Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

'If he is the dungeon master of this dungeon, he is sure to notice it' Alvara thought internally. Even if this tactic failed, they can just go to the next floor and call out his name. If he doesn't appear even after that, she can just give it up.

Now that she had made up her mind, she unsheathed her sword strapped on her back and gestured to her teammates to get ready. After that, the assassin in the front gently placed his hand on the wall and pushed it.

At that moment, the underground space started trembling with the movement of the stone doors. The stone doors slowly pushed open revealing a dark chamber beyond.

GULP… needless to say, all of them were elite soldiers, knights and mage. Even without the need for any words, they could feel the tension in the air and the heavy pressure from the inside of the chamber.

Clearly, there was something inside that was releasing such a pressure. From what they deciphered from the contents of the discussion they had with the adventurers above ground, every chamber had a guardian monster inside.

It was said that they were incredibly strong, far stronger than the monster on this floor. And from the weird chill, they felt the moment the stone door opened and the dark chamber came into view, those words were proven true.

"Alright, we are going to enter this chamber and challenge the monster that is inside. I know you guys don't need me to remind it but stay on your toes and watch out for any tricks or traps that are hidden inside".

Alvara reminded curtly. She took her position as the frontline and stepped forward, followed by the warriors and knights like Burg by the side, Marbe the mage in the middle and that assassin as the rear-guard.

The moment all of them stepped inside the chamber, the stone door behind closed shut with a slam cutting off their path of retreat.

Whoosh… as if willed by an invisible intent, the stone chamber was lit up by the numerous troches that were hanging on the side walls. The stone chamber was a huge round hall made entirely of greyish stone.

The ceiling was dark and quite high. At the centre of the hall was a giant treasure chest that looked quite exquisite to look at. If it was any other adventurer, they would have immediately gone insane with greed and stepped forward towards the chest.

However, Alvara's group was different in that their profession wasn't an adventurer. Though that might be the case, the main reason they did not step forward to open that chest was because of the numerous corpses and skeletons that were on the floor slowly being absorbed by the ground.

It appeared that another party had entered this chamber before them. However, they were unlucky enough to not survive the encounter. What's more, the thing that did this to them was still inside the chamber.

A weird chill palpable enough to be felt with one's skin was in the air. Weapons were drawn and the tension was high. However, even after the group observed every corner of the hall, they couldn't see the monster that was supposedly guarding the chamber.

"What is going on? Shouldn't there be a monster guarding the chest according to those adventurers?" Burg remarked; nonetheless, he didn't relax his guard and tightly held his shield.

The group slowly walked forward and approached the treasure chest, just when they were a meter away from it, two pairs of dark brown eyes that were filled with brutality and insanity, opened up in the ceiling.

Feeling this gaze, the group instantly halted their steps and looked at the ceiling. More precisely at the glowing beast-like eyes that was dripping with murderous intent.

Although the ceiling was dark, it was still not too difficult for them to spot a vague black figure sticking to the walls.

BAM… the beast let go and dropped on the floor a few meters away from the treasure chest. It then crouched on the ground, flashed its big claws and fangs that still had blood from its previous prey on them and released a deep low growl.

The way claws were coming out of its paws and its outstretched legs made it seem like it would pounce on them at any moment.

Under that threat, Alvara's group slowly raised their weapons and circulated mana within their bodies ready to engage at any second.

The beast in front of them was more than sex meters, it had a body of a lion and the tail of a snake. The snake's tail was quite thick and covered with scales. At the end of the tail, was a snake head that had its eyes closed, and its slithery tongue hissed at them.

The guardian of the hidden chamber on floor 25th had finally shown its appearance in front of them.

"A Savage War Lion…" the assassin in the rear guard quickly identified the race of the monster in front of them.

"W-What's a Savage War Lion? Are they strong?" Burg asked readying his shield.

"What do you think? It's a species that can only be encountered deep inside the northern regions of the ghastly winding forest. According to the adventurer's association, they are one of the top predator races there and are known for their superior hunting senses" the assassin replied.

"It's level 377… all of you don't let your guard down. Burg, Lez, Rifa… I leave you all to distract it. Marba, start conjuring your strongest spell. Brett.. you and I will pincer it. Do not allow it to get to Marba" Alvara threw commands one after the other.

The group readied themselves and Marba who was the only mage capable of casting intermediate-tier lightning magic, swiftly started casting her spells. The mana inside the hall started fluctuating and the tension in the air that was stretched taut finally snapped.

The Savage War Lion being one of the top predator monsters in the northern region, quickly identified the threat that was Marba and roared. Using its powerful legs, it jumped over the three front liners and rushed towards Marba who was in a defenceless state.

"Stop him!!" Alvara hurriedly shouted.

"You aren't going anywhere!!... [Raid Guardian's Beat]" Burg slapped his sword on his shield and produced an unpleasant noise that forced the beast to shit its attention to him.

The skill that he used was one of the Normal Superior skills of the warrior class. The other two warriors lez and Lefa distanced themselves and used the [Raid Guardian's Beat] turn by turn so as to keep its attention on them and buy Marba time.

However, just like how every skill had its duration, after it ended, the savage war lion quickly snapped out of that inducement. But those few seconds were enough time for the group to encircle the beast and cut off its every path.

"[Greater Shield Defence]" when they saw the beast raising its front paws in a swiping motion towards them, they used one of their defensive skill to firmly stand on their ground.

Seeing that the warriors were capable of tanking the monster, Marba closed her eyes and pulled all her attention into completing the magic. As mana around the surrounding was set into a turbulence and the magic slowly took shape, a ferocious light flashed on the beast-like eyes of the savage war lion.

It raised its head high and growled towards the ceiling.

[ROAAARRR] a deafening roar that was like a blast of compressed sound blasted towards the ceiling and pushed all of the humans back. Alvara who was rushing towards the beast to deal it a blow hurriedly backed off and looked at its action in alarm.

She felt unease the moment the beast roared for some reason and that worry of hers was spot on.

CRICK… CRACK…

"Everyone look above" Alvara hurriedly called out with a pale face. Her comrades who followed her voice and looked above similarly had pale white faces the moment they looked up.

At this moment large debris that was more than five times the size of a man, was dropping down from the ceiling in droves. The roar earlier from the beast damaged the ceiling and caused the many rocks there to crack apart and fall.

"[Greater Shield Defence]…"

"[Air Blast]..."

The warriors and the others each used their own skill to withstand the rain of debris.

BOOM… BOOMM... one could imagine the force they brought when dropping from that height. The ground trembled and dust filled the air.

"Dammit…" Alvara cursed, she used her mastery in Gale magic to swiftly blow away the dust only to find that the beast was gone.

BAD!!

A bad premonition struck her and when she turned her head it was proven right. The Savage war lion using the debris and the dust as a distraction made its way towards the mage that represented the highest level of danger as per its hunter instinct.

"Dammit' Alvara cursed under her breath, she used a skill called [Gale Speed] to wrap the wind around her and sped towards the beast in an attempt to stop it from reaching Marba.

The mage right now was completely defenceless and didn't have the time nor the ability to dodge the ferocious claws of the beast in time.

"Leave it to me" a voice sounded out and the shadow below the beast fluctuated before the assassin came out from it. His dagger danced and he dished out multiple attacks on the underbelly of the beast.

PSHHH…

[Shadow Slash], a deep gash from which blood sprayed out wildly, opened in the underbelly of the beast stopping its attack. Using this chance, the rest of the group joined with Marba and encircled the beast once again.

"Don't give it the chance to heal, keep mounting the pressure" the assassin named Brett spoke. Clearly, he was the most experienced one here.