Maximum Status.

The immense cloud of dust slowly dissipated thanks to the residual wind from the spell used by Claymore, the roar of that strong gale dissipated as the members of the vanguard team entered the supposed boss room, those using weapons quickly drew them while the magic casters and ranged fighters joined in to cover their backs, both the wolf summoned by Pein and Beo quickly rushed to enter the room, looking for any available information regarding the dungeon boss, but, seconds passed, the dust ceased to be a problem and the team realized somethin obvius, the room was a chaos, countless years ago this great hall may have been a beautiful throne room where a venerable King attended to his people, but now none of that remained, the walls full of holes, large cuts and collapsed columns, the floor full of craters, totally deformed, this throne room had witnessed an epic fight, worthy of legend, the only thing that each and every one of the heroes gathered in this room thought was "Somebody was here before", becouse this entire sight was the spitting image of what was remained from a boss's hall after eliminating him, but this could not be possible, this raid appeared out of nowhere, the monsters outside were as strong as some platinum and gold rank heroes, no one besides an Adamante hero could have made it this far, it was a nonsense that someone could have been able to take on the dungeon lord alone.

"You all understand, don't you?" - The elf said as he stood in front of all the incredulous people present, showing a serious countenance he merely said.

"The dungeon master is not in his area, all the enemies in this dungeon became weaker depending on how close they were to the throne room, there is no trace of any enemy, his tracks are hidden to the point that he didn't even leave mana remnants around the room, those are the facts." - Said the leader of the group while directing his gaze to a strangely colored spot on one of the walls that surprisingly seemed to be undamaged.

"I had heard something about some powerful dungeon lords keeping memories of the life they once led, some dungeons don't started out as raids, they were just corrupted by a strange force." - Ecate said as she flew over the room looking for any enemies from above.

"Do you think that strange force killed the boss before we did?" - said Anvil the dwarf as she washed up and wielded her hammer, approaching the strange blob that Claymore had set his sights on.

"Beo, tell me, did you find anything when I sent you out to look for hidden entrances or traps?" - Claymore asked.

"I found passages that connected to the throne room, there were no traps but there didn't seem to be any traces of any kind either, whatever got in here, it must have had the strength of an Adamant warrior if it managed to defeat the lord on its own, besides, it managed to get this far without using powerful spells or if it did use them this individual has such great mastery of magic that it managed to control to a perfect level its mana usage as to have left no traces whatsoever." - The beastman said as he took a step forward, trembling slightly.

"But, that's impossible, Claymore and I managed to introduce magical abilities to our melee style, not even someone with monstrous magical talent who trained their whole life in magic use like Ecate or Ergo can use a spell without leaving a mana trace of any kind, that can't be." - Leered said as a couple of beads of sweat poured down his forehead.

"Ha, don't lose your heads little guys, all the opponents in this dungeon have been absolute wastes of mana and stamina, haven't you thought that the boss was probably just another weakling and that's it?" - Yaga said nonchalantly.

"I wish you were right, big guy, but unless this guy used an army to wipe out an ant, I don't think you that's it." - Anvil said as she rested his hand on that spot that seemed to emanate a strange aura, that green stuff seemed to glow slightly, even if it was a magical mineral, there was no record of something like this in any dungeon.

"You got it right, Anvil, do me the honors." - The elf said as he began to levitate using his Aer type magic abilities, approaching the dwarf.

Without hesitating a single second the dwarf quickly stepped back to have enough space and to hit a powerful blow with her hammer, that great hall seemed to have vibrated while the hollow sound of a dull blow went through the tunnels of the dungeon, a light curtain of dirt crossed the room, but behind that cloud a second surprise was hidden in that hall, a small hole between the earth showed an opening, Anvil quickly approached to check it and was even more puzzled.

"This, it can't be, we dwarves are known for our ability to make tunnels that only we can take advantage of but this, not even the smallest of us could crawl through here" - said the dwarf with naivety in her voice.

"It's almost as if an Ectus worm had crawled in here." - Yaga mentioned as he saw the hole, those worms were well known among the giants as they were huge worms that crawled through the earth to form a nest.

"Someone got to this dungeon before us, but he is neither a hero, nor a beast." - Pein said.

"So, this thing arrived some time ago, finished off the boss and just stayed in the dungeon?" Said Ergo and Igra in unison with a look full of doubt.

"I'm afraid we are not facing any dungeon master or some beast empowered with dungeon magic this time, think about this, every dungeon is practically a living thing, an ecosystem on its own, whatever is here with us fed on everything in it to such an extent that the most powerful living things that were not consumed by it would rather the surface than stay here, we are facing more than just a parasite, this is an unprecedented evil." - Claymore said.