Chapter 13: First Seeds of Darkness
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We reunited with Mikaela, then with Lorren.
We were attacked by the Priestesses of Axul.
We were abandoned by the guild masters.
But we were spared – purposefully. At least for now…
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“Let’s get out of here, Aidan.” Yana reached out a helping hand, but my mind was somewhere else.
“This mural.” I said, pointing at it behind me. “What do you think it means?”
Yana put her hands on her hips and looked at it, visibly unimpressed. “Oh, another one of these. Never took you for an art enthusiast, Aidan.”
I rolled my eyes and stood up. “Look at the images. The woman in the middle is one of those that attacked us just now. And there’s some kind of ritual there, but it’s incomplete.” I pointed at the colorful pieces of stone next to the wall. “The next image - it’s broken.”
Yana sighed. “Aidan, be real with me. How is that supposed to help us in our predicament?”
Sorry, I can’t tell you.
I chuckled. “You know me - I always turn to jokes in tense situations. Humor me…please?”
Her expression softened. She even smiled weakly before looking at the mural. “Very well.”
“So, any thoughts?” I asked, hoping to get some useful insights from her. Once I die, I’ll forget everything I learned here, but it’s still better than just moving forward blindly and stupidly.
“I’m not sure, but you're right - it’s definitely one of those Priestesses of Axul.” She confirmed my words, carefully analyzing the images. “The white-dressed fellas are standing behind her in the second image, so I guess it means they follow her, or maybe the priestess protects them? But the ones in green are kneeling before her - are they on her side too?”
“But who are they?” I wondered aloud.
Yana shook her head, looking back at me. “I have no idea what I just saw, Aidan. Sorry.”
I sighed. I’m not sure what I was hoping to understand from this mural.
“Sorry to ruin your art appreciation moment, but I have bad news.” A burly man - another adventurer left behind – said as he approached us. “All of the corridors leading out of this chamber have collapsed. The only way out is through these strange-looking tunnels.”
“Strange-looking tunnels?” Yana echoed, and we both followed him to his friend, a tall mage standing beside Melissa.
“Were those dug up by the Grave Moles?” I asked, confused. “And if so, when? We didn’t see any Grave Moles here.”
“Perhaps they dug them before our arrival.” The tall mage suggested. “They might have an entire ecosystem here. If Gaelith’s curse really came true word-to-word, it’s highly plausible.”
Yana nodded. “This might be our way out.”
“Are you crazy?” Melissa squeaked. “I don’t want to become food for the Grave Moles!”
“We can’t stay here either.” Yana replied. “I can’t promise there’s an exit on the other end, but I’m certain staying here would only result in our deaths.”
***
“Goren…” I muttered under my breath as we reached the end of the tunnel, where an extremely large chamber awaited us, with Goren sitting in the middle of it, sharpening his blade with a whetstone.
“You know him?” Yana asked me, whispering.
I nodded, keeping my answer brief. “He was with me in team four. Stay careful around him.”
Yana nodded back, and we carefully approached him.
“Where’s everyone else? There’s no way you made it here alone.” the burly man beside us asked Goren.
“You know what’s wild, Spellsword?” Goren addressed me, ignoring the man’s question, still focused on his blade.
“What?”
“You always managed to find your way here. Even before you got the new system.”
Confused looks appeared on everyone’s faces.
“New system? What is he talking about, Aidan?” Yana asked.
I shook my head and tried to sound convincing. “I don’t know. This guy is crazy.”
Goren continued, seemingly ignoring our conversation completely. “I had to die thirty-three times before I made it to this area of the tomb. Originally, I died to the Undead Wolves.”
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Yana shot me another glance, visibly asking ‘What the hell is he talking about?’ but I knew I couldn’t tell her, so I just shrugged and pulled her to the side, away from him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Goren spoke again, stopping us in our tracks. “We are going to get attacked any moment now.”
His comment got everyone on edge.
Melissa spoke up, her tone as nervous as ever. “By whom?”
“And how would you know that?” the tall mage added, surprised.
Goren ignored them again, addressing me once more. “But you should already know that, right?”
Yana glanced at me nervously again, but I didn’t even know what to say. I had no idea what he was talking about. I’d only been acting like I knew so far, just so he wouldn’t think he had an advantage over me, but now it seemed like he was on to me.
I looked him straight in the eyes, my gaze serious. “What do you want?”
He smiled, revealing a set of white teeth. “What I already told you! I want – “
“Hey, don’t ignore me!” The tall mage furiously cut him off.
Goren turned to him, the dark aura surrounding him growing more intense, speaking in the most chilling tone I had ever heard. “Cut me off one more time, and I’ll cut your throat.”
Despite being seven levels higher than Goren, the mage stepped back, his eyes wide with fear.
Goren turned back to me. “I’m trying to help you, but you won’t let me, and because of that I…” he trailed off before continuing. “I can’t finish this. And I’m so, so tired already.”
Everyone’s gaze was on me. It seemed like there was a general consensus that Goren was insane, so they expected me to provide an answer for his behavior, as if I was his friend or something, but again, I didn’t know what to say. Chronos told me to stay away from him.
He continued, his tone growing serious. “What do I need to do to get you on my side?”
“We’re already on the same side.” I tried to cool things down.
He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“What the hell is going on, Aidan?” Yana whispered beside me.
But before I could respond, our conversation was cut short by loud hissing sounds.
***
Goren had cut down most of the Razor Serpents that attacked us, with only a few taken out by Yana and the mage.
A wild moment occurred when after the end of the battle, an additional serpent appeared out of one of the tunnels and tried to grab Goren, but he moved as fast as lightning, as if expecting the attack. He dodged the creature’s strike with an acrobatic backflip before cutting through its metallic skin and eventually pinning it to the ground with his sword on less than 5% of its HP.
“Take the last hit.” He told me.
Still reluctant to accept his help, I hesitated, and this time he shouted. “Kill it!”
Setting my hesitations aside and realizing I needed as much XP as I could get to progress and protect Yana, I stepped forward, striking the serpent down with a Time Delay Swing with Nightfall.
[+544 XP]
[Level Up! You have gained 1 Skill Point]
[Skill Point Available: Choose a skill to level up]
I decided to wait with the skill choice, as it seemed like the wrong time. Melissa had been crushed to death by one of the Razor Serpents that had coiled around her.
Everyone but Goren stood around her corpse – or rather, what was left of it.
“Such a shame.” The burly man said, letting out a sigh.
“Damn it.” Yana muttered, seemingly blaming herself for not saving her.
I was glad Yana wasn’t injured. There was a moment where one of the serpents attacked me from behind and almost landed its fangs on me. She seemed to be on her way to help me, but before she could, Goren appeared out of nowhere and saved me.
It left me bewildered. He was clearly not stable, but he had been very helpful so far. Why did Chronos tell me to stay away from him?
“Let’s continue.” Goren said suddenly, cutting the mournful moment short.
“Continue where?” Yana asked sharply. She had much less patience for Goren than I did. Before he could answer, she shook her head. “Scratch that. I want to know how a low-level rogue like you managed to slay those level 80 monsters without breaking a sweat.”
He looked at her, then at me, then back at her, his expression almost bored. “I don’t care what you want.” He turned and continued toward the only corridor ahead. “You can follow me or stay here if you want, Spellsword. I don’t expect to defeat Gaelith on this run, but we might learn something useful.”
“Wait.” The burly man called out after him. “I’ll join you too, but let’s at least build a cairn for the girl.”
“First of all, I don’t need you. I only need him.” Goren replied without turning back. “And secondly, why would you build a cairn for her? None of this matters anyway.”
“This guy gives me the chills, Aidan. You were right when you said we should be careful around him.” Yana whispered to me. “But I don’t understand his obsession with you.”
I shrugged, feigning innocence. “I have no clue as well.” While internally, I contemplated if I should just join Goren. He was right in a sense - none of this matters as I’m clearly not strong enough to clear this dungeon yet. I will die sooner rather than later.
Eventually, I decided to stay by Yana’s side. Together with our two companions, we built a cairn for Melissa. Even though it was a bit late, we also introduced ourselves.
The tall mage’s name was Tagan. He was an offensive mage from the Arcantor class. And the burly man was Bernard. Like Waylan, he was a tank from the Warden class.
I also used the moment of silence to consider which skill to level up.
Checkpoint was clearly my strongest asset, but since the skill’s next level only extended the anchor’s duration to an hour, it wasn’t worth upgrading right now. I needed something that would help me regain some of my memories between the loops.
Looking at the two skills I hadn’t leveled up yet, I realized one of them would have to be my choice.
Afterimage would let me see an afterimage of my previous selves, allowing me to learn the actions I took in previous runs. But since the skill lacked a more detailed description, I assumed that, like Checkpoint, it probably had a lot of restrictions that I’d only learn about after leveling it up.
Echo Sense, on the other hand, would allow me to hear past loops. Considering Goren was already starting to catch on to my lies, having the possibility of hearing our past conversations with Echo Sense might help me keep my façade going while avoiding him as much as possible. Plus, it was a passive skill, so I wouldn’t have to think about when to activate it.
Alright, it’s decided.
[Skill acquired: Echo Sense lvl.1]
[Next Level: lvl.2: The echoes will become clearer and more frequent]
Clearer? How would they sound now?
Great…I should’ve guesses this skill would also be practically useless at first…
After a few minutes, realizing we had no other options, we decided to head down the dark corridor Goren had taken half an hour ago. The floor was covered in a dark mist that felt almost tangible.
We found Goren’s corpse peeking out from under the strange mist shortly after we entered, and then something attacked us, moving so fast I couldn’t even register it. But I could tell it was something truly evil.
“Watch out, Aidan!” Yana’s scream was the last thing I heard.
[Health: 0% - You Have Died]