its speed controlled, either slowed or accelerated depending on how he commanded it.
"Caelan, grab my hand."
Once his hand was held, he pushed the spear to increase its speed, managing to escape from the rats chasing them. The ones ahead seemed endless, making Liam more and more exhausted.
'Damn, my mana is running out.'
Rats started leaping over the spear, trying to attack them. Caelan immediately formed a water barrier around them, managing to hold on all the way until they reached what seemed to be a chamber, where a glowing plaque stopped shining, and the stone rats chasing them began to crumble.
"What is this?"
Liam deactivated his spear, returning it to normal, and leaned against a wall to catch his breath while Caelan read the plaque.
"It says we've completed the chamber. Apparently, we just had to reach the end to complete this dungeon stage."
"That was it? Lucky I had my spear then."
"Seems like we got lucky."
A door with the number three opened, and the two entered, seeing a cavern. Looking back, they saw the door closing with the number four on it.
"Looks like we were on the second easiest."
"Wait, and it was that hard? My mana's almost half gone."
Walking along the path, they heard sounds of battle. Running toward it, they saw several vines restraining a stone gargoyle with bones, spitting fire from its mouth, trying to hit Sylvia.
"Let's help."
"Light Feather Magic."
Liam seemed faster and appeared in front of Sylvia, blocking a punch from the gargoyle. Caelan appeared right after, with several bubbles forming around him.
"Explosive Water Bubbles."
The bubbles struck the gargoyle and exploded, making one of its arms fall to the ground. Sylvia was surprised for a moment but immediately attacked, forming large vine spikes above her head. Pointing them at the gargoyle, the spike pierced its chest, destroying the hidden core.
"Good to see you two."
"We were only gone for five hours at most."
"Even so, you saved my life, so it's good to see you."
A door with the number two opened on the wall ahead. Then they realized Sylvia had been fighting a dungeon boss alone.
"You came to difficulty three and still managed to fight that thing by yourself?"
"Actually, I was on five, which was full of traps. After clearing it, the door to here opened."
"Impressive."
"I don't think so, since this one seems to have been the easiest stage."
They noticed that even though she looked hurt, she was fine, which meant her strength had grown. Realizing this, the two couldn't afford to fall behind—it was already bad enough to have other companions ahead of them.
"I have a question, since you were the first to get out. If these doors open when completed, why didn't you come to where we were?"
"I think it's exactly because there were already people chosen there."
"He's right. And I think if this stage had been cleared before you arrived, maybe you would've been pushed to stage two."
It seemed they were lucky to go through the easier ones first, but that also meant something unsettling. Caelan looked around, seeing some caves and other parts that looked as beautiful as a castle.
"That means the others went to the second stage, or worse, jumped straight to the boss."
"If that's true, it's better we finish this stage quickly. I'll just gather a bit more mana in my spear."
"You two are right… do you think it'd be better to split up? That way we'd have a higher chance of finding someone—of course, only if you want to."
This plan was good for trying to find the others, but if one of them ended up dying, that was something none of them wanted.
"It's better if we stick together for now."
"Alright, if you say so."
The three started walking, preparing for the next enemies. But to their surprise, the further they went, the more corpses of creatures that looked half-man, half-goat were scattered around, which gave a certain comfort, especially seeing fire trails along the way. Sylvia smiled, looking at the two.
"Judging by the level of these creatures, they're just one step below that gargoyle. Seems I wasn't the only one who got stronger."
"Well, I expected nothing less from my leader's right hand."
Liam shook his head as he watched the two walk confidently and followed them, his own confidence boosted. If they found Enrico, this dungeon would be easier.
'Wait, what is this feeling?'
Liam, who was constantly spreading his feather magic mana, felt danger coming from behind.
"Someone's behind us."
The three turned, seeing a mana they shouldn't be sensing rising behind them. A red hand with black stripes was the first thing they saw, followed by a huge, terrifying minotaur with glowing red eyes.