A foreboding silence ensued.

Someone gulped.

Some others drew out their daggers.

The gate was clean of strays, yet something was there, hiding in the safety of the darkness. The Lord didn't speak. He cautiously took a few steps forward, his sword ready to parry any potential sneak attack. Seline followed him at a prudent distance. The ice spell she cast had faded when it had made contact with its targets. The pages of her grimoire turned over at a fast pace, yet she didn't know what spell would be useful in such a situation.

The enemy had yet to show itself.

"It's been... many years, hasn't it, old friend?"

The voice rasped out, the sound like the caw of a crow.

"Vozremeth... you undying, foul creature!" the Lord growled, his guarded stance denoting that the enemy this time was not some small fry.

Jered reckoned it must have been a Royal Tier stray.

"This dance has been going on for too long. Today, you'll die."

"Speak with your actions, you disgusting monstrosity."

The Lord didn't wait for the creature's rebuttal. He pumped mana all over his muscles—so much so that a faint, blue-ish glow outlined his body. The cobblestone beneath him cracked. He tightened the grip on his broadsword, and then swung it, twice. Once horizontally. Once vertically. A criss-cross wave of energy slashed forth, briefly lighting up the insides of the gate.

Two crimson eyes stared back at them.

A twisted mouth grinned.

"Fool."

A bright red light twinkled, slowly growing bigger and bigger, until a full-powered beam of mana whizzed out of the gate, easily deflecting the Lord's attack. An explosion went off, the shockwave bursting the ground, the walls, and even the ceiling. Luckily, Seline had promptly erected a barrier around them, or the sheer heat behind the explosion would have seared their skins off their bones.

Once the energy tapered off, the barrier fizzled out.

A cloud of dust had settled around them, hampering their vision.

Evelyn summoned a gust of wind, clearing the dungeon of it.

"You stayed cooped in your throne for so long that you've become weak," Vozremeth cackled, wriggling out of the gate, "Maybe it's time for you to join us."

Seline nearly squealed in fright when she saw Vozremeth. And for good reason too. The creature was like any other strays, but way bigger, and with more appendages dangling around. It barely managed to squeeze itself through the gate, its multiple arms and legs crawling around like that of a spider. If it was only Vozremeth, Jered reasoned they would have managed to take it out, but a new wave of strays poured out through the gaps.

The team of Ginnungs didn't stay idle, and jumped into action. With their daggers unsheathed, they swiftly beheaded a bunch of strays stacking on top of each other. Jered cast 'Firewall' on the gate. The flames snapped up, devouring the strays struggling to come out. It didn't seem to matter though. The dead strays were easily replaced by the ones behind.

"I still have a couple of centuries left. Be a good dear and be patient," the Lord ramped up his mana, and the sudden increase literally blew up the incoming strays' heads, "You're just a struggling insect," in a blur of afterimages, he disappeared, teleporting right above Vozremeth's head.

The creature wasn't fazed, and just watched as the broadsword attempted to stab its skull.

"Pathetic."

A crimson flow of mana spearheaded towards the Lord, but surprisingly, he managed to twirl around in the air, barely avoid it, and teleport behind Vozremeth.

This time, however, he managed to stab its back, with the sword's mana-infused blade doing a substantial degree of damage.

Blood spilled out of the long gash.

However, the Lord didn't have time to celebrate drawing first blood, for Vozremeth's wound began to stitch back before his mana could do more internal harm.

'He couldn't do that last time.'

His slight distraction cost him dearly. Vozremeth lashed one of its limbs around and swatted the Lord against the wall. The kinetic energy behind the strike blasted the wall in a shower of rocks and dust. Jered didn't like what he saw. If the Lord died, he doubted they'd survive.

Therefore, he quickly activated 'Soul Eater'. Of course, his sharp increase in mana density was bound to attract attention. And it did.

"This feeling..."

Vozremeth stared at Jered.

"... I hate it."

It splayed its mouth wide open, and between its teeth, a sphere of crimson energy swirled into existence.

The dungeon began to quake.

Jered didn't think that going into 'Soul Eater' mode would have been such a bad call. But now that shove had come to push, he was going to fucking push hard. An ancient feeling settled about in the dungeon as 'Pharaoh's Flame' burst into life around him. The white fire was more controllable now. Vozremeth didn't have time to analyze Jered's spell, and it quickly fired off the beam of mana at him.

"Jered, no! Stop!" Seline called out in concern.

Why would she be worried about him anyway?

He ignored her, and lashed out his 'Pharaoh's Flame' into a scorching tide against the beam.

The two attacks locked into a standoff, and when no winner could be decided, another explosion tore the dungeon walls and ground apart. The strays were not spared either since they were so close to the collision. Not only them. A couple of Ginnungs didn't manage to retreat in time and were caught in the crossfire. The shockwave rippled throughout the whole place, forcing Evelyn and Seline to find refuge behind a barrier—that didn’t last more than a few seconds.

Jered was not confident in winning at all.

'Pharaoh's Flame' was his best spell, and it could barely stop a casual attack from Vozremeth.

"Who are you?"

"Going after kids now? You truly are an abomination," the Lord's angered voice rumbled out. A volley of debris barreled out as he flew out of the hole he was slammed into, and reappeared above Vozremeth's back, his sword held up high for another mana-powered slash. The blade turned into a pillar of light, shining like a bright star, "Just fucking die already," he swung it down.

The broadsword split the air, causing a sonic boom to go off behind it.

Vozremeth faced the burning light with casual disinterest, "I remember this," tendrils of crimson mana wiggled out of the ground, stretching all over its body in a protective dome. The pillar met the dome with a deafening rumble. The ground underneath the collision crumbled, the cobblestone flying everywhere, not distinguishing between friend or foe.

Jered grabbed Evelyn and rolled onto the ground. He pushed his mana outward, using it to ward off the raining rubble.

She coughed into his chest, "If this keeps on, we're all going to die..."

The dungeon looked on the verge of giving in and burying them all in an avalanche of debris.

Seline scooted closer to them, "Don't worry, the fight won't last long."

"How do you know?" he raised an eyebrow, and she flinched slightly. His eyes and his voice didn't look and sound friendly.

"I just know..."

Another shockwave sent a huge chunk of the ground sailing towards them. Seline clasped her hands together and chanted. A blue, square surface reared up in front of them. Some of the other Ginnungs—well, the ones that survived—were forced to abandon the battlefield and find safety behind the barrier. There was no need to take care of the overflowing strays. The side-effects of their clash literally vaporized anything that dared to get too close.

They thought that now it was all up to their Lord to slay the foe and emerge victoriously. They thought.

A choir of wails rang out, then more strays crawled out of the gate. Unlike the ones being decimated by the shockwaves, they were sturdier, stronger, bigger. Their aura was less threatening than Vozremeth's, but Jered comfortably placed them at the Elder Tier.

"No rest for us," he said, though he wasn't bothered by it. In fact, he looked forward to it.

More souls to absorb.

The Elder Tier strays skirted around Vozremeth's fight, and leaped at them.

Jered wasn't about to allow that. He tried to bring them back to the ground by casting 'Low Telekinesis' on them. An unseen pressure whacked them, but they held strong even mid-air. Of course, since he was going against four of them at the same time, there was no way it was going to be effective. Still, it reeled them a bit, which was good enough for a follow-up attack. He fired a bunch of 'Giza's Gaze' at them. And under the boost of 'Soul Eater', the white beams easily scorched through their bodies.

The decayed flesh dripped off their holes.

It was not nearly enough to take them down, however.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much Evelyn could do. So she watched helplessly as Jered, Seline, and a Ginnung faced off against the four abominations. A powerful stream of 'Pharaoh's Flame' managed to scare them off. Those pesky bastards were very agile. While the Royal Tier spell was more malleable thanks to his third vein, Jered couldn't casually mimic Vozremeth's ridiculous 'Mana Manipulation'. The stray didn't even use a spell. It kept the Lord at bay by simply fending him off with only mana.

The creature was vile indeed, but he respected its skill.

"My Lady, you should retreat to safety," the Ginnung said when she noticed Seline's sweat-soaked forehead, "I'll take care of this."

"N-No... I can still fight!" she bit her bottom lip, "You can't stop me!"

"I can't let you risk your life so foolishly," he gave Jered the stink eye, "Besides, I wouldn't trust you anywhere near a human. Please, heed my words, my Lady. Stay out of this."

"That kinda hurt my feelings..." Jered commented, "And don't get distracted, you idiot. We're supposed to be in the middle of a fight."

As if to prove his point, he promptly stopped the flow of his 'Pharaoh's Flame'.

The scattered strays, seeing an opening, crawled on the walls and spearheaded towards them. Not towards Jered, though. No, he was too dangerous. With their limited wit, they figured that taking out the weakest link of the chain was the wisest choice. Evelyn was behind him, so she was ignored. Seline, in her worn-out condition, should have been an easy snack. Keyword here: should have.

It was certainly surprising to see the strays go around her, as if she didn't exist, and jump at the Ginnung.

"Well..." Jered blinked, staring at an expressionless Seline. Her face was a mask devoid of emotion, but her eyes told a different story. 'Looks like there is more to you than meets the eye,' he thought to himself.

She smiled weakly.

The Ginnung was pinned against the wall, a hand penetrating through his stomach.

Blood gurgled out of his throat, trickling down his lips.

His innards slipped out of his gut.

The strays were too busy feasting on their prey that they didn't notice the rolling heat prickling their skin.

And when one of them finally snapped its gaze up, it was already too late.

A rush of 'Pharaoh's Flame' swallowed them. The blast rent the air, burnt the oxygen, and echoed throughout the dungeon. Evelyn almost staggered to the ground, her ears ringing. Thankfully, her mana acted up and repaired whatever little damage had been to her.

Jered watched the white, misty fire crackle and belch out the ashes of his enemies.

Oh, the Ginnung was there too.

Whatever.

[The system has converted Soul Essence into mana.]

[Your mana pool attribute has risen by 21 points.]

[Your mana pool attribute has risen by 20 points.]

[Your mana pool attribute has risen by 22 points.]

[Your mana pool attribute has risen by 19 points.]

[Your mana pool attribute has risen by 15 points.]