After getting a clue to the password of the dungeon Shade and Ezekiel split into two separate dungeon instances to try to get through the possible passwords more quickly.
Ezekiel would continue through the set he was checking and Shade would begin on another set.
If one of them happened to find the next rune then they would wait outside of the dungeon for the other to arrive.
Since Ezekiel had started the set of runes he had already been checking it meant he would complete it before Shade would finish his own.
Since he was solo now he would be getting more experience than before which was helpful but at the same time he focused on the password.
After a few more runs through the dungeon he had pressed the twenty fifth rune in the set he chose which still killed him meaning he had no idea which of the other two sets were the right one.
When he saw the dungeon entrance again he also saw Shade waiting with Hope and War God.
"Hey Belial, come join the team we have to explain what we learned."
He nodded and accepted the team invite before War God entered the dungeon to bring everyone inside.
Inside the dungeon they cleared the skeletons quickly while speaking.
"Ok so we think that the password is tied to the skeletons, there are twenty five skeletons of each of the four categories."
"There are also four types of runes wuth twenty five runes each."
As Shade explained it the other two began to get excited.
"So if we help to figure out which runes are which then we can make this go by faster right?"
Ezekiel and Shade nodded.
"Ezekiel figured out that this set of runes is not the next one meaning we have two sets left and im already working on one of them."
They began to organize how each person would handle the process.
The runes were scattered amongst the spell circle but they did have some pattern going on and if they were ro each start at an opposite end of the spell circle they could eventually find the rune that was next.
Ezekiel would be going clockwise around the spell circle and Hope would go counterclockwise for the same runes.
Layla would go counterclockwise for the runes Shade had been working on before.
Each of them wouls be in their own instances of the dungeon to speed up the process.
~
Ezekiel was getting annoyed by how boring this process was since they knew what to do now and all it took was tedious dying and repeating the dungeon.
'At least we don't have to deal with a hundred runes now... we just have to deal with twelve.'
When he looked around the entrance he saw hope.
As the number of runes that were possible to select reduced they could get through it faster and faster.
They had even reached the point where guarding from the flood of mana was easier than before and some used it to take turns training their skill.
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Now that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous as a few deaths came from recklessly guarding against the mana only to be taken out by it.
The main change came about from the group reaching the twenty fifth rune in the sequence.
Thats when shards of life mana from the ground began to erupt and try to pierce them.
These shards were made from crystalized life mana in constructs created by the spell.
Their steps were dangerous and the only duo that had an easy time during this was the girl's group since Hope had been practicing this very skill.
Ezekiel was unable to do much as his own skills with life mana were lower and he didn't know how to find the weakness of the shafds as quickly as she could.
Hope actually had to try to show him how the shards were made at a slower pace so he could see how to guard against them.
Because of her help he could at least keep then from dying but uninjured? Not by a long shot.
They simply had to make sure they were well prepared for the final process of putting the password in.
~
A few deaths later and a large process of clearing potential options lead them to the fiftieth rune, when that count was reached they were forced to guard against the threats further as the mana flood intensified and the shards of life mana became longer as if trying to hamstring them.
They were in danger with these more intense threats and most of the discoveries for the password came from Layla and Hope due to how much Ezekiel struggled against the mana constructs overwhelming his focus.
Once they reached the seventy fifth rune the intensity grew again.
At the eightieth rune it grew further.
It began to be clear that after the seventy fifth rune the intensity would grow every fifth rune they found and the danger was becoming overwhelming.
Faster constructs, more mana, longer constructs, denser mana to push them back.
The danger they were in made the door good for practicing a genuine threat but that was only when they were trying to reach the next rune.
With the final five runes to be found they relied upon Hope to actually help them guard against the life constructs while Ezekiel focused on the shadow mana.
They had recombined into one team so that once they reached the actual boss they could be ready.
They could not afford to enter the dungeon in a weakened state so they would heal the group while guarding.
Hope showed that she had even learned how to turn the life mana in her surroundings into armor but she could only use it to protect herself for now, but by keeping herself safe she could activate a healing aura.
This aura would require her to stand still and channel her life mana constantly but it constantly healed all of them at the same time.
Due to this Ezekiel could keep all of his focus on the shadow mana everytime... until they finally opened the door.