Chapter 249 No Brakes

While the chaos outside was coming to an end, the group in the dungeon had made some serious progress. With Luna being able to constantly cure their fatigue and refuel their energy, they could keep fighting until she ran out of mana.

The only issue the group ran into was having to wait for monsters to spawn which only got worse as they got stronger. Their levels now exceed 350 which was ready for tier 7, but due to how long it takes to evolve they were still tier 6.

Even though their level capped out at 350, thankfully the system still stored any extra exp gained so that when they finally evolved it would automatically level them up.

They also made sure that everyone was at the same level so there wouldn't be a gap when they were levelling.

[Shaman]

Level 207 -> 350 (+30)

[Silver]

Level 207 -> 350 (+30)

[Elysia]

208 -> 350 (+30)

[Clara]

208 -> 350 (+30)

[Elanor]

Level 206 -> 350 (+30)

Currently the group was taking a break while Luna checked on the dungeon door to see if they could leave.

"Has some of your power returned Himeko?" Clara was sitting next to Himeko catching up on small things as well as informing her about how it was going with the three-way relationship.

"I would say I'm about to break through to tier 9, but I have no idea how long it will take since I am currently using mana to fight. If I was cooped up in the cave for a week I think I would have been back by now, but this is the first time I have done this so there is no telling when exactly I'll make a full recovery." Himeko could only give a rough estimation as it had been years since she was tier 8 making it hard to gauge her own level.

"Maybe we could give Himeko a system." Shaman overheard what Clara and Himeko were talking about giving Shaman the idea.

"Are you sure? I feel like she doesn't need it, unlike me." Elanor sat across from Shaman worried that the system may stunt Himeko's growth.

"It's not a matter of needing it, but I feel like she will just benefit from it. She doesn't even need to stay in our group since there is no restriction as long as she doesn't betray us." Shaman took inspiration from Freja in how she used her system. It was used as a tool to enhance the people around her, so she thought that giving Himeko a system would just make her stronger.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea, but is she even eligible let alone allowed? I swear there was some restriction on it." Elysia liked the idea, but she remembered something about the conditions when she first got the system.

[It is up to Shaman to decide the conditions for Himeko since Shaman technically can control the system contract details. However, I still have to approve the terms as I can already see you taking full advantage of that.] Rea had never bothered to elaborate on grant system skill since the terms were already quite fair.

"That would have been nice to know... But I guess I never really read it after giving it to Elysia." Shaman felt like Rea should have said something, but at the same time, Shaman never bothered with it as there were no reasons to.

[I believe I said something that in the future you could manipulate it more, but that was months ago now.] Rea couldn't recall it too well, but she was sure she left some disclaimer.

"Oh well, good thing we know now since it may need some changing for Himeko." Elysia opened up her system and briefly skimmed the conditions. There were some conditions that were a bit restrictive which would make it very difficult for Himeko.

"Although it doesn't matter to us, I can see the max distance being an issue for her, although I don't know how far that is." Silver was looking through his system contract and the maxim distance they can be away from Shaman is 50,000 km

[Uhhh unless Himeko achieves space travel then that is impossible to reach. This is just the maximum range that the system can handle.] Rea didn't think that they would ever reach that distance so it was a rather negligible restriction and was more of an FYI note from Rea.

"Now that I am looking at it, there really isn't much to change. The only thing worth changing is extending the period of time in which she must communicate to at least a year and removing the need to meet physically every few months." Shaman understood why these conditions were there, just in case that the person she gave a system to ran off with it. Without that communication then there was no way of knowing if said person would betray Shaman.

However, it would be rather inconvenient to do it regularly with Himeko who could end up being gone for a few months at a time.

"We need to see what she will do first since there isn't a home for her to go back to." Elysia realised that Himeko no longer has a place to stay, so there was a high chance of her staying with them.

"I don't mind Himeko joining, her tanking abilities are amazing which is something we kinda need." Elanor had grown to like Himeko in the short time being with her, not to mention her contributions in battle. It was quite often that Himeko would jump in to protect Elanor when things got a little complicated.

"Let's ask once we are out of here since it's ultimately her decision." Shaman felt they were getting a little too ahead of themselves as there was no telling what Himeko will do. Freja might have some plans for her which Shaman didn't want to get in the way of.

"Sounds good, it also looks like Luna is back." Elysia spotted Luna walking back down the dungeon stairs with a rather disappointed look.

"Any updates on the door?!" Shaman waited for Luna to get closer before yelling.

"Sadly no, so let's go kill the boss." Stress was building for Luna as they had been in the dungeon for well over 2 hours now. The only hope she had was the fact Issac's wall didn't disintegrate meaning he was alive.

"Anything we should keep in mind, miss healer?" Himeko wanted to know any details as it would dictate how she would approach tanking. If it was a large monster then she would have to go all-out on defence, but if it is a nimble monster then she'd choose a counter-attacking style.

"The boss can take 2 forms. One is a giant molten human with very destructive attacks, the other will be our size making him a condensed monster of pure magma. You will see what I mean when we get there." Luna figured showing would be better than telling as both forms differed greatly in how they attack, so they wouldn't know what to prepare for until they got to the boss's room.

"Is everyone ready then?" Himeko figured they had rested enough so the sooner they moved on the better.

"If you need, I can cast a rejuvenation spell." Luna wanted everyone to be at their best, especially since the boss is quite a jump in power from the regular monsters.

"We should all be okay." Shaman looked around checking for herself if anyone needed anything, but everyone was ready to go.

"Let's get going then, the entrance to the boss room is at the peak of the tallest volcano here." Luna pointed her staff to the corner of the dungeon space where there was a mountain-sized volcano. Even though it was only a dormant volcano, it still made the boss encounter plenty intimidating.

"Hope it doesn't erupt." Clara said out loud what the entire group was thinking.

"Don't say that!" Elysia now felt like a curse fell upon them guaranteeing that it will erupt once they get there.

"Haha, don't panic. It won't erupt unless the boss goes berserk so just kill him fast enough before that happens." Luna saw the teasing potential so she lied that the boss could cause an eruption.

"Should we even be fighting it then?" Shaman wasn't so confident anymore as it sounded like the boss could instantly kill them.

"Don't worry I should be able to protect you all since I can use magma." Himeko didn't panic at all since one of her main elements was magma. This put everyone at ease, but Luna pouted as Himeko swatted away her teasing attempt.

With nothing else left to be said, the group traversed through the volcanic lands towards the boss. They encountered a few groups of enemies, but at this point, it was a rinse-and-repeat formula.

Himeko would keep their attention while the others took down a monster each. At this point it took them no more than 10 seconds to clear, and so it wasn't long until they reached the foot of the volcano.

"Didn't know climbing was a part of it." Silver thought there would have been some kind of path leading to the top, but there was nothing of the sort.

"Better get climbing, plus you have me so let me know as soon as you need a spell." Luna giggled as Silver's reaction was rather adorable.

"I hope this goes quickly." Silver couldn't really complain as Luna literally made it impossible for them to be exhausted.