Snow stopped towards him, looking at the dead bodies that were locked in a partial combat. The skeletal guard that had its back against the wall was slumped over. On top of it was a smaller body half its size, leaned on top as a few spears were pierced into the body to kill the monsters as if they were trying to sacrifice themselves.
“Freya,” Olgom muttered, unable to finish his sentence as he was distressed with what he had found out.
“Your teammate?” Snow asked. She squatted down and found a few more trinkets of rarity that she wouldn’t have found so easily but in the black market.
“Yes.” Olgom got up, he wiped away his tears. “She was missing on the first level. Give me a moment, please.” He turned around.
Snow gave him space, allowing him to silently cry as he grasped the bracelet in his hand. Jose came over and silently waited.
The others found more and more pieces from two different guilds. Their team members equipment and items were laid out. Some broke down, realizing that the death of many of their teammates were apparent. What had happened? They didn’t understand. How both the RedVelvet and the Black River guild come together was a mystery.
Listening in the conversation from others was that all of the Players that were found here dead were their missing guild members that disappeared on the main floor.
Olgom was finally able to settle his emotions, straightening his back. He gripped his ax, casting his gaze outwards towards the old battlefield.
“I don’t understand what has happened here, but I don’t like it,” Olgom replied. He turned around and searched through the other dead skeleton remains. He leaned down, picking up an emblem of the tattered pieces of both BlackRiver and Red Velvet guild.
“Captain.” One of the Players came over with a large number of items in his hand. “What should we do with this?” He showed with a bit of reluctance. The items that were scattered all over the floor were rare items that many would have loved to have, but to know the owners of the items made them wary of taking it.
“You guys should take it,” Snow intervened. “The dead have no use for it, and I don’t know what will be behind that door. We need every help we can get.”
“But-”
Olgom raised up his hand. “Take their name tags. We’ll give them a proper funeral when we arrive back outside.”
“Understood.” The man spoke, he rounded up the others to start collecting the items that were left.
Olgom stood in place, unsure what to say, but with enough courage, he asked. “Saintess, could you resurrect them?” He asked with a hopeful voice.
Snow slowly shook her head. “Their body is gone. Their soul needs a physical host to bring back. Usually, bodies that aren’t too badly damaged can be brought back. The fresher it is, the better.” She felt guilty that she couldn’t just bring them back from the dead, but her resurrection magic only had a specific limit to it. She can make a person whole, even if their heads were cut off or the arms with magic, but strangely creating nothing but from the bones was impossible.
The exciting thing about it was that every player who was brought back was all ravenously hungry, and they would eat for days to fill up their lost energy. She didn’t understand completely behind it, but she understood her limits. This was her limit.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Is there really no way?”
Snow thought it over. “Dairen would be able to resurrect them.” She pointed out, even though she didn’t want to. Mostly because it was enslavement and servitude, completely different from her own type of resurrection magic.
“I don’t know if they would want that.” Olgom sighed. “I understand. It was worth asking.
“I’m sorry.” Snow quietly worded, which Olgom caught.
“It’s not your fault, Saintess.” Olgom sighed, “I understand that every miracle comes with a price, and every magic has a rule to follow.”
“Thank you.” Snow clasped her hand, praying for the deceased for a silent second.
“Anyways, with that being said,” Olgom spoke a bit loudly, waking her up. “We should gather up a few things and enter.”
Snow understood what he was trying to do. Washing away the dreary mood and guilt and focusing their attention on something else.
Every dog tag was collected at the same time, any good armor, weapons, and even amulets were taken to refit the pitiable amount of armor that everyone had. It was a mismatch of armors and weapons, but they did what they could. There were a handful of rare amulets and accessories, but it wasn’t enough to cause a big offset of improvement.
Either way, it was good enough to know that they were taking a piece of their fallen brethren with them to avenge their death against the forces that killed them. Some couldn’t even bear to pick up the items from their dead as it brought back a welling of emotions that they could not handle.
Snow personally had picked a bit of items, searching for anyone who knew the Players themselves and tried to give it to them. Many of them shook their heads as they wanted her to keep it with her. Some even stated it would be much more beneficial for her and a blessing if she could keep them in her prayers.
She kept a few on her, most of them were junk items that she would not be able to use. Only three different things were of use as they were simple rings that she had to double put on a few fingers as they wouldn’t fit on the others.
Eventually, everyone was ready. Even Snow, who gave up trying to give the items away, headed towards the direction of the double door.
“Well, I wonder what’s going to be inside,” Snow whispered. She stood in place, staring as the others quietly waited.
It was a metal door with a detailed pattern of a fight against a monstrous foe as the hero slew its nemesis. Snow curiously observed the story, taking in the way the Hero had stabbed at the giant monster's side in one blow. She reached out, trying to touch the battle scene with her hand, but the door huffed and groaned.
With a slow movement, the double doors creaked open, announcing their entrance. Thin white webs blocked the entrance. Snow raised up her clawed hands, tearing down the webs in front of her. At first, her hands were temporarily stuck on the web, but she was able to tear it apart with a good yank.
She shook her hand, trying to brush away the unwanted web. It wouldn’t listen, and instead, she had to summon up a bit of fire to burn away the rest in one go. Stepping through the crisscrossed webs, most of the area was covered from bottom to the Top, only leaving the center of the room open.
Human-sized wrappings hung from the webs all around them. It wasn’t just one, but over a few hundreds.
A stifled groan followed by a dying gurgle was heard from above. Snow snapped her attention and found a familiar face.
Jacob was wrapped in a silk web, with half of its face peeking out from the white silk. His body was hanging upside down from the wall.
Snow gaped, knowing full well what those were. Dead bodies of the Players and Natives alike, and just from her magical ability, she had sensed that every single one of them was dead. Even Jacob, who she knew for a brief moment, was dead and drained. His body was pale and lifeless, with his eyes rolled back.
They were late to save Jacob, which brought an ugly taste in Snow’s mouth.
Staring down the room, she saw a wooden chair with a spindle, sitting alone in the light. From above was a broken hole in the ceiling that filtered in the moonlight. Above the very chair was the same picture of the women that Snow had seen on the wall.
It was the exact same picture, staring at them with a serious expression. The black eyes that stare back at her moved.
“What the…” Olgom jolted awake, realizing that they were being watched. “That’s not normal.”
Jose walked past a spiderweb, his right leg got caught. He tried to kick it away with a pull to free himself, but instead, it entangled around his leg even more.
“Olgom!” Jose said with panic.
Olgom turned around, Jose's whole leg was wrapped even tighter with the spider webs. He ran over, raising up his ax, slicing the spiderweb in half. Jose was let go. He ran over behind Olgom, a bit rattled by the temporary capture.
“You’re fine, boy?” Olgom replied, trying to calm Jose down.
Jose shook his head up and down.
“I have something to ask.” Snow stared at Jose, who tried to put up a brave front but did not succeed. “Why is Jose brought in this dungeon dive?”
Olgom coughed, he straightened up. “He’s my adopted grandson.”
Snow opened and closed her mouth. “Oh.” From watching both of them, she had assumed they were.
“I was lucky enough to be a Player when the dungeon first opened, but somehow Jose got a red ticket to play the game. I found him a few months later in the fighting rings for a black market tournament,” Olgom spat angrily. “Wipe out the whole circus act and brought out the kids. For some reason, he decided to follow me...and from there it’s history.”
Olgom was fuming thinking about everything that had happened in the past.
Suddenly, a screech echoed out into the room, causing everyone to freeze.