"F*ck, F*ck, F*ck!" The archer loudly cursed at himself for not bringing any medicine with him. Normally, when they would be hunting, they would always have some form of medication in case one of them was hurt but when they came here, they thought exploring the mine would just be a walk in the park and did not bother to bring any.
Fortunately, after a few more seconds, he noticed that the black spots on Krishaw were slowly shrinking, some were even disappearing. Seeing that reassured the archer. It seemed that the black spots were dependent on the black cloud, now that Anken was no longer in contact with the gas, his body was slowly recovering.
But it was clear that the black spot took a heavy toll on Krishaw. His face was pale and looked sick like he had just vomited. He was left with less than 20% of his total HP.
"Come, Krishaw, let's go!" said the archer as he moved and placed Krishaw's arm over his own neck.
"Don't worry! The black spots are disappearing, so it's not contagious," declared the archer as he saw Krishaw trying to resist but as he heard the archer, Krishaw immediately stopped and allowed himself to be carried.
Slowly the two made their way towards the exit of the central place. Krishaw was weak but with the support of the archer, he was able to walk slowly.
"Go! What if the skeletons come again? You should leave quickly and alert the others. Cough cough" murmured Krishaw with a tired voice.
Just as he mentioned the skeletons, "Woosh!"
A crossbow bolt pierced through the central place and went straight for his leg. Although he heard the warning sound of the bolt, he was too weak and was unable to react in time.
"Ahh!"
He could only yell as his body lost its balance and fell on the cold floor.
The archer frowned and took out his bow to look at the enemy. From one of the corridors, a skeleton holding a shiny crossbow was making its way towards him. At the same time, two other skeletons appeared from a different corridor with swords and shields.
‘They even have crossbows now?’
On the floor, Krishaw said with his weak voice, "Go! There are too many for you to handle! Leave me behind. If you die here, no one will know what happened here. You need to go and warn the others."
Hearing that, the archer was in another dilemma; he witnessed his comrades die one by one and now, he was asked to abandon yet another?
"I cannot do that... Krishaw..."
"Just p*ss off! Do you think I am that weak? Go now! You never dared to talk back to me before!" declared Krishaw as he used his arm to put himself in a sitting position.
"Now go! You will only hold me back..."
Upon seeing the scene, the archer was flooded with emotions. He was really too weak, the weakest of the group and all his teammates sacrificed themselves for him. If he stayed there, he would probably die and all their efforts would be in vain. Yet, he could not bring himself to leave. but when he saw the last dazzling smile of Krishaw, he grinded his teeth before rushing towards the exit.
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...
At the entrance of the dungeon, a group of barbarians was calmly waiting as they observed the forest. A wild tempest was raging outside the cave. When they arrived there, a few hours earlier, the sky was clear and calm and yet, when they came back to the entrance, they were greeted by the strong winds.
The wind was so strong that sometimes, even the decades-old trees would be forced to bend along with it to survive. However, aside from the strong wind, there was absolutely no rain. When they saw the situation outside, they chose to stay inside the dungeon where they were sheltered from the wind, but they could not help but worry about their families.
It was scheduled for them to meet here four hours after they first entered the dungeon but they came here early since they encountered dead-ends. Since they took the wrong path, it was normal for them to go nowhere.
Along the way, they saw many smaller tunnels but did not explore them due to their huge frame. While they were not very knowledgeable about the outside world, one of the barbarians commented that this mine might have belonged to the dwarves which was why so many tunnels were so small. In fact, it was one of the effects Five was aiming for; by making smaller tunnels, not only would it add to the authenticity of the mine, but it also reduced the cost since he had to pay per meter cube of dirt he removed.
Soon two other groups of barbarians arrived, and they also made the same observation. After all, the first floor was not gigantic, just a few hours would be enough to walk through each tunnel.
The barbarians were discussing near the entrance, complaining about the weather when suddenly, they heard erratic footsteps. They quickly turned their attention towards the tunnel only to see Zeke running to the exit with a pained expression.
"We need to go and help my father! His team is trapped in a dungeon!" exclaimed the child.
"A dungeon? What do you mean? There is a dungeon there?" asked Baltra. He was naturally the one who spoke since he was considered as the second in command.
Zeke made a quick pause to recover before explaining, "I heard my father say that it is a dungeon. We went down a tunnel and at its end, there were a large room and some stairs going downstairs. We took the stairs but down below, there was a giant maze filled with skeletons. The skeletons were weak, and we easily killed everything on our way until we met that monster!"
"He was terrifying and as soon as he appeared, my father ordered me to run away. I did not want to go but Anken pushed me toward the exit and threatened to not fight unless I leave. He said that we would all die if I remained there... After that, I simply ran till here..."
The barbarians listened to Zeke. As incredible as the story was, it did not look like he was lying.
"What should we do?"
"Of course we should rescue Toba and the others! We are brothers!" exclaimed Baltra. He quickly made his decision and together, the 15 barbarians all followed behind Zeke.
As they were leaving, the storm outside suddenly weakened until it completely disappeared. In less than 5 seconds, the situation outside changed from a raging tempest to a calm and gentle summer breeze
The barbarians were fast and jogged behind Zeke. Although he wildly sprinted over that long distance, Zeke was still energetic and showed no sign of weakness.
They quickly arrived at the large room but as they entered, they noticed a frail figure leaning next to the stairs. It was the archer; he looked tired, desperate and in pain.
"Raph! What is happening there?" exclaimed Baltra as he walked towards his friend.
"Baltra? Dead... They are all dead! They died to allow me to run away!" said the archer while sobbing. He immediately grabbed Baltra's arm and broke down in tears.
"Impossible! You are lying! My father is not dead! He was the strongest! He would never die!" wildly exclaimed Zeke.
In the middle of his sobs, the archer murmured, "I saw it with my own eyes, his body was completely charred, he would have never survived in that black cloud!"
"Liar! You are lying! He promised me to come back!" shouted Zeke. For the first time, instead of displaying the usual calmness of an adult, he was showing the unruly behavior of a child. He broke down in tears, unwilling to accept the death of his father.
On the side, the barbarians sympathized with him and tried to comfort him but in vain. Even them were pained but they knew that the archer was not lying.
"What should we do now?" asked a barbarian.
"Should we go and look for their bodies? At least, we should bring them back to be buried right?" said another barbarian.
"What if they are still alive? Maybe a miracle happened?"
At that moment, Baltra suddenly realized that they were all looking at him to make a decision. He realized that he was now the new leader! Toba was dead and as the second strongest barbarian, he was naturally the ablest for this position.
When he heard one of the barbarians say that Toba might still be alive, wouldn't that mean that he would again end up as the second in command? He previously did not mind working under Toba and was even very loyal to him. But now, even it was just momentarily when he felt that feeling of being the leader of the team, he became reluctant to give it away.
If they went down and really found Toba alive, wouldn't he be reduced to a normal barbarian again?
"No! We don't know what this place hides... We need to go back and speak with the shaman!" said Baltra.
"But what if Toba is still alive?" argued a barbarian.
"Then what if there are more of that monster? Wouldn't we all die there? Who will go back to warn the others? Do you want our tribesmen to come here one by one to their death!?" declared Baltra with a tinge of impatience.
"No no..."
"Good! Let's quickly go back then. We need more information about this place before exploring it! When they learned that there was a dungeon down there, they should have come back to tell us! I am sure they were trying to go down first to collect all the treasures and keep it for themselves!"
Hearing that, the barbarians could only agree. They knew that Toba and the others went down there out of selfishness. Although leaving would leave a bitter taste in their mouth, it was still the decision they took.
On the side, Zeke was completely unleashed and kept punching whatever was near him. The archer was quietly sobbing on the floor. But in the end, these two could only join the group and return to the village.