Not so Normal Dungeon
"Was it necessary to immediately take on the mission of clearing the dungeon?"
Someplace in the Beast Glades, young Valnyk and his father Varlam were traveling through the forest, seeking some low-class dungeon.
The atmosphere in the forest was mysterious, yet calm. It was actually relaxing for both father and son, they could finally rest from all the ruckus in their manor or even outside of it.
"Come on champ. You have to get experience, this is why I took a low-class dungeon. Believe in your pops and stop complaining like a scared girl." Varlam told his son.
They, in the adventurer's guild, took the mission of clearing the dungeon, but Valnyk didn't wish to dive into the dungeon yet. He, in the first place intended to hunt for some mana-beasts on the surface, to get a slight experience before fighting them later on.
However, his father heartened him, saying he was more than prepared to conquer the low-class dungeon. Varlam had an AA-Class adventurer card, meaning he was qualified to enter a C-Class dungeon by himself, and with another A-Class adventurer by his side, two of them could dive without fear.
Someone would ask, why Valnyk didn't receive an AA-Class adventurer card even though he defeated another AA-Class adventurer? The answer is simple: to receive an AA-Class guild card, you should conquer at least an AA-Class dungeon a few times, or even an S-Class one.
"It's not that I'm scared, we just have to be prepared for everything. I should know what I'm fighting against." Asserted Valnyk.
"Didn't I tell you? You are more than prepared! Let's go already, we are close to our destination." Proclaimed Varlam, as their sight finally fell upon the dark cave.
They stepped closer to it, but they still couldn't see anything beyond blackness. So Valnyk cast a small fireball and launched it forward into the cave. Fireball flew advancing, lightning part of the cave, until it hit the ceiling in the part of the cave which started descending lower, beneath the surface.
"It's clear here, we can get in. Hope there aren't many fossorial beasts, then we won't have to look at the walls all the time." Said Varlam and stepped forward into a cave.
Valnyk followed him, while also creating a fire on his hand to light up the environment. He could use his Lizard (Dragon) Eyes to see everything better, but he didn't want to reveal it. He still didn't know how the Beast Wills work, so he couldn't bring it up for a lie, so just keeping it secret for now works for him.
Father and son duo moved down into the dungeon, without encountering any mana-beasts on the path. The longer they walked, the tenser Valnyk got, but was alleviated seeing that his father was stepping forward as if nothing was bizarre.
"I was wondering how long we will have to walk. Here they are." Foreshadowed his father and finally placed his hand on the sword, as he sensed some being close to them.
"They are hiding somewhere aren't they?" Valnyk questioned as he, too, picked up his special blade.
"Don't worry, they should be spiders. They don't make sounds despite being in such environments, though I don't know which species are here." Varlam shared his knowledge with Valnyk, who noted everything in his mind.
"Should I burn them to a crisp?" Queried Valnyk. At his words, Varlam grinned.
"Exactly, burn them to a crisp. Don't leave anything."
"Won't it attract other mana-beasts?" Valkyn asked and Varlam shook his head.
"It should gain their attention, however, they wouldn't want to find themselves in spiderwebs. This is the territory of spiders, they kinda are alpha predators here, at least in C-Class dungeons." Informed Varlam, taking Valkyn by surprise. It seems that his old man has a lot of things to teach him.
"Okay, you should also be careful not to step on the webs… But who am I talking to, you are a fire conjurer. You can burn everything here." Laughed Varlam, his voice echoed in the whole dungeon.
"Then here we go." Valnyk channeled mana in his eyes, to improve his sight at least by little.
Now he could see at least some outlines of spider webs and mana-beasts themselves. It was a horrible sight, some were covered in a cocoon. While spiders themselves, which had freakishly big sizes compared to normal species, were hiding in the corners of the dungeon.
"Time to set this place in ablaze." Valnyk chuckled at his own words and pointed his wand towards the closest spider.
Another fireball formed on the tip of the wand and shot to the spider. Mana-beast reacted quickly, but it was too late for him to get away from there as a fireball hit it and exploded, covering the beast instantly.
The results were mana-beasts being dead and spiderwebs burning. So fire will eventually reach other spiders automatically.
"Let's finish off others, or this will take forever." Varlam told Valnyk, who replied with a nod.
Valnyk created more fireballs on, both his hand and wand. While Varlam ran headway at spiders with his sword unsheathed.
While Valnyk kept spamming fireballs at spiders. At the same time, he also used his blade to slash spiders which dared to come out from their hiding and attack him. Varlam on other hand, calmly kept cutting spiders not even using magic.
They continued so until every spider in the area was obliterated.
"Leave spider webs burning, they will scare other beasts." Varlam updated Valnyk.
They then continued going even deeper into the dungeon. Encountering other distinctive spiders, which weren't a problem for two adventurers as they didn't even waste an ounce of mana on them.
Father and son soon heard hissing noises, obviously, those mana-beasts had to be lizards.
"Man, what a variety of beasts huh. Doesn't matter, unlike earlier spiders we encountered, those ones may even use some unique attacks." Informed Varlam. After receiving a nod from Valnyk they began walking towards the noises.
"Get ready, there are few of them." When they got closer, Varlam could distinguish noises from each other, so he admonished his son.
'I sensed them already, anyway.' commented Valnyk in his mind.
"Prepare to cast a strong spell, Val. Those lizards might be more resistant to fire." Varlam again warned his son, who channeled large amounts of mana in his palms.
Hissing sounds got louder and lizards were finally visible to them. There were a bunch of them, they were big, the same size as spiders which were a fourth of Valnyk's size. However, Valnyk wasn't surprised about this, he had whole different thoughts.
'Aren't those Geckos?' He wanted to laugh at how funny lizards looked.
"Val, cast your spell now." Valnyk did as he was told and gathered fire mana on his palm and sent a projectile as a blast towards lizards.
Few of them managed to avoid the blast and moved away quickly, with the small steps they barely even made sounds. But those who couldn't avoid impact got roasted in place, the scent of their burning skin soon reached the adventurer's noses.
Others who escaped the attack were either creeping on the walls of the cave or just running away in fear.
"Quickly kill those on the walls." Shouted Varlam, as he dashed forward to strike the nearest lizard.
Valnyk also did the same, he promptly conjured another spell and shot it forward hitting another lizard. All of the lizards were swiftly taken care of, and the duo was free to carry on their way.
"How's your mana pool? Is it empty?" Varlam asked his son, who just shook his head. Valnyk didn't have any problem recovering his mana-pool in the battle, damn he could even use his core stages as a sacrifice to enhance spells and later recover them IN ACTION, so mana wasn't a big problem.
"Then let's go, this is a low-class dungeon. Soon we will definitely find the boss." Affirmed Varlam, little does he know that Valnyk by now sensed that there wasn't just an ordinary boss.
"Pops, don't you want to rest a little? there might be a strong boss." Valnyk questioned. He knew there was a really strong boss deep into a dungeon, the feeling he had, wasn't just a coincidence. Deep down there was something horrible…
"No, my mana-pool is still full, physically I'm not exhausted either… Don't tell me you underestimate brat?!" comically cried out Varlam to receive a shake from his son.
No, it was entirely different, Valnyk respected his father as one of the strongest mages on the continent. In addition to that, he was still a father to him, Valnyk nevertheless what anyone else says, will support his family.
"Let's finish this damn dungeon dive then." Valnyk grumbled and walked forward, knowing a tough battle awaited them.
They steadily walked deeper into a dungeon and now Varlam could also perceive the dark aura approaching. The pressure wasn't heavy but was enough for him to get tenser. Varlam fought against countless beasts and he couldn't recall any which gave off the same feeling he had presently. He could only assume it was a new specimen.
"Well, for a low-class, this dungeon has a lot of surprises." commented Varlam upon entering a big open space in the dungeon.
Everything was dark, channeling mana in the eyes didn't help out much either. Sunlight couldn't reach this deep underground and there were no mana-crystals either to light up the environment. The only option was to forcefully light it up with fire magic, which Valnyk was proficient in.
He strengthened fire in his hand even more, till it hurt his hand. Now, they were able to view what was in front of them and it was another cavern, with tall rock pillars around, limiting their sight.
"Where is the boss?" Wondered Varlam as he kept glancing back and forth.
"I think it's hiding behind those pillars." Valnyk shared his thoughts.
"It's hiding from the light, definitely a lizard that can see in dark environments…" noted Varlam.
Simultaneously Valnyk and Varlam could hear noises that were resounding in the cave, there was unquestionably something living there.
"Cover me just in case, I'll go forward." Varlam told Valnyk, once again unsheathing his sword.
Slowly, with quiet steps, Varlam approached one of the pillars. He steadily walked around to check if there was anything behind it. At first sight, there was nothing, yet when he looked up what he saw appalled him.
"You gotta be joking with me…" Varlam was staring at dozens of lizards, which were holding onto pillars.
Father and son couldn't notice them because of their camouflage, all of them could alter their skin. Just like chameleons, but what was more shocking is that the boss they had to notice right after, was closest to them from the very beginning.
At the entrance of this new cave, Varlam could notice an odd pattern of texture on the wall, as if it wasn't natural. At that moment Varlam realized that they weren't fighting against ordinary beasts.
"Val, behind you!" He called out to his son.
Valnyk by instinct looked back and was met with something expeditiously approaching him. It was a long tail of a lizard, the strike was powerful enough to send Valnyk crashing into the wall. Fortunately, the young boy was able to cross his hand before the tail made contact with him.
However, this brought another big problem.
When he slumped down on the ground, he attempted to get up. He placed his hands on the ground to support himself, yet...
'My hands feel so numb…'
His hands were as a matter of fact broken...
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Sh*t about to blow up