Dungeon

Chapter 79: Dungeon

The squad went from room to room. 

Traveling in this dungeon through the mountain where the ghoul was hiding. This wasn't the first dungeon they explored. Their experiences in the cavern where Araknar reigned strong had changed them, especially Junk since it was his time challenging himself in a dungeon. Each room in this new dungeon beneath the mountain challenged them all. One room, they had to find a hiding to open the next door and move forward. In another room, they had to light a torch in order to make a staircase descend from the ceiling and go higher into the mountain. There were always some kind of puzzle to solve, so they could move to the next room within the dungeon. To be honest, Junk wasn't that good with puzzles. He was sure glad to be having April and September with him, who did all the brains stuff in this crusade. 

When the trio of renegades made it to the fifth room, they now discovered that they had a different type of challenge to work on this time around. The fifth was the darkest of them all. There were no torches in here. September still had jack-o-lantern breastplates lit up, but even them couldn't do a decent enough job here to light the way. For some reason, this chamber was so much darker than any of the other ones they visited before. There was also something much somber about this room. The three could hear strange things all around them as they ventured into the room. Growling. Screeching at times. Water dripping in the distance, echoing everywhere around them. There was rarely a moment without any disturbing noises here. This was freaking April the hell out. She was hugging Junk the entire time they were making any progress as they went deeper into the chamber. She was hiding in his back. She didn't want to let go. 

"Why is it so dark in here all of a sudden?" April asked. 

"I don't really know. None of the other rooms were like that. Maybe that means we are getting closer to where the ghoul is hiding?" the Minotaur theorized. Not knowing anything about this place, simply thinking and hoping it was the case at the very least. 

"I hope you are right. All these noises surrounding us. What is it? Is there more than one? Are we about to fall into a trap or something?" The beautiful elvish ranger had so many questions. Too many of them for a brute Minotaur to answer. The one that could possibly answer her a little better was no other than the one who was at the head of the group, lighting the way. Attempting to, anyway. 

"Why don't you ask the witch? She might know something."

"Sep. Do you believe we are falling into a trap?" April asked. 

"I don't believe so. It's my theory that the ghoul that we are tracking is alone, and I don't think he is clever enough to set up a trap for us. We simply need to keep going and to find him as soon as possible. We need to end this now," she properly answered the elf. 

"Are you able to see anything at all in front of you, witch?" 

"I'm able to see more than enough," she lied to him, pretending she was seeing well-enough, which wasn't the case at all. She personally wished she could see a little better than this. Unfortunately, the jack-o-lantern breastplates weren't doing the job she was secretly hoping for. She didn't say anything about it, but they ended up not making any real progress in the vast and dark chamber. 

"Are we getting anywhere, witch?" Junk doubted her. 

"Yes. We are getting somewhere, Minotaur," she replied. 

"Don't fight! I'm getting scared!" April intervened. 

"We are not fighting, April," Junk reassured her a bit. Tired of this, the dark mistress suddenly stopped walking at the front of the group. Everyone else stopped behind her as well. Junk came drastically close to ramming into her, but didn't. September was tired of this.

"Quit running, ghoul. We are not here to hurt you. We want to take you back with us. If I sought to destroy you, I would have done it a long time ago," September suddenly began shouting at the dark void that was surrounding them in this chamber of the dungeon. She directly addressed herself to the escaping ghoul. As if she was convinced that he was here, in the chamber with them. She couldn't see it, but she was certain that the monster was here. Somewhere. Not too far away from them. "It's futile for you to run away from us like this. Things would be a lot better for you when you'll have been collected by us and became one of us," the Autumn witch continued attempting to seduce the ghoul. Her voice turned more and more sensual as time went on and with every word she said to the creature. 

"Do you really believe this is going to work?" April asked.

"I'm not sure if this is going to be persuading him to willingly surrender and come with us without a fight," the Minotaur argued. Shrugging his shoulders. Not thinking any of this was going to work. From his point of view, the only manner that worked with monsters consisted of using brute strength. Nothing else ever worked in his mind and honesty, based on everything they've encountered so far, he wasn't exactly wrong really. "This is not going to be that easy."

There was a long silence after she was done shouting. The growling and the screeching stopped. Even the water dripping did. 

"See? I told you? We have to keep going. He is not going to surrender like that. Better stop thinking he will do anything like that."

"Junk might not be wrong. I don't see it happening either‒"

"‒Shut up! I'm hearing something!" September suddenly interrupted April. She just said she was hearing something. Then, the two others heard it as well. Footsteps. They were footsteps. Then, it stopped again. Another silence. Then, nothing. 

A while later, something suddenly came from underneath their feet. One arm erupted from the floor. Held on to September's right ankle and pulled her underground!