Chapter 47: Dungeon Dive [3]
The next encounter had been fairly similar to the first one, an ambush from the from the woods, a group of centipedes snapping at their heads, the party reacting accordingly.
Standard dungeon practice.
Though this one had gone fairly smoother than the first one, because Silas had already disposed of more than half of them by the time they reached the party. Which Gareth and Aris took care of the rest.
Yura hadn’t had to use her powers yet, which was already a wonderful thing considering how deep inside the dungeon they were. It wasn’t uncommon for awakened to receive near fatal once in a while inside a dungeon, which was why a healer was always required for them to get the permit to go inside.
Yura was a proper high B-rank healer, which meant that the woman would be able to reconstruct missing limb just from the sheer potency of her power alone.
Silas hoped, despite himself, that they wouldn’t need to use her powers today.
At some point on their trek inside, the sky had entirely been blotted out by the branches of the titanic trees, and the moss covering everything had gotten thicker, the ground growing wetter the deeper they went into the darkness.
Their Archer, Antonio had quietly joined back at some point in time, and all of them huddled close together as they traversed, mind still running in the battle ready focus they had entered since the first encounter.
Silas hadn’t failed to notice the particular change of quality in the air surrounding them. It was this subtle change in the pressure, like the density of the atmosphere itself was growing as time passed by. Safe to say it wasn’t helping much with the anticipation.
An hour had passed by before Gareth called for the first break, herding everyone into the base of a hollow that had grown into one of the trees. Most likely an old abandoned lair of a beast.
"The dungeon is still too big, my navigation spells aren’t working." The mage said as they were resting, patting the dampness off his forehead with a towel.
"It almost feels as if something is interfering." The other mage, younger, added. This one drinking a potion to replenish his mana faster.
Gareth was standing guard for them, Silas by his side. The giant was silent for a long moment, seemingly in thought before he spoke.
"We’ll have to manually map out the dungeon then."
"Antonio," He called to the archer. "Try getting a vantage point from the trees. Take Aris with you if you want."
"Aye Aye." The nimble man got up to his feet, patting the moss away from his backside. Then gestured Aris to follow him before he took off upwards, effortlessly climbing the old wood as if he had been doing this his entire life. Aris following briefly behind, his movement as elegant as ever, the contrast between him and his surroundings doing things to Silas that he didn’t want to particularly unpack right now.
He let out a tired groan, the kind you only let out when you know the exhaustion clinging to you came from a productive time spent. His mana blade had crystallized into a mana crystal blade by now, staying sheathed on his waist. He stretched his back, rolling his shoulders to try and get out the last of the stiffness that was lingering from the blow earlier.
"How long do you think we’re gonna be here for?"
Gareth gave him a sidelong glance.
"You got plans?"
Silas turned to him.
"Not really, i just want to know how much time i have before i get forced into slavery for this sword."
Gareth let out a short huff, his version of a laugh, the releasing of a gust from his nose.
"Ashborne’s manager huh?"
Silas nodded, a defeated smile on his face. "I thought i was being smart sourcing it for a discount, forgot how bad my luck was supposed to be."
The giant shook his head in disbelief, not saying anything for the rest of the short wait.
Aris and Antonio came flying down the branches, Antonio looking a little rattled as he touched down.
"The canopy is off limits, there are flying beasts lurking. Too dangerous for just us." He said, shaking his head. "I only managed to get a short glimpse, and its..."
"Not looking good. The trees cover everything as far as the eye can see." Aris finished for him.
A deep silence settled between them, the entire party processing the information as they thought of their own conclusions. True, this was not uncommon for an A rank dungeon. But letting your guard down inside a dungeon just because you didn’t have enough information was something even a fool would not do.
"We need to start moving then," Gareth finally said. "We’ll have to figure out how to locate the boss from the ground. Keep sweeping for anything that could be useful." He told the mages as he put his helmet back on.
"We move until we find a lead."
No one protested.
Silas looked up at the canopy one last time as they left the hollow of the tree, where the two people had been somewhere in the dark above the branches, one of them moving like he’d been climbing ancient dungeon trees his entire life and the other like he’d been assembled for it.
It was about five minutes later.
The edge of his awareness ticked once—a large distant mana signature, shifting direction, beginning to orient.
Toward them.
Fast.
"We got incoming," he said.
"Already feel it," Gareth said, grip tightening on his sword.
"Big."
"Yes."
Silas rolled his shoulder one last time, drew the crystal mana blade, felt the familiar quiet arrive in his head—the one that replaced the noise when things became simple, when the only remaining question was the one in front of you and everything else fell away.
The pressure in the air had changed again.
Something was coming through the trees.
This one was not a centipede.