Total and utter absence of light.

That's what I would describe this place as we walk ourselves down into oblivion. Walking for several minutes, I realize the sound of stones shifting under our foot as it echoed off the dense wall made out of soil. We can't proceed like this, we'll just become easy targets. I thought as cold and damp air filled every corner.

"Hold on for sec" Yuri said as she took something from her sack.

Suddenly, a smell of burnt wood drifted as a faint light made by the ember of flames illuminated the place and produced flickering shadows. 

"Here." Yuri said as she gave the torch to Gran.

"As expected of my Yuri! A good hunter indeed, coming prepared as always." Gran said.

Not this again... I thought. Although my respect for Yuri rose up a bit for being prepared, I notice Gran and Nyx went ahead checking the surrounding while they carry a torch. Seeing how they do the job skillfully only proves that ranks do matter.

We arrive at a vast place that seemed to look ovoid after passing through the steep and narrow path without a hitch. I actually didn't think that beneath earth beside the forest above would have such a beautiful cavern. the place seem to be wormed hundreds of meters wide beneath the earth and over a hundred feet up as I look at the arched walls and estimated the place. the thing that's been bugging me since we came here were the trees... why are there trees here? I pondered as I look around. the place was illuminated by a faint but luminous light that was reflected from the puddles of water scattered around the place. Albeit the place seemed a bit dim, we can see several trees that were covered in moss as we felt the air surrounding the place seemed to smell like fungi. looking closely, the trees seemed to be void of life and no leaves unlike the ones above the ground. Their grey thick barks were chipped and holes could be seen as If termites have eaten their way through.

"Hey cleric! don't stray too far from us" Gran said as they walked a few meters ahead me.

I ignored them as I approach the trees that happened to pique my curiosity. I brought my face near the tree bark not more than 5 inches apart as I observed carefully and decided to touch it. Desintegrated, the entire tree turned to dust upon lightly touching the surface. This place is really wierd. I thought as a sudden question came up to mind.

quickly regrouping with the party, I asked.

"Is this really the rat-monkey's den? we seem to be walking for a while now, encountering nothing but a lifeless forest underneath the earth."

Everybody kept walking except for one person. 

Yuri. 

"Rat-monkeys usually head out at night to hunt for food and sleep during the day." Yuri explained.

"You heard her! Don't make a stupid noise or they will all wake up! best we find their leader fast " Gran said as we all resumed on walking.

I really admired this guy a bit but after hearing him say those words right now I think I've mistaken admiration for amusement for his stupidity. Looking at Yuri, I notice her hesitation from my question and seemed to be covering something up. As for what and why, I don't know but being a cleric for years I somehow knew that something is definitely not right here because I've been there. I've hidden my class to people many times that I couldn't even keep track anymore just to escape from the harsh reality. the same thing is happening to her right now, I can see right through her that she's hiding something from us.

Walking around for about almost an hour finding nothing but trees and piles of rubble until we finally came to a halt.

A dead end.

"We came here all the way here just to find a dead end. How the hell are we supposed to find the city lord's ring with this?" Gran said.

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"I even checked every corner too..." Yuri said in disappointment.

Nyx nodded. 

Looking at Nyx, I just realized that he's been with us for along the way but he never talked. I thought as a sudden question hit me.

"Why are you all thinking about the ring? aren't you curious that we haven't encountered a single monster? That there's not even a single lifeform can be seen here except from us!"

"Shut the fuck up you cleric! You're only here to support! We don't need your opinion! Who would care about that stupid low ranking monster anyway?" Gran thwarted.

"Hey, hey, how about we just go back to town? I think the information that was given to us was fake." Yuri said as she tried to console Gran.

Nyx could only tilt his head in confusion as the rest of the party fought over on what to do.

Frustrated with the situation we're in, the leader of the party, Gran, decided for us to go back.

Though they are a confused and not analyzing the situation with their heads, to vent their anger at me is just ridiculous. Well even I too would get disappointed after wasting my time only to find nothing, not to mention failing to impress the girl but after analyzing the flow of things I didn't. Because I know that there's definitely something in here. I thought as we followed Gran.

Retracing our way back to the surface, I worked myself out thinking there could be something more from this place as I look at the walls out of curiosity.

amidst the lifeless trees and rubble, I notice a rectangular grey cloth laid at the ground near the arched corner walls of the place. It has a bump that seemed to be several meters wide. that cloth seemed to be covering something! And I guess we still haven't checked that place either!

Seeing Gran and Nyx leave my sight and went ahead, I decided to approach it and see what's underneath.

I read about these kinds of stuff in books for adventurers where the protagonist discovers some hidden door or pathways that lead to a treasure room underneath a cover. But after seeing what's infront of me, I guess books are just another bunch of lies written in pages and compiled into one mass. Because what I'm looking right now is...

A dead body.

Looking at it, all I could do was tremble in fear. It was a figue of a man rotting, his skin color was akin to a pale eggplant. He seemed to be dead for a week, I could smell his putrid smell along with his piss and feces that probably came out of his body after dying. It gave me the feeling of wanting to puke out what I had earlier but as soon as I throw up the only thing that came out up was my own saliva.

My feet trembled as I can only look closely on what reality is. The body was wearing an armor that was issued for guarding the caravan by the city lord. Although it did somehow catch my attention, but what intruiged me was the faint glow at his left hand. My hunch tells me that somehow it's the thing that we were looking for since it was emitting a green light that seemed to fit the infromation we had. As I look into his hand, I could only cover my mouth and hold my gut not to throw up again. Relieved after finally gotten the thing he was holding, I imagined myself having a victory dance. Iooking at the round thing in my hand, I was right. I thought.

It was the gold ring embellished with a huge jade on top.

After a few seconds, I finally held myself together from excitement as I look at the corpse in front of me. How did he get here and how did he die? l thought as I decided to check his body. It didn't give me chills anymore because this is the second time I'm examining his body and my body is probably getting used to it. Just when I thought I checked everything including his armor, I found a piece of paper inside his clenched right hand. The paper was crumpled tightly in his hand that I likely wouldn't see it if I didn't unclench his hand. Opening the crumpled piece of paper, It was a letter written in blood.

"A woman."

I pondered for a second figuring out what did it mean. Looking closely at the corpse, there was a pool of dried blood around him but it all fell from the left side of his torso. As soon as I check his torso, I notice that there were no other bite marks or claw marks in his body except for one wound. A stab wound. I thought as I notice his skin color too that seemed a bit purple-ish. Poison? A lot of questions came to mind as I look at the rectangular cloth that I threw at the side after removing it from the corpse. Then I noticed.

It was clean.

Before I could even answer the questions that popped up in my mind, Another wave of questions appeared. if the corpse was laying in a pool of blood, shouldn't the cover have at least some blood sticking to it too? If there are monsters here, shouldn't the body be long gone before it rots?  If we checked all the corners why didn't we see this corpse before? I thought.

As soon as the last question popped up, my brain figured something out and my body tensed up as If an electricity passed through every vein in my body. It's because I knew the answer to the last question I had in mind, it was the one in-charge of checking corners...

"Yuri." I muttered.

As soon as I muttered her name, I felt an aura with killing intent as I hear a light-paced treading from behind. My body tensed up as I didn't dare to look. Hearing the tread stop, I decided to look because my curiosity was killing me. But before I could look a sudden voice rang out.

"Ara, I thought I heard you called my name so I could say goodnight."

After hearing those words my consciousness fell.