Stuck as a Dungeon Mob - Chapter 571: Return Of The First

A loud rumble resounded across the island and its shock waves sent fog rolling above the violent sea shores. A giant rock serpent fell dramatically into pieces in front of a robed individual.

The robed individual swiped sweat off their brow before kneeling on the ground for a breather. That was no ordinary rock serpent. The thing’s body was unlike anything the individual had ever seen.

For starters, the rocks were translucent dark purple. Additionally, its body was full of runic symbols unlike any the robed mage had ever seen.

“Master Eon should have told me more about his home…” Said the robed man who was in fact Eon’s first disciple, Moriel. He was still checking out the Epoch family’s long-lost place of residence.

“But I also understand…” Eon knew his disciple Moriel well enough to know that he would come looking for the island even faster if he told him anything.

After talking to himself, Moriel looked up at the sky. There was a haze that rendered the island perpetually dark but he imagined that the sun was currently shining bright in the middle of the sky.

He had spent weeks on the island and learned many things thanks to this trip. The most important discovery he would make however was just about to happen.

“This…” Taking a closer look at the unknown runes, Moriel noticed a pattern. He recalled the fight with the serpent and clearly remembered how it would separate parts of itself and teleport them through gates.

This was nothing new in itself but there was a key difference with how the serpent did it.

“It used other parts of the body as anchors to then make a sustainable gate” With this method, the serpent was able to make more than one portal at a time and with minimal use of power.

Once the reality of this discovery sunk in, Moriel stood up straight and looked at the remains of the serpent with greedy eyes.

“I need to get out here immediately” Moriel did not think he would find anything better than this on the island. He had fought many weird creatures but this one had to be the most exciting so far.

If there was one thing Moriel did regret was that he wasn’t able to find the residential building of the Epoch’s. Anything that vaguely resembled a building was ruined in its totality.

The same applied to any and all records including magic documents, paintings, carvings, statues, etc. Anything in the Epoch household was destroyed with reckless abandon.

“Master must have really hated them, huh” Moriel did not feel any more curiosity towards the household, he knew a thing or two about his master and he was definitely thorough. If he wanted everything about the family gone, it would be gone.

There was only one thing that survived. The family registrar.

Unfortunately, Eon never shared his first name so Moriel did not know where to find his master. He also had no clue why such a meaningless record was spared anyway. That was truly when his curiosity had died.

It was actually a miracle that any of the family’s buildings even resembled ruins. With time and Eon’s efforts, everything should have crumbled into nothingness.

Moriel no longer hesitated. He assessed his body and his assets and hurried off the terrifying island.

Once he got back to his master’s place, he would shock him with newfound knowledge. Not wishing to waste too much time, as soon as most of his mana recovered, Moriel started traveling via teleportation.

Before the full moon could hang proudly in the sky, Moriel was home. On his way to the lonely mountain where his master rested, he took notice of some changes, however. Namely the destruction of the nearby capital.

Moriel nevertheless ignored that and hurried deeper into the mountain. His master or fellow disciples would catch him up to speed, surely.

“I wonder if I got a new junior disciple actually…” Moriel had been gone for a really long time as was evident.

Standing before the hut to his master’s home, Moriel was interrupted by a lady. This lady was his sister disciple, Shia.

“Brother Moriel…” Shia said languidly.

Moriel frowned, his junior sister was not so shy a person to greet him so meekly.

“Master is gone for good…” Shia had a tearful expression as she delivered this news.

“What?!? Impossible!” Moriel could not believe it.

“He left you this letter” Shia gave Moriel a semi-spent envelope. Moriel saw signs of water damage and slight seams that suggested someone wanted to open and read the contents but the letter was still sealed.

“You’ve sacrificed a lot” Moriel knew that his junior sister must have felt endless pain when she was told to deliver this piece of mail. How long had she waited in fact?

Despite not being as gifted as the other disciples, Shia was undoubtedly the closest to the space sage, Eon.

“It might be painful, but give me all the details” Moriel still did not know a lot. He hid his pain and asked for more.

***

In the dungeon that was the talk of Arbor town, things were progressing smoothly for the mobs.

With a skeleton capable of smithing in the crypt, the skeleton’s combat power decreased at a much slower rate. They were holding their own against the influx of adventurers.

On the orc floor, primitive technology continued to advance and things were evolving thanks to magic and culture. Roads were paved from Sanctuary to the ogre cavern and carts could be seen traversing this road.

A proper trade route between the orcs and lizardmen had been opened up. For chefs like Gorgo, this meant a boon in recipes. For the lizardmen, it meant an expansion of culture.

Boating technology was also being improved in the swamp. The main lake which was usually covered in mist now also had a pier with lights adorning the path. One could boat in the deep lake for a romantic occasion.

The dungeon’s floors were all expanding, evolving, and growing more and more united. All except for one, the arid desert’s days were hotter than usual nowadays.

W’s best efforts could not possibly quell the chaos by himself during the day. This allowed small-scale wars to form. Wars over what?

Fruits of course.

“Sanev, Riniya is better equipped than we thought. We will not succeed” An elder water mage, Tanila spoke. She was previously part of those scheming against Ed but nowadays she had chosen a side in the battle for water fruits. As a water mage, she went to the side she was more familiar with.

Sanev was in hot water lately. Many of the students he taught after classes were completely gone thanks to them saving up for fruits. It was a nonsensical notion but Sanev had to accept it.

This pushed him into desperation and devolved into the skirmishes that were occurring between him and Riniya. The worst part was that none of the water fruit merchants were willing to sell to Sanev and his group anymore.

Those that did were hoping to take advantage of him by raising the price to ridiculous proportions. Sanev and his group were just waiting to die out slowly.

“We can’t continue to bleed, we will capture Riniya after the classes with Azalia.” Sanev told Tanila who nodded. She agreed with this desperate last-ditch effort.

Their previous attempts were all targeting Riniya whilst she was at home but this one would be done within the confines of the temple. It was risky, Sanev hadn’t done this before for a reason.

“Sir Ed’s servant is getting suspicious.” Sanev said thinking aloud while looking up past Azalia’s impressive branches. There one could spot the shadow of what appeared to be a bird.

The first few times night skirmishes occurred, W’s presence in the sky alone caused them to stop. The elves learned from this and moved their fighting times to daytime when W couldn’t move about due to the sun.

“But it’s alright, we have no choice” Sanev refused to just accept defeat out of fear of Ed and his servant. They respected Ed greatly and wanted to learn under him but that didn’t mean he would completely lay down his pride.

While the teachings of Elder Sud were flawed, they were still ingrained into the blood of most if not all water mages, they were all still holding onto their pride to varying degrees.

A few minutes later, the array class taught by Azalia started and by the time an hour passed, everyone was ready to leave for the day. Class times had shortened as more elves became proficient in drawing runes.

“It’s time” Sanev signaled. A couple of eyes locked onto Riniya who began to walk out of the temple. Before she could leave, however, she found herself surrounded by a group primarily made up of water mages.

“Hahaha, you won’t get away with this Sanev!” Riniya declared noticing what was going on.

“Says who?” Sanev asked smugly.

“Look up” Riniya said in her own smug tone.

Sanev frowned, he and the others looked up and were met with nothing.

“Hey!” “Wait!” Riniya cast an earthen spell to propel herself off the ground and slipped through the group.

A chase sequence began as the water mages cast spells of their own.