Chapter 511 - End of the tunnel (Patreon)

##### Author's Note #####

Sorry for the delay for this one everyone. I had a weird couple of weeks, but now we are back on track and hopefully things won't go south again lol. 

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Hera's Status

Hera and the others woke up early and called over Chika so they could head to the large tunnel as soon as possible. If everything went well, they would be completing the dungeon today. Despite not needing more pelts, everyone agreed to take the cart again. If push came to shove, they could just leave it behind and keep going. Chika also seemed to be very excited about the idea of finding the mole she was chasing. Everyone had a decent breakfast and walked out of the city, with a giant snake taking the role of a hunting dog.

When they arrived at the large tunnel, everything was just how they had left it. There were no moles around, but the battle signals were still plain to see. Hera walked in front of everyone, "Ok, guys. You know the drill. We should be facing a boss today, so be careful, don't try to be a hero, and watch each other's backs. Anyone who's fighting from the back line needs to be on the lookout for ambushes coming from behind. And the Frontline needs to be ready to answer a call for help at any moment. Everybody ready?"

"Yes!" they all said in unison.

Hera smiled. Even if she wasn't sure she was the right person to lead this group, everyone seemed to be enjoying their time together and having fun, despite the danger, "Remember not to make too much noise. Even if it doesn't seem like the moles are attracted to sound, it's better to be safe than sorry."

They all headed inside the tunnel, with Chika staying in the middle of the group. The whole objective was for her to kill the boss with her poison. If someone else ended up dealing the killing blow, they would fail the hidden quest, and for Chika, she would miss the opportunity to help the people she cared about.

After about 30 minutes of walking, they saw another group of moles. They were all staring at them, almost as if they were an army ready to defend a castle. Hera also noticed a couple of them who seemed fidgety and even somehow stressed. Out of curiosity, she used her [Observe]

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Black Eye Mole - Level 18 - Exhausted (Rock Affinity)
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Black Eye Mole - Level 18 - Sleep Deprived (Rock Affinity)
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"Oh," Hera gasped.

"What's wrong?" Chiton, who was close to her, asked.

Hera pressed her communicator so everyone would hear her, "I think they were here the entire night. We accidentally did some psychological warfare against them. Most of them are exhausted or sleep deprived."

"That's good, isn't it?" Blue asked through the communicator, trying to keep the low voice that Hera was using. Everyone knew that loud noises could cause the start of the fight, and for now, the moles were just watching them.

"Maybe not," Lorna replied, " If an animal is cornered, it might fight harder than usual. The ones that are exhausted might not be that much of an issue. But the ones that are sleep deprived could have more strength than we expect."

Hera nodded, "Exactly. Let's not underestimate them. Everyone who can attack from a long-range, get ready and, on my mark, fire. Let the monsters come to us, don't dive in the middle of the pack," all members of the royal explorers started preparing a spell or a different attack. Only Chika, Daskka, Grom, and Mylo were waiting. Beam and Core also joined in since they were the two members of Hera's court who had long-range attacks.

"Ready," Hera raised one of her hands, "Fire!" she sent out a shower of poison needles, trying to hit as many of them as possible. At the same time, spikes of earth, ice, and fire flew through the air, accompanied by wind and electric blades. Shane made the ground sturdier so the moles would have problems moving around. It was also something she did to avoid showing off her legacy to the dwarves. Even if Hera trusted them to share that secret, Shane didn't. Despite that, it wasn't like she didn't have other options. Her weapon was already set up in a way that she could pretend that the various different effects she was triggering were caused by her hand cannon and not a legacy. But the ability to reduce the mole's mobility was too good to pass up.

With that initial attack, the first couple of lines of moles were instantly killed. The remaining monsters started charging at the group, but it was like they were rushing towards a meat grinder. Each dwarf was already higher level than any of the creatures, and they had years to perfect their skills and increase their attributes. The fighters took at most three hits to kill one of the moles, while those who focused on magic could dispatch each creature with one or two spells.

The Royal Explorers continued their advance at a steady pace, but soon it became clear that something had changed. During the previous days, they would face 20 or so monsters at once before having a break. Now, after breaking through their defenses, only 8 or 9 moles were attacking the group at a time. However, they weren't getting any breaks. It was a constant flow of creatures that never seemed to stop.

"Guys, let's make two groups. While one fights, the other stays back to rest. After a few minutes, group two will rotate," Hera told everyone, and they quickly split up. Even if that would make their progress a little slower, it was better than having the entire party fighting nonstop.

Four hours went by while doing that rotation every 10 minutes before they finally saw something different. It was a large cave that seemed to be forming almost a perfect dome. Surrounding this area, several tunnels could be seen even from their position. Most importantly, there were eight different moles right in the middle of that apparent arena. They were a little larger than any of the others the group saw, and Hera could see a big difference between those creatures and the ones they were fighting so far. The Black Eyed Moles had that small black formation around their faces, but they had patches of black mineral all over their bodies.

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Black Rock Mole - Level 22 - Alerted - (Rock affinity)
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However, the most impressive part of this place was the massive 5-meter tall mole in the center of the room. If it could even be called a mole at this point. Whatever it was, its entire body was covered in that black rock, forming an ominous-looking black armor. There were spikes on its back, and its claws were several times longer than the other moles. Funny enough, the formation around its eyes was now white, which still gave the impression that the monster was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

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Obsidian Land Shark - Level 25 (Obsidian affinity)
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"Ok, guys, this is it, and their level is higher than expected. We need to…" before Hera could talk about strategy, Chika dashed forward.

'MY PREY!' she yelled in a way that only Hera and her court understood. In response, the eight moles plus the Obsidian Land Shark dashed forward.

"Fuck!" Hera yelled and dashed in. She had already seen Chika die and wasn't about to let that happen again.

Seeing Hera move forward, everyone else ran along. Mylo jumped in front of one of the Black Rock Moles, and the dwarves split off to do the same. Blue stayed on the back, making a large cloud on the arena's ceiling. It would take a few moments, but when she completed the spell, she would be able to assist everyone.

Hera and Chika went straight for the Obsidian Land Shark. At the same time, Nimbus took his humanoid form. Her entire court lunged at the boss surrounding it and immediately attacked the monster. Daskka didn't wait and took her giant snake form, which was about the same size as Chika. Even Hera was joining in, swinging her glaive while using her mana reinforcement to pierce through the armor. Unfortunately, all the attacks bounced off the armored mole. Chika frowned and attacked again, using a poison spray, but the monster turned around to evade the attack and let the liquid drip along its armor.

Seeing that this was going on, Hera activated all the buffs she had available. Starting with Armory to increase her court's attributes. Following that, she sent out all the 30 snakes that the item could create and told them to create a formation around the entire arena. It would be the same formation that she used against the Volcano Tribe. A way to lower the attribute of all her enemies inside it. Lastly, she used the battle rattle ability to increase the attributes of everyone in the party.

With the preparation out of the way, Hera went in for yet another attack. She slammed her glaive against the Obsidian Land Shark and, this time, managed to chip a bit of the armor, but the damage was minor. In order to actually let Chika bite it, it would require much more than what she just did. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning came crashing down on the boss.

Hera looked around and saw the cloud above the area. She quickly turned to Blue, "Be careful not to kill it. If you can't just paralyze it, it's better not to hit it!"

"Did that deal too much damage?" Blue asked, but the obsidian mole didn't seem to mind the attack. So far, it was just waiting and watching as this group tried everything they could to damage it. Yet, nothing seemed to work. It snorted, almost like it was poking fun at everyone, and with a simple swing of its arm, it sent Chika and Daskka flying to the cave wall. Hera's court was able to move away, and Nimbus jumped in front of the Empress to stop the attack.

The rest of the team was taking care of the Black Rock Moles, taking Hera's advice to heart. She told them before that when facing unless they had a way to kill their target right away, they should clear all the enemies that were around first while someone distracted the big bad. Unfortunately, that also meant that she would have to deal with the monster by herself for a while.

So far, the Obsidian Land Shark has only made a few slow and telegraphed moves. But that changed out of nowhere. A black streak crossed the battlefield heading straight for Chika, who was still recovering from the claw attack. Hera tried to use her stone wall spell to stop but to no avail. Farica and Callena noticed the attack and used a couple of spells to disrupt a target's movement to push the monster to the side while pulling the snake closer to them. Thanks to that, the attack missed, and the mole slammed head first into the wall. That impact didn't seem to bother it one bit, but a small metal ball flew towards it before spreading out and turning into a net made out of reinforced spider silk. The attack came from Shane, who fired two more projectiles with the same spell on them. Liking that idea, Hera shot out a few bolts of her paralyze spell and spore field, hoping the boss also had the powerful nose that moles should have.

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Ailment Mastery triggered

Obsidian Land Shark ailment bonus effects x 3
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"If anyone has a bad status effect that you can apply. Aim at the boss! Nothing that could damage it too much," Hera called. If there was a way to pile up on it, the damage would be considerable.

A couple of the dwarves added their own spells to the fold, causing the obsidian mole to become slower and have trouble breathing. Adding to that, Hera decided to use her stone wall spell to bind the monster to the ground. Even if it was a creature made to dig through tunnels. She hoped that if she could stop it from moving altogether, it wouldn't be able to run away.

While that was happening, the rest of the team managed to kill all the Black Rock Moles. The group was much stronger than the monsters, and without having to worry about letting someone else get the last hit made things a lot easier. Everyone moved closer to the boss while they discussed how they could give Chika an opening so she could kill the monster. To avoid any issues, Hera, Shane, Callena, and Chiton kept using their spells to lock the Obsidian Land Shark in place.

After some discussion, Bralac came up with an idea, "Why don't we use water?"

"Isn't obsidian kind of like glass? Why would water help?" Hayath asked.

"Not if we take the water jet approach. I got a skill like that, and I think I can at least cut open a piece of the boss. It just won't be pretty," Bralac scratched the back of his head.

"I think it's worth a shot. Are you comfortable doing that?" Hera asked. As much as she wanted to complete the quest, she wasn't going to force someone to do something they weren't willing to. Besides, she already had another idea in mind. They could use some strong skills to cut one of the monster's limbs and let Chika bite the wound.

"Honestly, I don't know. But I'm willing to give it a try," Bralac approached the Obsidian creature that was still stuck to the walls. Shane had changed the terrain again, making it almost impossible for the monster to do anything. And to their luck, it didn't seem like the creature had any spells that could control rocks.

Bralac started using his water jet spell, and little by little, it started to cut the rock from the monster's back. The creature was squealing and crying the whole time, which made everyone uncomfortable. Even if this was just a construct, this was nothing more than torture. Hoping she could avoid traumatizing her team, Hera got closer to the creature's head and used her soundproof spell to stop everyone from hearing it. Unfortunately, she had to be inside the bubble, or the spell would fade.

'Guys. Can you sing? As loud as you can,' Hera asked her court, who started to serenade her loudly, hoping to drown the mole's cries.

After about ten minutes, Bralac was able to remove a large chunk of the obsidian armor. To ensure the monster was still alive so Chika could finish it off, Hayath and Yerel even used healing spells to stop it from bleeding out. With everything ready, they gave Hera a signal, and she told the snake to go for it.

'Thank you all,' Chika replied before opening its maw to reveal a set of 6 fangs, 3 on each side. Two were white, one was green, one blue with arrow markings, one was yellow, and one was red. The same colors as Darni and his team. She bit down on the monster, who started to struggle even more, but as time went by, it stopped, and its body went limp. After a few more moments, it dissolved, leaving behind a 5-meter by 5-meter pelt that was completely covered in obsidian and a heart.

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Obsidian Land Shark Pelt

The pelt of an Obsidian Land Shark. It is extremely durable and malleable. When mana goes through the pelt, it becomes strong enough that not even a giant saltwater crocodile would be able to break through it.
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The notification for the heart only said that Chika made it and she would now deliver it to Darni and Casks.

"So? Is this it? Where is the level up?" Bertrand asked.

"We need to go back to Spiral and deliver the heart. Then we get it and all the rewards," Hera glanced at Bralac, "Also. I think we should let him have the pelt. Maybe give him a few moments alone with it. I don't like the way he's looking at it."

"Really? Can I have this?" Bralac's eyes were sparkling. While he was cutting the obsidian, he kept thinking of ways to use that material to make something, but since it was a dungeon, he knew he couldn't take it back. However, when the boss dropped that item, the ideas he was having came flooding back.

"Any objections?" Hera glanced at the group, and everyone shook their heads. She then turned to Shane and mumbled, "I'll pay you for your cut later."

Shane just shook her head as well. To her, the opportunity to talk to the Naga here was more than enough reward. The only reason she wasn't doing that already was that she didn't know if her questions would get in the way of the quest, and the rewards could also prove very interesting.

"Ok, let's gather the rest of the pelts that were dropped so we can get out of here," Lorna gestured to the drops of the Black Rock Moles. The eight monsters left a couple of pelts and a few claws behind. As everyone was gathering the loot, Blarac was still caressing the obsidian pelt with an expression of glee. Seeing that, Lorna sighed, "Yep. I want someone who looks at me the way you are looking at that."

"What do you mean?" Bralac didn't take his eyes out of the pelt and was already making schematics on his head. The rest of the team stared at him for a moment, and only then did he notice that people were already moving, "What?"

"Nothing. I just hope I'm invited to the wedding," Lorna chuckled.

"Oh, man… Can I split the gift with anyone? I have no idea what a pelt would like," Alton asked.

"Maybe a tanning rack? Or would that be too personal?" Alex suggested.

"What do you mean?" Bralac asked, still missing the joke. Everyone laughed and continued heading up the tunnel, "Guys? Guys! Wait up. What's so funny?"