Chapter 98 - - 98: The Secret Chamber

Chapter 98: Chapter - 98: The Secret Chamber

Somewhere in the Dungeon:-

Deep within another section of the dungeon, a group of four students was rapidly making its way toward the deeper areas, their pace barely slowing even when another group of monsters appeared from the darkness ahead.

Kai knows three of the four students in that group particularly well, one of them being his fiancee Elena.

The other two are Ray and Luna, while the fourth person is a female classmate of theirs who Kai does not know particularly well except that her name is Zoe and she is a tamer.

And that fact is quite obvious from the two beasts accompanying the group.

One of them is obviously Elena’s contracted Spirit Hawk, Lumi.

The small cyan-colored Spirit Hawk flew above the group, constantly keeping an eye on their surroundings while occasionally diving toward monsters that attempted to approach from unexpected directions.

The other beast was considerably more imposing. It was Zoe’s tamed magic beast, a Frosthide Wolf.

As its name suggests, the wolf possessed thick white fur, with occasional strands of pale blue fur appearing along the edges of its ears, neck, and back. Its four legs ended in sharp white claws, while a distinctive snowflake-shaped mark was clearly visible on its forehead.

The beast was enormous compared to an ordinary wolf, standing almost four feet tall and stretching more than seven feet from its snout to the end of its body.

Its sheer size and presence were enough to discourage some of the weaker monsters from approaching the group at all making their progress better.

As the group head deeper, the dungeon’s passages has become considerably more dangerous compared to the areas closer to the starting chambers, with monsters appearing in greater numbers and the narrow stone corridors making it difficult for students to maneuver freely, but the group had managed to maintain a steady advance by dividing their responsibilities clearly between themselves.

At the front of the formation is the massive Frosthide Wolf and behind it are Zoe and Luna.

Zoe is constantly giving commands to the wolf, keeping her attention focused on the battlefield while Luna remained slightly behind her, supporting everyone with enhancement and defensive magic.

Ray is positioned toward the front and acts as the group’s main attacker, while Elena stays toward the rear with Lumi, preventing anything from slipping around the formation.

It is a fairly simple formation, but it worked surprisingly well.

A swarm of bat-like monsters suddenly emerged from the ceiling ahead.

Before any of them could dive toward the students, Lumi spread her wings and ascended rapidly. Wind began gathering around her body as she move upward.

Just before reaching the nearest monster, the wind condensed around the edges of her wings, coating them in a thin layer of cyan radiance.

The bat-like monster noticed her movement and attempted to change direction, but its reaction came a moment too late.

Lumi’s wind-coated wing struck its body with tremendous force, sending it crashing into the wall before it could recover.

"Nice work, Lumi," Elena said, several more bat-like monsters are also rushing towards her.

Elena did not even take a step back, mana gathered around her staff before rapidly forming into black tornado.

"Black Advent."

A strong dark colored hurricane of wind appeared, instantly pushing back several bat like monsters.

After dealing with them Elena glanced toward Lumi to make sure she was still unharmed before turning her attention toward another group of monsters approaching from behind.

Meanwhile, Ray blasted away a spider monster which was approaching from the front, with a concentrated burst of magic. The creature was thrown several meters backward before crashing against the stone wall.

"Keep going, guys, the first place is ours to take!" Luna said enthusiastically as she raised both hands. A wave of mana strengthening magic spread through the group.

The Frosthide Wolf’s movements immediately became sharper, Ray’s attacks gained additional force, and even Lumi’s flight seemed slightly faster.

"I want to agree with you, but Kai or Lucian might already be ahead," Ray said as he launched another attack, blasting a spider monster that had attempted to climb across the ceiling.

"Stop being negative," Luna replied. "Unless they are in the same group, I doubt they can match us, especially when we have Elena."

Elena heard her name and briefly glanced toward Luna.

"I don’t know about the others," she said calmly, "but Kai might not even need a group to safely reach the end, especially when he also has Aeris."

Luna gave her a teasing smile "You are very confident in his strength."

"Of course I am." Elena’s answer came immediately, as though Luna had asked something obvious.

"Let alone the first year, there is no one even in the third year who can match him."

...

Back to Kai’s POV:-

When the light finally subsided and my vision returned to normal, I immediately realized that something was different.

The surface beneath my feet is still solid stone, but unlike the ordinary stone floors of the dungeon, this one formed a small circular platform that seemed to be floating in the middle of empty space.

I looked around and saw that several similar stone platforms are scattered nearby, each separated from the others by varying distances.

There were no pillars holding them up nor were there any chains, ropes, magical structures, or visible supports connecting them to the surrounding walls.

They were simply floating.

I looked downward.

The ground was less than twenty feet beneath my platform, which meant that I have not appeared particularly high above the bottom of the chamber.

However, when I looked upward, the situation was completely different. The ceiling was at least a hundred feet above me.

And between the floor and that distant ceiling were dozens upon dozens of floating stone platforms.

Some were only a few feet above the ground, while others floated at a height comparable to mine, and several were positioned so high that they were almost touching the upper portion of the chamber.

The entire place looked as though someone had taken pieces of an enormous stone structure and scattered them through the air.

The chamber itself is enormous. It stretched across several thousands of square feet, far larger than any ordinary dungeon room I had encountered before.

Stone walls surrounded the area on all sides, but the sheer size of the chamber made them appear distant, and the faint blue magical lights embedded in the walls provided just enough illumination to reveal the countless floating platforms.

I noticed another thing as well. Near one corner of the chamber was a large stone staircase. It began from the floor and continued upward along the wall, eventually disappearing among the higher platforms.

The five of us had entered the same teleportation circle, but that did not mean we would arrive at the same location. I had already expected something like this after remembering the game’s dungeon mechanics.

Still, knowing something was possible and experiencing it personally were two different things.

I activated Horizon Eye.

My vision immediately expanded.

The numerous platforms that had initially looked like little more than scattered pieces of stone became much easier to examine, and after only a few seconds of searching, I spotted a familiar cyan figure several hundred feet away.

Aeris was standing on another platform, looking around the chamber. The moment she noticed me, she immediately spread her wings and began flying toward my position.

I felt slightly relieved. At least she had been transported here as well.

I turned my attention toward the rest of the chamber. It did not take long to locate the other two.

Kajol was standing on a platform almost around the middle height of the chamber, several hundred feet away from me.

Hina was positioned even higher. She appeared to have landed closer to the upper section of the chamber than either of us. I looked at the positions of the three of us and could not help but sigh inwardly.

*Why do I keep spawning at the farthest point?*

It is almost becoming a pattern. Of course, complaining about it would not change anything.

I immediately began searching for the highest platform. If my memory of the game is correct, that is where the hidden item should be located.

I scanned the chamber carefully.

*There it is.*

At the opposite end of the enormous room, near the highest section of the floating platforms, I noticed something faint.

It was difficult to see from this distance because of the magical lighting and the enormous number of stone platforms obstructing the view, but Horizon Eye allowed me to distinguish a small object resting above the highest platform.

I did not waste another moment.

Mana immediately surged through my body as I cast ’Sky Steps’.

Compressed wind appeared beneath my foot, I kicked the wind jumped. I repeat it three more times then continued climbing through the chamber at extreme speed, using the fourth-step level of Sky Steps to leap from one floating platform to another without slowing down.

The distance between my starting position and Aeris’s height disappeared in less than two seconds.

Aeris immediately adjusted her flight path and began following me.

I continued moving diagonally upward, straight towards the highest platform where the item is.

I could not afford to stop and argue with Kajol or Hina again. If the item is obtained, I would no longer have to rely on uncertain information or trust someone else’s explanation.