Chapter 609: Ruins left behind (1/2)
Chapter 609 Ruins left behind
Shawn focused on the flickering flame of his torch. How many days had they been down here? Ten? Twelve? The darkness was getting to him. Their rations wouldn’t last more than another few days.
An undead lay half frozen to his right, two arrows sticking out of its face. He aimed at the remaining monster and shot, his arrow striking the knight below his shoulder, managing to bite through below his plating.
Geoffrey deflected the undead’s sword into the nearby wall of the cavern, the creature stumbling forward when a spear of ice shattered against its back. A quick swing of their warrior’s sword cut into the undead’s neck. He ripped the sword out, dark blood splattering to the ground before he let go of his shield, striking the creature with a two handed blow and taking its head.
‘ding’ ‘Your group has defeated [Forgotten Knight – lvl 230]’
Finally… those things are entirely too strong.
Geoffrey winced, grabbing at his shoulder. “I think it opened again.”
Philipa rushed over. “Let me have a look, don’t move.”
Shawn shot an arrow at a moving shadow, Geoffrey preparing his broadsword. Philipa shot a ray of ice in the direction of the movement, nothing to show for it.
They had known about the monsters of course, but undead were their specialty. The locals hadn’t mentioned anything else about the dungeon. The warning they had received back at the Guild didn’t seem quite as unwarranted anymore. Not just undead. There is something else here.
Shawn waited with another arrow nocked. These creatures were smart, more so than any undead they had faced before. Their group had faced Demons back in Lys, Cursed in Baralia, and now they were being toyed with by the creatures in this dungeon.
Vivian started crying, her magic flickering out before she fell to her knees. She sobbed a few times before she spoke. “I can’t… I can’t find a way out…,”
They were stuck. Somewhere in the Weysin dungeon. Already they had killed a dozen undead but it hardly mattered if they couldn’t get out.
Without Cris, their earth mage, they would’ve likely already died. She was asleep right now, regaining some strength while the others protected her. She was the only one who could effectively find the traps and hiding spots scattered throughout the treacherous mine shafts and caverns.
Vivian was usually well versed in mapping out dungeons, her divination magic allowing her to see threats long before they ever became relevant. Today it didn’t work. Something was interfering with her magic.
“We’re going to die down here,” Philipa murmured, tightening the bloody bandage around Geoffrey’s shoulder.
“Pull yourself together,” Geoffrey said, the heavily armored man looking battered, his plate showing scratches, deep cuts, even melted in certain sections. He was at the end of his wits too.
“We could go deeper, find what is lurking below…,” Shawn said.
“No… nonono…,” Vivian said. “That’s where death lies.”
“But we’ll die here too if we can’t find the way out,” Shawn replied, his hands shaking as he let go of the arrow, unsure if the undead was just waiting around the corner, motionless and silent.
He quivered when a creature of darkness stepped out from the pitch black cavern in front of him. Black horns and blue eyes full of scorn. He shot his arrow, watching as the being simply closed its eye, the projectile impacting with a dull sound.
“What the fuck are you doing?” a female voice asked, catching the falling arrow with her armored hand.
“Die undead creature!” Vivian screamed and cast her area spell, enveloping the whole cavern ahead in burning light magic.
“Stop that,” the armored woman said and walked towards them. “I’m not undead.”
“Leave us beee!” Philipa said and formed dozens of shards of ice around herself.
Geoffrey brandished his sword and shield. “Come then, demon!”
Shawn watched with bated breath as the woman walked over to Geoffrey and simply grabbed his sword and shield before she ripped both out of his hands.
[Battle Healer – lvl ??]
Another few monsters came from behind her, one humanoid drake and one woodland being.
“What are you?” Geoffrey demanded.
The woman looked around. “There’s something here… fear inducing mind magic. Subtle,” she said, tendrils of black matter flowing out from behind her back before they grabbed onto everyone of Shawn’s team.
Shawn looked around in confusion, feeling a warm sensation flow into him
“They need water and food,” the woodland being said.
“How long have you been down here?” the woman asked, summoning a bottle of water and a plate of delicious smelling food.
“I don’t know,” Shawn answered, too tired to stay defiant before the high level adventurer. He felt his mind clearing as he grasped the bow in his hand with renewed strength.
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Ilea displaced the whole group out of the dungeon, using the skill a few times in a row. She summoned more food and water. “Eat, drink, and sleep. Then go home.”
The man looked at her with wide eyes.
[Ranger – lvl 165]
“Good job surviving this long,” she said, seeing the man’s expression turn from fear to realization to shame in the span of two seconds. She vanished and joined her own team again.
Feyrair burned another undead, holding the creature’s throat with one hand as the white flames enveloped it.
“Level two hundred,” Neiphato commented.
Ilea gestured to the two enchanters. “Stay close to me.”
“These are peculiar. Someone is controlling them,” Fey said.
“I assume the mind magic is coming from the same place,” Ilea said, trying to taste the magic in the air. It came from deeper down in the dungeon. She displaced the group down, using her sphere to check for the many traps. A hundred meters further down, she stopped, rushing a robed undead mage who threw a fire spell at her.
She pierced the creature with a dozen ashen limbs, killing it instantly before she threw the body to the side, her ash barely affected by the scorching flames.
‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Forgotten Adventurer – lvl 264]’
Several traps were triggered when she reached another corridor, the walls here more even than before, definitely man made. Poisoned arrows, a splash of acid, and two large metal spears crashed into her, all breaking against her ashen armor.
“Come on, we’re getting closer,” Ilea said, feeling the fear based mind magic intensify. Her resistance was disabled, the effect just now starting to influence her mind. Her healing prevented her from turning back or being frozen in fear, her ashen limbs extending the benefits of her healing to the others. She could feel the presence now, just a few floors below, a few dozen meters away. If it was a being purely focused on mind magic, it wasn’t particularly impressive.
Two knights blocked her way but she simply walked on, their weapons deflected to the side with quick parries before she punched each of them once, her fist denting in their breast plates, throwing them back a few meters before they came crashing down.
“Greetings,” she sent to the being below, unsure if it had detected them already or if the mental attack was something it simply exuded. It didn’t feel particularly focused.
“One receptive to the mind. Rarely do those so talented seek these chambers,” a voice came back, a hushed whisper. “You are not welcome here however. Leave, or face the consequences.”
With contact established, Ilea could now talk freely. “I don’t care about you. Only about the ruin that lies below.”
“I have claimed this place, creature of the mind. All within is mine,” it said.
Ilea rolled her eyes and displaced the group down into the hall she now saw within her sphere.
Dimly lit, a few torches lined the walls and some candles sat on a large stone table at the center. Four armored knights stood near the walls, three robes mages nearby. In front of the table floated a skeletal creature with two bone arms and no legs, a deer like skull with two sets of antlers sprouting outwards. It wore a metal chest plate that looked like bronze, various enchantments shimmering with a dim light.
[Warythir – lvl ???]
Purple light flickered in its eye sockets. “Wait,” it spoke.
Ilea didn’t mind, gesturing for Feyrair to stand down, the elf already standing close to one of the knights, his flame nearly touching the undead creature.
A wolf corpse lay on the stone table, various opened tomes nearby.
“You have proven your capability, Deviant. There is no need for battle. What you seek lies below,” the creature spoke, all of them seemingly hearing it. The being did a double take. “Elves… fascinating. Long has it been. Cerithil Hunters I presume? Those they call the Cursed.”