"That was hard! I thought I was going to die." Brando said with a sigh. His body was full of wounds and his armor was tattered.
"I never thought that fighting a third evolution monster would be this hard. They are one stage higher than the second evolution monster but why are they so strong?" Finsi said while looking at the ceiling of the room. His condition was the same as Brando.
"Hahaha, that monster is so strong! I want to fight someone at this level in the future!" Bryan said with an eager expression. He enjoyed the battle against the giant spider even though he suffered heavy injuries. The thrill of fighting someone he didn't know he could win was fun for him.
"Well, Souta is right. With our power, we could take down a third evolution monster after a fierce battle." Yujin said as he drunk a health potion. He then took out another potion before giving it to the two shielders who did their best.
"Thanks!" Brando and Finsi received the health potion from Yujin. They drunk it without hesitation after thanking him.
"Lynn, are you okay?" Lumilia asked Lynn with a concerned look on her face. Lynn looks tired and exhausted. Her face was pale and it seems that she drained her mana.
She recalled how Lynn kept casting her spells to help everyone in the battle. She was also the one who healed Brando and Finsi when they got injured.
Lynn who was leaning on the walls turned her head and looked at Lumilia. She slowly opened her mouth and said, "I-I'm fine, M-Mila. It just that I didn't have mana left in my mana pool."
"I still have mana potion," Lumilia said as she took out a mana potion in her pocket. "Here, take this."
"Thanks, Mila. W-What about Souta and Yuko?" Lynn asked while stuttering as her eyes wandered around trying to find Souta and Yuko.
Lumilia smiled and said in a gentle tone, "Don't worry about him. Souta is strong and smart. His condition is better than any of us."
'Lynn is really a kind girl. Even at her condition she still has a time to worry about others.' Lumilia thought as she helped Lynn drink the mana potion.
"Damn! That monster is the strongest monster I've ever faced in my life!" Ginvi spoke as he leaned his back on the walls. He took out his health potions and give it to his comrades. Charise, Donna, and Jagret needed it the most.
He was a mage so he was fighting on the back. He was far from danger so he didn't need that much health potions.
"Still... You're captain's classmates, am I right?" Ginvi asked as he looked at Lumilia's direction.
Lumilia raised her eyebrows when Ginvi asked her a question. She nodded her head in response to the question.
"You're all from mage class, right? But I can't see them being a mage." Ginvi said as he glanced at Brando, Bryan, Yujin, Alice, and Souta.
"Ah... T-They are special. If I'm not their classmates I will not believe that the course that took in the institute was mage." Lumilia replied as she slightly scratched her cheeks. Her classmates were weird. They were mage but they fought like they were not a mage.
"Oi! I'm from the shield class. I'm not their classmates, just schoolmates." Brando said as he heard their conversation.
"So, your normal, I thought you're a mage acting like a shielder," Ginvi said.
Souta was listening to their conversation silently. He was looking at their condition with a grave expression. This battle was worse than he thought.
He underestimated the bosses of this orange danger level dungeon.
He thought that they could clear this dungeon with their strength but after seeing the battle he realized that it was not enough. They were not strong enough to clear the Dark Light of Eternal Dungeon.
There were four raid bosses in this dungeon and they defeated one of the bosses. If his memory was right, the remaining three bosses were stronger than the White Jade Spider. They used a lot of potions in fighting the third evolution monster so they don't have that much left.
All the preparation that they did was only enough for the White Jade Spider. Even if Yujin used his spirit power or Yuko used her blessing it would only be enough for the second boss.
Currently, they don't have any means of fighting a third evolution monster repeatedly. At their current strength, they needed a large amount of potions.
"Ah~ we're not going to make." Souta sighed as he looked at the ceiling of the room. He decided to abandon his goal in clearing this dungeon. He only needed to take the [Soul Blood Earring].
He stood up and patted his clothes. He turned his head and looked at the corpse of the White Jade Spider. This spider would fetch a higher than the Dark Vine Stinger that he sell to Lanny corp. Well, the monster orb of this spider was still intact while the monster orb of the Dark Vine Stinger was shattered because of Saya.
'Should I try to learn how to process the corpse of a monster?' Souta thought while looking at the dead giant spider. After a while, he shook his head and walked in front of the group.
Lumilia, Ginvi, Lynn, Bryan, and the others turned their head at him.
"Everyone did a great job in fighting the White Jade Spider. You all did your best but... I think we shouldn't clear this dungeon." Souta said to them with a serious expression.
"What do you mean, captain?" Jagret asked him.
"I said that we're not strong enough to clear this dungeon. We're just a bunch of C-rank adventurers trying to clear a dungeon above our level." Souta said as he looked at Jagret in the eyes. He then looked at the faces of his comrades and added, "Our potion isn't enough. We wouldn't be able to handle a second third evolution monster. Plus, the remaining bosses are stronger than the White Jade Spider.
"We almost died at the hands of the White Jade Spider so how are we going to handle a monster which is stronger than that dead spider." He said as he pointed his finger at the dead spider.
"Captain is right. I suggest that we retreat first. We can't handle that monster as Brando and Finsi almost died when they took the [Bestrou] before." Lumilia agreed to Souta's words.
"Then, we came here for nothing," Donna said.
"Nope, have you forget the market price of a fully intact body of a third evolution monster," Ginvi said as he glanced at Donna.
"Ginvi is right. We'll get hundreds, no, thousands of platinum coins if we sell this White Jade Spider. We'll talk about the distribution later." Souta said as he waved his hand.
"Then, are we going back now?" Lumilia asked.
"No, we'll get a lot of things in the path beyond this room. We'll only stop when we reach another boss room." Souta said to them. This way he will get the other [Soul Blood Earring]. "But for now, let's rest."
"Hu~ I thought we're going to venture out at our current condition." Brando sighed in relief as he relaxed his tense muscles.
Souta sat on the corner and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to rest as he was observing the movements of the Lanny group. Up until now, he still doesn't trust the Lanny group.
If they got swayed by the corpse of the White Jade Spider, then this was the right moment to attack. Cliche things like this happened all the time because some of the people couldn't control their greed for money.
The corpse of the White Jade Spider was a bait. A bait that was large enough for people to drool while looking at it.
Lumilia, Bryan, and the rest of the Dark Oculus were sleeping. The moment was right. They could just tell that the Dark Oculus died while fighting the third evolution monster and no one will suspect them.
The moment they tried to betray him, he would not hesitate to cut their bodies in half. He would even plunder their souls to become a nutrition for his growth. If he had his [Flesh Eating Scythe] then he wouldn't even leave their bodies alone.
...
Five hours had passed and everyone woke up. Souta was glad that they didn't betray him. Well, there's no loss for him if they betray him. In fact, he would gain a lot as he would take their share from this expedition and the previous expeditions.
Everyone recovered some of their strength from sleeping five hours. They opened their bags and took out the foods that they brought.
But Souta stopped them...
"Did you know that the meat of a third evolution monster is beneficial to us?" Souta paused for a moment before he added, "If it's your first time eating a meat of a third evolution monster then the benefits that you'll receive will be higher."
"I know. I saw my dad eating a slice of meat from the third evolution monster. I couldn't eat it as I was too weak at that time. The meat will become a poison to the people who didn't have enough strength. Their body wouldn't be able to handle the intense energy in the meat but some chefs in the capital knew a process where they could decrease the energy inside the meat." Lumilia explained what she know to everyone.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"As expected of a noble's daughter. She knew high-class meat. I'm impressed." Souta praised Lumilia while clapping.
Lumilia lowered her head as a ting of redness formed on her cheeks.