Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

However, this tragedy was yet to end, there were still thousands of monsters encircling them from all around, looking at them with those bloodthirsty eyes of theirs. Although they have stopped pouring out of the magic circles, the surviving people weren't in the position to say that they can safely clear it out.

"Dammit… [Healing Rain]"...

A pillar of light rose into the air before scattering into thousands of tiny particles and raining down on the tired and injured adventurers.

After healing her remaining team, Tiana moved from her place and timely avoided the sharp attack of a Pyrodactyl that dive bombed at her. Next, she moved around lithely and avoided the sharp jaws of Blaze Wolves while at the same time casting Light magic to buff her allies.

[Concurrent Chant] an ability that allowed one to cast magic while moving. It was a necessary skill that every mage needed to acquire to become an elite in the mage guild.

Tiana, Anna, Hallie and the remaining fifty or so mages that survived the afterslaught, were capable of concurrent chant. Hence even when the formation broke and the frontlines were unable to hold down the monsters, these mages were able to cast their magic and avoid dying.

Nevertheless, everything had its limit. Skills depended on physical abilities and mana to activate, one cannot continue using it again and again without getting tired.

Out of the hundred and twenty people or so remaining, around half of them were from the mage guild, the adventurers from the Assassins guild accounted for one-fourth of that number and the remaining survivors were from the two big guilds.

More precisely, it was the geniuses who were being protected by their guilds remained alive. The rest had died while protecting them or used as shields or bait.

GULP… GULP… Gallio downed the contents of a vial and threw it on the ground "That was my last antidote. I'm almost out of potions too and I'm running on fumes. I don't know how long I can hold on".

He had been conserving his elixirs and mana during the entire fight yet in a couple of hours he was almost out of it. The others around him had long finished their stocks and were on their last leg too. In a situation like this, it would be asking them for a tall order to clear the remaining hordes of monsters.

He looked at his remaining comrades and the ones that had fallen. A resolute light flashed in his eyes...

"If it comes to this I will go all out and take you all with me".

Gallio was prepared to die; however, before he could do so, Tiana placed her hand on top is shoulder and stopped him.

"There is no need for you to sacrifice yourself. Hallie will take care of it".

"Huh?" Gallio muttered in a daze.

"Hallie has a magic that can cover the entire grasslands and wipe out all of these monsters at once" Tiana explained, one could also see the signs of exhaustion on her beautiful face.

"If you had something like this, why didn't you use it before? If it can cover the entire grasslands and wipe all the monsters a lot of lives would have been saved" Gallio was so heated in that spur of the moment that he lost control of his emotions.

His eyes glared at Hallie who was avoiding his gaze. One couldn't blame him after all, he had lost a lot of brothers from his guild. On top of that, he did not know what had happened to other members of his guild who had tagged along with the other teams and gone inside different floors.

"It's because I have been stopping Hallie from using that magic" Tiana came in defence of her little sister.

"Why?" Galiio's voice was hoarse.

"It's because it puts too much strain on her [Mana Lines] and she can't use it more than once a day. I wasn't sure if there were any other traps or powerful beings waiting for us thus I hesitated on using our trump card. However, now that it has come to this point, I have no choice but to allow her to use it".

Tiana's words were calm and practical but one could see the pain and remorse in her eyes. Being the leader of this team, she bore the responsibility of all their lives. Each and every life that was lost, was like a dagger stabbing into her heart.

Amongst those who had died were comrades and people that she used to know. The guild she was feeling could be imagined, if only she asked Hallie to use the magic earlier, if only she had burnt down the entire grasslands, then those demonic vines wouldn't have caught them off guard.

If it wasn't for that trap that appeared when they least expected them and drained them of their energy, all of this wouldn't have… Tiana sighed, there was no medicine for regret.

She accepted the hate filled glares of the adventurers from other guilds around her and nodded at Hallie who raised her staff high.

A vast amount of mana surged out of her body and quickly covered hundreds of meters of land. Wind started blowing out of nowhere and the fire in the surrounding started dimming.

Hallies' lips moved and a beautiful song like chant came out of her mouth. Every line, every chant was lyrical and melodious to hear.

Her song ensnared the attention of everyone, it was as if the song itself had some kind of power, even the charging monsters who were filled with bloodthirst and murderous intent, stopped.

The entire place had halted, as if time had stopped.

Slowly, the verses of the song took shape and the vast mana pouring out of Hallie amalgamated together to form a new kind of magic. The temperature of this place was starting to plummet and the magic was about to take form when a dull heavy noise came from the passageway where the door that led to this place was located.

BANG… the noise became louder and with a heavy bang, something came flying out of the passageway and dropped on the ground in front of them.

All eyes fell on the thing that came out of the passageway. To their surprise, it was the door that had barred their exit from this place.

The door that did not budge even after taking all their magic, was at this moment bent out of shape. However, what was surprising wasn't the door or it being out of shape, but the silhouette of a figure that was standing on top of it.

------

A couple of minutes ago, inside the White Palace, Main Floor.

Simon and his closest aides were watching all the scenes that was unfolding within the spaces inside those doors.

"I must admit, that teleportation magic of yours worked quite well Bea".

Simon praised, his eyes glued to the window which showed the chamber and the seven doors that were installed on it. The teleportation circle that appeared after exactly 500 people stepped in front of a door was something that was set up using Bea's help.

"Master is over praising me. I cannot take all the credit. The door made by Sir wisp is quite strong too" a little flattered and a little embarrassed by those words, Bea smiled joyfully.

Wisp too made some happy sonar noise. The door that Tiana and the others had so much difficulty putting a dent on, was made from a special alloy that was discovered in the territory of the high orcs.

It was called Iridium and was by far the sturdiest metal below Mythril. It was difficult to process and was one of the main components required for manufacturing Andromedas Mk 9 and above.

Because the territory of the orcs was sitting on top of a humongous iridium deposit and went unmined for hundreds of years, Simon had lucked out quite a bit. With his agreement with the diluvian high orcs, he was free to mine the deposit as much as he wants.

In fact, he had sent several Mk 11 Andromedas to mine those places as they are sitting here.

The Andromedas was a technology that didn't belong to this world, and was by far the most advanced thing. The Mechas were something that the inhabitants of this world had never seen before. Its potential and capabilities were limitless.

Given that, it would be foolish not to invest in their production when it could become a huge asset to him. These cold war machines were one of the key aspects unique to his dungeon and was deeply connected to its safety and development.

Not only that, it was also connected to his growth and the path that he would walk in the future, would surely require their help. That is why, it was a good thing that the Andromedas were being improved steadily.

On that note… "How are they faring against the team from the strongest guild currently inside the dungeon?".

Simon turned his gaze towards one of the windows that depicted the scenes from the first door. The space where Marcus and his team went to.

[BEEP-BOOP-BEEP-BEEP-BOOP] the wisp released a multitude of sonar noises.

All his other subordinates tilted their heads. Since they didn't have a spiritual connection with the Wisp like him, they were unable to understand what it meant.

"Big brother, what is it saying?" Cecilia who was sitting by his side, asked. She wanted to hold this ball of light in her embrace; however, Wisp didn't allow it and always escaped her contact.

"It's saying that although the andromedas Mk 9 can hold its own against even a level 400 opponents, it still needs a lot more adjustments. Many of the original weapons of the Mk 9 are still not developed yet and the frame needs a lot more work too" Simon explained.