After the war of words engaged by Lancelot against the father and son duo, peace returned to the valley as everyone resumed waiting for the opening of the special dungeon.
During the meantime, Arthur was treated to Henry's various adventurous stories about his voyages all over the continent. From clashes with pirates to romantic interests, Henry made sure to keep them entertained.
It also from his stories that Arthur found out that the current region they were in was predominately filled with humans, hence why the valley was currently filled with only humans. In other regions, other races made up most of the demographic. Making sure to take note of this information, Arthur continued to enjoy Henry's stories.
Amusingly, one of Henry's romance stories was about his first encounter with Cisse.
After a clash with a group of pirates that went by the name 'The Red Crows,' Henry's ship was beaten up pretty bad and had to run aground at the bay proceeding before the valley of the five mountains. And after exploring the area around the valley, he and his sailors found the Asante Tribe. While there, he became friends with Cisse, while his men repaired their ship with aid from the tribe.
While they all chatted, time quietly slipped by until finally, a tremor shook the valley. It started off gentle at first but increasingly grew in might until some people found it difficult to even stand.
Soon at the fore of the valley, the surrounding earth was pushed aside as a stone arch slowly rose from the ground. It was a simplistic arch, but it's simpleness contrasted the pure might it gave off. Engraved within it were twelve unique runes that shone a mesmerizing blue as they bathed the valley in their energy.
After the arch fully appeared, a translucent ripple appeared within its center. However, the current ripple seemed weak and unstable.
With another tremble, the arch bathed the valley in mystic fog-like energy. Soon, everyone found their medallions were flying from their person and into the sky. And after hovering in the air for a few moments, all the medallions dashed towards the stone arch. But rather than hit the arch, they ended up floating to it while being gently absorbed into the arch.
As the number of medallions being absorbed increased, the once stone arch started to turn into a marble white thoroughly washing off its once ancient appearance and appearing holy and new.
While this scene played out, another scene appeared in conjunction. As more and more and more medallions were absorbed, a symbol began appearing on the back of everyone's left hands. Interestingly, the symbol depicted twelve white swords in a circle with the tips facing outwards from a white crown. And as these symbols appeared, a strange power began to envelop everyone, pulling them into the portal the arch had generated.
Soon, the entire valley was devoid of anyone, leaving the once filled valley a feeling of emptiness.
….
….
….
Appearing within the dungeon. Arthur was shocked.
When he first heard Cisse mention the dungeon, he had expected a maze-like place with corridors leading to either fortune or misfortune. But this-
Before Arthur was a completely beautiful world. Green painted the landscape, bathing it in vitality. The occasional breeze delicately brushed past skin, leaving a sweet and warm smell. From a beautiful grassland to snow-capped peaks, this place didn't seem like a place someone could fall to their doom, but a place they came to in search of paradise.
Taking in a deep breath, Arthur calmed his bewildered mind.
However, after taking in a deep breath, his heart pounded heavily, and his vision began to swim.
'What going on? Something isn't right.'
Suddenly, he realized that he was alone. Turning in a full circle, the only thing that met his eyes was the tall grass of grassland that wouldn't stop moving.
Weirdly, he felt some movement within his sleeveless black leather armor. After a few moments of struggling, the cause finally revealed itself – a red and golden cuboid with a black orb embedded within it.
After stabilizing in the air for a moment, the cuboid acted as tho it was stretching after a long sleep as it surveyed the surroundings with its blue digital-like diamond-shaped eye.
When Excalibur's eye turned to Arthur, he froze. "What wrong?"
"I don't know. Everything is swimming."
After a moment of thought, Cal responded. "Take a seat."
As Arthur sat down, Cal's eye flashed a ray of blue light over his body. After a few seconds, the light receded, and Cal's eye began to slowly turn clockwise and counterclockwise.
"Well, this isn't good."
"What isn't good?" asked Arthur as his gaze became more and more unfocused.
"Mmm, if I am not wrong, it would seem that you aren't in tune with the world. Or, more accurately, your life signature isn't matching up with the Realm."
"That…cough…does not …cough…. make any sense," responded Arthur as his face took on a new shade of pale.
"Actually, it is quite simple. Remember how you were born within the Realm, then left it when the Old Man found you. It seems that after your long departure, your life signature is no longer on the same wavelength as the Realm's."
"And?"
"Easy. Dungeons build on the Realm's wavelength and thus operate on a more complex system. Your current wavelength suffices for the outside world but not here. It's like shooting water throw an already tight tube and then suddenly shrinking the tube even more."
Letting the information sink in, Arthur coughed and asked. "How do we fix it?"
"I….I don't know." Answered Cal with a sad voice.
But suddenly, a red outline appeared around his eyes. "Danger!"
Just as Cal's word's fell, the earth below them began to shake. The sound of thousands of click clacks drummed through the entire grassland giving of the suffocating atmosphere that an army was approaching.
Arthur, who was now laying on his back, heard Exacalibur's words and become paler as a sheet of paper. He tried to sit up only to find his back on the ground again.
Cal, who couldn't do much due to, well, his body, began to panic – quite unbecoming of a weapon of his status.
With a lack of options and what seemed to be imminent doom. The white streak in Arthur's hair turned blue, and the air around him chilled.
Whoo-
Just as Arthur was about to freeze the surrounding. His releasing energy reversed.
Hoohw!
Immediately Arthur was covered in a thick layer of ice.
Seeing this, Call, who was just a few meters from him, couldn't help but curse. "From the pan and into the fire. SHIP CAKES!"
Immediately, Cal transformed into his sword form and dashed into the now frost-covered Arthur's hand.
With Cal's innate ability [Never-Let-Go], he didn't have to worry about Arthur's unconscious body letting go of him as he dashed into the air.
As he flew into the air, Cal scanned the ground below.
Originally where they were was covered with thousands upon thousands of Ruryrms.
- Ruryrm: Centipede-like creatures with a thick green and black carapace. Known to hunt in groups ranging from thousands to millions. Due to each group sharing a single stomach, as long as a single prey is caught, it is enough to feed an entire group. Ruryrm's are also known for the incredible evolution path, which enables the lowest F grade member the potential to reach S grade. It should be noted that all Ruryrm groups are led by a Ruryrm of a higher grade than the rest.
As Cal recalled this information about Ruryrm, he couldn't help but think. 'A leader? I don't see one.'
As Cal's train of thought was about to end, a stronger tremor shook the land as an incredibly large Ruryrm broke thought the ground and into the air.
Unlike the thousands of small Ruryrms who looked like normal centipedes with small mandibles. This Ruryrm was utterly different. Its head was a cone-shaped monstrosity. Tiny spikes sprouted from the tip, cascading down to its flat serpentine body. On its head were four blade-like protrusions – one on top, two on the sides, and one on the bottom -, perfectly these protrusions met at the forefront of the Ruryrm's head, giving it a drill-like appearance. Under the afternoon sun, the protrusions gave off a cold sheen - sun?…suns? For the first time, Cal looked towards the sky and saw that twelve suns were bathing the entire dungeon in their light and heat.
But of course, this unique sight didn't distract him for long as he could sense energy fluctuations coming from the Ruryrm leader.
Looking back, Cal could see a green light between the segments of the Ruryrm as it traveled up through its massive body. As the light traveled up, the Ruryrm's four blades spread opened as its cone-like head began to concave until soon a vortex-like mouth appeared.
'NUGGERNOTS!'
Sensing danger, Cal's free-floating crystal pommel immediately enlarged as he activated his innate ability [Guardia]. Within a second, Arthur was encased within a crystal with Cal's sword form embedded within it.
However, this transformation came with the loss of Cal's ability to fly. But that was the least of their problems.
BOOM!
A massive green ball of energy crashed crash into Cal's crystal, flooding the surroundings with green light and heat.
From the impact alone, Cal's crystal showed some cracks. But luckily, thanks to the impact, they were sent flying off into the distance.
Back on the Ruryrm's side, sensing that its prey got away, its blades closed, and its cone-shaped head convexed back to its original appearance. Its body also bristled as its hundred legs swept tighter to its body, making its body more compact. With an angry leap, it dived into the earth, followed by its thousands of minions.
…
…
…
Back of Cal and Arthur's side, they were currently plunging towards a forest. With nothing to cushion their descent other than the branches of some trees, the duo crashed into the ground with a resounding thud.
After a few quiet moments that made everything seem as though it was frozen. Cal's crystal shuddered. Slowly, Cal deactivated [Guardia], and Arthur's unconscious body appeared as it laid on the disturbed earth.
Returning back to his cube form, Cal sent a pulse of energy into the surrounding in search of any danger. Nothing was picked up or than some harmless flora and fauna, but he did feel something at the peripherals of the search that caused his eye to be outlined in gold.
'Interesting.'
After pulling back his senses, he turned to Arthur and immersed his body in a dark blue light, deeply scanning his psyche and physic. Surprisingly he found that Arthur was currently asleep or more accurately in hibernation. The good news, though, was that his life signature was slowly becoming more in tune with the Realm.
A thought flashed through Cal's mind. 'Did he discover something?'
Needless to say, Cal was happy none the less.
With nothing better to do than wait. Cal floated onto Arthur's chest to recuperate his energy.
'So this is a dungeon, huh.' And with that thought, he closed his eyes.