Chapter 10 : First Contact

Scouting party Pov

"pick up the pace you guys we should be there soon so be prepared incase the boss is there.

Remember we are primarily here on reconnaissance but if the boss is here it's our job to try and take it down

if we fail The commander will send over a more specialised party based from the information we gather."

they had been travelling for 2 days and were just now coming up on the Ancient shrine due to it being located on other side of the dungeon from the entrance.

there party was travelling light so they only brought the essentials and the basic supplies needed for any boss fight.

apart from food and water they also brought along many potions of various types all made by there guilds alchemists.

while they mainly brought health potions they also had alot of mana and some stamina potions.

there were also potions for enhanced speed, strength and mana regen but they were expensive so they only have 3 of each reserved for there strongest party members.

the 3 strongest members were Pulse Echo the the third strongest who was a female shadow mage wielding a staff know for there great control capabilities.

Gentle Song the second strongest who was a male hybrid mage that wielded metal magic and a halberd while being known for their adaptability.

And the first strongest was Midnight's Lantern

a male Swordsman who used gravity magic and a Longsword whilst being know for there great speed.

Midnight Lantern was set as the leader of the party with gentle song being Backup leader and Echo being the Strategist.

the whole party was made up of a total of 18 people with it consisting of 9 mages, 3 Hybrids and 6 Vanguards.

"hey let them rest for a minute we have been walking for hours without rest. besides what use will we be if we are exhausted and the boss is there." Gentle Song said as he poked Midnight Latern's back with the end of his Halberd's handle.

Taking a short glance at him Midnight turned around and signalled everyone to stop and rest.

"I know we need to rest but I just don't want any other clans to beat us to the first clear. Maybe if we get first place it might help convince Obsidian Light to make a return." Midnight said with a sigh as as he stared at the canopy of leaves above him.

"the Princess? I always forget that you guys were childhood friends but I still find it hard to accept that your a Noble. I mean you don't act like one at all."

"Noble is just a title it doesn't matter to me. its more of a bother than people would think."

After chatting for awhile longer they gave the signal to continue moving but they stayed at the back of the group in order to discuss a few extra things with Echo.

Echo was a quiet person who didn't speak much outside of combat or meetings but they have great strategical planning combined with there restriction focused style of fighting they always have a situation under control making them a dependable ally even if they often tended to try to do things on their own.

"Any guess on what the new boss will be like? I bet 1 silver that it will be some huge ugly monster like the hill ogres what about you two?"

"Well its been awhile since we had something more elegant looking like the Wandering Knight so your on!"

echo simply rolled her eyes and quicked her pace leaving the 2 behind.

After catching up with the main group a bit more she heared shouting as she started running forward towards the front of the group.

now hearing the shouting and seeing echo start running both Gentle and Midnight followed after her.

"any idea what's happened?" Midnight said after catching up to Echo along with Gentle

"it might be the boss. its the only thing that could rile up the rest of the party like this." she replied after a moment of hesitation.

After a catching up to the rest of the party they started to make there way to the front.

"let us through, what happened have we arrived at the shrine?" Midnight said as the crowd opened up after hearing his voice.

"we've arrived but someone else is here! what should we do?"

Looking over towards the shrine They saw a single lone figure dressed in all black clothes with red highlights.

They Looked like a female of the demon race due to their 2 blood red horns but despite having a odd Looking sword at there side they had no armor just casual clothing.

"Is she praying? but no one knows which God this shrine belongs to." Midnight thought as he scanned the area around the girl.

"is she alone? she isn't wearing any clan colours but this is a clan only dungeon so there is no other way to get in..."

"We need to figure out who they are and there intentions, We are moving in. stay on guard as this could be a ambush but don't attack unless I give the word.

seeing there commander draw their sword everyone else readied their weapon of choice before moving forward.

While someone of the demon race wasn't too easy to find due to there low population they weren't know to widely worship any gods.

Most races had a Primary god that any religious people of that race would mainly worship but there were a few exceptions that mainly being the Daedra, Demons, Celestials, and ManaBorne all of which had no primary deity.

there were hundreds possibly thousands of gods but only ones with sites of worship were Considered a True God.

these sites mainly consisted of churches or shrines but that wasn't always the case.

But ever since this dungeon was first found and towns were formed nearby many people found this shrine within but it seemed abandoned.

For confirmation that a place is a site of worship it must have a Guardian as without one it would become unstable due to the excess energy.

Guardians were Artificial people of varying races and personalitys that were handmade by the god of the shrine themself.

these guardians acted no differently to a regular person but due to have being made by a god not only did they have almost a endless amount of mana they had Godlike physique that let them do inhuman feats effortlessly.

However despite their immense strength being a guardian was widely considered a curse as due to a barrier surrounding the holy site it was impossible for the guardian to leave the Holy site without the gods interference.

There hasn't ever been a Guardian to escape a site of worship but many Guardians still try as despite being made by the gods they aren't controlled or limited by them apart from being confined to the site of worship.

As the group got nearer to the girl she still had not noticed them so Midnight signalled everyone to stop.

Just as he was about to shout towards the girl to get her attention a loud and familiar sounding high pitched bell was heared ringing throughout the dungeon.

Catching both the group and the girl off guard causing her to turn around and face the group

'Isn't that the signal for a new boss? why is it going off now?" someone from the back of the group yelled.

"Hey you! who are you and what are you doing here without clan apparel?"

Midnight said to the girl causing the group to quiet down and turn there attention back to girl.

. . .

"What kind language was that? I dont recognise it at all not even in any other realities"

she thought to herself as she tilted her head in confusion which only seemed to make the group grip their weapons tighter.

At the front of the group a man stepped forward and tried to speak to her again but just the same as before she couldn't understand a word they said.

as he kept moving forward while trying to speak to her he suddenly stopped and looked to his left only for his eyes to widen.

The man looked back towards his group and after exchanging a few words he looked back towards Kuro chi and took a stance with his sword.

"Does he want to fight me? I'd rather not get into any unnecessary fights rig-"

her thoughts were interrupted when another floating screen appeared before her with a small message.

"You have been challenged to a duel. the rules will be explained to both parties and then the dual shall begin."

"Wait what?..."

. . .

Author's Notes

Hey all I'll do my best to try and atleast do a double chapter for chirstmas as I had never expected to get 50k views especially in only 9 chapters with my none existent schedule.

As always I hope you enjoy this even if only a little bit and ill do my best to release some more chapters before Xmas as I definitely owe atleast that to you all.