Chapter 266 – Blasting away again.

“We made it laddies!”

Everyone cheered as they watched the lava swallow up the swarm of skeletons. This group of people had come from the mining camp in the mine. Everyone had somewhat expected this line of work to be dangerous but they never envisioned themselves fleeing from a small army of skeletons. Luckily a massive eruption of some sort that exploded in the middle of the lake saved them all and now their pursuers were gone.

They naturally questioned the strange explosion but they couldn’t really stop. While the enemies from the rear were gone another large group of them was coming from another side. This area had also become flooded with magma which was proving to be a stopgap for the monsters.

There they also noticed two humans that were keeping the monsters at bay, one was swinging a large hammer around to produce various spells and the other just crushed the skeletal heads with his fists. Wedamir, who reported the monster attack had gone over to offer some help and it seemed that everything was going well. However, just when everything was going well a strange phenomenon started.

“Shit, get these people out of here, make them toss all of their equipment away and run if you want to live.”

“Ye can’t expect us tae juist…”

“Just do it!”

Roland grabbed Wedamir by the collar while shouting. There was no time left as the Lich was here, and while the others couldn’t see it yet, it was there. The multiple explosives were supposed to stop it or at least keep it from progressing as the underground would flood with lava. His plan was to set off the explosion while the Lich was inside the secret chamber below the lake but he had to detonate it prematurely to save the miners.

Now the creature was slowly lifting itself up from the underground. This was presented to everyone through a strange red sphere rising out from the ground. Roland knew that inside of it was the Lich and the circular shape was just the mana shield it was producing. It was coupled with the levitating spell to make it look like some kind of large bubble.

There was no time to lose, Roland only had one weapon capable of contending with a tier 3 monster of this caliber. This was the large cannon that produced the mana-drill spells he used for farming experience. At this moment it was inside of his mule golem that he quickly sprinted towards.

‘Common, open up…’

He already sent the order to his golem to turn around and open the large latch but this model wasn’t really built for speed. In his hurry, he had to actually tear it open to get to the equipment he needed. There was no time to actually attach this cannon to a stable base or to the battery unit that used the mining area Elokin’s crystals.

Luckily he had updated this cannon to be used with other attachments. It was still an experimental model that could go together with this slightly upgraded runic suit of armor. The cannon already came with thick cables that would carry the required energy. What he needed to do was connect them to his armor.

There wasn’t really much to it, there weren’t any latches, just a flat surface at the end of the cable that would stick to his metallic armor through magic. It was quite similar to magnetism which didn’t suck up that much mp. Thanks to this solution the cables almost guided themselves towards the entry point that he included on this improved armor.

Small blue sparks flew as he attached the last one to his neck. The other ones were tightly connected to his back and chest without getting in the way of him holding it up on his shoulder. The small turret that he had on the other shoulder that previously continued to shoot at the skeletons had to be turned off. The mana it required needed to be moved towards the large cannon.

“What are ye…”

“I told you to go, that thing is here already, if you want to save your people you should run.”

Wedamir that was somewhat away, continued to ask questions while batting some skeletons away. Finally, as he noticed the lava bubble rising up warning signals started going off in his head.

“A’ body, listen the th’ human, yer lives are more important than th’ equipment yer carrying.”

“Ye can’t be serious! If anyone listen to him, everything that ye lose wull come out o` yer salary.”

The dwarven adventurer wasn’t the man in charge, this title belonged to a foreman that was overseeing the entire mining operation. He was an old dwarf that clearly saw that the company that he was working for was above the simple miners. Probably the punishment for him would be severe if all of this equipment was lost here. It seemed that for him the miners were more replaceable than the pickaxes that they were carrying.

It was understandable that the foreman didn’t want to get in trouble but he was underestimating the threat here. Without seeing the Lich that could devastate them with a few spells he would probably be unwilling to give out an order to abandon everything. To Roland’s surprise, Wedamir was the one to step up.

“Whit do ye want, ye’r not part o’ th’ miners guild.”

Without giving an explanation Wedamir’s fist made its way towards the supervisor’s jaw. The man did not have a proper battle class so a punch from a high-level tier 2 warrior wasn’t something he could take. It was an instant knockout that made the hired guards and other dwarven adventurers that were here stunned.

“Someone grab this idiot, ah will explain everything to th’ union chief after.”

Roland had no idea who this dwarf was that was hanging around Armand and Lobelia. He had mentioned one of the union member’s names and called them his uncle. Perhaps this was not an honorary title and instead, Wedamir was actually related to one of them. This would make sense if he felt comfortable in knocking out a foreman of a mining expedition.

If that wasn’t the case, then perhaps he could see the bigger picture here and he just prioritized the lives of others over monetary gains. Roland didn’t really have the time to worry about the union’s dealings as his current situation was also dire. At least now that the miners were dropping their heavy tools and bags they had a better chance of escaping.

As if right on cue the smoldering hot bubble of lava rose high enough to reveal the monster inside. The green flames that accompanied this lich became visible to everyone. Roland had remained vigilant even while the dwarves were having their little argument. The cannon that he was holding over his shoulder was already ramping up.

His analyzing skill couldn’t fully identify the monster, the question marks represented the type of the monster before him. Liches were already tier 3 monsters and were an evolution of a mage skeleton. This one was in possession of some kind of special class that he could not identify. The only thing that gave him some information was the creature’s level.

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