To my surprise, Ι quickly find out that the approaching duο is none other than the Black Knight and his sorcerer sidekick we met earlier in The Commander's Inn. Each has leveled up by one Threat Level, but their HP is down to 60%. For some reason, our great leader had decided that it would be an excellent idea to split our forces and have the strongest of adventurers invade from other entrances. I have no clue who decided this man was to be the commander of this expedition, but common sense says that you should have all your forces concentrated, instead of splitting them like sprinkles of light in the darkness, then have them invade such an enormous underground tunnel system.
"I thought we were the only people who survived," the Black Knight booms at us in a harsh, reverberating voice as he takes his enormous, two-handed sword from his shoulder and places it in front of him with the point of his blade touching the hard brick floor, penetrating it an inch or two.
The artificer raises his hand in greeting. "Are you the only ones who managed to come this far alive?"
"I think so," the enormous knight snorts, his red eyes glowing in the darkness, and I get that strange feeling as before: that he is staring at me.
"That's too bad," the artificer takes a sharp breath and folds his arms over his chest.
I can feel that the Black Knight is barely holding himself from punching the artificer. Our leader doesn't care if we live or die, that's pretty much obvious. Not only that, but he's annoyed when the Black Knight tells him that it was pure foolishness to split our forces. For two whole minutes, I and the rest of the adventurers listen in on the report from the duo. It seems we lost several high-ranked adventurers. A few of them fell to assassins like the ones I fought, others to giant undead creatures, traps, and unfortunately for one, a stampede of giant rats. For some reason, it seems convenient for the artificer that all the high-leveled adventurers perished.
Cadmus barely flinches at what the Black Knight and his sidekick reported. Instead, he makes a question. "Did any of you find the dungeon core?" His eyes spark with anticipation.
"No," the Black Knight replies curtly, "but I think we know its exact position."
"Do you, now?" Cadmus cocks his head and his pupils flare. "Show me!"
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The Black Knight side steps while he makes a slight bow of his head and extends his hand with a welcoming gesture. It's obvious to me that he's trying to mock our leader. "Follow me," he adds and Cadmus does as he commands.
"What do you think?" Ambrosia asks. "Should we follow them as well?"
A part of me is afraid I know exactly what is about to happen, call it instinct, but I nod in agreement with the others. We follow the Black Knight's enormous figure, half dreading the moment we encounter the infamous dungeon core of this place. Arching our way through the claustrophobic, narrow tunnel, I hear the slow dripping sound of water that falls from the ceiling. I quicken my pace, and within minutes I reach the end of the aisle, now standing before a wide area and an enormous gate blocking our path.
"This is the place," the Black Knight says with cold indifference.
I stand before the two-leaved wrought-iron gate. As I gaze upon it and inspect it from top to bottom, I see it's reinforced with varnished cedarwood and nailed with great metallic spikes that hold it together. The top of it is ornamented with impaled skulls, a fair warning for those who are foolish or brave enough to enter. I ponder which is us. It's hard to distinguish who is the prey and who is the hunted here.
"Are we actually doing this," asks a Threat Level 4 paladin in shining armor.
"This is madness!" Another Emissary adventurer protests.
"Take us to the surface, now!" A scout girl snarls, teeth bared and jaw clenched.
As time passes, more and more adventurers, both NPCs and Emissaries are becoming vocal, obviously objecting to our leader's choices. Not sure if it all this will end up in a coup d'état.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Elektra whispers in my ear so that no one else hears. "So many are going to die if we open this gate. I'm sure this place is incredibly well defended."
Despite the massive assault that the Lord of Tlos had already prepared, things haven't gone as planned so far. Given the limited experience I have obtained from this world, everything can change in an instant. Most likely we have been lied, and the mastermind behind this, Cadmus, plans to sacrifice us in a futile effort to obtain some kind of information or to harness the power of the dungeon core.
Ambrosia chuckles morbidly. "It's obvious that the person who thought of this quest doesn't care how many adventurers might die. It seems we are just expendable pawns in our glorious leader's disposal."
She's right. Even if we fail, more replacements will take our place. Right now, on the streets above, the adventurer's guild is giving more and more tests, preparing fresh teams to invade the dungeon if we fail. We might be as expendable for this game, as much as the homeless were. I fear that this quest will turn out to be a suicidal frontal assault of cannon fodder. Our leader is just throwing away lives with no plan of us returning victorious. Although I was initially sure that with the size of this army we could actually win this quest, now the possibilities worry me.
"Ready to turn tail now?" Ambrosia giggles.
"You said you wouldn't let me go on a quest that would get me killed, remember?" I smirk.