The group advanced cautiously, one behind the other. The street wasn't as deserted as last time. Here and there, they heard noises, prompting them to listen carefully. Occasionally, they saw people in their houses or passersby fleeing. Two isolated goblins stood about fifty meters away from them. They kept their distance and headed towards the supermarket. There, they began to fill their bags among others, seeing that several people had gathered here. Most seemed to have fled, some crying.
"Hurry! Get in!" said a person guarding the doors as he opened them. "It's not safe!"
"What happened?" asked a group member.
"Goblins attacked us," said a girl, tears streaming down her face. "What did we do to deserve all this? Jacob was kidnapped."
"kidnapped ? kidnapped for what?"
"I don't know! They seemed delighted!"
"It's for making money!" interrupted another. "Merchants are also slave traders, it's classic. They take whatever they can!"
"What the hell is this?" said a member who was keeping watch at the entrance, afraid the goblins would arrive.
A storm seemed to come out of nowhere. Rargnes and the others took cover.
"Who was the idiot who thought of opening the doors?" roared an elderly person.
"Sorry," replied the other.
"Sorry for what? Doors should be closed, especially in war!"
"But there were people outside!"
"And so? Is it worth our lives? You want me to make you understand?"
The old man grumbled, and the argument ended. They watched in the distance as the storm ravaged the ground, or rather, energized it. Someone outside banged on the door wildly, then noticed that in the end, they weren't suffering any injuries. They stopped, their fist swollen, and resumed running.
Rargnes saw something odd about it. Last time, he had heard a creature's noise. This couldn't be insignificant. Moreover— He hurried to his phone and noticed that it wasn't working anymore.
"Guys, it's not working."
"What?"
"The internet and everything. The storm is preventing us. I tried calling the group, and they didn't get it!"
At least the electricity was still working, and the supermarket was filled with food and water. The situation seemed even stranger as he had been to this same supermarket, and the mess inside wasn't familiar. He had seen a clean supermarket, empty of people but with all the products inside. It didn't surprise him so much since they could use teleportation and time travel, but still.
A creature leaped onto the door from the other side, breaking it in half.
"Ahh!" someone said.
The others pushed it back, then recoiled themselves, trying to grab any weapon or sufficiently long object to attack without getting hurt. The group pulled out knives. The beast hit its head again, which penetrated the glass door, then, after a few blows that moved the door, gave up and left their field of vision.
Rargnes had retreated behind the group at the front. The front row, and those behind it, couldn't retreat and would be the easiest prey.
Suddenly, orange-colored dust appeared like a whirlwind coming from the broken door and surrounded the most advanced group.
The dust took on a sand color and encased them in a solid dome, then hardened and stopped moving.
Someone tried to probe its depth with a knife blow to notice that it didn't even penetrate the sand. He listened on the other side and said, "No, we can't hear anything!"
[You have triggered the tutorial quest: Class Upgrade.]
The message disappeared after a few seconds, where they looked at each other and deduced that they had all heard and seen the same thing.
"What do we do?"
"We can't get out."
"It's a quest, there must be a way. Think of it like an escape game."
"But it's not a game!"
"Search and look."
Rargnes also inspected the area using the flashlight from his phone, searching every nook and cranny. Nothing. He spent the next few minutes looking at the grains of sand until someone shouted, "I found it, guys, come over!"