"This is the first lesson for anyone who wishes to venture beyond the outer walls," Umbrina spoke to them all more seriously than she had so far. "No place is ever safe. Ever. Just like those ravagers snuck up on you? I have had entire waves reach me during short rests. One moment, we were trying to get some shuteye, and the next, there were hordes of monsters above our level breathing down our necks."

Thank Monarch that Drakys gave me some basic detection arrays, Lev thought to himself, taking her words seriously.

"Some of you have no plans to venture outside. Too bad the inside is much the same. Only the patrols close to the city ensure that accidents almost never happen, but that is not a guarantee. Not that long ago, a blighted monster was found far from its natural habitat, the Crimson Ravine. It was a stray monster, and the cause for its traveling so far away never quite became obvious. Regardless, it serves as a good lesson and an eye-opener for all those responsible for our safety."

Her voice turned even graver than before. "Never let your guard down, kids. Even if you have to find another member, make sure to always have scouting skills scanning your surroundings. It will save your lives more times than any of you can imagine."

Scouting, huh? Lev let his mind wander while they rested to recover their mana and heal any minor injuries. Also interesting to note that she knows of my brush with the threader. Guess she's more important than anyone realizes.

While he opted to regenerate mana naturally with Beatrice's passive aura in the downtime, notifications were waiting for him.

[

Your Group has slain [Watershade Ravager - Level 223

…

Your Group has slain [Watershade Ravager - Level 219]

Mana Tempest has reached Level 199

]

Neat. More mana for meee.

Lev was glad nobody could tap into his mind.

Ignoring his addiction to increasing the size of his mana pool, he summoned sofas for himself and the aura mage. She sat down, slightly tired from the enhancement, and immediately lay down to catch some sleep. Lev followed her example and looked around.

Umbrina became visible on the ground for a short moment and motioned for him to rest. Giving her a nod, Lev made the bubble land on the ground and went to sleep.

Ronald shook him awake some time later. One of the female wind mages of his team roused Beatrice, who woke up with a start.

Not quite over the spire experience, Lev made a mental note to do something good for her when they returned to Windkeep.

"How long has it been?" Lev asked, stifling a yawn.

"Three hours," Ronald curtly replied. "We're moving soon."

Lev nodded at him and summoned his refillable canteen. He washed his face and drank some of the cool water and filled a bowl for Beatrice.

She frowned slightly. "Go out and make the bubble invisible."

… Yes ma'am.

He did as he was told, only shaking his head slightly at the odd request. Lev might've quipped something if she hadn't woken up like that. He suspected she just needed a moment to reorient herself.

Knocking from inside his bubble after a few minutes let him know she was done. He turned off the invisibility enchantment and entered, finding a few splashes of water here and there. Those were removed easy by deleting that part of the bubble to let the water fall down, then resummon the barrier floor.

"We're ready," Lev informed Ronald, who was waiting with everyone else. The man didn't react and simply started marching again, leading everyone deeper into the steep pit as they moved in circles.

That thing keeps getting bigger and bigger, Lev noted, impressed and more than a little intimidated. Whatever the huge skeleton was in life, he doubted it belonged to a creature below the fourth threshold. What else could be so massive?

"Ravagers below us to our left," Lev called out, having felt the barest hint of auras hidden several meters below ground. His voice wasn't loud enough to be heard from that far, but the abrupt halt of all the movement tipped the monsters off.

"Warriors, stay behind me!" Ronald called out. "Mages, summon all your shields."

Lev was way ahead of everyone else with ten enchanted shields. Dealing with the swarm was not that hard for him, so the next step was to observe how they operated individually.

No mana or anything visible could be felt from their location that may have indicated communication in the swarm, but they all readied their steam attacks in unison. Lev noted the position of each and the exact direction they were facing, bringing his shields closer to where he predicted the beams would pass through.

The first move was made by the humans as wind mana gathered in huge amounts. Beatrice immediately buffed the two responsible after seeing the intense usage, further amplifying the grand spells.

Transparent yet blinding in his Mana Perception, Lev beheld two tall walls of condensed wind, pulling everything in contact upwards and launching them in the air.

When the spell was ready, Ronald slowly stalked forward, others following. The first vaporous attack was launched at the walls, noticeably dimming its strength but failing to do any damage. More wind mana was channeled into the defensive walls, and all the substance from the monster's attack was launched into the sky, turning the whole area damp.

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Lev took it all in, impressed by the sheer control. The edges of the wall were stable enough to leak only mere particles of mana. It signified a high level of manipulation attained by relentless practice.

His barriers in comparison, only leaked a small amount of infused or imbued mana. It was another hurdle that his mana manipulation had to deal with, which made the skill the most attractive for any mage.

Up ahead, Ronald was close to the first monster, who dropped the casting in favor of rushing in. An axe splattered its head and brain matter on the ground as steam attacks were launched.

The swarm was huge, comprised of nearly a hundred ravagers. Some of the attacks were bound to get through, as it happened when five of them landed near the same spot on the wind wall.

Two of them pierced through, only to be blocked by Lev's shields. He was waiting for that.

Whenever a monster refused to come closer, the wall opened slightly like a door, allowing a warrior to rush in while defending it from the sides. As quickly as the person could, they killed the monster and retreated, letting the wall return to its original state.

Ingenious, Lev thought to himself in approval. The attack isn't dense enough to puncture the wall with ease, which lets the wind do its job and easily redirect the steam. Is this how people usually clear dungeons? I've been skipping the basics.

And by doing so, he was only getting stronger and stronger. Lev was more than happy doing things his own way.

Ravagers steadily fell to different blades and occasional spells, reducing the monsters to half their original number in a few minutes. Things were going well before a burrower decided to interrupt the extermination, launching out of the ground two dozen meters away where the earth mage was using mana as a bait to lure it out.

Without needing to be told, all the mages immediately focused on its huge mug, unloading lightning and earth attacks without giving it a moment to take note of the humans' numbers.

A loud, grating wail made Lev wince, and he decided to lend a hand. Stargazer appeared in his hands, an overloaded earth slash landed on the side of the burrower's maw. It crunched teeth in its way as it punctured through the hide, immobilizing it for a split second with agony.

Stronger spells immediately took advantage, frying its brain quickly.

[

Your Group has slain [Earthen Burrower - Level 311]

]

The wind mages didn't partake, only keeping the wall moving along with the warriors and swiftly eradicating the rest of the swarm. Everyone remained tense, prepared for anything to ambush them at the opportune moment.

Harpies validated their cautiousness by announcing their presence with loud screeches, having felt and seen the large battle from far away. Thus began their long journey of killing the three types of monsters and eventually reaching the boss.

****

Five days later, they were resting for the last push. Down below, the giant skeleton loomed far closer than before. Reaching it wouldn't have taken so long if they hadn't circled the entire pit while descending, killing everything that moved besides the humans.

Lev could see the oddly pristine bones near the tail end in great detail, understanding absolutely nothing about them because of his lacking knowledge. They were very durable no doubt, but that was all he could gather.

"Hey, Umbrina," he called out to their invisible guardian. "Will we harvest the bones?"

"No, they have been used plenty already. Due to their extremely old age, much of their magical properties are lost, and the bone structure is also far weaker than it was once theorized to be. Better metals have been found to completely replace these. They have no special properties, after all."

"I see, thank you."

Their four-hour rest came to an end not long after, seeing them all topped on mana and in best shape. All notions of holding back had been discarded, and even Umrbina ditched her invisible role to assist whenever necessary.

Platinum bosses were notorious for being extremely difficult to kill. Solo teams simply had no chance at besting them. In the same vein, those monsters could also kill platinum hunters in a blink, which left no choice but for the rogue to show herself and forcefully attract its aggression if lives were at risk.

Stepping out of the bubble, Lev summoned Stargazer as well. There was no point in hiding his abilities anymore, though he would still try to keep his Wisdom Boost a secret.

Several burrowers, courtesy of Umbrina, were steadily making their way to the ready hunters. Those monsters announced the start of their final charge, where they wouldn't find any rest until they killed the boss.

Entering the skeleton from the tail, they started their slow march. Ronald and his team flew slightly ahead, taking the lead as usual. Lev went ahead and attracted the attention of another two with his arrows and readied his glaive. Enchantments came alive as the giant monster neared, winds flapping slightly with its gait.

When its maw was about to devour him, he overloaded his enhancement and armor and pulled himself back, launching an overloaded fire slash in its mouth while flying away. The extent of the damage was immediately noticeable from its pained cry, but Lev didn't have the chance to pursue the opening.

Lightning streamed into his armor and Stargazer, imbuing the former and infusing the latter. Dodging the second burrower's lunge was tricky with its huge size, but Lev managed it easily enough with his high speed. Like a fly, he darted out of its path and landed on its side.

Stargazer flashed multiple times, each swing enlargening the cut from the previous. Lightning was released with them all, jolting its massive body slightly and amplifying the damage.

Lev disengaged when the first monster found its bearing and sought to crush him on top of the other's body. He saw it coming from a mile away and flew up, never letting his fellow hunters out of sight.

Umbrina stalked the battlefield like a cat, ready to pounce whenever. Seeing the humans were in minimal danger, Lev focused back on the two giant creatures below him preparing to jump in the air to eat him.

Before they could do so, Lev launched a volley of lightning arrows at them and descended. Injured but still alive, the monsters never gave up on trying to kill him. Wild but predictable attack patterns netted them two massive lightning slashes, putting an end to the two versus one.

Behind him, the others had also downed the remaining three burrowers and were preparing for the ravages exiting the holes in the huge bone structure. Each opening was hard to see due to the uniform white color and relatively small size, but the hunters weren't unprepared. Umbrina had warned them several times about that exact scenario.

Lev took it upon himself to kill all the ones on the right as the wind mages covered all the hunters. Towering but stationary wind walls covered the humans, occasionally opening up holes for the mages to fire through. The warriors remained put for that one and simply watched.

The bubble ascended higher than the wind walls, immediately attracting the attention of a dozen ravagers, all of whom attacked as one. Barrier walls blocked the beams, each roiling with the excess mana sent into the durability rune enchanting them.

Four walls shattered, leaving three more intact ones that were dismissed. Shields took their place to block any surprise attacks as Lev retaliated. Lightning arrows sheared through the large insect monsters, putting down half their numbers in a single volley.

Lev had to give up the offense to defend himself again, this time barely stopping all the attacks in their tracks as more and more of the monsters focused on him. It allowed the mages to kill them easier but put him in a tight spot. The bubble was also enchanted with durability, but Lev wasn't going to put much hope in it when it came to defense.

It didn't take long for the swarm to perish. Cores were harvested before they rested during the few minutes of downtime. Already, burrowers could be seen travelling up the skeleton, having felt the tremors and mana usage for the hunters.

All was going to plan until Umbrina's head snapped towards the skull of the giant bone structure. Lev, who was keeping half an eye on her to see how she scouted, couldn't even see the head movement. She was far faster than anything his Perception could track.

"Lev's and Ronald's team. Prepare yourselves. Aura mage, use the maximum regeneration buff on all of them. The boss is coming."

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