One would think because people had inventories now that packing took much less time and thus they were able to leave in a much shorter window. And in some sense, one would be right. However, Mark still found himself running all over the place to get things done before their two-hour time limit was up.
First, he popped into the tent to let the doc know he’d be back soon. The grumpy old guy just scowled and waved him off.
Then Mark went to the mess hall to talk to Joslin. He swore her to secrecy and told her of the coming draft and his leaving to try to stop it. She had started to panic, but Mark directed her to Ethel. Telling her of Daphne's knights and to seek shelter there if things got out of hand.
Joslin seemed shaken, but she was a strong woman and bounced back quickly. Thanking Mark for telling her the truth.
Next, he dropped by Andy's tent and left a note. Telling him a similar thing, only he kept the word of the draft out of it. Telling him to go to The Knights if they were struggling for any reason.
After that, his time was almost up and he made his way to the meet-up point.
When he arrived he was the last one.
Sam and Jonathan were busy arranging the team. Mark saw some faces he recognized.
“Wow, you knew about this before me and you got here after,” Daphne said when he approached.
“I had people to see” Mark shrugged his shoulders.
“I had a whole organization to manage,” she said drily.
Mark just shrugged his shoulders.
When Mark had come to her earlier to ask if she would join he had not needed to do much convincing. As it turned out, Ethel thought it was their best chance at remaining neutral. If the forced drafts came in three days then their delicate neutrality would quickly vanish. Right now Ethel would manage the Knights as second in command while Daphne was gone.
“Alright people we are up in two get let's aboard,” Sam said as the sounds of the helicopter blades began to pick up speed.
They were standing in an open part of the park away from the small city of tents. The area was alive with people moving back and forth around the stationary machines.
Their helicopter had now begun to drown out the nearby sounds and their group pilled into the large cabin from the back.
Mark didn't know what the model of chopper this was, only that it was a personnel transport with two sets of blades.
As they got situated inside the doors began to close behind them. The vehicle looked like it could easily hold more people than their ten-man squad.
Once they were strapped in and geared up the vehicle lurched into the air.
“Alright, people we are going to be dropped near the entrance. We are on a time limit, but that is no excuse for recklessness. Upon landing we clear the area and then proceed.”
Looking around Mark saw Davis and Ava.
There were four people he didn't recognize here. Jonathan must have seen him looking at them because he chose this time to make introductions.
“Mark here is our healer and the woman next to him is Daphne. An Aura user. This is Jaya, Chris, Matt, and Brian. Jaya’s a caster. Chris is our scout. Matt and Brian are Aura”
Mark acknowledged them each in turn.
They all looked like they had some form of training in the military. After that Sam began handing out cameras and radios. The cameras were the type that strapped to a person's chest.
“I get the radios, but what are these for?” Daphne asked.
“This is the first official assault into a dungeon. The brains back at home want to see what's down there”
Mark fitted the camera to his chest and got comfortable.
As they traveled conversation became scarce, and Mark used the time to recover his Prana.
Luckily the trip was quick and uneventful. When they had said nearby they had meant it.
The cabin jolted just slightly as the helicopter touched down and the door opened on its own to reveal a small patch of rooftop.
They exited the vehicle and took in the surrounding area.
The squad had been dropped off on the tallest building around to provide an uninterrupted vantage point of the street below.
They could see the dungeon entrance from here. It was exactly like the picture. A mass of limestone bricks were built into an archway, that opened up into a staircase descending into the ground. Mark also note that this area had suffered extensive damage. Cracks ran through the street and surrounding buildings
Jonathan was the last out having spoken to the pilot.
A moment later the engines picked up speed once more and the helicopter took off with a thundering roar.
Sam flicked her wrist and winds buffeting them stopped entirely.
“Let's move down in formation. Remember frontline, Mid, and Backline”
She was talking about the new combat formation Mark had proposed.
Aura users would head into the building first, then healers, and finally casters.
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It allowed the healer to access everyone in the unit while providing them with more protection.
Making their way down the emergency stairs they ran into minimal Corrupted.
The Aura users wiped them out before it even became a problem.
When they arrived at ground level they sweep out into the street. The Corrupted presence here was heavy. Almost two dozen Corrupted wandered the road.
The thing was something was different about how they moved. The jerking bodily twitches that Mark had become used to from the Corrupted seemed almost smooth now.
There were only two Ordiators but the pack reacted right away. Charging toward their group. Gunfire was released in hail toward the approaching Corrupted. Some of them went down but Mark thought he saw the smaller caliber bullets doing less damage than normal.
As a test, Mark fired off a [Mana Bolt] and sent it forward. It detonated against one of their heads. Normally it would have crushed the skull like ripe fruit but in this case, it only took a decent size chunk of the head off with it. Exposing the brain of the collapsing Corrupted.
“Definitely tougher!” Mark yelled out.
Though he shouldn't have worried. Right now he was with a high-level party with a ton of experience.
The moment the Corrupted crashed into the frontline. The squad made short work of them. Blades cleaved through flesh and fists let out sickening thuds as they broke bones.
From behind him tiny blades of compressed wind traveled up and over the frontline expanding into two-meter-long arcs, ripping through four four five at a time. A whip of water dove around the frontline and grabbed hold of half a dozen, constricting the Corrupted until bones broke and flesh gave way.
They were making short work of their numbers, even with the stronger type of Corruped he saw here.
This was probably the perfect time for Mark to test one of his newest spells.
He cast [Mind spike]. The cost of the spell was decent at 10 Mana and he found his Mana expand outward. Nine other powerful minds were in the area and 13 weak blips that could barely even be called minds registered. Two more went out as he was choosing his target. There were two additional minds that Mark Instantly registered as the Ordinators. They were much stronger than the blips, but still not at the level of a human. He found his target. Condensing the Mana, he slammed the mental spike into the nearest one's mind.
One of the Ordinators screeched and came to a halt.
Mark maintained the connection, crushing the Ordinator's will under his own. It fought back desperately, but Mark held it in place, strengthening the Mana bridge.
Testing the limits of the spell, he applied more pressure to its mind.
The thing began to twitch and spasm, collapsing to the ground. Even now it still tried to crawl towards them.
Mark may have felt sorry for it if he hadn't seen these things rip people apart without a shred of hesitation.
Mark’s Corruption pulsed happily. Loving the fact that he was inflicting pain. If these things even knew what that was.
Mark took hold of its mind entirely and for a moment he could see through its eyes, and feel the hunger it desperately want to escape. He could see the glowing beacons of life in front of him, within reach. He could feel the force that was stopping his body from moving.
Mark didn't push the connection any further, he’d seen all he wanted to. Clenching his fist he crushed the mind under him, feeling the moment it died. The Ordinator went still.
Blinking away the connection, Mark saw the others had been taken care of.
Sam was staring from him to the distant Ordinator.
“Mental spell, just testing it out,” he said.
She pursed her lips but seemed to accept that.
Mark knew the only reason he had managed to lock the creature down so thoroughly was because he was so much stronger than it mentally. If he ever used that spell on something that had a stronger mind than him, he would be the one on the floor.
The squad was moving once more, arriving at the entrance to the dungeon.
It looked much bigger close-up. Mark could see where the surrounding concrete seemed to stretch up and become the archway.
From here they got a direct line of sight into the earth. It traveled down into the subway system, the detailed stonework giving way to subway tiles deeper in. The hole gave off a suffocating air about it. Like hands wrapping around Mark's throat.
Something was bothering him about the surrounding Mana, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
“Can you guys feel that?” Mark asked the others.
Both Sam and Jaya nodded.
“The Mana feels wrong here. Tainted,” Sam said.
“I can confirm so does the Aura,” Jonathan said.
“Let me try something,” Mark said
Taking a step forward Mark concentrated on the Mana and at the same time he pulsed [Draw corruption] on for less than a second. He felt it right away.
Mark had seen Corruption hang around in a lot of things. People, objects, rain, ichor, the corrupted themselves. But right now Mark could feel a low level of corruption permeating the very air around them. Each breath drew the tiniest amounts into the body. Even the Mana and Aura one drew in was rife with the stuff.
Mark frowned.
It got more concentrated as one went closer to the dungeon opening. The dungeon was infecting the environment around them.
Mark opened his eyes and explain what he found to the group.
“How long do you think we can stay down there?” Jonathan asked Mark.
Mark thought about it for a moment.
“It's slow, my best guess would be less than a week if you had no protection. However, that time limit would increase depending on your Resistance and Prana level. If we manage to complete our mission within the time limit there shouldn't be a problem”
“Good, then cameras on, and Chris you’re up,” Jonathan said.
Mark flicked a switch on his camera and a small red light came on to show it was recording.
He saw Sam repeating all their findings into the camera and listening into an earpiece. Which Mark assumed was command.
While she did that Chris got busy.
As it turned out he was a spellsword using a mixture of Aura and Mana.
Mainly air magic. Only he didn't use it for offensive purposes. Standing at the entrance Mark could feel Chris releasing a tiny Mana pulse that expanded through the air. Mapping the tunnel ahead, reading the disturbances in the airflow.
“No bogeys ahead and a straight shot down”
“Alright, let's move out people,” Jonathan said.
They began to move down the steps
“You ready?” Daphne turned back to him.
A grin appeared on Mark’s face.
“Definitely”
Their party began the descent and when Mark's foot touched the first step and Ping sounded out.
Congratulations on being the second party to enter a Dungeon in this sector.
Reward: +2 points towards primary path.
Dungeon # 43
Name - N/A
Tier - 1
Class - Chaos
Reward class - Aura
An: Formation and map.
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/zlr9z2qu2a1j501/Chapter%2052%20-%20Dungeon%20entrance.png?dl=1]