Chapter 38 - Exploring the dungeon

Chapter 38: Chapter 38 - Exploring the dungeon After I joined, the fight ended in an instant. "What do you think you’re doing, Aurea??" "Helping!" Kwarah is scolding me, but I won’t accept it. Everyone was at risk in that fight. I had no choice but to intervene. "Kwarah, Aurea saved me there. A skeleton got behind me and was about to strike when she destroyed it." "Yeah, I’ve seen she was really useful. Our battle would have been worse without her help." Yaci defended me, and the others also spoke out in my favor. "I can hold my own in my fight. Please, let me help." Kwarah sighs and finally gives in. "Okay, I will allow it. You’ve proven yourself there. Yaci, you are personally responsible for her during battle. Don’t leave her alone at any time." "You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll have her back." And so, I am finally given permission to participate. ::: We keep walking through the dungeon with just a small adjustment to the formation. I’m still at the center, which will allow me to help any flank. The only difference is that now Yaci walks by my side so she can follow me anywhere I go. As we reach the final room of the floor, we see a big stone statue in the center of the room and the stairs right behind it. I feel something strange in the air, like some fluctuation in the mana. Which I am only able to sense because of the high stats I got from the system. "Wait! There’s something weird going on!" Everyone freezes in place, including Kwarah. While I try to focus on the shifting mana, there’s a side of me that is impressed with the way they heeded my words. Probably something ingrained by the years in the Barrens. When anyone senses anything amiss, nobody even thinks of doubting it. The mana feels like some sort of ethereal wind flowing into the room. It seems to be concentrating around the statue. "Beware the statue, everyone!" I cry, and right after I start speaking, its eyes acquire a yellowish glow. The statue is of a human, donned in full plate armor, holding a round shield on its left arm and a massive sword on the right one. It starts moving, slowly at first, but getting swifter as it moves. Some spears are quickly hurled at it, hitting it with full force, but it doesn’t look affected by them. "Everyone, open a space and stay behind me. I’ll launch a wide area magic." They do as I say, without question. I shelve the question about why they did that for later, as I need to focus on my spell now. It’s my first chance to use the modified lightning bolt aria that I developed after getting the blessing and access to the system. And I’ll use my full force on it. I finish my aria exactly when the statue finished ’waking up’ and adopted a fighting posture. The lightning that came out of my fingers was beyond anything I’ve ever seen before, in this world or back on Earth. It was so bright it blinded everyone besides me for a couple of seconds. And the statue was completely pulverized. The only thing that remains of the statue is a scattering of broken rocks on the floor, which also shows signs of being burned, as well as the walls. It was a scenario of destruction. I was dumbfounded by the scale of power of the aria. When finally I turn around, I notice that I’m not the only one. Everyone is looking at me or at the remains of the statue, in awe. "I... didn’t think it would be that strong." I say, apologetically. Yaci simply runs to me and hugs me. It takes some time for anyone to be able to say anything. ::: After that, they let me get a bigger role in the fights on the next floors. The monsters kept getting stronger, but my magic was enough to deal with them. And this is how we finally reached the point where we are now. The barrier at the end of the twentieth floor. We sit down again for another round of eating and resting. In the meanwhile, I examine the barrier. It is deep blue, with some sparkles of red, black, and white here and there. It shines like a weak led light, and completely blocks the view of anything behind it. I pick a loose rock on the ground and throw it at the barrier. It passes through, but there’s no sound coming afterwards. So, it’s either also blocking sounds, or it has a pit to where the rock fell. I then use a spear to get a feel of the other side. It goes through the barrier without a problem and without finding any object on the other side. Then I lower it and poke where I expect the ground to be. It indeed encounters something ground-like. I wave it around, and it’s indeed a floor with a texture similar to the one of this room. For the next test, I decide to use the Appraise Object skill. As expected, it opens a popup-like thing in the air. ---------- Juno’s Divine Barrier A barrier created by the goddess Juno as a way to prevent unauthorized people from reaching the seal that encloses Cailleach. It cannot be crossed by anyone that is not directly related to Juno. Extra Information: The exact requirements for crossing the barrier are to be human and have a divine bond on their soul. The barrier was created 1,328 years, 10 months, and 3 days ago. Cailleach is conscious and physically healthy. ---------- [Appraise Object skill reached the threshold. Level raised to 10] The first part was somehow expected. But the ’extra information’ thing is something that never appeared before in any of my appraisals. And this single appraisal made the skill rise by two in one go? Normally it took me ages appraising everything to get only one level up. Maybe the rarity of the item appraised has something to do with the XP it gives? I’ll have to test some things with it. But the ’extra information’... Now that I think about it, it’s probably the effect of the Wesgoth Royal Bloodline title I have. After all, it gives me extra information when appraising objects related to the goddess. So this is what it meant. It’s really handy, indeed. I liked it. That info was useful. Apparently the only reason I will be able to pass it is that I have some sort of a divine bond with Oya? Probably that’s why the Loa knew I could pass it. In any case... a thousand and three hundred years??? And Cailleach is still awake and conscious??? I wonder what race she is to be so long-lived... Now that I think about it, I’ve never asked about the lifespan of other races. Being left all alone in a place like this, awake, for that long... Yeah, I need to save her. Never mind any benefits she might give me. I need to save her because of her, period.