Dire Tombs

POV Julián Kingscrown

(¿Frei, is there anyone around?) I asked.

(No one, but there are traces of Uto's magic in the area; you must finish this quickly and get out of here immediately) Frei replied.

Hearing that made me tense, at this moment it is foolish to face Uto, the chances of winning against him increase with Frei's help, but there is no benefit, no gain.

The only thing I would be doing is accelerating the start of the war, but that is not what I wish for, nor what the continent needs, if I could buy more time it would be optimal.

That's why I must finish this quickly, recover that corrupt core and leave, it no longer matters if I didn't manage to meet the Hamadryads.

I took quick steps towards the entrance of the room where the oppressive presence of the Elderwood Guardian was felt while activating mana vision.

And I could see it, a huge beast the size of a seven or eight-story building from my old world, seeing it gave me goosebumps.

You would never expect such large things to exist, it causes a feeling of discomfort, but I couldn't stop or flee, nor did I have time to think things through.

It was all or nothing with Mirage Walk and mana vision activated I began to approach the guardian.

Despite my attempts to approach without being noticed, it was clear that his sensory abilities were far superior to Alea's.

That's why I prepared to start running at any moment and as if to confirm my suspicions, a sea of vines and plants rained down on me.

I know I have to make the battle short, that's why I immediately entered the second phase, created orange lightning magic on my sword, and began to move to cross the sea of vines that would make anyone feel despair.

As I moved, I calculated the different trajectories of the vines falling on me like a tsunami with Laplace, choosing the most effective routes jumping from left to right and using Sonic Step when they cornered me.

As I advanced, I used the lightning magic enhanced by my second phase to cut each and every one of the vines that stood in my way.

When I was about ten meters from the guardian, he moved for the first time and stopped using vines while launching a colossal blow with his hand shaped like a spear.

I knew I would lose in a battle of weights, so I was going to dodge the direct blow and cut off his arm with a spell as a counterattack.

With that idea in mind, I extended the reach of my sword with mana constructs and when the precise moment came, I dodged the blow by a few centimeters.

I boosted my speed with wind magic, to pass over his arm and when I was above his limb, I swung the sword in a cut loaded with pure mana and lightning.

"Boooooom" a loud thunderous noise was heard throughout the room followed by a shrill cry of pain "wraaaaaaaah".

Moments later, the Elderwood guardian lifted his right arm only for half of his spear arm to fall to the ground in a charred state with remnants of lightning still crackling.

He looked at his arm for a second and then roared "Grrraaaaaaaaahhhh".

That scream would make most people on this continent twist their guts with fear and terror.

But I can't, this is something small compared to what I will face in the future, I can't afford to be afraid here.

Thinking about my next move, I estimated that it had been about five minutes since the battle began, the room was almost in the state I needed to cast the wide-range spell I had in mind.

But it still lacked a little more, that's why I kept moving in all directions dodging the countless vines that emerged from the guardian.

How much mana did that bastard have to keep growing and moving those vines indefinitely? Moreover, how did Arthur manage to defeat this thing? He made it look so easy, and if I remember correctly, he was just at the yellow core level.

As I complained about how unfair his ability seemed, I found another opportunity to land a blow and give myself enough time to cast the wide-range spell.

I approached at high speed with the sonic step right under the guardian and launched bursts of lightning at his legs to make him fall, and immediately after fulfilling my task, I moved in front of him.

A large cloud of dust rose in front of me as I gave instructions to the Acclorite that was with me.

(Frei, help me gather and refine all the mana from the environment, then transfer it to me) I spoke as I began to form an ice spell.

Frei materialized behind me, attracting all the mana from the surroundings and placed his hand on my back near the core.

I felt a large amount of mana entering my body and immediately directed it to form the spell.

The surroundings began to freeze at dizzying speeds, with me and Frei at the epicenter.

Above us, a sphere of ice magic began to form at extremely low temperatures; it was like a cold sun threatening to freeze everything around it.

When the Elderwood guardian managed to stand up and attack me with his vines, it was too late.

"Hell Infernum"

After those words, the sun exploded, sending a cold wave throughout the room, covering everything around it.

The vines froze before making contact with me; the thermal shock generated by the reaction of the sudden change of heat in the environment began to expand them and finally made them burst.

I was tired after casting that spell, but the vines and the surroundings beginning to collapse didn't give me a break.

Immediately, I began to move towards the exit, but I didn't take into account the structural damage to the room, and the floor beneath me broke.

I began to fall deeper into the dungeon, with hundreds of debris threatening to crush me, while at the same time my mind threatened to fall into unconsciousness, but I refused; it was not the time to sleep peacefully.

I focused all my concentration on finding out how many meters the bottom was with mana vision, while I prepared an escape route to avoid being crushed to death.

It was a free fall of about two hundred meters; when I managed to see the bottom, I found a crevice where I could avoid the debris falling on me.

So I used several of them as support to move towards the escape zone before the impact and used wind magic to reduce the force of the fall.

When the opportune moment came, I jumped with all the mana I had left and crashed to the ground away from the falling debris, as a cloud of dust rose throughout the space that seemed to be a corridor.

My eyes began to blink, but it was not the time to fall unconscious; I forced myself to get up.

Only to feel a sharp pain that arose in my arm when I supported it; looking at it, I saw that it was swollen and completely limp.

Damn it, after the adrenaline, the pain is going to be terrible, and I no longer have mana to heal myself with willpower.

Now is when I think if I did well not to bring Dryas, while all sorts of things went through my head, I began to walk away from the dusty place.

"Cough, cough, cough" damn it, I'm in a terrible state.

(Julián, while we were falling, I felt Uto's mana signature approaching the room where the guardian was; we don't have too much time to get out of here, we must hurry.)

When I managed to see a light at the end of the tunnel, my vision cleared, and I could see what was inside.

The sight was a kind of déjà vu; it was a forest that in the past must have been beautiful and pristine, but now it was filled with hundreds of mutilated beasts, all with one particularity, they had black spikes all over their bodies.

Not only that, but all the surroundings bore traces of a fierce battle, and each of the beasts here had one characteristic, they were monsters related to plants.

Quickly, I connected the dots; this was the hideout of the Hamadryads, and Uto had attacked it. The whole area was devastated, and it was clear that this had not happened long ago.

As I walked, I observed all around what once were mana beasts.

I didn't have much time, but I really wanted to obtain their mana cores (Frei, can I ask for your help with that?)

She materialized and began to extract the cores; whether it was a fortunate coincidence or not, there were two cores with the will of a beast.

And by the characteristics of the corrupted ones we saw in the past, they did not seem to have been touched by the Alacryans.

Quickly, I stored them in my dimensional ring and began to look for a way out; probably where I fell was the entrance that Uto used, and now it was completely blocked.

I needed to find a way out without being caught; as I walked, I heard two low howls.

I headed in their direction and found beasts crying for their family; one was a small scaly beast of purple and green colors with two protrusions on its back, the other was a humanoid figure made of wood and vines.

Both looked at me warily and tried to attack me, but they were stopped by Frei; she seemed tired, so I asked her to remain in her spiritual form from now on.

I took the small mana beasts and sent them to Eden with a message to Silvie to take care of them.

The reason I didn't enter Eden is that when I come out, it will be the same point where I entered, that is, here in the Dire Tombs.

I don't like the idea of coming out and someone waiting for me or that things are completely collapsed, to end up under I don't know what debris.

That's why the opportunity to get out is now, with my whole body aching from the effort and the core overload, I kept moving forward.

----------------------------------------------------------POV Kaspian Bladeheart

"Mr. Bladeheart, the mana reverberations have been fluctuating for several minutes," said one of the artificers brought in to more precisely assess the level of danger of the dungeon.

"We will wait outside; the situation is very strange, and if we have to choose a terrain to fight on, let it be advantageous for us, it is the entrance," I said as I looked at the adventurers who had been chosen to assault the dungeon.

I waited for several hours, but nothing happened; in fact, little by little, things calmed down.

When it seemed that everything had calmed down, we decided to enter to investigate what the hell happened inside; on the way, we cleaned up the mana beasts, which seemed more ferocious, and their appearances looked much more sinister, fortunately, we didn't lose anyone.

It was two whole days of investigation, where we arrived at a collapsed room covered by layers of ice and vines.

The battle marks were obvious, and the S-class beast was the loser.

What did it fight against for this place to have ended up like this, I thought as I grimaced.

Most likely, it was another S-class beast; were they fighting for their territory? Looking at the marks and spaces, the floor collapsed, and we can't go any further.

I decided to leave the investigation as it was; there were no clues that would give any indication of what happened.

I declared the Dire Tombs a dangerous zone and hired surveillance personnel to inform us of any news.

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POV Julián Kingscrown

How many days have I been walking? I didn't count them; the tiredness was weighing heavily on my eyes.

But I couldn't stop; I had recovered several of my wounds when the mana returned with the will of the phoenix, however, the fatigue I felt weighed too much on me.

Finally, I managed to find a small exit, where a baby would fit, unfortunately, I no longer had the strength to open it.

So I closed my eyes to rest, I deserved it, I had managed to escape and cover my tracks from that damn wretch.

I lay against the wall as I fell into unconsciousness, but before that, I heard the earth being cracked and the sunlight falling on my neck.

Finally, I felt a warm embrace with a very familiar scent, yes, I definitely could not forget this sensation.

----------------------------------------------------------POV Uto

"He escaped," I said to the air as a sadistic smile spread across my face.

"Hahahahaha" this is incredible, we have been mocked time and again by this person.

But I am very excited, finally someone interesting on this continent, what will his desperation taste like when he sees all the effort he has invested being torn down.

How fun it will be to see all your expressions reduced to laments, "hahahahaha" how stimulating.

I hope to meet you soon, hero.