Chapter 38: Dungeon Life (V)
Snow walked back and forth, bored. These days her time was taken up with training and work, barely any time for herself. She needed a break. Grabbing a light sweater, she stepped out. It was a typically slow day; the number of Hunters and Players was less than fifty.
Most were out hunting during this time, making the place almost empty. Snow walked over towards the makeshift bench outside, where she sat down.
A large field was cleared out as she was now in the middle of the so-called village square, giving it a more lively feel and protection. It was during these peaceful days that she enjoyed it as it drove out the stress and noise of the dungeon life.
Darkness settled, bringing in the night light. Snow was meditating when she heard a ruckus outside from the open window. She peered out, noticing that there were injured people being dragged on stretchers.
Getting up, she quickly walked downstairs, meeting up with a group of people. Just by looking at it, the casualty of injured was steep.
"Seven level E Players dead, five D Hunters, and even four C." One of the Hunters spoke out with a shaky voice. "It's outrageous, how could something that strong be living in the forest?"
A small group of healers came over to help heal the wounded.
Ivy saw Snow, waving her over. "Snow."
"Is everything alright?" Snow scanned the crowd. She could see broken bones, a wounded chest, possibly even internal bleeding, and many more. She couldn't find Dairen, wondering what had happened to him. Luckily, she found him in a group with Mike, conversing with the other Players.
"No, I heard you have healing abilities? We are short staff at this moment. Could you help?"
"Yea." Snow was already next to her first injured patient, quickly summoning up her magic. "What happened? Did you guys meet something in the forest?"
Ivy paled. Her lips trembled.
"You guys found something you shouldn't have." Snow placed her hand over the Hunter's lung, healing it back into place.
"It was a high-level guardian." Ivy was finally able to say something, which was more like a whisper.
Snow could sense the fear in her eyes. "You guys found the entrance to the next floor."
"Yes." Ivy could barely say the words without her teeth shuddering. She grabbed her arms, becoming smaller as she squatted.
The drastic change from her usual persona made her curious about what they saw. She didn't expect the lady next to her to show her fear so quickly, but thinking about it, most of the Red Flower Nation barely have any combat experiences. Still, to see so much injury and death meant this monster was something not to scoff at.
"Do you guys have the images and the locations of the dungeon guardian?" Snow finished up healing her first patient. She quickly moved on to the next.
Ivy came back to herself, breathing in a few breaths. She then took out her phone and scrolled through it. A video popped up as she propped it up for her to see.
Snow watched. The screen turned on, showing the ghastly dark forest as the team walked through with weary steps. Red raised up her hand, stopping the group.
Brittney, who was sitting on one of the buff Hunter's shoulder, was placed on the ground. Her pink dress twirled around her as she tilted her head. Without a dallying, she raised her hand. Closing her eyes, magic poured out of her fingers. A beautiful rainbow light shot up into the sky, hitting some kind of forcefield around the forest.
At first, the barrier kept her power in check until Brittney wrinkled her nose. A blast of energy shot out from her body and slammed into the wall. It didn't take long for the barrier to be forcibly broken.
"Holy cow." one of the male Players whispered, looking at the shocking power difference between themselves and the Brittney. "Did you see that?"
The others were too enthralled by the scene that they couldn't say much.
It didn't take long for the barrier around the forest to break apart, destroying the illusion. What changed before the group was a desolate burnt field. Dead plants and animal bones were present as far as the eye could see.
In the middle of all the chaos was a large circular stone stage reminding Snow of the famous Stonehenge. In the middle, there was a blue fire quietly burning in midair.
Brittney walked over towards the fire, taking a good look at it with interest. The fire sputtered and sparked the closer she got. Her guards pulled her back, trying to stop her from touching it.
Dairen ran up, shouting at them not to touch the flames. All Snow could hear was the muffled voices, but the next thing stupefied her. One of the Players pushed the nearest Hunter into the blazing fire.
Alarmed, the others quickly surrounded the Player as he was pushed into the ground.
"Why did you do that?" Ivy came storming over. "Are you insane? You killed one of our people!"
The man on the ground was bent over, unable to lift his head. A dry chuckle erupted from his lips. "You'll all be damned." Without further thought, the blast of energy shot outwards. He pushed himself away from the guard, falling into the flames, laughing.
Chilled by the crazy man's laughter, Snow forgot to heal. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. A traitor in their midst, but for what purpose?
The blue flames cackled as if it was laughing at the people around them. It burned bright black, becoming larger and larger until what came next shook them.
A large hooves of a deer stepped out of the gate, bringing with it a deer-like creature on two legs towering over them like a giant. Large antlers sprouted out of its head in a jagged lopsided manner, giving it a menacing look. Exposed chest with bones sticking out, covering it's beating heart in a cage, while black eyes stared down upon the group with a wicked smile. Long arms that hung down onto the ground swung around to its nearest Hunter, snatching them up in the air as it chomped down on its head. Blood spurted out everywhere, dripping the monsters hand red.
"This….is not...enough." The monster spoke, chewing the body with vigor. "I'm hu...n...g..ry." He looked around, spotting the others around it with satisfaction at the buffet of human meal before him.
With an excited stomp, black shadows appeared out from the ground. Hellhounds shaped, and form as chaos was apparent. Magic and swords clashed against the monster as Players panicked.
"It's a Wendigo!" Ivy shouted in fear. "Quickly!" The screen was jostled around as it blacked out.
Snow asked. "Did you guys kill it?"
"No," Ivy replied. "In twelve hours, it will find us."
Snow swore under her breath, instantly realizing what was going to happen. "How many injured?" She quickly went back into healing this time, focusing harder.
"Luckily, fifteen. We were able to cage it for a while, but we don't have enough power to destroy it."
She understood the predicament they were in, especially what this spelled out to the Hunters and Players, who were stuck here. At best, she believed there were about one hundred Players and Hunters stationed at this location, but another hundred were probably scattered out in the field. Finding help in a short amount of time was difficult, almost impossible to even rush out to grab help from the outside source.
With her second patient done, she snapped up and went to her third. Almost tripping over from rushing. "Do you send someone to the outside."
"Yes, we already sent out a message for reinforcement five hours ago, but my guess is that they won't make it for another day or two if they are fast enough."
"Could you send one to the Dragon Express?"
"Already sent a message. I assume we would need all the help we could get."
Snow nodded, agreeing with her. This was a big problem, especially for the natives that couldn't escape. They had only two choices: stand and fight or die. There was no escape.
"How many are willing to stay to help?"
"I-"
Snow instantly knew that the answer wasn't favorable. Mostly because she knew that Players could leave the dungeon to escape the terror that was going to come.
"An emergency meeting is taking place in ten minutes. Do you think we would be done by then?" Ivy looked at the injured patients.
Snow nodded, resolved. She closed her eyes, imagining a vast blanket of power brimming out from her, she splashed light energy around the injured. The light magic drifted downwards like shining stars, wowing everyone.
The moment her light magic touched everyone's skin, a light sizzle followed after, rapidly healing the open wounds. Turning pale, Snow retracted her magic. Breathing a bit slowly, she felt her arms shaking. She had never healed so many at once, but she noticed that her power had slightly increased.
"This should be enough." Snow replied, trying to stand up straight but failed. "The other healers should be able to heal the rest. Could you take me to the meeting?"
Ivy nodded, unable to say anything. She helped Snow up.
They both hurried on over as the rustling bustling crowd of Hunters and Players were present in front of a small raised stand as Red stood in place.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BlackSnowAngel
BlackSnowAngel Goal Achieved. <3
Also wanted to inform you that an extra chapter is up on Pa treon website. It's a glimpse into Dairen's world and thoughts.
https://www.pa treon.com/snowangel
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