After clearing the room and getting the blue print the group started to back track to where the path split while making sure to avoid the same traps they had seen earlier. Marcus let the group know that he was keeping track of all the paths and creating a map that they could refer to if things started to get complicated later on as they explored the dungeon. From what they could tell for now it looked like the area would mostly be branching paths since the darkness already made it hard to keep track of things, but if things got worse they at least had a backup plan now.
When they got back to the split in the path they went down the opposite way this time and Joshua used his aura sense to try to see as far ahead as possible. Becca on the other hand was walking beside him and checking for any traps along the way. If she spotted one she would pat Joshua's arm to get his attention and he'd instantly stop sensing ahead to focus on what was in front of him. This made it so that Becca was looking out for him and the rest of the group when it came to their immediate surroundings while Joshua was looking ahead to see if there were any creatures coming up that they should be worried about. Joshua's aura pulse couldn't give him a clear picture of the surroundings since there wasn't always life around for it to zone in on, but if they were getting close to a monster then he'd be the first to know.
As they moved down the path the first thing that the group realized was the fact that traps seemed to be fairly commonplace in this dungeon. They had only come across one group of beetles so far after exploring the path for nearly an hour as they carefully made their way through, but they had come across several traps. There were traps that triggered from being stepped on. From what Becca and Marcus could tell these traps were designed to let out poison clouds that would immediately fill the hallway so far that it would be impossible to avoid if activated. There were traps that involved the floor collapsing if a certain pattern wasn't followed. For these traps the group would follow behind Becca as she charted out the way and they all followed behind one by one. They took it slow just to make sure nobody would make a mistake.
There were several other similar traps that were clearly dangerous and all of these traps were there to slow them down. It took over an hour just to get to the next split in the path and even when they reached that point there was a trap at the start of one of the paths that shot a hail of arrows from the sides if a trip wire had been touched. Of course with the echolocation the group was able to step over it and avoid the problem in the first place. That path ended up leading to another little room with beetles in it that were guarding a treasure and the group got straight to taking them down.
After the last fight they had a good idea of how to take these creatures down without too much trouble and stuck to the plan. Joshua would tank one while the group focused on the other two. After a while of being bombard by magic spells or being torn up by Cinder's assault the beetles would usually collapse. Their armor was strong, but even so it couldn't handle the fire power of a group of twenty-five high level adventurers. Then the group would come back and help kill the one that Joshua was holding off in a quick manor. The treasure chest this time around actually had a pretty strong looking spear in it that somewhat resembled the horns on the beetles in its design. The group immediately gave the weapon over to Allen. He wouldn't use it right now since it hadn't been enchanted like his current weapon and wouldn't have the same amount of piercing force until then.
For the next few hours the group found themselves following a pattern as they kept avoiding traps while following the paths and either reaching a split that would branch off into different shorter paths that would have either an empty room filled with traps that the group avoided altogether or a room with beetles in it that were guarding a treasure. Outside of the spear just about every treasure chest they came across either had a blue print or raw materials in it. One time they came across an interesting potion that actually gave the user night vision for a period of three hours. This would have been great under the circumstances, but they didn't want to waste it for now.
Everyone wouldn't be able to use the potion so they decided to have Natalie hang on to it for now. If they didn't find any more then she could use it when they reached the last part of this area of the dungeon and then feed what she was seeing through the mental link. It would make it much easier on the group if they had a better visual of what they were fighting especially if it was against a stronger enemy that could see in the dark.
Eventually the group finally came to a point where another split was happening, but this time around there were three paths. Joshua sensed down the two side paths and found two dead ends filled with traps and no treasure so he just ignored both of the paths and told Marcus what was at the end of them so he could keep it mapped out in case they came back through later. It was the center path that was different this time around. Usually when Joshua sensed down the center path it would be to long for him to see what was actually ahead. This time though the center path didn't go all that much further than the other paths and lead to this larger room that was a bit dome shaped. When his aura pulse started to spread through the area he immediately noticed all of the bats flying around the area and knew that they had finally come across the other beast that belonged to this path.
It made sense that they hadn't come across any bats so far in their exploration of the path. The paths were large, but not nearly large enough for bats to be able to fly around all that much. Plus with all the traps set up in the dungeon it would be problematic if the bats were able to fly around and set them off at any time. All of the creatures in this path of the dungeon seemed to stick to their own little rooms. The beetles were the perfect case of this so far so it wasn't surprising that the bats were similar. In the end the bats just needed a bigger room where they would be able to use their natural strength of flight to their advantage. This large dome like room up ahead was perfect for that and Joshua knew it.
'You spot something interesting Josh?' Henry asked through the mental link bringing Joshua out of his musing. He turned to the rest of the group and could only see their expression vaguely through Becca's echolocation. It was hard to read their expressions that way, but it was clear that none of them were tired and they were ready to keep pushing forward.
'The room up ahead down this path is filled with bats. There seems to be a small hoard of them, but I can't tell how strong or how many there are from here. At most I can tell you that they are stronger than the ones from outside the dungeon.' Joshua explained. The rest of the group seemed to think over his words for a bit as they all wanted to figure out the best way to proceed. It was hard enough to take out the bats in the canyon where they were able to funnel the bats towards them and thin their numbers a bit before they were able to even reach them, but it would be extremely different taking on a hoard that would be able to surround you and attack from all sides.
'Is the room up ahead that far away?' Isabella asked Joshua since she knew he was the only one that could tell with his aura pulse.
'No it's fairly close by. I'm sure we'd be able to get there in a couple of minutes just walking.' Joshua responded.
'Then I think I have the perfect idea of how to handle this. Lilly can you summon Cinder and Tank here?' Isabella asked as she turned to look at Lilly who simply nodded before summoning the two creatures. Cinder was able to fit just fine in the large hall way, but Tank was a little big so he shrunk down a bit more to have some room to move around. 'Alright Tank I need you to add some extra moisture to the air while Cinder and I use some ice spells to cool the air as we send it into the room up ahead.'
'So you want to slow down there movements before we even reach the room then?' Henry asked nodding at her idea.
'That's not all. Madalyn make sure you send some of your poison in with the breeze and then we'll wait here for a few minutes to let things take effect.' Isabella said as she turned to her guild master. Madalyn seemed to brighten up at that as she started to create a large poison cloud in the path that floated their idly for a moment. At the same time Tank concentrated the moisture in the air and even added some extra with his abilities to make the incoming chill even more powerful. Isabella then cast a blizzard like spell while Cinder added her icy fog and it was all pushed down the path towards the room up ahead. They continued using their abilities for a little while until the group started hearing screeching up ahead along with flapping wings.
After a few minutes the entire path seemed to be covered in frost and ice in some places while the flapping up ahead seemed to settle down. 'Alright that's enough now everyone step back a little.' Isabella said as everyone followed her suggestion as they saw the hints of Madalyn's poison still lingering as she cut off her poison breath ability and licked her lips while stepping out of the way. 'Alright Laura can you light the poison with a fire spell?'
It was in that moment everyone fully comprehended Isabella's plan and the group seemed to brighten up as Laura stepped forward. She conjured one little fireball to not waste any of her mana for the upcoming fight and shot it into the cloud of poison gas before the darkness tried to put the flames out once again. Immediately the cloud of gas seemed to ignite and start a chain reaction as a large blast of heat started to explode down the path ahead of them. All of the frost and ice along the walls of the path seemed to melt instantly from the heat. After a while the group heard a large explosion up ahead and they knew the flames had reached the area where most of the poison gas had been piling up.
It took a while for the path to stop shaking from the force of the explosion and for the dust from the ceiling to stop falling. If it was a regular cave underground there was no way they'd use explosions at the risk of causing the entire place to fall on top of them, but because it was a dungeon they knew it was sturdy and can take a beating far greater than something so small. After a couple of minutes the group made their way down the path and eventually made it to the room only to see several dead bats laid out on the ground in front of them. Some were still alive, but their wings had been burnt off and there were heavy signs of poisoning all over their bodies.
'Well seems like my plan worked.' Isabella said with a small smile that looked a bit cold coming from her. In Joshua's opinion the girl had been spending too much time around Madalyn lately, because the look on her face seemed vaguely reminiscent of the older woman's creepy smile whenever she was working on an experiment. One Madalyn was enough in his mind.