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Chapter 16: To The Dungeon

Chapter 16: To The Dungeon

More people gathered inside the lounge, and eventually, Leonard and the Guild Leader of the Armonia, the allied guild, gave the green light to proceed.

The members walked outside, and Elizabeth positioned herself near the wagon filled with supplies for the exploration.

"Everyone ready?" Elizabeth questioned. Words of agreement followed. "Then come closer."

Leonard and the other Guild Leader stood behind, observing. A total of sixteen people closed in around Elizabeth, herself included.

Raising her staff to the sky, Elizabeth chanted. "Lashfera!"

In an instant, a circle of water materialized around us, rapidly lifting us into the air. It took the form of a long dragon, with all the members floating inside it. Glancing down, I marveled at the breathtaking view below as we soared through the clouds. Though I had to hide my excitement; the others seemed accustomed to this experience. So this is how they reached for dungeons far located...

It took some time, but we arrived at destination. The dragon slowly approached the ground before dispersing, making us gracefully land on the ground, although our clothes were all drenched.

"Absorb." Elizabeth pronounced. With that spell, all the water from our clothes quickly converged before her staff, forming a nice little sphere. She then propelled it away.

Out of the sixteen libromancers, Laura and another stood behind as guardians, positioned to guard the entrance; there was a high chance that the Envokers would attempt something. The remaining members formed a procession: two individuals carried the wagon at the rear, with Elizabeth leading at the front as the coordinator. Close-ranged combatants, including myself, followed closely behind her, while those adept at long-range attacks formed the rear guard.

Despite the difficulty of the dungeon, the equipment was quite lightweight. Only Jerald and someone else wore heavy armor, while some didn't even have armor at all, myself included. I've always been confident in my agility and, after all, the monsters' claws were pretty indifferent to the type of material they had to slash through. If they landed a blow, you were done anyway. So, might as well be comfortable.

We ventured in. As soon as we stepped in, we found ourselves in what looked like a vast, ancient artificial cave, with a long and large bridge stretching out front of us, illuminated by flickering torchlight. Behind us, a black smoke preventing us from exiting the dungeon; no matter the strength I put into it, my hand couldn't pass through it. So it was true, you couldn't escape until you cleared it.

"Oh, that's a nice start!" Selena exclaimed.

"Right? Already illuminated and we don't have to bring the backpacks on our back," a guy, member of the Armonia, added.

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Okay... Let's go..."

I looked at her, she looked extremely tense, tightly gripping her staff. It was not good to be so rigid in a dungeon. Well, in general, it wasn't good...

We began the exploration, but as we took the first steps, a bad feeling engulfed me.

"Elizabeth," I sought her attention.

"What is it?" she responded, turning to face me.

"Something is coming..."

"Huh?"

Before she could even react, a horde of monsters emerged from the other side of the bridge, rushing towards us at high speed.

"Monsters already?! We just stepped in!" someone in the back exclaimed.

Elizabeth pointed her staff against the horde; they resembled goblins, brandishing stone rods in their hands, their dark-blue skin illuminated by the torchlights. "Lalalei!"

From Elizabeth's staff, a massive water ball emerged, rushing forth toward the horde.

"Scissarth!"

"Tormenta!"

From the rear, a succession of spells were cast; powerful gusts of wind and streams of light shot forward, aimed against the incoming horde at full force. Some stumbled and fell, while many others kept rushing towards us.

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"Tch, they're resilient. This dungeon went unnoticed for too long," Elizabeth remarked, gritting her teeth.

I extracted my dagger, chiming in.

"Hey, wait!" Jerald exclaimed. I ignored him; it was time for some tests. I still hadn't had the chance to try out my new dagger.

The monster were massive, and way taller than me; their weapons aimed my way, but I deftly kept evading, looking for a chance to strike. At some point, that chance presented itself; leaping over one of their weapon, I reached for their throat with my dagger, slicing through. Blue blood came out, gushing all over the bridge.

"Good, this dagger is not bad at all," I thought to myself as I jumped back, narrowly avoiding a wild swing from above.

Jerald rushed to my side, blocking attacks with his divine weapon; an iron shield. "Wait! Don't charge in without even a spell!" he shouted at me.

We were dancing between the monsters' attacks and our allies spells. However, Jerald movements were... quite graceless, to say the least; uncoordinated and awkward.

"I don't need it for these enemies." I calmly replied.

"If they land a hit on you, you're done! I didn't even cast a protective spell on you!" he countered.

"I don't need your spells..." I told him.

"Huh?! Hey-"

An attack, originally directed toward me, landed on Jerald instead, who promptly shielded himself with the shield. The collision was so forceful that it resounded through the air, and he was sent flying, almost falling off the bridge.

"Jerald!" Selena cried out, continuing to cast spells from the back.

If Jerald was the 'skilled libromancer proficient in defensive spells' Leonard spoke me about, then I couldn't see where his skills were.

Slowly but surely, the monsters were decreasing, gradually succumbing to my blade and allies' spells. The guilds' members were skilled enough to avoid hitting me with their attacks, although most of the credit was also to be attributed to me.

After some time, the last of the monsters fell. I returned my dagger to its place, letting out a sigh, wiping away the sweat off my brow with my arm.

"Is everyone alright?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ah... yes, I'm fine," Jerald replied, Selena helping him.

Some guy from the other guild approached me. "To avoid those attacks like that without any magic... you're crazy! In a good way, I mean," he said. One of his comrades gave him a nudge to the side.

"Huh, thanks?"

"Without noticing, we're halfway across the bridge. Is it even safe to cross? Nobody is gonna shoot us from the side, right?" Selena asked, her voice concerned.

I leaned in, peering down the bridge. Nothing but darkness. It was an Abyss. Yet, inviting... My mother mentioned it once, she called it 'the call of the Abyss'. A phenomenon in which an irresistible urge to explore the unknown takes over you. Gaze into the Abyss, and this might just happen...

"I doubt it, or they would've attacked already. Let's move on," Elizabeth replied.

We resumed our formation and continued our advance across the bridge.

"Seriously, don't go in like that," Jerald was still admonishing me.

"Um... Could you remember what your rank was again?" I asked him.

"Huh? Double-S+. Why do you ask?" he replied.

"There's no real reason... I'm just relieved to know I'm not the one doing worse."

"Huh?! Oi, show some respect!" he sounded angry and annoyed now, clenching his fist.

"Hmm-hm."

Once we crossed the bridge, we found ourselves facing an open door, leading to another wide bridge beyond. There were no monsters in sight; presumably we had already taken care of them on the previous bridge. However, our path was blocked by a barrier, with a lever positioned to our right.

"Well, it seems we have no choice..." Elizabeth sighed after inspecting the area. I could see she was still agitated, her hands slightly trembling, trying to calm herself. Then, with determination, she pulled the lever.

As soon as the lever clicked into place, the barrier vanished, and the stone floor of the bridge shattered, creating a series of floating stone platforms that emerged and disappeared into nothingness. The stones appeared in random succession, each one appearing only for a fleeting moment before vanishing again. Above the bridge and on its sides, a thick purple mist appeared.

"It's a puzzle," my mind immediately realized. "It has to be crossed by jumping at the right moment on the stone floors that appear..." I then turned my gaze upward. "But what's with the purple smoke? Is it poisonous...?"

"It's a puzzle," Elizabeth noticed, scanning the surroundings. "And we can't fly across it..."

"Eh?! Are you saying that we have to jump across these... disappearing stones?! I'm afraid of heights..." Selena's voice trembled with fear.

Suddenly, strange verses and groans echoed from afar. And shortly after, green, contorted quadrupedal monsters appeared from the other side.

"Monsters here, too?!" Selena exclaimed, her panic rising.

"They will fall, it's not a problem," Elizabeth reassured.

However, to Elizabeth's surprise, the monsters swiftly jumped across the platforms.

"They know the pattern," I pointed out, taking my dagger in hand.

"Huh?!" Elizabeth's expression turned to shock, her fingers tightening around her staff.

"Elizabeth, watch out!" Jerard positioned himself protectively in front of her.

One of the monster opened its mouth, unleashing a ball of fire from it, which Jerald deflected with his shield. Spells were launched against them, but most of them swiftly dodged them.

"Hey, is it just me... or is the smoke descending?" a voice from the back called out.

I quickly glanced the smoke; without a doubt, it looked like it was slowly sinking. "So we have limited time..."

"My staff!" Elizabeth's cry snapped my attention back to her; one of the monsters had stolen her divine weapon, with the clear intention of throwing it away into the void.

With the same speed as lightning, my mind quickly grasped the bad situation and its solution.

"Felinchant!" I pronounced. shooting myself like an arrow against the monster, leaping over a platform.

"No, Argenta!" Elizabeth called.

With a fluid movement of my hand, I severed its arm. Then, swiftly directing the blade to its throat, I secured its demise. Extending my hand, I retrieved Elizabeth's staff, twisting myself mid-air to throw it back. Finally, I landed on the platform below me.

"Huh...?" Suddenly, my feet felt nothing but air beneath them. I glanced down, the platform had vanished.

"Argenta!" Elizabeth shouted, seeing me without a ground to place my feet on.

I fell into the void, with nothing to grab myself onto, no way to stop my fall as each moment my view of them grew smaller and smaller

"ARGENTAAA!"