2 Stuck in a Labyrinth (2)

Will said with much difficulty "The, the dungeon is a Labyrinth. We are inside a Maze and the three entrances that we see before us are only the starting point. My eye could not go much further but the monstrous aura that I could feel inside was at least spread in seven different places."

"What, it's actually Seven? We are doomed, we are really doomed"

All of the B-Rank and C-Rank members instantly shouted out in fright while some of the lower ranks also cried out.

When Wayne saw them reacting so wildly he could not control but to ask Emily in a soft voice "Hey Emily, why are all of you reacting to the word seven in such madness?"

Emily watched Wayne with disbelief written all over her face. She asked "Wayne, you actually do not know about the concept of monstrous aura spread out in the dungeons? And what about the number of auras in the dungeon, don't tell me you do know this as well?"

Wayne was embarrassed and replied while scratching his head "Um, I really did not know, I never faced such a situation before in a raid. Could you explain to me?"

Emily face-palmed herself while sighing and explaining with a pale face "I forgot, you did not run high-rank raids before. The number of locations where monstrous aura is spread out indicates how many waves of monsters we have to overcome before facing the Dungeon boss. This number usually signifies the rank of a dungeon in simpler terms, whereas the other way is to measure the mana levels of a dungeon that is being emitted outside the gate."

"Each number represents a different Rank of a dungeon. One represents F-Rank, two represents E-Rank and likewise, seven represents S-Rank dungeon. We are currently inside an S-Rank dungeon; we really are doomed to die this time." Finished Emily, in a voice which really wanted to cry, while her face was pale and filled with sweat. Whereas even Wayne's back was filled with sweat after listening to this.

When Emily was explaining the situation to Wayne, others were not in a better position. Gary was frowning and his face did not look well, whereas Sean who looked cool while entering the dungeon was also looking pale. All others were in such similar situations and every one of them was equally tensed.

"Munch, munch, munch" a sound broke everyone's focus in this tensed environment.

When everyone turned towards the sound, every one of them was dumbfounded. It was not some hideous monster or demon but one of the E-Rank Porter who was a chubby fatty was sitting down and munching on food.

When everyone saw what the fatty was doing they could not control their anger. One of the other Porters shouted out "Oi fatty, what the hell are you doing here. We all are tensed here about how to survive this ordeal whereas you, you are eating at this time, do you have no shame?"

The fat guy just mumbled "Munch, munch, what's the problem with me eating. Anyhow, we will die, at least let me finish my favorite lunch before I die. Who cares about dying, I am more concerned that I did not bring butter chicken as my final dish which I ate before dying. Munch, munch."

The guy continued saying "Anyway even if we are dying why not live for the last moments instead of fearing death and panicking which won't give any better result. I wish I brought my Butter Chicken instead of this ham sandwich."

Emily who was the nearest to the Porters could not control her laughter and giggled out. "yi, yi yi"

And within seconds everyone chortled out with laughter. The intense atmosphere had been lightened with just a simple line from the fat guy.

While everyone was laughing Wayne was not, he was thinking about what the fat guy had said. Even he was missing Butter Chicken; Wayne who was a Hunter was not just doing this but was also a very big Food Lover.

In his off time from dungeon raids he runs a Food Blog named Dreaming foodies Blog, and this was one of his hobbies where he would write down his experiences of small-time diners or street stalls. The blog was fairly popular among people with a low budget.

Slowly everyone calmed down and came out of their laughter. Everyone could see a fairly larger picture of their situation now and nobody was panicking about imminent death or doom.

When everyone had calmed down Gary spoke up with his usually composed voice "Everyone, you already know what we are up against. Does anyone have any ideas about how to tackle this situation?"

When Gary asked this question most of the hunters started thinking. Wayne was frowning as he did not have any idea about how to handle such a situation.

It was Wayne's first time in a Dungeon above C-Rank, the highest ever dungeon raid he was ever a part of was a C-Rank one and that too the team was led by an A-Rank Hunter.

Now that he was in such an intense situation, he could not think of any solution. He turned towards the others to listen to what the others had to say.

First was Emily the teams only Healer who spoke out "We could wait for backup from the Hunters Association; if a high ranked Hunter arrives we would have a better chance to clear the dungeon."

Some of the Porters instantly sided with this idea "Yes, yes, Emily is right we should probably wait for backup." All others also accented and small chatter could found among the others.

But Gary had something else to add to it "Well Emily, your idea is good but you forgot a big detail. High-Rank Dungeons have team limits and we do not know what the team limit for this dungeon is?"

Instantly the chatter died down and some of the Porters had a Pale face.

Gary continued "As we know when the Hunters Association members at the security zone of the dungeon find that our Porters are not going in and out of the dungeon with loot. They will surely understand that there is something wrong with this dungeon and call for the higher-up's help."

"The higher-ups will surely send a high ranking team of hunters as a backup, but what if the Team limit if only 18 which is the number of members we currently have. It could be more too but that does not assure us of what the number may be. We will still have to face lots of trouble if only five or less high ranking Hunters arrive as help."

Will the mage interjected in-between "But if there is a big enough team, we may easily overcome the crisis right?"

With Wills words, a ray of hope had arrived for the low ranked Hunters. But it was soon crushed after Gary's practical analysis of the situation. "Well Will, I would have also loved if the situation were this simple but it is not. Do not forget that High-Rank Hunters hate it when they have to rescue low ranked hunters. It is not because they do not want to help but because most people leave the full dungeon for the High Rankers to clear."

"You see that there are seven groups of Monstrous Aura, which means that there would be at least seven different waves of monsters for us to defeat. Most of the first two to three waves are easy and when they need to handle them too, they get irritated."

"More than that if as per my analysis about a low numbered team or even one or two high rankers arrive then there is no way we would be able to stay out of the dungeon raids."

"Since that is the case, why not we defeat the first two or three waves which are much easier than the rest and maybe help the high rankers while also conserving their strengths." Gary finished off his argument.

"I also think this would be better and will also increase our final chances of survival" Sean who had been silent till this time suddenly spoke up.

Even the low ranked warriors were nodding now. What Gary said was true if the higher ranked hunters who arrive are low in numbers then the lesser waves of monsters they have to face the better. This would finally increase their own chances.

*****

"Okay everyone, as per our discussion we will try to defeat the first few waves ourselves. Let's get going." Gary ordered after an intense team discussion.

They had decided to take the middle entrance to the labyrinth which was the only one without a blockade.

"Everyone fall in formation" Gary ordered every one of his teammates. When everyone was in formation he looked towards the entrance and said: "Let's go."

Everyone followed Gary as they were led by him. The porters were the most nervous bunch scared of what might happen to them.

They entered through the entrance and slowly moved forward. Each of their steps was heavy while everyone had sweat in their scalps.

Slowly they moved forwards through the gloomy corridor which was lightly lit with lamps. After moving forward for some time they had reached a small turning. This was when Will spoke up slowly.

"Guys just turning through the corridor is a small opening where the first wave awaits us. We should get ready for a fight." Will reminded everyone.

Gary waved his hand slowly to indicate that they would slowly enter the opening with the utmost cautiousness.

Everyone was tensed and Wayne was sweating at all different places. He knew this dungeon will be very harsh for every one of them.

The moment they arrived at the opening, everyone had halted their steps. None of the Hunters opened their mouths waiting for Gary's orders.

"Squeak squeak, swik squeak"

But it was when Elena the mage who spoke up "Hey there are only three goblins, what are we waiting for it's too easy we can easily take care of them. Let's go guys."

Though Elena said so, no one moved. This was the respect a raid leader usually got from his or her teammates.

Gary finally opened his mouth "This is not right a high-rank dungeon should not have so easy monsters. Something feels wrong, or it may be so that this being the first wave everything is easier."

Sean also added, "Maybe the following groups of monsters would be harder, let's just finish with this group and follow the trail for the next wave."

Everyone nodded, but most of them were thinking otherwise. They wanted the monsters to be easier than they would be able to keep their lives.

In front of everyone were three goblins that had green skin with a small body of about four feet. Each of them was carrying a heavy mace which spoke about their strength.

When the goblins saw the hunter's team they immediately started rushing towards them while squeaking out. Their faces were filled with anger.

When the hunters saw the goblins rushing towards them, everyone instantly strengthened their formation while lessening any or every gap in it.

When the goblins were just at a distance of 5 meters from them Gary ordered "Warriors in the front will act as Tank with me, while Rangers, mages, and Warriors in the back will act as the ranged attackers. Emily will heal everyone and porters will come in when an opportunity arises."

The instant the orders were given everyone took a deep breath to calm down their hearts before stating the battle.

Wayne also took a deep breath; he could feel his heart beating very fast dhup-dhup dhup-dhup dhup-dhup.

He was calm but his heart was beating faster and faster. He could see the whole situation of the raid clearly, every object nearby, everyone's positions and even the positions of the goblins. He could accurately predict the next movements of everyone including the goblins. The feeling was like he could watch the battlefield in slow motion.

This was a talent he had since he was small. Even while playing games he noticed this strange talent he had since birth, this was one of the reasons which gave Wayne the courage to choose the profession of a Hunter when he was detected to be an F-Rank Porter class Hunter which was the worst possible hunter class with the worst possible strength.

There was really no prospect to be great ever, but he still chose it. He knew that he needed the money but more than that he knew he had this special talent which would surely help him in times of need. This talent had already helped him dodge many threatening situations, but till date, he did not face a life-threatening situation and he did not know how he would fare against the unknown.

By this time the goblins had arrived while Gary who was in the front of the formation standing in the middle of everyone who was in the front line struck the goblins while the other warriors similarly struck the others which led to the goblins to be pushed back.

Instantly the mages struck one goblin each while the other was struck by the guns of Sean. And as Wayne had perceived Sean was very powerful and with the addition of those special guns he struck with great strength.

His bullets were covered in a fire which was probably the main element of Sean. The goblin that was struck by Sean was much more damaged than the others which had been attacked by the mages. This directly spoke about Sean's strength.

Gary's intense voice boomed out "Everyone stay in formation, we are going good. Attack with full power we can defeat them easily by concentrating the attacks."

His words pumped up everyone with that loud voice of his. Everyone started to attack the goblins with everything they had got. There was chaos for some time but slowly everything got clear.

Wayne saw every one of the hunters except the Porters contributing and though they should also do something. He was carrying a short sword embedded with a low ranked core. He stood prepared for attack if there was any need for it, but the chance never came.

The battle ended soon enough with the coordination of the warriors, mages, and rangers while Emily stood behind healing them whenever needed. Gary stood victorious but still had a frown in his face.

Everyone else looked happy, and even the porters were celebrating. But the frown on Gary's was increasing instead.

Even Wayne could feel something was wrong; there were some slight movements on the floor. And these movements were slowly turning into tremors.

Emily suddenly interrupted everyone "Guys please stand still, I feel something is wrong. Don't you feel the slight trembling of the floor?"

The instant Emily pointed out the situation out; everyone stopped and started observing the floor.

A frown appeared on everyone's faces. The tremors slowly increased and everyone could feel something was up. Everyone turned vigilant and instantly reinstated the battle formation.

The tremors increased to high movement and everyone felt like a small scale earthquake was taking place. Someone suddenly noticed a problem.

Elena the mage pointed out "Guys, check out the place where the next entrance towards the corridor?"

The instant everyone turned their attention towards it. Everyone voiced out loudly "What?"

The entrance to the next corridor had disappeared. Everyone started panicking even though the quaking was still taking place.

"Where is the entrance?" someone shouted out.

And others too started to ask out about the same.

When everyone was panicking Gary the raid leader was still observing the situation and finally opened his mouth "The room like opening we are currently in is moving from its original position. This labyrinth we are in is not just a maze but one which moves." He deduced.

Every one of the other hunters instantly shouted out "Whaaaat? We are doomed."