Charlotte, the orange-haired bartender comes over to us with a bright smile across her face and two steaming hot circular trays of food.
Pitchers of juices and ice-cold water slosh around, making my mouth water at the sight of them.
“Dig in, you all have a long day ahead of you!”
We do as she says.
After 30 minutes of a satisfying feast, the 5 of us sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet of a near-empty tavern in the middle of the open desert on a full stomach of good food.
Charlotte watches from the back of the bar, keeping an eye on the door and other lingering guests.
I’m too curious to wait any longer. I look over to her and our eyes meet as I speak up.
“Hey, great meal! I appreciate the hostility but could I ask… what do you do for the Association exactly? I’m just new around here, I didn’t even know these walls existed yesterday..”
She replies in an excited tone as she makes her way over.
“Well you’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it. If you must know, I’m the Gate 1, Section 4 lookout. There aren’t many towns around here, so if anyone’s looking to catch a ride on the train out, they’ll have to stop by this town. I have a pretty good eye for troublemakers, and can get people to talk If I need them to.”
My gaze tightens.
“You can… make people talk?”
Leo interrupts.
“Char’s the best the Association’s got. If you need questions answered, she’ll get ’em for ya!”
The orange-haired bartender turns to Leo, tightening her lips and letting high a half-nervous laugh before responding and hitting Leo on the shoulder with a playful slap.
“Hey you know I like to keep that a secret before I get to know new guests.”
He rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. These 4 aren’t your average hunters though, try it out, let’s see if your smooth talk can do anything to this bunch.”
She looks back over to me. Instantly, I feel that soothing sensation I experienced when I first walked in.
The first time around it was nice, but now, I know something’s up. My battle instincts kick in, and I activate my All-Seeing Eye. Something doesn’t feel right….
The woman begins walking over to me and speaks in a slower rhythmic tone.
“Sure Leo, I’ll give it a shot, but it’s always more fun when they aren’t suspicious.”
As my perception skill activates, I begin to see a light orange-colored mist surrounding her body. It spreads out and engulfs our entire table the second she gets close.
I don’t feel threatened…
Quite the opposite actually.
The closer and closer she gets the more I don’t mind this odd invisible mist.
My smile matches hers and my All-Seeing Eye deactivates once she puts her arm around my shoulder.
“So, tell me something about yourself, Jay. Something I wouldn’t know.”
In a daze, I begin to speak.
“Something you wouldn’t know? Well there’s-“
I pause as I feel MP being drained from me…
I tighten my jaw and lurch back, realizing exactly what’s going on. My poison resistance passive skill has kicked in, and it’s nullifying the effects of something…
Everything clicks as I dart my eyes back and forth to see my teammates blissfully unaware of what s going on.
Charlotte’s eyes meet mine, sharper than before. I reactivate my All-Seeing Eye to watch the light orange mana-imbued fig retract back into her body.
She takes her arm away from my shoulder and lets out a laugh.
“Well, I guess that answered my question, doesn’t it? You are a unique bunch aren’t ya? They wouldn’t choose you all as the next elites at such a young age without good reason I guess…”
Leo smirks, and my teammates don’t seem to realize what happened at all.
I keep my eyes locked on her, she speaks up again.
“I won’t use that ability on you or your teammates, I promise. Sorry for the intrusion, I thought it’d be fun.”
I turn to the silver-haired artificer and he shrugs.
“I knew you’d resist her charms. Well… I had a feeling at least, just wanted to see if you could. “
He laughs.
I swallow hard, then reply with a long sigh, sitting back in my chair.
They’re just trying to have some fun…
I guess I shouldn’t overreact too much, but I have too much at stake to be goofing around like this.
This was a good wake-up call. Although this little train ride and team reunion has been nice, once we make it over that wall, our time for leisure will be over.
There will be monsters trying to kill us at every turn. It’s time to get serious…
Arie speaks up.
“Alright, I’m just going to ignore whatever that was… Let’s stop wasting time. I want to get over that wall.”
Maria chimes in.
“Me too, I want to test out my new skills on some real danger!”
Charlotte smiles, and I hear a train whistle blow in the background. She turns to Leo.
“That’s your cue, there isn’t another train for a few hours, you either take that one out of here or you’re stranded in the bar with these fellas.”
She points at the near-lifeless drunks, scattered throughout the desolate bar.
Leo gets up from his seat at that comment and begins walking to the door.
“Well, on that note I better be off. Char, be nice to them. You 4, good luck, bring me back some good loot!”
He smirks and kicks open the tavern door to catch the incoming train.
We’re all left in silence.
The bartender continues.
“So, you all want to take a look at the other side of the wall? I can take you there now.”
I stare at the swinging door as Leo walks away towards the train. Abby’s voice snaps me out of it.
“Yeah, let’s take a look. I’ve been itching to see what’s on the other side since we got here.”
Char replies.
“Perfect. Follow me, we’re going for a short walk. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to get to the first viable entrance point.”
She yells out to the older man running the small mini-mart at the front entrance of the tavern.
“Hey Dan, take care of the place. I’m taking the hunters out for a walk.”
He gives her a firm nod but doesn’t say a word.
Charlotte begins walking at a brisk pace toward the front door.
“Let go, no time to waste, one of the breaks is nearby. Maybe you’ll all be able to take that one out by lunchtime.”
I turn to all my teammate with a grin on my face. It seems like our monster hunting has about to begin.
We all get up from the table and follow the redheaded woman out the front door.
She takes a sharp left turn, following a small sandy dirt road away from town. Her steps are quick and nimble, much more agile and coordinated than she first lead on.
No more than 3 minutes pass and we’re already hundreds of meters away from the small settlement of wooden buildings.
She calls out.
“Almost there, don’t you worry.”
I wipe sweat from my forehead and follow. Maria skips along by my side as Abby stares up at the high wall to our left side.
Arie follows behind with his arms crossed.
We’re walking closer to the massive wall, but also making out way parallel to it. I don’t see a gate or entrance in sight. All I can see for kilometers is an impossibly high stone wall…
Something has been off ever since we left the small city. I can feel small vibrations in the air. I activate my all Seeing eye.
The moment my skill activates, it all begins to make a bit more sense.
The wall is mana imbued… just slightly. Not nearly enough to fully pick up without my precision skill, but clear as day with it activated.
I whisper under my breath as my eyes follow the towering mana-shielded wall all the way to the horizon.
“How odd…”
Shielding like this would cost a fortune… and this wall was made 50 years ago….
I ponder the thought for a few minutes but give up on trying to figure it out once Charlotte’s voice rings out from in front of us.
“Here we are. The entrance to Gate 1, Section 4.”
We all come to a halt.
The desert air is dry, there’s hardly a plant in sight, and the hot sun is beating down on the back of my neck is already burning my skin.
I blink, staring blankly at rungs of thin dark metal that create a ladder jutting off from the side of the wall all the way up to the top.
The corners of my mouth begin to curl and I let out a laugh followed by the chuckles of my teammates.
“This is the entrance… to the wall… ha!”
The orange-haired woman jumps up to grab one of the rungs and begins to climb quickly and gracefully.
“The real section 4 entrance hasn’t been touched in decades. This is one of the only non-shielded portions of the wall that we can climb. Other than here, you’d be fried to ash the moment you got close. Come on, no more questions, follow me.”
I smirk, then jump up to grab one of the metal rungs. The moment my hand touches it my skin feels like it’s being seared on a hot pan.
I let go and curse under my breath, regenerating my hand behind my back.
Char calls out again.
“Oh yeah, and be careful. The bars are hot.”
I activate my body hardening crystals to cover my palms. This makes holding the rungs a lot easier.
I follow the redhead upwards.
Maria activates her ice magic to do that same and follows behind me.
Abby similarly covers her hands with a layer of stone.
Arie grabs a pair of work gloves from his item storage.
I should have thought of that…
It’s a long climb upwards. Even at our fast pace it still takes a few minutes to get to the top. I’m sweating and breathing heavily by the time we do.
The 5 of us look over the edge, and I can’t believe the sight before my eyes.
Charlotte was right, the first dungeon break is nearby. It’s right below us in fact.
Our mission in the Dark Continent has finally begun.
