The reason why it was bloated was because it was filled with negative energy. It was an undead which exploded upon death to inflict damage to the living and heal the undead.
The undead built like a slab of flesh flung itself out of the tunnel. It hit the floor with a disgusting sound, but the problem was what came next. Its circular body could not gain traction against sloped floor and crashed into Greenham’s team like a boulder.
“Watch out! Get away!”
“Don’t say that to someone who’s in charge of all the thinking.”
Everyone, including the magic caster who was nearly crying, barely dodged the undead as it kept rolling towards the centre of the floor. When the next plague bomber peeked out, they realized the previous one was just the first of a horde and instinctively knew what was about to happen.
“Run! This room’s going to get buried with them.”
If anyone was pushed by an undead, they would fall towards the middle and be crushed underneath the bodies. Even if they did not die from being crushed, they would be immobilized and continue to take negative damage by plague bombers exploding from their comrades’ attack.
“This trap really is evil. Someone boost me up!”
“Nonsense, then that person won’t be able to dodge any attacks.”
Even if they dodged the first attack, they would lose their balance and won’t be able to dodge the next one. Asking someone to become a boost in situation like that was cruel.
“Then I’ll use flying magic!”
“Don’t bother with ‘Flight’! You can’t haul all of us up by yourself.”
“Not that! Crap, they’re falling! I’m talking about ‘Web Ladder’.”
“That sounds good! Then to that nearest door please. Greenham, please cover him!”
“—No, don’t bother. We’re going through the door we came through! That door is dangerous!”
There was no time to ask the rationale behind why he thought the door was dangerous, but their trust in Greenham was absolute.
“「Web Ladder」!”
The magic activated and spider web spread up the wall.
This magical spider web had a strange stickiness about it. If one didn’t want to move, it would stick in place, but if one wanted it to move, it would let go immediately. It was a magic perfectly suited to use in place of a ladder.
Greenham’s team climbed with perfect movement, despite their fear.
The one who barely reached the open door first carefully surveyed the area. If they were pushed back here, then it would really be the end.
He breathed a sigh of relief. The worst case scenario had been avoided and there was no sign of undead. After he finished checking for undead, he hopped into the tunnel and pulled up the people underneath.
“We’re alive! To think we were almost crushed to death by undead, it’s got to be one of the worst kind of death out there.”
“The design of this place is just evil. My legs hurt from the fall, cast some healing magic for me.”
“I think negative energy just scratched the tip of the foot when it exploded. Really scary.”
“We were lucky. But please don’t ask magic casters to dodge attacks anymore.”
Everyone complained while catching their breath.
“Oi, Greenham, why did you want to avoid that door? I thought that door would be the real deal. They usually always have an escape route near dangerous place.”
“It was just a hunch… Do you mind throwing a useless weapon at it?”
Greenham replied with his regular tone and the rogue threw a dagger at the door. The dagger flew straight and appeared as if it would hit the door, but part of the door sprouted a tentacle and deflected the dagger.
“That’s… a “Door Imitator”! No, considering the colour of the tentacle, it might be an undead Door Imitator. A monster that restrains the opponent with sticky tentacles while attacking them.”
“Che, it was a double trap? So evil. But you saw through it.”
“It was a hunch. No, to be precise, I simply chose the known over unknown. Plus, that door was at a position where it would keep taking negative energy bursts. Non-living objects like doors would take less damage from the bursts, but I wondered why they would make a door down there. Now, let’s move…”
Greenham closed his mouth in middle of a sentence. The rogue who had been talking so much just now raised a finger to his lips and was focusing on listening.
When Greenham listened, he could hear an irregular clacking sound, like something tapping the floor.
Everyone turned towards the tunnel where the sound was coming from.
“Probably an enemy… right? I was hoping they would let us take a break.”
“Yea, and there’s only one. No signs of trying to conceal itself either. It would be good if this was the last one…”
Everyone slowly raised their weapon. The warrior standing in the front received his shield and hid half his body behind it. The magic caster readied his glowing staff to launch an attack at any moment towards the direction sound was coming from. The cleric readied his holy icon and the rogue aimed his bow.
Clack, clack. The sound gradually became louder and the opponent showed itself.
Old, but luxurious robes covered the limbs, which were as thin as a young girl’s, and it held a staff in one hand. This was the source of the sound.
With only a thin layer of decomposing skin, the face had a look of fiendish wisdom and negative aura surrounded the body like a fog.
It was an undead magic caster. Its name was—
“—Elder Lich!”
The magic caster who identified the monster first shouted.
That was right. A monster that spawns when the corpse of an evil magic caster gained unholy life. It was that kind of fiendish monster.
Greenham’s comrades immediately changed formation when they heard “Elder Lich”. No one stood in a single file and they kept their distance from each other in case of an area of effect magic.
An Elder Lich was a strong opponent. It would be challenging for a platinum-ranked adventurer, and relatively winnable for a mithril-ranked adventurer. For Greenham’s team, if one disregarded their fatigue, it was an opponent they could easily win against. Fortunately, they also had a member who was especially potent against undead, so they were confident.
Plus if the opponent was extremely far away, it would have been dangerous, but the distance between them was advantageous.