บท 90: Circus Tent (I)
A blanket of energy washed outwards around her in waves, touching everyone that came with them. Instantly, everyone woke up. Confusion littered their faces, wondering what had happened. When they saw Snow rushing towards the drowning players, they quickly followed suit.
Snow ran towards a fallen log that was tethered on the end of the pool. Quickly, she pushed with everything she had. Her muscles strained, and her feet slipped, making her shoulder bang on the log. A few more ran over to assist as best as they could as they pushed the log into the water. The drowning Players grabbed ahold. Others got close as they pulled them out of the water.
"What just happened?" Dairen was rubbing his head, trying to figure out why his head was throbbing.
"I don't quite know. Cursed, maybe?" Snow got up, brushing away the dirt that painted half her right leg. Her new set of armor made from the leftover dragon armor was replaced with a more straightforward design that matched her white hair, but still had the same excess scale-like pattern mixed in with the Gem Beast blue crystals. Blue and gold filtered in a harmonious design. Falcon had a hand in its creation, which Snow was delighted about, but the stain of mud smeared on her armor made her regret having white armor.
Many of the people around her said she had a much holier feel because of it.
Quickly, Snow made her way over, checking the players for any other ailments.
A few of them came out from the ground, coughing hard as they spat out water from their throat. It wasn't a pleasant sight to see. Snow thought they would cough out their lungs at the way they were coughing. Luckily, none of them were injured.
"Cursed?" Mike wasn't sure what she meant, mostly because it meant that something or someone threw a curse at them when they weren't paying attention. In the group of two thousand people, this was an alarming realization.
"Yes, didn't you hear the dark thoughts creeping in your mind?"
"I...did." Mike slowly said. He had to think for a moment to formulate and answer.
Snow spread her energy out around her, trying to feel any lingering effects of magic that could have snuck up at them. But so far, she hadn't found a single influx of energy, making her realize that it could be something completely different.
"Do you feel anything?" Red asked. She walked over, she too had searched the area with her magic as well. Seeing how she cast out her magic with much more delicacy made Snow realize how much control she had compared to most people.
Even Snow could feel the tingling sensation that quickly dissipated if anyone tried to lock on. Red's control of magic was superb. Not many even noticed as it seemed that only she and Rye glanced at her when she let out magic into the air.
"I got nothing." Red concluded, "I don't like this at all. If we don't know what cast that strange spell, then it must be something more powerful than me."
"You got anything, Rye?" Snow asked, hoping that he would have an answer.
"No." Rye blinked, but his gaze seemed to be a bit distant.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Rye rubbed his eyes.
Snow still had a nagging feeling that Rye wasn't telling her everything, but she didn't push any further.
"Better than wandering around here listlessly." Snow motioned the group to follow. "Let's check out the large circus tent. We might find some clues."
The others nodded. Everyone stuck together a lot closer than before. They didn't want to get strung away from a dark voice again. When they saw that a few of their own almost drowned, many realized how they barely had the mental fortitude to push back whatever it was that called for their death without Snow's health. Sticking near her was the best way to stay alive.
Snow carefully moved through the run-down amusement park. They walked through many broken down booths that were severely damaged as if they were run over by a group of rhinos. Wooden boards were littered all around as lingering garbage and rusted nails still poked out from its side. Deflated balloon slumped, hanging upside down.
Dead leaves piled high in the corner of certain areas, half-broken lights crisscrossed overhead, while some still worked as it lit up the surrounding like speckled candy. Many people clicked on their flashlight or summoned up a magical ball of light like Snow.
The ball of light flickered a few times, dancing in front of Snow. She brightened the glow, allowing her to see further. A scuttle of small feet was heard as her eyes darted to the side of the unsuspecting noise.
They continued forward, checking out for any possible attack, but so far, nothing bothered them. This unnerved Snow. Everything was too quiet. The only thing she heard a few times were the whispers of Audrey and Mike that were near her.
Eventually, they got closer to the circus tent.
Suddenly, the lights inside the tent turned on. An eerie sound of circus music started to play, bringing behind a chill.
"What the hell…" Mike gasped as he stared at the tent before him. "Is that supposed to do that?"
"No." Snow softly spoke flabbergasted at what she saw. If she didn't know any better, it was as if someone was waiting for them.
"This is a dungeon, right?" Mike half-heartedly chuckled that died down. He looked at Snow then Dairen, waiting for an answer.
"Yes." Snow replied, but the closer she got to the tent, she started to doubt herself.
Was this really a dungeon? She had read many books about dungeons. Most, if not all, were some kind of underground area with monsters brimming with it. The last dungeon that she was stuck in was precisely that. This dungeon so far didn't quite feel like it was, almost as if it was just another abandoned area.
Dungeons came in three different varieties. The first was a multi-level dungeon that grew and housed many dungeon floors. Some even dive deeply into the very depths of over a hundred to a thousand. It all depended on how long the dungeon had survived. Each level had a guardian that guarded the next level until finally, the final ruler of the dungeon was on the last floor.
While the second was a plain dungeon that did not have any floor but one. Though the problem with this dungeon was that the map was huge. Finding the boss and the crystal to leave was annoyingly difficult. Still, this was considered an easy dungeon as it did not continue to expand over time.
The final type of dungeon was a chaotic dungeon. Barely any information was written about such a dungeon as every dungeon was different. It either had multi-level or one with possibly some type of deadly trap or puzzle that needed to be solved. Such dungeons were rare as it wasn't often that it appeared.
Snow just hoped that it was the second type, which would make it a bit easier to conquer.
"Are you sure?" Mike gave her a questioning look as the circus tent creepily flapped open for them to enter.
Snow wasn't sure she wanted to step inside the tent. Darkness called her, pulling her leg forward. She felt the urge of the voice entering into her mind once again. Her mind quickly fought back. Magic slammed in chaotic waves, fighting against the dark voices that called her into its embrace.
An influx of energy washed out, clearing her mind. Allowing her to look around her. She noticed that once again, the Players were forced into the lull of the mental attack that was ailing everyone's mind.
The people were pushed to take a seat on the dirty metal chair.
"Purification!" Snow yelled. A flash of warm light fluttered outwards, clearing up the foggy mind once again.
The affected people woke up again with a throbbing headache. At the rate that this was going, Snow was sure that every once in awhile, she would have to continually send out more.
Mike groaned. He was leaning halfway into his seat with his hand crossed in front of him. "How much longer do we have to get pulled into this mind trap?"
Snow understood his disgruntled words; to get into a mental trap, a second time was alarming. She searched around and noticed that they were all inside the large tent. Some were sitting on metal chairs as if they were visiting to see a show.
Red, who was on the floor, was throwing an angry tantrum. She scowled and cursed at the tent with her hands. Then she got up, stomping a few times as she wasn't happy to be bested.
"I swear when I find whoever keeps playing with my mind, I'm going to destroy you!" Red shook her fist.
"Now. Now. Little one." Tommy patted Red's head a few times to calm her down. "Children shouldn't throw a tantrum."
"Shut it poop head." Red scratched Tommy.
With a yelp, Tommy backed away, blowing at his hand in pain. "This little kid is a ferocious cat. All I was doing was trying to keep you calm." He harrumphed.
"I don't need it." Red sticks out her tongue.
"Better yet, what's going on?" Mike asked if he was finally able to pull himself to sit down. The others were a bit weak on the knees from the constant headaches, which eventually died down.
"I don't know." Dairen closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Mike was looking at Dairen, wondering why he was closing his eyes.
"I feel a disturbance."
"Like?"
"Dark magic." Dairen snapped awake, his hand quickly went to his daggers in his side.
The others quickly got up in alarm.
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