Chapter LXVIII - Buldavour (part 1)

An hour had passed since I first came down to the dungeon, and I got lost.

I can see why they warned me about the dungeon's geographic issue. Because this place is definitely like a high levelled maze.

Though, I did this trick where I left behind corpses of charred centipede corpses along the way, so I can find my way back. But when I returned to see the corpse, it was already eaten by another centipede, so it was pointless.

I had no idea that they were this horrible at cannibalism.

So I had no choice but to rely on the walls.

I scratched out the walls using a knife I had in my inventory. This knife was for cutting meat, so it had quite an issue carving the stone walls.

I drew signs, saying where the exit was, hoping that I'll be able to spot these signs.

It didn't really take a while to find another monster after killing one. After a while, it started to be getting annoying.

"Argh!! Why are there so many!?"

That scream was caused by my built up stress from being lost inside the dungeon, and by the amount of centipedes that kept on coming towards me.

After screaming, I burned like another tens of scorpions surrounding me. I had gone very deep inside the dungeon, that I somehow lost count how many signs I had drawn on the walls, and where I had drawn them.

Some of the paths are actually impossible to return to. Like the steep and slippery path on the beginning. You actually needed something sharp to go with, otherwise it's impossible to go back up. 

Unless you are a giant arthropod that can climb even the steepest walls.

I kept on strolling down the dungeon until I found signs of humans.

There's a mark of a campfire on a hidden closed area, and a bunch of trash cans from canned food.

Must be Hod and the others.

The campfire looked new. I touched it, and it's quite warm. They aren't that far.

I heightened my senses and looked for them. Just like before, I couldn't sense them at all. There is something in here that is messing with my magic senses. I simply had to rely on my physical senses now.

I left the closed area and continued roaming the dungeon.

Don't die, guys… I'm almost there.

.

At a much deeper part of the dungeon, Hod and the others are fending off an army of centipedes. There is a lot more here than there were back up there.

They had somehow gone down thanks to the slippery path. Or rather, thanks to Barret. He was always heavy, and he somehow slipped on the ground and fell down the path, immediately welcomed by a hundred centipede waiting for him underneath. 

Everyone else had no choice but to go down and help him.

"God damn... This just won't end!"

"Stop complaining and kill!"

Hod shouted at Cony who stopped to take a breather.

Hod lifted his hand and casted a high tier ice magic. In an instant, an army of twenty more scorpions as his target quickly got frozen in ice.

That magic alone cost a lot of energy for him, and they ran out of magic energy drinks just hours ago.

"Oh dear… That's a lot of huge ones."

Barret mumbled as he stared at a spot. Far from their position, nearly ten Megapedes came out from a hole on top of the wall. It crawls on the ceilings and on the walls.

They are damn huge too.

"Guys... I just want to let you all know... I love you guys!"

Valey said as she shot an incendiary arrow towards a centipede on the wall. The centipede burned to the ground, and got immediately munched on by the other centipedes.

"Me too, Valey!!"

Cony shouted as she fought against three centipedes at once.

The group were completely overwhelmed by the numbers, and the megapedes haven't reached them yet. Soon, the megapedes will have them occupied, and the smaller centipedes will be catching their guards down.

They were very close to losing, but then the ground crumbled heavily.

The arthropods all stopped moving, and they began moving randomly. Seeing the weird behaviour, everyone got confused.

"Could it be... Backup?"

Cony hoped, but Hod knows the truth.

"No! It's not!"

HHHSSSSSSSS!!!!

BLARR!!!

The wall right next to them collapsed, throwing rocks and dust everywhere. Everyone moved away from the explosion, and they quickly tried to see what the hell just happened to that wall. 

With a loud hiss, the dust slowly clears itself, showing the ten meters large Buldavour that entered this giant cave.

"What the hell!?!"

"Move!!"

Hod commanded the others to run away from the Buldavour, but the Buldavour was too busy feasting on the smaller centipedes and scorpions. 

The other arthropods are working together in order to fend off the Buldavour, but it just doesn't affect it at all. Even the Megapede can't do anything against it and simply became food for the Buldavour.

"It... Exists... Buldavour!!"

Cony shouted happily, and everyone else stared at her like she had some issue. Valey looked at the gigantic centipede in front of them feasting on other arthropods, and turned to Hod.

"What should we do!?"

"We run! Use this chance to escape!"

Hod said as he turned around and ran towards where the Buldavour came from. The entrance was right next to where they were fighting before, so they simply had to run back. Hod took a glance at the gigantic centipede that is busy feasting on the other arthropods, and noticed a slight annoyance.

For every arthropod the centipede ate, the Buldavour's skin waves.

"What the..."

"Hod! Keep running!"

Valey and the others ran past Hod, and Hod quickly caught up. The entrance that the Buldavour had opened is clear of any bugs, since they were all killed by the boulders that were thrown out of the way by the Buldavour.

"Let's go, just a little bit more!"

Hod was looking at the entrance when a giant projectile was shot towards the entrance. It was the infamous poison spit, but it's a very large one. This giant thing can shoot it too.

"W-What!!?"

"What now?"

Hod turned towards the Buldavour, who seemed to have lost interest in eating the arthropods. The Buldavour slowly turns its head around, and is now sharply watching them.

"We have no choice."

Hod unsheathed his rapier, and his other hand is simply glowing blue thanks to his ice magic. 

"We'll kill it."

The others heard, and also prepared to fight. They unsheathed their weapons, and even prepared to use magic when necessary. The Buldavour were also looking quite ready to fire another spit.

They were about to rush forward, but then a slippery sound came from the entrance.

"Weeee~!"

A person shouted loudly as she slid down on the slippery steep path that they came from. The person leaped right before touching the ground, and posed when she landed.

Everyone, including the Buldavour, is watching as the person poses arrogantly.

The person then glanced at them, and things became very awkward for a few seconds.

"Rize…?"