บท 26: Dungeon Exploration (IV)
Snow feet shuffled quickly; she didn't want to stay any longer. She could see the monsters looking in her direction with fury in their eyes. If it wasn't for the calming effect from the lake, she feared that they would all attack.
"Where exactly would that be?" Dairen asked, walking next to Mr. Everrett.
"At the gas station."
"I'm sorry, did you just say gas station?"
"Yes."
Dairen was silent for a moment, thinking. "Anyone else there?"
"No. Just the three of us."
"I see."
They continued their journey as both Cleo and Mike bickered amongst each other. Only Mr. Everrett came in to silence Cleo when things got a bit out of hand.
Eventually, Snow noticed the terrain changes. No more were there tall grasses or open plains. Instead, a giant forest with twisted trees was before them. Mr. Everrett took a sharp left, which went straight into the dark forbidding forest.
If Snow could describe with one word about the forest, it was creepy. Almost dizzyingly unnatural that it made her skin crawl. Overgrown trees, long slender vines that twisted and turned like spiderwebs as they decorated the canopy. Light fog covered the floor, hiding away her feet.
Whatever was in this forest, she wanted out. The plains felt a lot better than the forest itself because she could see who or what was encroaching upon them instead of paying attention to every surrounding. It just wasn't enough with only a pair of eyes.
"You guys came through here?" Snow asked.
"Yea, this forest isn't as bad as it looks," Leo stated, he was pulling his sister off of Mr. Everrett arms. She angrily glared at Leo. "We met some spiders, but the gas station is on the edge of the forest. We should be fine there."
It didn't take long for them to arrive.
What welcomed them was a battered up gas station. Half of the pumps were destroyed. Snow could tell that there was some kind of skirmish between a creature, but most of the building was still intact.
"What happened here?" Snow asked, taking a good look around. She could see the windows were still heavily cracked and broken.
"I don't know. We weren't here when it was like this. We just made this place our camp and explored the surrounding area."
They entered the store. Snow realized that the cabinets, chairs, and anything that could block the window was pushed against it. The remaining food was neatly put in a pile, while the center of everything there were blankets and pillows folded.
"This place is quite nice," said Mike.
"It is," Cleo stated with boldness and pride. "It took us a bit of time to get everything in order, but the food supply should allow us to stay here for another two to three months before running out. Help yourself."
"Did you guys, by any chance, find the exit?" Snow asked, she took a bag of chips and popped it open. Reaching in, she took a bite out of her spicy potato chips.
"Yes," Mr. Everrett spoke but with a hint of concern.
"Really?" Snow asked excitedly, half eating and shaking her hand in front of her, knowing full well that this could be the way out back to society, and she already dearly missed it.
"Well, there were a few problems."
Problems, it was a word she knew would crop up. "What would that be?"
"There are two exits."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"No. One goes down further into the dungeon, and the other one probably goes out."
"Is there nothing that told you which way to go? No signs or something?"
Mr. Everrett thought for a moment, "There was something, but I can't read ancient languages."
"Why didn't you guys enter into one of the two doors?" Dairen asked.
Everyone sat down in a circle, getting comfortable. They took their time to have their dinner.
"We didn't want to take a chance if it was something dangerous without having more people, so we came back to search for others," said Leo. "I heard this place is a dungeon from Mr. Garrett, and there should be dangerous rooms that harbor powerful monsters."
"Boss monsters." Cleo rolled her eyes, "Just get to the point, brother. It's not like the receptionist lady doesn't know this."
"How do you know, they actually might not."
Cleo shrugged her shoulders, not caring. "Either way, we needed more than three people to enter anyways."
"What do you mean? There is an entrance limit?"
"Yes, give me a second." Cleo fished through her pant pockets, taking out her phone. She scrolled through, bringing up a picture of the gates. "See here; it has the number five written above the door. I tried pushing the door open, but it wouldn't open." She gave them a satisfied smirk that told them she found a clue that the others didn't know."
"Wait, you tried pushing the door open?" Leo scowled. "What would happen if you let something out or worse, get stuck in the room without us?"
"I didn't, you know. I was just testing out a theory."
"Still sis. You need to think before you do something crazy like that. It will get you killed."
Cleo didn't listen to her brother; she snorted and waved her hand.
"Could I get a look at it?" Snow asked.
"Sure." Cleo handed the phone to her.
Snow curiously enlarged the picture, taking a good look at the door. What interested her was the writing around the wall and the symbolic drawings that decorated half the door. Half of it was covered by a giant monster that seemed to gobble up the group of people that fought. A large number five were above the door.
"Enter upon one's own will." Snow slowly read it out loud. Her words caught everyone's attention.
"You know how to read ancient languages?" Cleo asked. Her eyes became wide.
"Well, not much. Just small phrases. I studied a bit in my college years, but it has been my least favorite subject." She lightly chuckled, glad that whatever she learned during school days were useful.
"And then there are a few words that I don't understand around the edges, but a party of five or is it nine? It needs to open the gates."
"See." Cleo gave her brother a coy smile that told him that she was right.
"Then what about the monster? Is it a boss dungeon?"
"Well…" Snow couldn't tell if it was a so-called boss dungeon or just pictures of a monster to be wary of. She scratched her head, unsure how to answer. "I honestly don't know. The words seem a bit jumbled up; I feel like it's saying there is a monster blocking the entrance or maybe it's a guardian."
"Let's safely assume that that gate is the dungeon boss," Dairen cut in, thinking over what Snow had stated, "What about the other one, though?"
Snow swiped to the right, bringing up a different door. It was half the size of one that she had previously seen. But compared to the other large door, it was shabby, covered in vines, and almost invisible without having to pay attention to the surroundings. There were only a few words written on the door.
"Enter if you dare for the king shall ascend."
"That sounds like a boss dungeon…?" Dairen asked, confused, trying to decipher the two unable to choose which of the two was the correct path.
"Wait, isn't a large grand entrance, the boss room just like a game? It's usually like that, bold and extravagant." Mike replied, brushing his hair back as he leaned back against the wall. "The small gate could be the backdoor to exit out of there without having to fight the boss."
"That could be it." Leo stated, "but 'Enter if you dare for the king shall ascend' sounds too close to being a threat than an escape."
"Were there any other doors or exit you guys found? Maybe any hints on what level floor we are on?"
They shook their heads, unable to answer.
Mike broke the silence. "We have enough people, let's go check out the gates. One of the two should allow us to get us out of here."
"That is a gamble." Snow thought it over, "but what choice do we have?"
"Well, we could search for another exit?" Dairen replied, "there could be something out there."
"True, but how big do you think this area is? So far, it took us a day to get to the magical lake, who said it's not triple the length and time the other way." Mike stated, "if we go through the doors now, we can be sure that it's a boss room or not. Danger is still imminent wherever we go, instead of dilly-dallying over what could happen, we have a possible solution. Let's take it now and worry about the consequences when the time arises."
"I believe we should look for more people to be on the safe side. If one of those doors is the boss dungeon, I rather we have the force behind us to fight, then die with the people we have. You played games; boss dungeon bosses aren't easy."
"He has a point." Mr. Everrett stated, "it was the reason we came back to search for more people. Just the three of us wouldn't be enough."
"I'm a hero. We would be fine." Mike waved his hand like it wasn't a big deal. "What could go wrong?"
"Someone knock on wood now." Dairen rolled his eyes, "that is like a death flag statement, haven't you read enough back at home?"
"You're exaggerating."
"We shall see." Dairen gave him a smile that irked Mike; he couldn't help but have a second doubt in what Dairen said.
"So, who is in favor of searching for more people or going through the gate now?" Snow spoke up.
"Raise your hand if you want to search for more people."
Dairen, Mr. Everrett, and Cleo raised their hands.
"Whose for going through the gate?"
Leo, Snow, and Mike raised their hand, making it even.
"We are in a stalemate," said Snow. "This could take a while…"
"Look, if we go through the gate now, we could get out of here." Mike retorted, trying to persuade the others. "We might even find more people at the gate."
"That is all speculation; we don't know if there is anybody else still alive on this floor," Dairen replied.
"Exactly, so why waste our time?"
"It's still a chance there are people here."
"Once again, you assumed that there are people still here, I am putting my bet on there could be others who came with the same decision and thinking of a way to get out and waiting there."
The back and forth argument started to get heated.
"Guys, how about we get the gate and camp there for...a week or something." She threw out a random number to appease the two. "If nobody else comes, we go in. How does that sound?"
Both Dairen and Mike thought over her plan.
"Fine," Mike replied. "Better than staying here for months thinking of what-ifs."
"I'm good with that, Snow."
"Well, then we got our answer, let's get ready to leave." Snow got up; she finished her food. "You guys have a storage item or a backpack?"
"No." Leo and Cleo frowned, realizing what she was asking for. "Only a backpack, but we can't carry the rest. It's such a waste."
"Don't worry about it. I can store the rest."
"You can?"
"Yea," She started to put the food in her storage as they disappeared. "Should keep them fresh for a long time."
"That's great; this should solve our food problem." Cleo got up. She too packed a backpack with food. The others followed after her taking what they could.
"A little rest and let's get out of here in the morning." Snow noticed that it was dimmed, making it difficult to see.
With the store cleared out, they set up to sleep. Snow took a corner, where she was in between two shelves, protecting her from any unsuspecting attacks. Dairen came over, bringing his sleeping bag curled up in his arm.
"Do you mind if I sleep next to you?"
"Sure." Snow unrolled the sleeping bag; she took off the armor and placed it against the wall. Dairen did the same not too far away from her.
"Why did you choose to go in the door, I thought you wanted to avoid danger."
"I do." Snow replied, she slipped inside the bag, getting comfortable. "But I don't think we should hold off for months searching for other survivors. Everybody who's on this floor is probably looking for an exit, and the longer we wait, the higher the chances of people surviving is low. Not everyone is a fighter or knows how to survive well, Dairen." She bluntly replied.
"Still, humanity can adapt to their surroundings."
Snow shook her head, "Look, the number of people that know how to hunt, eat the correct plants and not die is low. We are too engrossed in the technological advancement that we forget many things on how to survive basically. I got lucky in storing food and having weapons in-store, but searching for the right plants is not my specialty. I don't know what other skills the other three people have, but our food supply can only last about a month. How are we sure that we will get out here in a month? Or worse, what if we go deeper into the dungeon unable to escape? What then?"
Darien thought over what she had implied in a more upbeat manner. "Still, there could be other places that have food somewhere."
"We can't count on what-ifs." Snow sternly stated, "hopes and dreams are all wishful wants that can't give us what we need at that time. Everything gets thrown out the window when we enter a dungeon."
"This is true, but we need a bit of hope to keep going. Without it, we would die mentally." Dairen countered, "remember that Snow, people need a cause. If we don't have any, we lose our sanity."
A pregnant silence followed after, making Snow uncomfortable.
"Don't worry too much about it." Dairen patted her on her shoulder; he slipped in his sleeping bag to get comfortable. "We already have too much to worry about in the day. Tomorrow is a new challenge, and we will tackle it when the time comes."
"Yea." Snow pulled the bag up to her chin, snuggling in. "Good night, Dairen."
"Good night, Snow."
"Good night."
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