[Chapter 106. Approval to Enter]
The four won sat in the churned dirt near the base of the ancient, hollow tree, their eyes fixed on the pulsating vortex of the portal. The gateway thrumd with a heavy, dark blue light that held a concentrated, malevolent hint of purple at its swirling center. As they watched in silence, the portal began a rhythmic shift. The oppressive dark blue faded into a lighter, more translucent shade, while the jagged purple core began to shrink, nearly disappearing altogether within the span of a few breaths. The transformation took only seconds to complete. When the light finally stabilized, the portal glowed with a bright, inviting azure blue, its internal currents moving with a faster and more energetic frequency.
The won rose to their feet as one, their shared resolve hardening their features as they prepared to step into the unknown. They adjusted their straps and gripped their weapons, ready to commit. Iris, however, remained seated against a mossy root, her silver eyes fixed on them with a predatory stillness, her head tilted at a slight angle of mild curiosity.
"And where exactly do you think you're going?" she asked. her voice was flat and devoid of emotion, but the weight of it forced them to stop mid-stride.
Vanessa bit back a sharp, frustrated retort at the very last second, sensing the danger in Iris’s tone. "Into the dungeon," she said, her voice tight. "As we planned this morning."
Iris shook her head slowly, a condescending gesture. "Have we spoken to Searanox yet? Does he know that you are currently standing here? Does he know not to send his offensive drones inside while you are fumbling through the dark?" Her tone was glacial, freezing the air between them.
"Well… no, but we assud—" Vanessa started, but Iris cut her off with a sharp flick of her wrist.
"Then sit your asses back down. We go in when the Guild Master allows it, and not a mont before."
Reluctantly, the four won sank back to the ground, their hard-won courage dissolving like morning mist under the heat of Iris’s gaze. The silence of the forest returned, punctuated only by the distant, sight of the tower looming over the forest.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours of agonizing anticipation before the familiar, hum of Searanox's travel drone finally announced his arrival. The tallic craft descended rapidly through the canopy, hovering for a second before landing with a soft, chanical thud in the center of the clearing. Searanox dismounted with fluid ease, dismissing the drone with a casual wave of his hand. The machine dissolved into a cloud of shimring blue sparks that vanished into the air.
"What's all this?" he asked, his gaze sweeping over the huddled, apprehensive group.
Iris rose gracefully and approached him, her posture subtly changing from a predatory guard to sothing softer and more attentive. "I was going to take them inside today," she said, her voice losing the jagged edge it held when addressing the trainees. "I believe they are finally ready for their first legitimate attempt at a clear."
Searanox stepped closer, his hand coming up to cup Iris’s cheek. She leaned into the touch instinctively, a low, guttural rumble building deep in her chest—a sound that was half-purr, half-growl—as his fingers found the sensitive spot just behind her jaw.
"I don't want them to attempt it," he said, his voice gravelly and carrying a dark undertone that made the won shudder. "I want them to clear it. There is no room for failed attempts in my schedule."
"They will clear it," Iris replied, pressing her face deeper into his palm. "I'll keep a close watch on them so they don't—"
"Good girl," Searanox cut her off, abruptly withdrawing his hand. The sudden loss of contact made Iris stiffen for a fraction of a second. "Just make sure they don't end up like you did during your first attempt. I don't have the ti to perform another rescue." He turned his cold, calculating attention to the four won, who sat frozen like statues in the dirt. "Good luck. Try to have so fun."
Without another word of encouragent, he summoned his travel drone back into existence and shot into the sky, vanishing above the treeline within seconds.
Iris watched the empty sky for a long mont, her expression shifting back to its usual mask of cold detachnt. She turned to face the group, her eyes flashing.
"Get up," she said, her voice as sharp and unforgiving as broken glass. "You heard the Master. You have a dungeon to clear. Do not make look like a fool for vouching for you."
The four won rose slowly, their hands checking straps, buckles, and sheaths with thodical, nervous precision. The glowing blue portal swirled before them, a churning gateway to a subterranean world they had only seen in their nightmares.
Stepping through the threshold was like plunging into the depths of a bottomless well. The forest's bright morning light vanished in an instant, replaced by an oppressive, absolute darkness that felt like a physical weight pressing against their eyes. The air here was thick and stagnant, slling of damp earth, ancient mold, and a faint tallic tang of decay. A low, incessant chittering echoed from the unseen passages further ahead, vibrating in their very bones.
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A sharp, plastic crack cut through the heavy silence, followed imdiately by a soft, chemical green glow. Sarah shook the activated chemical light vigorously, its illumination pushing back the imdiate shadows and revealing the damp, jagged stone walls of the entrance tunnel. "These aren't so bad," she whispered, her voice sounding thin and tight in the confined space.
Two more cracks followed in quick succession as Vanessa and Carn activated their own glowsticks, flooding the small area in an array of neon light.
"The brightness is sufficient for navigation," Vanessa said, quickly fashioning a loop of cord through the hole at the top of the glowstick to create a makeshift necklace. Carn and Sarah copied her imdiately, the green lights swinging gently from their necks and casting eerie, dancing shadows across their pale faces.
Lana's voice broke through their nervous preparations, sounding steady and authoritative. "I'll light the primary torch only when we hit a wider tunnel or a main chamber. For now, the glowsticks are enough." She spoke while maintaining a low, tactical crouch, her head occasionally scraping the low ceiling. "Let's move out."
Iris stood at the very rear of the formation, her massive Zweihänder held loosely at her side. The blade's turquoise-etched edge was barely visible in the dim, green light. As they began to move deeper into the burrow, she deliberately dragged the tip of the heavy weapon along the stone floor. The sound of tal scraping through packed earth and rock was a constant, jarring reminder of her presence behind them.
Lana took point, her shield held high and her unlit torch gripped in her off-hand. Carn followed close behind, ready to provide support, while Vanessa positioned herself along the right wall to keep her line of sight clear for spells. Sarah brought up the rear of the main group, her senses straining for any threats erging from the shadows. Iris watched their formation with a critical eye, giving a faint, unnoticed nod of approval as they maintained their spacing.
`Let's see if your training actually holds up when the blood starts flowing.`
They hadn't progressed fifty ters into the depths before the narrow tunnel widened into a small, vaulted chamber. Clumps of bioluminescent fungi clustered along the damp walls, casting a faint, sickly purple glow that mingled unpleasantly with the green light of their chemical sticks. A sudden, skittering movent caught their attention.
Several Carapace Crawlers erged from a dark side passage, their multi-faceted eyes reflecting the neon-green light with an eerie, tallic sheen. The creatures were already in full motion, their six barbed legs scuttling with terrifying speed as they charged toward the intruders.
Vanessa's hands moved instinctively, her fingers tracing intricate, glowing patterns in the stale air. A complex spell array began to form before her, swirling with crackling arcane energy—but the "Starfall Matrix" was a heavy spell, and it was too slow to manifest. The Crawlers accelerated, their predatory instincts triggered by the light that betrayed the won's position.
Lana lifted her small shield, which barely covered half of her crouched form in the low tunnel. As her defensive skill activated, a faint, pale light pulsed from the shield’s surface, forming a shimring kinetic barrier that expanded her protection significantly. With the majority of her body now shielded by the magical field, she dug her heels into the dirt and held her ground as the first Carapace Crawler bore down on her.
The beast reached her seconds before Vanessa's array could complete. Sharp, serrated mandibles scraped violently against the surface of the shield, the screeching sound of chitin on tal echoing painfully in the confined space.
Vanessa's first arcane bolt finally materialized with a sharp crack, slamming into the thick, segnted abdon of the leading crawler. The chitin shell cracked under the force, spraying a gout of thick, black ichor against the tunnel wall. Simultaneously, Sarah skirted along the side of the formation, her Rift Step carrying her in a short blur toward the second crawler's flank. She drove her dagger toward the joint in its armor, but the blade glanced off the hardened shell with a sharp scrape, leaving nothing more than a faint, superficial mark.
Lana held the line with grim determination, bracing her shoulder against the shield to withstand the combined weight of the lunging monsters. She desperately wanted to stab out with her shortsword, but her free hand was occupied by the heavy, unlit torch she was forced to carry.
Rhythmic pings of tal against chitin echoed through the chamber as Sarah continued her assault, striking the sa spot repeatedly. Each blow left deeper grooves in the shell, as if the edges of her daggers were growing sharper and more resistant with every impact. After a frantic flurry of hits, a spiderweb of cracks finally appeared in the crawler's side armor. Sarah leaned into the next strike, and her blade finally found purchase, digging into the soft tissue beneath with a sickening crunch.
Once the initial armor was breached, her enchanted dagger sliced through the remaining chitin as if it were soft flesh.
Vanessa's completed array now unleashed a steady stream of bolts, each one landing with devastating, explosive force. The projectiles punched smoking holes through the crawlers head-plates and thoraxes. The creatures thrashed briefly, their legs twitching in the dirt, before they finally collapsed, their multi-faceted eyes going dark.
Less than a minute had passed before the first group of defenders fell. Vanessa had spent only a small portion of her total mana pool; the others had barely broken a sweat, though the adrenaline still surged through their veins.
`This strategy could actually work, but at this pace, it will take them hours to reach the core.` Iris thought as the last crawler slumped into the dirt. Her expression remained unreadable in the flickering green light.
"It took significantly more hits than I expected before I could actually pierce through their armor," Sarah said, breathing heavily as she examined the carcass of the first crawler she had struck. She noted how the damage had progressed from shallow nicks to deep, lethal gouges along its side.
Vanessa looked at her, dismissing the glowing embers of her spell. "My Starfall Matrix packs quite a punch once it lands, but the array takes far too long to form and costs a significant amount of mana per cast." She glanced at Lana, who was still scanning the darkness ahead. "Could we try to hold a static position next ti? Let them co to us while I pre-cast?"
"If I knew exactly what lay ahead in these tunnels, I’d say sure," Lana replied, lowering her shield but keeping it ready. She stepped carefully over the twitching, ichor-stained corpses. "But as it is, I don't want to risk running into sothing larger while I'm isolated from the rest of you. We move together, or we don't move at all."
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