The Devil's Layer!
After that fire incident, we continue walking deeper into the dungeon. Suddenly, Cyan drops to the ground. "Hey lolipop girl, you alright?" I ask to Cyan whose on the ground breathing heavily. "It must be the amount of mana she used up back there, it must have exhausted her." Tamie says. "Not only that but...This mana that's radiating on such a large scale...The closer we get to it, we are beginning to lose our consciousness...It's making us fear of whatever is inside this dungeon and the more fear we have...The more our mana is drawn away from us...Tsch! I thought mana barrier would have been enough to stop it but...Whoever is in there is too powerful for us..." Sean explains. "Mana barrier?" I ask. "When a certain person's mana is way above our expectations, our fear begins to take over us. That is why, mana barrier is an item we knights created to protect ourselves in such situations. Matter of fact, I am using one myself. The only difference between me and that Sean boy over there is our mana power. Mine is greater then his, hence why I can endure it for longer." Tamie explains. No wonder all of these guys looked confident once they ate that weird herb. I sigh.
"I can't go any further too, my barrier has depleted too." Casey says. "So I guess it's us 2 then." I say to looking at Tamie. "Wait, your barrier is still on?" Tamie asks. "I don't have a barrier." I reply. Everyone's eyes widen like they are surprised by this fact. "No way...Your not using a barrier and your still okay...That's impossible...Just how strong is your mana?!" Sean asks me. "I feel the force of that leaking mana too but it's not too heavy on me...It just feels like there is an exciting challenge waiting for me up ahead and I would like to tackle it because that's what we Knights do. We tackle each and every challenges that are thrown at us." I say. Tamie smiles at me. "I see...No wonder that Caster made you a Vice-captain." Tamie says with her smile on. "Guess we will move on." Tamie says. "I am coming with you." Sean says. "Alright, but if you start feeling dizzy meet back with Casey and Cyan here." Tamie says to Sean. Sean nods. "Let's get a move on." Tamie says.
We begin to make our way more deeper into the dungeon and there is stairway that leads down. We begin making our way down. "Hey Tamie." I call out for Tamie whose holding a flashlight. "Hmm?" She looks at me. "Why did you choose students from our academy to come with you? Couldn't you ask help from other interior Knights?" I ask. Tamie looks at me. "I knew that one of you students would ask me that." Tamie sighs. "I would have asked the interiors to help only if I could ask them but no one gives a shit about the interior territories. They all just want to enjoy the life given by the Guardian Knights." Tamie bangs her fist against the wall. "If only I was a paladin and not that asshole." Tamie continues to mention someone. "Oh sorry, I think I went a little too harsh on my words." Tamie says as she smiles nervously. A paladin through what I know is a rank given to the one who is above the captains. He or she controls the whole interior and outer Knights but I have never seen a paladin in person. Whatever I know about them is through the folks and lores in the books. "Well anyways, I was once a student at Rodeo academy, so the principal would never deny my help. Unless it some kind of crazy deal like this one." Tamie stops. "I am surprised he sent you young ones with me. This means a lot to me...I don't know how I would thank him...." Sean looks at me and I look at him. "The only way you could thank him is if you make out alive from here." Sean says with a smile. Sean seems to be a bully but...He doesn't seem to be a bad person in anyways...What am I saying...
As soon as we hit the ground down the stairs, I sensed a huge wave of mana coming towards us. "The hell?!" Sean looks confused. "What's this crazy power boost?!" Tamie is sweating. Damn even I am sweating. What kind of creature is ahead of us?! We see skeletons coming out of the ground and spirits appear out of nowhere. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" Sean screams out looking at the undead. "Necromancy huh? Tsch!" Tamie says. "I wish we had someone on our squad to create iron material weapons." How convenient is that. I smile. I start creating an iron pipe. "What the-?!" I pass it on to Tamie. "I was just joking...I didn't know we really had something who could create such things but this will make the job much easier." Tamie says as she bends on her knees. "Hey what about me?!:" Sean asks. "Huh?! Can't you use iron magic?" I ask. "Oh yeah, my bad thanks for...THAT'S ONLY FOR LONG RANGE, I NEED SOMETHING FOR CLOSE COMBAT!" Sean screams. "Jeez, fine." I say. As soon as I was about to begin creating another iron pipe, "Give me the speed that surpasses Hermes and the strength that surpasses the great Hercules. Give me the power to surpass all that's around me. ACCELERATION MAGIC: GOD SPEED STRENGTH!!!" In a blink of our eyes all the skeletons and the spirits ended up dead and we stood there just unknowingly confused at what had happened. "Well now, this room is clear." Tamie says to us. For some racking with those stacks, her speed is unimaginably fast.
"Well, well, one of those three will be trouble. I know that for sure. That girl as to be our main priority." Hmm? I look around. Again...I feel like...Someone is watching us. I keep on looking around but I don't find anyone here. "Hey, slowpoke, you going to stand there all day?!" Who is Sean calling a slowpoke now? "On my way, sweaty man." I say. "What?!" Sean starts taking a smell of his shirt. "Ew, it really does smell." I keep on looking around because something doesn't seem to click right over here. I don't understand why though. I mean of course it's a dungeon but...It feels like this dungeon has a familiar feeling...
"Shhh!" Tamie puts her hand out stopping us. There is a small hole through which we can fit through that she looks through. There is someone there. Tamie's eyes widen. "What's the matter?!" I ask. "Those are the one's who contacted me, Jack and May, my subordinates." Tamie replies. "I need to help them!" I cling onto Tamie's hand. "You and I we both know...This is definitely a trap. Whoever is operating this dungeon is much dangerous. Plus we are completely at a disadvantage here." I say. "I agree with him, there's no way we can save them now but maybe later. After we have caught the one who has set the-" We are interrupted by a very deep voice.
"I know you three knights are out there somewhere. So I would like to welcome you all to the Devil's layer." We look around us. "Who the hell is that?!" Sean asks. "So let me tell you right now, the two people you see in front of you. If you don't save them right now...They will be chopped up into pieces by the chopping machine down there." The voice says. "Now it is your choice, will you save them or not? You have 10 seconds to decide." The voice says. I could clearly see, Jack and May both their mouths are sealed by a tape and they can't move because there are magical restraints on their whole body. They seem to be frantically shaking their heads.
"I am going to save them!" Tamie says. "You have only 3 more seconds be quick." Tamie jumps down. "Damn that idiot!" Sean says. "We can't leave her alone. She's being real reckless now. I jump down. "Hey, hey, wait for me!" Sean says as he jumps down behind me. "I am here." Tamie says to that voice. "Good! Now...Let us begin our fun shall we?" The voice says. "The fun? What does that mean?" Sean asks. I look around. I turn around towards May and Jack. "Ah shit..." I say. "What?!" Sean asks me as he turns behind. "Oh no..." Sean's eyes widen by what he sees. Tamie turns around. Her eyes widen. "Jack...May...What happened to you two?" Jack's right face has been completely burned down to his skull. The only thing I can see is his eyeball hanging with somewhat of flesh. May...Her stomach...It's wide open...A huge whole in it... There were no chopping machines...Rather these were the dead coming back to life. "What are these things?!" Sean asks. "The undeads tsch!" I say. "Not my squad..." Tamie's eye begin to feel with tears.
"Guess, I am the only one who is capable of fighting them huh?" I begin to move towards them. "Please don't...There must be some other way to save them right?" Tamie asks. "This is the only way to save them...There is no way that we can bring the dead back to life and that's the reality... And if we do...This is what happens to them... So Don't worry captain, if you can't do it I will..." I reply. That is one of the things my mother taught me...The harshest decision in your life is sometimes the best decision to take...