Dungeon Raid

"How many of the guilds have arrived?"

An elderly man wearing shiny golden imperial armor with a large sword on his back said to a soldier.

"About most of them. We are just waiting on the group from Dark Ivory."

"Tell me once they have arrived."

"Yes, sir."

The soldier bowed and walked off.

Commander Grisha Castil, 24th rank general officer of the imperial army of Regium. Known as the "Lightning King" for his notorious ability for manipulating lightning. He will be leading the raid on the dungeon south of Yandal.

Grisha surveyed the guild groups. Even the other minor guilds were involved in this matter. A team was once sent to check out these dungeons, and not a single one of them came back. That's why these raids were going to need as many fighters that can be spared from the guilds.

The king had sent some of his soldiers to participate in the raids. Grisha's group has roughly about 150 imperial soldiers and will get additional numbers from the guild.

A few minutes later...

"Sir."

Grisha turned around to see a soldier running up to him.

"What is it?"

"The last group has arrived."

"That's good, so we should ge-"

"But there is a slight problem."

The soldier interrupted Grisha. Grisha narrowed his eyes.

"... what do you mean?"

He said in a deep voice.

"The group from Dark Ivory... they have only three members."

"Three members?!"

His majesty Fritz has told the generals that each guild group will have six members each. Grisha was never told that a group would have only three members.

"Have you asked them why?"

"Well, they told us that they were short on members. Also that their guild leader didn't want to force anything upon his members."

"I see... well, guess we'll let them off easy for now."

Even though the group from Dark Ivory had fewer members, they were easily left alone. Why is that? That's because the leader of Dark Ivory, Giovanni Prigent, was once a famous imperial soldier in the king's army. Known for his notorious good deeds of saving thousands of innocent lives with the price of his left eye. His left eye was not taken away, but given a curse. That curse allowed him to see the potential in one's spirit.

Due to the overwhelming power that comes from the people around caused by the eye, he wears a special eyepatch that majorly suppresses the effect of the eye. Giovanni is also known for not forcing anyone into doing anything they are not comfortable with.

After Giovanni left the army, he was granted the title of a nobleman. So even a general in the imperial army cannot oppose what he says.

"Well then, get everyone together. We are entering the dungeon now."

A few minutes later, everyone was standing in front of Grisha. The guild groups were at the front while the imperial soldiers were at the back. Grisha cleared his throat and began speaking.

"I reckon you all know why you are here. Today, we will be clearing this dungeon that will potentially, and maybe eventually, disrupt the peace in Regium. Be cautious, as whatever is in these dungeons is no joke."

Then he took a deep breath. He was told to say this, but he didn't want to. Wistfully, he had no choice.

"Some of you... will lose your lives."

There was visible fear coming from the crowd. Noises indicating fear. It's normal to fear death after all.

"But remember, you are risking your lives for the people of Regium. If you somehow do lose your lives, we will compensate your families if that happens."

A long silence filled the air. Suddenly, the sound of doors opening interrupted that silence. Grisha turned around to see the gates being opened.

"Follow my very orders if you want to survive! And do not wander off from the group, stay together!"

He looked over his shoulder, and everyone was ready. They had their weapons drawn out and shields up.

Grisha closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He drew his large sword from his back.

Sparkle!

A bolt of electricity surrounded the blade.

"Let us head in."

***

The first part of the dungeon looked like a normal passageway, with ancient-looking statues of snake-like creatures.

Everybody ignored the snake statues, granting them unimportant and probably just something to scare them off.

Splash!

Grisha looked down at his foot to see that he stepped in a puddle of water.

Woosh!

Then suddenly, a figure ran past him. This figure then tackled a soldier at the front. The figure seemed to look like a large turtle-like creature.

"Ahh! Kappas!"

A soldier yelled out.

Kappas are monsters that take the form of a large turtle. Though they may look like the slow turtles, you encounter in the wild, these are different. They can run up to about 20 miles per hour and their shells are hard as iron. They can also spit out water, which is released at half the force of a bullet being shot from a pistol.

Then more Kappas came. They tackled the soldiers in the front lines. One of them shot out a water ball from their mouths, hitting the soldiers in the head, staggering them.

A Kappa in front of him was in a puddle of water. Grisha raised his sword and lightning generated around the blade. He was going to zap the water with his lightning, electrocuting the Kappa.

But then, Grisha noticed. As his lightning circled around his blade, it reflected some light off. Then he noticed that the entire floor was wet.

From the beginning of the dungeon, there was no water at the entrance, but as they got deeper, more people have been stepping into puddles of water.

'This is bad, I won't be able to use my lightning in this environment or else everyone behind me will get affected by my magic.'

Splash!

A Kappa in front of him jumped up into the air. Grisha gripped his sword and swung his blade, sending lightning into the air. The bolt striking the Kappa in the head.

Zap-zap-zap!

The burnt Kappa fell into the water, a spark of electricity traveled along the floor.

'As long as they are stricken in the air, harming my team will be avoided.'

Grisha thought as he inspected the burnt Kappa.

Grisha turned around and looked at the group. The first few soldiers were on the floor, bleeding. Stained with bruises and scratches. Luckily, some guild members were able to take out the Kappas going after the soldiers.

"Bring the injured to the back!"

Grisha ordered.

More Kappas jumped towards Grisha. Grisha shot lightning from the end of his sword at the incoming Kappas, and they were burnt to the point that they smelled like barbeque.

Though some Kappas had passed Grisha, the guild members behind him had taken them out with ease.

The floor was now filled with the many bodies of Kappas. Grisha swung his sword, the blood splattering onto the floor, and sheathed it.

"Any fatalities?"

He asked a soldier.

"No sir, just some injured."

"Then let us proceed. Tell the ones at the back to go back out. The severely injured are just going to hold us down."

The soldier nodded and shuffled past the group.

***

The raid was moving smoothly. Not that many were injured with commander Grisha leading the raid.

But Grisha was worried. He expected this raid to be challenging, but it was strangely easy. It was until he stopped near the end of the stairs.

There was a large pool of water at the bottom of the stairs. And inside the pool was-

"Lightning vipers..."

Grisha said as he looked into the pool of water. Inside the pool were snakes, emanating bolts of electricity.

Crack!

"This is rather... troubling."

He turned around and looked at the group. With these snakes in the water, it would be challenging to get across. The only way across is to create a platform.

"Which one of you can use earth magic?"

A few guild members rose their hands.

"I would want you to create a bridge for us to get across."

Those that rose their hands shuffled past their companions and appeared in front of Grisha. Then they placed their hands onto the ground.

Glow!

Brown and green colored magic circles appeared and the dungeon interior began to shake. The ground began extending, stretching forward until it connected with the other side.

"All done?"

The guild members nodded.

"Then we continue."

Grisha stepped forward onto the platform. So far, they have only encountered small waves of Kappas, snake monsters, and these lightning vipers. Grisha continued to wonder, are dungeons even that dangerous? So far, only weak monsters have appeared. But eventually, they will meet the boss.

Suddenly, something felt strange.

'Haven't I been walking across this platform for a while?'

Well, it did take a while for the guild members to make the platform. But Grisha never expected this to take so long. The atmosphere of the dungeon suddenly seemed weird. Grisha scratched his chin.

"Why does it seem... as if something is watching me?"

"What is watching us?"

A soldier said behind him. When Grisha turned around, he quickly noticed and his face filled with shock.

The whole time he thought he was walking, he hadn't moved a step when he took the first step onto the platform.

Sweat trickled down his neck.

'I haven't... moved from the start?'

"S-sir, are you alright? You've gone... pale."

The soldier in front of him said. Grisha noticed that his hands were trembling. He bit on his tongue and turned around.

"No, everything is alright. Let us keep moving."

But when he said that, the interior of the dungeon shook once more. This wasn't the shaking that happened when those guild members had used their earth magic. This was coming from the dungeon itself.

The shaking was violent, strong enough to knock even a heavily guarded man off his feet. Grisha looked at the ground, then he realized.

"Everyone, FALL BACK!"

BOOM!!!

A large figure appeared from beneath the platform, snapping it in half. Then it crashed into the roof and proceeded to wriggle up the ceiling.

"EARTHSHAKER!!!!!"

Earthshakers are enormous worms that are powerful enough to cause an earthquake. Though not powerful enough to move tectonic plates, it can destroy a building with ease. Luckily, these things only live in the deepest parts of the underground. They also have maws large enough to swallow an elephant. Dangerous creatures they are.

Grisha has been leading his team down the dungeon, not realizing that he had gone down to the level where Earthshakers are most common. Though he may be a high-class general, not even him alone can defeat an Earthshaker. It would take more than ten of him to be able to fight Earthshakers one on one.

As Grisha ran up the stairs following his team, he ran past a few soldiers that had been left behind.

But when he was going to help them, Kappas dropped from the ceiling and landed on a soldier.

"AHH! HELP ME!!!"

The soldier yelled as the Kappa began biting on the soldier's armor.

Grisha looked up at the ceiling to see that there were holes large enough for Kappas to fit through. More and more Kappas came dropping down from the ceiling.

As he kept running, he met with more soldiers that had been pinned down by the Kappas.

"Damn it..."

As much as he wanted to help them, there was an overwhelming number of Kappas. His lightning was useless as it would travel through the water, electrocuting not only the fallen soldiers but the ones that are fleeing.

Moments later, he had arrived at the gates of the dungeon. Running out of the dungeon, the gates were then shut close.

Slam!

"Hee... hee... hee..."

Grisha took deep breaths. Then he lifted his head. The numbers of his soldiers had shortened. They were trapped inside the dungeon. He had seen some successfully fight off some Kappas, but was surrounded by a horde of them.

Grisha stood up, his breath steadied. He walked over to one of the remaining soldiers.

"How many of us are left?"

"We lost over 60 soldiers."

Grisha shook his head and sat down on a rock. This raid costed almost the lives of half his soldiers. Not only did he lose his soldiers, but he also didn't even manage to clear the dungeon.

'I can't bear to see the king. I have failed...'

His reputation would be ruined. 60 soldiers lost their lives in the raid on the dungeon in the south of Yandal, and it was never finished. But his reputation doesn't matter to him anymore, the lives of 60 were taken that night.

But... at least the guild members were ok... right?

However...

"Are there any missing guild members?"

Grisha asked the soldier. The soldier nodded.

"How many?"

"J-just one, sir."

"From what guild?"

"D-"

He didn't even need the soldier to finish, he already knew which one as their guildmates ran up to him.

"General Grisha! We lost a member, we need to go back in!"

A large man, standing up to 195 centimeters, approached him. Behind was a man accompanied by some females. But that guy wasn't important.

"I'm sorry, but when the gates of a dungeon close, they will not reopen until the day after tomorrow. When that day comes, we will send a rescue party into the dungeon."

Grisha said as he closed his eyes.

"I hope you understand."

Grisha looked at Nigel, who clenched his fist and walked away. Though he may look menacing in appearance, he cares about his guildmates as if they were family, even if he doesn't know them well. Losing a member was heartbreaking for him.

"What was his name?"

Grisha asked Nigel before he went away.

"Noctem."

"Noctem?"

"He never had a last name..."

"Does he have any family?"

Nigel shook his head. Grisha nodded, understanding. He then let out a trembling sigh.

The sun was setting, disappearing into the trees.

***

It was the afternoon of the next day, everyone was eating lunch. They were camped near the dungeon. The injured from yesterday were being treated.

The guild members were hanging out, talking, and befriending each other while the soldiers were all sleeping.

Grisha crossed his arms and polished his sword. His armor resting next to him. It was quiet, nothing abnormal was going on. Until the sound of gates opening disrupted the silence.

The gate slowly gaped open. Grisha turned around. No one was near the gate. But why was it opening? Dungeon gates aren't supposed to open until the next day.

'It's opening from the inside...'

Grisha said in his mind.

Slam!

The gates were now fully open. From inside came out wounded soldiers, being carried by shadow covered beasts. One of them looked like a large ogre. It was carrying a large sword and had green glowing streaks all over its body.

Everyone backed away and pointed their weapons at the creatures, but then one of the soldiers yelled.

"Don't attack, they are allies."

'What? These creatures are allies?'

The injured soldiers were set down on the ground, the creatures weren't causing any form of trouble. Grisha couldn't believe his eyes.

'Could these be summoned creatures? If so, I've never seen anyone summon this much.'

The average number of summons that a summoner can evoke is ten. But there were more than ten of these creatures. It was strange to everyone. There were wolves, bears, ogres, even centipedes. They were all shrouded in darkness and had glowing streaks all over their bodies.

Something then caught Grisha's eye. The dungeon shook and was beginning to collapse. But there was one more person at the gate. A purple warrior was bringing out a severely injured man. He looked all pale and stained with blood.

"You did good... you can return..."

The man said, and the warrior nodded. Then all at once, all the creatures were sucked into the man's arm. Then the man collapsed onto the ground.

'Could that man be the missing guild member?'

Grisha got up and approached the man. He had a snake bite on his arm. The bite was swollen up and his veins were black. It looked like a fresh snake bite caused by a lethal venomous snake called the "Deathkeeper cobra". Their bites are very distinct from a normal snake bite. Their more marks can be mistaken for a dog bite. The only way to tell the difference is the black veins. One bite from this creature and that person will be dead in minutes if you don't get it treated. It's a quick yet extremely painful death. He must've been bitten by one inside the dungeon.

"Bring this man some antivenom, immediate-"

But that's when Grisha noticed that the wound began to close up. His veins suddenly disappeared from sight and the man's breathing wasn't ragged anymore.

'H-how did he do that?'

Grisha said as he stood up. This man in front of him just recovered from a venomous snake's bite as if it was just a scratch.

'Just what is he?'