After Freja left and Shaman explained the situation to Elanor, they got ready to head to the dungeon.
Standing in front of the dungeon doors, Shaman felt a little bit of fear that the same dark elf would be there once again.
"Ready everyone?" Kiruya did one last round of checks to make sure everyone was okay before they entered. Everyone nodded their heads knowing what to expect this time.
"Hopefully we can get tier 6 with this run." Elysia was itching to go wild and destroy the entire place this time.
"Haha not quite, we also need some kills." Shaman poked Elysia in the side as they still need about 60 levels each, which would not be possible with the number of dark elves in the dungeon.
"Grrr." Either way, Elysia still wanted to let loose and fulfil destructive urges.
"No."
"Ow!"
Shaman flicked Elysia in the head, instantly diffusing her urges for destruction.
"pfft, enough you too." Clara shook her head while chuckling.
"You finished?" Kiruya was about to explain something, but they kept getting distracted which made her irritable.
"Yes." Shaman saw the look and tone, so she did not try to talk back or continue teasing Elysia.
"Okay, I was about to say that if you want, you can enter the lower part of the dungeon. However, I don't recommend this yet since it is tier 7 territory." Kiruya believed they could probably do it, so she wanted to give them the opportunity.
"Oh?" This caught the attention of everyone as they didn't expect Kiruya to let them go so soon.
"Are you sure? Because I can already see Eli sprinting straight for it." Shaman spotted the excitement in Elysia's eyes when hearing the news.
*Sigh* "You guys are abnormal for tier 5, so I believe with the skills you have you could do it. But still, there will be a difficulty spike, do not underestimate the power difference of an entire tier." Kiruya wanted them to challenge themselves, but did not want them to die in the process, hence why she recommended they don't.
"I understand, I say it's worth a shot seeing what it is like, but if it's too dangerous we will get out immediately." Shaman didn't want to make Kiruya worried or risk anyone's lives, so she preferred to first test whether they were 100% ready to take on that part of the dungeon.
"Good, and as always I will be in the shadows, ready to help if you need me."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWith the explanation finished, they made their way inside the dungeon for round 2.
***
[Shaman Shiroi]
Level: 124 -> 132
[Elysia Dahlia]
Level: 120 -> 131
[Silver Shiroi]
Level: 117 -> 128
[Clara ???]
Level: 122 -> 131
Shaman, Elysia, Clara and Silver were in the middle of the dark elf town with many dead bodies littered all over the place. Unlike last time, the commander did not pose much of a threat at all since its weakness was fire which was easy pickings for Elysia.
"Well, that was easy." Shaman was rather disappointed since she hadn't gotten the chance to use the new bloodline arts she got.
"I think we should try the tier 7 floor." Elysia was eager to keep going as they all had plenty of mana left and still had many hours left to spare.
"I agree." Clara felt the same and was starting to understand how Elysia felt when it came to fighting.
"Are you sure?" Silver, however, felt uneasy and wasn't confident in his chances at handling tier 7 opponents.
"Mmmm." Shaman, hearing Silver's concern, felt conflicted on whether they should call it off for now.
'Silver is the weakest out of us all, but he can stay with Kiruya if it is an issue.' Shaman didn't want to hold the whole team back, so leaving Silver with Kiruya was the best option.
'Ahh, that means he will get left behind in levels.' Another dilemma came up, raising a strong argument to not continue the dungeon.
"It should be fine, we can protect you Silver if you are not confident in facing them." Clara trusted Kiruya's words that they could do it, so protecting Silver shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
"Kiruya! Can you keep Silver with you or be his guardian?" Elysia knew it would be difficult to keep track of Silver while fighting, so she figured why not use the person who is looking over them to focus on Silver.
"I can do that, but Instead I will help Silver." Kiruya didn't mind intervening, especially since it was Silver.
"Alright with that settled let's go." Elysia clapped her hands together and looked over to the castle remembering the secret entrance.
Shaman was left speechless as all her effort to come up with a solution was for naught.
'Maybe I overthink things too much.'
*
Arriving at the secret entrance Shaman and Elysia found, they burnt the wooden roots covering the entrance. Entering the long tunnel only lit by the few torches on the wall, they hastily made it to the other end.
Greeted with the world tree of the dungeon and a pool that came directly from it, they were finally on to the next level. In front of them, many elves were busy bathing in the pool. They were gearless and distracted, making it the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack.
"Wait! Before we move forward, would we be able to take something from this tree?" Shaman assumed the world tree here must have some kind of power they could hopefully make their own.
"Uhh… What if I tell you that it's just a large tree and the religion here is all fake." Kiruya thought it would be funny to let them find out on their own, but she didn't want to waste their time.
"Huh?" This confused Shaman as the large tree truly did seem mystical in nature.
"Yep you heard correctly, this tree is just a…. tree." Kiruya saying it out loud found it hard to not laugh.
"I-I see." Shaman felt incredibly disappointed and wondered if the tree outside of the dungeon was real.
"Anyway, since we have the advantage, try to take them out in one blow." Seeing the disappointed look, Kiruya decided to quickly move on as they didn't have much time before the guards came.
Shaman snapped out of it, and everyone prepared themselves. Each picked a target that was in the pool while they waited for Kiruya's signal.
"Go."
As they sprinted toward the pool, the dark elves finally noticed their presence, but since they were unprepared, the dark elves could not retaliate.
Shaman cleanly cut off the head of one of the elves and their body slumped into the pool, turning it red as blood spewed from their neck.
Elysia, going for a more savage approach, grabbed the elf by the neck. Flames burst out of her hand engulfing the elf's head, giving them a very painful death.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmClara, just like Shaman, was a bit cleaner and used her whip blades to kill the elf. Wrapping them around the neck of the elf, she strangled them while slowly slitting their throat open.
Silver was nervous when approaching the elf as he knew that they were at a much higher level. However, knowing that Kiruya was behind him provided him the confidence to push through. Running up to the elf Silver spun on his feet while swinging his scythe. The elf was cut cleanly in half, infecting the pool with its blood as well.
Everyone finished up with their targets, but now the remaining elves in the pool were ready to fight. Many managed to grab themselves a weapon as some of them were guards to begin with. Their eyes glowed red as they focused on the group of people that ambushed them.
"Alright everyone, stay focused, they can all use magic." Kiruya yelled out a warning before they began the fight in earnest just so there were no surprises.
Everyone nodded their heads in acknowledgement as the information was super important.
The elves were first to make a move and charged at the group with some starting off on casting their magic. The regular elves used the wood element to create their own weapons while the guards used both wood and wind to enhance their spears.
The group readied themselves activating their own elements while waiting for the elves to get closer.
***
<Elven palace outside the dungeon>
"Your highness, the noble failed to kill Elanor." A hooded elf was kneeling before a rather old-looking elf lying in bed.
"What?!" *Cough* *Cough* The old elf shot up from his bed, only to be racked with coughs, having exerted his extremely weak body.
"There seemed to be some outsiders who interfered." Explaining the situation did not help with the old man's confusion.
"Who?"
"We are not sure, the only suspects we have are 2 half-foxes, a half-cheetah, a demon and a half-wolf." The hooded elf knew their identities as it was the same elf sent to watch over them. However, he did not like the person in front of him and followed the current king's advice to withhold as much information as he could.
"Tsk, kill them as well." The old elf leaned back into bed, not wanting to bother with this subject any longer.
"Well, sir the other nobles have pulled out of the deal so I'm af-." Before he could finish his sentence, he was cut off.
"I. Said. Kill them! I don't care how you do it, just do it!" The old elf released a bit of pressure forcing the hooded elf to be pushed to the ground.
"Yes." Not daring to question his orders again, he quickly left the room.
'Tch that old king should just die already.' The hooded elf shook his head as the old man's request was unreasonable. There was simply no way that he alone could fight them.
'I need to report this back to the king.' Intending to inform what the old king's intentions were, he quickly made his way to the throne room.