Chapter 25: Chapter 101 – Skeletal Surprise

Thanks to the huge sword and the abilities of the Voidtaur which Umbra could freely utilize, they dug through the dungeon’s floors and walls with moderate ease. While he focused on creating more passages leading straight to the Core Chamber, the others dealt with any monsters that were lured in by the noise and powerful shaking.

Those that would prove some challenge without using stronger techniques or spells were dealt with by him and the flaming weapon. Thanks to that, Asterios and the girls could save their strength for the final encounter as much as they could. 

Therefore, even Death Paladins, much tougher enemies than Death Knights or Death Marauders, focusing fully on defense and evil spells that further increased their durability, couldn’t stand against the Voidtaur’s Abyssal Flames for longer than thirty seconds.

After around forty minutes of digging horizontally and vertically, Umbra stopped in the middle of a chamber, which still retained the temple-like style but was of a much lower height than some of the corridors and rooms, forcing the tall Voidtaur to hunch forward just to move around.

“We are directly above the Core Chamber now. It was smartly positioned between the two floors to make it easy to miss even with the strong pressure that the Core is releasing. There’s another bundle of condensed energy that interferes with it, being most likely a fake Core Chamber to mislead the invaders,” he said.

“That’s true. People would most likely assume that the one below us is some strong monster while the one further down is the Core. I can sense some disparity between them,” Selene commented.

Suanori nodded to herself. “And that could explain how the furthest registered delve is on the forty-seventh floor. Whoever challenged this dungeon must have thought the same as there were no reports about the Core.”

Asterios turned around and glanced at everyone. “Well then. Are we ready to get it done? Whatever protects the Core down there is strong enough to induce fear into the quite scary Voidtaur. This might be really dangerous as we don’t really know what we are up against.” 

“I don’t think delaying it will help us much, my Lord. The sooner we act, the less time the Core will have to prepare, and it already knows that we have dealt with its old Guardian so it should assume that we will be strong enough to reach it at some point, even if it doesn’t already know it due to all this destruction,” Selene shared her opinion.

“I agree with Selene, Master. We are good to go. I don’t think the Core would expect us to use its Guardian against it like this so we have at least that going for us.” 

Miria smiled at him and stepped closer, leaning her body onto Ast’s chest. He started playing with her ears while moving his gaze to Suanori and she nodded.

“It’s as they say. Any longer rest would just be detrimental to us. Not like we require any. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to push through without overexerting ourselves.”

“Alright. Time for the last preparations.”

Asterios scratched behind Miria’s ear and gently pulled her a bit away from his chest. She glanced at him curiously as he picked out a vial with pure white liquid from a pouch. He uncorked it and drank half of the contents, making a slightly sour expression, which made Miria giggle at him. His eyes flashed briefly.

With a smirk, he then pointed the potion towards her. “Let’s see what face you will make.”

She glanced at the flask and smiled awkwardly before opening her mouth a little for Asterios to feed her the potion. He gently cupped her chin and obliged, slowly pouring the contents into Miria’s mouth as she stared at him with flushed cheeks. After a few gulps, she squeezed her eyes tight and scrunched her face but still kept going.

“Bleh! It’s so bad!” she muttered with her tongue out after they emptied the vial.

Asterios chuckled, noticing her eyes flash briefly too, confirming that the effect properly settled in. While patting Miria’s head to cheer her up, he pulled out another small vial with the same and threw it at Selene.

“You two drink it too. It will repel most kinds of possession and similar magic, and reduce the effects of spells that affect the mind. Not as well as Umbra does, but he will be focusing on the Voidtaur most of the time. At least until it gets hurt too badly.”

She nodded and started drinking immediately, flashing a sly grin at Asterios for a second. Suanori walked closer to receive the potion after Selene would finish. But, after half of the white liquid disappeared, the foxkin wasn’t stopping.

“Wait, wasn’t it meant to last for both of u—mmmphhhmmm?!”

Suanori attempted to confront her but was interrupted by the fox lady suddenly sucking in all the remaining contents of the potion and diving in for her lips. The Guildmaster’s waist was grabbed, pulled in, and the mysterious liquid was gradually fed to her mouth-to-mouth by the mischievous foxkin. 

Asterios sighed and shook his head while watching the clearly intentional show. Miria giggled by his side, still enjoying Ast’s hand on her head.

After a few short moments, Suanori broke off the kiss and escaped the hold on her waist.

“What the hell was that?!” she shouted with clearly rosy cheeks, wiping off her mouth from a little bit of the potion that escaped during their struggle.

Selene sensually licked her lips. “I just thought I could sweeten the taste a little with this to make it easier for the both of us~ Did it not work, fufufu~?”

Suanori glanced towards Asterios and Miria. She was trying not to show her slight embarrassment by keeping a composed face after exhaling heavily, but everyone could see the tips of her long ears turn a shade redder, which paired with her fair complexion was quite distinctive.

“Next time ask first, Selene,” Asterios berated her with a faint smile.

“I apologize, fufufu~”

“Alright. Go and bring us some mana and healing potions from the storage, Miria. You can start digging, Umbra.”

She nodded and disappeared into the crimson portal while the controlled Voidtaur began the process of excavating the floor, creating similar circle-shaped cuts with the flaming greatsword to before, but this time lifting the chunk of stone up with Selene's help since he couldn’t even stand up straight, not to mention jumping.

Miria brought a few flasks to Asterios and Suanori. He pulled out two more, with the liquid of dark orange color this time, and sensing the occasion, Miria shyly asked to be fed mouth-to-mouth too. He fulfilled her wish and they shared a vial while he threw the other one at Suanori this time. She quickly gulped down half before handing it to the chuckling Selene.

Umbra jumped out of the deep tunnel he had created, finished with his work. “I left a thin strip of stone to not alert the Core too early. It’s ready to be broken.”

Asterios glanced towards everyone. “We are going all out from the very start. No holding back. Bring out all the strongest techniques whenever the opportunity presents itself. The Core can’t really do much to us so the faster we eradicate the Guardian the faster we win.”

They all nodded.

“Ready?”

Suanori covered herself in mineral-looking green scales, including her face, and prepared her staff. She pulled out a handful of gems and threw them at the crystal inside the spiral on the top of it. The colorful stones began floating around the head of her weapon.

Miria closed her eyes and spread her Physical Strengthening over her whole body, making sure every single muscle was covered by at least one layer. She applied her Mana Coating to her blades, not using any element for now and letting it be just neutral energy until Asterios supported her with some technique.

Additionally, she took a deep breath and reached towards her heart with her spiritual consciousness. A moment later, everyone noticed an increasingly loud growling coming from the panthergirl and they watched as the fur on Miria’s arms and legs grew, moving up and up until it reached her shoulders and hips. Her face turned much sharper too.

She opened her eyes and glanced at everyone with a fierce gaze, stopping at Asterios, who stood by her side. He didn’t even get a chance to react when his collar was pulled and Miria forcefully stole his lips. She froze after a short moment and pushed herself away with a faint blush.

“I’m sorry! It’s still something new and hard to control!”

Asterios chuckled and pacified her with some pats. “I don’t mind you being a little more ferocious. What’s this about?”

“Dad told me that when they grow strong enough, Werebeasts can draw out more power from their bloodline. I started practicing it with him and some Elders after he said that I’m ready. For now, I can only bring out like twenty-five percent of my full potential. But… I get a little more… feral... when using it…”

“That’s amazing. It’s like your own Awakening, isn’t it? Besides, you always wanted to be a little bolder, didn’t you?”

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Miria nodded with an embarrassed smile. He pulled her in for one more quick peck and moved his eyes onto Selene.

She took a deep breath too and entered the fifth stage of her Awakening, surrounding herself with strong spiritual pressure. The external circuits over her limbs glowed strongly.

“Time to get moving then. We are going to use the Voidtaur as much as we can. Until Umbra is back out of it, focus on protecting me and Suanori, Selene. I’m fully opening my mind with all of you right now.”

Miria, Selene, and Umbra felt their connection with Asterios and each other widening and consolidating. Their thoughts, vision, senses, and intentions could easily flow between all of them, with Asterios acting like some kind of managing and sorting artifact, taking control of the chaos.

They didn’t need words to communicate and began jumping down the hole, starting with Umbra. Selene grabbed both him and Suanori and descended with them by her sides. A loud bang echoed below and everyone fell into the Core Chamber together.

The sheer size of it surprised them the instant they found themselves still falling through the air after exiting the hole Umbra had dug out earlier. There were still like thirty meters till they reached the ground and the whole place looked like a gigantic natural cavern.

They immediately spotted a huge black orb sitting on a very short pedestal with four fang-like protrusions tightly holding it in place. At a first glance, it was around five or six meters in diameter, so it was almost as tall as the Voidtaur. But, it wasn’t the most impressive thing in the chamber.

Almost the whole floor was riddled with bones. Piles of them formed at a few locations, as tall as the Core. It was hard to find a place completely devoid of the white shapes of various sizes. The whole place reminded them of some kind of bone storage or dump.

Umbra hit the ground first, clearing up the area around him from all the crunchy sticks with a wide swing of his greatsword, allowing the rest to land comfortably without any risks. They immediately spread out and took battle positions, scanning the wide and tall natural underground formation.

“Are we going to fight an army of Skeletons?” Miria pondered out loud.

“Let’s strike the core quickl—”

The whole cave began rumbling and interrupted Suanori. The massive bone mountains started crumbling and the party watched how a few of them pretty much exploded as huge fragments of something flew out of them and traveled towards the Core.

Bit by bit, one by one, countless big pieces assembled into a shape sprawled around the huge black orb. Two front legs, two hind legs, long and spiky tail, two bony wings, and a long neck with a reptile-like skull on its end, looking quite ferocious. The enemy finished waking up and roared loudly into the air, showcasing its massive body consisting entirely of bones. Four white walls arose around the Core and hid it away.

“No way…” Suanori exclaimed in shock, staring at the mighty undead beast.

“Is that a Dragon?!” Miria shouted excitedly, a little bit more enthusiastic than worried. Even if it was just bones, she had seen that shape many times in books.

Asterios smiled wryly. “Well, at least it doesn’t seem to be a Dracolich. We would be dead for sure. Still, to stumble on the remains of a Dragon, this Core has quite some luck.”

“Skeletal Dragon is a league of its own too,” Suanori added. “Nobody has fought one in hundreds of years. They did show up during the Age of Dawn or Draconic Conquests, but that was quite some time ago. I don’t know if the Core is lucky or we are unlucky.”

“Anyway, how do we kill that thing?” Selene asked.

Just after she spoke, the Skeletal Dragon released another roar which sent out numerous serpents of green mana that plunged into the ground. All the bones started to shake and tremble. A moment later, everyone could see them rising up and forming shapes of various skeletal beasts and humanoids. Fortunately, they rarely held any weapons or had any armor.

“I saw it! It has a green crystal inside its upper jaw!” Miria shouted to the others.

“Great. It couldn’t have been placed in a worse spot,” Asterios cursed. “Umbra, Selene, go at it. Miria, stay around us. We’ll focus on the army of the dead. I’ll keep your boosts coming.”

Everyone nodded and headed out. Umbra started laughing loudly and rushed towards the Dragon over two times his current size. Selene’s figure blurred and she reappeared in the air above the battlefield, standing on a spiritual platform and already preparing a technique.

Suanori dug her staff into the ground, finishing a spell she had begun casting after her last line and three thick trees suddenly arose from the stone floor, without any leaves covering their crowns. The spooky Treants she created had a gem in their bark, allowing her to control the animated wood and use it to attack the incoming swarm of Skeletons.

As requested, Miria took protecting her and Asterios seriously and danced through the sea of white humanoids and beasts faster than she ever had before. With her awakened bloodline and a Haste sigil that Asterios was activating for her every time she thought about jumping forward, thanks to their linked minds, she decimated the Skeletons in dozens.

Umbra crashed into the Dragon’s huge body with his sword engulfed by purple flames. The weapon cut a little bit into its left front leg but stopped before even reaching one-third through it. Even the Abyssal Flames had a hard time melting the sturdy bones of his enemy.

“So tough—ugh!”

The right skeletal paw sped towards him but Umbra managed to stop it with one hand. Unfortunately, it pushed him away from the Dragon after a brief moment of struggle. It packed quite a punch as the Voidtaur could boast some strength itself and Umbra was even utilizing it as much as the monster’s body could handle.

He heard some rumbling and noticed the beast's tail heading his way from the other side now, sending all the bones on its path flying. Before it could reach Umbra, two huge spiritual greatswords bore into the ground shortly before it and stopped the attack. The Dragon’s tail bounced back with barely any scratch despite having slammed straight into the sharp edges.

Turning its glowing green eyes to the ceiling, the Skeletal Dragon saw a blue flash and something smashed into its skull from above, sending it crashing into the ground with a loud thud and strong tremors.

Even though Selene had condensed a lot of mana into her spiritual hammer and boosted its speed with additional formations, it didn’t cause the slightest crack in her opponent's forehead. She clicked her tongue and jumped back before the giant jaws of death lunged at her with the intention to bite her in half.

A bit further away, Miria was relentlessly annihilating countless Skeletons. They didn’t come any close to posing a threat to her or the others, kept a distance away from Asterios and Suanori by the three Treants and her own efforts. 

She saw through their joined minds how tough the Dragon was, and while she wanted to fight it too, she was content with having the chance to practice her bloodline activation in this sea of bones while being near her master.

Suanori knew she wouldn’t be able to do much against the giant enemy so she focused fully on its army, taking away as much of the battle happening here from Asterios as she could so that he was able to focus on supporting the girls.

The trio then heard a roar that shook the whole place and turned towards the Skeletal Dragon. After repelling an impressive spiritual javelin from Selene, it pushed her and Umbra back with its battle cry. The two still didn’t manage to find a way to safely reach the crystal inside its jaws, neither from the front nor from underneath it.

The Dragon then spread the bones of its wings up into the air. Greenish smoke began forming between the skeletal joints, creating a semi-transparent membrane. It quickly filled all the gaps and covered them whole.

“Surely, it won’t be able to—”

A powerful flap sent a wave of sharp air everywhere around the Dragon, hitting the trio slightly further from it too, and knocking most of the Skeletons off their legs. It repeated the motion a few times and its massive skeletal body rose from the ground. It started hovering over the battlefield, leaving green trails of dissipating smoke after its wings.

They all noticed its empty ribcage getting filled by swirling flames of the same color and everyone could tell that they were bad news. Selene immediately appeared amidst the fighting trio and erected a powerful barrier around them while Suanori raised multiple layers of stone walls outside of it. 

A moment later, all they could hear was the loud hum and noise of the violent flames engulfing everything and crashing into them like a ferocious wind. Not even three seconds had passed when all of Suanori’s defenses were gone and the green firestorm started burning through Selene’s barrier, segment by segment, shattering each layer into nothingness.

“Ugh… They are incomparable to the purple ones…” she groaned, creating another layer in the time it took for two of them to shatter. 

If nothing changed, they would end up a toast in less than fifteen seconds.

 

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