Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

From time to time, she could see some of them getting injured and falling on the ground before getting back up healed by the light flakes dropping on their body. The only reason they could hold on for so long was because of Kody who used the last of his mana to create the [Purification] spell.

Where did it go all wrong? Did they underestimate the dungeon too much? An existence of that level would definitely raise the difficulty of the dungeon. The fact that the being might be an underling of the Demon Noble, weighed heavily on her mind.

Forget about the task assigned to them by the Adventurer Association's branch, if they did not get out here, all of their life would very well be forfeited. After Blake got defeated so easily, Frida could now clearly see it, the entity was playing with them and was not serious at all.

From the level it had reached, they might as well look like ants to it. A being of that level was the underling of the Demon Noble… then didn't it mean that the Demon Noble residing here was even more powerful?

The moment she realised that, she felt her body getting cold. They had made a serious mistake of underestimating the dungeon, the potential of this dungeon was beyond her imagination and wasn't something the likes of them could think about conquering.

Gritting her teeth, she compelled herself to complete the [Scroll of return] faster when from the corner of her eyes she saw Kody running out of the barrier and into the storm of enemies outside.

'What is he trying to do?' Frida's eyes went wide, the man was a [Priest], a class just like the mage with more focus on Magic stat. The condition he was in, with his mana drained and without the help of his pendant, would make him unable to withstand an attack even from the weakest of monsters.

So what was such a man trying to accomplish running out of the protection of his barrier. As her mind ran at full throttle trying to figure out what Kody was trying to do, the man in question raised his mallet squeezed out the last bits of mana remaining within him and cast a simple light magic.

The light magic was so weak that it seemed like it would dissipate at any moment. Kody smiled widely and sent the light spell that looked like a small orb of light flying towards the warhorse.

Everybody who witnessed this act of his, was stunned silent not knowing what to do; however, to their surprise when the light orb touched the entity, for the first time in a while, their enemy showed an aggravating look.

NEIIGGHHH… the angry shout of the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse rang out, even with its high defence that was unfazed by other magic, light magic managed to deal it some damage.

Kody smiled, called out his illusory wings and used his [Flight] skill to fly over in a different direction. Only now did everybody realise what he was trying to do.

'No…' Frida called out anxiously but she was in no position to go and chase after him. She knew that the action of her friend was unusual nevertheless, even she couldn't have imagined that he would use himself as a bait to lure the enemy…

FLAP… at this moment a loud sound of wings flapping could be heard and the beast used its wide draconic wings to chase after Kody who had managed to hurt it.

Kody looked behind and to his delight, saw that his plan had worked. His vision was becoming blurry by the second and he felt a severe pain assault his head nonetheless, he still held on and continued to fly.

In a few minutes, Frida would be able to complete the spell and they all would be able to go back. Although they are surrounded by monsters all around and there might be some injuries, the Burning arrow guild isn't something that can be done in so easily.

He looked behind and saw the beast following him, with the entity distracted, they would somehow be able to fend off the other monsters.

"That is good, this is how it should be. Blake when you wake up, you would still be able to see your guild and all its members" he gulped down a vial of mana recovering potion and continued to fly around aimlessly.

From the moment he thought of this tactic, he had accepted his fate. After being chased by a disaster class beast like that, there was no way he would be able to get away from this alive. But that was fine, he had done his task as one of the three leaders of the guild and ensured its survival even at the cost of his life.

How long had passed? Kody couldn't hear anything, the battlefield was too distant. His ears kept ringing and his health was quickly deteriorating but he kept on flying determined to buy as much time as he could for his guild.

Suddenly his vision went white and he felt his body crashing down. His body slammed and skidded on the ground heavily; however, his senses were so dull that he felt no pain.

THUD… lying on the ground motionlessly, he heard the sound of something else landing on the ground. Needlessly to say, it was the beast who had followed him.

With his fuzzy consciousness he heard it approaching him and just when he thought that he had accepted his fate, he heard Frida's courage filled and loud cry.

"Now!" the moment her voice sounded out, multiple rumbling noises sounded out and he felt somebody grabbing his body and taking him along with them.

With his blurry vision, Kody saw his comrades bombarding the beast with their spell and backing away immediately.

"Why?" he asked dryly.

There was no need for them to come back for him and take this risk, he had done all of this just so his teammates could get away from here safely. There is no point in him doing all of that if they put themselves in danger once again.

"You idiot, did you think we gladly accept your actions and allow you to sacrifice yourself? Did you forget what kind of person our leader is? Even if he had to come back to the twentieth floor again, he would take your corpse back with him".

"If he was conscious right now, there was no way he would allow your sacrificial attempt to buy us time".

Frida replied, her tone a little angry, a little sad. Now that she had given up on using the Scroll of Return, their only option out of this was to use the stairs that led to the upper floor of the dungeon.

However, with all those monsters and the beast standing between them, it was unknown how many of them would survive.

NEEIIGGHH… the angry roar of the beast sounded out in the distance. The various monsters of this floor heeded its cry and became even more fierce. A dark dreary aura quickly filled the room dropping the temperature to the pits of hell.

Everybody could feel a shadow of death grip their hearts and made a run for the exit together. Casualties were bound to arise with the monster horde going berserk like that.

Battle bears, Stromwolves, Orcs threw themselves onto the adventurers without caring about death. Many adventurers were torn apart by the savage claws and teeth of the monsters, their cries of agony echoing across the floor.

There was no formation and the only thing everyone focused on right now was to make a beeline towards the exit. The Bloodthorn demonic warhorse watched all of these with cold eyes, its gaze fixated on the man who could use light magic among the bunch.

It was just about to unleash its true might and decimate all of them, when a cold energy shrouded its body and stopped it from doing so.

Frida who was carrying two people while flying towards the exit, looked behind her and frowned when she saw that the beast was not chasing after them. There was no way it had given up. When it released its might, she could clearly feel its anger, they were no match for it so why?

Frida shook her head and turned around to fly towards the exit as fast as she could. It didn't matter why the entity was not moving from its place, it was a good thing for them. When the exit was in sight, she handed the two unconscious bodies to her guildmates and took out her staff.

"Keep running, I have already contacted the subsidiary attack teams, they are on their way to aid us" After saying that, she started casting multiple flame and earth magic and dropped it down on the chasing monsters.

With her magic as the backup, she stopped any further casualties from occurring and hurried her teammates to keep on running.

With Kody down, the dark and dreary around swiftly spreading around every corner of this floor was too much for them and if they came in contact with it, they were sure to lose their mind and get mentally encroached upon once again.

Huge earth pillars, Flame arrows dropped down on the monsters killing and barring them from advancing further. Frida kept on casting until she found her mana running out and only stopped when she saw all of them had reached the stairs they used to enter this place.

Just before exiting, she gazed at a certain part of the forest where the beast was standing and saw an illusory and beguiling figure appear next to it.

                                                                        ------

Seeing that all of them had left with some dying from the attacks of the beast, the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse couldn't help but ask.

"My Lady was it alright to leave them alive. That man is dangerous" the voice of the warhorse was deep and firm giving others an impression of a battle hardener warrior. 

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