Chương 9: Dead Man Tells No Tales (III)
They stood in front of the mouth of the cave, looking into the darkness and the strange aura emanating from within. Keith looked solemn, his lips pursed, and his hand rubbing the tip of the sword hilt while his men just looked at him, waiting for Keith to make a decision.
Couple minutes ago, they argued whether to enter the cave or not. So, they decided to take a vote.
Three party members; Tom, Eddie, and Karen, voted to enter the cave. They thought that the strange aura emanating from the cave was from arcana. And the other three; Joanna, Keith, and Evan, refused to risk their lives to enter the cave.
The last member, Klaus, chose to abstain.
"What now? Are we going in there or not?" Evan could not wait for an answer.
Keith was still silent, his eyes glued on the darkness of the cave.
"You have to make a decision now, we don't have much time," Karen urged.
Purple dungeons were usually completed in four days, and this dungeon had been open since five days ago. Karen assumed that soon the main parties would find the alpha. If they managed to kill it, there would be a notification via smartlink to exit the dungeon immediately.
Karen continued to urge Keith to make a decision soon. According to the vote, if it was a draw then the decision went to the party leader, but Keith was indecisive.
The party leader was silent for a long time, and finally made his decision.
"Well, alright. We'll go in there. It would be a shame if we missed an arcana."
A smile bloomed on the group that voted to enter the cave.
They prepared for lighting. Karen took out flashlights and head torches from her spatial ring for each party member. After that, they entered the cave.
It was very dark, humid, and quiet inside. The deeper they went, the creepier it became. There was no sound other than the dripping of water and their footsteps.
Joanna was breathing fast, her hands tightly gripping her brother's arms, occasionally asking Klaus to walk more slowly.
As long as they explored the cave, they almost did not encounter any creatures, even monsters or night animals that usually inhabit dark places. As if this cave was empty and uninhabited.
The cave wall began to close in on them, and suddenly, Keith stopped.
"What's wrong?" Tom behind Keith asked in a low tone.
"I think I heard something in there," Keith replied with a grunt.
Instantly, all the party members inhaled deeply, and they began to touch their weapons. However, Klaus was just the opposite.
"I don't hear anything," he said. "Did you hear something too, Eddie?"
The big man with the spear in his hand just shook his head. "I didn't hear anything either. If I had, I'd have told you."
"I'm pretty sure, I heard it," Keith argued. "I think something is waiting at the other end. I need to get over there to check it out."
Hearing the words that came out of Keith, tension began to rise. Some of the party members looked at each other, with questioning faces, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
"You need someone to accompany you." Klaus said to Keith.
"I don't think so. I'd rather go alone, I don't want you guys to get dragged into danger, after all I'm the party leader."
"You need a companion," Karen chimed. "There's no way you're going alone. I'm going with you."
Keith and Karen looked at each other for a moment, then, Keith nodded in agreement.
The party leader turned to his men.
"If Karen and I don't return for thirty minutes, you all get out of this cave immediately, get it?"
All party members nodded.
The two of them then moved into the depths of the cave alone, slowly, their figures disappeared into the darkness.
That left Klaus, Joanna, and three male awakeners. They decided to sit down, resting their legs that had been tired from walking since this afternoon.
They were waiting.
Time flew so fast, and thirty minutes had passed. It was time for them to get out of the cave, but Keith and Karen still had not shown up.
"They haven't come back yet, what should we do?"
Joanna broke the silence. She looked nervous, her hands unable to stop shaking. The male party members looked at Joana. They seemed to have the same confused expressions as her.
She got no answer and turned to her older brother.
"What do you think? We'd better get outta the cave, right?"
However, Klaus was silent. This made Joanna even more worried.
"I think we should wait a bit. Something might be holding them up. Karen is with him, she's a caster, should be fine."
Evan finally spoke his mind. That blonde man tried to calm Joanna down.
"We'll wait a little longer."
Joanna lowered her shoulders, and her head bowed, with a grim expression. She could not wait to get out of this dungeon.
They continued to wait.
Suddenly, Eddie stood up and raised his spear, and the other members reacted instantly.
"Are they back?" asked Tom with a curious expression.
That big man hissed, telling him to be quiet. Eddie shone his flashlight into the darkness, toward the source of the sound. The other members followed suit.
Not long after, the sound of footsteps could be heard. A rancid odor wafted through the air. Eddie and Tom squinted, focusing their vision, and Joanna held Klaus' arm tightly, she sensed something was wrong.
"That's Keith!" Evan exclaimed.
That blond man smiled broadly, but it did not last long.
Evan gasped, his eyes wide open, horror all over his face. Eddie squeezed his spear tightly. Tom shook, his mouth opened wide, and then vomited.
The only woman at the party, Joanna, screamed.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!"
She fainted shortly after.
What they saw was not Keith, but a horde of zombie goblins holding Keith's head. Not only did they carry the head of the party leader, they carried Karen who was covered in blood.
These zombie goblins had an incomplete body. Skin and flesh were partially peeled off, some limbs were missing, their eyes were white, and a foul odor pervaded the air around them.
"Look at that!" Tom shouted.
Karen, with the pale face, seemed to be waving her arms, a sign that she was still alive. She called for help in a hoarse voice.
"Karen is alive!" Evan exclaimed.
"What should we do?" Tom was confused.
"Of course we're going to save her! Do you want to let her die?"
Eddie was still silent. That big man was focused on the enemies before him. Tom looked terrified, his face saying he wanted to leave this cave as soon as possible, but that man didn't dare make a decision.
Only Klaus remained calm.
"I hate to break it to you, but you're just going to die," he said. "Those goblins can walk despite losing half of their bodies. It looks like they'll be hard to kill. Besides, you don't have tanks and casters. And your elemental affinity is weak. There is no way you can win."
His words sounded skeptical, but reasonable. Nevertheless, Evan was not happy.
"You mean you want us to leave her? What if it happened to your sister?"
"Right, we have to save her," Eddie chimed in. "Karen has our monster cores, without her, this raid would be a waste."
Klaus could only sigh. He had told them, but if they insisted on fighting against those zombie goblins, he would not stop them.
"We're going to save Karen! Don't be afraid, we'll beat them!"
Finally, Evan took over the leader role of the party. That blond man brandished a sword, then charged forward, and Eddie followed behind him. Tom was confused, but in the end he chose to join his two colleagues.
"Good luck," Klaus muttered.
Klaus chose to leave with his sister. He carried Joanna, who was still unconscious, and left the three awakeners to fight alone.
Evan lunged confidently, he jumped to dozens of zombie goblins. Eddie followed suit, then twirled his spear like a whirlwind amidst the horde. Tom helped them from the periphery and kept his distance.
However, no matter how they cut them down, the zombie goblins always rose up.
Those monsters were relentless, their grotesque bodies writhing and twisting with an unnatural energy, and their hunger for flesh driving them forward with a mindless ferocity.
The three awakeners were soon overwhelmed, their weapons useless against the horde of zombie goblins.
Evan blocked a blow from a zombie goblin's claw with his sword, but another zombie goblin seized the opportunity and sunk its teeth into his arm.
"Arghhh!"
Eddie caught off guard as a zombie goblin lunged at him, slicing his spear in two with its claws. He tried to fight with his bare hands, but there were too many zombie goblins surrounding him. Naturally, Eddie asked for help.
"Help me, Tom!"
However, Tom's situation was not much different. The zombie goblins swarmed around him. A goblin jumped upon that man and bit his right hand, and his sword fell to the ground.
"Damn!"
As the situation worsened, they began to lose their confidence. Death began to loom over them, and slowly, their hopes were dashed.
One by one, they fell, their hysteria echoing through the cavern.
"I don't want to die! Aaaargh!"
"Help me! Help me! Mama!"
"Cough!!"
The zombie goblins descended upon them, their claws and teeth tearing into the awakeners' flesh. The sound of bones cracking and flesh ripping filled the air, drowning out the screams of the dying.
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