Chapter 502: Finding Someone, Leaving a Trail
Fwoosh!
The enormous [Cataclysmic Soul Fireball] shot forward. The monsters attempted to react, but there was no time.
The fireball crashed into the center of the chamber and exploded.
Boom!
A massive wave of blue flames swept across the room.
However, the flames did not simply burn the bodies of the monsters. They directly attacked their souls.
Every monster caught inside the explosion immediately began collapsing as its soul was destroyed by the overwhelming power of the attack.
Within moments, all twelve monsters had been completely eliminated.
’My undead skeletons have no souls as they are created from nothingness, but the monsters created by the Lord of Souls have one...’
Leon lowered his staff and looked around the chamber.
’Well, the spell was even stronger than I expected.’
The skill had wiped out an entire group of monsters with a single attack, and none of them had been able to resist it.
Since the monsters were just creations of the Lord of Souls, they didn’t give him any items though.
Leon was not disappointed though.
For the next thirty minutes, he moved through countless corridors and chambers, killing every monster that appeared in his path.
Whenever he entered a room filled with enemies, he simply raised his staff and fired [Cataclysmic Soul Fireball] or used any other skill to kill.
Fwoosh! Boom!
’They have to be somewhere around here.’
But then, just as he turned another corner, he suddenly heard a massive sound coming from somewhere ahead.
Fwoosh! SWASH!
Leon immediately stopped. His expression changed when he recognized the sound.
’That was ice.’
He rushed forward, following the noise through the passage. The corridor opened into another large chamber.
Leon stepped inside and immediately saw the aftermath of a battle.
A huge monster standing in front of a gate was frozen solid, its body completely covered in thick layers of ice.
And at the center of the chamber stood Violet, having faced that monster.
She had clearly been the one responsible for everything.
Violet suddenly turned around. And the moment her eyes landed on Leon, her expression changed completely.
Her eyes widened before a bright smile spread across her face. She beamed with joy at the sight of him.
Leon smiled back. After spending so much time searching through the massive dungeon, finally finding one of his companions was a relief.
And judging from Violet’s expression, she was just as happy to have found him.
"That’s the way to the next floor," Violet said as she pointed toward the massive gate that had been hidden behind the monsters she had just defeated. "We can go forward."
Leon stared at the gate for a few seconds, carefully considering what they should do next.
They had finally found the exit to the first floor, but Emilia and Celeste were still somewhere inside the dungeon, and he did not know how long it would take them to reach the same place.
"Emilia and Celeste are also on this floor," Leon said as he looked back toward the path they had come from. "But taking the time to search for them wouldn’t be very efficient. We don’t even know where they are."
"Actually, I thought about something for that!" Violet suddenly grinned.
Leon turned toward her.
"That way, they can know where the gate is without us having to stay with them the entire time. It could also be useful if we get separated again on the next floor."
"Do tell," Leon said, nodding toward her.
Violet quickly explained her idea. Leon listened carefully before immediately nodding in approval.
"It’s our best shot."
The plan was simple.
Rather than waiting around for Emilia and Celeste or wasting time trying to search the entire dungeon for them, they would leave behind a trail that could guide them toward the exit.
𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
That way, even if they were separated again, the others would have a way to find the exit.
Just like that, the two of them turned back toward the hallway they had just traveled through.
Violet began channeling her energy, and a small amount of cold immediately gathered around her hand.
Leon watched as she carefully controlled the ice, making sure that the markers would be obvious enough to notice without creating unnecessary obstacles.
...
After a while...
BAM!
A powerful spell exploded through the center of a large chamber, sending several monsters flying backward.
Emilia stood at the entrance with her scepter extended, while Celeste moved through the room beside her, dark flames surrounding her body.
The monsters had appeared shortly after the two of them found each other, but neither had much difficulty dealing with them.
Emilia fired another spell toward a group of creatures while Celeste swept her hand through the air, causing her dark flames to spread across the remaining monsters.
Within moments, the entire group had been eliminated.
Fortunately, Emilia and Celeste had appeared relatively close to each other when they entered the dungeon, allowing them to find one another within roughly ten minutes.
However, finding the exit was proving to be much more difficult.
An hour passed as the two girls continued navigating through the halls of the Tower of Souls, moving through chamber after chamber without finding anything that looked like the way forward.
The dungeon seemed almost deliberately designed to confuse them.
There were no signs indicating where the exit was, and the further they traveled, the more difficult it became to determine whether they were actually making progress or simply walking in circles.
"Is this place endless?" Emilia sighed as she walked through another corridor. "I can pretty much fire spells infinitely since my Spirit is so high, but it still gets annoying."
"I don’t know..." Celeste replied, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings.
Neither of them had any idea where they were.
Just as Emilia was about to continue walking, however, the two suddenly noticed something strange.
Right in the middle of the hallway ahead of them was a long, thin arrow made entirely of ice. It was pointing toward the left.
Celeste immediately stopped.
"This..." She stared at the frozen arrow for a few seconds before her expression brightened, "It’s Violet!"
Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"She must be using her ice to show us the way!"
Emilia looked at the arrow carefully, "Or it could be a trap..." she remarked, sounding uncertain.
Celeste’s expression faltered slightly, but she continued looking at the ice.
The way the ice had been shaped, the amount of energy contained inside it, and even the faint aura surrounding it all reminded Celeste of Violet.
"It really looks like her ice," Celeste said confidently. "I think she left it for us."
Emilia considered it for another moment before eventually nodding, "Then let’s follow it."