Chapter 227 - 226 To The Boss Room
"Lilia, you take care and I know you will succeed on your advancement test. And once that is done do as planned and train in the dungeon. You will have Blitz and Roxene to look out for you but try to be careful okay."
After saying his parting words to Lilia, Marcus made his way to the adventurers guild where he met up with Treasa and Jarek, before heading into the dungeon.
"We have the route planned and Treasa has studied up on the former bosses that have been encountered in the dungeon and what abilities they have. Of course, you never know whether it will be a never-before-seen boss, but I think with the three of us we should be able to win." Jarek said, with a serious expression on his face.
As the three of them wrapped up their final strategy meeting and took inventory of all of the supplies they had, it was time for them to head into the dungeon for their week-long expedition to the boss room deep in the dungeon.
Exiting their reserved private room in the guild, all three of them certainly garnered the attention of the other adventures.
Both Treasa and Jarek were well know and people had seen them together more often recently, which was leading to different rumors.
However, it was the addition of Marcus to their group that had the most people gossiping.
To this point Marcus was pretty unknown. People had certainly made notice of the beautiful girl with platinum hair who came by with a young girl who looked like her, but not much was known about this mysterious newcomer.
No one had ever seen Marcus take a request, yet suddenly he was working with two of the strongest adventures in the city if not the entire kingdom.
Many people wondered why they were getting together, and the rumors were all over the place, to them delving incredibly deep into the dungeon to explore new areas, or that they found a massive nest of powerful monsters that were sitting on top of incredibly valuable resources.
Some of the rumors even stated that Jarek was cheating on his wife with both Treasa and Marcus at the same time, but these were in the minority since few people thought Jarek would be brave enough for that.
And of course, there were also rumors that they were searching for a boss room, or maybe even already knew where one was.
Yet none of them answered any of the other adventurers' inquires and it was not like the other adventurers wanted to get on Jarek of Teresa's bad side so after a bit everyone left them alone.
With the fanfare around them dispersed, Marcus, Jarek, and Treasa headed into the dungeon going first to the familiar nearby forest area that would be the start of their journey.
However, before they got in too deep Marcus said, he wanted to go investigate something he had previously found, and that he would be back quickly.
Neither of them wanted to let Marcus go alone but after a bit of persuasion Marcus was able to peel off and do something he needed to do.
'Okay Roxene this is your stop. I would like to bring you with me but seeing as how you are now a wanted criminal, and I am afraid that even with your false status Treasa or Jarek might see through you, so you will have to sit this one out.'
Popping out of his companion storage Roxene looked a bit dissatisfied that she would not be able to take on the dungeon boss with Marcus, but she understood his reasonings.
'Now Lilia will come by this area in a couple of days after she gets her silver rank, and you should meet up with her then. Until that time do what you want but try to stay out of trouble.'
Nodding her head Roxene responded saying, 'I got it. Just make sure you come back to get me as soon as possible, otherwise I may have to go on another restaurant tour.'
Rubbing his face and sighing Marcus promised to be back as soon as possible and then left his companion to her own devices.
Meeting back up with both Jarek and Treasa, Marcus told them that the hive he had cleared out a while ago was now devoid of the honey he was looking, much to his disappointment.
And with that out of the way the three of them continued to traverse the dungeon running full speed ahead straight through the forest area.
Running straight through the middle of areas, Marcus, Jarek and Treasa encountered a number of strong beasts and monsters but for the most part just ignored them and continued making a beeline for the boss room that Jarek had discovered.
Occasionally they would run into a creature that they could not escape from or bat away and had to take time to fight the incredibly powerful opponents.
However, with all of them being quite strong none of the regular denizens of the dungeon were much threat to them, and after traveling through nine different areas over six days with only the slightest bit of rest, they hade made it to the area the boss room was located.
The area itself was incredibly beautifully being an area full of high cliffs that had waterfalls coming down into a massive lake that was periodically dotted by islands.
'It is like all of the best waterfalls from Earth have been stuffed into one large area and is surrounded by a beautifully landscape full of vibrant plants and crystals that glow with a rainbow color.'
As Marcus and Treasa who were here for the first time took in the breathtaking view, Jarek became deathly serious and said, "I know it is beautifully but stay on your guard. There are a lot of powerful beasts and monsters in this area, especially hiding in the water."
Coming out of their daze, Marcus and Treasa heightened their vigilance back up.
The majesty of the area had been nearly overwhelming, so both of them had actually let their guard down.
Luckily Jarek had been here before and was there to remind them to stay on their toes since at any moment they could fall under attack.
"So, which was is it now." Treasa asked Jarek.
Even up tot his point he had kept the exact location of the boss room secret, probably owing to paranoia of some sort of listening device or magic, but now that they had arrived at the correct area it was time for him to reveal that information.
"It is located in the southwestern part of the area and is actually behind one of these massive waterfalls. So, we will need to travel across the water since flying will attract too much attention.
Jarek then pulled out a shimmering tube and pressed a button on top of it. The tube then began to unfold and extend until it turned into a small boat.
However, this was obviously not an ordinary boat and if Marcus was not looking right at it, he felt like he would not believe it existed.
"This here is a special item I got prepared just for this journey, it is a stealth boat, that is very hard to perceive and takes on the color and feel of water so only a beast or monster with incredibly heightened senses would be able to notice it."
Moving over to the boat Marcus' intuitive mind took over and he began to thoroughly look over the boat.
It was actually quite impressive work, using mithril, and different monster hides that had a water affinity along with dozens of enchantments.
"Well, we should get going, it is going to take us about a day to get their by boat so we should hurry up." Jarek said, with a look of anticipation on his face.
The three of them quickly piled into the boat and launched it into the lake that made up the majority of this area before heading in the direction that Jarek was leading them.
…
"Get down."
Pressing themselves against the bottom of the boat so that their heads could not be seen, all of them waited patiently hoping that the huge turtle that had just surfaced would go back under water.
Certainly, they could have just beaten it as it was only a level forty-two beast, but that would definitely attract unwanted attention, and this area was full of dangerous beasts and monsters.
Luckily thanks to the stealth functions of the boat Joras had, they managed to pass the turtle and continued on their way, making it all the way across the area without incident.
Landing on the shore near the waterfall that Jarek had pointed out, the three of them walked up to the edge of the roaring waters that buffeted the area.
"Okay we will need to pass through the waterfall, and while the pressure it exerts is a bit intense, just stick together and we should get through it momentarily."
However, before they went in Marcus stopped them and cast a wall of darkness spell over their heads, giving them a shield from the water fall.
"Having a mage really does come in handy." Treasa said with a bit of awe.
The three of them then easily went under the waterfall, as Marcus simply placed walls of darkness above them as they continued, and soon they came out into a large cavern that at the very end had a massive set of doors.
Yet these doors were not unguarded and the frozen form of two guardians waited in front of them, there to test any challengers that wished to enter.