It was the third day of the expedition. The sun was already up in the center of the clear blue sky. I could feel the tingling sensation of heat touching my skin and beads of sweat that covered my face.
"It's too hot! I can't walk anymore" Fatty cried out and threw his weapons on the ground before lying on the terra firma as if his power was drained completely.
"Let's take a break first. I 'm also at my limit " I suggested upon seeing the group was already panting from a half day of walk.
"It's already mid day but we can't even find any monster!" Fatty complained as he took out a bottle and greedily gulped down the cold water in it.
"Well, the monsters might already been hunted clean by the other group" I sighed and adjusted my sitting position, leaning with the big formation of rocks against my back. we've been searching for monster to hunt the entire morning, unluckily we found not a single soul.
"Oh is that so? They said that this dungeon was a self- replenishing one. Why would it not replenish any monster now?" Fatty asked with a exhausted expression in his face.
"According to the information I saw, the Arsibal Canyon was a huge alive structure built a very long time ago as a training ground for military and newbie adventurers. It will only replenish once a month" I explained according to what I read in the castle's library.
"Eeh? Why would they do that? Isn't it better to replenish it immediately?" Rika queried with a perplexed look in her face.
"They set it like that to regulate the canyon."
"Regulate what?"
"The monster of course. They wanted the monster not to overpopulate the canyon because people who are usually using this were newbies from the guild and the military."
"Well, We're heroes after all! It might too hard for this dungeon to cope up with us" Edgar declared with a proud tone.
After the short break, We finally regained our strength.
"Should we go back now?" I inquired while dusting off my pants before putting my sword back to my waist.
"We already got the cores so there's no harm going back earlier than scheduled" Mark agreed.
"I want to go back already, I feel sticky. I'm tired of wiping myself with wet towels! Ahh! I smell really bad!" Rika grunted smelling her self.
We all let a loud laugh witnessing Rika's childish tantrum.
"Why are you all laughing? It is not funny you know! I swear, I will soak myself for a whole day after we go back!"
Upset, Rika stamped her feet in fury.
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We were already set to leave, when I felt a slight chill in my back. It felt like someone is eying on us.It was something onimous and dark. It was a feeling I've never felt before. A strong premonition of danger. It was like being looked by death itself.
I sheathed my weapon. My hands was covered in sweat.
I took a deep breath as I tried to remain calm.
"What happened to you, Andre? " My teammates became confused of my actions.
"Something's bad is coming" I uttered in slight trembling voice.
Suddenly, A explosion occured near me creating a huge amount of smoke. I tried to regain my posture as I took another deep breathe.
After a while, A thrilled voice came from the smoke.
"I finally found you, You damn weakling!! " The voiced roared as he slowly revealed himself along with five other people.
"Harvi!? You Fucker!! " Fatty barked, glaring at Harvi.
"Shut the fuck up, you damn pig! I'm not here for you! " Harvi reprimanded.
"What do you want, Harvi?" I calmed myself down, shielding fatty with my hand telling him to stop.
'Is it my imagination? or is it really Harvi? It's not making any sense, are my senses playing a prank on me' The fear that I felt earlier was not present in the person in front of me.
"Do you already forget your debt?" Harvi smirked.
"I would like to collect it right now!" Speaking in a voice mixed with insane joy, Harvi took one step, two steps closer.
"Harvi! Are you insane pointing your weapons to one of your classmate!" Rika tried to step up.
It happened the moment Rika took a step forward. Shifting his glare swiftly, Harvi had a fiery gleam in his eyes as he shouted.
"Don't Intervene, this is between me and this weakling! Dont worry I will just break one or two bones of his!"
"Then Lets finish this with a duel, Harvi! If you win, you can break every bones that I have if you want to just dont lay a hand on my teammates! and If I win leave me alone for the rest of your life, do you dare!?" I growled, glaring at Harvi with a burning set of eyes.
With that, Harvi's mouth warped in animosity for a moment, but returned to mocking smirk all at once and answered.
"Do I dare? Even if I wouldn't dare I can still break your arms or legs, but since you are offerring yourself to me, then I have no choice but to accept it. Seeing that your puny little courage made you challenge me was very impressive. Dont worry my business was only you so your team can scram now! I really want to make you pay since that night, you didn't now how much pain I suffered. I really want to tear you apart but since I'm a benovolent person I will just make you suffer!"
At Harvi's long-winded speech, I only responded with words much shorter, but held several times more weight.
"Then let's start, I'm going to defeat you" I raised the sword in my right hand, letting it face Harvi, and showed a steady posture.
"Don't Intervene, This is my fight" I reminded my teammates. Understanding my will, they took a step back.
I took a deep breathe, Sharpening my battle sense.
When fighting a mage on a one versus one, timing would be the essence. I had to use my skill first to shorten the gap while my opponent was still activating his skills. In other words, The first one to hit the target wins.
The only problem was Harvi also knew martial arts so it might become a close-range combat.
But.....
Even before I made my move, The sinister feeling returned and crushed me in an gigantic pressure.
'A-as i thought, It was not Harvi who had that vile aura!' I panicked. Tremors of unease conquered my heart.
'Damn it, I let my guard down when Harvi appeared! ' I clenched my fist out of fear.
'What was this ominous feeling!'
When I activated my Ki, the pressence returned and even came back way stronger than before. Not only that, the ominous aura was already moving towards us at lightning speed.
"TAAAAAAAKE COOVEEER!" I roared in panic, attempting to alert everyone but it was too late.
BOOOOOOM!
Something fell out of the skies like a meteor, everyone was thrown away by the sheer force of the impact. Tremors vibrated when the unknown hit the ground.
Cloud of dust rosed and engulf everything in the impact point!
"Is everyone okay!!?" I yelled asking for everyone's response.
"I-I'm okay!" That was Rika's voice.
"Just a little dizzy but still alive" Mark was also safe.
"Still alive! Thanks God!" and Edgar too.
"Uhhhhhmmm" by the sound of it Fatty was alive too.
"how about you, Harvi!?" Even though it's not my obligation to confirm if he/ his team was still alive, I still did because he was still my classmate. I may be stupid but I'm that kind of person.
"Damn it all, I don't need any of your fucking concern!! " It looked like he's alive and kicking but as for the other five I dont know.
After a while the cloud of dust was cleared, A being started to crawl up from the crater. It was creature from my blackest nightmares, a thing too hideous for reality, a being sprung from the flaming pits of hell, a creature whose visage could bring screaming madness to the stablest and sanest of men.
He stooped half-crouch with head four and a half feet on the ground and stood before us. His hair hung in slimy black coils to his broad inhuman shoulders, his bony and gruesome features were partially concealed by an overgrown hair from its back. His eyes were dark, glittering like pits of madness and horror, his hands jagged claws were like blades that could tear any flesh apart. I cursed in fear seeing the first demon in my entire life.