The Runic Alchemist

They couldn't go back to the 16th level. If they didn't want to proceed further, they still had to cross this level and reach the keypoint.

The Highswords were right behind them, many students just assumed they could ask for help if needed—yet another way they were interfering with Damian's dungeon run. If his so-called "brave" teammates weren't terrified for their lives, they would keep following him all the way to the dungeon's end.

Level 17 was a strange one. The single available path was swarming with magma golems of all shapes and sizes, while the sky above the lava river teemed with the same fiery-winged bugs they had been dealing with all along. Here, though, they numbered in the thousands. The constant buzzing of their wings grated on everyone's nerves.

"What exactly is the plan here?" Maelor asked.

Alex spoke up. "Assuming each of these magma golems is King-ranked and our attacks need to be stacked to deal any real damage, we have to take this slow. The key is to separate them as much as possible."

Sam smirked at the prince of Faerunia. "Afraid of a few red rocks, princeling?"

Alex shot him a glare. "I'm thinking about the whole group—unlike your monkey brain, which assumes you can solo everything."

"What did you just say?" Sam's hand went to his sword hilt, ready to escalate.

Before things could get out of hand, Damian stepped in, holding Sam back, while Maelor calmed Alex down. These two were getting more irritating by the day.

After wasting a few seconds cooling their tempers, they got back to the discussion.

"Can we fly above and try the next level?" Kishi asked, standing beside Einar.

"No," Mindseer replied. "The terrain remains the same until level 21. It's better to go back and level up in those areas." Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire

"Guess that explains why this is the highest any student has reached," Evrin added. "Still, it's impressive if they made it here on their own."

"We also helped them not die," Mindseer said, her tone distant, as if remembering those she had lost to recklessness. "No student truly understands the danger until they're at death's door."

Damian sighed. "I can set up a protective barrier with a small gap, allowing a couple of golems in at a time. Two teams of twenty should fight each golem, and we can slowly advance that way."

"That will keep the bugs off us too," Evrin nodded.

Mindseer's brows furrowed. "Can you truly maintain the barrier while reinforcing it for three to four days? That's the minimum it will take at that pace."

"For now, I can manage," Damian replied, speaking to everyone gathered. "But after this level, I'm done. I'll only focus on myself and my friends. If you value your lives, go back to the lower levels. If your house is really that poor, you can ask for half the materials you gave me back."

They were dissatisfied, but they understood that without his help, they wouldn't be able to cross this level in a month. Once everyone agreed, they moved forward with his plan. Maintaining a constant air shield with a custom shape was no easy task—it required a steady flow of mana to reinforce its structure and repair any damage over time. Sustaining it for days was even more demanding. But he had more than enough mana to handle it. If it became too much for the others, they could simply use the Dreamlight to rest.

The shield formed a massive rectangular box, enclosing the entire group. Only two towering doors—each the size of an average magma golem—were left open at the front, positioned equidistantly. This setup ensured that the two teams would face, at most, one or two golems at a time. The air barrier also provided protection against the fiery insects that swarmed outside, though they collectively chose to ignore them.

Progress, however, was painfully slow. They advanced a mere 100 to 200 meters every ten minutes—the time it took for both teams to eliminate two golems each. And that was already fast, considering Sam, Einar, Alex, and the others were unleashing powerful aura blades and covert techniques and skills that went largely unnoticed.

Damian could have stepped in to assist, but he refrained. He wanted every student to experience the full weight of this challenge firsthand. Only by struggling through it themselves would they grasp the true difficulty of this dungeon. Meanwhile, the Highswords followed at a leisurely pace, as if they were merely strolling through a marketplace. Divided into three groups, they moved separately, effortlessly cutting down or blasting apart any bugs that crossed their path. As for the golems, those were already being handled by the students—there was no need for them to interfere.

From a distance, Damian could see them—kilometers away, looking bored and annoyed. Wasting time like this must have been unbearable for them. Especially for figures like Runefather, who had countless projects demanding his attention, or mages who would rather be researching original spells.

Not all of them were indifferent, though. Some were engaged in constant discussion—analyzing the students, speculating about Damian himself, and debating how they could convince him to join them or owe them a favor. That was fine, so long as they didn't create problems just to offer him a way out.

In the nights, they used the Dreamlight to fly over the mountains, searching for a small, flat surface where they could land. Space was tight—barely enough to set Dreamlight down. There were no baths, no proper rest areas. They ate dried fruits and smoked jerky, too exhausted to complain, before collapsing into sleep.

For the first time, even the strongest among them—Lucian, Sam, Einar, Evrin, Alex, Karl—felt the crushing weight of exhaustion. Hours upon hours of constant battle had drained them. After all, they were the ones carrying their respective groups.

Only aura blades worked effectively against the tough magma golems, and even those only inflicted minor damage. Striking critical points repeatedly was the only way to bring one down.

This was the reality of this dungeon. And they still had a long way to go.