The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

102 A chance meeting with a god

As the Scaled King's Nest was an unconquered Dungeon, monster encounters in it were more frequent than in Barigen's Fall Life-Mountain, which was being cleared every month.

The powerful monsters that appeared one after another were not simply strong; many of them had special abilities such as scattering poisonous spores and firing lasers from their bloodshot eyes or used dangerous spells such as firing projectiles of fire or ice and creating illusions to make their enemies let their guards down.

The traps that had been set in the Dungeon were all highly lethal and the floors' environments were harsh as well. The upper floors were simply large caverns and valleys, but from the middle floors onwards, there were scorching-hot deserts, forests of giant mushrooms that scattered poisonous spores, rocky areas with lava erupting in various places followed by intensely-cold ice fields and there was even a floor that was a swamp of deadly poison.

This Dungeon could only be cleared by someone with more Vitality than a Dragon or –

"That's the thirty-eighth floor clear."

A party with a death-attribute mage who possessed a Mana pool that transcended common knowledge.

The poison and disease among the monsters' special abilities were neutralized beforehand, their offensive spells were rendered useless by the Magic Absorption Barrier and the Grotesque Mind skill prevented illusions from even being seen in the first place. The Labyrinth Construction skill revealed the locations of the larger traps the moment the floors were set foot into, and even the smaller ones were detected by Danger Sense: Death before they were triggered.

The forests of enormous mushrooms were neutralized by Disinfect and Detoxification. The sunlight of the scorching-hot deserts had been blocked by Sand Golems while a cool temperature was maintained by the Demon Fire spell that absorbed heat from its surroundings as it burned. The lava-filled areas were nothing more than slightly hot rocky areas once Demon Fires were used unsparingly to absorb most of the heat.

In the intensely-cold ice fields, Princess Levia and the other Ghosts did their best to burn in order to maintain warm temperatures as they proceeded.

The marshlands that produced endless amounts of deadly poison couldn't be detoxified, but they weren't a problem when Immortal Ents were summoned with the Plant Binding Technique to go over them.

The monsters that were simply powerful and monsters that released heat rays or breaths were dealt with by Vigaro, Rita and the others, however.

"It's unexpectedly easy," Vandalieu remarked.

"We regularly fight enemies of this level in Barigen's Fall Life-Mountain," said Vigaro. "The fights aren't easy, but they're not tough enough for us to need to ask you for help, Vandalieu."

"Well, having everything other than the battles themselves taken care of for us makes it hard to be boastful," said Zadiris.

"Well, we're all in the same party, aren't we?" said Rita.

Creeeaaaak.

"Eisen-san agrees, so I don't think you should worry about it," said Rita, interpreting the words (creaking?) of Eisen... The Immortal Ent that produced iron-hard, apple-like fruits, to her liking.

Incidentally they had discovered during the exploration of this Dungeon that the iron-apple fruits became softer when boiled. Now even Princess Levia, who had lost her Augmented Muscular Strength skill upon becoming a Ghost, could eat them.

"Anyway, I wonder how many floors are left," said Vigaro. "Since it's a B-class Dungeon, it should be less than forty."

"The next time we see a monster that's stronger than the others, it might be the Dungeon boss," said Vandalieu.