Chapter 77：The Dungeon Lord learns about magic seals.

You may be asking yourself why would I go out just after regretting going out...

Well, first what I regretted was not going out, but leading the girls to a dangerous place. If danger comes to hit me while I'm alone, I can run away, but if it hits me while I have company, I will have to protect them.

Second, I had noticed I didn't know anything about my surroundings aside the village and the river. This lack of information would surely haunt me sooner or later if I didn't take measures right now while I still got a little bit of time.

Third, I was not going alone. Maybe I would come back alone, but to come back feels a lot safer than exploring the unknown.

And the last one was simply the faster Geo met the Lord, the faster reinforcements could be called.

"Since we are in a hurry, I will use a speed boost spell to help us travel faster."

Saying so, Geo took out some paper from his pocket and called out the spell invocation. A green light exploded out of the paper burning it to crisp, and as it reached us, it formed some kind of aura that made our body light as a feather.

"Let's go!"

The elves departed, running through the trail and I got a bit stunned by their speed, at least three times faster than the fastest speed I ever ran... that is, until I also started running after them. As I stepped out with all strength to accelerate, my speed rose too suddenly and I hit the small tree that was some meters before me, but the little tree couldn't stop me and I kept running hitting other plants along the way.

"F***! This is too fast!!!"

"Mr. Plate!? What happened to you!?"

"Hehehe....I got a few problems adapting to the new speed..."

"Oh, I see. Please be careful! Because of the higher speed you could get really hurt if you hit a tree!"

Oh really? How come I didn't noticed?! So that's why my body is all scratched over!! Thanks for the late advise...sigh...

As we arrived Atlas village, we saw a huge group of elves.

Geo turned to me.

"Can I..?"

"Of course!"

While it may take a bit of work to accommodate all these people to the Dungeon, more people means more security as well. As long as I expand the Dungeon a bit, it should be able to handle them all...probably....

Geo left our group and started talking to Bia and the other elves, after a few minutes he came back.

"All set, let's go."

Taking another paper, Geo cast his magic and we all started running again.

"I noticed you did't use a grimoire to cast your spell..."

"Oh! You mean these? They are called magic seals, they can act as a substitute, but each time they are used, they burn."

"Hmm, I see. What are the advantages and disadvantages of them?"

"For advantage I would say they can cost way cheaper than any grimoire, I don't need carry around that thick and heavy book, it uses less Mana than a grimoire Spell and because of that it has a lower level restriction, and it's casting speed is a bit faster as well."

"Nice!"

"As for the bad news, they are consumable so you always need to take some time to craft them before hand, the higher the spell, the more expensive ingredients you need to draw them, but this is also true to grimoires, they are fairly fragile, so its easy to rip, burn or destroy them before fully activating and they lose their power with the passing of time, so you have to keep making new ones even if you didn't use them..."

"Hmm..."

"In general, its a good tool to have, but you shouldn't be over reliant on them."

"I see... thanks!"

"No problem. If you have any other question, feel free to ask."

"Hmm, just one more then. I think there was a huge rock in the Dungeon entrance before, but one day it disappeared and only a few broken seals were left in its place. Do you have any idea why it happened?"

"Oh! It must be a Sealing Boulder spell. Once it activates it creates a one meter high boulder containing gravity magic to make it immobile. One of the curiosities of this spell is that if you activate multiple at the same time, it will result in a single giant Boulder with multiple times its normal size. It's usually used against Beast Nests and Caves to temporary seal it while reinforcements haven't arrived yet, but they can be used in sieges as well, by summoning them over enemies for a big splash..."

Did he just try to make a joke?

"Hehe...I see...Any way to break it?"

"Like most low level magics, a single Dispel spell should break it easily, no matter how many Boulders are put together. Or you can use some spell to drain the seal's Mana, it will also do the trick. No matter what, don't try to do physical attacks on it as it's stronger than iron."

"Interesting...Do you have any?"

"Unfortunately no. They were all used during the invasion. But I could draw some more afterI came back."

"Please do so, it would be useful in case the orcs somehow passed through the traps..."

"Mr. Plate, we will arrive soon, please slow down so you don't fall on the river."

"Sure..."

I stop running and slide in the muddy road while trying to break. Geo is catch unprepared and end's up covered in mud, while the elves behind us hold back their laughs.

"Mr. Plate, that was completely....inelegant!"

"...sorry..."

I take a few steps, approaching the river to take a good look at it while Geo holds back his anger and goes back to his serious mood. Half the old bridge sustaining pillars are missing, the bridge is completely destroyed. Seems like we have a lot of work to do...

"All right everybody. What we are trying to do here is not the best bridge of the world, just a substitute to allow people to pass through it, so instead of making a solid wooden bridge, all we are going to do is make one with rope."

Geo took control of the situation and started delivering orders.

"Mr. Plate, please throw this hook on any thick tree the other side."

Saying so he delivered me a hook with a big rope attached to it.

I rotated the hook and threw it to the other side while holding the other end of the rope in my arms.

The hook flew...flew...flew...and fell...

it didn't hook any tree so I pushed it back to try again. Meanwhile Geo commanded the others to different roles.

"Dan, Theo, Han, Jun, take these saws and make us some planks. As for the rest of you, help me out in making the knots on this ropes."

.

..

...

Finally! The hook fell correctly on a large branch and tied itself making the rope quite firm.

"Well done Mr. Plate, now tie the other end on that tree over there."

I nodded and did as told.

"Great, now Jun, came here. get on this rope and reach the other side. Oh, and don't forget to take this."

Geo gave another two ropes to the small elf, Jun, and send him off.

Little Jun grabs on the rope, jumping over it and with incredible agility he runs to the other side.

As he reaches the other side, he ties the two ropes firmly in the foot of the thick tree.

Using the two ropes as a base, our job start showing results fairly fast. With nothing better to do, I started helping them make more wooden planks and soon both our teams finish our work.

"For a temporary bridge, this seems pretty good!"

"While it wont be able to support carts due to it's size, at least people and horses will be able to pass through here..."

"Great work everyone!"

"""Oh!!!"""

"Thanks for the help, Mr. Plate! We will be going now..."

"Good luck on you mission, Geo. Take care."

After our farewell, Geo used another Speed Buff spell and him and his group disappeared through the trail.

In the end I still didn't know the damn Mine, but at least I knew were the bridge was, so it was an improvement.

"All right, time to go back."

I take back my things and start running back home, taking advantage of the Speed Buff while it lasts.