The group walked along the path in the plains until the terrain became more hilly and less flat. They weren't extremely far from Githard, where they had come from, but they were not close enough to see the city anymore.
"The cave is over in that area. There are... let's see... around 30... no 32 people in the cave right now... they are all of a similar strength... except for one elderly man who doesn't seem to have any hands...", Trevor explained.
"How... you really are amazing, Theo... to be able to tell all that just from a glance...", Charlotte noted.
'I can't believe these people... they are something else... first they took down the hellraisers so easily, and now this one is able to sense things with such precision... it's amazing...'
[Player Samantha: Mood: Jealous]
Samantha didn't like the way this girl was complementing Trevor. Something about it bothered her.
"Isn't it obvious that I am better than everyone else? That much was a given from the moment I was born. There is no need to even state something so trivial. Now then... let's go."
'That's right, Trevor! Don't accept her compliment! Brush it off! Wait... why am I thinking things like this?'
Samantha shook her head as the group approached and prepared to enter the cave.
"Back into the dungeons I suppose..."
"I remember back when we first met... it was in a place like this...", Garett said while placing his hand on the wall of the cavern.
"How did you all meet, if you don't mind me asking?", Melody asked as the eight walked through the cavern.
Ashley smiled disturbingly, as if she was about to brag.
"Ah... you wanna know?? We all met in a dungeon.... hahaha... it was pathetic really... we all just woke up there... no memories, no food, barely even any clothes on our backs... when Gary found me, we just sorta stuck together, and then we found these two in a lovers quarrel... we decided to pick them up there... and we've been unable to separate ever since... hahaha.... being stuck with these people made me go nuts at first, but you know what?? They seem to be getting a hang of the insanity!! Heh heehh heheh...."
Ashley had changed some details due to her intuition telling her not to reveal certain things... particularly about them being from another world, but the story was mostly true.
"Oh my goodness!! You all woke up without any memories!? How terrible! Do you all... do you all have your memories back?", Charlotte exclaimed.
"Ever since we woke up from that dungeon, we haven't been living based on our previous lives... that's for sure.", Garett admitted with a chuckle. "It's been some time since we've talked to anyone else regularly like this since waking up as well... nothing has been regular since we awoke from that slumber..."
"I see... I'm sorry for prying.", Charlotte said, downcast.
Ashley then turned to Charlotte with a malicious grin.
"Oh, no... don't be sorry... I am delighted that I've had this opportunity to live this new life... heh heh heh... I've been able to do and see so many things that I wouldn't have if I were still living my previous life.... heh heh..."
"Ah, well that's good then. I think..."
The eight continued walking through the cave system until encountering a ravine.
There were walls on the right and left of the group, and forward was only a ravine and nothing else. It was about 30 feet across- so far that nobody would be able to jump, but they could see some twisting tunnels past the ravine if they were to theoretically make it across.
Trevor seemed to be calculating a solution, and Garett seemed to want to take the chances and see what would happen if he took a running start. The four adventurers looked dumbfounded.
"What are we gonna do about this? Perhaps this is the reason why nobody has been able to complete this quest... there's no way in!", Lance exclaimed. "Should we give up after all?"
Ashley slithered forward- despite the fact that she was in her elven form- which by the way was just as beautiful as her ghastly form to Garett- and started speaking while Trevor still seemed to be considering every option.
"Give up? I like that phrase. No really, I do... it's such a wonderful thing... you know what I hate? I hate those people who sit there saying things like 'I'll never give up'. In stories... those people never give up... everyone tells them that a certain task is impossible, but they sit there and try over and over again... until eventually they succeed... and that's all great and wonderful for a story... but you know what? It doesn't happen. The author of the story determined for the main character to win against impossible odds... in that case, isn't it actually the villain who never gave up?? Isn't it actually the main character who had the overwhelming advantage?!!? Isn't it the villain who tried and tried against the impossible odds, and DIDN'T end up winning in the end?! In real life... if you never give up... you're just a simple idiot... things won't go the way you want them to... you will make mistakes... and perhaps you will be forced to give up by others... or maybe... just maybe, you will go nuts before actually giving up... who knows? The point is... giving up can be a good thing when the world doesn't revolve around you. It means you understand your own limitations."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about Ally...", Charlotte stated, confused.
Ashley walked over to the wall with a horrible grin on her face.
"But you know what else? I know my own limitations too... and if there's nothing that stops me from winning... if there is no challenge... if there are no impossible odds to face, then giving up would be the wrong decision. Am I wrong? No. Why? Because I'm always right. Hehehe..."
Ashley took a thin stone plate out of the wall to reveal something that looked like a keypad, and she pressed a seemingly random combination of the stone buttons. Then, the walls started shifting and an entrance opened up in one of the walls to the left of the group.
"Whoa! She just opened up the entrance like that!", Pierre shouted. "How did you know it was there?"
"Intuition. What did I just say? I'm always right."
"But that stone pad... was that some sort of passcode?! How did you know what buttons to press?!"
"Intuition."
"You just guessed correctly!?! What are the chances-"
Garett cut Pierre off there.
"She didn't just guess. Do you know what the chance of her getting it right would have been if she had just simply guessed? There were 9 buttons- and she typed in a combination of 6 numbers. If she had randomly guessed... it would have been about a 1 in 500,000 chance of her getting it right."
"Then... how did she know?!! Have you all been here before... could it be... are you all in line with the bandits here?!!?"
"Hahaha!!! What do you think??"
A devilish smile crept across Garett's face.
"It can't be... you all are working with the bandits!?!", Charlotte screamed, pulling out her sickle.
Pierre grabbed his threadlike whip, and Melody reached for her wand. Lance as well had reached inside the pocket of his blue coat, and they all looked worried, as if they knew they would lose in a fight.
"Would you all please calm down? That was Gary's version of a joke... hahaha...", Samantha said in a sweet tone with a bright laugh that trailed off.
The four simultaneously exhaled in relief. They absolutely didn't want to fight the antiheroes- even through they had not witnessed a fraction of their full power.
"D-don't scare us like that! Jeez! You two seem to have one horrible sense of humor... haha...", Charlotte said while breathing heavily- addressing Ashley and Garett.
"Indeed... my sense of humor is certainly a bit demonic...", Garett said with a grin.
"Ah... it looks like your intuition beat my logical process this time, Ally. I was going to suggest we fly over, however after considering all these people.. that would be impractical.", Trevor noted. He had been so lost in thought the entire time that he didn't seem to notice the tension that had just brewed.
'Well, it would only be impractical considering that we don't want to put all our cards on the table just yet.'
"Fly!?!?", The four said at once.
"Ah, but of course. Ally here can use fire magic to propel herself upwards. It would be a bit difficult to move 8 people at once... even four is a stretch... but fortunately, she found the entrance... so we have no need of that. Let's head in."
'Of course, Ashley's skills currently are far beyond that simple form of flying that she used to rely on. These days, all she needs to do is lift us up with magic. But I will keep that hidden for now so that we don't overwhelm these four just yet.'
"Yes... let's do that...", Lance said with a sigh.
'Seriously?! She can even fly!?! These people can do anything...'
The antiheroes took the lead, and the four mercenaries seemed to be lagging slightly behind.
'Perhaps they are concerned about being stabbed in the back now? No matter... as the stronger party members, we should be taking the lead anyways... and there are no strong presences in this cave, so I have full confidence in our ability to have no issues here..."
----
Side story:
This story takes place back on earth, when Ashley was still in her 2nd year of high school.
Back at this time, Ashley was extremely shy and antisocial, however she spent most of her time studying and trying to do well in school in order to ensure a bright future for herself.
After spending days preparing, it was time for her to take a big test for her mathematics class.
Ashley walked through the hallway, mentally preparing herself for the exam.
'Ok... ok... I can do this... I can do this... I studied hard, and I am confident in my ability to adapt to the situation, even if he throws us for a curve-ball... this test is very important... I can't afford to mess it up, however I did everything I could to prepare. I'm ready!'
Ashley entered the class, and many other students filed into the room. The teacher immediately began handing out tests to the students, who were all nonchalantly talking with each other as if they didn't prepare at all, and were not concerned in the least about the test.
'These idiots... they think that just because they have so many friends that they can just get away with anything... they can relax and not study, and their parents won't even blink an eye when their grades drop because they can sweet talk their way out of it... geh.. makes me sick just thinking about it.'
The tests were passed out, and the students quieted down.
Ashley started working on the test, and worked through most of the problems. She had absolutely no issues, and was almost certain that she had done everything correctly.
'Heh heh... this is what those idiots get for not studying, and this is my reward for working so hard... this test was a piece of cake for me... and the others look like they're struggling over there....'
Ashley then took a look up at the clock to check the time.
It was only halfway through the period. She still had an entire half hour to finish up and turn the test in.
'Heh heh heh... looks like I can take my sweet time with this last problem...'
Ashley looked back down to continue working.
But...
Her test was gone.
'Eh?'
'Where did my test go!?'
Ashley checked around her seat frantically.
'Did it fall off my desk?! Is it around here somewhere!?'
She then noticed something in the corner of her eye.
One of the students was Naruto running across the room, with her test in hand. The teacher was simply sitting at his desk, not saying a word. As a matter of fact, he was staring right at Ashley.
Ashley tried to call the student out.
"Oi! Tha-"
"SHHHH!!!!! NO TALKING DURING THE TEST!!!! If you speak again I will have your test invalidated!!!"
The teacher was glaring right at Ashley, and completely ignoring the student on the other side of the room, who was now taking a seat with her test in hand.
'EH!?!?! He took my test!!!!'
Ashley was frantically looking and pointing to the other student, but the teacher refused to acknowledge that anything else was going on aside from her disruption.
Then, the student who had taken her test, along with a group of around six other students all stood up and began moving their desks to form a circle.
In the center of the circle, they placed Ashley's test, and they all started frantically copying the answers.
'OI!!!!! THOSE STUDENTS ARE ALL CHEATING!!!! ARE YOU NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!?!?', Ashley thought while trying to get the teacher to pay attention to the students over there.
He seemed to glance over, but didn't acknowledge that anything was wrong and looked back down, continuing his work.
'WHAT THE HELL!!!!'
30 minutes passed, and the other students got up to turn in their tests.
'WHAT THE HELL!!!! I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN MY TEST BACK!!! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO FINISH!!!'
The teacher stood up.
"Alright everyone, turn in your tests now."
All the students got up, and Ashley walked over to retrieve her test. By the time she had done so, all the other students had already turned their tests in.
"Those jackasses... not only did I not finish because of them... but they stole my answers that I worked hard for... grrr... is there even any point in doing all this hard work if people can just cheat like this... and they didn't even bother to return my test to me... how fucking rude...'
Ashley grabbed her test and went to turn it in.
"Ashley! Why was your test on the other side of the room!?!? Cheating will not be tolerated in this school!!! It doesn't matter whether you were the one taking the answers or the one giving them- as a matter of fact, the person giving away the answers is twice as guilty because they should be the responsible one!!!"
"EHHH!?!?! THEY STOL-"
"Talking back to a teacher!?!?! I might just have to give you a behavioral mark for this!!! That, and cheating... I am completely disappointed in you, Ashley!"
"EH!?!?! BUT-"
"Making excuses!?!? No but's!! Get out of my sight!!"
Her teacher grabbed her test, and placed it into the shredder in front of her.
Ashley ended up getting a C during that quarter because of a 0 as a test grade.
Incidentally, six students happened to get perfect scores on their tests, aside from the one question which Ashley was unable to finish.
And with that, a nut was unscrewed in Ashley's mind, leading her down her eventual path to become a maniac.
Authors note:
I hope you all enjoyed the side story for this chapter. It was actually based off a combination of a number of true stories, with some exaggerations here and there. Where will our antiheroes take those poor adventurers who don't know what they're getting into? What will happen to the bandits? All of that is still... Undetermined.