It was mid day when they got back to Crystalis and they headed straight to the castle to see the King. They entered and he was happy to see them, he assumed if they were back that meant they succeeded in their quest to get the first piece back from the dungeon and smiled widely as he looked upon it.
"Well, that is quite a thing, is it not." He handed it back without saying much and gleefully made his way back to the throne and sat down, "Well then, it seems you have done well and will be heading out soon to locate the others, yes?" He questioned with a brow raised and a smirk crossing his lips. They all looked around, feeling a bit more confident in themselves, they agreed that they were willing to continue the quest for the others. "Splendid, this one will be a bit harder, as I can't very well know the location of all the pieces, it will be up to you to gather the information and located each dungeon. It shouldn't be to hard, these things stand out and people talk." He then waved them away with his white glove as a knight opened the doors behind them. It would seem the King was done and gave them all the information that he was willing to.
They quickly headed back to the guild hall, saying hello to Ana before they slipped up to their usual room and all sat around talking about the dungeon and all the things they did and learned. Art proudly stating he got to level six, though, it would seem they were all that level now and Razah seemed to get to level seven with all the work she put in throughout the quest. But the room grew silent in a matter of moments.
"So where should we find information? Sense the King doesn't know anything, we can be sure that no one else in town does." Vixen stretched her arms out and gave a yawn as she spoke.
"We can always ask Ana."
"Art, you need to leave that poor virtual girl alone." Meekle gave him a few jabs with his shoulder as he bounced his eyebrows up and down, Fenix quickly joining in.
"You all suck. It's the best lead we have and you know it." A blush coming over Art, he knew she was a part of the game but still he couldn't help that she was attractive, was it really as weird as the rest of them made it out to be.
"Fine, lover boy does have a point, we might as well go and ask her." Vixen got up and opened the door as she joined the joke. They all started heading down stairs, feeling hungry they decided to order food while Meekle, Vixen and Art went to talk to Ana, the other three ordered food for all of them and sat at one of the long tables in the hall, there were always other people around but no one they paid much attention to. Today there happened to be a bald man with a rat like face, his teeth chattering together as his beady little eyes watched them all.
"Ah, so you decided to help the King after all?" Ana the tone in her voice a bit lower as she talked, as though they were sharing secrets, "Well, I have heard a few things. I know that people beyond the forest outside the city have been speaking about weird stuff going on, that might be a good place to start. Other than that, I got nothing." Her shoulders shrugged, her lip curling to one side. They thanked her and headed to the table to talk to the rest of the group about the little bit of info they had found out. It wasn't much but it was something to get the ball rolling and if nothing else they get to go see a new town or village, they weren't sure which.
They ate their food and went out to spend some of their money that they earned, Art and Razah buying a new sword and staff, wanting to be able to do even better in battle and everyone buying up pots and potions so they wouldn't be caught of guard next time. They were getting a better handle on the things they would need to survive, that led Fenix to the armory so he could buy something to help him with defense without taking away from his speed, they had a few things but some of the stats didn't work for him, still he was able to buy a new set of armor for his legs, Razah caught him in there and agreed with him, it was such a good idea and she looked for items as well. They came out with a slightly higher defense state, Fenix was now wearing what seemed like a panther hide kilt that hung longer on his left side and was strapped with leather. Razah with her new jeweled staff and a light cloth mail across her shoulders and going down her arms, her wrists strapped with silver.
They rushed around finding Art as they gave him a new chest plate, this one was similar to his but had a single point in the middle of the chest and gave him a plus two to his defense but dropped his speed by one. He was very happy with it and so thankful that they for some reason thought of him. Meekle and Vixen saving their money for better items to come later and Tophuu having bought snacks as well as new gauntlets, these ones looking less like basic jaw bones and more like lizard ones now. Though the snacks he bought, he learned were for buffs as he ate a whole bar of chocolate and felt like he was jittery all over, wanting to run up and down the streets, he was even more hyper than usual. With every day the learned something new about the world.
They finally headed back to the guild hall, it was pretty quiet as the day was soon to end and most everyone was in their rooms or had left by now. They headed up to the room and all started to ready themselves for bed, except for Tophuu who was still feeling hyper after eating his candy. Soon he started feeling paranoid as midnight struck, he started pacing around and a light caught the corner of his eye from the window, looking to see just what it was he could see the streets were filled with soldiers but they looked different from the knights, their armor was dark in color and their eyes glowed through the helmet a green color, the rat like man was out there talking with them before they tossed him aside.
Soon enough Tophuu could hear screaming, it woke everyone in the room as they wondered just what was going on. The men outside were going through houses and buildings searching for someone as their was soon a knocking at their door, all their hearts sank a bit as Meekle went over to the and cracked it open before letting out the breath he was holding and let the door swing open revealing it to be Ana. They all breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed at their chest.
"Ana, what's going on?" Art was the first to ask the question.
"It's the Legion, they are raiding the town, it got out that you were here with a piece of the seal." They all looked around and wondered who would have told on them.
"It was the rat guy, from the hall." Tophuu pointed out the window but he was no longer there. It was no time to debate who did it or why.
"Get everything you need and come on." Ana rushed them out the door and down the stairs but it was to late, in the main hall stood four Legion members, three with heavy set armor and one with a hood and a staff. They were rushed into the battle and had to fight them off, but it wasn't going to well for them, the Legion were powerful and they were barely able to defend against them as they were shoved around, the guild hall being destroyed in the process of this fight. Ana urged them to run for it and follow her behind the counter into the small store room behind the desk, she held the door for them as the long ranged attackers went through first and then the others rushed over, Art being the last one who had to jump over the counter to get away from them.
They found themselves in a small room and were confused as to why they would just hide in here, Ana's lips curled up like a smiling cat as she moved a large chest or rather tried to move it before she made them all do it for her, once moved it opened up a stare case that went far under the guild hall.
"This is awesome Ana." Art hugged her and she laughed out.
"Well, just don't tell anyone. We aren't exactly permitted to have this here, under order of the King all secret passages in town other than his own are prohibited, so." She raised her finger to her lips and blew air threw her teeth. They rushed down into the darkness and Vixen and Tophuu pulled the case back over it and what ever that door was made out of was some strong stuff to allow them to get away while the Legion still bashed against it trying to open it.
"This is actually an old passageway that we made sure to build right on top of when we made the guild. It might be a bit dangerous to go through but it will bring us out in the Slime Woods." They all thought of how odd of a name the forest was but it was easy enough to catch onto why they named it that. It relieved them to think that only slimes would be wondering inside the woods. Ana handed them a few torches that they lit with their ever lasting flint and then headed down a long hall that brought them into what looked like to be an old town that once stood here. The floors were made of stone and their were buildings everywhere that were torn down and ripped apart, it gave them all flash backs.
"This use to be an underground city of the Dwarves but they were ran out by something, no one is sure what, but when the Kingdom of Crystalia was born they decided to build on top of it. I am sure the past Kings wanted to use it for something but never got around to it, then it was forgotten about till our guild found it and built over it." Ana was over joyed that it finally came in handy, though the sound of scurrying around killed the joy for the rest of them as they looked around.
"Maybe its just WereRats." Meekle spoke with some home till something much larger crept past one of the houses, holding a large hammer in its hands.
"Well, they use to be WereRats." Ana had a nervous look on her face as she looked behind them. "We don't have time, soon the Legion will find this place, that door is strong but its not everlasting." She started pushing them forward.
The Mutant Rats quickly came out of hiding as the flame lit the room, most of them with some form of weapon, some even wearing armor. Vixen had a teeth clenched as her mouth had a small gape and her lips turned down at the side of them, the others feeling similar, except once again Tophuu who was doughy eyed over them. The rest of the group was thankful when he was unable to catch them. Still, they had much to worry about with the Legion on their tail and a group of dangerous rats in front of them. They rushed in and fought them off, Art slashing at one of the monstrous humanoid rats with Vixen shooting at it from afar, Fenix and Tophuu's pets took on another and Meekle buffed Razah while Tophuu defended her so she could cast spells. Ana stood back, watching with her bubbly joy as they fought of the rats, not seeming at all interested in helping them out.
"Wow, you are all doing so well, it seems like you have gotten strong." Her head tilted with a grin coming over her as she could hear clanking steps behind them. "Sounds like it is time to go."
She urged them to hurry the battle as they fought on, seeming shocked that these monsters weren't going down as easy as the ones in the last dungeon. The level of the area had increased and they were now having to work harder to do away with monsters but with one final sweeping attack they finished them off one by one, Razah finishing hers off first, so that they could help the others and knocking them down from there. After that they started moving quickly, an echoing clap sounding through the underground city with every step they took as Ana led them to the exit. They had to run past many monsters which gathered a horde that was now chasing them.
"We need to get rid of them." Art was reading himself to fight as was Vixen who agreed with him.
"No, this is a perfect time to leave them, if we are almost out then this will leave a trap for the Legion to fall into, thus buying us more time." Fenix told them, hoping that they would listen and keep on moving, there were way to many of them to fight them all off.
Soon they came to a ladder that seemed to go up a long ways, they all started up it, Art taking up the rear started kicking the rats down the ladder as they tried to follow them up.
"A little quicker guys, we don't have much time."
"We know but the door is locked, Ana do you have the key?" Vixen reached out hoping to be met with the keys, it took some time as Ana searched herself.
"Here they are." Her voice as cheerful as ever as she passed them up and they quickly fought the lock to get it to open.
They made their way out into a slime covered forest, giant leaves hanging with blue and green slime hanging from them, oozing off. Puddles laying about, some of them seemed to have eyes within them, as if they were being watched from all angels. Razah didn't want to take the chance as she readied her a spell and blasted the entrance, forcing it to cave in so they couldn't be followed any longer. The Legion hopefully had no idea where that tunnel led them to, as they all took a moment to catch their breath, Ana stared at the now caved in entrance with aw and a bit of sadness.
"We should stay here for now, they don't know where we are and have no reason to search the woods just yet." Vixen wasn't sure what the best move was but she tried to be strong for them in the moment and give good advice. They all agreed with her to stay there for now as they plopped down, trying to avoid the slime covered areas, though it was hard, as the trees, bushes, plants and even the ground were all covered in it. It was like spiders had taken over and covered it in webs, except this was much gooier, so far they had yet to be met with slimes. This made them all a bit nervous, did something run them off, or get rid of all of them, the idea crossed their minds that all their hunting from before got rid of them but it just didn't seem to fit with the amount of slime that was left about.
Soon dawn was coming, the sun crept over the mountains in the far west and started lighting the first bit by bit, the slime seemed to be almost shimmering, but that's not what scared them, all the slime started moving and gathering as they watched closely, all of them on their toes wondering what was happening.
"Oh, whoops. Did I forget to mention that." Ana giggled a bit with a hand over her mouth. "We should probably get moving."
"What is that Ana?" Meekle pointed at the gathering slime, his brow falling and his teeth chattering as it kept getting bigger.
"That would be king Slimey." She seemed awfully cheery about it as she told them.
Soon all the slime came together to show one large slime that jumped about, a crown topping its head, it was like a large blue bubble full of slime. He seemed to rest at night, falling apart and covering the forest in slime. They all looked at it, thinking it was kind of cute, especially with that tiny crown topping it but still it was much to dangerous as they started to run, once again feeling like they couldn't get a break.
"Can we just have one day where we aren't running for our lives." Meekle feeling his legs burning from the days of traveling and fighting they had all been doing.
"Now really isn't the time Meekle, just shut up and run." Vixen behind him, pushing him forward now so that he wouldn't stop. "I thought you were supposed to be the tough one in the group."
"I never said I wasn't." He dug deep and started really trying to move his legs as fast as he could. It didn't seem as though they were being chased by the slime though, there was no rumbling or cracking of trees happening as they started to slow, hitting the edge of the forest and all of them falling to the ground, trying to catch their breath as their faces beaded with sweat.
"He is considered an extra boss. Consider him a side quest but wont attack if he isn't attacked first, so we were perfectly safe." Ana just barely emerging from the forest herself.
"Then why did you tell us it was time to leave?" Fenix questioned.
"Well it is best to leave him be and if one of you did decide to attack it, I fear we would not have made it out." The whole time she talked her smile and giddy voice never leaving her, it was like she was always in a state of joy.
When they finally had the energy to stand back up they looked out and in the distance they could see there were a few towns and even farther than that there was the ocean, it was huge and beautifully shimmering in the morning sunlight and they all agreed it would be so nice to jump into the ocean in that moment, feeling so hot and sweaty. Ana explained that the town on the far left that hugged against the mountains was known as Trinity Town and the other was known as Peddle Town, not just for the large trees that bloomed their but also for the fact that it was a Trade town, they sent shipments all over, doing work with the Port town that was off in the distance that sat right on the edge of the ocean. After explaining this Ana bid them a fair well and seemed to be gone in no time, heading back through the forest towards Crystalis.
"It's okay Art, I am sure you'll see her again. I commend you on breaking the bounds into human and AI relations." Fenix patted his shoulder before the rest broke out into laughter. Though Arts face dropped, his eyes looking dull and his lips puckering a bit.
"Come on man, you have to admit that was a pretty wicked scorcher." Meekle ruffled at Arts hair a bit before Art tackled him down and they rolled around joking and play fighting.
"I loved you." Art shouted out as he pretended to choke Meekle, all of them now laughing uncontrollably as they all felt a new breath of life instilled in them before they set off to find the next dungeon. Though, dwelling in the back of all their minds was the want and will to get stronger, seeing just how strong the Legion was worried them, but it wasn't enough to stop them, they were going to push forward.