Far away from the Dungeon, within a Chapel of The Order of our Lady of Light and Wisdom, Bishop Nicomedes El-Ecien winced slightly as the link to his [Messenger of Light] was forcefully broken. He recollected himself less than a second later and tried to re-establish the connection, only to find himself rebuffed and with a notification from the System hovering in front of his face.
This action is not permitted.
He tried again.
This action is not permitted.
Then there was an additional message.
Cheating will not be allowed.
Nicomedes took a deep breath and wiped the blood that had started dripping from his eyes. A quick glance at his Status told him that his Health hadn’t dropped much, but it was a testament to whatever the restriction was that it was able to affect him at all. There were only two things in the world that were capable of having the System do that. Either a Covenant made by someone that had reached his own Tier, or through the Edict made by a Dungeon. Ordinarily the former of the two would be much more likely, even considering the location. But with this Dungeon being so recently “discovered” Nicomedes had a hard time picturing the Adventurer’s setting up that kind of security already. As while the light of the sun could hide the less bright light of a candle beneath its shine, it wouldn’t exactly be subtle about it.
So unless they had come up with some new combinations of Skills to hide the specifics of a Dungeon while also not even revealing its existence, the second option was much more likely. And was also the one Nicomedes’ instincts said was probably the culprit in this case. A Dungeon that was strong enough to create an Edicts was rare, but rarer still would be the Dungeons that actually made one. Just because they could didn’t mean they would, after all. The fact that the Order only had two such Dungeons in their roster across all ten nations of the continent spoke volumes of just how rare they were. And here one had managed to conceal itself, probably with the help of the Adventurer’s Guild, until it grew too strong for their control. He wished he could have used his [Mana Sense] while in his [Messenger of Light] to be able to sense how many Floors the Dungeon had, but his guess would be somewhere in the low to mid teens. If it had spread much deeper than that, it would have for sure gotten in contact with one of the other Dungeons of the area. Then again the closest Dungeons of Lash and Part both had close connections to the Guild as well, though they weren’t tied to them the same way the Order’s Dungeons were. Still it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise to Nicomedes if the pair had come to some kind of agreement with the Guild to keep quiet about this new Dungeon’s growth. The only questions were why had they hidden it, and why were they coming forward now? Why send Katherine there and risk exposing themselves? Did they really think the Order wouldn’t figure out what they had been doing?
Nicomedes scoffed and looked down at the report from one of his men within the Guild.
Tier 1 Party finds a new Dungeon in the Lashwood.
He shook his head. Just how naive did they think he was?
The Bishop stood from his desk and walked out into the chapel proper. Lower clergy and servants all bowed and scurried out of the way as he passed, but he paid them no mind as he strode with swift steps towards the inner sanctum. This called for a gathering of Bishops. It rankled, but this was much too big a situation to keep secret, and there would be too many questions if he tried. His own work would need to be put on hold, for the moment.
***
“What's happening!?” Trald yelled out into the darkness. A second ago they had just been walking along, completing an important yet boring mission for the Bishop. The next the Messenger had vanished and they had all been plunged into chaotic darkness.
“The connection broke!” Lenore yelled back from somewhere to his left. “[Orb of Light]” She added a second later. Trald reflexively shut his eyes just in time to keep himself from being blinded as the light from Lenore’s Skill pierced the darkness around them.
…Or at least that’s what was supposed to happen. It barely did anything, though at least now he could see enough to be able to make out his own hand in front of his face. He looked around in a daze, trying to figure out what was going on when a gurgling sound to his right made him jump. He reached out, catching Victar by the arm as he was collapsing down onto his knees, an arrow sticking out of his throat.
“It isn’t just dark. It’s [Darkness]!” Lenore yelled.
“Victar’s been hit!” Trald called out at the same time. Seeing the blood pour down his friend's chest slowed his spinning mind and forced him back to the present.
“[Healing Light]!” He quickly pulled out the arrow and activated his Skill to sew the wound shut and stop the Health from draining further. Victar let out a relieved breath and began activate his own healing Skills to restore his Health back to full.
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A second arrow whirled past out of the [Darkness], clanking against the stone less than a meter away from Trald’s leg, who flinched backwards away from the sound.
“It’s Skeleton Archers.” Lenore said. “There were still one or two of them when the Messenger was cut. I can’t see them in this. Someone else use [Orb of Light].”
Right. Trald shook himself and activated his own copy of the Skill. Now with two lights active at once, they were able to pierce the Darkness. Now, cut off from the safety of the Bishop, Trald was forced to really pay attention to their surroundings for the first time. They were standing just beyond the doorway in a rectangular room, which only had one other exit directly opposite where they were standing. The hallway behind them was straight and would lead back to the rest of the Floor. To their right was a single closed sarcophagus against one of the walls, but it was what was in front of him that drew his attention. Four Skeletons and two Skeleton Archers stood in formation in the middle of the room. The ordinary Skeletons remained where they were, seemingly guarding the Archers as they raised their bows and pointed them right towards him.
He reflexively took a step backwards right as Lenore burst into action, sprinting forward towards the undead monsters and drawing her sword. Trald’s training took hold, and without thinking he cast a [Blessing of Light] on the charging woman. A yellow smoke began to wisp off of her body, the glow of it extra visible in the [Darkness]. She fell onto the undead with righteous fervor, cleaving through them with ease despite being without the Bishops much stronger [Blessing]. Victar rose up to a standing position with a groan and started to pull out his own sword.
“Don’t.” Trald said. “You were hit. Focus on restoring your Health. And you’ll only be in the way besides.”
Victar grunted, but put his sword back in its sheath and instead activated his own [Blessing] on Lenore. Trald stood as if bewitched as their leader seemed to dance through the Skeletons attacks with ease, avoiding their strikes with only the minimal effort required to do so, while keeping close enough to land attacks of her own. Within fifteen seconds she’d felled one of the Archers, and after twenty more passed the other was dead, and two of the ordinary ones were nothing more than piles of bones atop the stone floor.
“Was she always this good?” Victar said, sounding equally as stunned as Trald felt. Trald could only shake his head in disbelief. It was to the point that he was having a hard time believing she was the same level they were.
“It looks like we won’t even have to do anything.” He said.
A blast of arcane energy slammed into Lenore from their right, as if making a mockery of his words. The impact knocked the woman off balance, allowing the two still remaining Skeletons to get their own attacks in. Lenore cried out in pain and quickly retreated back towards Trald and Victar.
Trald spun to the side, finding himself staring at a single Skeleton standing by the now open sarcophagus. Its eyes glowed with an intelligent malice, and it seemed to be looking straight through them. He shivered, instinctively knowing instantly what manner of monster this was.
“Guardian!” He yelled, activating [Burning Ray] at the monster, which if it did anything only seemed to make the thing slightly more annoyed. It turned its empty yet glowing eyes towards him, and spoke.
“You should not have come here.” The voice had a clear and crisp tone, not at all in congruence with the creature's appearance, but the disconnect only worked to make the effect creepier as Trald felt like his entire skin wanted to crawl up and down his spine over and over again.
“Your Sire interfered where he should not have, and allowed for you to perform beyond your own capabilities. This has been stopped, and you should be grateful that my Sire is more virtuous than yours. Your Challenge will be fair from here on.”
The creature raised its staff. “Come. I, Krazad, shall test your mettle.”
The staff began to glow an ominous red, which then turned to black smoke. It pillowed down onto the stony ground by the hallway leading the way they had come, and Trald could hear the crackling of bone within the swirling mists.
“May the Lady light our way, and shelter us from the darkness beyond.” Victar said, gripping his sword tighter. Trald echoed the words in his heart, though his mouth wouldn’t move to speak them aloud. Lenore had backed away enough to stand just ahead of the two of them at this point. She stood with her head held high and her sword raised, pointing a challenge towards the Guardian. The sight of their leader’s attitude made some of Tralds fear dim slightly, and he raised his wand as well, readying another [Burning Ray]. The mist dissipated, revealing a pair of Skeletons akin to the ones Lenore had just cut down.
“I will take the Guardian.” Lenore said. “Victar, keep the ordinary Skeletons off my back. Trald you focus on supporting us both from range.”
“Understood.” Victar said.
“I will.” Trald said.
Lenore took a step forward, then a second one turned it into a sprint. The Guardian raised its staff, arcane energy surging towards the gem within its end piece. Victar’s charge waived off to the side, targeting the pair of Skeletons blocking the doorway. Trald fired his [Burning Ray] at the sole surviving member of the original group of Skeletons to keep it off of Lenore. The Guardian fired its spell as Lenore reached the halfway point beneath them. She seemed to blur for a moment. Glitching in and out of the world causing the magical energy to pass straight through her without hitting anything. Trald blinked, momentarily losing his focus but managing to regain it before he lost control over his Skill. Lenore covered the remaining distance in a second flat, her sword screaming through the air as she cleaved towards the Guardian’s neck. It seemed to have been just as taken aback by her actions as Trald had been, because it didn’t block the attack. Instead a black filament emerged from within its bones from its chest, stretching to cover the point of impact. The sword hit with a reverberating clang which spread throughout the room.
“More cheating.” The Guardian said with a sigh, and Trald would have sworn it sounded disappointed.
Lenore suddenly let out a scream of pure agony which stopped just as abruptly as something was forcefully pulled out from her chest and hovered in front of the Guardian. She collapsed onto the ground in a heap.
Trald didn’t need to be a trained healer to know she was dead. The Guardian turned its burning glare towards him as one of the Skeletons got a hit in on Victar’s hand, making him cry out in pain and drop his sword. A second hit made him fall down to one knee.
The Guardian raised his staff once more.
Trald turned and ran.