Chapter 6

- Alright students, today we form our parties to explore the ruins of Ei'Cuir.

- They totally made that name up didn't they?

- Yea, I never heard of ruins having a specific name...

- Why haven't they been explored yet Mrs Stanford?

- The Academy purchased rights to some places around New Sydney for occasions just like this one. You're actually the first class we're doing this with.

- Well that sounds reasuring...

- Don't worry, we have a high number of mercenaries from the Guild and the ruins have been scouted as well. There are only Beast Class monsters inside.

- Well now it just sounds boring...we're all over level 50 already, that won't be a challenge at all.

'Sais the girl who has been leveling in a safe city through meditation and killing straw puppets' thought Connor. It wasn't like he had actual combat experience but he realized that it was VERY different from the safe environment they've lived in so far. And you couldn't just trust numbers. A higher level meant better movement, perception, damage, defense and pretty much everything else too but making the wrong judgment in the wrong situation could get you killed no matter how high your stats were.

'And of course teamwork is the most important...I just hope I'm not with her, we can't have a panicking gap in our formation'

- Alright everybody, you will form groups of four with whomever you like. The Guild representative Mr. Clarke will evaluate you this afternoon and assign your group two to three adventurers.

- How good are they?

- We employed fifteen trusted level 100 or above mercenaries to assist in the exploration.

This was a very high number considering the class had only 20 students. There were of course many more students learning in the Academy but the twenty present were some of the first who enrolled and their abilities could also be trusted. No matter how safe the expedition would be the faculty wouldn't risk a single person because of low maturity or ability. The expedition to the chosen ruins would bring the first graduates from the Academy.

- Hey Connor we still have a free space in our group if you want to join!

- Are you sure about him Leslie?

- Ah come on Phil, you know he's a great mage, you saw the great fireballs didn't you?

- I guess so...eh alright, if you trust him I'm fine with it.

- You too Rose?

- I..I g..guess so.

- See, everybody's fine so you're in our group Connor!

He couldn't refuse her. It didn't really matter anyway though. Leslie was one of the best at controlling lightning magic. Phil could create arcane armor and weapons to fight and even had some minor healing spells. But the reason Connor felt at ease was because of Rose. She had the unique class of Ghost summoner. She had to restrain her powers most of the time not to endanger or scare the other students and citizens. The story goes that she was found two years after Hope alone in the forest south of the capital. Nobody truly believed it but most still had an eerie feeling being around Rose.

- I don't have a problem with it. So let's meet on the plaza after lunch to get our designated meatheads.

- Don't be so mean, wielding swords is difficult too, you have to differentiate between horizontal and vertical hahahaa.

- You're right hahaha

Being the first to learn magic in the new world often came with a sizeable amount of superiority. Connor didn't voice his thoughts but he couldn't lie about feeling a little better than non magic users from time to time.

Everything was blooming when the class left the city via the south gate. The heavy wooden gate slowly swung open as the guards tensed even though their level far exceeded the Beasts living in the forest around the capital. It was a sunny spring day and the smell of flowers and blossoms filled the air. The mood was excited and tensed but mostly positive. The students could finally go on an adventure.

Connor saw the mercenaries carefully scan their surroundings and taking their positions in the formation. They had an air of professionalism around them and moved with the experience of many battles. He assumed they were gold class in the Guild ranking system, which meant they had a minimum level of 100. Only few people were even known to reach platinum licenses so their escorts were incredibly experienced.

'How much did the Academy pay for that?' It wasn't actually that much. The leaders of both the Academy and the Guild knew each other well and this expedition was seen as publicity for both organizations. More people would want to learn magic and more capable wizards would contract with the Guild. There was a general shortage of capable mages anyway so the Guild was even prepared to pay to help with their graduation.

- Alright everyone you know your destination and your group's route. Our next meeting will be at the ruins of El'ain!

Their teacher proclaimed and joined the emergency group of mercenaries. Even though she was a teacher at a magic school, she could barely conjure a small flame. People older than the age of eighteen had difficulties using magic. The reason for that was yet unknown but it was speculated that it had to do with the ability to imagine. Of course Mrs Stanford didn't survive this long for no reason so she had acceptable capabilities as an archer.

- Wasn't the name different last time?

Phil mentioned

- What?

- The name of the ruin...I think it was different...I knew they made it up.

- Who cares, come on let's go finally. I can't wait.

Connor agreed with Leslie and started walking but was stopped by one of the two mercenaries.

- Before we start there are a couple things we will discuss. I know you know the formation but we will go through it once more. I'm Averon and this is Liam, we'll be escorting you through your little adventure in the next two to three weeks. We're both melee combat experts and can take a couple hits, so just concentrate on your tasks and don't worry about us. You can make whatever formation you want in the back but if one of your spells hits us more than once you're out. Remember the following hand signals.

Averon held his hand in the air while making a fist.

- This means you stop and crouch...immediately. Use it too if you hear or see anything suspicious.

He then lifted one finger towards his mouth and said

- This means no talking until we say otherwise. Beasts often hear better than we do and we don't want trouble because you couldn't stop talking about your sparkly magic.

He then unsheathed his sword, a big bastard sword which looked very heavy.

- This means we're engaged in combat...

He then sheathed his sword again and started to walk. After the first couple steps he used the quiet gesture. Nobody dared to talk a single word, in parts because they were intimidated but also because they understood the danger of the wild. Being quiet made sense and kept you alive.

Walking through the forest Connor felt naked. Every gust of wind and little sound made the students jump. They didn't talk a single word until they made camp two hours before sundown.

- This place should be safe

They camped next to two huge rocks and a little creek.

- You can talk quietly if you wish. Everybody is sleeping one hour after sundown. I'll take the first guard and Liam the second. Afterwards pairs of you will take turns, we can't risk somebody sleeping on guard duty. If you see or hear something suspicious wake everybody...but I swear if there isn't danger and you wake me I'm gonna beat your ass.

The students had preparation classes beforehand and knew all this already. Connor didn't think bad of Averon for repeating it though...

'It's different than in theory. They must hate being out here with us rookies.' Connor was at least glad that his team seemed to try their best. They didn't talk a single time when they weren't supposed to and kept their formation though the whole day.

The night flew by without incident. The students slept remarkably well for their first day outside the walls, which was mostly due to their low physical training. After just a day's walk they were exhausted. After they ate some bread, cooked some water from the creek and packed their things a lonely howl could be heard.

- Aoooooooo...

- Here comes our first action. Liam I'll take care of it, you look after the kids. Seem to be about fifteen blackwolves.

Blackwolves were a Beast class monster with an estimated level between 25 and 30. The level 100 adventurer didn't worry much about such an opponent. Of course he might be overwhelmed in time if there were fifty or more but just fifteen wolves were easy to handle.

- If you want to test your magic go ahead.

The students were excited and Phil was the first to prepare. He conjured his full plate arcane armor and a spear made of energy. All his equipment had a purplish glow to it and was a little smoky. It looked very impressive.

'Maybe I need to change to arcane magic too after all, that looks super cool'

Phil had a smirk on his face as he stepped past Liam. He didn't miss the jealous gazes of his friends. Phil didn't use the full plate armor in class and only recently managed to complete it. It had a very high defense rating but he could only uphold it for about ten minutes.

- Let's get ready too

Said Leslie as she took the staff from her back. Connor and Rose did the same but Rose didn't plan to use any spells in this engagement.

- Get ready

Said Liam as the wolves started to show themselves. Vicious Beasts four feet high and eight feet long. They didn't wait long for their opponents and started to run towards Averon and Phil. In the heat of battle Phil and the other students froze. The black eyes and seemingly too long teeth of the wolves could only be described as terrifying. The effect didn't lessen as Averon cut the first wolf in two with a clean vertical cut of his heavy bastard sword. Meanwhile Liam run towards Phil and shoved him to the back while unsheathing his Katana. After two fast movements the wolf going for Phil lay dead, covering the ground in blood and guts.

The stench of blood filled the air and the students could only look on dumbfounded as the two men danced through the beasts, slashing them apart. The fight only lasted about three minutes but the beautiful scenery changed dramatically. The ground was covered in blood and flesh. Several wolves were still breathing, coughing up their innards as they did so.

- Nice a whole 20 silver

Said Averon as he beheaded a still living wolf.

- At least we have some pelts...

remarked Liam

- You don't really want to skin them and carry them around, do you?

- What? They're like three gold a piece. Make the kids carry them, they have to learn how to skin too.

- Eh alright...Hey kids, take these knifes and skin the bastards. There's a small river near the ruins, you can clean yourselves then.

The students only looked at them and the scene with big eyes. Connor hesitantly took a step towards Averon and took the held out knife. He gulped as he looked at the wolf corpse before him.

- Oh wow, I was already impressed that you didn't puke! Might just be that wizards aren't as useless as I thought. Come on, I'll show you how to skin them. What's your name?

- Connor...please show me how to do it.

- Sure, so you start here...

After Averon's explanation all the students went to work. It took quite some time to skin the fifteen wolves but in the end the group knew pretty well how to do it. They put the pelts in their backpacks after cleaning themselves a little with some excess water. They planned to clean themselves and the pelts at the river near the ruins as Averon suggested.

The rest of the journey went without incident but the students already looked a lot more mature. They took the situation way more serious and the mood changed from exciting excursion to serious training camp. The constant smell of blood helped a bit to reinforce that feeling.

The group was the last to reach the ruins and had to further delay the expedition because of their hygiene problem. Nobody had a complaint though, the students watched them horrified as they arrived blood covered while approving glances could be seen coming from the other adventurers.

The ruins were mostly underground and had several hallways leading from the main room. The expedition made camp in that room and started to prepare for battle. The ruins were said to inhabit low level undead skeletons and aggressive bats. Connor's group went to one of the eastern hallways and entered the dark, rotting aisle. There was a lone door at the end that lead to an open room. The ceiling was broken in and the sky could be seen. The students didn't focus on that though because before them were three tiger like skeletons.

- Get in position!

came the order from Averon but the group was already prepared. The scene in the forest seemed to have awakened them. Phil quickly conjured his armor and club. A piercing weapon like a spear wouldn't be very effective against a skeleton. Connor and Leslie quickly cast their most practical spells.

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- Lightning bolt!

- Fireball!

The two spells quickly formed before their hands and shot towards the skeletons while avoiding their allies on their path. The spells struck the skeletons head on. The one hit by Connors fireball exploded in a gust of bones. The damage inflicted by his spell was higher because undead had a weakness to fire and faith.

- I'll take the one on the right!

Shouted Phil as he lured the injured skeleton towards the right while Liam went towards their last opponent. The tiger skeleton quickly closed the distance to Phil and attacked with its huge jaw. Phile only lifted up his arm to catch the tiger while swinging his club in a horizontal swing towards the ribs. The bones crashed as the club smashed into the skeleton. The force shook both Phil and the tiger as they tumbled apart. Phil's arm was bleeding lightly as his arcane armor couldn't protect him completely from the attack. As additional lightning bolts struck the skeleton Phil used a minor healing spell to cure his wounded arm.

- Arcane heal!

The skeleton fell apart after the third consecutive lightning bolt. Liam had killed the last remaining skeleton in the meantime.

- *clap clap clap* good job everyone. This is gonna be a piece of cake!

Exclaimed Averon as he looked at his party.

- Rose was it? Next time you attack alright?

- O..Ok, b..but I'll n..need a lot ...a lot of space.

The only inactive person next to Averon answered in her usual stammering manner. They checked the room for items or loot in general. Connor was informed that he earned 30 Silver from the skeleton after the fight. He quickly activated the menu and stored his money. A notification about money would usually pop up after a fight and one had a time limit of one minute to claim their reward. After claiming, it would materialize before you. The same went for unusual drops from monsters but those wouldn't happen very often. Most items were just gathered normally from corpses. Nothing would actually disappear when killing something but actually finding something with good equipment and then being able to kill it wasn't an easy task.

It wasn't easy to haul a 300 pound full plate armor through a dangerous forest either. There were only very few big expeditions yet that used wagons and a whole supply chain to clear a ruin. A sizeable part of the weapons and armor in New Sydney actually came from those. Considering that most possible mines also contained monsters it was sometimes easier to just kill and loot already created weapons and armor instead of forging new ones.

The party gathered what they deemed worthy in the room and went on.

After descending a set of moldy stairs the party saw a huge stone door at the end of an empty corridor.

- You think we can open it?

Asked Averon as he closed in on the door. There was a lever on the right side of the door pulsating in a dubious blue light.

- We might want to report this first, I'm don't recall hearing about anything like this from the scouting repo...

Just as Liam wanted to shoot the idea down spears started to appear from the ground at the beginning of the corridor. New spears started to appear closer and closer with loud *thump* noises as they were released from their contraptions. Seeing that there was no indication of the ground below them being safe Averon pulled the lever. The spears didn't stop appearing and were now only ten feet away as the huge door opened. The party jumped through just as the spears reached the door.

Metal scratching on stone could faintly be heard as the huge door slowly closed back down.

'We're trapped'

- This is bad. Could be worse though, we could be on the other side of that door now...

Averon remarked but his joke didn't reap any laughs.

- Oh well, only one way to go now.

He said as he walked forward. After taking two steps though some sort of scythe appeared from the wall nearly cutting him in two. Averon barely managed to react, catching the scythe with his right arm. Liam reacted first and pulled his friend back. The scythe cut through Averon's arm and left a big cut on his breastplate before crashing into the opposite wall.

- Haaa haaa

- You alive?

- Had worse, arm's fucked though.

The two men calmly assessed the situation.

Phil started while walking to Averon

- Let me see that arm, my healing magic isn't the most advanced but I'll at least be able to stop the bleeding and reduce a possible infection.

- Yea, thanks

- Arcane heal!

The bleeding immediately stopped but Averon couldn't move his right arm without much trouble.

- None of you have any trap detection skills or spells?

Asked Liam while carefully surveying the room they were in.

- None, sorry

- No...I never bothered to learn those...

- No me neither

The situation was growing worse but then Rose spoke up.

- I...I c..can check w..with my ghosts!

- Great, then do that. He needs medical attention as fast as possible. Hey Ron maybe you'll get a Mark III arm.

- Shut it, this isn't earth you twat. And they were shit anyway, you'd lose your cock masturbating.

- Hahahaha, yea I heard that story too.

The students only listened while Rose was preparing her spell. They didn't understand the seemingly lighthearted atmosphere of the two men. It was an attitude only people who went through many life or death situations together could show in a position like this.

- Oh lost and forgotten, I awaken thee from thy eternal slumber. Spectral summon!

As Rose finished her spell dozens of half transparent beings entered the room from below. They had no faces and only the vague form of a human. Rose walked closer to one of the ghosts and lightly touched its face. The scene looked like a loving mother seeing her grown up child for the first time in years.

- Please check the rooms ahead for traps brother.

Without stuttering Rose asked, not commanded the ghost with a sad expression on her face.

'So that's how it is, now I know why she never summoned them in school'

The ghosts rushed forward without creating noise or wind but several traps were activated on their way sending scythes, arrows and spears all over the place scratching the stone floor, ceiling and walls.

- T..There's...s...stairs in th..the third room a..after this one.

Said Rose as everybody stared at the unbelievable scene before their eyes.

- My arm would've been the least of my worries...who designs places like this? This is worse than Sen's...

- What's Sen's?

- Never mind, that was a looong time ago.

Said Averon as he walked toward the next room. The others soon followed him looking at the destruction caused by the dozens of traps. The other two rooms weren't much better as spears and arrows lay around or pierced the walls. After ascending the mentioned stairs the party entered a corridor much like the one leading them here. The only difference was something in the middle of the corridor.

- That's a trap

- Definitely a trap

- Couldn't be more obvious

The general conscious towards the lone golden wolf's head on top of a pedestal was united. Nobody even though about taking the head and moved past to the gate. There was a lever like before.

- Wait

Said Liam just before Averon touched the lever

- What is it?

- Don't you think this is weird?

- What is?

- All those traps and then this obvious one...

- What you think we should take the head?

- I don't know but something seems not right here.

- I get where you're coming from but taking the head could still be a trap.

- I'm not sure...what do you guys think?

This was the first time one of the mercenaries asked the students for advice. They didn't have any other ideas either though.

- So throw a coin? Not like one or the other way makes more sense.

- Maybe the ghosts could help?

- T...they c...can't g...go through...d doors.

- Oh well, worth a shot. But let's do something before we become skeletons ourselves.

They took out a coin and tossed it.

- Heads, that's the lever then, so let's do it.

Liam pulled the lever. Sounds of gears and chains moving could be heard through the whole room.

- Guys, the door's not opening...

Just as Phil pointed it out several smaller doors along the walls of the corridor opened and doglike creatures entered through them.

- Hellhounds...

Said Averon while unsheathing his sword.

- Kids stay behind, Liam we have to get that golden head.

Several Hellhounds immediately circled around the pedestal where a similar looking golden head was placed. Hellhounds were categorized in the lower lurker regions, which made them between level 100 and 110. There were twelve of those dogs in the hallway and four already defended the golden head. Both Liam and Averon drank potions they'd found in some previous adventure. The party readied themselves as the hounds advanced.

- Greater fireball!

- Lightning strike!

- Arcane orb!

- Oh lost and forgotten, I awaken thee from thy eternal slumber. Spectral summon!

They didn't waste any time and their spells rushed towards the advancing Hellhounds. A faint blue light enveloped Liam as he activated his combat skill.

- Body of the sword

Blood started to trickle down the edge of his mouth as he accelerated twice as fast as he could normally move. His sword moving with ridiculous speed slashing horizontally through the hounds.

Averon on the other hand closed his eyes to concentrate. After three seconds he opened them again and charged with his bastard sword.

- Gravity Sword.

As he activated his skill mid swing the hit Hellhound violently spun away upon impact and exploded in a mist of dust and blood at the other end of the corridor. Liam managed to kill two of the hounds but was being pushed back by another four. The spells from behind were seemingly dealing no damage and the ghosts only acted as a distraction.

One of the Hounds quickly circled around Liam and headed for the mages. Liam turned around but was interrupted by another Hound tearing away a part of his hamstring.

- Aaaaah fuck!

He screamed as he swung his katana at the retreating Hellhound. Meanwhile Averon finished another dog with his sword skill but the mages were still undefended.

- Arcane Armor!

Phil activated his armor and intercepted the Hound. Compared to the Skeleton in the previous engagement the Hound easily bit through his magical armor crushing his left arm. Another bite to the throat ended Phils life. He slumped to the ground while the hellhound switched his targets.

- I'm sorry Connor...

Leslie looked towards Connor with sad eyes and activated her spell.

- Electrocute

A strong electrical current enveloped both Leslie and the Hound that had already sunk his teeth in her thigh. The spiraling ball of twitching flesh went crashing to the ground.

- LIAM YOU SHIT!!!

Averon screamed as his friend succumbed to the three Hellhounds attacking him repeatedly from all sides. He managed to take two of them down with his last breath but was tore apart none the less. All the dogs guarding the statue had attacked Liam so Averon quickly took it and ran towards the exit. As he pulled the lever one of the remaining hounds jumped towards him.

- Stone Skin

Connor activated his earth magic spell and intercepted the jumping Hellhound. Bits of rock immediately flew towards him and wrapped him in a protective layer of stone. He caught the hound with his hands and was immediately thrown back at the wall of the corridor. The impact crushed some of his ribs and he couldn't move his right leg anymore.

- TAKE HER AND GO!

He shouted and saw Averon dragging the wide eyed and crying Rose through the opening door.

The Hellhounds chasing them were blocked by the door as it immediately closed again after their escape. They growled angrily at the door but soon started to look around again. Some of them started to eat whatever was left of Liam, Phil and Leslie...or even their dead brethren. They also smelled something else. One Hellhound soon started to scratch at the rock man lying on the floor at the wall. Heavy breathing could be heard from the stone figure and the other dogs soon joined as the scent of sweat and urine started to mix with those of blood and guts.