The Runesmith

Chapter 358: Hesitating.

‘The one in the middle looks different than the others… is that person, not an adventurer or something?’

Roland was moving through some corridors that were luckily monster free. All the dots representing them had probably moved into the chamber containing the party of adventurers. Inside his HUD, he could see a group of five larger green dots surrounding a smaller one in the middle.

This device detected mana patterns and could also somewhat measure a person’s level. Depending on a few factors it would change the size of the dot on the screen. When comparing the other ones to the one in the middle there was a clear difference. It was as if the person in the middle was not part of the group and maybe didn’t even possess a combat class.

‘Could it be their porter?’

That was a possibility, some people still used the services of porters. However, when it came to B and above ranked dungeons, this role was given to actual adventurers. Someone above level one hundred that could carry a large spatial backpack and maneuver was needed. It wasn’t strange to have to retreat, having a regular person come along was a recipe for disaster.

“Agni, stay behind me for now, and don’t show yourself unless I say so.”

“Woof!”

Agni was smart enough to know what Roland was afraid of. Even without mentioning it he returned to his regular ruby wolf form. Even if he wasn’t capable of using his divine attacking spells, it was possible for Roland to utilize his. It wouldn’t be that hard to explain the usage of divine spells if he was performing them. He could go with the use of crystals bought from the church or say that he just had his armor charged by a priest beforehand. Before showing himself he needed to observe the situation, perhaps his help would not be needed.

‘They should be just around this corner.’

While moving his hand up to make Agni stop he inserted another map sensor into the nearby wall. After its activation, he got a better idea of what he was working with and the full number of potential enemies that could be lurking down there. His armor display was capable of presenting him with the monster count almost instantly. If the mana patterns belonged to previously encountered beings it could also categorize them. These could be customized but he usually liked to put ranged and magical monsters into a separate group. Focusing on them was usually more important than on the melee ones.

‘There is one Infernal Lich in the group, his level is higher than the one that I faced…’

He wasn’t sure how the group of adventurers let themselves be surrounded by a high-level Lich but it wasn’t looking good. The monster had two Guardians next to himself along with a backline of archers. Most of the group consisted of Berserker skeletons with two or three champions mixed into the group. These close-ranged monsters were charging at a group of five adventurers and one extra person.

‘They set up a perimeter in the middle… but they are sitting ducks down there, was there something there?’

Roland wasn’t sure how these people got themselves in this predicament but the cave that they found themselves in gave him an idea. The tunnel he arrived here through left him up on high ground. The way forward was cut short as he arrived at a ledge. When glancing down he could see some holes in the rocks that could be used for going down.

‘They must have climbed down to get to that altar, this explains a lot…’

His mapping device wasn’t perfect as he could only see everything as a flat surface. Inside this huge cavern, there was something that looked like a ritualistic altar. It looked like a pyramid with the top flattened. On this flattened space a rectangular slab of rock with strange occult-looking symbols resided. On top of it, he could see some rocks that had probably been used to go around a weighting mechanism. These were quite common in dungeons and triggered the moment something was removed from on top of them.

‘They must have misjudged the weight or a secondary trap was triggered.’

There were a few possibilities here, either the monsters appeared after the item was taken or some type of alarm was triggered. Roland assumed that it was the latter that took place as before he arrived here he could see various monsters from within the dungeon swarming to this location. This trap probably had a command that forced monsters from this level to swarm from all sides.

All things weren’t bad as thanks to this strange-looking temple altar in the middle, the group of adventurers had the high ground advantage. All the monsters were trying to climb up the stairs while getting hit by ranged attacks. This group of six had two people that had bows that were emptying their arrows on the berserkers.

They were using some special arrows covered in some strange alchemical concoction. At first glance, it looked like alchemical oil that when lit would burn monsters quite well. However, the color was different as it was blue instead of the usual red. Using fire against Infernal Skeletons was also not the greatest strategy as they were immune to the flames. These blue ones, on the other hand, were somehow corroding their bones and successfully slowing them down.

Besides these two archers, there was one large man with a shield and mace. He somewhat resembled the guild master with how bald his head was but he was not as tall. Another man was equipped with a long spear that he used in combination with the tanker of the group. While the man stopped the skeletal berserkerʼs advance with his strength, the other would shoot forth some type of spear skill.

This skill would make the long weapon move at quite an astonishing speed. When connecting with the monster’s body it would create a large circular hole. It was as if an explosion was triggered the moment the tip of his long spear connected with the monster. Perhaps if they were up against fleshier enemies this skill would have been of more use. Against monsters that could move with parts of their bodies missing it was ineffective and forced the man with the shield to take more hits while trying to stall.

Then there was the third person that was holding onto two swords. In his right hand, he had a longsword, and in the left a shortsword. His position was more in the middle where the sixth and most unique person from this group was standing. All of the other five were just humans with maybe the person holding the shield having an usual frame. The middle person on the other hand was much shorter than everyone.

‘Is that a Gnome? What is someone like that doing down in a dungeon?’

There were various humanoid races in this world with many of their own quirks. Dwarves for instance loved crafting and usually focused on it but not as much as Gnomes. This race didn’t possess robust bodies that were capable of exerting a lot of force. Instead, they were blessed with brilliant minds and dexterous fingers.

When it came to their professions they rarely became adventurers due to the lack of combat classes they could receive. Instead, they made potent potion makers or mages that didn’t require much physical strength. Just like Dwarves, this smaller race had one profession in particular that they were proud of.

‘Judging by those small flasks he is probably an alchemist or some type of potion maker.’

There were multiple classes that specialized in making potions and concoctions. It was somewhat similar when compared to Enchantsmiths and Runesmiths. In their case, an Alchemist went above other potion-making and material-producing classes. They weren’t as limited as the others and could combine separate professions into one.

“Why did I hire a bunch of idiots like you? How did you get the weight wrong on a simple trap like this? Even after I used all those expensive ingredients…”

While he was examining the situation and using his helmet as a set of binoculars he heard the gnome talk. He seemed to be mad about something and judging by what he was seating, these five were just hired mercenaries. His voice didn’t sound that old by human standards; he could have been someone in his early thirties. It was somewhat hard to measure an age of a gnome as their faces were usually covered by a lot of facial hair.

“Shut up and use those holy potions, do you want us all to die?”

“Damn, crooks! I’ll remember this! You’ll pay me for every single one of these.”

Roland still didn’t decide to move as for the time being the group was holding out. The moment holy potions were mentioned the gnome started rummaging through one of his many spatial bags. From one he pulled out a potion that had a somewhat orange coloring to it. The subtle glow that it was radiating and the previous name made it obvious what it was.

The gnome looked angry but he started handing out those potions that made their way into the hands of the adventurers. There were two ways of these being used. The archers started coating some of their arrows with the concoctions while the others just threw them onto the close by skeletal berserkers. The effect was quite similar to his own divine spells as the monsters were instantly affected by a debuff.

It started looking like the group would be victorious. With the help of the alchemical concoctions, they were able to deliver a lot of damage to the charging monsters. They became weaker due to the debuff and after coating their weapons in the liquid, the weapons started going through their bones like it was butter.

‘Can they do it?’

Roland was actually glad at the pushback as this meant that he would probably not need to involve himself in this fight. However, there was one big problem that this group forgot about and it was the Lich. Even though the skeletal champions and berserkers were down on the ground their bones started to move. When glancing over to the high level lich, it was obvious that it was the perpetrator.

‘It can resurrect them?’

His experience was limited to the monster he defeated inside his workshop. That one created its minions from the corpses of people or with the help of a unique skill. This one on the other hand seemed to be able to empower and also conserve the regular dungeon skeletons. It was probably due to them being inside of a dungeon that spawned these same creatures constantly.

“Shit, we need to get that Lich or we are all dead, take it out!”

The man with the dual blades pointed at the casting monster in the distance. One of the archers took aim and empowered his arrow with a skill. It looked similar to the one the sun elf used from the platinum party he knew. The arrow was shut upwards and made a nice arc in the direction of the creature’s head. It started shifting around in mid-air as the monster noticed, it was obviously keeping track of the monster’s location as per the skill.

“Shit, can’t you do something about those guardians?”

Even though the arrow was coated in the holy potion it didn’t connect with the right monster. Instead, it collided with a large tower shield that was being held by one of the skeletons near the Lich. These two guardian skeletons that were specialized in defending started intercepting all the arrows. The divine energy that was imbued into the arrows didn’t fare well against cold metal that their bulky armors were made of.

‘They won’t be able to get to the Lich like that…’

As the group failed to kill the spell caster it was able to finish its spell to restore the defeated monsters. With their vigor regained they all tossed themselves into battle once more, even when they were destroyed again it didn’t take long for their bones to start wiggling around.

“We need to kill that Lich or we’ll die here.”

“Then kill it already!”

“We are trying to!”

“Why don’t we just run, we might be able to make it for that ledge?”

“The ledge?”

The gnome asked the man with the swords while he was forced to help out his party members with some of the charging skeletons. The area that was pointed to was in the opposite direction of where Roland was sitting. It had the lowest concentration of monsters but had a problem.

“We’ll never make it, do you think the monsters will just let us climb the wall?”

“Can’t we distract them with something? I know, give me a moment and Iʼll make something.”

“You’ll make something?”

“Leader, we can’t hold them… What should we do?”

At this point, the tide was shifting and Roland was ready to intervene. While he didn’t want to get involved, letting people die if he could do something about it was not his style. However, before he could even start something unexpected occurred. As the gnome was trying to prepare some mixture the leader of the adventurers grabbed him.

“What are you doing?”

“We do need someone to distract the monsters… I’m sorry but I have to prioritize my men.”

‘Are they betraying that gnome?’

It was probably a move of desperation but the leader decided to toss the smallest person in the opposite direction of where the others were running. The plan was simple and had some merit to it. Before the throw happened the leader doused the gnome in some leftover divine potions. Undead monsters were drawn to these energies and would prioritize the gnome that was drenched in the potions.

‘This is becoming problematic, I should have not hesitated this much.’

For a moment he hesitated as now even the adventurers that he was going to help out might want him dead. He had witnessed a murder attempt play out in front of his eyes. If those five saw him rescue the alchemist it would complicate things. They would probably not want a witness to their crime to be left alive. Luckily with all these monsters around, they couldn’t really chase after him or the gnome he was going for.

“Agni, I need you to grab that gnome and retreat here, I’ll keep those monsters and that Lich busy, can you do that?”

“Awoo!”

Agni moved forward as the two left from behind the rocks they were hiding behind. The gnome he wanted to rescue had just landed on the ground while being drenched in golden-like liquids. While things didn’t look good, helping out just one person was easier than saving a whole group of six. Defeating all of the monsters in this large cavern wasn’t his goal.

….

Just like the leader of the platinum party expected, the monsters were drawn to the divine mana wavelength that the gnome was covered in. With the path becoming mostly clear they just needed to push a few undead skeletons out of the way to get to the wall. Climbing it wouldn’t take that long and then they would be safe.

“W-what’s that?”

To their surprise, while they were running away a hail of strange golden bolts entered the cavern. This light show lit up the dark cavern that was previously only illuminated by a few torches and the flames of the undead monsters eyes. They started connecting with the multiple skeletons in the area and even caused some to collapse from direct hits to their undead cores.

“Leader, there is someone there!”

One of the archers pointed into the distance where they could see a large armored man emerging from the shadows. There were strange four floating cubes around his body and they were lighting up the whole place. These seemed to be the source of the light show happening now but before they could focus a loud howl filled the entire chamber. For a moment they felt their body freezing up a telltale sign of a stunning skill taking effect.

“What’s a Ruby Dire Wolf doing here and why is it carrying off that damn gnome?”

The five were shocked as they witnessed the monster appear out of nowhere. It blasted some of the skeletons with its flame breath to make some space before grabbing the gnome between its fangs. At first, it looked like it was trying to eat him but soon it became clear that it was just holding onto his backpack. It vanished soon after jumping all over the place at an intense pace.

Before they could take a better glance at what was happening an even more intense light filled out the area. It came from the direction of the armored man and the source was his chest. A thick beam of light was produced and connected with one of the guardian skeletons that were defending the Lich. The monster defended against it with the help of its thick tower shield that was augmented by the Lich’s spell.

Yet, even with the help of magic, it couldn’t last for more than a few seconds before it pierced through it. The monster that gave them so much trouble was hit by the ray of light and various ricochets of energy were blasted everywhere. This strange occurrence continued as the man clad in bulky armor quickly retreated without even saying a word.

“... Did he just…”

“Leader!”

“What now?”

“The Skeletons, they are coming our way!”

“Shit, start climbing you morons!”

The group was stunned by the appearance of the third party so much that they forgot to climb up the wall and escape. Now they had the remnants of the skeletal fiends chasing after them as there were no other targets in their field of vision.