Chapter 287

Chapter 287

The whole group seems to feel the tension, yet only Xavier is confused on what could be causing it. Despite that Oliver is the first to back down as he simply enters the archway without a word once he realizes that there is nothing he can do.

“What was all that about?” Xavier asks.

“We’re not letting Anna alone with Oliver.” Lexi got out through clenched teeth.

“Oh right...” Xavier said awkwardly. “The whole next head of House Goldmancer thing.”

“I’m tempted to just go to another arch and be done with it.” Ajax offers. “There isn’t anything on this floor that worries me but the next floor and if any of you want to try the one after that I might need to intervene with the person under attack and I can’t keep an eye on him all the time.”

“No chance I am clearing the third floor.” Xavier said with a shake of his head.

As an hybrid fighter it did also mean that Xavier was more spread out so he couldn’t push a specific weakness of a monsters as much as a pure mage might in a good match-up.

“We can’t just leave him.” Anna said. “He would be able to use that against you.”

With that everyone entered the arch one by one with Anna going last. The second floor biome turned out to be a multitude of snowy and icy mountain peaks. The cold wasn’t as extreme as the heat from the last floor but the change in temperature got all of them to change their outfits in a hurry. Oliver is already standing there bundled up in a warmer set of clothes.

“Is this an elemental floor?” Xavier asks with a tinge of hope.

““No”” Both Ajax and Olvier respond at the same time. “It would be much colder if it was an elemental floor, this is just a cold biome.” Ajax continues.

“Don’t go near any cave entrances, most mountainous biomes have either a bear or humanoid inhabitants.” Oliver cautioned as all of them started to move from the entrance arch once they finished getting dressed.

“We’ve got incoming.” Ajax quickly turned and looked up to see a large eagle easily twice his size coming towards them from above. “It feels like a miniboss, I’ll handle the rest of the pack if one of you wants to get their fight out of the way.”

“Should we go back to the arch we saw?” Lexi asked once the fox was dead.

“I think I see an arch there that’s closer.” Ajax denied, this time he did check the arch and what he felt was a lot of water mana, it definitely wouldn’t have affected him enough but there was almost no chance for Anna or Lexi to clear another floor if the bosses they had to kill were submerged.

There was another bear guarding this arch but Ajax was having none of it so while Oliver distracted it with an opening ranged attack Ajax was quick to get close and slam his axe into its skull killing it quickly.

Ajax was ready for a confrontation about who would go through this arch first since with the monsters on the other side being close to level forty there was a good argument for him being the first one through.

“Come on already, just go, I want to get out of here.” Xavier made sure the argument didn’t take place by simply pushing Oliver through the arch and following behind him. The mage was surprised and simply didn’t have the physical stats to respond as he was pushed through the arch.

The three of them left on this floor shared a quick laugh at Xavier’s quick thinking and Oliver's surprised expression that they got to see for all of two seconds, before they followed them to the next floor.

“What the hell?” Ajax muttered as he took a look around at the new floor while also dismissing the prompt letting him know he gained an extra +1 to all stats. The odd layout of the floor did explain why he hadn’t recognized the primary mana that he felt in the arch.

“I think we just found a jeweler's wet dream.” Lexi joked as she also stared out the the spacious cavern made of crystals.

“Well this is where I leave you.” Xavier said while ignoring the deathly glare Oliver was sending him following his stunt of pushing him through the arch. “There is no way I am killing anything that is level forty and made of rock or crystal. I’ll see you all soon.”

Following that simple declaration he quickly made his way towards the arch they just entered the floor from and stepped through it to get back outside. The words however were very on point for Anna and Lexi as well, despite them not being in quite as bad a spot as Xavier who would have to get into melee range of his enemies crystal and rock monsters were known for their high defense and endurance which could make this a futile effort for both mages.

“How about you, do you think you can kill a miniboss?” Ajax asked.

“Of course she can, there has to be one or two golems here with an obvious core that they can destroy from range, even if it does take them an attempt or two we can just let them try a few times.” Oliver didn’t even give Anna and Lexi a chance to respond as he desperately tried to put on a supportive face, he couldn’t let them back down and exit the dungeon here and now.