Chương 95: The Dungeon That Wasn’t Born Yet

The day was still relatively young, despite the hours they had spent underground. Mellia decided that they had enough time to prepare the passage before exploring whatever had recently forced its way into the mine.

"We should create some traps before going down there. If something chases us, I don't want our only plan to be running faster than it does." The others accepted the idea immediately. Whatever had frightened an entire colony of giant bats might be beyond their ability to defeat, and preparing an escape route was considerably wiser than depending upon good fortune. Mellia studied the newly formed passage before turning toward Kart and Sieghart.

The scattered boulders and damaged ceiling offered plenty of materials, although using them without causing another premature cave-in would require precise control.

"We should deal with this before it turns into a dungeon." Sieghart looked at her.

"A dungeon?" He already knew that dungeons existed. The capital had been constructed above a gigantic labyrinth because its inhabitants harvested mana stones from inside, but none of his books clearly explained how those places were created. Mellia appeared surprised by his question, but she quickly remembered that Sieghart probably hadn't received a proper magical education. He possessed many spells, yet his knowledge of common terminology remained strangely inconsistent.

"The giant bats were probably placed here by someone who wanted them to multiply. Once their numbers became large enough, they would attack Bellhaven and weaken the surrounding territory."

"That sounds unnecessarily slow."

"It is slow, but it's also difficult to trace. A monster attack looks like bad luck unless someone finds evidence proving that another tribe deliberately caused it." Mellia pointed toward the unnatural darkness beyond the collapsed section. The faint pull affecting their spells was one of several signs suggesting that the mine had become far more dangerous than the original attackers intended.

"They probably didn't realize this place possessed the conditions needed to create a dungeon."

"What conditions?"

"Mana sometimes gathers around the remains of ancient creatures. Most skeletons never react, but if enough mana accumulates, it can restore the creature's body and revive it." Sieghart glanced into the darkness again. The idea of mana rebuilding something that had been dead for centuries sounded absurd, although it wasn't much stranger than reincarnating after being crushed beneath library shelves. Mellia explained that the restored creature would begin absorbing mana from the environment.

It would also hunt living beings because consuming flesh and cores accelerated the reconstruction of its body. Once the creature gathered enough power, it became what people called a dungeon guardian. Its presence altered the surrounding environment and created a territory capable of producing lesser monsters resembling creatures it had previously consumed.

"So the guardian creates the dungeon?" Sieghart asked.

"The guardian and the mana source create it together. Once the process stabilizes, separating them becomes extremely difficult." Killing a newly awakened creature could prevent the dungeon from forming. However, once the guardian established a connection with the gathered mana, destroying its body would no longer guarantee its death. The dungeon could rebuild its guardian repeatedly by using stored mana and the ancient pattern preserved within its remains.

Every resurrection weakened that pattern slightly, but exhausting it could require dozens or even hundreds of kills. Sieghart finally understood why established dungeons remained valuable and dangerous. Their guardians produced renewable materials, monsters, and mana stones, but controlling them required enough military power to kill the same creatures repeatedly.

"And you believe the bats caused this?"

"They probably disrupted the balance," Mellia answered.

"Their bodies, waste, cores, and constant feeding changed the flow of mana inside the mine. They might have awakened something buried beneath it." The giant bats had likely sensed the creature absorbing mana before the group noticed anything unusual. Once it began feeding upon them, their entire colony abandoned the lower tunnels and attempted to escape. Sieghart considered everything in silence.

This world allowed ancient creatures to rebuild themselves, transform their surroundings into monster-producing labyrinths, and return from death hundreds of times because too many bats had gathered nearby. This world is weird. Then again, he possessed infinite mana and had once killed a fire-eating warrior by feeding him too much fire. Perhaps he had surrendered his right to judge anything according to ordinary standards. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Mellia approached one of the damaged sections and pointed toward several boulders scattered beneath the ceiling. They were large enough to injure most monsters, but moving them would normally require several people with physical Auras.

"Sieg, can you return those rocks to the ceiling with Earth Magic?"

"I can't control solid stone directly."

"Can you build something around them?" Sieghart studied the surrounding earth before nodding. His Sand Control had improved enough for him to compress loose minerals into detailed shapes, although those structures remained stable for only several hours. Kart summoned both guardian constructs and ordered them to lift the first boulder. The machines struggled beneath its weight, but their combined strength raised it high enough for Sieghart to begin working.

Sieghart collected sand, stone fragments, and dry earth from the passage. He ground the smaller pieces together before compressing them into two curved supports that attached the boulder to the damaged ceiling. His first attempts at sculpting earth had produced uneven walls and crude platforms. Years of practice now allowed him to create interlocking supports, thin trigger points, and hollow sections designed to collapse after receiving an impact.

The completed structure was hard enough to hold the boulder temporarily. However, the mana maintaining its shape would gradually disperse, causing the supports to lose durability after approximately two hours.

"That should hold for a while," Sieghart said.

"If anything damages either support, the entire structure will collapse."

"Can we trigger it from a distance?"

"I can fire an Earth Bullet at the weakest section." Mellia marked that location with a thin blue rune before directing Kart toward the next boulder. They repeated the process several times, creating three separate rockfalls throughout the passage. Hernan placed several metal rings between the traps and connected them with nearly invisible mana threads. Anything touching those threads would alert him, even if the creature moved quietly or concealed its presence.

Lucia stationed two scouting constructs near the ceiling. They would monitor the traps and warn the group if anything approached from behind while the others explored the new section. Mellia added barrier plates beneath unstable portions of the ceiling. She could dismiss them from a distance, releasing additional debris if the prepared boulders failed to stop whatever pursued them. By the time they finished, the passage contained enough hazards to slow a large monster.

The traps wouldn't guarantee victory, but they could provide the seconds necessary for everyone to escape. Sieghart inspected the arrangement before looking toward Mellia. Preparing traps had been sensible, but proceeding into an unknown dungeon seed with an exhausted group was another matter entirely.

"Is exploring the next area really the wise decision?" Hernan raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised that Sieghart possessed enough caution to ask that question. The others remained silent because they had probably considered the same problem.

"We came here to eliminate giant bats," Sieghart continued.

"Anything beyond that should be Bellhaven's responsibility, or a job for more experienced guild members."

"Normally, you would be right," Mellia admitted.

"Normally?"

"We don't know how close that creature is to becoming a dungeon guardian. It could require several weeks, or it could complete the process before tomorrow morning." Mellia explained that reporting the discovery would require returning to Bellhaven, contacting Lunar Arc, and waiting for experienced members to arrive. Even under ideal conditions, reinforcements might need several days. If the guardian completed its transformation during that delay, the town would face a newly formed dungeon without prepared defenses.

Monsters could begin spreading before anyone understood what had happened.

"We aren't trying to clear a dungeon," Mellia said.

"We identify the creature, determine its current condition, and damage it enough to slow the transformation."

"And if it is already too strong?"

"We retreat immediately. The traps will buy time." Sieghart considered her answer carefully. Mellia wasn't proposing that five young mages fight an immortal monster until they destroyed it permanently. She only wanted enough information and damage to prevent the situation from worsening. That reasoning was acceptable.

Ignoring the danger because it wasn't mentioned in their contract could result in countless deaths, and Sieghart had already learned what happened when people waited too long before addressing a threat. He still found it irritating that their simple extermination mission had transformed into capturing bandits, recovering stolen goods, eliminating an oversized monster colony, and preventing the creation of a dungeon. The payment remained exactly the same, naturally.

"All right," Sieghart said.

"That is reasonable enough." Mellia nodded before turning toward the others.

"Check your constructs and prepare to move. We explore the new area together." Kart repaired the final cracks in his guardians while Lucia replaced the mana stones inside her scouts. Hernan tested every metal ring before accepting another Mana Sword from Sieghart. Mellia arranged the formation with Kart at the front, Sieghart and Hernan in the center, and Lucia behind them. Her barriers floated around the group, ready to intercept attacks from any direction.

They passed beneath the first prepared rockfall and approached the unnatural darkness. Lucia's light weakened again, forcing Sieghart to create several Flames and distribute them around the formation. Even his spells struggled to illuminate the recent passage. The darkness absorbed their radiance, while the unseen force continued pulling small quantities of mana from every active construct. Sieghart compensated by constantly feeding more mana into the Flames and Mana Swords.

The effort barely affected him, but the others would lose their reserves quickly if they remained inside the area for too long. The passage descended for almost one hundred meters before opening into an enormous natural chamber. Stalagmites surrounded a depression filled with broken bones, dried blood, and the remains of dozens of giant bats. Something truly ancient rested at the center.

An enormous skeleton lay partially embedded within the stone, its structure too incomplete and distorted for Sieghart to identify what kind of creature it had once been. Pale flesh had begun spreading across its ribs. Veins formed beneath the unfinished tissue, pulsing whenever nearby mana flowed toward the remains and disappeared inside the growing body. Several recently killed bats lay against its exposed bones.

Their bodies looked dried and hollow, as if something had drained their blood, mana, and remaining vitality through direct contact. One massive claw twitched beneath the forming flesh. They had not arrived early enough to prevent the resurrection. They had only arrived before the creature learned how to stand, and the bones beneath its unfinished body were already beginning to move.