Chapter 437: Siege Magic.

Chapter 437: Siege Magic.

So this is it? Reminds me of my first dungeon, but its even larger.

Roland looked out into the distance where he saw a somewhat gloomy scenery. They had followed a wide set of stairs down and arrived below ground where the air felt cooler and the atmosphere thicker. The entrance led them to a vast expanse filled with gloomy trees, fog, and gloomy swamplands. The swamp area seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions with twisted trees and murky water making it difficult to discern any clear path. The low visibility and eerie silence added an unsettling vibe to the surroundings.

Professor Ulfine took the lead and confidently guided the group towards the entrance of this large dungeon. While it was hard to see an ending to these swamps, they were still underground and surrounded by rocky walls. This place was quite large but it was not endless. However, the low visibility could cause people to lose direction and end up wandering for many days.

Those blue lights in the distance, those must be the will-o'-wisps.

While the students were taking in the sights and shivering from the drop in temperature he took his time to look around. This place was apparently filled with low-level spectral monsters like the will-o'-wisp. The Spiritualist Professor that he was looking for resided in this place and he needed to find them before the advancement classes were over.

The monsters here were rather trivial and there was no reason to even fear specters. There was a good reason why a mage academy was built near this particular dungeon. While people with regular battle classes would find it hard to damage these beings without special weapons, this wasnt the case for mages. These specters were quite susceptible to spells and other attacks backed by mana.

Hm I wonder if the weakness to mana has anything to do with the mana phantom and why I can see it with my skill? Maybe the mana can disrupt it in some way?

Roland pondered mana theory and the students descended into the dungeon. The excitement and chatter that had accompanied them on the surface began to dwindle. Soon the oppressive atmosphere of the swamp seemed to weigh on their shoulders and the occasional croaking of unseen creatures added to the tension.

Did you hear that? What was that?

Lucienne asked one of her friends while the strange monster sounds echoed from a distance. Atasunas ears curled up slightly as the two girls looked around in fear.

I dont know, but I dont like it here

What are you two scared about, there is nothing to be scared about!

Replied Marlein in a braver tone but her two roommates quickly noticed that something wasnt right.

Say that after you stop shaking like a little baby.

Im just cold!

Sure you are!

The talk between the three girls stopped him from thinking about mana and instead focused on the problem at hand. After leaving the inn they stayed in they met up with some adventurers from the city. They came along with them and would act as a second layer of protection for the kids here.

There should be no way of anything going wrong but he still needed to watch out for potential danger. Any of these people could have been hired by their enemies or others could already be waiting for them inside of this dungeon. This place was quite large, almost the size of the underground portion of the Albrook dungeon. With all the fog, water, and strange sounds it was quite difficult to maneuver through here, for anyone without a mapping device that is.

Name :

Wilbur L75

Classes

T2 Axeman L25

T1 Axe Warrior L25

T1 Warrior L25

They are all kind of weak

Name :

Bente Polampes L65

Classes

T2 Knight L15

T1 Squire L25

The perfect area of effect farm huh? They are slow and wont move out of the designated spot after being moved around.

Roland could tell that some thought went into setting up this advancement class and made him wonder what type of creature they picked for the harder version of this class. It piqued his interest as on the lower floors a lot of poison could be found as well as undead zombies, and other unsavory creatures.

Let us begin then, focus the spell on the marker.

Eventually, a large number of toads made their way to the designated spot, which was a large tree. Around this tree, he could see a red cloth that had been tied previously by one of the hired helpers. This cloth was there to help the conduit caster focus on something while channeling the spell. His gaze fell back to his sister who was in the middle of the siege spell formation, acting as the focal point of the spell.

Lucienne took a deep breath and her hands trembled slightly as she concentrated. The air around her crackled with magical energy as the students around her channeled their mana toward her who was the conduit. Above her head, a swirling blue mist started to appear which began surging towards her body with which she needed to control it.

Remember, precision is key, and dont forget to vocalize the spell and synchronize your breathing with each other.

Source of all magic, heed our call

There they go just like me in the old days huh?

He could hear the kids chanting the spell in unison, it was as if they were a choir in a church. As the students continued chanting, Lucienne's focus intensified. The swirling mist above her head gathered and condensed into a radiant blue ball of energy. The students who were now synchronized in their chanting let their mana be guided towards the conduit whose job was to aim the spell towards the designated target.

Awaken, the power within, let it flow through our veins

Roland was watching the display from the side and flinching a bit at the wording. Even after all this time, he could still not get used to the way the chanting worked in this world. The words just sounded over-dramatized and corny. However, there was power within those words and the power that was being produced was no joke.

With this amount of mana, they would probably be able to defeat a tier 2 monster if they could hit it though.

The air crackled with energy and the blue ball above Lucienne's head grew brighter. Even the adventurers hired to lure the toads watched with curiosity as they only had limited exposure to mages. Roland observed the formation with interest as it was a novel event even for him. With the help of his skills, he started to identify some similarities to rune-casting and how he enhanced some of his self-created spells.

I guess runes are just an emulation of spell casting, but emulation doesnt mean that its inferior.

He started recalling old console games from his youth which he played with the help of emulation. These emulators ran with the help of his computer and had to be more powerful than the initial console. While this seemed like a big drawback it also brought some bonuses, such as running the games with better shaders or unlocking frame limiters. Something a bit similar to how he could produce more powerful spells with runic magic but needed to spend a lot more mana on them.

Now, release!

The time to end the spell had come and Lucienne thrust her hands forward. Everything seemed fine and he was seeing quite the light show while using his Eyes of Mana skill. It allowed him to see the many tiny connections that looked like multiple threads connecting all the students with Lucienne in the middle. A complex web of energy was created before him and it was almost time to let the mana burst forth.

Huh?

However, a problem arose during the last major part of the spell. It was when the connection from the other mages was ending and the spell would be in Luciennes hands by itself. There was a few seconds for her to toss it at the target. If she didnt there was a chance of the mana going berserk and exploding. It was not something that happened often, not even amid battle without some interference from outside that is.

Roland who had activated his special eye skill saw something, a phantom of mana shooting into the ball of raging mana. He instantly knew that this was foul play and that he needed to act now. Without saying a thing, he charged forward, his armor under his robe lighting up with various runic symbols.

Hey, what are you doing?

There is no time, that spell is going to go berserk.

Professor Ulfine reached out with her hand towards Roland who charged towards the students. Her question was answered quickly as she now felt that something was wrong with the siege spell. The mana orb above Luciennes head started shifting around and crackling with magical energies that were ready to explode.

The other students, adventurers, and even Professor Ernas finally noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere. Murmurs of concern spread through the group as they watched Lucienne struggle to control the surging mana. The other students were also close by and panic started to set in. They knew that if this spell were to go berserk, they would be unable to get out of this in one piece.

How could this be?

Ernas panicked but was a bit slow on the uptake. It seemed that the deterioration had been quickened and performing a shielding spell would be too slow.

The deterioration process is too fast, Thunderclaw

Ulfine noticed it too and quickly tried to order her tamed beast to put its body at risk to protect the students. However, she also noticed that there was no need for this as someone else had already arrived at the scene. Roland had moved before the others had even begun to notice that something was off and stood right in the middle of the formation of the students.

The explosion rocked the swamp dungeon and caused a shockwave that sent ripples through the murky water and twisted trees. The force of the explosion knocked by the adventurers close by along with some of the knights that were attempting to charge in to save the young mages. All of them were late but as the dust settled and magical energies faded away, all the students involved in the spell were still standing.

Amid the group the new Assistant Professor stood, his magical energies created multiple small shield bubbles to protect each and every student, including the conduit that was Lucienne. While everyone gave out a unanimous sigh of relief, Rolands eyes were darting around. He knew that this was no accident and that someone had intended to murder his sister, with the other students as collateral damage