The illumination had only gotten worse the deeper they headed. The glowing mana crystals were starting to grow scarce, and cavern walls itself seemed to be closing in on them, similar to the maws of a titanic monster snapping shut upon them.
Truth to be hold, Aris hadn't really wanted to participate in this particular excursion in any way or form. Nor had he wanted to end up accidentally signing his freedom away for the better part of this month... thanks to his lack of seriousness while signing contracts for that one.
The entire reason he had even tried this whole thing was the fact that the lack of personal funds had seriously caught up to him in the recent weeks, in which to rectify it, he had signed up for government issued A-rank dungeon clearing, not knowing that he was signing up as a member for a long term.
Anyhow, the point was, he was starting to regret his decision by now.
Why?
Oh, it was nothing too serious.
Just that this dungeon had locked them from the inside the moment they entered.
He bit back the urge to click his tongue, doing his best to maintain the decorum of an awakened as he followed his party. The irritation had only been growing on him by just how unnecessarily dramatic this particular dungeon was being.
For all he could care, if he was alone, this whole thing could have been cleared in the span of a breath.
He stared at the vast back of the party leader walking in front him, his lips involuntarily curving down into the faintest of frowns as he followed after him.
He let the sounds of their boots hitting the rock hard ground dispel his thoughts for a moment, only turning his attention back to it once the pang of irritation faded away.
What was done was done, now all that mattered was getting out of this place without causing too much of a scene.
Aris didn't really have any worry about that in particular, surprisingly, the party that the government had managed to put together was already more than qualified for this level of a dungeon. And considering the type of beasts they had come across so far, it didn't look like there wasn't any major trouble waiting ahead, at most a high A ranked boss, maybe even a tyrant. But that was going to be the extent of it.
Well, at least Aris really wanted to believe it to be that way.
Sometimes, being too perceptive was also a horrible thing.
He had noticed it the moment he had stepped foot inside this place, just how wrong the ambient mana felt. It wasn't supposed to be this dense, nor this agitated in a regular dungeon. As mana rich as these small pocket realms were, they still had a limit on how much energy it could feed into its inhabitants.
This one had somehow seemed to solve that problem. The mana was at least five times denser than normal, enough so that navigation spells been rendered all but useless. Ontop of which, it was just simply too hard to control spells here. The mages were having an especially hard time, having to resort to more brutish methods of combat since their mana is not responsive enough for spells.
And all of this was not even considering the fact that they were being watched this entire time, the whole two hours they had been in this godforsaken place.
It looked like the others hadn't really noticed, except the few intuitive ones that felt the danger of the gaze on them. Aris though, could feel it very clearly. That murky, sticky presence of an ancient being pressing against his skin as it studied him. He could feel it peering into his soul itself, no doubt picking apart the qualities of his mana and existence in order to find the best way to kill him.
It was a little creepy, if he had to be honest.
Sure, strangers staring at you from across roads was one thing. But this...
It was just too much.
A slow, uncomfortable tremor ran through his spine as he focused back on the world.
The tunnel had gotten wider the deeper they went, and there was no kind of light illuminating the area apart from the couple of lanterns they had prepared in advance. The entire party was closely huddled together, every single person on edge as they, for the lack of better terms, marched towards their doom.
Well, at least Aris figured they thought so.
They were interrupted once again by another group of wolves, this one not as strong as the initial ones. Quickly disposing of the beasts, they hurried through the tunnel, reaching their destination after what felt like an eternity in the eerie darkness.
"You sure this is the boss layor?" Gareth studied the the large metal gates in front of them.
"The presence is too strong for it not be one." The senior mage replied, standing closer to the door as he figured out a way to unlock it.
"I can't help but feel uneasy... for some reason." Someone from behind, one of their archers, mumbled with a subdued voice.
The click of the lock unlatching came a moment later, the party tensing as they realised that the final battle was just ahead of them.
Gareth turned to them, his battle hardened face doing its best to keep an inspiring expression as he opened his mouth to address his party.
"This is it, this is our last mmfgh—!"
His sentence was cut off midway by the arm that grabbed his head, which had thrust itself through the metal door, tearing it apart like it was made of butter.
"Engage!" The second in command screamed for action, the party catching up with him a moment later.
A barrage of spells and attacks descended upon the hand, resulting in an explosion that covered the world for a moment.
Aris let out a small cough, cursing his horrible spending habits for the mess he had gotten himself into.