Going over the liquid wasn't that difficult, even with the mess that the pool noodle created. Shane simply enchanted the air to push the sticky goo to the side and clear a path for everyone. Surprisingly, even with all the splashing around, not a single drop fell closer to the group. No one was entirely sure if that was just luck or if this was a part of the dungeon layout. Either way, people moved around the sticky goo without a problem and followed this new path that was their only current option.

This corridor curved around and led them directly back to the central round room. Now, only two of the doors were open, the one they came from and another on one of the sides of the room. Everyone was worried that more of those Mana Plasma creatures could show up. However, that didn't happen. The monsters were nowhere to be seen even as the group passed through. Continuing the next part of the dungeon, they crossed a very similar corridor to the one they had just passed through. After some time, they reached another room. It had a similar layout to the place where they found the syrup vats and the pool noodle. A large rectangular room with five devices on each side. But the similarities stopped there.

Instead of vats with liquid, there were a few columns of different sizes. Some would go almost up to the ceiling, while others looked little more than the step of a staircase. Up high between all the pillars, smack dab in the middle of this room, there was a massive cube with 25 segments of equal size on each of its sides. In a way, it reminded Hera of those colored magic cubes that people played with, but only in the shape. All of the smaller squares had the same color, the same color that the pillars had. A dull light blue that seemed to glow ever so slightly. Behind that, there was another closed door.

"Ok… So what do we have to do here?" Shane looked around.

"We were supposed to get rid of some monsters, weren't we? So we need to find the monster. I think," Hera replied.

"And where is it? Is it one of the pillars?" Mylo moved closer to one of the square pillars, but as soon as he got close, a door closed behind the group, locking them in this place. At the same time, the massive cube started spinning, only a few segments at a time, much like how the magic cubes would work.

Everyone stepped back and triggered some defensive spells. Shane made another air barrier around them while Nimbus placed a couple of hexagonal shields between the group and the cube. Hera also triggered her stone elemental armor since it would be the one with the strongest defense, but she wasn't sure if she shouldn't have tried something different. Realizing that this might actually be a monster and not just a trap, Hera used her [Observe].

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A$)!#)16!*$%¨ - Level 30

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The letters in the name kept shifting, almost as if it was something that was trying to hide what it really was. That was not entirely unexpected. The cube was trying to hide itself, so it would make sense that it would even be able to hide its name. Although it would be better to hide the notification altogether, but maybe that was beyond its capabilities and this was the best it could do.

While Hera was thinking about that, the cube stopped shifting, and four of the segments formed a larger square that glowed red before a beam of energy shot toward the group. Everyone was relaxed, even if the monster was level 30. A single attack shouldn't do that much damage, especially with all the defensive spells they had in place. Hera, on the other hand, had a sickening feeling in her stomach as the glow started. She looked at the cube, and she could tell how the creature/object was doing something with the mana around it. It didn't look like it was eating the mana, but every single drop that got close would vanish as it was never there to start. The Empress, who could sense the mana very well since she got the title, felt dizzy and nauseous. Watching that was like seeing a body horror movie when a character starts to eat another person raw.

She wanted to warn everyone, but the beam of energy flew at her. As it crossed the shields and the barriers in front of the group, the attack destroyed the defenses with ease, not by breaking through them but by simply removing them from existence. However, the beam became smaller with each impact, showing that the defenses were doing something. Yet, it wasn't enough. The attack was about to reach Hera when Lurize pulled her aside. Doing so made the beam graze his gauntlet, creating a large gash on his armor. Inside, she could only see a golden orange flow that started to drip as if the Royal Tutor was bleeding.

"Lurize!" Hera gasped. She noticed that the attack was just like the effect around the cube. It would remove mana from existence in that twisted way that she couldn't grasp, "Everyone, get back to the legacy. That includes you, Daskka. I don't want a single one of you out right now!" Hera ordered, and all her court vanished before they could say a word. The rest of the group dashed out of the way, hiding behind the pillars.

"What's wrong?" Shane asked from the other side of the room.

"That thing can destroy mana. Not exactly destroy, but I don't know how else to explain it," Hera yelled. She peeked out of her hiding spot, and the cube shot a beam straight at her, missing by a hair.

"Shit, it's a mage's bane!" Helena yelled.

"A what now?" Blue turned to the mage, her movement exposed part of her body, but the creature didn't react. It seemed like its only target was Hera.

"A mage's bane. It's a type of monster that should only show up beyond layer 15. It can cancel out any magic. It doesn't matter how strong the spell is. The only way to defeat it is with physical attacks," Helena explained.

"So a mage can't even hope to beat it?" Hera asked.

"Not quite. We can still do this," during the conversation, Helena had made a few of her shadowgrabbers go under the floors and start breaking a piece of rock. It took her a few moments, but she was finally able to raise a large chunk of stone and fling it at the monster. The cube noticed the attack and fired a few beams at the spell. The small shadow tendrils vanished quickly, but the laser didn't do anything against the rock. Even better was the fact that the creature was too slow to move away. It looked like the only things it could actually do were destroy magic and attack. Its mobility was pitiful.

When the flying projectile hit the cube, several of the segments broke and fell to the ground, but more came from inside it and covered the gaps. At the same time, the monster lost some of its height, lowering about a meter from its previous position.

"Be careful not to let it hit you. If it's using some nullifying beams at us, it shouldn't hurt our bodies, but it will hurt our mana and maybe even give us a debuff that stops us from regenerating for a while," Helena yelled.

"So, how do we kill it?" Blue asked. Everyone was focusing a lot on magic lately, and they didn't actually have anything to deal with a flying monster.

"Just hit it. That one doesn't seem to have a good physical defense," Helena used her shadowgrabbers to pick another piece of rock, but it would take some time before she could break the floor enough to throw it.

"Ok, got it!" Hera said and looked around. She might be able to reach the monster if she used the pillars to boost her.

Thinking she had a good route, the Empress moved out of her hiding spot, running to the other side of the room. However, as soon as she left her hiding spot, the cube glowed in four different places and shot small red laser projectiles much faster than the beams. The attacks hit Hera on her chin, waist, and shoulder, with only one of them missing their target. With each impact, Hera felt her body burning. There was no force behind each of the lasers, but the pain they inflicted tricked her mind into thinking that there was something more. She stumbled forward, falling to the floor and rolling to avoid becoming a stationary target.

She scrambled to the other side, staying behind one of the pillars along with Mylo, "Hera, are you ok?"

"No, everything burns. Those attacks took 10% of my mana each," Hera was rubbing her leg and trying to use one of the few healing spells she had to stop the pain, "Why is that thing coming after me?"

"Maybe it's because of the title? You are, like, blessed by mana now or something. Since that thing destroys mana, maybe it sees you as a threat."

"That could be…." Hera put one hand to the left, showing it to the cube, and pulled it back quickly, just in time for a laser to pass by the area where her hand just left, "Ok then. Guys, I'm going to keep it distracted, you take care of the monster!" she yelled to the group.

"Are you sure about that?" Helena asked.

"No, just do it so we can end this!"

Hera tried making some dancing lights, and even that seemed to attract the monster's attention. While that was going on, Mylo and Blue started running to the lower pillars to climb them. That way, they would be able to attack the creature with physical attacks. During that time, Helena tossed another boulder that destroyed another cluster of segments, which were quickly replaced but forced the monster to get even lower. It was still closer to the ceiling than the floor, but it was at least easier to reach.

Shane tried enchanting the air around the creature to become almost solid and let people use it as a platform, but the cube let out a pulse of energy that broke any spell that was too close to it. Meaning that to reach the monster, Blue and Mylo would have to climb the pillars.

Hera was still distracting the creature, using her dancing lights and showing her hand at times. She felt useless, but after what happened with Lurize, she wasn't willing to risk the rest of her blades like that. Even if she didn't expect them to be permanently gone, she didn't want to hurt any of them. Soon, Mylo managed to jump and slam his staff against the cube, sending it down closer to the ground and breaking more of the segments. Blue was right behind him and started punching the sides of the cube to destroy as much as she could. Shane used her launcher to fire a large metal ball that was made to deal purely blunt damage. Hera also wanted to help, but the moment she moved away from the pillar, the monster tried to attack her again, even when it was being assaulted by others.

They continued shaving off the segments little by little until Helena yelled, "Everyone clear!"

Blue and Mylo jumped away just a few moments before a large part of the ceiling came down on top of the cube, crushing it to bits. Everyone waited for a moment until the segments dissolved under the rock, and only when they saw the drops that the party relaxed. The door on the opposite side of where they came from opened, revealing the next path, but the party decided to take a small break here. Whatever this thing was was scary, and if this was a signal of things to come, they might be in more trouble than anyone imagined.