Ch 43 – A secret pathway

"Come on people! Move!" Gahan pushed Lancer and Garth forward with the power of his voice.

"Are you sure this is the way back?"

"Yeah, we've just come through here. Why you asking?"

"This cave is weird man..."

"You bet!? Did you see insects burst out of walls and ceilings and eat people alive?"

"What!? No?!"

"Then you haven't seen shit."

"..."

"The fuck are the two of you talking about?"

""Nothing!""

"You two... If you are dating just say it for fucks sake! You sound like two kids caught doing shit."

"What!?" (Lancer)

"Gahan?" (Garth)

"See? Now let's get going... I wanna leave this shithole today!"

Lancer looked back at Garth who had a bitter expression. "Did he just...? Garth? Where's Jarred?!"

"Shut the fuck up before I knock you out." Garth gave a dry response and hardened his pace, distancing himself from Lancer.

"Oh, crap... This is worse than I thought..." As Lancer slowly digested all the information, he started walking faster to keep up with both.

---------------------------

After the rest of the group left, Lard and Poert remained sitting there, thinking about nothing only to waste time until the others returned. They knew it wouldn't be fast. Poert was the first one to break the silence.

"So... Are we supposed to just wait here for them to come back?"

"I guess so..."

"That's a horrible idea isn't it?"

"I think so..." The two stared back towards the branch they had just barely escaped from... The fire was still burning violently, but not nearly as much as before.

"But those things won't come out unless we make too much noise right? Shouldn't it be fine?"

"I hope so... But we're still in a dungeon right?"

"Poert... I think you should see this..." Lard pointed up, with his only working hand.

"Oh, shit... This is bad..." Above the two, the ceiling that had collapsed was slowly repairing itself, closing the massive hole back up. Now, only a small hole remained.

"You sure we should wait here?"

"Forget it! We're leaving right now!" Poert sprung on his feet, outside of Lard's field of view.

*Schlacht*

A deafening sound of ripping cloth forced Lard to look to the side, where Poert was supposed to be. Instead, what he saw was his body falling powerless on the floor.

"Poert!? Hey! Poert! Don't joke man! This is serious! Poert!"

"POERT!?"

He tilted his body to the side, trying to reach Poert's foot. A wet sensation crawled down his shoulder into his chest beneath the partial body armor he was still wearing. A thick, viscous liquid flowed into him. His shoulder was covered in a dark-reddish thing that covered his whole insensitive arm. A drip of it fell on his face. He stared attentively at Poert's body, now in a pool of that very liquid, before looking up to see a bright smile and glowing red eyes...

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

And the severed head of his colleague.

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*cough* *cough* *cough*

Mihara looked down. She was crawling on all fours as she recovered her consciousness. Her arms wet from whatever she let out from her stomach. A horrid stench filled her nose as she breathed in for the first time in what felt like an eternity. She stood on her knees, cleaning her mouth with the back of her arm. Her head throbbed with her heartbeat. It felt strange. She could feel her heart beating much slower than usual. The same went for her breathing. As she stared in the distance, she no longer saw the red eyes floating. She clearly saw the figures of over 50 goblins staring at her, immobile. They looked like statues, but she could see the warm air leaving their nostrils as they breathed...

She could...

Hold up! She could SEE the warm air.

'What the fuck!?'

She stumbled around, as she tried to stand on her feet. Nervousness could be felt from the goblins. The only one that remained calm was the Goblin Shaman that threw her the strange potion.

*Thump*

As it hit the floor with his staff. Two more goblins like him appeared from the passage ahead, and all other goblins slowly disappeared, in line, going through that very passage.

As the Goblin Shamans raised their staves, magic circles appeared beneath her.

'I'm dead!' Mihara crouched, holding her head in despair as the fear of death overtook her.

Goblin Shamans were rare creatures. Known to accompany evolved species of Hobgoblins... The fact that three of them were together, meant that there must be hundreds of goblins at least.

Yet, the pain never appeared. Much on the contrary.

She felt the strain on her muscles become lighter. The pain from her ripped feet vanish completely and her will start to become stronger.

The three magic circles. She recognized them now.

"Minor Healing"

"Minor Stamina Recovery"

"Minor Mana Recovery"

The monsters were helping her.

***Thump***

The staves hit the ground simultaneously. The sound prompted her to get back on her feet.

The three Shamans started turning towards the passage, yet unmoving. They were prompting her to accompany them. So much she understood.

She clumsily stepped forward, trying to walk. Her legs didn't behave as she expected, she didn't have the coordination to do so.

"Ow!" She stepped on her own ankle in the confusion, before stabilizing her footing and managing to walk towards the end of the room and into the passage.

The three lead the way as she reaches the entrance, looking behind from time to time to ensure she was following.

As she passed the beginning of the corridor that wasn't supposed to be there from the beginning, she heard the ground scraping behind her as the rocks that made the walls of pathway crumbled into dust as they collapsed inwards, closing the path behind.

Scared and uncertain, she followed them through the never-ending and narrow corridor.

Neither they told her nor she realized that behind them, a shackle, partially crumbled and torn in half, remained in the room.