Inside the blinding darkness of the cave, Arad opened his palm, [Firefist]
“We need to think this through,” He sat on a stone, and so did Jack and Aella.
“Should we wait for Alcott and Ginger?” Aella asked while looking toward Cain.
Jack crossed his legs, “Won’t count on that. This cave is massive.”
“They fell. To reach them, we must venture deeper.” Arad sighed.
Jack stood, “Why does this place have monsters other than the salamanders? I thought Alcott only brought them here?”
“The salamanders need food,” Arad sighed.
“then how did the sorcerer get in? There should be a second entrance.” Aella said, standing up, “I spent some time in the wood elves’ forest. I might lack the skills, but I will try to guide us toward the other entrance.”
Arad stood as well, “That’s our best bet. If the three of us worked together, we could find a way out.”
“And next time, separating is a bad idea.” Jack walked to the front, checking the way he found earlier. The air from it was far from fresh, but it was a start. “Let’s proceed carefully. The last thing we want is to fall into a hole and end up separated.”
Arad and Aella walked to his side, staring down the hole with worried faces. “Let’s hope there aren’t any monsters down there,” Aella said with a wry smile, slightly hiding behind Arad.
Arad walked into the hole, keeping his eyes wide open with all their ability. “Stay behind me, and stay alert.” Arad lifted his staff and started walking.
“Arad, let me take the front. We said I would lead the way.” Aella said, walking ahead of Arad, who took a step back, “If anything happened, hope to the back and let me take the front.”
Not long after they started walking, they reached a dead end. A massive, cracked brick wall blocked their way. Aella and Jack inspected it while Arad lifted his palm and lit the place. “I can’t see any magic around the wall,” He said with his eyes darting across the wall.
Aella knocked on the wall while listening with her ears on it, “The other side is empty. I would say this wall is about one foot thick.”
Arad stared at her feet and started comparing the side with his hands, trying to gauge the correct size. “Yeah, I would say it’s thick enough to be a problem.”
Jack looked at her, “Can you convert it?” He scratched his head, “I want to know if we can safely break it.”
Aella looked back at him, “About one-third of a meter, a little bit less, I would say, probably by a fingernail.”
“That’s weirdly specific, but I appreciate it.” Jack smiled, approaching Arad, “Say, you said you could dig, right?”
[With some time, you can break through the wall.]
“I can claw it down. Want me to dig through it?” Arad replied while cracking his fists.
“Yeah, but do it gently. We don’t want the whole wall to collapse. God knows what stones it holds above it.” Jack pointed toward a lower point in the wall.
“God knows? Said a rogue who fought against a paladin?” Arad transformed into his draconic form.
Jack laughed, “That’s but an expression, don’t mind it. But mind the wall and be careful.” Jack stretched his arms, “Aella and I will move the debris you create, so don’t get us buried alive here.”
Arad nodded as he couldn’t speak in his draconic form, slowly approaching the wall and extending his claws.
CREEK! He scratched the wall, causing Aella to scream, “What a horrible noise. Can’t you tune it down? I feel it in my teeth.” She cried, clogging her ears.
[She might be sensitive to sharp sounds. Try to push and then pull.] Mom suggested. At the same time, Jack approached the wall and pointed at one of the bricks, “This one cracked. Try pulling it apart with your claws.” He used his dagger to prey into the crack, expanding it a bit.
Arad stood on his hind legs while balancing with a long black tail. CRACK! He jammed his claws in and slowly pulled the brick piece by piece.
CRACKLE! As the dust fell to the ground, the group got a small hole to look through onto the other side.
Aella approached the hole to look, but Jack stopped her, “What if something hit your eyes? We don’t know what kind of monsters are behind the wall.” He said, lifting his dagger.
As Aella and Arad watched, Jack took a piece of clothing from his pocket and pulled out a small mirror, “We will use this.” He said.
“A mirror? Those things are expensive. Where did you get it?” Aella stared at him, and Jack smiled. “Found it abandoned.”
“Where exactly?” Aella glared at him, “You stole it, right?”
“Found it collecting dust inside a house.” Jack approached the hole, “Arad, can you give me some light?”
Arad swung his tail, resting the tip beside the hole and letting it on fire. Jack approached the mirror and looked through it.
“I got a vague look.” Jack said, crossing his eyebrows, “I see a brick hallway, filled with dust and cobweb, abandoned for over a year, I would say.” He scratched his chin, “No tracks of monster, but it is giving me a bad feeling.”
Aella understood what he meant. She had got a bad feeling since they saw the wall, “You think we stumbled into a dungeon?”
“I fear so. A structure like this doesn’t just pop out of nowhere without a valid reason.” Jack hid his mirror and looked toward Arad and Aella.
“The dungeon looks undiscovered, which means we might be in for a lot of gold and treasures.” He said, and then sat down, “But without knowing the details, the dungeon might be too dangerous for us.” 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈
Arad shifted back into his humanoid form, “We don’t care about conquering the dungeon.” He stated, “We will run for the entrance and leave.”
Jack looked toward him, “A smart idea, only if we knew which direction lead out and which not.”
[Usually, the dungeon’s boss releases a lot of magic. Using your eyes, all you have to do is walk to the other side.] Mom spoke, giving Arad an easy solution.
“I can see magic, so as long as we move away from the boss room, we will reach the entrance,” Arad suggested.
“Can I say something?” Aella stared at them.
“Of course. Why are you asking for permission?” Arad looked at her, and she smiled.
“What about Alcott and Ginger? Where did they go?” She looked toward the wall, “And this place was a dead end. How did the sorcerer make it past the wall?”
Hearing her, Jack jack grabbed his head, “Fuck! Damn it, you’re right.” He glared at the wall, “We shouldn’t go there.”
“Why the sudden change?” Arad asked.
Jack explained.
Dungeons are divided into ranks, from F to S, like adventurers and quests. The point is that a dungeon needs a party of four adventurers of the same rank to clear.
For example, an A-rank dungeon would need a party of a minimum of four A-rank adventurers to clear.
“Some high-rank dungeons can regenerate their structure. This might be one of them.” Jack sighed.
“What rank are we talking about?” Arad asked.
“At least C-rank,” Jack replied.