The pond rippled as the group approached on the floating platform of earth. Large droplets of water splashing off to the grass surrounding it in viscous masses that pulled moisture from the lush grass, leaving little more than dried husks and cracked earth below them.
Level fifty six Slimes, to Zoe’s identify. The boss, she wondered?
Zoe formed three dozen small Frost projectiles and flashed an explosive enchantment with all of her Seasoned Persistence’s elements on them, then fired them all off at the rippling pond below them. The water exploded in a flash of steam and dust which was blown away by a gust of wind from what must have been Eliza, she assumed.
All that was left were two slimes wriggling their way down into the blackened pit. Two bolts of lightning smashed into them, blowing their forms apart and splashing water on the dried ground.
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Eliza pushed the earthen platform around the dungeon for another hour, bringing them down to any source of water that looked somewhat promising but all they could find were smaller individual slimes at around the early to mid thirties.
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Eliza pushed the earthen platform towards the entrance and set them down at the base of the staircase. The next dungeon was further down the main hallway they’d been walking through, nearly a thirty minute walk just to get to the door.
But rather than a staircase leading down, beyond the staircase was a vast, dark pit stretching as far as Zoe could see in any direction. And again, the mana didn’t seem any different to Zoe, behaving the same as it did in the rest of the springs.
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Eliza nodded, and the platform began drifting downwards. After several minutes, the jagged rocky floor came into sight at the edge of Eliza’s balls of flame, and she settled the earthen platform just above the tallest spikes.
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Eliza shook her head. “These only work in a certain range from me. They’re not a skill on their own anyway.”
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Lila nodded. “Yup, I’ll be okay.”
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Lila held out her hand, and Zoe grabbed it. Mana swirled around them, settling into Lila’s hand and Zoe’s shoulder as Eliza lifted them back up to the entrance.
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Zoe nodded. “Yup. Anywhere around roughly here, don’t go too far. You sure you’ll be alright?"
Lila nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
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Zoe nodded.
Eliza nodded back, dropping the platform back down to the floor and then along the wall. Following the wall was difficult at times as outside of the small section they’d arrived at, none of it was very flat. It curved and bent around, with small nooks hollowed out into the wall or up on platforms just above their head. None very large, and at least on the ground there didn’t seem to be any more connecting tunnels in the walls.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The drakes themselves were much less imposing than Zoe had expected them to be, compared to the genuine dragon she’d witnessed down in the valleys. They were feathered beasts more akin to a very large hawk with powerful fangs than the scaled dragons she’d been imagining. None were very powerful and most left them alone if they didn’t get too close, anyway.
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Eliza nodded. “I do want to see if killing it would give us some kind of notification finally, but I suspect we won’t get anything unless we were to kill the boss of the springs.”
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Eliza raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond.
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Eliza nodded. “There’s one in Korna, one of the noble families has it. And another just outside the capital. I never like them.”
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Eliza nodded and they took another quick lap around the bottom of the cavern while Eliza counted to herself. After she’d finished, she floated them along the length of the wall as she counted half the length of it, and then out into the center of the cavern as she counted half the width of it.
When they arrived in what they assumed to be the center of the room, Eliza floated the platform all the way up to the ceiling, but they still found nothing.
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Zoe focused on the tug on her shoulder, then pointed in the direction where she felt it pulling her towards. Eliza pushed the platform over towards it, but as they approached the distant wall, Zoe noticed Lila seemed much further away than she should be. The feeling was pulling her somewhere further than just the edge of the wall, even further than into the hallway.
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The platform sped up as panic rose within Eliza and they soon found themselves at the rough, uneven wall closest to Lila’s direction.
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Mana rushed out of Eliza and tore into the wall, ripping large chunks of stone out and tossing it into the pit below.
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Zoe nodded and pushed mana into her own skill, ripping out even more rocks that clattered to the floor far below them. In seconds they’d carved a tunnel several dozen feet deep, with no signs of getting closer to Lila or breaking into another room.
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Eliza sighed. “Don’t do it. I’ve grown to like you.”
Zoe pushed some of her mana into the earth around Jeffrey, wrapping him in a dense suit of hematite that grew out of the floor and walls, stopping his movement.
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The two women continued carving their way through the earth, and in a few more seconds hit a familiar looking metal wall. Eliza summoned a translucent green sword and cut through the metal, creating an opening large enough for them to squeeze through into the hallway beyond.
The hallway split off to their left and right, with a very surprised looking group of goblins chittering to their left. A wall of earth shot up from the ground, blocking their passage as Eliza sliced through the other side of the hallway and continued digging.
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Eliza clicked her tongue.
In a few more seconds, they ran into another metal wall that Eliza sliced through, revealing a room that looked much the same as the one they had been put in when they first arrived. Lila was sitting on the bed reading a book and looked up when Eliza and Zoe broke into her room.
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Eliza took a few slow, deep breaths. “I was so worried. I thought something terrible happened.”
Lila chuckled. “I would have sent you a message if something bad happened. I suppose I should have sent a message anyway though just to tell you I was okay. I’m sorry, I thought your skill would still bring you back.”
Zoe shook her head. “I just get your general direction. Which was not near the entrance anymore. We ended up digging through the dungeon to get here.”
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Zoe nodded. “I’ll stay. I’m still gonna meet the boss. I’ll go rescue Jeffrey and see if I can’t convince him to let me see the boss still. You two need help getting out?”
Eliza nodded. “If it’s not too much to ask, yes please. I guess we can just keep digging up until we’re out.”
Zoe laughed. “Good a plan as any other. I’m going to go rescue Jeffrey first though just in case the dungeon’s mana tries to fill in our tunnel again and crushes him or something.”
Eliza nodded as Zoe teleported back down her tunnel to where Jeffrey was still shouting. The hematite surrounding him ripped away from the wall and Zoe put her hand on his head, then teleported them back up to the room Lila was staying in.
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Eliza sighed. “Terrible. We couldn’t find the boss.”
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