Krastinaff's companions stand up, they're not surprised, but they hope at least for Krastinaff to come up with a plan, they look to him with suspicion. Rikka can only get up with Amira's help.
"Aren't you serious?!" Susano questions Krastinaff, their companions wait for Krastinaff's reaction before saying what they think.
"Yes, there is no alternative, I already thought about it" Krastinaff doesn't seem mentally altered, his physical condition is still pretty bad.
"So explain, what are we not understanding here?" Amira is direct. "Are we going to continue until we die?" Amira implies that this can only be madness.
"This place is called the Dungeon of Sacrifice, it's not just a scary name, it's about how the dungeon works, there's no way out alive after entering without finishing." Krastinaff looks at everyone as he speaks calmly.
"Kras… there are people out there who disagree with you, they've given up, they've realized it's not worth it." Rikka sounds sweet, but she is just weak by using her magic to heal her companions.
"They lie, they probably gave up when they found the first enemies and left the way they got in, I read the inscriptions I could so far, the deeper you penetrate this dungeon, the harder it is to get out alive" Krastinaff responds directly to Rikka.
"But you can leave, right?" Amira concentrates on what she wanted to hear, Krastinaff shakes her head slightly.
"Listen up, it's harder to go back than to go forward, when you kill a creature, others will try to sacrifice themselves to avenge it." Krastinaff knows the calm will end soon, Rikka shakes her head almost in tears.
"But if we keep going, won't we have to kill more creatures?" Susano again challenges Krastinaff with a louder voice.
"We are in the last zone of this layer, the layers are sealed to each other, when we get to the next one, we can try to avoid conflict, to not attract more enemies".
"Enough, I've already said, let's go, Krastinaff always had lucky, if we had listened to him last time, we wouldn't have come to this crap." that discussion they had in the tavern before they came to this dungeon colony is about to restart.
The discussion boils and screams spread out from the chamber that are drawing the attention of all the creatures nearby, they stop when they hear loud knocks on the doors and corridors outside the chamber, Rikka is terrified, she is still almost powerless.
"Shut up!" Krastinaff yells harshly, his comrades fear both, Krastinaff and the guardian monsters trying to invade, they fall silent.
"It doesn't matter if you can run, we have to run, clear a path and run through, no torches, at least in this layer, light catches the monsters' attention and seems to be part of traps activation mechanisms" Krastinaff's colleagues seem realize something that should have been obvious earlier.
"It's true, when I ran to see the scorpion chamber, it was a lot easier and I didn't had any light with me." Ramon makes the silly pose, but everyone took too long to figure it out.
"It must be the effect of illusions, nothing here is a simple danger" Susano seems to understand better his problem in keeping his concentration on his protection mantras.
Cracks appear on the two doors of the chamber and on parts of the walls, the sounds of the creatures outside invade the environment, it is very loud and mixed, Susano picks up her best bomb with regret.
"As soon those things invade, take shelter, I've only got one of this, if we're just going to run away then don't waste a moment, those things don't stop for long unless completely destroyed" everyone is apprehensive, there's no shortage of columns to take shelter of the shock wave of the explosion, all that remains is to know which side to hide to.
"Throw the torches in the opposite direction!" Amira warns her companions in a snap, they respond well to the suggestion, they don't say anything, but it's clear from the look on their faces.
"One more thing, I'm going to the rear, Ramon is still in the front, he can open the way and see better" everyone agrees to Krastinaff, and a piece of the wall along with the door behind them collapses, lots of crazed creatures invading.
Susano throws his bomb and everyone hides, but Rikka's left leg is hit by the shock wave, she feels the bone crack, it would be easy to heal that in a short time with magic, if she had the magic and time to do that.
Ramon is aware and puts Rikka on his shoulder again and runs away, even with only one hand free it's easy for him to get past the fallen creatures that haven't died yet, Rikka throws her torch and is happy to do it right.
The others go right behind Ramon and also throw their torches, this torches get attention of some creatures away, they all hear the start of a new cycle, it seems to stir up the creatures, they cross many traps and get hurt in many of them, luckily for them nothing serious, at least it doesn't feel serious.
Gases, blades, explosions and enemies on the way. Nothing seems to be able to stop them, they just have the will to survive in mind. Everyone is bleeding and slows down with each wound, but they don't want to die.
Passing through a long corridor, they all fall with the collapse of the corridor, they try to fall hurting themselves as little as they can, but they suffer some serious injuries, they run already limping and stumbling, exhausted, it may have been minutes, but they feel like tht was a life of penance in hell.
One more long corridor and they are scared, the last one revealed to be the worst trap they've faced recently, Krastinaff smiles without anyone noticing, not even himself.
A warm light seems to pass through the end of the wall on the right side at the end of that corridor, like when you see a strong light passing through a person's hand. Krastinaff gathers all his strength, and screams but nothing comes out.
"To the right!" he insists managing to raise his voice each time, until Ramon in front of everyone can hear just in time, Ramon has to turn around and push some monsters aside.
Kratinaff throws some blows on the monsters to get through, in front of him he sees Rikka is opening the door, they can't wait for it to open on their own, they'll have to force the entrance.
Ramon moves to his side to repel the monsters from the rest of the group, a giant beetle appears in the direction Ramon was heading before he heard Krastinaff, the beetle runs over the undead chimeras in its path, the door opens behind them, Krastinaff doesn't realizes and is pulled by Ramon to inside, they barely manage to close the door with the creature's shock on the door.
Rikka lands on her back on the grass and realizes she's seeing, she's almost getting used to being in that dark, but she looks around and sees she won't have time to rest again.
It doesn't take long for them to realize that they are in a strange environment, full of plants, plants everywhere, huge trees scattered as far as the eye can see, they don't know any place like that, under the grass there is a lot of dust, everything they've ever known they were potted plants or flower beds, but this flower bed is huge.
There are many birds singing, and also the sound of other animals near and far, Susano soon finds an avocado tree close by, he had never seen one so big, it is many times the size of Ramon and is crowded with avocados ready to the gathering.
Susano takes the treasure to his friends, they appreciate it a lot, a wonderful flavor they didn't know a fruit could have, they take over their meals, everything about that fruit is a reason for them to admire, color, smell, taste, texture.
Maybe only the wealthiest figures in society have tasted something like this, maybe it's from places like this that the delicacies of the banquets they've witnessed a few times come from.
They eat without haste, as there is no danger in sight, and this makes them uneasy, they look at Susano from time to time, Susano doesn't say anything and looks fine, with no signs of a headache or anything like that.
"Susano?" Krastinaff asks and the uneasiness in his voice is blatant. "Spit it out" Susano doesn't understand Krastinaff's voice being like that. "Aren't you feeling weird? Feeling something strange in this place?" Krastinaff tries not to look like an asshole when asking, but fails miserably.
"Go to hell Krastinaff! I know I can't stop a second with my mantras, but the truth is that I don't see any sign of illusion magic around here, I thought it was strange, but beeggars can't be choosers" Susano is snapping, stay clearly pissed at having his only moment of peace since entering this dungeon being interrupted by Krastinaff's petulance.
Their companions laugh shyly, but that doesn't dispel their suspicion, although the environment seems strange, it seems too calm for what they're used to, there's something wrong here, they decide to rest right there, following Susano's wisdom, 'beggars can't be choosers'.
They spend a lot of time there, they take turns on the lookout, eat, sleep, pack their equipment, and occasionally an animal attacks them and ends up in the pot, when the bell rings announcing a new cycle they are sure they are still inside the dungeon, even though they've never lived in any other environment, there must be more than just dungeons in the infinity of darkness.
"We have to go, everything is fine here, but we have a mission and a deadline to get our things back in the tavern outside." Krastinaff is saddened at having to pull his friends out of this waking dream.
"Krastinaff, NO! We have everything we need here, so that we go back to that shitty life out there? We may have to live like wildlings, but it's more civilization than out there! Amira complains vehemently, Krastinaff puts a hand on her shoulder and looks her in the eyes.
"Come on, it might look good now, but how long will it last?" Krastinaff chose his words well, Krastinaff's questioning awakens the uneasiness in Amira's eyes.
Amira without arguments just bows her head in silent consent, she still hopes they'll give up before they find their way out.
They walk for more than a league and take a break, the whole place looks like a variation of the entrance, they can no longer see the door, they still have their own footprints and marks intentionally made by Ramon on the way so they don't get lost.
"See Kras, Amira must be right, this place is great we just need to find a water source" Krastinaff is silent, he walks a little ahead of the group and sees something familiar, they nod and whistle for the others to follow him.
They come slowly, especially because Krastinaff has a beautiful smile on his face, they quickly spot the reason for Krastinaff's satisfaction, a totem or simply a column, you can't tell for sure just by looking, but whatever it is will be carefully studied by Krastinaff, he hasn't seen an inscription for a long time, he must already be abstinent, his companions think.
Krastinaff just needs to drool, those inscriptions are unusual, they are much more detailed and well-finished, the work of a master, not a drunken bard, as he thinks he saw before coming to this dungeon, which until recently was the worst place they had already seen in their lives.
Krastinaff delights for hours with those inscriptions, trying to decipher them, certain that there is a lot of information encoded in them, after all, even if there are other similar things in this layer, they must be very far from each other.
Krastinaff's companions take the opportunity to rest a little longer and already try to prepare something else, who knows, if they have to stay another day or two there, they can improvise some weapon or item to improve their chances.
Krastinaff ignores the signal that another cycle has started, they noticed that the ambient light here never goes out, it's not the first time they've seen a dungeon with ambient light, but it's the first time that ambient light is permanent or very long lasting.
Krastinaff's companions see he's still entertained with signing up, Amira steps forward and goes to Krastinaff to return the favor, she places a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on Krastinaff, as you said, this may not last forever" Amira's satisfaction is crystal clear, the others also wanted to do the same with him, but they are content to watch Amira crumbling the happiness of Krastinaff, who lowers his head involuntarily imitating Amira.
They walk haphazardly again, Krastinaff keeps his focus on the notes he took observing those inscriptions he spent almost the entire last cycle studying avidly, Susano takes advantage of the moment to feel the taste of going ahead of the group, something very rare for him.