"Vizo, remember your place." the mysterious woman said in a cold-hearted and commanding tone. "Step out of line like this again and you may just lose your tongue."
Snarky as ever Vizo thinks in his head. Meanwhile Icago, visibly irritated, declares, "I'll carry her your not someone we can trust, dog." Giving a disdainful side eye to Vizo, his massive frame dwarfing Vizo in comparison. Standing well over 220 centimeters tall and broad as a barrel he effortlessly puts Indra onto his shoulders.
The three then set off from the desolate village, as they left the outskirts the air seemed to have a sense of relief. The empty streets previously shrouded in an oppressive silence started to be filled with small signs of life again as the villagers poured out of their houses. The fear of the villagers grew into optimism as they watched the three criminals carrying the body of an unknown girl head away.
Managing to only keep the silence for but a few minutes Vizo could not bite his tongue any longer. He turned to face the mysterious woman and asked "So.. where does the boss want us to take her again?" appearing to her as an annoying younger cousin who bothers you with unending questions. She replies in a stern voice, "The Ruins of Dess' Kar." just these words immediately send a primordial fear down Vizo's spine. "Th.. Thats.. a tier five dungeon, even with the three of us fighting at our full power we wouldn't stand a chance of clearing it!?!!" Vizo quickly replies seeming as if he is outraged by the orders of his boss.
"That is exactly why he's sending these pathetic people there, by gathering already over a hundred people and forcing them to go into ruins boss will tell them before they go in to avoid fighting the monsters at all cost and just try to sneak past them to the tomb of Dess' Kar. Rumor has it there is an S-tier item in that tomb." the woman said back to Vizo but this time it looked like as she was saying it a small grin was appearing from the corner of her mouth.
In the realm of Elysia dungeons are divided into seven different tiers, the difficulty is in ascending order. Additionally relics and items found in the dungeons are often graded as well given letter values ranging from D to C to B to A to S to Z. Grade Z items are items of unequalled strength each offering immense power and utility, there are less then 10 Z ranked items in all of Elysia. Thanks to the realm wide adventurers Guild they have managed to fund and create the adventurers job. Adventurers are courage people who have dedicated their life to dungeon delving, bounty hunting, and defeating monsters.
The adventurers guild works closely with the Association of Zephyrists, also goes by the A.o.Z. The association was established in order to give the people of Elysia a clearer understanding and grading system for all the Zephyrists inside of it. The tierings for Zephyrists are, in this order, Novice, Apprentice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Ascended. Zephyrists are people who have learned to manipulate Zephyra, a powerful energy and the thing that makes up all of Elysia. Zephyra can be used for basic abilities such as enhancement of the body or weapons, basic projection skills for offense, and basic healing skills.
However once a Zephyrist has mastered control over Zephyra they will awaken their Zephyric Specialization, the ultimate skills available to Zephyrists they are unique skills belonging only to them, with the exception of copy specializations being able to mimic these specializations. Specializations are usually manipulating Zephyra to give it unique properties, or abilities, for example the famous Emperor Zyrath's specialization is called Ethereal Mirage, which allows him to create illusions and alter others five senses and perception.
Vizo's thoughts churned with frustration. Even the boss of this whole sadistic operation, Edon, who is an advanced Zephyrist, would get slaughtered in that dungeon if he challenged it alone. What Edon is doing here is terrible, sending hundreds of innocent people to their doom for an artifact they would never even be able to get-is abhorrent. Vizo brooded, if only I had the power to stop him...
Not allowing him to further dwell on the topic the mysterious woman's voice cut through his mind with urgency "DODGE, YOU FOOL!" she shouted, her voice echoed with an amplified projection.
Now distracted from his thoughts, Vizo snapped his head to the right, only to be met with the sight of a formidable foe-a desert wyrm, its serpentine body slithering and coiling, its beautiful scales glinting in the harsh light.
Instinctively, Vizo leapt out of the way, barely managing to dodge the wyrm's devastating blow. As he moved out of the way, his hood and his cloak were thrown back, showcasing his face. Strikingly beautiful, and his armor underneath the cloak it looked far too expensive for a random criminal of his level to own. His facial features seemed otherworldly, with elegance that only nobility could equal.
In a swift counterattack, Vizo drew his daggers, one of which shining with a sinister energy. He raised the dark dagger to the sky and declared, "Netherflame Specialization: 1000 Hellfire Slashes." The air began to crackle from the overwhelming heat and Vizo charged the Wyrm with supernatural speed and began to unleash a flurry of slashes at the wyrm. Each slash from his dagger, infused with hellfire, they cleaved through the wyrms scales with breathtaking ease and speed. The monster was nothing but ashes in the sand now.
Thinking to himself once again Vizo realizes, damn... if that blow from the wyrm had hit me I would have died by the poison before we could make it to anyone who has a working antidote for it. I need to be more careful of my surroundings, Elysia is a dangerous place after all...
"Sorry for the scare, Zara, I am sure you were most worried about me falling in battle. But alas, even a great Desert Wyrm is no match for the Netherflame Assassin, Vizo." he said in a cocky voice, as if boasting his great power.
"We must continue on. This dreadful desert can make even the strongest of men turn insane. We are just a few hours away from the ruins now. If you make a stupid mistake like that again I won't even bother helping you, hell-hound of Edon." as if almost mocking Vizo for boasting his 'supreme' powers.
The trio continued the trek. Still on Icago's back Indra finally wakes up, though being mindful not to alert the rest of the party around her. She opens her eyes to take in the sweeping dunes of the desert, their golden expanse carrying on endlessly before her. In the far distance, she spotted a subtle outline of ancients ruins next to the horizon. Where am I being taken? She silently wondered to herself. Her mind eventually putting the pieces together to realize the location she was being taken to was the ruins of Dess' Kar.