By the time the three of them arrived at the egg chamber, they found themselves at the entrance of a vast hollowed cavern, the walls of which seemed to curve inward like the inside of a massive, naturally occurring dome.

The cavern was shrouded in thick, pale webs that stretched across it from one side of the walls to the other, adhering to the stone.

Suspended within these webs were many clusters of enormous eggs. Each one was roughly the size of a human torso, their surfaces slick and faintly translucent.

Inside them, dark shapes moved slowly beneath the membrane. Some of the eggs pulsed from time to time, quivering with the disquieting rhythm of life waiting to come out.

Hundreds of them were in the chamber.

No, perhaps slightly more than that.

They were stacked up along the walls, all tangled up in thick webbing, which had layered itself throughout the cavern like some sort of enormous nest.

The sight alone was enough to make the entire place feel suffocating.

And standing there, quite calmly, at the very center of it all, was Seraphine.

A sword was still in her hand, and lying motionless on the floor before her was the Malice-class Voidspawn she had killed.

It had the figure of a large humanoid creature with four massive arms. Several holes had been pierced through its chest, and its head was nowhere to be seen.

Aware of their presence, Seraphine slowly turned toward them, her cold gaze settling on their figures.

’Impressive... it doesn’t look like the fight exhausted her at all.’ Ruvian thought as he slowly approached her.

"Erm, what is that thing?" Silvena said as her face slowly twisted in disgust while she looked at the corpse on the ground.

"Dread Araknid. A Malice-class Voidspawn," Seraphine replied calmly.

Silvena tilted her head slightly as she studied the creature again, then glanced back at Seraphine.

"Hmm, so a Malice-class, eh? That usually wouldn’t take you this long."

Seraphine lowered her sword slightly and brushed a strand of pale hair away from her face. Her expression remained composed, though there was a faint trace of displeasure in her eyes.

"My apologies, my lady,"

Then, she gestured faintly toward the surrounding chamber. "...But since I was ordered that the eggs were not to be damaged, fighting it proved somewhat inconvenient."

"The creature was also guarding them rather aggressively. So we were both forced to restrict the strength of our strikes so that none of the eggs would be destroyed."

Her gaze drifted briefly toward one of the egg clusters near the wall before returning to Silvena.

"Frankly speaking, it was a rather troublesome condition to fight under. However, because the Voidspawn itself seemed to be equally intent on protecting the eggs," she lightly wiped a small streak of dark blood from the edge of her blade with a cloth.

"...I wasn’t having any problems at all. It just took me more time to kill it."

Seraphine returned the sword to a relaxed position at her side as she finished speaking.

Ruvian listened quietly as Seraphine finished her explanation.

’I guess she was still mad about it.’

Shaking his head lightly, a faint wry smile still resting on his face, Ruvian stepped forward before stopping a few steps.

"Sorry," he said, his tone calm but sincere.

"It seems I gave you a rather troublesome condition to work with. Still, you handled it quite well. That was impressive work. And again, sorry for raising my voice before. I shouldn’t have done that."

"It’s fine." she said.

Seraphine did not react much to the praise.

She simply lowered her gaze slightly in acknowledgment while maintaining her usual composed expression.

Silvena, on the other hand, let out a soft smile as she leaned lightly on her whip. Ruvian glanced at the surrounding eggs once more. His expression gradually turned thoughtful.

Then, he looked toward Silvena.

"Silvena, take out the [Pyrosol]."

A slow grin began to spread across Silvena’s face as she seemed to realize what he had in mind.

"On it."

With a small flick of her wrist, a glass bottle appeared in her hand from her dimensional storage.

The liquid inside shimmered with a faint amber hue as it sloshed gently within the container.

"You’re planning to burn this whole place?" Seraphine asked.

"Yes, not me, but ’we’... are burning this whole place." Ruvian corrected her.

Silvena gave a soft chuckle before tossing the bottle toward him. The glass vial spun through the air before Ruvian caught it easily with one hand.

He examined the amber liquid for a brief moment, tilting the bottle slightly as the fluid rolled along the glass.

Then his gaze lifted toward Seraphine.

"Seraphine," he said, his voice turning contemplative.

"Can you project a sphere of water large enough to wrap around all of these eggs?" he gestured lightly toward the web-filled cavern around them as he spoke.

"And I don’t mean it like a simple splash or scattered droplets. I need it to be more controlled. Like a large sphere of water that can envelop the entire cluster."

Seraphine followed the direction of his hand and slowly looked across the chamber.

After a brief moment of observation, she turned back toward him.

"Yes I can," she replied calmly. "And don’t worry, I understand what you are planning to do."

Ruvian gave a small nod of approval.

"Good."

He then turned his attention toward Silvena.

"Silvena, I will be pouring this into the water once Seraphine forms the sphere. When that happens, I need you to prepare a wind spell."

Silvena tilted her head slightly, already smiling as she listened.

"I need you to create a strong dispersal wind. Once the Pyrosol mixes with the water, scatter the entire mixture across the chamber."

With a small smile, he let his gaze drift briefly to the countless eggs surrounding them.

"Then you will spread the liquid across every surface."

Silvena’s grin widened.

"Okay~ Though, you really need to work on your phrasing. That sounded wrong on so many levels. But sure, I can do it."

Ruvian slightly frowned before turning his head toward Rosalin. The red-haired girl had been quietly observing the conversation while resting one hand on her hips.

"And Rosalin, I’ll need your fire magic. Once the liquid spreads, ignite it."

Ruvian added while pointing his finger up.

"Set the entire chamber ablaze."

For reasons he himself could hardly explain, Ruvian felt an unexpected surge of exhilaration stirring within him.

It was not the crude thrill of destruction or the childish satisfaction of watching something that will burn, but rather from the thought of becoming stronger soon through burning all these eggs.

Rosalin nodded vigorously, her face radiating calm excitement, like an earnest-looking puppy ready to dash off.

"Understood." she said firmly.

Ruvian removed the cap from the Pyrosol bottle and looked once more at the three of them.

"Alright..."

"Let’s burn this nest down and claim what we came for."

Immediately, Seraphine raised one hand and opened her palm toward the large chamber in front of her.

[Hydrosphere]

Soon after, a soft shimmer appeared in the air before her palm. From nowhere, small droplets of water formed and floated in the air like tiny beads of glass.

Slowly, more droplets gathered from every direction toward a single point above her, merging with one another as they touched. The forming sphere wobbled slightly as it expanded.

Soon, the sphere had grown enormous.

Ruvian watched the sphere for a moment before stepping forward.

The bottle of Pyrosol remained in his hand.

Raising it toward the hovering mass of water, he tilted the bottle slowly. A ribbon of amber liquid slid from the mouth and dropped into the sphere.

The moment the Pyrosol entered the water, the amber liquid spread outward like ink blooming inside a clear water.

Within seconds the once clear sphere had taken on a subtle golden tint.

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[Chapter 106: The Deepmarch Dungeon (11)]