Orario has lost his champions 2.220

After a big scare on the fifty-second floor, Ottar and Viggo perfected their way of attacking the dragons and made no more mistakes. At least, Viggo. However, that did not prevent them from continuing to encounter one dragon after another. In total, from the fifty-second floor to fifty-six were fifteen dragons, some weaker than others. Which caught Viggo's attention.

Usually, any group of adventurers drew a straight line across the floor and defeated the enemies needed to continue advancing. That means that as much as Jason and the others had passed through these floors months ago, there should be dragons that even they, with their experience, would not have faced. On the other hand, no monsters of any kind were seen, only dragons remained.

Ottar and Viggo were walking down a corridor to the fifty-sixth floor as they thought about these things. It was like a mine tunnel, with nothing more than a rock floor, walls, and roof.

-Do you think we should continue?- asked Viggo, looking down the endless corridor.

Ottar next to Viggo, gave him a brief glance and then continued to look forward -father asked us something- replied

-This is strange, I have a bad feeling-

-Your instincts?-

-Yes, as if there were a greater danger than dragons-

-We would have seen it, something like that would not escape our sight so easily-

-It is not necessary to be bigger to be a "greater" danger- Viggo clarified -the first dragon was a challenge because we had never hunted one of those, but after experiencing the fight and fine-tuning our method, it was not difficult at all. Those dragons were young, their wings very delicate. Yes, they were fast, but they lacked the cunning of a veteran monster. In addition, in more than four floors we have not found other monsters or rare monsters, nothing Isn't it strange?-

-I think you're thinking about it a lot- said Ottar, raised his left hand and scratched his forehead -your instincts have you worried, but your imagination is only pleasing things more than necessary-

Viggo let out a sigh and nodded -it may be– he said –we must be attentive–

-Yes- said Ottar in a mocking tone -don't let a dragon fall on us-

-Damn you- Viggo said with a smile and punched him in the left shoulder. Ottar let out a laugh and that lightens the atmosphere a bit. However, if Ottar said he wasn't worried, it would be a lie.

Ottar and Viggo reached the fifty-sixth floor, a long stretch of barren, empty, dark land. It seemed like it was four in the morning on a cloudy winter day. There were no dragon footsteps, no roars, growls, or any kind of noise. It was complete silence with a gentle breeze running from left to right. The ceiling was fifty meters high as on the other floors.

Viggo took a deep breath as he approached the exit, looked for a few seconds, and then looked at Ottar. The latter nodded, took his ultra-sword out of the ring of his right hand, and held it with both hands. Viggo did the same, materializing the swords of chaos. Both nodded at the same time and walked out of the cave, advancing at a slow pace. In the distance you could see some rocks and what appeared to be the huge skeleton of a dragon. It was so big that it made the other dragons on the other floors look like the comparison of a crocodile with a lizard. He should easily have measured a hundred meters from tail to head.

Viggo continued walking, heading in that direction –do you remember my instincts?– he asked. Ottar nodded and Viggo continued –well, they're screaming so loudly that everyone on a block would tell I'm scared-

-Don't worry, if we see something strange, we can go back. At least, I don't see any enemy hidden in two thousand meters around-

-Be careful, remember that, in the dungeon, monsters can emerge from the walls-

-Shut up, you idiot- replied Ottar -now I'm afraid too-

Viggo and Ottar continued walking along the desert floor, finding nothing special, but before reaching the large rocks that covered part of the huge skeleton, they stopped and looked forward.

-Do you think Jason and the others killed that dragon?- asked Viggo.

-If we could with the smaller dragons, the two most powerful families should have been able to kill something of that magnitude- Ottar replied.

-True- said Viggo, feeling his hands breathing. He felt a strong restlessness in his chest as if someone or something was crushing him. He had a great desire to step back and listen to his instincts, but they had already gone far. Perhaps, behind those rocks were the remains of his brothers.

-You know- said Viggo -if something weird happens, half a turn and we'll start. My old man has a lot of tricks, sure he can come and claim the things that belonged to Jason and Odysseus-

-That...- said Ottar not very happy, Kain had asked him for a favor and did not want to disappoint him, but Viggo was right. Kain had many tricks and skills. If there was something weird about this floor, he could deal with it better than they did.

Viggo and Ottar approached the huge rocks ten meters high and passed through a corridor that occurred between them. Thanks to the sheer magnitude of the rock the darkness increased, but the path was still visible. The corridor was two meters wide, so first Viggo passed and Ottar followed him as he maneuvered with his ultra-sword in both hands. Thanks to the dimensions of the weapon, it collided with the walls and produced metallic tinges. Viggo stopped and stared at Ottar with a frown. Ottar frowned but nodded and lowered the ultra-sword so that it would not collide with the walls.

At the end of the corridor were the huge bones of the dragon, to be more precise, the ribs that formed a huge arc of tens of meters.

Viggo and Ottar reached the end of the corridor and stopped to look at what was on the other side. It was a huge crater where the great skeleton of the dragon sank. At the base of the skeleton was a black substance that raise up the bones as if it were alive and wanted to eat the bones. It only reached ten meters in height of the thirty that measured the ribs of the huge dragon, but even so it was somewhat scary to approach. For the rest, there were no monsters or signs of anything that could haunt them in the short lapse. So, Viggo and Ottar circled the huge crater and saw that beyond the dragon's skeleton, the floor continued with desert terrain, but the image was repeated. There were more dragon skeletons, a little bigger, but all spread along. You could count dozens of skulls with sharp teeth in the distance, all with that strange dark matter at the base and climbing as if you wanted to eat away at the bone. No, they were eating away at it, that was the reality. Viggo noticed that a dragon skull was missing its lower jaw and dark matter had spread from the fangs to the eye socket.

-Viggo- said Ottar

-Yes?- asked Viggo, looked at him, and saw Ottar pointing to the right, in the middle of a path that formed between two huge dragon skeletons. There was a spear stuck in the ground.

Viggo narrowed his eyes and looked at the surroundings, there seemed to be no one. So, he took a deep breath and started walking as Ottar followed him. The dragon skeletons were tens of meters high, from a distance one could tell, but passing by them was another experience. Also, when you saw the dark matter up close, it gave the feeling that it bubbled and twisted on the bone. Suddenly a rib broke, and the rest came loose from the spine, falling to the ground and generating dust.

Viggo and Ottar stopped, waiting for a reaction, maybe an enemy, a monster or something else. That which caused them so much concern. However, there were no reactions of any kind, but the silence and stillness did not make them feel better.

The seconds passed and Viggo when he saw that nothing was moving around him, decided to advance in the direction of the spear and stopped twenty meters away.

-Why are you stopping?- asked Ottar

-I'm looking around, seeing if I find signs of fighting or something- Viggo said, looking at the barren terrain. The earth was a little loose, so around the spear there should have been footprints, but it was as if something massive and heavy had passed flattening everything around it. The spear was twenty meters away, alone, stuck in the ground. Viggo walked to it and channeled his divine power to activate his clairvoyance. He touched the spear with his left hand and for an instant he could see how someone was running holding that spear. He was alone, he was running from something, he could hear it, as if it were a quadruped, but slow, heavy, and big. He couldn't say it, he couldn't see it, he could only see what that person saw. It was the barren land, the dragon skeletons, the dark matter. Something was following him, he was moving non-stop, and the person holding the spear didn't want to look back. Suddenly the person holding the spear turned around and saw a huge black spot with multiple mouths, tentacles, and legs. That person screamed, jumped to meet the black spot, and stuck the spear so hard that he entered through one of the mouths, went through the black spot and stuck himself on the ground. The tentacles kept moving, but the black spot did not continue to advance. That person moved away from the spear little by little until he released it and there the vision ended.

-Jason- Viggo murmured, then looked at Ottar, who was staring at him with some concern in his eyes -he was alive when he dropped the spear, he was fleeing from a creature made of the same dark matter that is covered at the base of dragon skeletons, but he was afraid, he was fleeing. You must look for him, he may be alive, he may be somewhere hidden-

-Viggo- Ottar shouted, scaring Viggo and making him spin. Ottar walked over, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away, extracting the spear in the process. Viggo didn't understand why Ottar was throwing him away as if he wanted to get away from something. Viggo looked at his left hand and the spear he was holding. Then he looked into the distance, where the bones of dragons were covered by dark matter, and saw dark matter with mouths and tentacles, as if it were an amorphous mass without order or denomination. He was moving slowly in his direction. Now Viggo understood why Ottar was so scared, he put the spear in his ring and began to recoil on his own, following Ottar in the movement and never turning his back on that amorphous thing that followed them like a large black spot four meters high, tentacles that rippled and mouths everywhere. Its four legs were flat, like those of an elephant. However, suddenly the dark matter at the base of the dragons' bones began to crawl and reunite with the creature. Increase its volume and height. It went from four to eight meters high in a few seconds, but dark matter kept gathering around it and did not stop growing.

Viggo finally turned his back on him and saw that all the dark matter was heading towards them, and he was cutting off the way out –fast, Ottar– shout –let's run, escape or it will be too late-

Ottar turned around and saw what Viggo was saying. Dark matter was moving away from the dragons' bones and sliding like an oil slick in their direction. Ottar and Viggo started running and took a long leap above the dark matter. Both saw how dark matter spread as if tentacles were coming out, but it could not reach them. Viggo and Ottar fell into the barren earth and continued to run, but suddenly heard the trot of the giant mass of dark matter. They took a brief look back while still running and saw that amorphous mass, with mouths and tentacles, running in their direction. It had reached fifteen meters in height and five meters in width. Viggo and Ottar continued to run past the crater and the large dragon skeleton. They came in front of the rocks, got into the corridor, and moved forward one at a time. They felt the powerful impact, took a brief look back and saw how the mass of dark matter tried to enter the corridor that was now impossible due to its large volume. Nevertheless, he was succeeding, taking on a more liquid form.

Viggo and Ottar never looked back and ran with all their might until they entered the wide corridor through which they had descended.