The Crypts

Slatewell Safe Zone

Jut passed through the familiar portal and stumbled into pitch darkness. A set of expected words appeared in his vision.

You have entered the Granite City Dungeon: The Crypts - Ten Person Team Mode Your maximum party size, in Dungeon, has been increased.

He dismissed the window quickly. Then, he ran right into someone. They, in turn, tipped forward and ran into another person which elicited a yelp.

"Ouch. Who stepped on my foot?" A female voice asked.

"Make room, more are coming through." A male voice answered.

"I can't see anything. Where I am I supposed to go?" Another voice hissed.

All the bickering and voices died when a light flared and illuminated the area. Isabelle had lit her lantern and was holding it aloft. "Really, you guys?" Her voice was stern and more than a little annoyed.

Brick, Diggy, and Mike were all pressed together as if they had been trying to nudge one another to make more room to stand. They all stepped apart sheepishly when they realized they had plenty of room around them.

Jut, while amused, was busy examining the hallway they had been dumped out into. They had asked around about the ten person dungeon run prior to coming in here, but no one was willing to give away too many details. Wanting to be the first to clear the different modes was number one on every team's priority list and he couldn't blame them. He wanted that sweet reward too.

The hallway this time was twice as large as he was used to. It looked longer too. Past that, the hallway identical to the five and single person runs. The alcoves in the walls that held monster filled coffins were the same. The dank smell was even the same. They started at the far end of a hallway just like in the solo runs. He had half expected to be dropped right into the boss' room, or something as dangerous.

"Okay, team. Let's get into the positions we discussed and be ready." Jut ordered.

Creek Shadow and Diggy, both of which used huge axes, each took the lead and the rear of the team. Creek Shadow looked much thicker than the last time Jut saw her, but that's because she was wearing her partial platemail.

Mike and Joy served the same role in the party, being melee fighters. Unlike Joy, who used her fists as her primary weapon, Mike had his slender long sword at the ready. He was wearing chainmail and they were both just behind Diggy who was the one taking the lead.

Brick and Diana were escorting Sky and Isabelle. The team decided Brick should be the final line of defense for their healers while Diana was ready to lend support to the frontline with her bow. As an archer, she wore leather armor.

Jut and Roxy were both support. They kept to the openings in the formation and at the edges of the team as they began to move down the hallway. Jut had his spear out and Roxy was wielding two daggers. The team had plenty of ranged attackers with Isabelle and Sky both using wands and Diana's using her bow, so Jut felt it best to use a weapon with reach.

Jut and Diggy, privately, had a good long laugh about having a stereotypical Beastkin rogue and an Elven archer a few days before this run. Yet, Jut was glad for the diversity now that he was examining their layout. Even as he walked down the hallway, he wasn't sure why the Beastly Five hadn't been able to clear the Crypts on regular mode yet. They had the build they needed to do so.

Diggy, who was walking at the front edge of Isabelle's light, stopped and lifted one hand. This brought the team to a complete stop. His fluffy ears twitched gently. Roxy ears were twitching too.

"We have incoming." Diggy said softly once everyone was with him.

Jut activated his Dragon's Eyes. Sure enough, blobs of heat were crawling from the coffins further down the hallway that turned into humanoid figures as they unfolded.

Jut felt an excited surge pass through him. Unlike when they were in Dens or Lairs, the Crypts allowed the team to push as hard as they could, take risks while fighting they couldn't outside, and try new things without worry. He had been looking forward to the unfettered battles ever since he'd gotten used to swapping his weapons in and out.

The stream of seemingly endless human Monsters was nothing special. Despite every Monster being Stone Ranked, they weren't very challenging for the team. With the original Crusaders supporting the newer members as they fought, the battle went quickly.

The Beastly Five clearly knew their weapons and how to kill Monsters. Creek Shadow, Roxy and Mike were a blur of metal while Sky and Diana had near perfect aim. Not once did a bolt of magic or an arrow go astray.

Just as before, Elite Monsters challenged the team after the rush of regular ones. As expected, there were ten, one for each team member. Jut kept an eye on the everyone's status as they fought, the five extra sets of resources bars not obscuring his vision too badly.

The Elites fell just as quickly as their counterparts, the fight ending in a blink. With Brick drawing them all in with his Battle Cry, the rest of the group was able to pick them all off efficiently. Through that fight, and the one before, Jut caught glimpses of multiple skills being used he hadn't seen before. He was used to his regular team's moves. It was the newcomers he tried to pay attention to.

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Diana's arrow tips glowed softly every third or fourth shot. Her Skill was called Piercing Shot and it did exactly as it sounded. While fighting the first rush of Monsters, one of her arrows could take out three or four Monsters at once.

Just as often, Jut noticed Mike's blade glow softly with the light of Power Strike. He moved the blade like lightning, tearing through his opponents.

Roxy's twin blades glowed frequently too, but if he remembered their conversation before coming in here correctly, Roxy used Swift Strike instead. It made her attack speed jump.

Creek Shadow was constantly covered in a red scaling that went beautifully with her blue hair and skin. The Scaled Skin Skill wasn't as potent at Brick's Barrier but did it's job by reducing the damage she took.

It was Sky's abilities that Jut was eager for. Occasionally, Jut would see the magic bolt fired from Sky's wand hit and a wave of green energy would radiate out and wash over the front line fighters. Whenever that happened, those fighter's HP would tick up slowly. It explained why Isabelle's healing wasn't needed throughout any stage of either fight.

After the last elite fell, an annoyed Brick scoffed. "No one's cleared this mode yet? Why not? It's just the same as it was before, only with more Monsters."

The rest of the original Crusaders were also starting to grumble. That was until the Creek Shadow spoke up. "Not really. Come look."

By the end of the battle the team had moved forward to the far end of the hall. When Jut looked up, he saw what Creek Shadow meant. Unlike the five person mode, the end of the hallway let out onto a short walkway that was blocked off by a railing.

Isabelle stepped forward with her lantern and held it up. The room they had stepped into was round, but it wasn't the usual open space with a large coffin sitting in the middle. Instead, the light didn't stretch far enough to see the ceiling. There was no floor beyond the railing either. It was like a giant hole filled the space. Unfortunately, the light didn't reach the ground floor either so they had no idea how deep it actually was.

This left only two ways the team could go. Left or right. It turned out that the walkway was only narrow, not short. It spanned the entire edge of the room along with the railing. So, the team did what most people would do in that situation. They flipped a coin. Heads won the day and the team went left.

Just before they were about to turn down the first hallway they came across, Jut caught a small glimmer and heard a small sound of metal on metal. He tried to pick out what it was, but couldn't. He was almost left behind, so he let it go and continued on.

From there, it became the usual monotony of clearing a hallway, fighting Elites, gathering materials and moving on. This happened a total of six times. Each time, Jut thought he noticed that same glimmer and a small sound. Roxy was aware of it too. Yet, no matter how hard the pair looked and listened, they couldn't see where it had come from.

That is, not until they cleared the sixth hallway and found themselves at grate set into the ground of the circular walkway. It had eight bars holding it in place. Yet, five of those bars had slid out of position. When they arrived at the grate after clearing the sixth hallway, a sixth lock bar was glowing softly as it pulled out of position on its own.

"I see. So we have to clear all the hallways to get this to open?" Brick mused as he knelt before the grate.

"Seems so." Joy said with a nod as she knelt next to him.

"I say we clear the last two hallways and rest for a bit and have lunch. What's everyone else think?" Jut suggested.

They all agreed.

Jut was surprised when they had cleared the last two hallways and Alex confirmed they had only been in the dungeon for less than an hour. When Jut brought it up to the group, it wasn't one of his usual teammates that had an answer.

"Well, despite there being more Monsters, there aren't as many proportionally to the other mode." Mike said with a shrug. "There should be around sixty or more Monsters per hallway if it's a straight up doubling. There isn't. There's only around thirty-five or forty."

"I wonder why..." Brick added. "I also want to know where the boss is."

"Me too. I want to get revenge on that boney bastard for all the times it killed me." Joy said, punching one of her fists into an open palm.

There had been a time limit for resting during the five person runs. There hadn't seemed to be one here. Granted, no one wanted to push their luck, so they hadn't waited very long between fights to move on. It helped that they didn't seem to need healing. Only during a particularly nasty surprise attack where Diggy took a blade to his arm did Isabelle need to cast more than a single healing spell.

As usual, Jut and Diggy pulled out food for the group to share, separated by what effect the meals granted. While they all sat and ate, the original Crusaders spoke causally, discussing the run up until that point. The Beastly Five, however, all seemed a little nervous. This was especially true for Sky. The Roc-kin wasnt sure where to look or what to say, so he ended up remaining quite. He was jolted from that silence by a meaty hand that thumped him on the back.

"Lighten up, man. Are you not having fun?" Brick asked in his usual jovial tone. "It's not like we will die in here."

"Oh ..uh...yeah. I am. I just..." Sky stuttered.

It was Diana who continued with the rest of the Beastly Five's thoughts.

"It's because you all are so...normal. I mean, we guessed you would be. You were all regular people before the initialization. We just expected you all to be overly serious and no nonsense." She shrugged.

Roxy chuckled. "She's not wrong. I don't think I've been around an adventuring team who takes themselves less seriously while still being strict and serious about their work as you guys."

Isabelle was the one who responded for the team. Her words made most of the original Crusaders blush or smile. "We decided that while our job is important, so is our sanity. Granted, the boys still act like their twelve a lot of the time, but when it matters they all focus and get the job done."

"For sure. Even though the last month or so has been the worst time any of us have had to face, I have had a lot of fun in this Guild." Joy smiled widely.

"Are you disappointed?" Jut asked without looking at any specific member of the team.

"No way." Sky shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe I just had my image of you guys set to 'legendary heroes' or something. And while you all are heroes, at least to us, it's a shock to realize you are just people..."

Brick scoffed then chuckle before slapping the Roc-kin on the back once more. "Nah man. We are just some dudes and chicks wanting to live and get stronger. Speaking of..."

From there, the tension the Beastly Five had been feeling shattered and all of them loosened up. At least, a little. They discussed a few strategies for battle as they cleaned up and headed over to the grate.

Just as Jut had expected, the grate was now unblocked. Unlike before the initialization, Jut wouldn't have been able to lift the heavy piece of iron all by himself. Now he could. Doing so revealed a stone metal ladder. The team didn't squabble about who went first with Brick automatically taking lead and everyone else taking turns.

The ladder let off on a landing. That landing looked over the edge and now they could see more of the main room. Eight lights, one for each hallway, had lit up upon the team clearing the first floor. These lights were attached to the underside of the walkway they had just descended from. The light let the team see a familiar yet horrifying sight. There was, in fact, a giant coffin. It had to be bigger than the one in the five person mode by at least half. The lights from the upper level created a circle around the coffin. The scariest part was that there wasn't just one coffin. No. There were two of the damned things.

"Really? Two Bone Horrors?" Isabelle gasped in frustration.

"It makes sense. There are twice as many of us." Jut said with a shrug before he gestured to the stairs. "Might as well see what's next."

"This is gonna suck." Brick said as he began to trek down the stairs.

The rest of the team let out low murmurs of agreement as the followed him down.

The Radiant Crusaders had no idea that they wouldn't even get to fight the two Bone Horrors. They had much bigger problems waiting for them.