The group had been contemplating whether to keep descending or not. The sun had just risen so it would a while before noon time and the magma will once again come out from the ground and hell will break loose on the world. They weren't sure if the cursed lands of Vyris extended up to this giant chasm but either way, they had no other options left and they wouldn't dare go back to the forest or even to the giant's hand. Their only choice was to descend down the steep slopes and hope they could find something that would protect them from the noon curse until the sun sets again.
"We don't have much time left until noon so let's hurry up and descend." Shane seriously stated. "However, keep your guard up. There might be hellspawns hiding in the bottom."
"Got it."
"Alright."
Every single one of them nodded and agreed. Then they started to descend down the steep slopes. It was quite hard to walk as the stones were jagged and unbalanced like how it felt like when walking on mountain slopes, except that this wasn't a mountain but a giant rift that extends below the ground around 200 meters deep.
"This is exhausting. Why isn't there any proper road in here?" Ray exhaustingly complained.
He was panting as he was trying to carefully descend down without falling. His armor was a little bit robust since it was a heavy armor which didn't allow him to move with great flexibility in exchange for great defensive capabilities. He could have dismissed his armor to make it easier.
Lloyd could only sigh and shake his head. While his armor is also made of alloy called adamantine, it wasn't really heavy at all and felt like just a normal coat with soft fabric. He thought that magical abilities such as innate abilities could really work wonders. He didn't feel too salty now upon receiving a utility ability. He also realized based on Luna's lessons that combat abilities are useless if one didn't know how to fight. The deciding factors that would win a battle depends on how vicious and cunning a person is and carefully plans his every move with the sole purpose of eliminating his target.
'Yes! The sole purpose of combat is to murder. Hesitation and ignorance can lead to one's death' He repeated in his mind. That was the core value Luna had imprinted in his soul.
"Maybe you should have just removed your armor so you could easily move? You're so stubborn." Stanley irritatingly rebuked him.
"No way! It would make me uncool if I remove it. How would the ladies think of me if they see me so pitiful? Without my armor, it feels like I am naked!"
"Ahh, shut up! Suit yourself, then!" He finally ignored his incessant ramblings. Stanley couldn't endure listening to his outrageous, narcissistic claims.
Ray sighed as he continued. "Someone who isn't a famous celebrity wouldn't be able to understand a handsome young man's dilemma. Ah, the pain…"
"You? A celebrity? What a joke! Save your dreams for when you're sleeping."
"You two stop it."
Shane interjected in their bickering. Both of them shut their mouths in an instant which made Klaudia chuckled.
Ray and Stanley were friends back in the real world so this was just a common occurrence to both of them. Shane is also an acquaintance of the both of them, but with a higher status so they were like his followers rather than friends. That's why, they would usually listen to him as he wasn't the type the joke frequently. In fact, he was so serious and goal-driven that they weren't really sure how far he would go just to complete his objectives.
As they have reached the bottom which was another flat area until the next upward slope towards the other side of the chasm, several hundred meters away from them was a structure that resembled a crypt, with its collapsed stone arches blocking half of the staircase that leads toward a sturdy, ancient door a few meters above the flat ground they were standing at.
It was almost noon time and sooner or later, the magma will come back to swallow their feet and the burning dead will once wake up, inflicted with never-ending hunger, thirst, and suffering, itching to consume their fleshes and drag them back to the pits of hell where they came from.
"Hurry up and run. It's almost time!" Luna shouted at them.
They sprinted towards the stairs of the crypt only to be blocked by something that was hidden in the collapsed pile of large pillars near the staircase. Two flying entities emerged out of it which looked like a humanoid monster with a devil's wings and tail, and a face that resembled a young dragon's head with two sharp-pointed horns on their forehead.
They dived towards them in a very fast speed while trying to swipe them clean with their sharp claws.
They have entered into their battle stances and had to finish it quickly as the noon is quickly approaching. With no time to waste, Luna summoned the Dawnbringer's Cinderblade and intercepted the claws of the vile hellspawn. Having the strength of a rank II awakened aspirant and a rank II champion weapon, she easily cut through the hellspawn's claws, with the blade continuing to pass through its body and splitting it in half.
Lloyd was quite shocked at her performance. He didn't think that the weapon would be so potent in her hands. The two flying hellspawns were definitely not weak and they were probably champions. To confirm his suspicions, two glistening orbs like the ones he used last night rolled down to the floor as it came out from the severed body of the hellspawn.
The other hellspawn was taken aback from the misfortune its partner befell, so it desperately attacked once again with a fierce roar and tried to aim its claws towards Lloyd and the others. It was avoiding Luna like she was the plague.
Before it could hit someone, Ray blocked it with its shield while Shane swung his sword and severed one of its wings to prevent it from flying. It screamed in agony and was even becoming angrier as it kept on slamming its claws on Ray's shield which formed large cracks on it.
"Not so fast!" Klaudia shouted as she delivered an empowered shot using her arrows and infused it with mana essence. The arrows went past through its eye which made a large hole, and the now flightless hellspawn stayed still, with its brain severely damaged from the arrow. However, it wasn't completely dead yet.
Lloyd jumped up and delivered a vertical downward slash using the sentinel's dagger. It buried deep in the back of the hellspawn which made a long, deep cut. It died miserably in the hands of the whole cohort.
"Quickly, salvage whatever you could pick and run towards the crypt." Luna commanded them.
They quickly made work of the corpses of the flying hellspawns. It looked like it was possible to eat them so they had cut off its body into pieces which looked kind of gross. Luna took out the scattered soul orbs from the one she killed while the others took out the ones from the body of the second hellspawn. They also cut off its horns as they saw that it was quite a good spoil aside from the soul orbs.
Finally, noon came and magma had now started to flood the area and a huge army of burning dead was rising up to the ground, ready to grab them any time.
"Damn it! Hurry up!"
A loud growl came from the bunch of burning dead chasing them as they hastily left the bodies of the flying hellspawn to run towards the door of the crypt. They could see some of the burning dead stopping at the dismembered corpses of the hellspawns which they hungrily ate greedily until there was nothing left.
"What a bunch of vile undead. They'll eat any flesh they'll see." Lloyd spat out his curses while running.
They reached the door on top of the staircase and pushed it. Fortunately, it wasn't locked and they have been able to enter it with ease. The burning dead were almost upon them so they quickly pushed the door and closed it for good, preventing the abominations from entering. Darkness once again surrounded the cohort, with the Dawnbringer's Cinderblade the only thing producing a soft glow.
"Oh, great! We're inside a crypt now. More undead hellspawns to fight?" Ray sarcastically commented.
"Probably. What else can you find in a crypt aside from dead, rotting bodies, anyway?" Stanley replied.
"Maybe some treasures?"
"The only valuable treasures you could find here are soul orbs and useful ranked equipment." Stanley scoffed.
"Klaudia, could you activate your ability and see if there's something in here?" Luna requested.
Klaudia nodded and used her Divine Eye to scout ahead of the narrow passage of the crypt. She frowned a little bit which made the others a little nervous. What if she discovered something unbeatable or something that is beyond common sense that could easily delete them in this world? However, their concerns were soon dispelled after she spoke.
"The crypt extends a few hundred meters and another staircase that connects to the upper ground of the Vyris Deadlands is probably at the deepest parts of this crypt as I can detect hellspawns that were positioned higher above us."
She paused for a while and continued. "Most of them are similar to the burning dead, but all of them are at least in the champion rank. There are only 25 of them. However, there is something we should be wary of."
"What is that?" Luna asked.
"Another elite hellspawn, the Accursed Wraith. It can phase through walls and is currently roaming around the deepest parts of the crypt. Never try to engage it in a fight. Because… it doesn't have a physical body."
Silence fell upon them when they heard that there was another monstrous walking calamity inside this area. The gravebound ghoul was already more than what they could handle. And it seemed like this accursed wraith is stronger than the former. They had no weapons that could deal with those who had incorporeal bodies. Before they could voice out their complains, Luna spoke out to them.
"I'll deal with it."
"What are you doing? Didn't you hear what she said?" Shane frowned.
"I have a way of destroying it. Apparently, this weapon can kill incorporeal beings."
She raised the glowing red sword in front of everyone. Now that they were out of danger, they only had just noticed that she didn't use the usual broadsword she was carrying. Aside from Lloyd who made that sword, Klaudia also knew about it since Luna would tell her things as she trusted her greatly more than anyone else.
However, despite knowing that Luna could use this weapon to deal with the wraith, that thing was still an Elite rank hellspawn while Luna had just reached rank II. There's no way their strengths would match up to the ghostly abomination. So, she wanted to complain and prevent her from being reckless. But when she saw the burning determination in her eyes, she couldn't take out the words from her mouth.
"It's just a hellspawn. What is there to worry about?" Lloyd chimed in which made Shane frown more. Irritation was now visible in his expression.
"What do you know?! You're just a lowly rat in the outskirts of Asteria so you just shut up—"
"Enough!" Luna coldly interrupted him which made him unable to finish what he was saying. Even she knew that Shane had gone overboard with his insults and she didn't like it when she saw someone being bullied just because of their status in life.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
He bowed as he apologized to Lloyd. However, hidden in the corner of his eyes, Lloyd could see something that made him felt so disturbed. He knew that was a suppressed anger and feelings of hatred towards someone.
"It's okay…" Lloyd replied. 'What was that all about?' He secretly asked himself.
"So, it's settled. Let's cautiously move on."
Luna said as she slashed the Dawnbringer's Cinderblade to a nearby torch, producing a flame in it. Then she took the church and lit up the other torches found on the entrance. Shane hung his head low while the rest of them stayed silent as they went inside the narrow path of the crypt.