Sofia dove through the rain of attacks of the small trees, she flew right past them, hitting each of them once on the way, triggering a chain of weaker explosions. Between each hit, the Bolt surrounding her scepter grew stronger, and by the time she reached the furthest tree on the other side of the long hall, the scepter hit that would have only smashed some bark before instead cut straight through the entirety of the monster’s trunk. She hit the wall of the hall feet first, and propelling herself from it, she turned back. Repeating the same process. She was under constant attacks the whole time, branches smacking her in the face, sharp leaves denting her armor, but what few health points she lost were all quickly refilled by the continuous explosions of solar light. After about forty seconds, the room was once again silent.
‘You have defeated [LeafBlower Hallowed Purifier - lv. 227]’
‘Your party has defeated [RootSwinger Hallowed Purifier - lv. 166]’
‘You have defeated [Blackbark Hallowed Purifier - lv. 68]’
‘Your party has defeated [RootSwinger Hallowed Purifier - lv. 187]’
‘You have defeated [RootSwinger Hallowed Purifier - lv. 220]’
‘Your party has defeated [Sapbag Hallowed Purifier - lv. 122]’
‘Your party has defeated [Blackbark Hallowed Purifier - lv. 112]’
‘Your party has defeated [Blackbark Hallowed Purifier - lv. 86]’
‘You have defeated [LeafBlower Hallowed Purifier - lv. 201]’
‘Your party has defeated [RootSwinger Hallowed Purifier - lv. 199]’
‘Your party has defeated [RootSwinger Hallowed Purifier - lv. 159]’
‘You have defeated [Gardener Hallowed Purifier - lv. 12]’
‘Your party has defeated [LeafBlower Hallowed Purifier - lv. 210]’
‘[Spine of the Black Sun] reached level 210’
‘[Spine of the Black Sun] reached level 211’
‘[Radiance] reached level 72’
Before anything else, Sofia checked again if everything was alright with Pareth, and only then did she dispel the Spine and the Bolt. Astelia floated up to her, above a sea of brightly burning dead tree monsters, she was smiling. “This was unexpectedly satisfying,” she told Sofia.
“You really went all-out with your new specialization. I’m starting to worry about the air we have in the dungeon though, seeing as my attacks lit them all up…”
Not that it matters to me, but for everyone else…
Astelia dismissed her worries, “The dungeon is so big, and these plants grow everywhere, it shouldn’t be an issue, the smoke they make when they burn doesn’t seem so bad to breathe either, it kind of smells nice. It feels a bit relaxing, even.”
“I will be monitoring the students’ breathing just in case… But anyway, so far this is going well. The trees aren’t too dangerous. It’s a big jump in difficulty from the first half of the dungeon but there probably won’t be a challenge in here for us besides the boss.”
Crossing her legs in the air, Astelia agreed, “Do we still want to share some experience with the students?” she asked.
“No,” Sofia answered, shaking her head, “too much trouble for nothing. The leaf blower trees have a very long reach, a single rain of leaves we let through could severely injure them all. If their leveling was an urgent matter maybe it would be worth the risk but I know from experience that the sharing is not good. They would all get maybe two to three levels if they participated in all the kills in the dungeon and the level of monsters stays about the same as this hall.”
Astelia nodded through the explanations of Sofia, then she raised another question, “Do we still clear the whole Dungeon then? Maybe we should just go straight for the boss after all, be quickly done with it, especially with… What you told me earlier.”
“No need to rush. Do you still have skills that need combat leveling?” Sofia asked her, looking at her own status page.
“Three of them, yes. I have [Orbital Blades] which still needs a few levels, [Meteor Strike] which is stuck at level one, and [Thousand arms of the Moon] at 204. Though [Meteor Strike] cannot exactly be trained here...” Astelia answered, staring at the ceiling.
“Meteor… Well, I have plenty of things to level up, the Spine and [Radiance] being the best suited against the trees. I say we quickly go around clearing at least the large halls like this one, and looking around to see if we find some interesting items, then we go for the boss.”
“So be it! Ah, we should check up on the students first.”
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The students were relieved to see both teachers come back unharmed. They hadn’t been able to watch the fight but they had heard, smelled, and felt the consequences of the battle. They had also seen the flashes of light from all of Sofia’s solar bursts. They asked again if they could steal some experience, and Sofia explained why they could not. They accepted the news, though reluctantly, and from a collective voice, demanded that they be at least allowed to watch.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
At their insistence, Sofia sighed and rolled her eyes, but her and Astelia discussed it some more and accepted.
Sofia quickly shaped up a tiny bone box in which the nine students could barely fit together, on one side, she layered all of her panes of reinforced glass with meshes of bone threads in between, and finally, she made the whole thing a blessed bone construct.
“I’ll place this near the entrance of the rooms with monsters if there are no trees too close to the door, you can stay in to observe the fight, but no using any kind of magic, don’t move too much and don’t make noise, alright? You really do not want to draw the trees’ attention, some of these are over level 200.”
That in place, Sofia and Astelia took the opportunity of now being aware of the type of monsters around to give some tips to the students about exploring dungeons and other hostile environments. Sofia was speaking of the importance of looking for traps, loopholes in the design of places, and for the traces of monsters, trying to understand why the creatures were where they were and how to best approach an enemy of unknown strength and knowing when to retreat. Astelia was, for her part, more focused on essential survival knowledge, how to hide, where to find food and water, what to do when faced with an unknown ritual circle, and such other situations.
The group rapidly stormed through the dungeon, alternating these teaching pauses when they walked between infested halls, and the explosive battles of the two teachers against a forest of ruin-dwelling trees. The students were left speechless whenever they witnessed their teachers fight.
They were also left speechless when, upon entering a large hall mostly free from vegetation and decorated with intricate marble statues, Sofia had started cutting the statues free from their pedestal and stole them. They didn’t know whether to laugh, or to cry, or to be shocked at how mind-bogglingly large her storage item was to be able to store these.
The thing was, these were statues of demons.
I had the feeling that the faceless being of the murals was a Recessed! I wonder which one it is, though. I thought it might be Death at first with Leverle having sort of a faceless mask head, but this is clearly not it.
They all share a similar build though. All from one Recessed, but this isn’t a faceless mask, it’s a flesh veil in front of their face.
So many Apostles though… Sixteen different statues. Either those have never existed, they are multiple generations of Apostles… Or this Recessed had plenty of Apostles at once.
Is that even possible?
Which concept could it even be… Trickery? Imposture? Deceit?
I’ll have to show them to Cinthia.
And also… This is great decoration, no way I would leave them here! I’m not coming out of a dungeon empty-handed!
Well, I also have gained a lot of skill levels. Still, I’m unsatisfied. Especially because of this weird feeling that I’m being watched. Nothing happened yet though. I even checked from the spirit realm and found nothing… And VPPV should protect me from divination so if somebody is looking they have to be close. Yet they’ve done nothing all this time?
I don’t get it.
Maybe I’m really just being too wary.
Hard not too though, after what happened last time.
Let’s go for the boss, but I’ll keep the catalyst ready… Better yet, I’ll leave it to Bookie and Pareth. They’ll be protecting the kids while I and Asty fight the big fucking tree in that room.
Definitely the boss. It’s really damn big, I can feel its flow of mana from here, it’s pumping it from below, it looks like. Probably the Dungeon’s magic item. Wouldn’t have used the rot anyway but that’s one more reason not to.
Sofia turned to the group, discovering them all staring at her. “What? Were you all waiting for me? You can sit down and have a meal break, we won’t be fighting against the boss for at least half an hour.”
Can’t go in there without the undeath runes.
Taking her to her word, the students along with Astelia sat down for a meal, except for Lola who walked up to her.
“Are you going to sell the statues?” she questioned Sofia. Not waiting for an answer, she crouched near the pedestal of the statue Sofia had just removed and stored. “This is coral marble, it’s worth a lot, you should also take the pedestals, it would be a waste not to since they’re made of the same thing,” she explained.
Sofia looked at the young Exidian girl curiously, “You have an interest in rocks? I thought this was more of a dwarf thing usually.”
Lola giggled, “Guerand knows a fair bit too, but my family has been in the art trade for generations. Our great ancestor is a very famous smith and sculptor… He helped build the Death church, the imperial palace, and a lot of the older parts of the city. We still specialize in buying and selling paintings and sculptures to this day.”
“And yet you chose a summoning class instead of following the family trade?”
Lola turned her eyes. “I’m a failed artist,” she admitted shamefully, a bit less lively than she had been seconds before, but it only lasted for an instant, “My older siblings are all successful artisans so… It’s fine. I am still leveling the [Smithing] classless skill on the side as well. One day I’ll be able to make my spirit the best armor by myself!”
“It looks to me that you are a fast learner, I’m sure you will get there,” Sofia cheered her on, “And to answer your question, the goal is not to sell them. But if it can help you with your family I could give you a few.”
The Exidian teenager seemed frozen in shock for a moment, then taking a step back, Lola rejected the offer, “No, no, thank you, teacher, but this isn’t necessary,” she flustered, “My family is wealthy enough. If you want to give them then Shaily and Guerand could really use the money instead!”
Sofia continued to chat with Lola while preparing her undeath runes, Shaily and Opal eventually joining them. The break lasted a bit longer than expected, as both teachers worked to prepare a safe underground room for the students to hide in with Pareth and Bookie, but after an hour, everything was ready.
Astelia and Sofia stood in front of the door to the Boss’s room.
Oh, I’m terminally dumb! I didn’t even [Identify] the statues!
It will have to wait until this is done… Well, maybe Sir Scribe won’t be able to say much, so… Better focus on the task at hand.
Time to change my class to [Lumberjack].
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