The Last Wall

Our figures trod through the slumped white, bumpy fields as our figures crossed swiftly as they had on the very first day in the Dungeon.

It hadn't been an exponentially significant amount of time yet so much had been cramped into such a compact period that I needed to pull each memory apart for detail.

It was cold, but a level of cold that now felt more neutral after a bit of adaptation from my end.

Myself and Frila walked with arms hugging our bodies to conserve warmth, though the disobedient hole revealing my pale back struggled to contain heat. As one ought to have expected.

Red Dragon walked suspiciously yet determined. Holding a mystifying purple orb that contained a glimpsing faint white light.

At his arm's current angle, the light was questionably faint, but as he straightened his arm out the light grew to a level just below blinding.

The sort that illuminated his deathly state of well-being.

His frizzled hair had sunk down, sticking to his head from sweat. The scorches and traces of violence plastered all over his skin had dried out, only deepening my concern for his life.

Concerning people's lives.

I let Vigar get some rest. A phantom in the party would probably only add to Red Dragon's worries.

Luckily, the larger majority of his clothes were still intact. Leaving one more problem away from us.

As far as I know, as long as we followed the light, we could exit the dungeon safely.

Still, I couldn't help but barter a question through my lips.

"Where..."

My mouth mumbled such a word slowly and my eyelids were still flickering as my shoulder muscles ached and pained from over-use.

"Say something?"

Two cold-golden eyes pierced through my mental spine. Causing it to tremble before slowly breaking down.

Rather unpleasantly, my entire body jolted back. Inciting a whole new world of pain to crash and settle on top of the previous.

It felt like someone had ramped up the heat of an oven several notches, as my itches and strains grew even more impatient.

I resisted the urge to exhale a breath of pain or curses as I used this opportunity to ask a question that had been on my mind.

"I was just wondering... but where did you receive that Orb from?"

My voice was lusting with a flat edge as it came out rather bluntly from my figure.

I had found it strange that Red-Dragon now had an Orb.

He looked at me with fairly squinted eyes, thinking about my question himself.

"I merely found myself with it by the time I woke up."

His voice sounded smoothly congested.

I now had an incurable desire for answers.

What happened to Red Dragon when the darkness stole him?

Why had the darkness stolen him and him alone?

Had the darkness given him the orb?

Then couldn't this be a trap-.

"It seems trustworthy, if worst comes to worst and we need to flee or break wind away from an event, then I still have my -S- Rank Badge. It's made from Balcorium so it can survive half a citadel being thrown at it. Once the Crow Officials decided to sanction a return option I can just swipe us away with the built-in temporary spatial magic."

My fears were washed away by his unshifting and undebatable experience.

Frila nodded with closed eyes. She seemed to have been aware of this, explaining why she hadn't asked the same question earlier.

But reasons clashed with ideals.

I still couldn't understand why on whatever magic-moose planet this was that we couldn't just wait it out until we got the return option.

"So why do we have to potentially stroll right into a trap? Could we not just wait here for the return-option?"

My voice seemed to dumbfound Red Dragon.

His wounds seethed from an odd uncanniness as he looked at me unsure.

"It's a dungeon. The only way to exit is through the treasure trove. From personal experience, I've heard many tales of adventurers being gifted heritages by high-ranking monsters so that they could carry on their legacy. This is probably the case after all..."

"The Black Hollow could've killed me, you lot, and probably every other beast in this dungeon on a whim if it felt so."

His point struck me.

Overcome by my own emotions that had taken me like a revolting taste I found myself spluttering like a fool.

"Heritages? Like... Judes?"

A miscellaneous smile broke out on my face like a bonfire.

I quickly put it down and kept my intentions unknown.

My only goal in coming here had been Judes after all.

So would this be the shortcut?

Maybe there wouldn't just be 400,000 Judes.

But millions.

Enough Judes to fit an elephant's pockets.

My eyes shined with greedy magnificence.

Red Dragon's damaged figure chortled a bit. I felt the pain through his voice.

"Maybe. We'll never know if we don't get there one day."

I accepted his points.

The word Judes was all I had needed.

This way everyone was going to be set.

Right?

Frila could go to the place she wished to accommodate in.

I could save Audra, go back to the Gale Kingdom and live on with my life.

Red Dragon could do whatever a retired -S- Ranker did and maybe even find a cure for his instability.

Satisfied, Our little make-shift team continued the rest of the journey in the highest of spirits. Our walk gained speed and almost became an accidental twirling skip from time to time.

Although the atmosphere had aged and become nostalgic for the better.

There was still some wary doubt lurking within my mind.

It crushed through my tongue before I could register what I was saying.

"Do you think you could take on the darkness?"

I sounded perfectly pitched. As if my brain had sent the message, not my soul.

Red Dragon's bizarre figure twisted slightly acknowledging my words.

"Do you mean, the crowned one?"

He seemed quite uncomfortable, his fingers grasping each other as sweat slipped upon sweat.

Before I knew it, my dreamy and idealistic emotions had gotten the better of me.

Causing me to break into a hopeful stupor.

"Well, I mean. You never got a hit in. Right? So doesn't that mean that you could've potentially done some serious damage? I felt like the darkness was more of a hypnotist. What if you used that move that you used on the Yeti? That should at least incarcerate it. Right? Or you could maybe bait it, then pierce it from within. That's reasonable. Right? Or maybe even, finish it off with one slice? Most manipulative types should be weak physically. And honestly, I think-."

"Brala."

That was my name.

Its calling caused my rally to be culled deafeningly.

My eyes trailed from the now indulging white scenery to Red Dragon.

His face had grown stoic and defined.

The dried blood on his face seemed to moisten for a small moment as words I had not wished to hear slid from his tongue.

"There is a difference between an -S- Rank Beast and a -Hollow- Rank Monster. That's why when I struggle in the -S- Rank, I am silenced in the Hollow Rank. That Black-Hollow-Rank was not the 'hypnotist' kind. It was merely flaunting its power and using an insignificant bit of darkness magic before teleporting away. I was so weak in that moment that the next thing I saw was a white sky. I don't know if anything happened to me after I was sent away. I was powerless, weak, and ultimately killable in those moments."

"Whether I like it or not."

My hopes dived down a little but were still realistically cheery for our imminent abortion from the dungeon.

Alright.

So -Hollow- Ranks over -S- Ranks.

And I suppose that there was no leeway here.

The emotions died down and the atmosphere soon shifted back into the chilled air.

Leaving only the wasteful sound of snow-crunching and our light breaths.

Before I knew any better, Red Dragon's orb suddenly started shining so brightly that the white snow around us became a whole new tier of lightness.

Holy-kinds.

Holy light.

Deafening and unmissable light.

I covered my eyes with a hand swiftly from instinct.

Soon, the sound of glass shattering filled my ears.

The brightness dimmed, back into the undiscriminating white.

I watched in curiosity as Red Dragon put his arms out into a seemingly empty space.

Surprisingly, his hands planted on to the seemingly empty space.

As if it was glass.

It seemed to still be empty and unmoving no matter how hard Red-Dragon pushed.

Red Dragon nodded to himself. Muttering nonsense.

He soon turned to us.

"It's a type 21B3 structure. In other words, once we all place two hands flat onto the barrier it should transport us to its partner barrier. The one located in the treasure trove."

I smelt joy in the air like freshly-baked bread.

I nodded, ready at any moment to plop my hands onto the barrier.

I then noticed Frila's concern.

Were secret necromancers not allowed through the barrier?

I didn't understand.

Dragging her by the shoulder lightly but attentively I was ready for us all to get home.

Get rich.

And to get straight out of here.

Our lives would finally improve in the next few actions.

Our figures trotted towards the empty space.

Joy. Determination. Wit.

We would be free.

____________________________

The Other Side of the Barrier.

The place was dimly lit.

There was no longer a redgrass field.

Or a sunset.

But there was an unfinished wooden floorboard. Like one from an old-aged dock.

The entire color scheme could be defined in one word.

Dirt.

Everything was browned horrifically.

Giving off quite the muffled atmosphere, 8 -S- Rank creatures sat crumpled and huddled on the aged-dock floors.

"So we are now 8. Is what you are trying to say? Crowned One."

The Beast with shoulder-length azure hair had a nasty expression on his face.

He was a phoenix. A terribly disgruntled one at that.

He wore deluxe and luxurious noble clothes, from the Old Age. He was not the strongest, the fastest, or the best at much.

But he had an attitude and grit that made his fellow creatures admire him. And he was nothing to scoff at. Picking at weaknesses since he had none was his tactic. He was one of the last few Phoenix's breathing freely in the current era. One full of beautiful and tremendous fiery blue feathers unplucked despite the growth of human greed.

His tongue stung with distaste as he struggled to meet eyes with the eyeless blackened form before him.

The Black Emperor merely nodded as though he had been asked how his day had been ever so nicely.

"It was of Gazill's own wish. He reaped what he sowed, however, his death was not in vain. He served as a strong testament to their strength."

The 7 other -S- Rank beasts scowled at this development.

Why had the punisher decided to give the humans a treat?

The Phoenix, who seemed to be the leader of the recently shortened pack spoke up once again.

"And to add to that, you say that he fell in one fight? He, who lasted hundreds of bouts against noble soldiers? We are not all as muscular, thick-boned, and defensively gifted as Gazill. His death is far more than a warning. It is an omen. I say here, that if we do not blast those humans apart the moment that they cross that barrier, then we will be the ones who reap what we have sown."

The Phoenix had so much negativity and snarks hidden in his message that it seemed to be a bit of an emotional rail track.

Nevertheless, his message was coveted by the Black Emperor.

The 8 -S- Rank beasts were huddled and had excluded the Black Emperor who had failed oh so dearly.

They were currently sitting right before the other barrier that connected to the one present in the Dungeon.

Some were ready to blast humans to pieces, others to give them a warning that would truly last. Some to even barter for peaceful negotiation.

Through the silence, the tension seemed to shriek ruthlessly.

One particularly angered and emotional green-haired woman with light-green skin that stuck out like spores jabbed at the Black Emperor just within his hearing range.

"Why did you throw Gazill in without supervision? Surely it would not have impaled you to have at least looked over him during his bout?"

The Black Emperor half-shrugged before letting out an emotionless answer that enraged the green woman.

"He fell to a party trick. I do not have time to watch children play."

The Woman dared to point her finger at the Black Emperor.

"Is... Is this a... game to you?"

Her violet eyes glowed with divinity.

The Black Emperor eyed her with both concern and patience.

"I do not participate in games. Games of life and death are war. But Gazill was plagued by no death. Just foolishness."

She was a Plant-Poneglyph.

She was wearing a green-tainted toga.

It didn't look moldy obviously, but childishly dyed forest green

Her true form was that of a Green-runed Grave-stone.

When placed in hidden areas, her creations and deathly incarnations could cripple minor sub-race Kingdoms in nights. Partially damage Human Kingdoms within long weeks.

She was in the upper echelons of the beasts in terms of pure overall damage. Though she was often underlooked due to her weak offensive and defensive capabilities, the Black Emperor was one of the few who actually grew to respect her unique abilities.

In his eyes, when they were open at least, the dungeon didn't need another -S- Rank beast that specialized in power. For a human Kingdom could produce hundreds of -S- Ranks given enough time. But an -S- Rank that could deform a human Kingdom would be the bane of more -S- Ranks than ever imaginable by his fellow creature's feeble minds.

Had she not intervened, he may have never even considered what he did next.

Carefully making sure that the little merchant princess was fast asleep, his numb and outer-worldly voice caused the huddle of beasts to shift and furl.

"I declare a vote. Raise your hands if you are in favor of avenging Gazill through human blood."

The Black Emperor's two silver-rippled eyes glowed in the duskness of the setting briefly before shutting once more.

He nodded seeing this result.

His character was neither moved nor perplexed by this almost unanimous decision.

A slow wave of spikes washed over his blackened face.

"By unanimous decision, the vote is closed. The death of shall Gazill shall be dealt with."

"Through the ideals of society. Your society, my fellow creatures."

"Your ideals. Your plans. Your meticulous drives. Only you can alter the fate of this dungeon. So let blood be met with your unanimous ideals. This eve. For the goal of creating a better soceity."

And so the Black Emperor allowed his darkness to enthrall him.

A new layer of black overthrew his last.

He was now prepared.

And a certain cheery group of fellows could not have the same said.

Not as their playful and naive figures got ever-so-closer to the seemingly harmless barrier.

To seemingly harmless death.