Chapter 244: Lost relics

Chapter 244: Lost relics

The group progressed deep inside of the dungeon. There were no more golems to be found; it seemed they had all crashed into them at once, leaving only empty streets to explore. Alith brought them to the large doors she had spotted the previous time, at the very end of a street was a long flight of stairs going straight down leading to them.

And this has to be where it is, right? I couldnt check last time because it was too far down, but Im pretty sure. Actually, I should go check right now, dont you think? Before we really enter.

Be careful, Sofia said as she watched Alith already changed into her ghostly form.

Alith floated down toward the doors and phased her head through before coming back with a disgusted expression.

Is something wrong?

I dont want to fight anymore You can go without me

Seriously? You dont usually back off like that.

Is it that bad?

Its Erhm. You remember those things you told me about, Thrombbers was it? Big worms with many legs?

Yeah?

Its one of those but giant, like so big I dont even know how it got in there. Im not getting close to this thing.

Hmm. As long as its not over level 300 there shouldnt be an issue.

Ihuarah spoke up, I have never heard of such an animal and I have no qualms fighting it. Though I would suggest a cautious approach. Monstrous size alone has no intrinsic merit, but one can never be too careful around large creatures.

Cautious approach If the room is big enough I can probably send some rot in there.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

That is an idea.

Lets try it out, I still have the hand drill thing.

Sofia pierced a small hole through the door, she could summon blood through walls but [Heal undead] was harder to do the same with for some reason. Through the hole, she could see what really looked like the skin of a big Thrombber, it wasnt moving.

Maybe its already dead?

What? Sofia turned around to see Alith holding a small chest made of the same black stone. There was an empty slot for a locking mechanism carved into it. Alith opened it, revealing a pile of black dust inside.

Oh. the rot got to it Well. My mistake. Thats all there was?

Yep.

Damn. I should have thought about that. We could have easily retrieved it beforehand too

Dont bash your head over it, probably wasnt that good of an item if it disappeared that fast.

You may have a point But can we really say that when we see what the rot did to that huge thing?

Not like we can go back anyway we got four levels out of the dungeon and thats that.

After the anticlimactic end of the dungeon incursion, the trio began a slow walk through the desert. They walked north-west, toward the Elven capital, Herzal. They could have gone there faster by letting Sofia run for all three of them, but they wanted to keep talking instead. Sofia and Alith shared with Ihuarah their impressions of the world and their adventures through it, while he mainly offered a different perspective on things. Where his knowledge shined the most was geographical information. For example, they learned that the black sea mentioned on the description of the dungeons stone was located at the very north of this continent.

He had never been to the Elven capital, but he knew it existed in the red desert. It was a city much older than the system, possibly one of the oldest standing and still active cities of the world.

They were walking through the cold air of the desert at night when the ground shook slightly.

Ladies, we have company.

What is it? Sofia asked as Pareth was already out, glowing like a small sun in the night.

The growling of the desert, it can only be one thing. Sandworms. They will try to come from under and swallow us, dont let them. Move fast, and target their feelers, its best if we each handle our own, we need to separate them as much as possible, Ihuarah advised before he took some distance by fusing with their shadows on the sand.

Alright. Lets just hope theyre not as big as the one we saw last time

Heard him Pareth? If theres more than three then dont stick with me, Ill try to hunt one alone. Bookies still out of fog so we cant count on that.

Sofias armor grew out from her wings, covering her whole body, and the sword of bones appeared at the end of her staff. She dumped a bunch of bones in front of her and quickly manipulated them to form a large grid on which she stepped right as the sandworms finally attacked. They all sprung out of the sand at the same time, one of them came from under Sofia, but, unable to swallow the much too wide bone grid, it sent it flying and Sofia along with it, giving her an aerial view of the battlefield.

Theres at least twenty of them. But theyre not that big, only around fifty meters long for the largest.

The worms open maws were filled with countless concentric circles of teeth, and Sofia had a perfect view of the one right under her feet, her bone grid the only thing keeping her from falling inside before the worm hit the apex of its push and Sofia along with her bones were catapulted even higher into the sky.

Sofia felt her heartbeat accelerate, before she fell, she illuminated the whole Area with [Heal Undead]. The bunch of red sand that had been projected in every direction as the worms emerged, protecting them from much of the light, but some rot still grew on the monsters bodies. The worms mouths glew up in unison, white balls of light forming inside. Sofia wanted to check up on the others situation as she was the only one who had been launched up; but she had to focus, four of the worms were aiming at her.