"Found anything yet?" Nina asked Talos, who was walking ahead of the group for now.
"Nothing yet." Talos replied in its electronic voice.
"It's strange. There are no monsters here. Are you sure we're at the right place?" Orla asked Joshua who nodded in reply.
"That's not the only weird thing either. Can't you see, a frigging robot is leading the party. How sick is that!" Justin, was one of the new members of the Black Knights.
"I'll have to say, Arnold is a man of many talents." Nina nodded. "Although he behaves like a weirdo sometimes, he's actually a good guy."
"Which talents are you taking about exactly?" Gabriel winked at her.
"Something you'll never have." Nina replied without even bothering to look at him.
"What?"
"A brain."
Everyone exploded with laughter.
"Savage! Haha..." Dan laughed but the fun was cut short by Talos. As usual.
"Something is wrong... Scanning related case files... fetching data... task completed." Talos mumbled, "According to the PRSD's research wing, empty dungeons are uncommon but they do exist. In such cases, the boss level creature somehow managed to break out of its confinement and slaughters every being inside the dungeon till no one is left. Something similar happened during the 'Great Shanghai Disaster'.
"When this happens, the boss level creature, in thirst for more destruction, tries to break through the dungeon. The natural barrier, which prevents the escape of the monsters, may or may the not be able to hold the boss level Monster back, as it only acts as a barrier for the normal grade monsters not for boss grade monsters. Thus to prevent this, the guilds are allotted regions of their own to take care of any and every dungeon that pops open in their territory such that if any dungeon breakouts happen, the guild could stop the monsters from causing much destruction.
"But this dungeon is different. Although there are no monsters here, there's no sign of a breakout either."
"What are you trying to say?" Joshua was concerned about everyone else.
"This is not a natural phenomenon." Talos informed the others.
"That's it. We're out of here. Send the emergency signal for backup. Till the backup arrives we'll guard the entrance and wait there." Joshua ordered the others are tried to send the signal to the guild but the communicator wasn't working. "Damn it! We're not that deep into the dungeon yet, Why isn't it working?"
Just then they heard low growl of a monster, who was rushing towards them.
"EVERYONE OUT NOW!" Orla bellowed, and the others rushed towards the entrance.
"THERE I CAN SEE THE ENTRANCE!" Dan shouted.
"KEEP GOING!" Joshua shouted from behind.
But before they could reach the entrance, they heard a blood curdling scream coming from the outside.
"No..." Orla gasped, when she saw two 7 feet tall panther like creatures walking through the entrance. One of them seemed to be dragging something with its mouth.
"My... God..." Nina whispered in horror.
The panther like monster was dragging the bloodied body of Coco, their porter, whom they had left outside because they thought it wouldn't been unnecessary as Talos was going to carry the backpack. They thought by doing this they were keeping him safe but in the end they were the ones to put him in danger.
"Look his hand moved a little, he's alive but I don't think he'll survive for long. Hurry up and take the beasts down and then-"
ROARRRRR!
That growl immediately petrified everyone. Joshua turned around and saw a larger creature having the resemblance of a lion, most probably the leader of the pack, came into full view. It was massive and it's skin was as white as a pearl. It was even larger than the other two creatures... It's mane was so long that it touched the ground.
While Joshua was busy examining the lion like beast, the panther who was dragging Coco, dropped him on the ground and bit his shoulder. Everyone thought they'd hear Coco's scream but they didn't. He simply didn't have any strength left to do so.
Maybe the this displeased their 'Lion King', who growled at the panther. The panther immediately retreated but kept toying with Coco, as if it wanted the others to attack it.
"YOU BAS*ARD!" Gabriel shouted at the panther and was about to charge at him but Joshua stopped him.
"WAIT! can't you see they are provoking us to do something harsh? EVERYONE! DEFENSE FORMATION! MAGES AND HEALERS STAY IN THE MIDDLE AND PROVIDE SUPPORT!" Joshua ordered his teammates. "Talos! When the opportunity arises, grab Coco and run outside. Once you're out try to get help."
"Request acknowledged." Talos mumbled.
"...and pray that a miracle happens." Orla whispered.
*****
BACK AT THE BLACK ESTATE...
"Oh come on! You call this training? We've been sitting here and doing nothing for an hour now." Arnold complaint, "I thought you'll teach me some combat techniques or something."
Arnold and Nathan were sitting in the garden and were meditating after doing yoga for a while.
Nathan slowly opened his eyes and gave a sharp look to Arnold. "This is called meditation, not sitting around." Even though it looked like Nathan was angry, his voice was calm as a lake. "And meditation is the best way for mages to increase their power."
Not when you have a system to guide you, Duh! Arnold thought.
"Alright, alright. I'll meditate like a 60 year old virgin guru." He said and closed his eyes.
He tried his best to 'meditate' but his mind kept wandering. According to him, this was nothing but a waste of his precious time, which he could have utilised to go to the dungeon and hopefully rank up. But yet here he was, busy meditating like a boomer.
If I'm stuck maybe, I should have some fun, Arnold thought and activated his [FORESIGHT] ability, because why not? He couldn't move when he used the skill either way, so this was best time to do it.
He felt his consciousness detaching from his body and slowly opened his eyes, hoping to see himself being stuck in the garden and meditating. Instead, when he opened his eyes, he was inside a tunnel.
"No, it looks like... a dungeon?" Arnold mumbled, in a moment the scenery was changed and he could faintly see Nina, Gabriel, Dan and Talos fending off some strong beasts while Orla was busy healing an injured Joshua.
Arnold wanted to do something to help them but couldn't. He started screaming and soon heard someone repeated calling his name as he was pulled back into his body.
"Arnold? ARNOLD? You okay?" Nathan lightly smacked on his cheeks.
"W-We have to hurry!" Arnold stood up in a flash, almost knocking Nathan down.
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Nathan replied.
"We have to hurry! THE OTHERS ARE IN DANGER!"