The archway was almost hidden in plain sight, and only if one paid close attention would one see it. Damon and Mark scaled down the cliff first and arrived at the entrance.
Imdiately, a sharp chanical screech echoed through the air, like rusted gears grinding against bone. Damon glanced up just as the system ssages flashed in his vision:
[Ding! You have discovered a Hidden Instance: ch Fortress - Broken Depths]
[Ding! Warning! Warning! Warning! Unstable Hidden Instance]
"Unstable?" Damon had never heard of anything like this before, even in his last life. But the more dangerous a dungeon was, the better the rewards were!
Without hesitation, he stepped into the dungeon along with Mark. The entire group was in a party already, so it did not matter who entered first and who entered last. They would all be in the sa instance.
One by one, the others also read the sa warning ssage and walked in anyway. ira was the last to get in, and the woman seed extrely reluctant.
"Are you sure this is where we are supposed to go?" She mumbled, looking around. They were all standing in so sort of huge tallic room, and the dungeon portal was just an archway. It was completely different from the other dungeons they had encountered.
ira only barely finished talking when suddenly a loud screeching sound blared like a fire alarm.
"INTRUDERS!"
"INTRUDERS!"
"INTRUDERS!"
Damon instantly had a bad feeling. Without wasting a second, he activated Blink to reach the archway and to get the hell out of the dungeon, but it was already too late.
The small archway, the supposed dungeon entrance actually exploded right on their faces. The blinding explosion was strong enough to throw all five of them away like rag dolls completely taking the whole group by surprise.
At the last mont, Damon managed to erect mana shields for everyone preventing any big damage. Coincidentally, Aurora also managed to erect divine shields though it was only for herself and Damon. ira looked at the woman as if she had betrayed her nine generations and Aurora simply looked away shyly.
Damon did not have the ti right now to deal with the shady priestess with the hidden agenda. He had a feeling that this dungeon was not as straightforward as it looked like. He narrowed his eyes as he examined the tallic walls surrounding them.
The explosion had completely sealed the entrance behind them. Where once the archway stood, there was now nothing but a scorched crater of warped tal and molten debris, oozing down the walls.
Sylvara, Nevin, Kate, Mark, everyone dumbfoundedly stared at the big tallic walls all around them. It was just plain and tallic everywhere. There were no marks, no runes, no doors, no signs, nothing but flat, cold, lifeless tal. It felt like they were trapped in all sense of the word with no way out.
Nevin gulped audibly. "Okay, uh... I don’t see a path forward. Do we just... wait for sothing?"
Sylvara shook her head. "This talisman is useless. Its no longer working."
Among all of them ira had the worst reaction as the woman started gasping and hyperventilating. "No. No. I need to get out. I need to get out. No, this can’t be happening. I can’t breathe." Her furious blazing gaze landed on Damon and she directly pounced on him.
"Blood Dog! You are responsible for this! You did this! We are all trapped here because of you! Get us out! Get us out! You bastard!"
Before her hands could even reach his collar, Damon moved. One step. That was all it took. In a blur of motion, he sidestepped her wild lunge, caught her wrist midair, and twisted, his other hand coming straight for her neck.
The next mont ira slumped down, completely knocked out. It would only last for a few seconds but Damon figured it was more than enough to calm her down a bit.
Aurora looked like she wanted to say sothing and Sylvara sighed but in the end no one said anything. Finally, Nevin spelled out the obvious. "Do we have to kill each other or commit suicide? Is that the only way to get out of here?"
It was not a big deal. They would probably lose one or two items and lose so experience points but at least they would get out of here.
Damon did not say anything. For the next hour he tried all sorts of thods to create a hole in the wall but it was of no use. Whatever attack he threw at the wall, the damn thing completely absorbed it like it ant nothing. At so point Mark, Kate, Damon and Sylvara even tried attacking together and it was of no use.
Finally, ira could not handle it any longer. Even after regaining her consciousness her panic attacks and short breaths kept returning in waves. Her eyes darted around the tal room like a trapped animal. "I am leaving. This is all because of him. I should have known better to co to a group in which he was there." She angrily spat at Damon, then took her staff and sliced her own throat to force a death.
Damon couldn’t care less about her accusations. He also did not let such a good chance slip by as he casually absorbed the blood essence from her dying body.
[Ding! Blood Extraction Successful]
[Ding! You have obtained the skill Summon Fire Elental]
Damon gaped at the unique skill he had just managed to snag but more than that the scene in front of him shocked the most. A big ripple of mana ford in front of him and from within erged ria completely unscathed.
She had died and respawned right there in front of them, still trapped within the sa damn tallic box.
Everyone stared in stunned silence as ira’s eyes snapped open in full-blown panic. She landed in a crouch, gasping, bloodless and pale.
"Why am I still here?" ira looked around at the familiar faces, horror and dread filling her. As the obvious answer dawned on her... she just started screaming.
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