Disquieting

He entered the building, and the usual feast-like atmosphere was not present. In its place, a serious and depressive mood was taking over. Paul walked up to the counter and asked the young lady there:

"Hey. Is the master here? I have to talk to him urgently."

"Captain Paul! Yes, the master is upstairs in his office. I'm not sure what happened but he got a visit from the capital, even though we didn't receive any official statement about it."

"I see, thanks Lily."

Lily has been serving the guild center for many years now and Paul knew her well. Her usual smiley face was not present, leaving her clear green eyes that matched her short black hair with a worried look.

Paul walked up the stairs to the second floor, where the guild master's office was located. He opened the door and found an old looking man. He was sitting at his desk, leaning forward with his shoulders on the table, facing down and hands on top of his head. He was exhausted.

"Your hair is gonna turn completely gray if you stay like that, master Nathan.

The old man looked up and faced him.

"Paul.. What brings you here?"

"I was going to tell you about my plans for a hunt today but, it seems you're too busy to be bothered by anything at the moment... Care to share what royal knights were doing here?" Paul questioned while closing the door behind him and sitting on a chair in front of the desk.

"Sigh... I guess I'd have to tell you eventually. Yesterday, one of the king's personal scouts saw troops from the neighbor kingdom, Argo, crossing the border into our kingdom."

"This can't be good... Where exactly?"

"Fortunately for us, it happened near the north-east village, it is a couple days away from here so we have time to prepare for the worst... I'll prepare everything and make an announcement to evacuate somewhere near the capital for safety, don't worry. So, what about the hunt you were saying?"

He really sounds tired... I'll get this over with as soon as I can and help everyone to safety.

"My son and his friend saw a Night Bear in some unexplored ruins in the forest, we'll go there and kill it. Quite convenient in a way, we don't want anything like that to attack the people while they're evacuating."

"I see. Very well, do what you need to. But, if you see anyone from Argo you'll come back and report right away, do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Let me be now. Good luck."

"Thank you."

And so, Paul got up and left the room, not taking any longer than necessary with the guild master.

Poor guy is exhausted, I'll come back quickly and help him sort everything out. It is the least I can do as one of the captains from this guild center... Now then, time to recruit some people. He thought, and quickly went back to the main area of the guild center, hoping some powerful fighters were available.

~~~~~~~~~~

At the smithy, Nolan and Petter had just finished trying various sizes of armor until finally finding the most comfortable one.

"I actually feel safer with this." Petter admitted while moving his body around.

"Wouldn't be great if you didn't. Now then, Nolan, I'll tell you about the rune in your bow."

Zlodey picked up the enhanced bow before continuing:

"I can't really put the feeling into words but, once you have an arrow ready to be fired, you'll notice some mana flowing from the bow into your body. If you focus all of that mana in the arrow, the rune will activate. This one has a simple but powerful spell if used correctly, in a sense, it makes the arrow as strong as the Wind Slash spell, and obviously that attack will also be a wind type. Petter, your bow has the same rune, so you don't need to spot and focus on casting the spell now. Do you guys understand?"

He explained, and both the boys looked at the bow at the same time, nodding in agreement.

"Let's go then. It has been a while now, Paul must have gathered some hunters already."

They all leave the smithy after gearing up, and head to the eastern gate of the village, where Paul would be with the rest of the hunting party.

Reaching the gate, Paul and three others were waiting. Two were identical men with heavy armor and shields, both with the same dark hair and dark eyes, and the other was a woman who looked very similar two Lily from the guild center. She had a wooden staff and a dark blue robe.

"Sorry for the wait, glad to see you all." Zlodey said while shaking hands with one of the guys.

"This is Theo, Tarou and Faye. All are highly experienced so you guys can feel at ease around them." Paul introduced the new party members.

"Kids? We're not going to some playground are we?" The one named Theo said after noticing Nolan and Petter.

"Theo! Don't be like that, you don't even know them..." Tarou scolded him.

"This is my son Nolan, and the other is Petter, Zlodey's son. Both have great magic capacity and they're also quite good with bows. I assure you they are not to get in the way." Paul assured Theo.

"If you say so..."

"Well then, you two are the ones that found the ruins and the bear. Lead the way." Paul told the boys.

"Right!"

Nolan and Petter led the group into the forest without any problem. It took around an hour, but they finally reached the trapdoor to the ruins.

"Never imagined there would be ruins here, it is quite hidden." Faye spoke out, revealing her calm voice for the first time.

They opened the trapdoor and a set of stairs could be seen.

"The bear was quite a distance away from the stairs when we came here this morning. It should be safe to go down." Nolan said, looking into the trapdoor.

"Theo and Tarou, you should go down first and secure the area. You can take a few hits with your armor in case the bear is waiting for someone to go down and ambush us. If that's the case, push it back a bit so we can go down and assist."

Paul ordered the duo, and they obeyed without even questioning. This reminded Nolan of the rules he discussed with his mother about the hunt.

Theo and Tarou took the stairs at the same time and went into the ruins. Some seconds pass and they report back to Paul:

"No signs of the beast here, you can come down."

"Very well. You boys can go first. Then Faye." Paul ordered.

Nolan and Petter did as he said and took the stairs into the ruins, and Faye followed right after. After they reached the bottom, Paul and Zlodey had their turn. In the meantime, Theo and Tarou had their shields up in front of the stairs, in case the Night Bear rushed for them.

There were two different paths after the stairs, one to the left and one to the right.

"Which way?" Paul asked.

"Left. But from what we've seen this morning it is possible that this place is just a huge circle, so the bear could come from behind us." Nolan replied.

"I see. Theo you stay in the front, Tarou you'll stay in the back of the group just in case."

"As you say."

Tarou left the front line and went to the back, this way the group had good defenses from both sides.

"Wait a minute... How can we even see everything? We're underground, and yet it is as bright as day." Petter sounded confused, rightfully so. Zlodey pondered for a bit and then said:

"Light magic, whoever built this must have infused the light attribute to the walls."

"Didn't know that could be done..."

Even with magic, the place has been abandoned for centuries, leaving it a complete mess. The floor was dusty and the walls had some vines growing onto them from the surface.

The group explored the ruins at a moderate pace, although they did not stop to gather any type of valuable relics. All that mattered now was killing the Night Bear and going back to the village as soon as possible to prepare the evacuation, but Paul was the only one who knew this. He couldn't tell anyone and potentially cause disorder.

"Here, footprints." Theo warned the group, and crouched to further inspect the beast's traces.

"They are fresh, he's nearby. High alert everyone."

The group continued further down the path, ignoring all the rooms they came across. Curiosity was at the highest level, but they couldn't investigate the place and what its purpose was while there's such a dangerous monster around.

ROARRRRR!!!

"Up ahead!" Theo shouted, noticing the bear rushing towards them.

"Prepare for battle! Theo and Tarou, stop it with the shields! You three back there, boost us." Paul ordered out.

Tarou moved to the front of the group next to Theo again. They both put their shields up and stood in a defensive position, ready to stop the beast. At the same time, Faye, Nolan and Petter cast supportive spells on the party. Faye gave them a physical attack and speed boost, Nolan boosted their magical power, and Petter improved their resistance to attacks. While Faye had quite a lot of experience casting such spells, the boys' weren't very effective since they hadn't done it a lot. Even still, better than no boosts at all.

The beast was not visible yet, the pathway they were currently in made a right turn a few meters ahead, where the sound had come from.

"Steady..." Paul said, while the group stood still, prepared for battle.

Heavy footsteps could be heard right behind the corner, getting louder each passing second.

And then finally, the beast came into sight of the group. Its black fur was tainted with blood all over the body, its snout was cut on the right side, and the right eye was missing.

"It is injured, we must take this opportunity! Theo, Tarou, engage!"

The two ran as fast as they could against the Night Bear, with Paul and Zlodey right behind them.

It seemed that the bear was exhausted, leaving it with no chance to evade the attack.

Theo struck his shield against the beast's head while Tarou tackled its body, making it fall on its side.

"Now!" Theo shouted, leading Paul and Zlodey to follow up with an attack. They dashed forward and thrust their swords into the monster's chest, piercing its heart and one of the lungs.

The Night Bear twitched in pain for a few seconds before his body completely gave out. It had finally been killed.

"That was easier than what I was expecting.." Petter commented, amazed at how quickly the fight with the bear had finished.

"Well it was already injured and completely exhausted, it barely tried to avoid our attacks. Did it really run after you this morning?" Paul continued.

"It wasn't injured in any way when we came here."

"That means... Something else overpowered it..."

Paul stopped for a second and pondered on what to do next.

I'm curious about how that Night Bear got in here and what hurt it so badly, but we must return now... I must help organize the evacuation before it is too late.

After thinking on his next move, he raised his head up and spoke out:

"Our job here is done. Let's return to the village and report to the gui-"

Before he could finish his sentence, his words were cut off by another person.

"What the!?"

The voice had come from behind the group. An unknown fully armored man looked at them, surprised at seeing someone in the ruins. His armor had a reddish color, shoulder pads in the form of dragon scales, and his helmet had two black horns coming out from the sides, and then curved upwards. He had a sword on his waist along with a few small metallic round objects, though no one knew what that was.

They must be from the nearby village, I can't take this many of them at once... Damn it, I must warn the others about this. He thought, before grabbing one of the metallic balls.

"You should have never come in here! Well, you'd all be dead very soon anyway!"

He said, and threw the object at the group

Is that some sort of bomb?! Paul thought, leaving him with no choice on what to do:

"Theo, Tarou! SHIELDS!!"

Everyone took cover behind the shield users, hoping for the best.

The small object blew up, causing a flash of light which blinded everyone present.

"AHHH! My eyes!!" Nolan screamed in pain.

"Hold on!" Faye shouted while preparing another spell.

"Perfect Cleanse!" She cast the spell on the party, enabling everyone to see once again... Or so they thought.

"Oh no, I think I got blind for real! Everything is dark now!" Petter said while blinking several times.

"No, we're alright. Zlodey, give us a flame please." Paul followed, asking Zlodey for his magic.

"As you say. Fire Spark!"

Zlodey used his fire magic, lighting up a small flame on his hand. With the fire giving out light, everyone could see each other again, and realized what was happening.

"The walls of this place... They're no longer giving out any light. We're completely in the dark now." Theo said while inspecting the nearest wall.

"Where did that guy go? Did he not get blinded as well?" Nolan asked, wondering what had happened to the unknown man.

"No matter, let's get out of here while Zlodey still has enough mana to give us light, this is a really bad situation..." Paul said while thinking of every possibility.

The group started moving once again, this time, back to the entrance of the ruins, in hope of getting out as soon as possible.

After spending some time in the darkness, the place had begun to give out light again, making the path ahead visible.

"That bomb he used, I believe it absorbed all of the light this place was giving out and then released it all at once when it exploded, of course it blinded us. I have a bad feeling about that guy though..." Theo explained, relieved that they would be able to see clearly again soon.

"Would you look at that, it seems like you can actually think from time to time." Tarou followed.

"What did you say!?"

"Stop!" Paul shouted. "This is no time to argue. Focus on finding the stairs."

Theo and Tarou suddenly stopped, making everyone bump into each other.

"Well captain, about that..." Tarou said while pointing with his finger at something.

Paul looked in said direction, and his eyes widened. The ceiling had collapsed and completely blocked off the stairway, leaving the group with no way out of the ruins.

END OF CHAPTER 2