The Runesmith

“This is a message from the adventurers guild, please evacuate the dungeon, a high-level tier 3 Lich has been spotted in the lava region, if you see it do not engage and move to the higher levels in an orderly fashion… I repeat a tier 3 Lich has been …”

“Huh, what is that?”

“Is that some kind of golem?”

A group of five adventurers spotted a blue spider creature quickly moving around the area. It was quite a bit away from them but the loud message that was running on repeat could be easily heard by them. This quintet of adventurers had just arrived in the lower region and was now unsure of what to do. If they believed in the words that were being played, then the best way of surviving was to go to the higher levels or even inside.

“Hey, did that thing say that it's unknown if the monster can go to the upper levels?”

“Is something like that even possible?”

“I think there was something like this a few years back, a high-level orc monster appeared in a low-level dungeon and went on a killing spree… maybe we should go?”

The party looked at each other, they were not in any danger of starving anytime soon. There was no reason for them to put themselves in any danger. There was a possibility of this being some kind of ruse. Perhaps a rare monster did appear and whoever sent out this golem was trying to keep people away while they killed it.

However, this was a far-fetched theory as quite a few adventurers knew to who these spider drones belonged. Wayland the runesmith was close to being a household name in the city and this mechanical contraption even had his logo on it. If this was some kind of scheme to get people out of the dungeon then it was very sloppy. A punishment from the guild would be in order for attempting to evacuate people under false pretenses.

“Should we just wait for now? It could be some kind of prank?”

“It could be a costly prank… but hey, someone is coming!”

The tracker from the group pointed toward a woman that was running their way. She was quite fast and also someone they recognized. Gold rank adventurers were on the rarer side and ones that had cute faces were even rarer. It was Lobelia that was charging forward and right before passing the party of five she shouted out.

“What are you idiots doing, didn’t you hear the announcement? Get out of here now and when you see other adventurers tell them to leave the dungeon!”

She zoomed past the stupefied group that instantly started backing away. It was one thing to listen to a disembodied voice and another if a gold rank adventurer said the same thing. A tier 3 Lich was loose in this dungeon and everyone knew what that could mean. An unlimited army of undead skeletons could be swarming this way soon. Thus all of them quickly turned back to the boss room they came from and booked it after the half-elven girl.

…

“... please evacuate the dungeon … “

“Are you finished, Wayland?”

“Yeah, but you could have left with Lobelia already.”

“Hah, I’d get an earful from Elodia if she found out that I left you here all to yourself.”

“I see… thanks.”

Roland wasn’t sure how to react to the smiling Armand that had remained with him. To alleviate some of the damage he did by releasing the Lich into the dungeon he remained by the lava pool. There he quickly jerry-rigged a speaker system that would send out an evacuation notice on a loop. It was quite loud so it drew in the close-by monsters that his self-proclaimed brother-in-law dispatched for him.

Only the two men and Agni were left here. Lobelia had taken it upon herself to run towards the guild to inform it. The guild master was the only tier 3 class holder that they could count on to defeat the Lich. If they were lucky then perhaps there was a platinum party passing by to lend a hand but that was probably unlikely to happen. Those types of people spent their time around areas that were more beneficial to them and this lower-level dungeon was not one of them.

“No problem, you can repay me later, I do need a new pair of boots and I’ve heard those too can be enchanted.”

“I guess if they are made from the right materials that would be a possibility… but we should talk about that after we get out of here, alive.”

“So are you done?”

“Yes but…”

Roland looked at his small monitor that was blinking inside of his helmet. There he was able to see a somewhat large force of people approaching the other side of the lava lake. Wedamir had gone back through it to reach one of the dwarven mine encampments. One of his golems had also gone to that spot to inform anyone that was in that section about the problems they were facing.

Jasmine and Korgak went towards another area entirely. Everyone was trying to do their best in helping to evacuate the unsuspecting men and women that were here. It seemed that at least some adventurers were willing to risk their lives for others. None of them actually tried to escape to the top without having a proper reason. In reality, he could do the same but due to the fact that this was somewhat his fault, he felt that he needed to stay here.

“You should probably go where Korgak and that girl went, they might need your help.”

“What about you?”

Armand answered while seeming a bit confused. There wasn’t really much left to do here and the skeletons might soon arrive. There was also a possibility of the Lich appearing on either side of the lava lake. Roland’s plan was to remain here and help with the evacuation effort. He was on the stronger side with his level probably being the highest down in these dungeons.

“I’m going to stay here, I can at least stop some of those reanimated skeletons from killing people.”

“That’s surprising, I didn't think that you were the heroic type.”

Armand laughed while shrugging but it didn’t seem that he was about to leave. Roland wasn’t sure why Elodia’s adopted brother was willing to help him but he wouldn’t refuse it. The help from a higher level tier 2 berserker was always appreciated.

“Heroic type…”

Roland wanted to laugh as he was anything but a hero. First off this all happened due to his fear of the abyssal cult. The only reason that he was remaining here was to soothe his bad conscience. It wouldn’t be hard to just run and leave everything in the hands of the adventurers guild.

It wouldn’t be hard to deny that he was involved with the Lich and there was also no solid proof of how long he was using the secret mining area. If he just ran to the city lord that he found it a few days ago before the Lich appeared he could be in the clear. Perhaps he could even spin it in his favor. He could play it off that discovering the mine could have triggered the Lich as a defensive mechanism that no one could have predicted.

“You probably couldn’t be more wrong with that one…”

“Huh, what did you say?”

Roland mumbled to himself while Armand was trying to look to the other side of the lake. People were quickly gathering on the other side. There were actually many dwarves there as it seemed that Wedamir was successful in informing their side. It was probably better that the dwarf went there as he wouldn’t be surprised if the union members ignored his golems thinking that it was some kind of bad prank.

“Nothing, you should get ready, they are coming and there are a lot of them…”

His brutish brother-in-law nodded while following Roland’s gaze. Dots on his scanner started to appear and soon enough the strange cluttering of bones could be heard. A swarm of blazing skeletons appeared from the chasm area.

“Damn, where did all of those bastards come from, there weren’t that many of them before.”

Armand shouted as he was taken aback by the sheer number of the tier 2 skeletal warriors. Some of them were carrying spears while others had swords or shields made of bones. Some of them actually had metallic weapons that were probably stolen from the adventures they had killed.

‘There is a lot more than I expected…’

His mapping device was of no use to him now as there were just too many red dots to see anything. The first line of defense was already being initiated as the monsters started blowing up. Inside of his mule golem, he had a vast array of explosives that he used to set up mines. These skeletons were not very intelligent and just continued to run towards their doom.

A reanimated being had limited intelligence. They could carry out simple tasks like going in directions their master pointed out or attacking. The master would need to direct them directly to be able to evade such obvious traps. This Lich probably gave them a vague order that they would carry out, something in the line of killing all people they saw. Thus they would just follow it without paying any mind to their own life.

“Haha, that’s quite the show, look at them explode.”

“Be careful, they'll break through soon…”

“Huh?”

While his bombs were taking out a large chunk from this skeletal army the assault continued. The bones piled up and soon acted as a bridge to get to the other side. If there were more skeletons than bombs then they would surely get here and if the Lich appeared from behind then he would be able to reassemble the fallen monsters. This was the danger that his creature brought with itself, a relentless army of reusable pawns that knew no fear and never tired.

This didn’t mean that they would get here. They were coming here in a predictable pattern without using the terrain to their advantage. The lake of lava was spreading to allow passage to the miners on the other side. At least until it closed again Roland would attempt to stop the swarm of angry skeletons. The mines were slowly running out so instead, it was time to use some of his own ranged magic.

Holy magic would have been the best to contend with these creatures that were resistant to the second-best element, fire. In his possession, he had access to all the four main elements from which probably the one that produced the most physical attacking power was the best. In this instance that would be earth and it was also favored by the topography here.

The large hammer he created started glowing in a brownish hue. Through it, he could activate a stronger spell than the usual spikes that he used. The runic tremor spell was triggered, the large spike at the end of his hammer shot out a beam of light that after colliding with the ground produced a large magical circle.

This circle appeared just for a moment before the spell effect was triggered. The ground under the skeletons opened up to reveal blistering hot magma. The monsters tumbled right in and even though they were resistant to flames their bones could not take prolonged exposure to lava.

This dungeon was like Roland’s backyard and this was true for this area especially. He had examined everything that he could for a potential tunneling attempt. It wasn’t hard to find the weak spots that were close to lava. Only thanks to this knowledge could he actually move the rocks away as in an instance where the ground was excessively hard, even his spells would be unsuccessful.

Yet not the whole region could be exposed to more puddles with magma. Some of the monsters sprinted through after the shaking stopped and continued with their maddened charge. This he answered with a swarm of magical arrows that his hammer was able to produce as well. After locking on with his runic system the skeletons were pelted by the mass of blue lights. Thanks to the lock-on system he could choose to go for the weak spots that had a certain mana pattern to them.

“Hey leave some for me!”

Armand smacked his fists together which made the gauntlets that Roland made glow. The runic patterns became visible as several buffing spells washed over his body. Instead of straight-up attack spells, Armand preferred enhancing his body and through these gauntlets, he would be able to.

Even he began to see action as some of the skeletal fiends managed to get through the barrage of spells. With just a few smacks they exploded into chunks of bone or flew into the exposed lava puddles that Armand tossed them into. While the battle raged the people on the other side started reaching this side of the lake. They could see what was happening and without looking made their way towards the exit to the upper levels.

“Hah, not even one thank you?”

Roland looked towards Armand who had smacked away two skeletal soldiers. He was purposely taking the fight to another location. Slowly they were guiding the monsters away from the lake while the miners and lower-level adventurers escaped. It wasn’t hard as these mindless drones had only eyes for the closest living beings to them. After a few smacks, they were tossing themselves at him and Armand without any regard for their life.

“You can charge them for your services after we get out…”

“Hey, that’s a good idea! The guild should reward us handsomely for this overtime.”

In a sense, Armand was still on a mission. This wasn’t really in the contract but could be used as an excuse to get more money out of the guild. It seemed that everything was going well, while the swarm of skeletons continued to funnel out Roland purposely created more lava pits to force them through paths he wanted them to take. Their number was concerning but they were managing to hold out while the others evacuated.

“W-what’s that?”

“Skeletons, they are coming! Run!”

To his dismay, another small army appeared. They came from the other side and reached the lake before it started to close. The miners and workers were still carrying a lot of their equipment which made them slower. Without the ability to bring animals down into this dungeon or large carts they were left carrying everything in large spatial bags. Those could fit a lot of items inside themselves but still didn’t fully cancel out the weight.

As it stood the skeletal beings would meet up with the fleeing dwarves closer to this end of the lake. This would all occur before the lake could fully close to bury the pursuing army and probably some lives would be lost. There was a way of helping them but he was hoping to use this trap on another pursuer.

‘It might have not even gone through the tunnels and be back at the chasm…’

His backup plan was not meant to stop these creatures but if he didn’t do something then lives would be lost. Thus when the skeletal battalion reached the middle of the lake he relayed the information through the signal enhancers to the secret entrance. There a large number of runic bombs had been placed beforehand and would be used to burry those monsters in lava.

A huge explosion erupted as the skeletal creatures reached the middle of the lake. It produced a large pillar of magical energy that brought earth and lava with it. The secret area under the lava lake was connected to another basin of this fiery liquid. By triggering a massive explosion the connection was made and it was bursting with molten rock.

The ground gave up under the monsters that were tossed aside due to the initial explosion. Following it, some of them were splashed with molten rocks that halted their advance. When combined with the lava lake closing up from the other side the maneuver was successful. Given this time the fleeing dwarves would make it to safety while the undead creatures would be buried under lava.

It did seem like this was over, even though the assault continued from this side Roland was already preparing to retreat. Some guards from the dwarven camp even started to help, Wedamir was among them and after spotting Roland in the distance he seemed troubled.

Yet this was far from over as even after everyone had gone through the lake that had closed a strange occurrence was sighted. The middle of the lake started rising up as if a large round object was trying to pierce through the heavy magma. Roland instantly knew what was happening and was quick to retreat. The only hope of stalling this further was inside of his mule golem…