Chapter LXXXVI - Hell Hounds (part 1)

A hand is holding a communication crystal, and it lifts the crystal towards the mouth.

The crystal glows a little, showing that it has been activated.

"Jrake. Jrake, are you there?"

Hod called using the communication crystal he had specifically for the team leaders. 

Right now, the guy is wearing his second set of clothes that he brought along as he dried the main set on a nearby boulder. He is also still pretty pissed about how hot the water was.

While he was on the call, I touched the water...

Yep. This is cooked water. 

I chuckled while Hod muttered some unpleasant words.

"Yeah, Hod. What's up?"

Jrake's voice came out from the crystal. Hod took a deep breath before starting the explanation.

"We have a traitor."

He explained everything to the communication crystal. Once in a while, Fran and Cane commented about Marksus while Hod is telling the story. Cane also mentioned that Brian and Gen spotted Marksus just outside the entrance last night, standing alone. 

That must be the moment he prepared his plan.

The master heard about this, and decided to ban Marksus from being an adventurer after the mission is over. Hod and I can breathe normally after hearing that.

Even though he was connected with the crystal coms, Marksus didn't reply at all.

Hod also told the others about them falling into a super deep hole that leads to the deeper part of the dungeon. Jrake will send in a helping hand to save them and the others who are still on the top. Hod explained the paths they took, and Jrake said they will move in immediately.

I explained to Valey and the others through our team's coms crystal, and they all will wait for the help to come. In the meantime, we decided to stay put.

"Say, what's down here anyways?"

Hod asked me once we are done with the communication business. He looked around and studied the cave we are in.

We are in a much larger cave, with gigantic light crystals hanging on the wall. But despite the large room, there's no monster at all.

"I heard that a dungeon can go extremely deep, but this is… way too deep."

He said as he studied the walls.

On our right and left, there are entrances that lead to some deeper parts of the cave. We decided not to move or do anything just yet and simply wait for backup.

But… our luck wasn't as big as we thought.

It didn't take long after Hod finished his call with Jrake, that a heavy presence can be felt coming from the left entrance. Me and Hod quickly turned to see who it was, and found that it was not a person.

No, this is… a devil.

A devil hound, to be exact.

It looked like a hell hound, but much bigger in size. It has two large horns on the forehead and four eyes, all glimmering like a burning flame. There are three tails sticking on the hell hound's butt, and every single one of them are flaming.

The muscles are sticking out from the dog's feet, and the skin of the hound also looked shiny like a brand new set of armor.

Damn… this is difficult.

"... A mutation."

"What?"

I mumbled, but I couldn't answer Hod when he asked.

A normal hellhound is already a lower Yellow rank. But, at every dungeon, monsters can have some sort of weird situations happening to them, such as mutation. Similar to the mantis I fought around a month ago or the hobgoblins back at the Grey ranked dungeon.

Every mutation made the monster even stronger, and this guy was already a Yellow ranked to begin with.

My hands gripped the unsheathed swords that I just took out as I studied the monster in front of me. Its pressure... It's nowhere near a lower Yellow rank.

"This guy must be a White ranked…"

"Damn right."

A sweat rolled down Hod's forehead as he studied the monster in front of us. The mutated hell hound was sniffing the ground before finally dropping its gaze at us. 

Realizing that we are staring at it, the hellhound finally opened its fangs.

No, it's… way wider.

The mouth of the hellhound was opened all the way until ninety degrees, and a certain ball appeared in the middle of its mouth.

"-Look out!!"

BLARRR!!!!

A large fire beam just shot at us at high speed. If it wasn't for my foot already enchanted and prepared, we would have been burned by that insanely quick fire beam.

I looked behind me to see the damage of the fire beam, and behind me is a large crater from the fire beam's explosion.

Almost as big as my firebombs.

Damn! It can shoot fire blaze like a dragon!?

The three tailed bastard closed its mouth and grumbled at us. It didn't take long before it started to move its legs.

"Hod-"

BAKKK!!!

I was too worried for Hod, that I didn't think the monster would attack me. The hellhound was extremely fast, my eyes couldn't keep up. The monster smacked its body towards me at high speed, and my body flew meters across the room.

"Ghahakk!!"

"Rize!!"

I coughed blood as my body crashed and created a large crater on the wall. Hod wanted to help me, but the demon wolf already had its eyes on him.

As soon as the hell hound landed its feet, it opened its mouth again and shot another fire beam. This time, Hod is ready.

BAARRR!!!!

The fire beam shot across the room, but Hod already dodged. He conjured sharp ice spikes that can kill anyone in its way, but the dog is so much faster.

It leaped away, dodged the spikes with ease, and then leaped again to reach Hod.

The fangs were opened wide, but this time, it wasn't aiming at Hod. 

Hod can only watch as the hellhound's mouth slowly glows brighter.

BARRRR!!!!

The explosion woke me up from the dozy feel, and I slowly stood back up. My gaze fell on the sight before me, and my eyes were opened as wide as possible.

Right across the room, is a giant crater that just got created. The hellhound somehow aimed the explosion to the ground and caused the ground to explode. 

He…

Hod… was caught dead on at the source of the explosion.

His body was found way on the other side of the cave after getting thrown really far. 

But... his leg is on the other.