58 Strangers in the Dark

Tern stood in the same spot with the occasional pacing back in forth. He was waiting in hope of his friends to arrive soon; Elldry hadn't returned and he couldn't see much in terms of the flashy gold lights everywhere. His index and middle finger kept strumming along the grip of the bow in his hand, wishing for once that Tass was there with his super hearing to help.

After what felt like an eternity of pacing and glancing down the tunnel, Arkiu and the four other adventurer teammates finally arrived to the spot. The first question on their minds was where the spearman went, she wasn't normally one to wonder off.

Before Tern could explain for them to quickly rush after the missing adventurer, Tass pointed down the tunnel at something quickly approaching. Between the sparkling flashes of light and the dark gear the person was wearing, they could only see a silhouette of the tall figure.

Tern knew that someone was farther down the tunnel than Elldry and now they were right in front of him. If this foreign outline was walking back towards them, then that meant the figure interacted with his female friend in some way that could have been good or bad. Only bad thoughts went through his mind and Tern quickly pulled out an arrow poised at the oncoming stranger.

Galahad had listened to the way Tern and Elldry talked while in the tunnels. They seemed to have a dynamic of bickering friends and not business partners or collaborating bandits. There were many types of characters in the dungeons, but he figured these ones were willing to save their associate. His way of leaving the dungeon depended on it.

"Hold on," Galahad said with both hands up in surrender. "I'm not here for any other reason but to help."

Arkiu's team was absolutely shocked to see a lone man just approach them from the darkness of the tunnels. They were even more shocked to see him carrying Elldry's spear in one of his surrendered hands.

Tern was the first to confront Galahad, His bow never lowered and tension started growing in his arm.

"Why the fuck do you have that? What did you do to Elldry?" He was very clearly letting his emotions get the better of him. If this wasn't such a serious situation, Arkiu might have called Tern out on it.

Galahad lowered the spear slowly to the ground and only then did he begin speaking.

"It appears you and your friend were following me and she ended up getting attacked by abnormally large Vesplug before we officially met."

"What?!?" Was the most common response of the adventurers before him. They immediately feared the worst of Elldry and were turning pale at the thought of her having dying so suddenly.

"But she's not dead? One Vesplug, regardless of size, won't easily take her down. Elldry is much stronger than that." Tern's statement seemed more like a plea to himself than fact; he knew her well enough to believe his own words but not enough to completely erase all doubts.

Galahad's quiet nod let them release their breathes with relief, that sigh only last till he continued to talk.

"Though, She received a scratch by one of their stingers before getting dragged away by the rest of the monsters and into their den. My guess is she only has about fifteen minutes after the Shift to receive antidotes, otherwise the damage she'll experience may cause more permanent damage."

Galahad's estimate was based purely on what he medically knew from being his own team medic for the last few years. Not every sting or bite would have the same potency, so He only took to the worst possibility of her getting stung a few more times and actively moving her body. The natural chi she generated would keep the toxins from immediately killing her; if she was any other class then she would have much less time before her blood would start clotting.

One of the girls in the group came forward. "Did you see it happen? How could you know that?"

Galahad was starting to doubt the half-assed plan still forming in the back of mind. He felt somewhat guilty about what happened to Elldry, but to him, it was her own fault for following him alone. He was mainly willing to help because her situation was similar to his own friends, as well as the team in front of him could be a very useful asset for his leveling progress and escape.

"I saw it happen and watched her get taken. I suggest we hurry to the cavern-"

"Why the hell should we trust a stranger in a mask!" Tern shouted. "For all we know, you could just be luring us into some murder trap to take all our gear and sell it. I'd like some proof you're not lying." Tern was still fuming at the fact Elldry was taken and to find out that Galahad had just watched was making him red in the face.

Galahad had kept on the mask from the pillaged bandit camp, he had been wearing it since he was about to confront Elldry as a precaution and hadn't hidden it back in his skin. They'd hardly be able to recognize him without it in the future if they were to meet on the surface.

A choice he believed was the best thing for the future of repeatedly sneaking into the dungeon, less people knowing were less mouth's talking. Especially if everything went south by the end of the night, the chatter of deaths below the surface would certainly make his goal more harder to achieve.

As for his proof of not trying to lure them into a trap; he said only nothing and threw the spear longways at the assassin standing to the side. Everyone through a side glance was able to see the shocked adventurer now holding the spear. The shocked assassin was trying to sneak up behind Galahad in case he tried anything suspicious, but didn't know how to react to being discovered moving in whatever shadows he could find among the gold.

Galahad had made no indication of seeing him move, but clearly knew he was there. They had no idea he could just watch their names and levels float above their heads, but that was a secret he'd never intend to reveal.

"I can't come up with a better reason than your friend is still currently trapped and dying while you argue with me. It doesn't matter if you trust me and I suggest we hurry while we still can, I have a plan that should hopefully let all of us leave here alive tonight if you stop questioning and start moving."

Galahad's voice seemed to go stale as he was losing his patience and turned to walk back into the path Tern watched Elldry disappear inside. Another decision needed to be made that night; return to the surface or risk their lives for a friend. A quick glance around told the team it was a unanimous decision to follow Galahad on what felt like a suicide mission and a trap mixed together.

*****

Ten minutes before the Dungeon Shift.

Everyone was walking down the tunnel, Galahad was leading from the front with a six foot safe distance from everyone who didn't trust him. They had just passed the melting carnage of the Vesplug Elldry defeated, which so far confirmed his story. It was indeed massive like Galahad said, and the head severed was still partially melting with enough remaining sections to show off all the stabs Elldry made to the head and eye. It was all signature markings of her spear she saved months worth of mana orb credits to obtain the year before.

Galahad stopped and jammed his fist into what would be the thorax of the monster remains and fished around till he was elbow deep. The smell would have been repulsive to him, but Galahad had been walking around with the strong stench of his previous encounter still on him for nearly an hour.

Soon after rummaging, he pulled out a mana orb a little bit larger than his knuckle. After a second of waiting, he got up from his kneeling position and raised it to eye level, awaiting his passive skills to take affect.

[ Do you wish to devour the mana orbs? ] [ Yes ] [ No ]

After a quick 'yes' in his mind, the next part of the process revealed itself.

[ Please select mana orbs for consumption. ]

[ Golden Vesplug Sentry ] [ 110 XP ]

Galahad only let himself smile mischievously on the inside. Have one orb within parameters of his level meant nothing in the face of hundreds of poisonous monsters attacking all at once. He needed the situation to play into the scenario of him leaving with a massive gain and not poisoned.

Galahad put the orb in his pouch and everyone continued further. None of the others were even whispering to each other, they just kept staring at Galahad's black leather armored back.

Arkiu was the closest to Galahad, he kept his sword drawn forward at any potentially surprising monsters, but he was also ready to drop it and go for the knife he had sheathed on the underside of his forearm for emergencies. He intended on aiming that smaller knife at Galahad if he was planning on betraying them.

Galahad could practically feel the tension resonating behind him and couldn't think of a way at first to ease stress that might ruin his plan before it even came to light. He thought up a few lies before eventually speaking out against the silence.

"My name is Solteer by the way, since everyone seems rather jumpy at the idea of asking me to start explaining who I am and why I'm wearing a mask." Galahad said in his old, light-hearted tone he use to use when his friends were still around.

Galahad could have sworn he heard a very light chuckle being suppressed and decided that was a good sign to carry on.

"I was down here looking for any mana crystals or light crystals worth digging out, but ended up getting chased away from my team by a small horde of something loud and obnoxious. Not the first time we've been split up down here in these dungeons, so I was just going to resurface when suddenly I saw the flakes on the walls. I was hoping it led to some interesting ores before I left."

"And then you ended up running into Elldry near a cavern." commented one of the guys walking behind Arkiu.

Galahad nodded at his response. Letting them fill in the blanks meant they were actively listening and somewhat taking an interest.

"So where's your team Solteer?" Tern asked rather sourly.

"Oh, they're back up at the surface, they sent some scrys and I told them what was happening before I found you."

"You said its not the first time you've been down here, yet we've never seen you around." Tass stated before Tern's suddenly abrasive attitude offending the man trying to help save their teammate.

Galahad pretended to have anticipated that question and began wildly ad-libbing instead. "Ah, that's because I've been down in the DUNGEON itself countless times . . . As for this part here in Diagon, its my first time as I travel along the kingdom with a large convoy of merchants."

"That would explain why you were unaware of the signs of a Vesplug cavern. They're normally frequent around here and not a lot in other places with gates." Interjected Arkiu.

"Glad to be learning that now, just not happy it resulted to these circumstances. I normally do a little bit of dungeon diving whenever they don't need me around to work during the spare hours. Being a swordsman among creation classes can make you lose your mind sometimes and actually want to be down here away from it all." He tapped at the hilt of the giant magic sword now strapped diagonally to his back.

"Yet you expect us to believe that someone who can watch for assassin classes in the dark and hide from a Vesplug in plan sight is just a simple swordsman?" Tern asked bluntly. His tone and persistence in question were making it clear he didn't trust Galahad in the least bit.

Galahad didn't give in, he still needed their trust for the next thing he would soon ask them.

"The only reason I wasn't attacked was the bug guts making my armor smell of old fried fish in a dumpster fire. I assumed that's why everyone has been staying quite a bit behind me. Believe me when I tell you that it hasn't lost a single bit of its intensity since the moment I killed the damn thing." Galahad said while plugging his nose beneath the black mask in a joking gesture.

That comment received a single but audible chuckle from one of the girls. Now it was time for Galahad to strike with his plan.