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Chapter 209: Back to the Catacombs (5)

Within the library of a quiet castle, an old man was seen searching through the rows upon rows of books within the area. Step by step, he scrutinized every book within the vicinity.

"...hah," the old man by the name of Renryth, with wrinkles all over his face at the indication of the passing time burdening himhis tired eyes glanced around the books as he sighed. "...there are no more archives of the Flaming Pendant? Did Sanke take all of it?"

Days had passed since the day of his death via the fiery flames. Since then, normality was never the same. With the curse gone, the slimes celebrated. However, for Renrythhe had only been stuck within the library searching through every nitpick of books possible.

"Ugh..." Renryth pressed the bridge of his nose in slight frustration. "Where did all the records go? Has it all been destroyed or something?" he grumbled under his breath. "Argh... If I don't find the records soon... Then"

"Then, you won't be able to uncover the truth of the incident that day, yes?" A woman's voice protruded out from behind the old man, quickly cutting his words short.

"...!" Taken aback by the voice, Renryth hurriedly turned towards the back of himnoting that it was Madam Ru who had taken upon her time to visit him. "M-Madam Ru? What brings you here? Aren't you busy as it is?"

"It is so that I am busy," Madam Ru sighed with a tired breath. "But... I'm not here as a guest, insteadI'm here on business."

"Ah... I see," Renryth nodded his head. "Then, how may I help you?"

"If you're not too busy, I'd like for you to use your magic to sense whether or not Rustly and the others are within the catacombs," Madam Ru shook her body in helplessness.

"They're still not back yet?" Renryth thought to himself. "Hah... Rustly should be able to take everyone back safely if he follows the routes properly. But... With how he acted back then..."

"His demeanour is the same as your current one, Renryth." Madam Ru leapt forward towards the old man. "You grieve the loss of Sanke... But, it seems that Rustly may have taken it too far."

"...what?" Renryth raised his brow in confusion.

"That doesn't matter," Madam Ru coughed. "Anyways... Can you please use magic sense now?"

"Ah right... Sure thing," Renryth muttered out as his eyes soon closed. In the next moment, whilst chanting out a spell into the areasmall magic particles appeared around him. At that second, the particles dispersed away as his eyes opened with shock. "They're... Here? But... Why do I sense Bareth's presence...? W-What?"

"Bareth? Hmm... That doesn't matter," seemingly unfazed by the information, Madam Ru continued. "Where are they exactly?"

"It seems to be that they're lost..." Renryth answered. "And... For their exact location, I think it's much deeper into the catacombs. The forbidden areas? Perhaps the outer layers at best. Where the immortal shades slumber."

"Oh, dear... The area where the immortal shades slumber...?" Madam Ru worryingly uttered out. "To get to such an area... Just how on earth?"

"...I've no idea," the man shook his head without another word as he placed the book that he took out from the shelf back into its spot. Moments after, he turned towards Madam Ru. "Now, what do we do? Do we fetch them?"

"It's already been three days, we shouldn't delay it anymore," Madam Ru stated. "Come, if they're in the outer sections of the forbidden area, then I know a shortcut through the passageway."

...

Rushing through the dark catacombs, Shinto and the rest of the group hurried down the hallways in a frenzy. With weapons in hand, the party seemed to be running away from something.

"Ahh!" Frey cried out. "When did those monsters appeared?! Why are they suddenly so aggressive?!"

"The hell am I supposed to know?!" Ethaniel clicked his tongue. "These guys just appeared from the ground and attacked us! Not only that, just from one damn attack, my health became half!"

"Can this be over with, please?!" Frey frowned. "Why do we gotta suffer like this!"

"I don't know, you tell me!" With his sword tightly gripped within his hand, Ethaniel swiftly slashed at the appearance of the dark figure by the side of him.

"G...a...h" Uttering out with a distorted voice, the dark figure persistently pressed forward. "Be...with...us..."

"Ugh... These guys," Crowelin frowned as her hammer swayed down to the ground, quickly causing a quick shake onto the earth around them. "Not only do they have more damage... But they're more than durable! This is..."

"Higher tiered monsters?" Hikari questioned. "What level is this dungeon?"

"Well by estimation earlier... We were encountering level 20 to 30 levelled mobs... But," Raina uttered out whilst she cast out a flame spell from the tip of her staff. "...the enemies we fought were rats and skeletons. Nothing like that resembles these kinds of enemies at all!"

"If what the slimes said was true..." Shinto waved his staff around, quickly striking at the nearby enemies via his basic attacks. "Then, we're either too deep into the unexplored area or there might've been a change of environment with the defeat of Sanke."

At times, if a disaster was to be defeated, it would normally progress the game and story further. However, on that note, monsters within certain areas would grow much powerful than before and may out level players of the original area by a large gap.

"The defeat of Sanke did this!?" Frey cried out as she punched at the monster in front of her. "Ahh! When can this be over?!"

"Over when we finally get to the damn den!" Reru frowned. "And... This is going to be hell."

"See, even your suggestion didn't work!" Rustly clicked his tongue.

"Better than yours, we've at least made somewhat of a progress by going zigzags!" Ethaniel scoffed.

"Guys... Now's not the time to argue," Shinto sighed as his staff moved over towards his group that was gathered in the middle. In the next moment, a cloud of black smoke appeared around them. "If none of you wants to die, then cooperate."

"Ugh... What do you think we're doing?!" Reru roared as he slashed at the figures in front of him with all his might. However, despite thatthe monsters returned back to their original form like it was nothing.

"A-Arguing, probably?" Raina muttered out as her staff bolted out a fireball into the area. "I don't see anything related to cooperation..."

"Argh! Just shut it!" Ethaniel frowned.

"This is going to hell," Yer mumbled. "Why is everything suddenly so dysfunctional?"

"I don't know, maybe it's because we need a break! A proper one!" Frey tiredly muttered out. "I'm so going to binge eat at Greld's after this! I'm hungry!"

"That is if we escape..." Kon sighed.

"K-Kon... Don't make things worse as it is," Shinto muttered out.

"I can see that everyone needs a break after all this," Hikari shook her head helplessly whilst focusing her energy on healing up her allies. "With all these consecutive battles, it's not really that good for everyone's stamina and mind..."

"..." Shinto kept quiet as he listened to Hikari. There were many cases of burn-out from battle when one chooses to fight battles back-to-back without delving into the other leisure features. Though at times it couldn't be helped as with the situation the group was currently in but at others. some completely just leave the game out of thinking that it was a chore. "I guess..."

"Someone! O' lord or saviour!" Frey seemingly prayed. "Save us and let us live another day to get a break!"

"I think Frey's gone mad..." Raina coughed.

"I-It can't be helped..." Shinto helplessly replied. "B-But... Let's try to push forward."

"O' lord! Please just bring someone to wipe out this entire horde so we can go back!" Frey continued to pray, much harder than ever. "Someone! Anyone! I'm tireeeddd!"

"Argh... So this is the situation you guys were all in?" A woman's voice protruded out. "Well... You did well to withstand it." In the next moment, a pillar of water soon arose magically from the ground, quickly sweeping away all the mobs that the group were fighting with earlier like it was nothing.

"Huh...?" Frey muttered out dumbfoundedly. "Were... Were my prayers heard?!"

"Winds of the hurricane, I call upon you. Destroy the immortal and destroy the shade," following up with the woman's voice, a man soon stepped forward. "...Windy Rage - Skyhigh!"

[ Windstorm Mage - Windy Rage - Skyhigh ]

With all the mobs that were grouped together due to the waves of water, the hurricane dived straight into the monster's core and swiftly tore them apart, leaving nothing but ashes on the ground.

"Thank you, Lord! Oh, thank you!" Frey cheered. "Now... Who did you send!?"

"Frey..." The group worryingly glanced over to Frey who seems to still be praying. However, they soon averted their gaze over to the two figures that had appeared.

"M-Madam Ru...? R-Renryth...?" Rustly muttered out in shock at the sight of the two.