The next morning, the camp felt different than before. Orders were being heard across the camp and a sense of urgency was ever present as soldiers readied their weapons. Aldrich was no different, putting on his combat wear, equipping his sword, pistol, rifle and his bands. Lastly, he picked up his supply backpack and then quickly made his way to his assigned position within the formation.
They rode on horses to the entrance of the labyrinth. At that, Wymore’s voice bellowed,
“Dismount! Ready yourselves, Frontal Scout Platoon, charge in, maintain communication.”
They waited as the men went in and after commandant put a hand to his ear and then looking at Wymore said,
“Coast is clear Your Eminence.”
Wymore shouted commands and they continued inside, dismounting their horses before entering. As they entered Aldrich felt his head burst into a splitting headache and blood ran from his nose. Wymore chuckled,
“Don’t worry son, it is just the symptoms of being in an area with such high mesmer density. Although you definitely have quite an adverse reaction to it.”
Leofrich helped Aldrich to clean the blood from his nose and they continued on. The princes were given some soldiers and knights to accompany them in their own hunts. Aldrich was fascinated by the strange and unique creatures that he found while fighting. They cleared the entrance of the labyrinth to the point that they reached an area which was referred to as a labyrinth’s dungeon, an area where the highest concentration of mesmer is. A large hole that was blocked by rubble was in front of them. At the command of Wymore, some of the men raid their rifles shooting at the ruble, pulverising it into a thick cloud of dust.
They carefully walked in, a grand hall carved into the stone. They marvelled at the intricate details of the plants and animals displayed and what seemed to be paintings that were carved into stone. There were even statues of knights in what would have been beautiful armour if they were metal. Aldrich nudged Leofrich and said,
“This puts a whole new context to ‘great hall’.”
Leofrich nodded in agreement. As they explored, horrific echoes bounced throughout the halls. Several hellhounds came rushing at them, a response of shots fired from rifles overpowered the noise that the hellhounds created. One had made its way towards Aldrich, he quickly dispatched it with a point of his finger and the words,
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“Glace:Cryo shot.”
A shard of ice flew towards the hellhound lodging itself into its body, eventually it completely froze as the cold energy from the shard spread. Leofrich gave Aldrich a thumbs up as he also took care of a hellhound that was attempting to attack him. Soon enough the pack of hellhounds were completely dealt with. Some of the soldiers went and extracted the crystallised mesmer from the corpses while others moved any other body parts that could be sold. They continued like this for a few days as more creatures attacked them, eradicating and extracting was the cycle for that time. That day was the same as any, they came to the great hall and waited but no creature came. They continued waiting when a shrill emanated from a soldier's hip. The mesmer leak volume device’s needle pushed to the maximum unit fighting to go further to a level that it could not measure. All froze, anticipating something to happen…but silence ensued. One of the soldiers beside him breathed a sigh of relief,
“That must be faulty lad, gave me a good fright there.”
The two started laughing, eventually all of them there started laughing. That laughter was cut short by the sound of heavy footsteps. A figure emerged from a passageway close to the front of the hall. The figure wore heavy dark armour from head to toe. Their eyes glowed a fierce red, a bloody crimson. As Aldrich looked into its eyes he felt a fear that he had never experienced before, his legs quaked and sweat poured out of him like one would pour a drink. No one dared make a move, most of the troops too fearful to do anything, and the knights more worried about their duty to protect the Archduke and the princes.
The figure drew out its sword, planting it in front of itself. Some of the troops started retreating, the large knight not moving. They were all given instructions to carefully retreat and not to engage. As they made their way towards the large hole that served as the entrance for the labyrinth’s dungeon. Spontaneously one of the troops raised his rifle to shoot the armoured knight. Another troop attempted to tackle him but a shot had been already released. As the shot made contact with the figure, the impact echoed in the hall and unfazed, the figure raised its sword in the direction of the retreating group.
On que the statues turned from stone to live creatures, attacking the group ferociously. Now they were faced by the likes of large armoured basilisks and serpents that matched the basilisks’ sizes. The troops raised their rifles shooting, reloading, shooting, reloading. Their collective shots were only able to severely injure one basilisk, although it still charged towards them, a new and different anger fueling its charge. The knights were more successful as they used mesmer strengthening and their sharp swords and dispatched the beasts. The fighting grew fiercer and fiercer causing the knights to be concerned for the safety of the royal family, who were heavily involved in the battle.