What came from above was hundreds of gigantic boulders, rolling at them with powerful momentum. When the boulders smashed onto the ground they stood upon, they crushed dozens of men, and destroyed a chunk of earth, pulling it down to the foot of the mountain.
Aldred transformed his Phantom Doomblade into a hammer before he swung the boulder. The force created a crack in the boulder and then it exploded. The power made Aldred back off by a few steps, however.
"They are no ordinary boulders. They are imbued with magic!" Aldred shouted.
Stella and Sophia stepped forward, casting a magical barrier. Three boulders slammed onto the barrier, creating cracks.
Rachel pointed with her fingers and blasted the boulder with a beam of light.
Mareona punched the boulders with her fist.
"We have to get out of here. These boulders are going to keep coming!" Kiara said as she cut a boulder in half with her claws.
"I will make a tunnel for us. Xer Xai!" Aldred summoned his undead. Xer Xai immediately tunneled out from the mountain, roaring as she crushed a boulder with her jaw.
"Let's get in!" Aldred entered the tunnel with the others.
Some of the other adventurers saw this and they entered with him.
One boulder fell and closed the tunnel.
"Wait! Open the tunnel for me! Let me in!"
"Let me in, please!"
Suddenly, the sound of meat and bones being crushed was heard, and the screaming of pleas ended.
Aldred looked at his wives as they breathed heavily. "We should be safe here for now."
Baendjbi approached Aldred and clasped his hand while bowing his head slightly. "Thank you, senior."
"Why are you calling me a senior now?"
"You are more powerful than me, and I respect you. Therefore, I must call you senior."
Aldred sighed. "Okay, you can call me whatever." He looked at the boulder that blocked the tunnel. "What's our next move?"
"Maybe we should wait," Rachel suggested. Her expression conveyed worry and fear. She recalled how the boulders almost destroyed the barrier and killed them all.
If she died, then that was fine, but she couldn't let herself watch Aldred die in this place.
Even after seeing Aldred's powerful abilities, she still worried for his life.
Zafrina summoned globs of blood that shone with bright red light. She frowned and knelt down as the light shone upon a bone. Turning her head to the side, she realized it was a hidden cave. "Aldred, I think you need to see this."
Aldred approached her and activated his godly eyes. "There's a tunnel in the mountain."
"That means there's a different way to get to the top," Stella said. "Well, there are always different ways to finish a challenge."
"Well, every road leads to Rome."
"What's Rome?"
"That's not important." Aldred walked forward. "Should we go from here or from outside?"
"I don't want to get crushed by boulders. So, this tunnel seems like a better choice," Zafrina said.
"Okay we will do that, then," Aldred said. "But first we should check for any traps. Sometimes the dungeon can block my godly eyes."
A group of adventurers dashed forward, wanting to get ahead of everyone else. "See you later, sucker!"
"Hey!" Sophia shouted. "How dare they do that! This tunnel was found by Aldred."
"Let them be." Aldred smiled.
As the adventurers ran, they stepped on an unassuming rock and activated something with a click. The ground below them suddenly fell like a trapdoor, making the adventurers scream as they also fell into the abyss.
One man managed to hang onto a protruding rock. He looked up and screamed: "Hel—"
The trapdoor closed, cutting off any noise coming from below.
The other adventurers gulped in fear and looked up and down, left and right to watch out for any trap.
"Hey! Be careful with your steps!"
"Don't move! Everybody, don't move!"
They were causing a commotion but did not dare to move a single step from where they were.
"You guys are such a pussy! How many traps can this dungeon hav—" that man fell into a hole that closed immediately.
"Welp… There's only one thing for me to do." Aldred waved his hand and multiple portals opened around him.
Dozens of golems stepped out like obedient soldiers.
Aldred pointed forward. "March forth!"
The worker golems marched forward and dozens of them immediately fell onto a hole.
Aldred and the others avoided that trap, and they continued their way in.
Some traps were very tricky to deal with because they only activated when a certain weight was put on them or they needed to be stepped on a couple of times. So, even though Aldred had the golems clearing the traps, some adventurers fell to their death.
After walking for a few hours and witnessing the death of a dozen adventurers, Aldred was provided two directions: One to the south, and the other to the west.
Aldred decided to take the south tunnel, and he saw a simple wooden door up ahead.
The worker golem punched the door, destroying it as they entered the room.
After making sure it was safe, Aldred and the others entered as well.
The room was quite wide, and ahead of them were three doors.
Aldred heard noises from above, and a pair of red lit eyes set its gaze at him.
Suddenly, numerous red eyes appeared on the ceiling, and they all hissed before throwing themselves down.
"A spider swarm!"
[Spider Swarm]
Level: 84
Power: Vermin, Darkvision, Tremor Sense, Mind Eating Poison.
Thousands of small spiders fell down and pounced on their faces.
"Get it off me! Get it off me!"
The spiders injected their fangs right into their face. The venom melted the skin as the victim screamed.
Aldred and his group fended the spider swarms using their weapons and spells.
Aldred was like a god of fire as he moved around, burning everything in his path.
[+5040 EXP]
[+5040 EXP]
[+5040 EXP]
[+5040 EXP]
As he punched through a spider's gut, he saw black goo come out of the torso, falling to the floor, and then slowly crawled into the center of the room.
It did not only come from the spider he killed, the other spiders that died also produced this black goo.
Aldred was curious, but he did not want to find out. Raising his hand, his eyes glinted with fire. "True Sun!"
A tongue of flame ignited on his palm before it blazed into a gigantic fireball that burned every spider that foolishly jumped into it.
Aldred stared at the glob of black goo in the center of the room as it got bigger.
"Be burned!" Aldred threw the fireball forward.
Suddenly, the black goo moved up, transformed into a demonic face, and then two pairs of giant claws, seemingly made out of darkness spread out, covering the whole room, and devouring the light.
[You have been teleported]
The darkness disappeared and Aldred found himself in an unknown place. Water droplets fell from the stalactites on the ceilings.
He was still inside the earth, and a clear blue pool was formed in front of him as the water dripped from above.
"Where are the others?" Aldred looked around, but his wives and friends were not there.
They had been separated.
"Fuck!" Aldred turned around and looked forward.
He had to find the others first.
