The bubble left the cave not long after, shrouded in shadow mana and the associated enchantments. Both Lev and Melvine kept their auras tightly concealed inside their bodies, not wanting to risk detection despite the layers of stealth enchantments on the bubble.
They moved slowly, first up, and then towards the peak. Neither looked at the boss directly, only confirming that it was still remaining near the lake in the middle of the plains surrounded by the mountains.
Seeing that they were in the clear, Lev lowered the bubble and increased the potency of the stealth enchantments even more. Once he was absolutely certain, they bubble shot off towards the nearest mountain’s base, where he could feel a familiar aura.
The flight was tense. They didn’t speak, only keeping their head slightly tilted so the stag remained in their peripheral vision.
Only after reaching the next mountain did they breathe a sigh of relief, using the massive natural structure to hide their battle.
Lev glanced at Melvine, who just waved him off. “It’s yours.”
He didn’t even need to ask why. The Scaled Draco on the ground was still hurt from the previous fight, and now that he could take a closer look at it, the monster was just barely above level 500. In other words, barely a threat for either of them, but free levels regardless.
Fighting the monster in the open was a death sentence. He needed to be smart about it, and Lev had already prepared constructs to hide the effects of the battle.
Several plates, each as tall as him and much wider, were powered up inside his bubble. They vanished from sight and other perceptions before floating out of the bubble, distributed equally around the monster in a fifty meter radius. He didn’t plan to let it get past them.
The plates were enchanted for many purposes. They blocked the vibrations, sounds, and any fire and lightning from going beyond the perimeter, and also remained invisible to the senses. The clueless monster on the ground still hadn’t found them.
Lev hoped it would be enough. He didn’t doubt for a second that a mishap from his side would easily alert the stag, and that might just end in death without even a chance to fight back.
That was why he didn’t resort to any explosive measures. Instead, the same net he had used before shot out of the bubble just as the plates were powered to the maximum.
The draco let out an echoing trill, the sound captured by the plates and forced to remain in the dome. Even better, the vibrations through the ground were absorbed, nullifying the sound even quicker.
It was fast enough to dodge the net, which is why the construct was accompanied by barrier ropes. The draco jumped back, only for it to slam into an invisible shield wall.
Caught unprepared, the ropes quickly wrapped around its body and limbs. The monster was strong, shattering tens of the ropes with each mighty struggle, but Lev kept repairing and adding even more of them, dumping lightning mana inside to stun the monster.
That was enough for the net to land on its body, expertly aimed to cover all of it. A final push overloaded the construct with lightning, and the heavy spikes scattered between dug deep through its scales, releasing the payload inside.
A roar of pain was about to burst out of the draco’s mouth, only for Stargazer to smash into its head, her long blade going through its brain.
[
You have slain [Scaled Draco - Level 505]
Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 289
]
Well, that was easy.
Floating towards the corpse, he pushed his senses and Perception skills to look for a smattering of mana inside. Ever since he had evolved Mana Perception and obtained Gaze of the Marksman, he could see small traces of cores inside slain monsters.
The draco’s core was present in the upper half of its body, just below the head. A few ropes with bladed ends quickly carved through the scales and pried it out. Lev washed it before using Identify.
[
Scaled Draco Core:
Possesses Decent Mana Conductivity and Mana Capacity. Useful in crafting.
Shows properties of Bones.
]
It was stored in his ring. He let his mind wander about the uses of the rare property of the core while looking at the draco corpse. Most of its scales were largely unscathed, and he could harvest them for a tidy sum of money-
Something icy hit his bubble from the inside. Lev was moving before he could even decipher the implications, leaving a trail of lightning behind him to get inside the bubble faster.
Just as he entered and activated the stealth enchantments to the maximum, the side of the mountain they were behind exploded as thousands of tons of stone were barreled through. The stag’s nostrils flared in rage as its antlers trembled with rivers of mana coursing inside, a single thought away from being unleashed.
Lev and Melvine didn’t dare breathe. They sat frozen, fortunately looking away from the force of nature as it ineffectively looked for them. The most Lev could do was make his bubble move slowly, almost at a negligible pace.
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The boss didn’t turn towards the movement, so he risked making it slightly faster. Facing away from it as they were, the duo had no way to know when the stag left the scene, moving away from them to search for the offenders.
They only managed to shake off its influence after several minutes. Lev sat in his seat, hands trembling but eyes grave and focused. Melvine ran a hand through her hair, and even now, she seemed to be handling it better than him.
But that was a lie. They were equally rattled.
Despite that, Lev hadn’t missed a small pebble rolling down the mountain they were currently on, nor the potential causes of that tiny displacement. His Perception was pushed to the absolute maximum in case he needed to act, which helped him notice it.
Most of the mountain was covered by trees, and he landed amidst a small clearing.
His hunch was proven correct when the ground parted a few meters away from the bubble. Isabella’s voice reached them first.
“Holy shit. What is that creature?”
“A sapient turned monster,” Lev stated the obvious, because it was only now setting in just how strong that stag was.
The hunter also exited the ground after a moment, standing to its full height without a care in the world. The humans followed, though they weren’t nearly as ballsy. Instead, they jumped into his bubble, finding comfort in the safety net of the stealth enchantments.
“That did not feel like a bound and weakened creature,” Lev sent to the hunter.
“As difficult as it is to believe, the stag used to be considerably stronger from the few snippets of memory I still retain from before entering the dungeon.”
“And we’re supposed to kill it?” Melvine chimed in. “How?”
“I will be the one facing it, human huntress,” the Hunter assured her. “Like all monsters, the stag, too, will fall victim to its warped instincts, trying its best and failing to put me down.”
“And that will provide us with an opportunity?” Lev asked, just to confirm. He got an affirmative gesture in return. “But we’re far from useful in such a clash.”
“That is only a matter of time, Blessed Lev. The whole dungeon is at your disposal once we somehow manage to keep it away from your battles.”
“How did it find us?” Melvine asked.
“I believe it tracked you down due to the smell,” the Hunter patiently answered.
Lev snorted. “Smell? Despite the massive distance?”
“The stag has been stuck in this place for centuries already. By now, it is very keenly aware of how a burning lizard smells. Even the smallest hint would tip it off.”
They fell silent after that, lost in thought. Blocking smells was easy in theory, but Lev didn’t have any enchantments of the sort.
“I have a cloak enchanted with stealth,” Isabella began. “It also blocks sounds and heat. You can try to pry into the enchantments if you wish?”
“That is not an easy task. I don’t know how to do it, anyway- wait, I may have something in the rune collection from Drakys.”
Excited, he quickly took the tome out of his ring and skipped past the combat sections. The utility runes were all great, except they didn’t have any direct ways to block smells.
“Nope, nothing directly related to smell. There are some runes to block airflow, but I don’t know how effective those will be given the destructiveness of my battles.”
“… I have an idea,” Viktor voiced, hesitant. “It’s a pretty stupid and dangerous one.”
“Go on,” Lev encouraged.
“What if the stag is lured away from our battles?” he continued. “That way, we don’t need to rush as much either, minimizing the chances of any accidents.”
“I support the idea,” the Hunter agreed before anyone could bring up the matter of bait. “Long have I studied its battles and devised the best methods to counter its prowess. This will be a good test.”
This is going a bit too fast, Lev thought to himself, frowning thoughtfully. “I also think it has merit, but are you sure you can keep it safely occupied?”
“Rather easily,” the Hunter sent back. “Blood monsters are extremely strong physically, but I have it beat in that regard. What I can’t match, however, is its blood magic and the overwhelming might it can bring about for an hour or so, by my estimates. Since it is focused on physical might, the stag doesn’t have enough Wisdom to keep going forever. That will be your opportunity.”
“That still puts you at great risk.”
“By my own design, Blessed Lev. Even if I die, it will be after I have cleared a path for you. It will be the worthiest of causes.”
Alarm bells rang in Lev’s head. There were so many bad implications and hidden meanings in those few words, it made him feel dizzy for a moment. His eyes clouded over briefly before they refocused again, staring at the hunter with a bright intensity that no one else noticed.
“I see,” he remarked and left it at that. No more needed to be said.
“So it is decided?” Elias spoke out loud, taking a deep breath. “When do we get started?”
“Now,” the hunter sent to everyone and straightened. Lev got the hint and activated the shadow mana stealth enchantments, quickly moving deeper into the dungeon, directly away from where he suspected the stag to be.
The bubble sped up, reaching the maximum speed that didn’t stress the stealth enchantments. A few minutes of tense, silent flight later, they deemed it far enough for Aryan to step out.
His job was to find monsters to kill. Aryan’s class lent itself remarkably to tracking and hunting, courtesy of the extremely sharp senses, and it didn’t come as a surprise when he found a trail of stone mana after a few moments.
Following the puffs of shadow mana left behind by Aryan, Lev guided his bubble through the towering mountains, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. Monsters, as he found, were quite scarce in the dungeon. He thought he could see the tracks of some quadrupedal creatures when a roar shook their world.
The bubble vibrated from the sheer intensity of the sound, for the associated wards were turned off to not use too much mana. Everyone inside winced or grimaced, whereas Aryan staggered on the ground, his invisibility flickering for a few instants.
Then it passed, leaving them all rattled and more than a little fearful.
Lev still didn’t think that the hunter actually planned to let the humans get into danger. Going close to that creature, no matter how drained or low on mana it was, meant certain death for them. Even if it completely bottomed out, the stag’s raw attributes were more than enough to overpower anyone. He would need to make sure that they actually contributed when the time came.
Fortunately, while a few more roars reached them, they were getting further and further away, allowing them to hunt with relative peace of mind.
Speeding through the mountains, Lev and company appeared in a random patch of hills, surprised when the towering structures suddenly became much shorter.
They were still massive, comparable to small mountains from Earth, but that was quite little with his bubble’s omnidirectional flight and potential maximum speeds.
“I’ve found them,” Aryan sent after nearly ten minutes of searching.
In a corner of the hilly region, several giant shapes slithered lazily, half-buried into the hills. Their circular maws, dotted with lines of serrated teeth, were wide open as usual, though the lethality of those fangs was way higher than the burrowers he had once faced.
[Earthen Destroyer - ????]
[Earthen Destroyer - ????]
[Earthen Destroyer - ????]
“Aryan, Elias, Lisa, Rena, and Viktor, you guys should deal with these. I doubt you’ve ever had to face such a massive size difference,” Melvine sent to everyone.
“All three of them?” Elias asked to confirm, not exactly against the idea, but also not enthused.
“Yes. Isabella’s team will also fight with you. The goal is to have you familiarize yourself with the advantages monsters have. The other team already has some experience, but they will assist you throughout as well.”
The bubble opened up to let them leave, which they did without more questions. Lev peered into the auras of the monsters, noting how they were strong stone manipulators. Combined with their impressive sizes, the humans were going to have a lot of trouble putting them down.
