"Haa...! Haa..."
Running through the wide stone spiral stairs, a woman with lavender hair is heavily catching her breath as she is carrying her weakened body to the next floor of the newly discovered dungeon. Her way is guided by the magic spell called Illumination, a light magic spell that conjures a bright light source near the caster.
Clear due to lights, her black dress is covered with blood from the wounds she sustained earlier. There is a deep stab wound on her abdomen, which she covers with her hand as she is constantly healing it. Her other wounds have been healed, but that particular stab wound refuses to close no matter how much she tries.
(Damn it! This is undoubtedly an effect of an awakened ability! That's why I can't heal it! At least one of them is an awakener.)
Her face is grimacing in pain and she is gritting her teeth in anger. She never thought that those people were not actually going to accompany her in this dungeon.
(I never thought that their true intentions were to kill me. I have a feeling that they are very suspicious, which turns out to be true! I suspect they were sent by the empire through the corrupt kingdom nobles to eliminate me! Those bastards are going to pay this.)
Her name is Claire Forlath, the most powerful magic caster in her nation, the Kingdom of Roheazul. Her power and proficiency in magic is unmatched by every other known mage to the point where she is considered to be recognized as the greatest mage on the continent.
Her talents and feats earn her the name of the Great Sorceress. She is feared throughout the continent since her presence in the battlefield can turn the tides to the kingdom's advantage. Due to that, she is also one of the most valuable assets in the Kingdom of Roheazul.
When she heard the discovery of this dungeon, she immediately wanted to explore it herself. However, she was stopped by the king.
In order to explore the dungeon, she should have been accompanied by a powerful adventurer party recommended by an influential noble. Leaving no choice, she ultimately agreed as long as she got to explore the dungeon.
The location of the dungeon is situated in the forest within the territory of the kingdom, which is far from the capital. In order to get there as fast as possible, she just teleported the whole team in front of it.
They immediately began their expedition the moment they reached the dungeon. After half a day of nonstop exploring, they reached the seventh floor, which is deeper than any dungeons they had explored.
No known dungeons on the continent have gone as far as the sixth floor. Stepping on the seventh floor truly excited the Great Sorceress. The adventurers are quite amused by the size of this dungeon.
However, as they were in the middle of exploring the seventh floor, the adventurers suddenly attacked Claire, who was letting her guard down from excitement. They patiently waited for that perfect opportunity to launch their backstabbing.
Their precise and coordinated movements were loudly telling her that this attack is thoroughly planned. Despite the fact that they are individually weaker than her, their numbers overwhelmed her, who is alone, making the fight one versus five.
She tried her very best to defend herself from their barrages. When she saw an opportunity, she immediately launched her retribution as well. But no matter how much she tried, she was greatly outnumbered and she suffered several critical wounds. One of those was the unhealable stab wound that was inflicted by the supposedly leader of the attackers.
(That man must have been an awakener. His ability is possibly inflicting permanent damage to the target, which is honestly annoying. It is lucky that I managed to distance myself from the Anti-Spatial Field, giving me enough time to burn the talisman and escape.)
Due to the Anti-Spatial Field, she could not use teleportation magic to escape. Fortunately, the talisman, which is a consumable item that stores a single precast spell, still works the moment she stepped out of the field's range.
However, aside from the spell that prevents teleportation, there is also a much wider area-of-effect spell that disrupts mana circulation. Due to that, she exactly cannot cast the other end of the teleportation on somewhere she desired, which ended up teleporting her to a random location on this floor.
She apparently transported herself near the spiral staircase to the lower floor. Leaving with no choice, Claire is currently taking the stairs here with a fatal wound that slows her descent.
(It seems like I can't cast teleportation right now as if it has been sealed away. I can't use any spatial magic spell either. I know no magic that especially locks a person's spatial magic spells. I suspect that it might be the work of one of them.)
One of the attackers is actually an awakener. Her awakened ability is to total lock in on a single target. Once in effect, the target cannot use some specific spells that the user forbids the target to use. However, the user can only disable a certain amount of spells.
In addition to disabling Claire's spatial magic spells, the awakener also locks her ability to cast high-tier and supreme-tier magic spells, the kind magic she fluently uses the most.
Due to that, she was not able to deal serious damage to her opponents. They are also formidable on their own. Although she considers herself as a country-level threat, each of her five opponents are at least capable of destroying a city or more.
A party full of city-killers are not something to be taken lightly off, even for the most powerful mage. Fighting them alone with a handicap gave them massive advantage, resulting in the serious injuries she has been suffering.
The awakener who sealed her magic also reveals her current location in real time. Claire senses that they are all following her and they are only a few hundred meters behind while she is about to reach the end of the stairs.
(Damn it! They are really going after me. I have no teleportation talisman left. It's uncertain how long I will wait to use teleportation magic again. The eighth floor is just ahead. I am afraid this is the end for me.)
Dozens of steps later, Claire's light finally sees the end of the stairs and a human takes a step on the eighth floor of the dungeon. Due to exhaustion, she collapses to the floor.
Sizzle. Sizzle.
"Ugh... It's getting hotter and hotter the deeper I go."
Her palms are on the hot floor and begin to sizzle due to the scorching temperature of this floor. She has heat resistance, so she is not quite hurt from the burns. Once she stands up, she immediately and passively heals her burns.
(It seems like I am allowed to use supreme-tier magic again. It must be due to how far I am to the awakener. However, my spatial magic spells are still locked.)
There is a wall before her, making two paths for her to choose. Sensing her presence, a lesser dragon flies towards her.
"Tsk. How annoying."
In response, she thrusts her palm and a magic circle appears in front of it before a Rock Spear is conjured and fires it to the dragon, precisely blowing up its head.
"?!"
Shortly after killing the lesser dragon, Claire suddenly feels warm air passing through her feet. She is certain it is not the wind.
Upon turning her head to the right, she eyes widen. Even though it is trying to hide its presence through camouflage, she could clearly feel the presence of the massive monster that is observing her a hundred meters afar. Its warm breath is powerful enough to reach her feet from that distance.
"Is that...? No way... A greater dragon...?"