Zoe laid on one of the propped up earthen platforms and thought about the dungeon. Would she be able to handle it by herself? She was confident she could, but could she do it without relying on Cosmic Rift, or her enchantments? If she summoned a weapon with her Elemental Arsenal, could she fend of the torrent of moles that flew from the ground with nothing but her physical prowess?
That, she found herself much less confident in. But was that a problem she needed to fix? Did she need to be the most well rounded combatant in the history of the world? That seemed more of an arrogant thought than anything else. It would be far simpler to just float off the ground and fire off a barrage of explosions, decimating the population before they even had a chance to come from the ground.
Was that okay? Was she happy with that solution for herself? Close quarters combat wasn’t something she enjoyed, at least not in actual danger. The actual weapons themselves interested her, the techniques used and the reasoning behind why they were used and how they were used was fascinating. A world of knowledge that she’d only dipped her toe into many years earlier when she didn’t have the wealth of magical power behind her.
But if she had to fight for herself, avoiding direct combat was much safer. Though, if she weren’t trying to restrict herself then she doubted the moles would overwhelm her regeneration either. It might take a while, but she could chip away at them until they were gone just by virtue of their inability to kill her, as painful as the experience would be.
It just wouldn’t be fun. It wouldn’t be exciting, it would be tedious. She watched as Brick got up a few minutes after Spark and Blue drifted off to sleep then vanished, appearing above the hole they were in and then vanishing again, out of Zoe’s sight.
Zoe raised an eyebrow at the sight and considered waking the other two, but decided against it. Brick wouldn’t betray them, so they had some other motivation for leaving. Maybe they needed to relieve themselves, Zoe wondered? That had never happened before, but everybody always remembered to do their business before they settled in for the night.
She didn’t remember Brick doing that this night, so perhaps that was the motivation? Brick appeared back in Zoe’s vision above the hole a moment later and she closed her eyes again before they teleported back inside and sat down. A hint of ash and burnt oil touched Zoe’s nose. Had they burned something? There was no fire within Zoe’s vision, no flickering lights.
Zoe put the thought aside, Brick would either tell them in the morning or Zoe could question it. But confronting them about it now wouldn’t do much. She turned her attention to thoughts of the dungeon and the hunt for the dragon as the rest of night passed.
The faintest hint of light poked through the tiny hole Zoe left in the top of their hole, and Brick woke up the three of them. Zoe got up and stretched. Even without sleeping, a night of lying near motionless on an uncomfortable wooden pedestal left much to be desired.
“I did some testing last night,” Brick said as the group walked back over to the dungeon entrance.
“You did what?” Spark asked. “Alone?”
Brick smirked. “Yeah, I couldn’t help it.”
Blue rolled their eyes. “You shouldn’t do that. It’s dangerous. But what did you learn?”
“I went into the dungeon, not far. Just to the first cavern, and I lit a torch.” Brick said.
Spark raised an eyebrow. “And?”
Brick shook their head. “No good. We’ll have to clear it in one day or camp out inside. I’m not sure how we’d do that since they can travel through the ground, though. We can’t just dig a hole and hide in it in there, the moles would just dig in and kill us.”
Blue nodded. “So we’ll have to be quick, then.”
“Yes.” Brick said. “We’re going to get to the large cavern as quick as possible and then start work on the tunnel, whether we’re under attack or not. Mara, can you handle tracking the moles below and also enlarging the tunnel for us?"
Zoe shrugged. “Depends on how hard the dungeon works to fix the walls when I’m digging them. If it’s like the dirt up here—” Zoe stomped on the ground a few times, “then I probably can. But it might have a stronger effect down in the dungeon proper.”
“Okay, then we’ll try that. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to take out all of the moles again and then try to expand the tunnel.” Brick said, teleporting down into the dungeon entrance past the claustrophobic hole.
Spark slid down the hole next, followed by Zoe and the last to come down was Blue. They ran through the tunnel as Zoe pushed mana into the walls around them to find any potential ambushes, but there were none.
Down in the large cavern, the ground erupted with activity as soon as they stepped foot in it. Dozens more moles began swimming through the dirt below them and the group ran over to the narrow tunnel at the opposite end.
“Mara, it’s all you now.” Brick said.
Zoe nodded and directed some of her mana towards the tunnel, pushing the walls back. The dense mana that filled the dungeon fought back against her, repairing the walls as she cut large slabs of dirt away. If she pulled her mana away from the ground below them then she could overwhelm the dungeon enough to make a wider hole without using more mana than she should have. But that would leave Zoe no way to justify seeing the moles below them, leaving them blind.
“I can’t, the dungeon’s mana is too powerful for me to overwhelm it and also keep track of the moles below us.” Zoe said.
“Dammit. Okay, we’ll clear out the moles. Mara, agitate them if you can. Try and dig them up. Lets get this done quick.” Brick said.
Zoe nodded and directed her mana back down into the ground below them, shoving dirt around everywhere she felt a minor fluctuation from the mole’s claws. Several rushed up to the surface and Zoe blasted water at them just before the exited, letting Blue and Spark impale the moles on their spears.
There were far fewer moles than the previous day, taking just over an hour before the last one was dealt with. Brick nodded to the tunnel, and Zoe pushed all of the mana she could justify into the walls. The dungeon’s mana rushed in to try and mend the damage, but Zoe was too quick for it to fix all of it.
Large slabs of earth fell to the ground and were shoved off to the side by Zoe’s skill, leaving a tunnel just wide enough for two people to walk through with comfort, or three if they squeezed. But she could only reach about ten feet into the tunnel before her mana was spread too thin to keep the dungeon at bay.
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“This is as best I can do. I could do a shorter, wider one though, maybe? What do you wanna do, Brick?" Zoe asked.
Brick thought on it for a moment. “Make it a little shorter. Lets get it wide enough for Blue and Spark to flank you. Could you keep carving this away as we walk through it? And still track the moles coming from the walls?”
Zoe nodded. “I should be able to do that, yeah. If there’s a lot though I might get overwhelmed trying to point them all out.”
“Only point out the ones that are going to hit you, then.” Brick said. “We’ll make do. If we get overwhelmed then make healing me your priority. I’ll get us out.”
Zoe pushed forward with her mana, inching deeper in as the tunnel behind them began to close up leaving a narrow exit if they needed to run. More moles surged to the surface of the walls and floor, and Zoe fired of blasts of water indicating where they’d come from. The blur of Spark and Blue’s spears never seemed to stop as they arced from mole to mole, while Brick’s magic ripped into any mole that managed to sneak past their defenses.
It was a slow and somewhat painful process, but after another hour they managed to get through the thirty some odd foot tunnel without any casualties besides the hundreds of moles. It twisted around itself and opened up into another large, though much shorter cavern just below the previous.
The group rushed out into the cavern as soon as Zoe broke into it with her magic, and the barrage of moles rushing from the walls ceased.
“Are we good?” Blue asked. “Heal Brick.”
Zoe grabbed brick and pushed mana into her Restoration, mending the significant wounds they’d taken from the short journey. Brick had taken most of the damage, having to spend their mana to protect Zoe, leaving themselves vulnerable from behind. Their back was wrought with deep gouges that Zoe’s skill worked to repair.
“I doubt it.” Zoe answered. “Something else is here.”
Brick nodded. “Stay alert.”
The earth quaked as a towering mole erupted from the ground at the opposite end of the cavern. It stood on its two hind feet and its head reached the ceiling almost fifteen feet above. Its black claws were almost two meters long and radiating with powerful mana. Dark blue level two hundred twenty, to Zoe’s identify.
Two more moles rose from the ground next to it which in any other context, Zoe would have described as enormous. But next to the mole in front of her seemed diminutive. Reaching ten feet on their hind legs, with powerful black claws hanging from their sides. Both were dark blue level two hundred.
“What’s that?" Spark asked.
“Boss?" Zoe suggested.
“We kill that, and we clear the dungeon?" Brick asked.
“Probably.” Zoe answered. “But it won’t be easy.”
The massive mole roared and the earth shook. The ceiling above them rattled, bits of earth and rock falling as cracks formed along the surface.
“MARA!” Brick shouted. “Ceiling!”
Zoe shoved her mana into her Earth skill, pushing the dirt aside from the ceiling as the entire thing collapsed on them. Deafening cracks echoed through the cavern as boulders split and fell, crashing to the ground. Zoe managed to push away most of the falling debris, but the once flat, stable ground had become dangerous. Sharp rubble covered the ground, leaving very few spots for them to be able to stand on.
“Mara! Make us a spot to stand!” Brick shouted as they clambered up the rockslide.
The moles from the tunnel that had left them alone sprung back to action, swimming through the ground, unimpeded by the rubble. Zoe shot out blasts of water to them, but even with all of her mana there were too many for her to be able to shoot so many in such a short time.
Brick teleported the group up to the top of the rubble as moles blasted out of the ground where they were a moment earlier. “MARA! GROUND! NOW!”
Zoe pushed mana into the ground, trying to create some kind of stable footing, but the dungeon’s mana fought back against it. “I can’t!”
“Dammit.” Brick said.
Zoe felt an enormous disturbance in the ground flying towards them and fired off a massive blast of water at the ground. “BIG ONE!”
Blue and Spark both jumped in front of Zoe, wielding their spears as the massive mole jumped from the ground. They pushed their spears forward, knocking the sharp claws aside as Brick ripped into it with their mana. Dark blood dripped from its form as it dove back into the ground again, and the other two large moles flew up from the ground where it entered a moment later, unseen by Zoe’s Earth skill.
Space warped and one of the large moles claws cracked, splitting in half. Blue swung their spear down at the other claw, shattering it as well, rending the mole incapable of diving back into the ground as its face rammed into the sharp rubble. Spark deflected the other mole, sending it diving back into the ground behind them.
“GET THEIR CLAWS!" Brick shouted.
Blue rammed their spear into the large mole and mana rushed out from their form. A dull thud echoed from the mole, and Blue removed their spear, leaving the mole motionless.
Zoe fired off more blasts of water as some of the other smaller moles rose to the surface. Blue and Spark’s spears blurred as they impaled mole after mole on their spears, tossing them to the side.
The massive boss mole rose to the surface again and Zoe fired off another larger blast of water. It exited the ground, and the group piled onto its right claw, managing to shatter it. The mole dove into the ground with its one remaining claw, slowed by the loss.
The remaining large mole flew from the ground where it entered, and was taken out in an instant. Brick shattered one of its claws with their magic, Blue shattered the other. And then Spark impaled it, sending a pulse of mana into its body as it failed to enter the ground again.
Brick teleported the group away again as the smaller moles rushed to the surface, and the group prepared for another attack from the massive mole. Mana rushed to the surface and Zoe fired off a blast of water. The towering mole leapt from the ground, swinging its claw at Spark.
Blue swung their spear at the claw while Brick twisted space around the claw, cracking it but not destroying it. Spark rose their spear to block the violent, powerful swing but was thrown aside by the impact. They slammed into the sharp rubble around them and screamed from pain.
Zoe ran over to them and pushed healing into them, and Brick teleported the group away again as the smaller moles rushed to the surface. The massive mole jumped from the ground again a moment later, but this time Spark’s spear managed to shatter the mole’s claw as it swung at Blue, and Brick shove it back with space magic, letting Blue step out of the way.
The mole collapsed on the rubble and Blue stabbed into its side. Mana rushed through the spear, exploding within the mole as it twisted its head around to bite at Blue.
Zoe fired off blasts of water at the ground, and Brick teleported them away from the barrage again. Spark and Blue both rushed in, impaling the massive mole on their spears and sending mana funnelling into its form. Its body collapsed in a heap, and the group managed to take out the remaining smaller moles with a practised ease, collapsing to the ground with panting breaths and bloodied bodies as the last mole was slain.
*Ding* You have cleared the Grondur dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?