Chapter 265 – Evacuating the miners.

“This is a message from the adventurers guild, please evacuate the dungeon, a high-level tier 3 Lich has been spotted in the lava region, if you see it do not engage and move to the higher levels in an orderly fashion… I repeat a tier 3 Lich has been …”

“Huh, what is that?”

“Is that some kind of golem?”

A group of five adventurers spotted a blue spider creature quickly moving around the area. It was quite a bit away from them but the loud message that was running on repeat could be easily heard by them. This quintet of adventurers had just arrived in the lower region and was now unsure of what to do. If they believed in the words that were being played, then the best way of surviving was to go to the higher levels or even inside.

“Hey, did that thing say that it’s unknown if the monster can go to the upper levels?”

“Is something like that even possible?”

“I think there was something like this a few years back, a high-level orc monster appeared in a low-level dungeon and went on a killing spree… maybe we should go?”

The party looked at each other, they were not in any danger of starving anytime soon. There was no reason for them to put themselves in any danger. There was a possibility of this being some kind of ruse. Perhaps a rare monster did appear and whoever sent out this golem was trying to keep people away while they killed it.

However, this was a far-fetched theory as quite a few adventurers knew to who these spider drones belonged. Wayland the runesmith was close to being a household name in the city and this mechanical contraption even had his logo on it. If this was some kind of scheme to get people out of the dungeon then it was very sloppy. A punishment from the guild would be in order for attempting to evacuate people under false pretenses.

“Should we just wait for now? It could be some kind of prank?”

“It could be a costly prank… but hey, someone is coming!”

The tracker from the group pointed toward a woman that was running their way. She was quite fast and also someone they recognized. Gold rank adventurers were on the rarer side and ones that had cute faces were even rarer. It was Lobelia that was charging forward and right before passing the party of five she shouted out.

“What are you idiots doing, didn’t you hear the announcement? Get out of here now and when you see other adventurers tell them to leave the dungeon!”

She zoomed past the stupefied group that instantly started backing away. It was one thing to listen to a disembodied voice and another if a gold rank adventurer said the same thing. A tier 3 Lich was loose in this dungeon and everyone knew what that could mean. An unlimited army of undead skeletons could be swarming this way soon. Thus all of them quickly turned back to the boss room they came from and booked it after the half-elven girl.

…

“… please evacuate the dungeon … “

“Are you finished, Wayland?”

“Yeah, but you could have left with Lobelia already.”

“Hah, I’d get an earful from Elodia if she found out that I left you here all to yourself.”

“I see… thanks.”

Roland wasn’t sure how to react to the smiling Armand that had remained with him. To alleviate some of the damage he did by releasing the Lich into the dungeon he remained by the lava pool. There he quickly jerry-rigged a speaker system that would send out an evacuation notice on a loop. It was quite loud so it drew in the close-by monsters that his self-proclaimed brother-in-law dispatched for him.

Only the two men and Agni were left here. Lobelia had taken it upon herself to run towards the guild to inform it. The guild master was the only tier 3 class holder that they could count on to defeat the Lich. If they were lucky then perhaps there was a platinum party passing by to lend a hand but that was probably unlikely to happen. Those types of people spent their time around areas that were more beneficial to them and this lower-level dungeon was not one of them.

“No problem, you can repay me later, I do need a new pair of boots and I’ve heard those too can be enchanted.”

“I guess if they are made from the right materials that would be a possibility… but we should talk about that after we get out of here, alive.”

“So are you done?”

“Yes but…”

Roland looked at his small monitor that was blinking inside of his helmet. There he was able to see a somewhat large force of people approaching the other side of the lava lake. Wedamir had gone back through it to reach one of the dwarven mine encampments. One of his golems had also gone to that spot to inform anyone that was in that section about the problems they were facing.

Jasmine and Korgak went towards another area entirely. Everyone was trying to do their best in helping to evacuate the unsuspecting men and women that were here. It seemed that at least some adventurers were willing to risk their lives for others. None of them actually tried to escape to the top without having a proper reason. In reality, he could do the same but due to the fact that this was somewhat his fault, he felt that he needed to stay here.

“You should probably go where Korgak and that girl went, they might need your help.”

“What about you?”

Armand answered while seeming a bit confused. There wasn’t really much left to do here and the skeletons might soon arrive. There was also a possibility of the Lich appearing on either side of the lava lake. Roland’s plan was to remain here and help with the evacuation effort. He was on the stronger side with his level probably being the highest down in these dungeons.

“I’m going to stay here, I can at least stop some of those reanimated skeletons from killing people.”

“That’s surprising, I didn’t think that you were the heroic type.”

Armand laughed while shrugging but it didn’t seem that he was about to leave. Roland wasn’t sure why Elodia’s adopted brother was willing to help him but he wouldn’t refuse it. The help from a higher level tier 2 berserker was always appreciated.

“Heroic type…”

Roland wanted to laugh as he was anything but a hero. First off this all happened due to his fear of the abyssal cult. The only reason that he was remaining here was to soothe his bad conscience. It wouldn’t be hard to just run and leave everything in the hands of the adventurers guild.

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It wouldn’t be hard to deny that he was involved with the Lich and there was also no solid proof of how long he was using the secret mining area. If he just ran to the city lord that he found it a few days ago before the Lich appeared he could be in the clear. Perhaps he could even spin it in his favor. He could play it off that discovering the mine could have triggered the Lich as a defensive mechanism that no one could have predicted.