"Oi," Izik's brows furrowed the moment he heard Ryo's voice through the ear cuff. "Are you both still alive."
"We're fine," Quinlan replied. "Me and Error are currently on the fifth island."
"We're you able to defeat the mini-boss?" Smythe joined the conversation.
Quinlan glanced at Izik who just raised an eyebrow. "Yep," the guy gave him another overly friendly smile. Izik inwardly sighed.
"I'm glad you two are okay," They could hear the relief in his voice. "You two did a great job." Izik and Quinlan replied with simple thanks.
"Okay, let's meet at the fourth island," Smythe sounded tired. "Kameron is down, Aleksi is carrying him."
That surprised them. Quinlan asked the question that hung on the tip of Izik's tongue. "We're on our way, what happened?" They started moving toward the bridge that connected the fifth to the fourth island.
"It's the mini-boss on the third island," Smythe replied. "We luckily got at the right time when Kameron fainted." Quinlan and Izik exchanged a quick look. "We're not really sure what happened and all I can tell you was that the mini-boss was annoying as fuck." Smythe's language had always been unrefined but never this uncouth.
"Sounds like the one I faced," Quinlan replied, striving to lighten up the mood. Izik could feel the change in Quinlan's mood. The way it dropped and then went away was giving him a bit of a whiplash. They both reached the bridge to the fourth island. The two of them decided to slow down.
"Really?" Smythe asked. "The one we faced was an ugly-looking teacher with a magic that's annoying." And you can still hear the annoyance in her tone.
Izik's eyes darted toward the huge mansion before them. The fourth island was the biggest island on the map. It was also where the main mansion of the Delaney family stood. It was not as big as the other noble houses however it was still enormous compared to everything on that island.
"Mine happened to be a doctor of some sort," Quinlan chuckled but Izik could practically see the dark aura leaking from him. He was still obviously pissed about the monster he fought. "Who plays a little too much with his thread." Ah, Izik could only imagine how Quinlan was wrapped around those threads. The cuts on his body were proof of it.
Izik decided to not dwell on it and eyed the mansion before them. According to the dungeon lore, Lovelia was the only daughter of Count and Countess Delaney. She's a sickly young lady who loved nature and people. Wanting to provide the best environment for their child Count Delaney bought the rights to the island and built a mansion there. The very mansion Izik was looking at was the mansion where Lovelia spent the rest of her life.
"Looks beautiful," Quinlan commented as soon as they reached the mansion's courtyard. "You can definitely see how the Count cherished his daughter." Izik couldn't contest that seeing how beautiful and well-taken care of the garden was. The landscaping of the whole place was phenomenal. The amount of work placed on it was nothing to joke about.
Izik only gave a nod. "We're at the mansion's courtyard," he told the others.
"Error! Quil!" They turned to see Smyth and the others approaching them. As she mentioned earlier, Kameron was being carried by Aleksi on his back.
"Is he okay?" Izik asked as soon as they finally regroup. He waited for a warning from Perspective but nothing came. That assured Izik.
"He's fine," Aleksi replied with a grin. "I think he just passed out."
Ryo approached Quinlan and started handing him all their loot from the third island's mini-boss. Atticus was more than happy to swallow everything up. Izik refused to look at it because no matter how much he tried he can't seem to get used to the sight of a snake swallowing gold coins and other items.
Smythe began telling them about the mini-boss of the third island. The monster was known as Educator. According to Smythe's poor description, it looked like an old lady with saggy wrinkled skin that was surrounded by floating heads of children crying. The image that it painted on Izik's mind was not really good.
"The most annoying part of it was its magic," Smythe rolled her eyes. The Educator apparently has a magic that makes you follow whatever it says. "It keeps commanding us to stay silent or stay in the corner." Smythe continued to vent about how it reminded her of those strict tutors that families hire for their children.
Izik's eyes somehow drifted to Ryo and he saw how Ryo's expression changed as he eyed the sleeping Kameron. Seemed like the reason Kameron fainted was more personal.
"I went against a doctor," Quinlan told them. Back when there were no Acolytes, Izik read that the ones that helped the people were called doctors. Quinlan recalled his fight and explained why he looked tattered and filled with cuts.
"I saw Fang," Aleksi said. Izik thought that Aleksi and Quinlan met because of SOS but by the looks of it, the two seemed to go way back. Way before Aleksi decided to create a guild.
"Uh, yeah, I had to call Fang," Quinlan smiled. Aleksi looked worried but before he could even ask Quinlan quelled his worries, "It's fine, Error gave me a potion. I got my mana levels back."
Aleksi turned to Izik, he could see the relief on his face, "Thanks, Error."
"No problem," Izik replied.
"What about you, Error?" Smythe asked. The whole guild looked at him. Anticipating.
"I went against a prison warden," Izik gave a brief version of how he fought the Warden.
"According to Max, the exit should appear once we defeated the four mini-bosses," Aleksi said. "By the looks of it, we have managed to defeat them all."
Smythe couldn't hide her excitement, "Finally we can go home! I can take a bath and we have money! I can finally buy the clothes I was eyeing!" The others didn't say anything but Izik could feel the relief and the want to leave the dungeon and close it as soon as possible.
[ !!!! ]
Izik was quick to draw Rakon. Seeing how he suddenly became alert, the others followed suit. Their instincts flared seconds after Izik. The ground trembled a bit and suddenly the sky was turning orange, and the sun was rising.
They began to hear soft cries together with the garden slowly wilting. The flowers were dying, and the leaves of the trees were falling. And the beautiful mansion started showing signs of neglect. The walls were cracked and invested with wild vines. Some of the windows were broken.
"I don't like this," Smythe muttered. Their intuition was telling them that something was coming. "I thought we only need to defeat four mini-bosses and we already did that."
A window appeared and Izik's eyes widened.
.
.
[ 📣 EVENT ]
[ LOVELIA'S MOURNING
→ Defeat the boss LOVELIA and leave the dungeon
Event Duration: 1hr 30m
Rewards:
— 2,000 Gold Coins
— One (1) ACTIVE SKILL
— One (1) ARTIFACT
Good luck! ]
.
.
And though the rewards were enticing what really surprised Izik was that the dungeon has a main boss. He was warned that respawned dungeons usually went through changes and would have either items or monsters that were not originally in there but it was still a shock.
"There's a boss," Izik told the guild.
"What?" Smythe whipped her head to Izik. "What are you talking about, Error?"
"I don't think we can leave," Izik turned to Smythe. They could hear the cries much louder now. "You are aware how respawned dungeons could change."
"You're saying that there's a boss now?" Quinlan asked. Izik nodded. "How do you even know that?" That stumped Izik. He doesn't even know how to answer that. He couldn't simply reveal to them that there was a system that was basically telling him what he needed to know. There's no way Izik would reveal a trump card aside from the fact that it doesn't sound believable even in their world where magic was the norm.
Before any poor excuse leave his mouth, the mansion's double door swung open. All heads turned to the door. They waited with bated breaths, hands holding tightly on their withdrawn weapon. A woman walked out of the door, dressed from head to toe in nothing but black. In her hand was a black handkerchief while her head was covered with a black long veil.
Izik could hear Smythe choke on the words she wanted to say but the presence of the woman was strong. They were instantly swallowed by crippling terrors. Their skin tightened. Every step she took placed a heavy dread that clung deep down their skin.
'What a menacing aura', Izik swallowed hard.
"Who are you?" The moment they heard her voice, they could feel fear consuming them. Eating them like nothing, ready to spit nothing but their bones. "Are you here to mourn the people?" Gods, Izik thought, her voice was ice cold and eerie. He was sure it will haunt him in his sleep.
None of them could even open their mouth. They all have painful lump stucked in their throat while they fight to gain back their composure. Their hands were shaking. Izik fought to keep his hold on his sword, he fought to keep his knees from giving in.
The woman was getting closer. Izik took a deep breath and activated Perspe—
Suddenly his cheeks were roughly cupped by a single hand, long sharp nails digging into them. The woman's face was an inch away from his. The hair on his nape stood. A cold shiver ran down his spine. Izik could feel himself freeze from terror.
Ice-cold breath fanned against Izik's face, "What are you doing, boy?"