Episode 8: Grave Under (6)

"...what?" Landon blinked at Jace's words. "What do you mean time's not on our side???"

"Look." Without further explanation, Jace began pointing his finger over towards the horde of zombies that were aimlessly roaming around the forest. "As things stand right now, there's no limit to the amount of undead monsters that can spawn."

"Ah...?" The blonde-haired man shuddered at the realization. "So what you're saying is... If we delay the boss fight any longer... We'll die no matter what from the zombies?"

"We'll be far too overwhelmed to deal with them, yes," he nodded his head in reply. "Without any way to clear a large amount of them at once, they won't be stopped."

As the situation stood, the hunters in this dungeon needed to act now or never.

"Then what are we waiting for then???" Standing up in the next moment, Landon resolutely looked at Jace. "We should head to the graveyard this instant!"

"..." As Landon's cry rang out in the air, the young man kept quiet, only surveying the surrounding area. "You've fully recovered your mana, right?"

"Mhm!" The blonde-haired man nodded his head. "I'm feeling way better than before now too!"

"Alright then..." With a nod, Jace began rummaging through his inventory once again. "On the count of three, start running." At that second, Jace took out a giant glowing rock from his inventory.

"Eh...? What's that?" Landon blinked at the sight.

"1..."

As if Jace didn't hear the blonde-haired man's words, he began counting.

"2..."

Whilst doing so, the young man's arm retracted backwards, tightly gripping onto the rock in the next moment.

"3!"

As soon as the count struck three, Jace immediately threw the rock out of his hand. At that second, he pointed his pistol over towards the flying rock, accurately shooting at it right after.

Bang!

As the bullet collided with the rock, an explosion echoed through the forest, alerting all the zombies in the area.

"GO!"

...

Thud!

"Grrr..."

"Raghh..."

Within an enclosed mausoleum, loud banging noises could be heard ringing out in the area. There, a group of six hunters could be seen within it, anxious and pressured.

"Ugh..." With his back leaning hard against the door of the mausoleum, Cole grunted. "These zombies are seriously getting on my nerves!"

"Tch... We're just sitting ducks here," Hugo frowned. "What the hell are we supposed to do in this hellhole?"

"I don't know..." The female hunter muttered.

After the initial encounter with the lich, the hunter party immediately made their way over to the mausoleum for shelter. However, soon after entering it, they found themselves locked in the building, surrounded by countless amounts of zombies attempting to pry their way in.

"Jeez... This situation is really finicky..." The Striker-class hunter ruffled his hair in frustration. "At this rate, we're going to die here in this ditch."

"There's no way we're dying here, right?" The burly man's expression grew worried. "Dammit... This wasn't part of the plan at all! I thought this stupid dungeon was supposed to be a breeze, but what the hell is this?!"

"We've already lost a handful of people..." Huey shook his head helplessly. "How are we even supposed to get out of this situation with just six people left?"

During the chaos that ensued earlier, the party lost a total of four hunters. The Magician, the Synergist, the swordsman as well as Landon. The former two were confirmed dead, whereas the latter two's status was unknown.

"Man... I'm scared..." The Striker-class hunter's voice shook.

"Hey, aren't we all?!" Cole cried out. "We don't even know if our other teammates are dead or alive!"

"Tch. At this point, we're just stalling for our deaths," Hugo clicked his tongue. "Does anyone even have a single idea on how to get us out of this mess? Yun? Huey? Rei?"

"..." Yun, the leader of the group remained quiet. "...I'm still thinking."

"What's there to even think about?" Rei, the female hunter, frowned. "It's a fact that we're stuck here. If we even think about opening that door, our fates would be sealed."

"Well, it's way better than being out there and KNOWING we'd die if we even remotely stopped running," the Striker-class hunter retorted. "At least here, we'd die from starvation rather than being out there and being chewed out alive by zombies."

"That's not at all consolidating!" Rei cried out. "Ugh... We should've just gone out into the forest! Maybe then we'd have a better chance at survival!"

"Hah. I don't think helplessly running around the dungeon whilst being chased by an endlessly growing horde of zombies is any good!" The Striker-class hunter rolled his eyes. "Again, at the very least here, we're temporarily safe!"

"In consequence of being a sitting duck," the female hunter stated.

"Jee. I don't see you coming up with a better idea that would keep us safe?"

"Hey, is this even the right time to argue?!" Huey shouted out. "Do you all really want to die that badly?!"

"Hmph... I knew I shouldn't have come here..." The female hunter folded her arms. "It was a big mistake! Easy money my foot!"

"Oh my god. Would you all just save your %&^*ing breaths?!" Hugo angrily struck the wall of the mausoleum with his bare hands, leaving behind a slight crack on it. "Instead of freaking arguing, how about shutting the $&%^ up or contributing by coming up with a damn plan that would get us out of here!!"

"What kind of plan can we even come up with?" The Striker-class hunter raised his brow in doubt. "We're basically stuck here, and we've checked everywhere. There's nothing that can help us!"

"I mean, if worst comes to worst, we can head to the roof," Huey replied. "That door isn't the only entrance to the mausoleum."

"Are you crazy?" Cole stated. "We can't escape out of here when the horde is that big!"

"Hey, it's just a suggestion," he stated. "Besides, none of us have even checked out the roof yet. How do we know we can't escape?"

"The lich is still out there," Hugo sighed. "I don't even want to think about having to deal with whatever's waiting for us up top. Those stupid zombies could know how to climb for all we know."

"Well, if none of us are willing to go out of our way to check the roof, I guess we're dead then," Huey shrugged.

"Hah... It's hopeless..." The Striker-class hunter frowned.

"It's not hopeless until one of us bravely ventures up," Huey reasoned.

"Why don't you go up and do it then?!" Cole screamed.

"Am I going to get some backup at least?" Huey asked.

"Okay, enough, enough!" Yun shouted out, getting everyone's attention. "Rather than fight, let's take a look at this situation more calmly, alright? We have a potential escape route. So, all we need to do is verify it. If there are no zombies up top, and we confirm that they can't climb, then we have another platform to run to for safety."

"Except, the lich probably has some range attacks that can kill us the moment we expose ourselves out there," Hugo frowned.

"...is it really over for us?" Rei dejectedly muttered.

As the female hunter's words rang out in the air, the entire room fell silent, the atmosphere turning grim. No matter what the hunters came up with, all routes led back to uncertainty. Was their fate truly sealed?

"Sigh... I give up thinking..." The Striker-class hunter depressedly stated. "I'm just going to accept my fate."

"Hey, are you kidding me?!" Cole cried out.

"Ugh... This freaking party..." Hugo grumbled.

"Calm down, everyone!" Yun screamed.

Suddenly, at that moment, loud gunshot noises randomly began ringing out into the hunter's ears from the outside.

"...?!" Taking notice of the sound, the party immediately became alert.

"H-Huh...?" Huey blinked. "Is that our Marksman?"

"Hey, he's still alive!" Cole cried out. "Quick, someone, hurry and head to the roof to check!"

"How sure are we that it's actually him?" The Striker-class hunter asked.

"Bah! If we keep going in circles like this, we'll be leaving him to die!" Huey ruffled his hair in frustration. "Whatever. I'm climbing up to the roof!"

"Him fighting against that endless horde outside is a death sentence. How are we supposed to save him anyway? We can't open the door for him," Hugo furrowed his brows. "He's a goner."

"We're goners if we lose more people!" Cole cried out. "Hurry up and go check! There must be something we can do to help him out!"

"UGH! I'M GOING, I'M GOING!" Huey screamed, beginning to climb up the ladder to the roof.