Arkiu Xange and his six friends grew up in the middle class neighborhoods of Diagon. A few of their families even lived in the same building complexes on Simla street and that really brought all of them together since the start of their childhood.
They were so close that they were jokingly called the Alleycats of Simla, because of their nightly escapades and foolishness. The boys were only partially embarrassed by the nickname, but would always turn bright red when hearing mention of their mother's putting together sashes for them to wear with a cat face insignia.
The three girls in the group liked to wear the sashes and ended up wearing them everytime they entered the dungeons. Unfortunately Arkiu was deemed the team's leader, so the girls made him wear the sash in some fashion. The other three boys would always snicker whenever he tied the red sash to the belt loop of his sword.
It was now a usual night for Arkiu and his team, they found a somewhat vacant section of the tunnels and ventured till they found monsters. They managed to kill half a dozen silver rats and took a break before debating staying or leaving early for the day.
While Arkiu was readjusting the loop of the sash during break, Tass the male archer of the group stood up and started gesturing at him to listen. When everyone went quiet, they just faintly heard the echoes of glass popping.
"What is that noise?" The only assassin in their group asked.
Tass shut his eyes tightly and kept focusing on the sounds. "It's echoes aren't gapped very much, so it's not very loud and it's not far. We could go see if no one objects."
There was a mix of curiousity and rejection from both the boys and girls in the group. Foreign noises in a dungeon only meant one of two possibilities; a very rare encounter with something worth thousands of credits or something that will feast on their corpses till the next set of full moons.
The thoughts about such as unknown and horrific deaths put an ominous cloud in everyone's eyes. The decision was split and a quiet argument began.
"I'll go if Arkiu is up for it." Tass said, suddenly causing everyone to agree with a suggestion. He sparked an unanimous agreement to go with whatever their appointed leader was willing to do.
Arkiu looked at his friends and weighed the risks in his mind for a moment; not wanting to seem weak or indecisive in front of them, he quickly made up his mind.
"We will go see, but if it seems to be anything too dangerious, we all need to be ready and bail." He considered this a small compromise, everyone would go to observe, not fight just yet.
"Well we better hurry." Interjected Tass, "Because that popping noise just stopped."
*****
[ Congratulations: You've leveled up to lvl. 11 ] Attributes points +5
Mana orbs lvl. 11 or below can now be consumed.
Health Points +10
For the first time since travelling, Galahad felt the release of pain from his body. His aching ribs stopped pulsing with what he could only describe as itchy grinding from the hit by mind controlled Dante. In addition to that, he was brimming with the sensation of finally filling a bit of hunger in his body.
Galahad felt his mood brighten too, he was finally making some headway with saving his friends that day and he didn't need to avoid causing people concern. When he was hidden beneath the surface of Endora, He just needed to carry on and work till he was strong enough to obtain orbs.
'Let's just hope this place has enough monsters remaining, they're really is way more people down here than I could have imagined.' Galahad thought while hearing more footsteps approaching. 'I would like to go further that the first floor of the dungeon, but that's a disaster waiting to happen.'
Galahad knew he wasn't ready to fight the demons further below. He always worked with someone to help take down something bigger than himself, a few abnormal stats were not going to keep him alive. He couldn't take risks that would ultimately end his mission early.
As he continued avoiding more people, the tunnels grew larger until the ceiling was too high for Galahad to swipe at. If he found himself another Vesplug or any kind flying creature, he needed to figure out a new plan of attack. He didn't want to contemplate for too long, so he flared up in red flames of his only skill and figured out a plan.
Fury and Fyre felt like a pump of adrenaline everytime he used it, not just for his body, but his mind as well. Ideas would flash throughout his brain without any delay.
After a moment of thinking, Galahad figured he had enough rough plans of attack and released the skill. He continued walking and picked up a handful of rocks along the way. He kept aimlessly walking until he started hearing more buzzing of Vesplug wings.
'These things certainly aren't stealthy in both aspects sound and sight, I'm surprised no one else down here has found them. Either that or no one wants to face a couple of oversized wasps.' Galahad thought as he continued.
*****
Jeremiah the gate clerk was just now getting off his shift, and was heading inside for food from one of the stands in the pavilion. He was going to find some barbecued honey-glazed meatsticks so he wouldn't have to eat his boyfriend's cooking that night, but he also wanted to check something.
He had let someone inside the pavilion without a contract or pass, and Jeremiah wasn't sure if the boy had left the structure yet. It was possible he exited through a different section of the spire or was still inside; but Jeremiah just felt more comfortable knowing if the boy was gone or not.
He waited in line at a grilling stand as a white light flashed when the Return Crystal activated. A group was returning and they weren't fairing well. Two were unconscious as their leader had to activate the crystals for them. They were deathly pale with green veins popping up beneath their skin and had yellow venom oozing from puncture wounds around their necks and arms.
The medical teams came through and started applying first aid and blood thinning antidotes as soon as they could. They're was very little time before the multiple stings of any bug demon would kill a human via clotting blood.
'Oh boy, another Vesplug swarm. I'd hate to see who has to file out a team to get rid of that cavern.'
Jeremiah clocked out and walked out of the pavilion without seeing the black haired boy or his supposed friends. He didn't want to think too much of it, but he had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. The kind of feeling that meant he was stressed or ate something that disagreed with him.
*****
Galahad kept walking away from the sounds of footsteps once again and made his way through the evergrowing tunnels. Listen for the buzzing of monsters to follow and human feet to avoid. He kept an eye on the time and was noting he needed to either find a cavern to take shelter in, or use the Return Spell in the next hour or so.
The ceiling was now twenty yards high and the atmosphere was changing. As he observed the various ores and rocks, he noticed specs of shiny yellow and gold dust along the floor. They twinkled like tiny stars in the night, increasing in frequency further down the path.
Galahad had kept following the sound of Vesplug's wings for a while, wondering if it was aimlessly wondering or heading in a certain direction. The thought of another intelligent monster managed to make Galahad's blood boil.
With the strange suppression always affecting some aspect of his mind; Galahad couldn't figure out if the anger and rage he felt was all because of the black orb, or he truly became something else after losing his friends.
He started to realize he wasn't really sure what parts of him were changing from which disasters he felt tearing at his insides. It all just made an overbearing heat grow in his chest that he didn't like.
Galahad got so lost in the thought of his darkening feelings and stress again, he didn't notice the Vesplug had detected him and turned around to attack.
The Golden Vesplug has flown high upon arrival and then dive bombed Galahad. Swiping its long hooked stinger in a low arc to maim him. Galahad had instantly bursted into red flames as he fell backwards into a reverse somersault.
He avoided the stinger and felt that little, agitated voice in the back of his head ridiculing him for being so careless. He lost any chance of a quick and clean surprise attack, that meant half his ideas were now useless.
Galahad grumbled and began throwing the pebbles in his hand at the Vesplug. Irritating the monster and drawing it's focus on wanting to attack again.
The insect monster starting dropping lower towards Galahad, not close enough for shortsword range, but ready to sting when he ran out of rocks.
When he was down to four, Galahad threw them up all at once. The bug eyes followed the paths of flight for a moment, curious at the change of futile attacks. It had no idea that was what the human wanted.
The Vesplug's multiple sets of eyes only parted for a second to watch the pebbles fly and returned to see Galahad swiping the sword and unleashing a bolt of blue lightning.
The lightning generating on Galahad's sword mid motion had made the Golden Vesplug's survival instincts blare to drop altitude. The strike would have almost hit the monster, but it's desire to not die had given it a clear distance away from harm.
Galahad had wanted that from the beginning, immediately jumping at the first sign of the monster getting closer. He swung the blade in a vertical arc that would have barely scraped the lower section of the Golden Vesplug, but he calculated for that. The blade turned red hot as it stretched out into the form of a greatsword, extending the swing to severe the Vesplug almost completely in two.
With the blade's weight and temperature, the sword breached the hard skeletal frame beneath the golden hairs and burned through its organs with an audible sizzle. The monster died with a few clicks of its pincers and a single twitch of its body. No scream came from its death, only the spilling of its innards.
Galahad lost control of his balance when the blade changed its position of weight, he was aware of that possibility as he braced for the compact dirt ground. He hit the tunnel floor with a rolling tumble and the blade clattered loudly to the side. He threw the sword behind him so it wouldn't impale him during the fall; he planned the instant he saw the monster and everything went exactly how he expected.
Until he stood back up and was splashed with the guts and bug fluid of the Vesplug. The sweep of the red hot blade only cauterized some sections of the cut and the inner workings of the demon came spilling out.
'Welp, so much for making it out of here discreetly.' Galahad griped as he wiped the slime off his face and chin. The smell hit him instantaneously and he knew it was certainly going to draw the noses and eyes of everyone who was up in the pavilion.
Galahad could only grumble more as he went to pick up the now giant blue greatsword, willing it to shrink down. Yet the red hot color didn't appear, it stayed massive and unfamiliar to his hands.
Galahad cursed at the magic weapon as he realized the blade needed time to recharge both the lightning strike and its shape manipulating. He couldn't stick out anymore if he tried.
'How the fuck will I get out of here without being arrested now? The dungeon is going to reset soon and I can't even walk all the way back up to the surface quietly. I need to -
Galahad stopped worrying about his new odor and short time frame when the footsteps approaching weren't just getting closer, he finally realized they were definitely following him.
*****
"I'm telling you there was a flash of gold light, constant red light flickering, and a flash of blue." Said Tern, the other archer of Arkiu's group of friends.
"Okay, but Tass said he heard what he assumed was regular fighting down this tunnel." Stated the girls with a spear in her hand. "Shouldn't we be looking for something unusual instead of other groups fighting monsters. I don't understand why you'd want to come down this way."
Tass, Arkiu, and the others were scouting the other tunnels in pairs. Tern was paired coincidently with the spearman named Elldry, the brunette girl he had mentioned once to Arkiu that he might have feelings for a while back.
Arkiu had an inner grin as he paired them up to scout together. The only issue with Arkiu's small scheme was when they were alone, they always bickered.
Tern rolled his eyes at Elldry. "He said he heard quiet clashing while I could see lights flashing. I think whatever we are looking for was down this tunnel, not where the buzzing nonsense stopped."
Tass and Tern were both archers, but they had different abilities as long range battle classes. Tass had amplified hearing and Tern's bright green eyes were capable of seeing better in the darkness of the tunnels. Their abilities for scouting tended to clash and make different results each time.
Elldry only shook her head at him and kept walking. They didn't say anything else and didn't mention the golden flecks all across the walls. They were quiet up to the point that they were met with an atrocious smell. In the large tunnel of flashing gold, they found a half melting and still burning corpse of the Vesplug that was barely held together by the frame of the exoskeleton along the neck.
"Oh yeah, a normal monster battle. That explains the superheated slice that went through a Golden Vesplug despite their only being a clash of swords like Tass said. Don't you think Ell?" Tern exclaimed in a rhetorical tone. He clearly wanted to be right, especially since the idea of colorful lights and magic attacks meant Tass's suspicions were way off.
Elldry wasn't paying attention to Tern's obnoxious retorts, she was looking at the splatters of insect organs and the trail of footsteps that led away from them. Whoever or whatever they were following, it was clearly alone and running from them.
"Let's get the team over here Tern." She turned and carefully around the tunnel. "Someone is here alone and is walking straight into a nest of Vesplugs with the stench of their fallen."