Aster's party gathered around, finishing their breakfast and rearranging their consumables. They prepared for whatever was waiting for them at the last path, the leftmost path, presumably the one leading to the center of the crypt.
"Let's go," Aster muttered in a nervous tone.
They have already experienced traps on the rest of the paths, so they already have a formation specifically for avoiding those traps. Kali at the lead, in charge of detecting traps; Tina and Liz behind her, in case she fails; Cassy and Lory in the middle, the safest location; and Aster at the back, acting as the rear guard.
It wasn't that different from their usual formation, specifically because they were already used to it.
"Don't step on this tile; it's a trap switch," Kali warned as she dropped a scrap of paper in front of it as a marker.
Of course, Kali was an assassin and not a thief, so she couldn't find out what sort of trap it was with her skills. Still, she could use her passive "Danger Detection" which could allow her to see dangers in the floor and walls.
Switches, trapdoors, tripwires, and many others. They bypassed all of them carefully, spending over two hours on just that one passage.
"How long is this thing?" Aster wondered, feeling that they were walking endlessly.
"Judging from the increased frequency of traps, and comparing it to the longest passage we passed yesterday, it should end soon," Kali explained calmly without even turning around.
Just as she declared, about thirty minutes later, they finally reached the end of the passage. What awaited them was the same kind of door around the entrance—practically identical.
"Weakling, it's your turn again." Kali ushered him. "There's no trap on the door; don't worry."
Aster snickered before walking forward. "I'm not even sure if they're the same, but... here goes. Vornak Kryzor Miltryn Scalvok Hyslor!"
*CREAK!* *RUMBLE!* *RUMBLE!*
Thankfully, the password worked. The door started to swing open, and along with it came a stronger stench of rotting meat. It was so strong that even Aster, who had gotten used to the smell previously, frowned in displeasure.
He quickly put on the mask that was hanging around his neck and took a deep breath.
"That was unpleasant." He muttered. "Anyway, everyone, be careful."
They moved forward in the same formation, with their lights scanning the place curiously. The door led to a wide, dome-shaped space. In the middle of it were eight sarcophagi lined up neatly. Each one was about two and a half meters in length, meaning either the ones inside it were really tall, or they were placed inside it with plenty of space to spare. Your journey continues on m v|l--novelhall.net
And right after the lid opened, eight figures started to rise from their rest. Each of them was covered in white bandages from head to toe, making it quite obvious what they were.
"Mummies!" Kali exclaimed in surprise. "Careful! Mummies are supposed to appear on the 50th floor! It might be an irregular, the same with the Spectral Warden case!"
"Fifty?! Then it's level..." Aster gritted his teeth.
Without a doubt, it's another monster at the level limit for the current floor! And on the fifth floor, the strongest monster is around level 12, meaning, the mummies before them could potentially be level 22! That's over ten levels higher than their current average!
'Furthermore, we're outnumbered.'
There were six of them and eight of the mummies. It was obvious that they would be at a disadvantage!
"Cassy! Cast your best area healing spell on them!" Aster commanded immediately.
"Heal? The monsters?!" Cassy herself was skeptical, but she still followed his words. "Tertie Sirreo fen Cura! Great Heal!"
A third-tier spell! It was something that Cassy just learned, and could only use once a day for now, but she still used it without hesitation!
The floor around the eight sarcophagi glowed a golden light, as the mummies started to groan in pain. Black smoke came out of their bodies as if they were getting burned by Cassy's heal.
"W-What? What's going on?"
"This is..."
"..."
It was the first time the girls saw such a phenomenon; however, to Aster, it was common sense.
"Undead monsters are weak against heals!" He exclaimed as he put mana on his sword and attacked. "Mana Slash!"
A wave rushed forward, and hit one of the mummies, causing the bandage on its chest area to loosen. As it did, more and more black smoke started to escape from its body, revealing the rotten flesh within.
"Good! It's working!" he exclaimed. "Everyone, charge!"