Chapter 10: Dark Hunters

Once we returned to the others, Stephan Lorren was just finishing his announcement that a Keystone was required to open the tomb’s entrance. The calmness in which he spoke frustrated me. The man was a manipulator and a liar.

Yana immediately glanced in my direction, likely realizing that what I had said was true. She seemed to freeze when Lady Mikaela addressed the crowd, saying exactly what I said she would.

“We’ll split into two search parties, seven members each, level 75 and higher. I will lead the first, and Lorren will lead the second. We need to find the damned Keystone that will unlock this door.” She exclaimed, before turning to her trusted tank. “Everyone else will stay behind and guard this location. Aric Kelltins, one of my finest, will serve as your leader in our absence. Any questions?”

“Lady Mikaela…” Yana suddenly whispered, addressing her guild master, and I immediately realized something was wrong. She hadn’t done this last time.

“Yes, Yana?” Lady Mikaela replied.

I shot a questioning glance at Yana, hoping she wasn’t about to reveal what I had specifically asked her to keep secret. She met my gaze and seemed uncomfortable, her eyes darting around before she spoke, her voice low, barely above a whisper. “Maybe we shouldn’t split up.”

“What do you mean, dear?” Mikaela said, confused.

Yana shot another glance at me, looking as if she were asking for forgiveness, then spoke. “You and Master Lorren both said it. This dungeon is different than anything you’ve ever encountered. If it’s somehow changing and adjusting, then perhaps splitting up here is not the right move. Maybe that’s what Gaelith is waiting for.”

Lady Mikaela seemed thoughtful at her words, while Lorren just outright disagreed. “First of all, Gaelith is dead and has been for a very long time. Whoever spoke to us before was just a monster of some kind. And secondly, what else can we do, girl? The Keystone is necessary, and given the possible dangers ahead, it makes no sense to take low-leveled adventurers with us.”

“I agree.” Aric Kelltins interjected. “Also, dungeon monsters usually go for the high-leveled threats first, that’s likely why the wolves came all the way here to the main antechamber. Everyone who stays here should be relatively safe.”

He couldn’t be more wrong…

“Don’t worry.” Goren whispered beside me, and I only now noticed he had been standing next to me. “I tried warning them too, but it never works. It’s like they’re desperate to split and die. This part plays out the same regardless.”

But apparently, Yana’s warnings had more effect than he anticipated. Perhaps because of her close relationship with her guild master.

“What do you suggest, Yana?” Mikaela asked, sounding genuinely interested in her opinion.

My heart raced. She had already said too much. What was going to happen now? Chronos had warned me not to tell anyone anything.

“Yana.” I said simply, my voice tense, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Maybe one party would be enough.” Yana suggested, drawing the focus back to her. “At least at first. If we see that no one attacks us, we’ll send another search party.”

Lady Mikaela smiled softly and nodded. “I didn’t realize someone as fearless as you could be afraid as well.”

Yana looked embarrassed, her gaze dropping to the ground.

Lorren sighed. “It’s your call, Mikaela.”

“Very well.” Lady Mikaela nodded again, then turned to her counterpart. “Lorren, you’ll lead the first party. You have much more experience finding Keystones than I am.”

He nodded without much enthusiasm. “Sure.”

“That never happened before, I assume?” I whispered to Goren, whose grin widened just as it had earlier.

“No.” he chuckled. “This is interesting.”

Stephan Lorren left with six other adventurers while the rest of us remained near the entrance.

After a brief conversation with Lady Mikaela, Yana made her way toward me. “I’m sorry, Aidan. I had to.”

“You didn’t have to. You chose to.” I said, my heart still pounding with worry over the possible repercussions of what she did. What I did.

“How can you say that?” she replied, sounding offended. “You said people were going to die. Once everything played out exactly as you warned me, I knew I had to do something.”

“But I asked you not to tell anyone.” I countered. “You promised me. Who knows what’s going to happen now?”

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“What’s going to happen now? What do you mean?” she asked, clearly trying to pull more details from me.

I sighed. “I told you, I can’t tell you that.”

She stood her ground, her tone firm. “Then, I’ll answer your question. What’s going to happen now is that the adventurers you said would die will stay alive, because Lady Mikaela and the others will be here to protect them. To protect us.”

“You always do this.” I said sharply. “You always try to play the hero. Why couldn’t you just do what I asked?”

Her expression turned to anger. “I always do that, huh? Then maybe you should’ve known better than to tell me if ‘I’m always trying to play the hero’.”

Without another word, she turned and left, her footsteps quick and frustrated, leaving me standing there, angry at myself mostly. Maybe I’d been too harsh…

“Lovers’ quarrels…ugh.” Goren muttered behind me.

“You really need to stop listening in on my private conversations.” I turned to him, making sure my tone clearly conveyed just how unhappy I was with him.

He smirked. “Oh c’mon. You’re clearly going to die this run, too. And next run, she won’t remember anything. So, no harm done, really.”

The problem is that I won’t remember it either. But as much as I wanted to argue with him, there was some truth to his words

He continued. “If I told you half the things I did once I realized no one would remember anything anyway, you would think I’m insane.”

His words were unsettling, but before I could question him about them, a strange sound echoed from within the tomb - fast, sharp whistles.

At first, everyone assumed the whistles were coming from Stephan Lorren and his group, but that theory quickly fell apart as the sound became more constant, almost like it was some conversation. One whistle speaks, then a few others respond. The whistling grew louder with each passing second, sounding everywhere around us, but no one appeared.

“Stay on the ready!” Lady Mikaela’s voice cut through the air, getting everyone focused on the possible threat.

“What is that? Who’s making these whistles?” I whispered to Goren, my unease growing with each whistle.

“No clue what they are but stay sharp.” He replied, unsheathing his daggers. “They’re around us.”

“Around us?” A chill ran down my spine. “What do you mean, around us? You’re saying you can see the whistlers?”

He nodded, his expression suddenly serious, though a small, unsettling smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Nasty motherfuckers.”

Other rogues seemed to notice the threat as well, or at least sense it better than the rest.

“Use echolocation skills!” one of them shouted. “They have some sort of camouflage skill.”

A sharp whistle sounded from the area where Yana stood, followed by the terrified screams of adventurers and blood flying around.

My heart raced as I sprinted in that direction, toward Yana, but before I could make more than a few steps, I was yanked backward.

I felt a gust of wind shot past right in front of me. Something - some body, invisible to the naked eye – had shot right by me. I turned to see Goren. If he hadn’t pulled me back, the creature would have pierced straight through me.

He gave me a weak smile, almost as if reminding me of the alliance he had offered.

“Step aside!” Lady Mikaela’s voice thundered as she rushed toward the adventurers under attack by the unseen threat.

She activated one of her skills and, with incredible speed, lunged forward, her spear aiming at what appeared to be thin air. But her weapon met something. And with a sickening thud, dark blood splattered through the air. Suddenly, the creature became visible – skewered on Lady Mikaela’s spear.

It resembled a large dog, but its skin was pitch black and looked almost leather-like. Its head was an odd cylinder, with a single large red eye, and four large knives at the end. Above its corpse, the system revealed its name: Dark Hunter, Level 65.

“Snap out of it already! Wake up!” Lady Mikaela shouted at the high-leveled adventurers. “You can take them down as well!”

Her harsh words seemed to ignite something in them, as they began finding their rhythm, landing strikes on the camouflaged Dark Hunters.

“Mages! Enchanters! Raise your barriers! Protect your comrades!” Mikaela commanded, her voice slicing through the panic, pulling everyone, including some low-leveled adventurers, into action.

“Over here!” Dina shouted beside me, raising her staff and manifesting a large protective barrier around herself and some other adventurers. But I didn’t want to stay under her protection. I needed to find Yana. The area where she’d been seemed overrun with these creatures, but there were so many people there, I couldn’t see her.

I rushed toward where I last saw her, heart pounding. I had no skills to see the camouflaged Dark Hunters, but I could hear their whistles and the chaos around me. Battles took place everywhere, ensued by adventurers who could locate them.

To my side I saw Goren. He moved swiftly, a blur of daggers and deadly precision, cutting down two creatures in one single motion, making their dead bodies appear from thin air. Then, he suddenly dodged and reached forward as if catching something, after which he slammed something invisible to the ground. Another Dark Hunter appeared, bleeding heavily, suspended by its leg in Goren’s hand as he drove a dagger to its gut.

His speed was beyond what his level suggested - perhaps he hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he believed we could take down Gaelith.

Then, a sharp, deafening whistle tore through the air. I clamped my hands over my ears, my heart racing.

“No!” Lady Mikaela shouted, and I saw her lunging and cutting down another creature in the distance, seemingly the last of them. Then, a sudden silence settled over the area.

When I finally reached them, my heart sank.

Lady Mikaela knelt on the ground, cradling Yana in her arms. Blood was pouring from Yana’s neck, her eyes shocked, fearful and full of pain.

“Healer!” Mikaela screamed, and one of her men rushed over.

He knelt beside them, attempting to cast a healing spell, but as soon as his hands glowed with magic, they were repelled violently. His hands turned black, charred, and he was flung backward by an invisible force. The healer, now injured himself, gasped for breath, calling for help.

“What is this…” Lady Mikaela muttered, her voice breaking. She tried to cast some spell too, but as soon as she noticed the invisible force again, she stopped.

Seeing Yana dying in front of me made my legs buckle. I dropped to my knees, feeling my heart shattering.

“No …” I muttered, tears streaming down my cheeks, then my voice grew louder. “No, no, no…this wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t supposed to be like this!”

I did this.

I crawled to her, my hands shaking as I cradled her form in my arms.

“I’m sorry, child.” Lady Mikaela whispered as she wiped away her own tears, then turned to me and offered an apology. “I’m sorry, Aidan. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect her.”

I couldn’t care less about what she had to say. Yana was dying…

I held her in my arms, my right hand on the nasty wound the Dark Hunters had left on her neck, trying to stop the bleeding. As if that would help…

Yana couldn’t speak. She couldn’t utter even a single word. Her breath was shallow, her life slipping away. But then she suddenly smiled – a weak, faint, fragile smile. Enough to break me completely.

And then, in my arms, she died.