On the other side of the dungeon :
-ULI: How?! How did this beast appear out of nowhere? Was it a jengu?
-FRED: No, I don't think so. If it was, I would have seen it, and it didn't have a core.
-DAVE: How do you know?
-FRED: I scanned it with my stick and it didn't have a core at all.
-HIRUKO: So this is our chance to follow him into that hole and save our friends!
-FRED: If you follow that snake down that hole, it'll kill you, and Goki and Ismail might not be with us any more.
-So what are you suggesting I do? Just stand there as if nothing had happened? Are you?
-ULI: We mustn't act blindly,
-Dave: Let's act wisely, not angrily, Hiruko.
- Hiruko grunted, seeing himself as incapable once again. And it could have been him, instead of GOKI, who found himself swallowed by the Draugr.
- I need your skills, my friend. Don't be discouraged, especially as I'm counting on you for the battles to come. GOKI knows why he saved you. ULI told him as she put her hand on his shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, giving him the courage not to feel guilty.
Hiruko, given his state, regained his composure and readjusted his slakers. He then told his best friend that he was pumped up for the next confrontation, which pleased his best friend.
-Selene: Let's go quickly, Uli. I don't want that beast anywhere near us.
- Dave: Uli, we've been avoiding that monster for days and I'd hate to see us die again.
- No, there's no need to avoid that monster in this dungeon. In fact, I think it's the master, and killing it will get us out of this dungeon. Fred's already scanned it, so I think we'll be fine now.
- The dungeon master? I find that hard to believe.
- Fred: I'm telling you, if it's him, my machine told me.
-Dave: Your device? So there are devices that can do this? To detect draugr?
-Selene: I'd like you to be surprised, but we've got to move on. We've just lost some comrades, and the pregnant lady's had too much turbulence.
-Dave: You're right, and I think Uli's right, we've got to stop running away.
Seeing Frederico touch the walls of the dungeon with his hands, DAVE asked him what he was doing, and he replied:
- FREDERICO: I'm using my senses to locate the tremors caused by that big snake.
-And this device can't help you locate the other people in this dungeon?
- FREDERICO: It can, provided they're all in the same place. Otherwise, I think the monster has gone in the opposite direction to us. So let's continue along the path Uli told us to take.
- And it didn't locate anyone else?
-No, it only covers a maximum of 200 metres, so either the others have been eliminated or they've followed Uli's path.
DAVE: OK, let's not waste any time.
As they continued walking, they began to feel tired.
-DAVE: Cheer up, guys, don't give up.
-Hiruko was beginning to see everything blurred and his steps were becoming heavy, as if he were lifting several tonnes. The same was true of Selene, who heard the pregnant lady say she was sorry. As for Uli, he noticed the wounded with a smile on his face as he tried to speak. Then Hiruko spoke up...
-You, why? Aren't you as tired as the rest of us? You look like you're in great shape!
-DAVE: No, it must be the forest nearby, it often stores toxins that can spread over a very long distance...
Not letting him finish his sentence, Hiruko pointed her Slaker at him and DAVE couldn't understand why.
DAVE: Hiruko, my friend, what's the matter with you? Why are you pointing your gun at me all of a sudden?
-Stop calling me your friend,' he said, his voice breathless and tired, with sweat all over it!
- Why are you telling me this, Hiruko?
-First of all, how do you know about this place with the information about these toxins?
Dave: But I've been here for over six months, these plants are everywhere, let me help you, you look far too tired.
Dave tried to approach him to help him, but was knocked back by a blow from his dagger.
- Hiruko: Get back! Don't you touch me! You've been too shady for a while now.
- DAve: But I'm telling you, Hiruko. You're tired.
- And does that also explain why this pregnant woman, who's supposed to be the most vulnerable of us all, is still in good shape? No, I think this poison is a spell cast by you or one of your comrades. We part ways here. Me and your group, and sorry about the pregnant lady. You're all a handful.
-Dave: What? You're talking about your friends? (Dave replied confidently, looking down on him).
- Hiruko: But Uli, Selene, Fred...
Hiruko watched as all his friends were paralysed by the effect of the poison and what shocked Hiruko and confirmed his doubts: realising that DAVE and his team were indeed his enemies. He ran towards him, shouting his name, but as he approached DAVE, Hiruko fell to the ground too.
-DAVE: Ah, you were really getting on my nerves, and I don't know why. Kagero, you took aim when I ordered him to take aim at the team's brain and Goki, but anyway, I'm going to take care of that inventor's machine first.
-Put that down, you bastard, and why are you doing this? We're supposed to be fighting the draugr, we members of the coalition army!
- Oh, right. You mean this outfit? I took it off the corpse of a soldier I killed myself.
So you're just a looter? As one of Dave's men searched him.
- Dave's men searching him. Me? No, wearing this outfit is just a way for me to blend in.
ZED: Boss, should we kill him? I've just searched him and he hasn't got a stone with him.
-No, leave him, the poison will kill him eventually or a draugr will do the trick. I was only interested in Goki, and I'm going to take his sword from his body. After that, I'm interested in the stone in his sword.
-And that woman, she wasn't your wife or your child in her belly? asked Hiruko.
- Stop talking nonsense, can you see me having a child with a woman as useless as her?
I admit that I used her to satisfy my desires, especially when I had to nibble at her in front of her dying husband's body.
-I'm going to kill you, and you're going to suffer as much as that woman suffered,' Hiruko promised him before being knocked unconscious by one of DAVE's men. He fainted instantly.
-Dave: Come on, let's go, we've got to get to Kagero quickly.
-Right, boss, and they left the scene, leaving Hiruko and her gang to find their member for the next stage.
- We've wasted too much time on these kids, and with Goki's blade, everything would be easy for us. But we told her to attack Goki, and I don't know why she had to target that little nobody, Hiruko. Now we've got to find her to help us find out where Goki's blade is.
* On the other side, at the entrance to the dungeon*, General Jones' team was swept off their feet.
-Abel: 'Heee, you didn't tell us we were in for a fatal fall, good thing I smoked my last cigarette before coming.'
-Megan: I'm beginning to regret why I changed my mind. I came here to fight, not to be squashed like a bug from the start. (That's how they all were, screaming in despair at being squashed and yet doing nothing, a sad fate for us youngsters, not even developed yet in this vast universe, don't you think).
Jones: Stop crying, my chicks. They're like children at their first day of nursery school. Let me settle this one last time.
Jack: Aren't you going to let me in on this, boss?
-Nahn, let me flex, son. And he says it confidently to Jack, then General Jones descends faster than the others and climbs back up into the air to pick up each member of his team.
Abel: You saved me, chief. Thank you, I can die in peace now.
Jones: Idiots, I saved you so that you wouldn't die. Otherwise you should have told me from the start. If you didn't want to die, I would have let you down.
Abel: Haaa, no sweetness at all, he says disappointedly.
Jack: Your magic is as incomprehensible as ever, but it's extraordinary to watch, boss, even if you'd forbidden me to intervene.
- Yeah, you're a good one, you don't cry as much as the others.
- Angèle : I didn't cry, it was Megan and Abel, the group's cowards, who said so. While dusting off her clothes and fixing her hat.
-Megan: ah ah! You have to understand, sometimes there are people in this world with a phobia of heights.
-Angèle : And is that also the case with that useless guy over there?
-Abel : You wait, I'll teleport you to the first JENGU and we'll see if you're still going to call me a coward and useless.
Jones: Let's concentrate on what's most useful, shall we?
Everyone suddenly looked serious at General Jones' words and got his attention.
You can start, Jack. We're listening.
-I've just analysed the region and it's already been several days since our arrival and that of the recruits.
-Angel: And how do you know that?
- I've just seen the bodies fall after the fall and these bodies were carried by the new recruits wearing the uniform.
While touching the weapons, Angel says it's possible because they were still new, with metal in good condition and identical to that offered by the tinker at the entrance to the dungeon. Do you think they're all dead already, as they've been here for several days?
Jones: It must be at least two or three days given the state of decomposition of those corpses at the entrance. Klaus is being far too cautious, we need to move on and then look for him. As far as he's concerned, I'd be more worried about the draugr in his dungeons, they look like animals.