Episode 8: Grave Under (3)

"Please... Save me..." As the party's attention fell onto the weirdly placed gravestone before them, the soft-spoken voice continued to ring out in the area. "Please... Save me..."

"...is that voice coming from that grave over there?" The Synergist-class hunter asked.

"It looks like it..." The burly man scratched his head.

"What do we do?" The Magician-class hunter blinked. "It sounds like a girl that's asking for help..."

As the group of 10 hunters began discussing the situation, the soft-spoken voice carried on, repeating the same words over and over like a broken record. "Please... Save me... Save me... Save me..."

"Hah? What do we do? Are you seriously asking that?" The man wielding the axe scoffed. "Grow some common sense will ya? Whatever that thing is, it's not human! This is a trap you dingus!"

"Hugo's right," the leader nodded his head. "This is definitely looking to be a trap. If we even remotely respond to that voice... Who knows what will happen to us?"

"Huh. So I guess ignoring them it is!" The Striker-class hunter nodded his head.

"Save me... Save me..." Ignoring the ongoing discussion, the voice continued to repeat itself.

"Oh. So is that why it's so quiet here?" Landon tilted his head. "Is it cause of that thing?"

"Eh, most likely!" Hugo shrugged. "But whatever the reason is, let's just get a move on. This stupid trap is wasting our time."

"Sigh... It's a bummer we'll have to miss any potential loot here," the Synergist-class hunter sighed. "But... Even taking into account the trap, the fact that there are absolutely no monsters here is kind of concerning. Aren't we in a graveyard?"

"Save me..." As the voice continued to play like a broken record, its tone suddenly shifted. "I was abandoned... Abandoned..."

"...?!" Upon hearing a new word from the voice, the party members were taken aback.

"H-Huh...? I-It's no longer repeating the same thing?" A female hunter from the group shuddered.

"Abandoned... Hehehe... Abandoned..." As the group instinctively took a few steps back away from the tombstone, the soft-spoken voice suddenly started to laugh. "Hehehe... Hehehehe!"

"W-What the...?" The burly man at the forefront of the group subconsciously entered into a defensive stance. "D-Did someone trigger the trap...?"

As the laughter echoed through the graveyard, it suddenly stopped.

"H-Huh...?" The Magician-class hunter frowned. "I-It stopped...?"

Just as the silence in the area reached its peak, the out-of-place tombstone shook. At that moment, countless blackthorns abruptly jutted out of the grave, swiftly heading straight towards each party member in the next second.

"...?!" Quickly taking notice of the incoming thorns, the leader cried out. "EVERYONE MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

Right as the blackthorns were about to hit each party member in the group, each hunter hurriedly attempted to dodge the random attack, moving out of the way as quickly as they could.

"...ugh...!" Barely dodging the attack just in time by sliding against the dirt, the thorns haphazardly grazed past Landon's arm, causing a small cut on him. "Y-Yikes I just barely made it out of there alive..."

"Is everyone okay?!" The leader cried out.

"I-I'm fine...!" Landon coughed, turning his attention towards the party leader in the distance. "We should regroup and..." However, right at that second, his eyes opened wide in shock. "W-What the...?"

As Landon focused on the scene before him, he was greeted by the sight of two hunters, the Magician and the Synergist, with thorns forcibly wrapped around them.

"Ugh... Let me out of here!"

"A-Argh... I-It hurts..."

The two of them struggled to escape out of the thorn's clutches.

"Ben, Sally!" The burly man cried out. "Stop struggling! I'll save you!"

Just as the man began racing towards the two hunters, he saw that the blackthorns paid no mind to him, abruptly crushing the two of them the next moment.

"NO!!" The burly man screamed.

"Hehehehe!" Before the party was able to process the situation, the soft-spoken voice started laughing once again. "Kehehehehe! I was abandoned... Abandoned... Isn't it... A shame?"

Coming from the direction of the tombstone, a small petite rotten arm protruded out of the dirt. In the next second, a head popped out as well, revealing the sight of a half-zombie and half-skeleton girl slowly coming out of the grave.

"Hehehehehe!" As her body began rising from the dead, it could be seen from her expression that she was smiling widely. It was that of a psychotic smile. "Kehehehehehe! I was abandoned... But no more... I will be abandoned no more... Instead... I will save you all!" With it, came a burst of psychotic laughter.

[ Lefenia, the Lich of Renunciation has risen from the dead! ]

"W-What the hell is this...?!" Taking notice of the sudden notification before him, Hugo cried out. "A lich?!"

"Huh?!" Landon was left speechless at the sight. "I-Is that the boss? No way, right?"

As the small girl's body was finally freed from the clutches of the grave, she turned to look at the remaining party members, still smiling widely. "Kehehehehehe!" At that second, blackthorns began protruding out from her body once again, making their way over towards each hunter in the area.

"...again?!" Immediately taking notice of the attack, Landon hurriedly activated [ Swift Blaze ], sliding down to the ground once more to dodge the incoming attack. "Ugh... Why's the attack so fast?!"

"Dammit... This isn't part of the dungeon plan at all!" Following the burly man's shout, he crossed his arms in an attempt to fend off the incoming thorns by using a skill. Unfortunately, the thorns pierced through him, causing him to abruptly stagger backwards. "A-Ack...!"

"Hey, just dodge the attack! Don't be stupid!" The swordsman cried out. "If the thorns grab onto you, you're as good as dead!"

"A-Ah... What do we do? Should we run...?!" The female hunter nervously uttered.

"Hey, leader!" Hugo cried out. "Now's a good time as any to give an order!"

"H-Hey guys... O-Over there!" As the group was in chaos, a loud cry could be heard from another Sentinel-class hunter in the distance. "I-It's about to do something!"

"Kehehehe... To do that... I need my family to help..." The lich playfully uttered. "Rise... Rise!"

Following the gleeful girl's words, the entire area around the party shook. At that moment, from every single direction of the group, an undead monster rose from their grave. Zombies, ghouls, skeletons, there were countless of them.

"Grrr..."

"Tok..."

"Rrgh..."

"T-This isn't looking good at all...!" Landon gulped, taking note that the monsters were beginning to surround the party. "Not good at all!"

"Family... Please save them...! Don't let them be abandoned...!" The lich commanded. "Let them be free from the despair of humanity!"

...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Within a dark and lonely forest, a young black-haired man could be seen rapidly shooting out a barrage of bullets towards the horde of undead monsters before him. There, it could be noted that the young man's expression was distressed.

"Ugh..." For every bullet that Jace shot out towards the zombies and skeletons rushing up towards him, his expression grew more dire. "What the hell? Why are they getting stronger and stronger?"

Despite having been able to kill the undead monsters in one go before, at one point during the dungeon run, the monsters began tanking his bullets. At first, it took two bullets to take them down, then three, then four. Before Jace knew it, his shots weren't doing damage at all.

"Tch..." His brows furrowed as he took notice that his mana was depleting rapidly, yet there were no signs of the horde of zombies ever stopping. "This is an issue. A really big one."

As the time taken to kill a zombie increased, it meant that more monsters were spawning rapidly than he could kill them, which was a massive problem for Jace. He was unable to cope with the growing horde of undead monsters before him.

"Grrr..."

"...tok..."

"Rghh..."

"Tsk... This is really troublesome..." he frowned, taking note that the undead monsters were beginning to make an encirclement around him. "I have to get out of here."

Just as the zombie was about to attack Jace, his eyes hurriedly shifted towards an empty space just behind the horde of zombies. At that moment, he activated [ Phantom Mirage ], barely escaping out in time before the zombie got to him.

"Hah... Hah..." Taking the opportunity from the decoy made from his skill, Jace hurriedly began running away from the horde. "Ugh... Just what the hell's going on? Why do the monsters feel like they're actually B-rank now?"

Glancing around the area as he ran, Jace took notice that the fog in the forest was growing thicker and thicker, causing the young man to be unable to see the front of him all too well.

"And it's getting foggy as well... Tch. This is getting really troublesome..." he frowned. "I have to find the group fast. If I stay here alone for any longer, I'll be in trouble."

Given the current situation, Jace couldn't hope to win against the wave of monsters alone. It was impossible. Thus, with only one choice remaining, he could only hope to find the party soon. Or otherwise, he would perish here.

"Sigh. This stupid Synergist class of mine..." he grumbled. "Whatever... They shouldn't be far now."

As the black-haired man continued making his way through the dirt path, a sudden loud gunshot noise rang out in the area, alerting him.

"...?!" Turning towards the direction of the sound almost immediately, Jace's eyes opened wide in shock. "...Landon?"

Without wasting any time, Jace abruptly changed his course, now headed towards the direction of the gunshot noises in the distance.