The Runesmith

“Ah, Shit! Why are there so many of them, where were they hiding?... Hey, where the hell are you going, that’s not the way to the exit!”

Armand shouted from behind Roland that for some reason was a lot faster than both of the warriors. Wedamir had it the worst as due to his shorter legs and shield warrior class his agility stat was the lowest of them all.

All of them had already left the boss chamber and even though not many monsters remained from the front there was a swarm of angry skeletons following after them. The upper levels were akin to a maze with many winding corridors that weren’t that great for running. From time to time they would encounter a monster waiting for them which slowed down their escape.

When looking back at the two people behind, his mouth started to angle a bit down. If he was alone then it wouldn’t have been a problem but Wedamir was falling behind. There was a lot more dungeon to go through and some sections were filled with traps. They had stayed behind for longer to let the miners and weaker adventurers escape but this could end up in them being overrun.

For a moment Roland’s mind went to a dark place. It wouldn’t be that hard to just abandon the dwarf here, Armand might even agree with him considering the history with the union. This would perhaps keep the information of the secret mine from reaching the other dwarves in the city. Jasmine, the other adventurer that he didn’t know, would probably report it to the guild master but that person might still be on his side.

It wouldn’t even be that hard to do it, one well-placed spell could cause the dwarf to trip and be quickly overrun by skeleton soldiers. Armand who didn’t have a mana sense or any detection abilities related to it would not be able to tell that it was Roland. To him, it would look like an unfortunate trap being activated. Then even if he figured it out, the possibility of Armand taking his side in the whole debacle wasn’t that low.

Where he was leading them to was a detour to one of the secret passages. It went through a section of the dungeon that wasn’t that easy to get through. It wouldn’t be that hard to cause a commotion where the dwarf lost his footing and wasn’t able to follow them. However he hesitated, it wasn’t really in him to go through something like this.

This thought of committing murder quickly faded away. Getting rid of others that weren’t involved just to save his own skin wasn’t something he was able to do. Enough people had already died in the dungeon due to the Lich being loose. What the dwarven union did after this whole debacle was over had to wait. Everything depended on Arthur and not them as the young noble was the person they all answered to.

“Pick up the pace, there is a path that leads outside here, just trust me.”

“AWooo!”

Armand didn’t answer but just continued to run after Roland and Agni that were in front. The armor that he was wearing started glowing and the runes on top of it produced a magical effect. An increase in speed was noticed as he continued to sprint through a large corridor. Normally something like this would have been a dangerous feat, the whole place was filled with traps and avoided by everyone.

It didn’t seem that Roland cared for this as he didn’t bother to avoid the tiles that activated the traps. There was a set pattern to everything that changed depending on the hour. There was no time to figure this out so instead, he decided to just book it. The moment he tripped one of the traps a poison arrow shot at him from the side. This sharp projectile collided with the red shield made of fire and was bounced back instantly.

This continued to happen as he ran through the middle. A vast number of poisonous arrows continued to fly at him but with the help of his magical defenses, they weren’t able to harm him at all. The fire element caused the harmful poison to evaporate and the mana shield on top of that deflected the projectiles before they could connect with the metallic armor.

Both Armand and Wedamir were surprised by the method that he used but knew that if they followed right after him they wouldn’t set off any of the traps. The path was straight through the middle which didn’t allow for any missteps even for the rather unwise warriors. Soon enough all of them found themselves at the end of this corridor that was behind the corner.

“Hey, didn’t you say that this path led somewhere?”

“Yeah, it does, give me a second.”

“What do you mean, there is nothing here but this damn wall! Do we need to destroy it?”

Armand started panicking as he almost slammed into the dead end after going around the corner. Wedamir was still further behind the two but he could also hear the commotion. Without explaining it further Roland placed his hand on a specific part of this wall. With a quick injection of his mana, a few runes lit up to quickly begin opening a secret passage.

“How did you…”

“There is no time to explain, just get in, we'll talk inside.”

Armand frowned but the moment there was enough space to squeeze in he did. Wedamir finally caught up to the two and could see the secret opening. It was clear that he wanted to ask what this was all about but decided to duck in as well. Roland on the other hand remained outside for a moment.

While the wide dwarf was trying to squeeze through the tight opening he held out his large hammer. This time he didn’t just aim it at the swarm of skeletons running toward them, instead, he moved it over his head to wind up. Quickly after he slammed it down on the ground to produce a destructive shockwave.

This shockwave carried an earth-based spell that turned the even ground into a rocky mess of spikes. Even though the skeletons didn’t have any flesh to feel pain from the spikes, they were a lot lighter. The shift in the tunnel caused most of the ones at the front to tumble forward and it quickly cascaded into almost all of them falling over.

With a couple of other smacks now to the walls on the side, Roland produced another earthquake that would create another safety barrier before ducking into the safe room behind. When on the inside he quickly activated the locking mechanism that slowly closed the secret door after them. Perhaps this was a bit of an overkill against the lower level skeletons but there was always a possibility of one of the obsidian ones popping up out of the woodworks.

“Whew, that was close, but where are we and why is it so dark here?”

Roland’s helmet had a function to see in the dark so he never really bothered with light spells. Skills like this also existed in the world but they were usually given to assassination and tracking classes. Armand probably had a few enhanced senses as a martial arts class holder but it was always better to see.

“Is that better?”

“Woof!”

“Wha?!”

To alleviate this problem Agni’s forehead gem which looked more like a horn now started glowing. It was a bright enough source of light to reveal everything but it also turned the scenery red. They were now in a cramped corridor that led towards a circular staircase that would bring them to a higher level. It was one of the many hidden corridors that he discovered thanks to his debugging skill.

“If we take that passage, we’ll end up on the 5th floor, let's go…”

“... So we are just going to ignore the fact that you… hey, wait up!”

Armand looked at Agni who followed behind Roland. While he could start explaining everything this wasn’t the right moment. The other two didn’t really need to know about his passage detection abilities and luckily they didn’t prod further. This was a bit surprising as he expected Wedamir to press him further like the time he discovered the secret mining area.

The walk up the long winding stairs was quite stuffy and no one muttered a word. Everyone knew that the situation was dire and they were already thinking about the next move after reaching the 5th floor. There wasn’t much to this secret corridor, no hidden traps nor any treasures; it was just a narrow passageway that brought them to their destination a lot faster.

“Another dead end?”

The moment Armand asked Roland was already looking for the opening mechanism. It didn’t take even a second for it to begin opening after the question was placed. Soon the quartet was outside and in another empty passageway. Thanks to the mapping device in his helmet and his memory Roland knew well off the fastest way of reaching the higher floors.

“Is this really the 5th floor?”

“Yes it is, if we follow this path back we’ll end up at the main fork, there if you head north you should be able to reach the main way towards the 4th floor.”

Roland explained this fact while having a slight agenda. In reality, he knew of another passage that would allow him to get out faster. The problem was Wedamir that he at least didn’t want to see the secret passageway towards his underground workshop. If word reached that he had built a tunnel towards it without asking for permission he would be in a lot of trouble. The risk was taken to reach tier 3 faster but now it would bite him back on his behind.

“Hmph… ‘ere.”

Lucky Wedamir did have other plans and first handed the runic shield back that was lent to him. Roland grabbed it and together with his hammer staff now had a more complete set of weaponry to contend with any skeletal warriors. The group soon arrived at the fork in the road and encountered a scene.

“Hah, that was really a big shortcut…”

There were people making their way through this hub area. Some of them were adventurers that had retreated a lot earlier than they did. Meeting them up here presented how much of a cheat the hidden pathway was. This one secret of his would probably come out to light after he already guided the adventurers through not one but two of them. It wouldn’t be strange of the guild to launch a full investigation into the matter after either Jasmine or Wedamir spoke of it.

“Hey where are you going, that’s not the exit.”

“Th' miners wull come thro' 'ere, ah will hold ‘ere fur thaim, ye kin juist lea me 'ere.”

“That’s fine with me but I’m not staying here for another minute, Wayland lets just go.”

Armand just shrugged as he was clearly not interested in staying here. There was no real reason after Lobelia had already made a run for it previously. Without considering it for too long Roland decided to do that just.

“Take care and be careful.”

“Aye.”

Wedamir replied to Roland's words with a forced nod but it was still unknown what the dwarf would do with the knowledge he gained. It was not the time to worry about that yet, there were more pressing issues at hand. The skeletons could clearly run past the boss room which made it possible for them to leave the whole dungeon. With their leader injured by his cannon, it was impossible to determine what the Lich would do.

Normally the creature was supposed to barricade itself in a safe location where it surrounded itself by its minions. This Lich on the other hand was reacting like an angry child to the attack. It was throwing all of its minions at the problem at hand and perhaps hoping that something would stick. How deadly of an attack this would be depended on the number of skeletal soldiers it had produced and as it stood now the number was vast.

“Do you have any other shortcuts, Wayland?”

“As a matter of fact… follow me.”

Soon both of them separated from the dwarf and made their way to the top. While this was happening in the underground area that was covered by lava another scene was playing out…

…

It didn’t understand what had happened, the Lich replayed the scene in its bony head. The source of the mana, the beam of light was there and it should have been able to control that power. It had observed that energy pattern many times and even taken a direct hit to get rid of the pesky voice in its head.

There should not be a problem to bounce or disperse that beam of light. Even less after its level had risen as much as it has. Yet when it attempted to affect the mana as it did before, there arose a problem. Some kind of interference appeared, and the mana pattern it was used in shifted slightly. This was enough to take it off guard and take a massive blow that almost cost it the new life that it had gained.

Luckily one of its minions was close behind it. The Lich was quick to order it to act and was quickly evacuated from that location. While it was interested in the being that set it free it was still more interested in surviving. This instinct had been ingrained in its very being and would activate whenever death was near. Now its body was being quickly reformed with the help of the ever respawning worms.

During the escape, it ordered two of its special undead to contend with the armored being but one of them ended up dead. These obsidian ones had a special connection with it and each time one perished the Lich would know. Now after its plan had failed and its life was in danger it had to think it through. Its life was far more important than the armored one but it couldn’t just let it escape.

There were also other interesting beings out there, they looked similar to the one it was after but they had their differences. Their behavior was strange, sometimes they would endanger themselves to save weaker members of their group. On other occasions, they would use them as decoys while trying to escape. The way they acted was quite a mystery which the Lich wanted to figure out.

One thing was clear, one of its powerful undead soldiers had died and the small army it created wasn’t enough. If this continued perhaps stronger creatures would appear and would try to kill it. For such an occasion it needed to be prepared. Two choices presented themselves to the monster. Should it bunker up in this cavern where it was somewhat safe or should it do something more drastic?

Right on cue the same gargoyle minion that saved it appeared. It was given a secondary task and had returned with a few large crystals in both its hands. These were some strange minerals that it came across when it was chasing after the armored one. Inside of them resided a vast amount of mana and it would attempt to harness it.

Its body had recovered enough for it to grasp one of the glowing minerals. The Lich had a vast quantity of mana inside of itself but even it had a limit. After getting blasted and using a recovery skill it was now almost drained. To create an army worth it's level it needed some help and this would be the weapon that it needed.

While this would help it produce more soldiers the real reason it was able to get this far was a bit deeper inside this cavern it found. When entering further a large open area with lava flowing from the sides appeared. There in the middle of this large area, a strange being that the Lich decided to use was.

This creature was quite strange, it covered half of this cavern and its body was tremendous. Yet even with the help of those dimensions, it couldn’t do anything. It just sat there and produced eggs that within a few hours turned into the earth traveling worms. The production never stopped and each time the egg hatched a skeletal soldier could be created from it.

The number of these fleshy containers vastly outpaced the mana the Lich had. Now with the mana mineral it had grabbed from the secret mining area, it would finally be able to use all of this biomass and with it, the creatures on the upper levels would know its wrath.