Chapter 22: Get ready, Sheep!
--Chapter 22--
Title>> Get ready, Sheep!
The party headed east of Stockholm Village, leaving the thinning forest behind as the ground gradually gave way to jagged boulders and scattered gravel.
The shortcut reduced the journey to barely twenty minutes. They encountered no stray monsters and even got past a small beautiful fountain at the edge of a cliff ahead.
Small hills shaped the path, but their destination was by no means as beautiful as the scenery around it.
The entrance to the dungeon, colored by rust and something ancient, was openly built into the face of a cliff.
It was easy to find. But clearing it without casualties was a different story altogether.
Xavier had played this particular dungeon so many times.
This was probably his 100th time or so... could even be higher with how he spammed it for a certain high stake collectible.
Anyways, some things were different this time compared to all of those times.
There was the fact that this was no longer a game and each of their lives were at stake.
Wait... at this point, it was just his life that was on the line...
This was because, amongst all the Players who had spawned, he was still the only one that lacked the beginner’s safety net.
The protection from permanent death that was granted players until the World Event.
Which meant he would have to use and abuse all he knew of this dungeon, time the last-hit trick to get the best rewards.
All while keeping his HP in one piece because somewhere in his chest, he had the feeling that death in the Hollowgate for him would be permanent.
There might be no respawns or second chances. No waking up at a starting zone and wondering what went wrong.
On the bright side, if he could even call it that.
The presence of the party meant he didn’t need to do everything himself.
He could always work with them. Well... as long as they didn’t try to play a fast one on him.
"Here we are..." Timothee announced. Priya shifted slightly, her hand moving straight for the ordinary longsword on her waist.
Dex was quick to equip his bow. While Juo balanced her casting staff.
Their faces had suddenly become a lot more nervous and rightfully so.
It was showtime...!
***
Above the rusted entrance gate, carved into the stone like scripture, was a single word.
HOLLOWGATE.
It glowed dimly on the HUD. The game’s attempt to give a melancholy feel to the whole ordeal.
"Y’all relax," Xavier spoke up.
Arriving beside Timothee, who was ahead of the party.
Right in front of Timothee.
A grid appeared.
[Dungeon: Hollowgate]
[Party detected: 5 members]
[Difficulty options:]
[Easy → 1 to 2 members (recommended)]
[Medium → 3 to 5 members (recommended)]
[Hard → Level 15 and above (recommended regardless of party)]
[Select difficulty]
Timothee looked at Xavier.
He didn’t say a word but Xavier understood the question. The boy’s copper-colored eyes were asking.
"Medium," Xavier said in a gentle tone. Acknowledging [Hard] was something not even he could coordinate a first-time party to clear successfully.
Nodding once, Timothee selected [Medium] quickly.
Suddenly everything around them came to a momentary halt.
As the cutscene began...
CREEAAAKKKK
The rusted gates groaned loudly as they opened into a depth that seemed to be free of light.
The perfect place for a new adventurer to taste his first piece of the chaos of Arillion Online.
"Stay close," Xavier said. "And don’t touch anything unless I tell you to."
The others nodded, falling behind as he stepped forward to embrace the darkness.
The instant the darkness took them, the gate closed behind them without making a single sound.
***
The darkness that seemingly swallowed them only lasted for another five heartbeats that Xavier counted.
Then... a burst of light snapped into life.
Several crude torches lit up one after another, revealing a corridor that stretched ahead.
The blue flames that crowned the torches provided no warmth or heat. On the contrary, it was cold. Nothing that would cause frostbite, but enough for a player to understand something was off about this place.
Xavier moved even before the last torch in the sequence lit up.
He knew dallying was asking for trouble in here. Though he couldn’t help but twitch his nose.
The burnt odor of overused incense and something like wet socks tugged at the comfort of his stomach.
Moving further down the corridor that grew narrower and narrower. Xavier turned to the rest of the party.
"Stay in a single line. Just keep moving till the path gets wider."
The other party members fell into a single file instantly. Dex’s eyes moved around as he stretched out a hand toward the wet walls.
"Lest I forget," Xavier suddenly stopped, causing Priya to bump into his back, her chest smudging against him.
"Don’t touch the walls."
Hearing that, Dex pulled back his hand faster than the speed of sound.
Priya, on the other hand, twitched, her hand lingering longer on his back. But Xavier didn’t notice. He just kept walking forward.
The corridor kept the same tight energy for fifteen more meters until they had to slant their bodies while still avoiding the walls.
But finally, it opened into the first chamber.
"Hmph," Timothee let out. He struggled the most of the five because of his larger build.
Taking in the chamber, it all came to Xavier finally...
He’d been trying to recall everything for the last few minutes and now most of the structure, if not all, came to him again.
The wet walls they just escaped needed only one touch and it would have erupted like a flint was tossed into a small nuclear plant.
And now this chamber... the domain for those pesky pot-bellied Barry Allens.
Xavier took the whole room into perspective. Everything was familiar, the altar at the center.
The first set of enemies that nested hidden in the shadows, waiting. And the claw marks that acted as added aesthetics.
He knew how he alone would have handled all of this.
What he didn’t know... the one variable that he couldn’t account for was how this party would move under pressure.
However, he’d come up with a few setups in his mind.
Timothee was the only other person that had a bloodline. An impressive one at that.
A Titan Bloodline meant this fan-boy was already getting traits that would allow him to take more punishment than anybody else.
That in itself was already frontline material.
Dex the talkative was obviously the backline or, better still, he was the one that would stay out of the line of sight.
His obvious ranger class would make him good DPS if he actually knew how to use his bow as good as he talked.
As for the residential mage. He had no clue her limits but the fact she had only said like four words since they got here.
It meant she either knew more than she lets on or she is just completely clueless.
Xavier prayed for the first time in years that it was the former.
And last but not least... the wild card and his most important chess piece in this operation.
Priya...
Whether the rest of the team knew it or not, her Talent that saw through the camouflage of his Dread Cloak was the most important asset in this dungeon that would test your vision every now and then.
With a mental note of everything, Xavier looked at the piles of ash that were around the room, this was where he knew those bastards hid like rats.
"Grrrrwwwack!"
The Chamber of Ash shuddered menacingly.
Even as Xavier’s dagger manifested in his grip.
"Get ready, sheep!"
--End of Chapter--