Rose was choosing Rasha's clothes and giving some pointers to Kaneki when she felt a disturbance in the space and a slight tremor. Many people were clueless about the sudden stop of some people.
Those people that stopped their activities were all hunters, and, like Rose, they knew what was happening. A portal was opening somewhere close to them.
The tremor suddenly increased in force. That caused them to look for the origin and began to evacuate the people on the mall.
Hunters were trained to perceived those changes and were obliged to help the people to leave safely. They needed to avoid anyone getting close to the emerging portal because it could suck the anything and anyone into it.
Rose began to look where the portal was forming, when she saw two boys heading to the perfume section. That was the moment she noticed the big forming portal at their meeting point: the perfumes section.
"Sora! Viktor! Stop!" Rose yelled at them.
She was rushing with Rasha and Kaneki. The other hunters also noticed the big portal and saw the two boys that were turning their heads after Rose's yell.
"NO!!!" Rose tried to go after them, but was stopped by two hunters.
"Don't go over there, you have two kids with you right now," the hunter that seemed to be the oldest of the two told her.
"We have already informed the Hunter's Organization, you need to wait," the other hunter also told her trying to calm her.
Rose knew they were right. She couldn't go at the moment with Rasha and Kaneki. She called Jin telling him what happened. He told her to wait for them.
* * * * * * * * *
"Finn, we are going to the place Rose and the others are," Jin said. Finn nodded and began to check that everyone was together.
* * * * * * * * *
"Oh sh*t!" Viktor cursed.
Sora and Viktor knew a bit about portals. The first thing they learned is to avoid any opening portal for their safe.
This was common knowledge nowadays because portals could form anywhere anytime, so people need to be prepared when that happened. However, it was difficult to pinpoint the place where the portal was forming. Only hunters with the training and experience could sensed the changes on their surroundings getting the conclusion that a portal was appearing near the position they were at.
Rose already got a similar experience when she was fifteen after closing the portal which was her first mission. A portal appeared next to the one her team was exiting, taking everyone inside with its sucking power.
They were lucky because the place where they were spitted out was close to the entrance of the portal.
The problem Viktor and Sora were having was that, first, they were ten year kids who hasn't activated the System, and, second, if they move or stay where they were spitted out, they could be found by a monster.
"If we stay here, we surely die. We must move," Sora said to Viktor.
Viktor was scared but he knew that Sora was right. Furthermore, their luck was not bad: they didn't ended inside the boss' room.
They began to move, however, they didn't noticed that something was following them.
After walking for some time, they began to feel hungry. The only things they had with them were the clothes they took and a backpack that someone threw them before being sucked by the portal.
"Let's stop here and check what we have," Viktor told Sora.
"Yes."
Viktor was stronger than Sora mainly because Viktor still has a big brother who sent him money. His brother was in his mid-twenties. So the food he could eat could be bought outside and was better than the one Ma'am Diana gave them.
Viktor knew that Sora was already tired, that was his reason of saying those words.
They stopped and sit down where a bright crystal was giving some light. They opened the backpack.
"Look! There's some food and a bottle of water!" Viktor was surprised to see the contents of the backpack.
He took a sandwich and gave it to Sora who accepted it. Then he took the other one and ate it.
"How much time you think has passed since we arrived to the dungeon?" Sora asked. He felt that they have walked around four hours and no monster has appeared. He was happy with that, but also a bit worried.
"Maybe outside has passed more or less time, or even the same. I heard Jin saying that the time is different from the main world (the Earth) and the dungeons. But normally, the time inside a dungeon is flowing faster than on Earth," Viktor explained Sora what Jin told them once.
"Oh!" Sora expressed with interest.
And Viktor was not wrong. Four hours have passed inside the dungeon, but, outside, only two hours have passed.
* * * * * * * * *
Jin, and Finn arrived and found Rose with Rasha and Kaneki inside a tent that the Hunter's Organization put up.
"Is there any news?" Jin asked immediately.
"No, an hour ago they began to measure the energy that the portal has. The conclusion was that is an F-rank portal, so the monsters are not too strong. I'll go with the second group to look for them, you and Finn take the kids to the orphanage, Lilian's heart needs to rest," Rose gave Rasha to Jin while Kaneki just looked at her and followed her words.
"I don't want you to entered to an 'F-rank' portal recently measure. It's dangerous!" Jin tried to convinced Rose to stay while also thinking to go himself.
"I know, but they were my responsibility and not yours" Rose said firmly, leaving no room to a discussion, "I'll be alright and also I'll find them," she relaxed her expression and gave Jin a kiss on his cheek.
"Give me the dollar…" Lilian whispered to Dolores who gave her a dollar.
* * * * * * * * *
"This dungeon is like a maze…" Viktor complained.
Crack!
"Did you hear that?" Sora asked in a whisper.
"Yes, something is following us…" Viktor answered in a whisper too.
The two turned their heads slowly at the same time, and noticed two more shadows that weren't theirs.
Sora quietly casted ~Observation~ on them, and got these information.
🐾🐾🐾
Shadow
Level: 5
Description: Shadows are night creatures, their origin is a mystery. They like to poses other creatures shadows. I recommend to run.
[Skills]
Shadow Possession.
🐾🐾🐾
Sora didn't need the reminder the description gave him. He and Viktor began to run. After they started running, more shadows appeared behind them.
They understood now why they haven't seen any monster until now: the shadows killed all the monsters and absorbed them, or, they were the only kind of monsters in that dungeon.
After running some distance, they got tired and stopped next a bright crystal. They thought they were going to die there. Sora felt frustrated. He finally activated the System yesterday, but now, he would die the next day.
Just as they were angry with their destiny, they found that the shadows didn't get close to them. Something was repelling them and preventing them to got closer to the two kids.
"The light of the crystal must be the cause," Sora pointed.
"Yes! Light is the nemesis of shadows," Viktor got excited after their discovery.
But Sora was still in deep thought. He felt that something was missing. No matter how low rank was a dungeon, it was a dangerous place no matter where one stayed.
His questions were soon answered.
The light from the crystal began to fade.
Viktor felt the world crumbling after he noticed the change too.
Sora looked at the shadows and he could swear that a deformed smiled appeared in their faces (he guessed. Sora didn't know if the shadows have faces or not) giving him chills all over his body. Only one of them didn't smiled, but Sora felt that that one was the leader.
"We must continue running and find another light crystal, ready?" Sora helped Viktor to keep a racional stance.
Both of them were scared. They were only kids who fell by accident in that situation. Viktor felt that he could faint any moment.
"Yes!" Viktor knew that Sora's words were right, they must continued moving preventing to get on the shadows' clutches.
"NOW!" Sora gave the signal.
The shadows seemed to guess their plan, so the moment Sora said "Now!" and the light was gone completely, the shadows jumped and fell between them. Viktor was the first one, so he could continue running like a madman, but Sora was stopped with the sudden appearance pf the shadows, giving no choice but to run into another direction.
That way, they got separated. Viktor had the backpack, while Sora only had two of the shirts he chose and the jacket.
Sora run with all his strength but was soon exhausted. For his luck, he found a light crystal and got some rest. He needed some water but with Viktor having the backpack, he was left with anything.
"Yes! I remember now that the shop has a tab of consumables," Sora quickly entered the interface of the shop.