Serafina and Remel faced the flame skeletal knights before them and retreated simultaneously.
A swordsman's defensive capabilities were quite abysmal.
Under normal circumstances, they could have easily evaded such a charge with a simple sidestep.
But now...
All they could say was: damn this fireproof suit!
As Serafina and Remel retreated, Isolde deactivated Immovable Fortress and executed a coordinated charge.
Leoward fired all the condensed Corrosive Water Arrows at the charging flame skeletal knights.
Several skeletal knights struck by the arrows relied on their armor to resist the corrosive effects.
Only one unlucky soul had its neck dissolved, causing it to tumble off its lava skeletal lizard.
The skeletal lizard, however, maintained its charge without stopping.
Fortunately, Isolde had already reached the front of the formation. With a roar, he slammed down his heavy shield.
The deployed barrier was like a stubborn rock rising in a river, meeting the charge of the flame skeletal knights head-on.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Bones repeatedly slammed into the barrier, and the knight spears focused the full force of the charge into their tips, impacting the shield.
Isolde let out a roar. His muscles bulged beneath the fireproof suit and veins popped as he withstood the entirety of the impact.
Caspar thrust his wooden staff into the rock.
As a priest of the Harvest Church, he had undoubtedly suffered an epic nerf in the Lava Stratum.
But as a believer in the Harvest God, Caspar naturally possessed means to fight in such a volcanic environment.
“Fire-resistant Vine!”
Pitch-black vines burst through the rock, growing rapidly to entwine the bones of the lava skeletal lizards.
The two swordsmen suddenly erupted with power, launching fierce attacks from behind the barrier to dismantle the enemies.
Bones shattered continuously, yet the two swordsmen did not cease their assault for a moment.
Sword Qi erupted repeatedly like a series of exploding bombs, tearing the skeletons to shreds.
“Rank-two magic: Thick Forest Acid!”
Leoward seized the opportunity to cast another spell. Acid splashed everywhere, corroding pits and grooves into the white bones.
Simultaneously, Leoward quickly pulled a magic crystal coin from his satchel.
Disregarding the coin's value, he rapidly absorbed the mana within it and used that energy to trigger the Summoning Blessing on his body.
A diamond-shaped mark expanded on the back of his hand, and two cards were drawn.
Both were white cards.
One was [Gargoyle Lv. 2], and the other was [Skeleton Lv. 3].
“Summon!”
The cards flashed and vanished, and the gargoyle and skeleton were summoned in succession.
Because their levels were not high, the mana consumption was minimal.
By the same token, because their levels were low, their combat effectiveness was rather lackluster.
It could only be said that they were better than nothing.
However, relying on the powerful defensive barrier of the Immovable Fortress, combined with the strong output of a second-rank mage, a third-rank swordsman, and a peak first-rank swordsman, the skeletons were successfully held back.
Seemingly realizing the tide had turned, the skeletons did not linger and began to retreat.
The Red Rose team chose not to pursue, opting instead to rest and recover on the spot.
Isolde continued to maintain the barrier to prevent the monsters from launching a second charge.
“Too strong. As expected, there are intelligent monsters commanding them from behind.”
Serafina was somewhat exhausted and sat on the ground to recover her stamina.
Beneath the heavy fireproof suit, her entire body was drenched in sweat.
However, there was no need to worry about sticky sweat affecting her movements.
At this temperature, the sweat would evaporate almost instantly.
The Well of Eternal Imprisonment was teeming with intelligent monsters, which made the early stages of exploration extremely difficult. The difficulty was far higher than in other dungeons.
This was common knowledge among the adventurers exploring the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
In other dungeons, intelligent monsters generally only appeared in small numbers around the twentieth floor.
After recovering a bit of stamina, Serafina supported herself against the weight of the fireproof suit and stood up again.
“Clean up the battlefield immediately. We're leaving this area.”
In other dungeons, one could rest on the spot after defeating monsters.
But the monsters in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment would truly take advantage of adventurers resting to launch a swift second attack.
Stupid dungeon, get lost.
The Red Rose team quickly followed their captain's orders, gathering the dropped monster materials.
The Well of Eternal Imprisonment dropped various materials.
Flame skeletons dropped Fire Bones, while lava skeletal lizards dropped Lava Bone Fragments.
Gargoyles dropped Lava Stone Fragments. These were all very precious materials.
“Captain, there's a special drop here!”
Remel shouted loudly, his voice quickly drawing the attention of the rest of the Red Rose team.
This once-proud swordsman had been fully assimilated into the Red Rose team's ways.
“What?!”
Serafina, who was picking up bones, quickly stuffed the materials into her satchel and strode toward Remel.
In addition to the stable monster materials, killing monsters carried a very low probability of yielding other special items.
Special items from other dungeons were often materials with more mana or greater value.
There were also magic items and magical artifacts.
In the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, special drops were often dungeon coins and rare materials.
It was said that monster cards could also drop with an extremely low probability.
However, Serafina’s Red Rose team had yet to obtain a monster card from a drop.
The two monster cards Leoward currently possessed had been purchased from a monster merchant.
In Remel’s hand lay a unique bone fragment.
The fragment was a regular rectangle, unlike the irregular bone shapes of typical monster materials.
One side was inscribed with ancient script, while the other side depicted a large, coiled snake.
“The Sinful Snake of Eternal Imprisonment traversing the floors?”
Serafina’s eyes lit up as she read the inscribed words.
Her intuition told her that this was definitely no ordinary item.
Researching such things was best left to a specialist.
Serafina handed the bone fragment to the mage, Leoward, who took it and began to study it carefully.
“It seems to be some kind of key. The mana within it is calling out toward the west.”
A key that points the way?
The direction it indicated was likely related to the Sinful Snake of Eternal Imprisonment mentioned on the fragment.
Should they go take a look?
Currently, the teams at the forefront of exploration were all focused on the dangerously volatile Forbidden Fire. Their primary goal was to explore downward and find the passage to the next floor.
Should their team spend time exploring the west to find whatever was related to this sinful snake?
This sinful snake didn't seem to have any connection to the Forbidden Fire, nor were there any clues related to it on the item.
“...Let's go see first.”
Serafina did not hesitate for long before making her decision.
The west hadn't been explored yet anyway. Perhaps the passage to the next floor was in that direction.
Besides, the Sinful Snake of Eternal Imprisonment.
The words “Eternal Imprisonment” could not be ignored. After all, this was the Well of Eternal Imprisonment, and the Forbidden Fire was also something eternally imprisoned here.
Rate on N.U.
