Shadowy Tendrils

Stepping through the rift and descending into the dungeon, the team members took brief seconds to inspect the domain they had landed in.

Damien was quick to light a torch with his fire ability; a blue flamed mana energy, and he spread the lightning to other torches that hung around the walls of the dungeon, pulling the darkness that cloaked around into the past.

In the distance, they could hear the faint sound of dripping water pooling in stagnant puddles, mingling with the unsettling creaks and groans of the ancient structure settling. 

The air was thick and musty, filled with the scent of mold and decay. As they stepped further in, the sound of dripping water echoed through the corridors, creating a haunting melody that reverberates off the cold stones. 

Rough, uneven floors were scattered with debris, and the faint rustle of unseen creatures skitters in the darkness. The distant clinking of chains seized them up a bit, hinting at forgotten prisoners or lurking dangers. The atmosphere was oppressive, making every breath feel heavy, as if the very walls were closing in around them. 

[Ding!]

The holographic window appeared in front of Ace again, reminding him of its pending message.

[Dungeon quest activated]

[(Description: A dungeon quest is basically an adventure where the host has to explore dark, dangerous dungeons with specific goals in mind. This could mean battling monsters, solving puzzles, or finding valuable items within speculated timings)]

[Quest(s) overview: (I)- Defeat dungeon monsters.

(II)- Harvest 10 soul cores of undead warriors.

[Reward(s): -1,500 system tokens.

 -10x ability on current stats for a specific timing.

[(HR(s): •••]

[Time duration: 2:00:00] 

[Penalty(ies): 50% slash in current stats and— ]

'Just like in the book, there's also a penalty here.' Ace grumbled in his thoughts as he read through the system's message.

Earlier, he had purchased a shadow blade sword from the system's panel while he actively invested the rest of his awarded system token in purchasing the available accessories which were going to be useful for his first raid.

"Now that we are here— away from the world," Nia began to say, calling everyone's attention to herself. "I think we should choose a leader for this guild. That being said, I nominate myself for that position. Is anyone against that?" She asked, but instead of allowing at least one of them to speak, she gave no room for them to voice out their opinion as she continued.

"Perfect! I will lead the team under my wings." She said with a cranky smile on her face.

"What makes you think you're fit to be our leader?" The girl who was supposedly Armin's girl shrugged lightly with a smirk, before folding her arms nonchalantly against her chest.

"It seems pretty Dawn is having problems accepting me as the leader." Nia uttered, pouting along with a cute little act as she did. "Oh, well. I am more than fit to be the MVP here and besides, I am way older than you guys." She blurted, pointing a finger at Ace sharply.

"This one is 17, Armin is barely a few days to being 18, and you?" She scoffed, her finger landing on Dawn's face. "You're just a month ahead of Ace. Am I wrong?" She smiled, tilting her head to the side a little while nastily chewing the gum in her mouth aggressively.

The dungeon fell silent again as the other four had a bothersome question raging through their minds which Armin did the honors by spilling it out.

"What does it matter anyway? I am sure we won't be all lovey dovey together when we are back at the academy. Let's just get this raid over with, Nia." 

"What about me?" Damien suddenly growled from behind. 

Ace had totally missed Damien's buff appearance since he had matched in with them. He finally took notice of the breastplate armor he had giddled. His foreboding build would definitely give him a good squeeze while pooping his newly acquired good eye balls with one scoop.

Damien was a sharp contrast to both he and Armin's build who was per say; a giant for his age.

"You really don't look like someone competent enough to lead—"

A sharp clap resounded out of Nia's palms, her eyes rolling dangerously in disgust at Damien before she uttered her next words.

"Oh, please… you all look like you'd die any minute from now, young weaklings." She scoffed.

For the first time since she brought up that discussion which was intercepting the raid and forcing a delay, Ace finally dropped his two cents.

"If we are going to die according to our ages, I think you'd do the honors first, Nia." 

Maybe he should have swallowed his comment and hid it far beneath the surface as Nia couldn't bottle up her rage as she heard him speak to her that way.

A first year student who had only been in the academy for less than 24 hours.

Nia, ready to teach the little boy before her a lesson, swallowed enough air into her throat, ready to lash out her endangering ability on Ace without notice as he wasn't aware of her ability yet.

But before she could release the rage seering within through her mouth, the walls of the dungeon shifted, shooting out shadowy tendrils at the team, but Nia was fully in the way, falling prey to the wall that was behind her.

A shadowy tendrils crawled towards her mouth, sealing it shut before she could let out a scream and immediately, a rift tore open in the wall, swallowing her as a whole.

As the rest of the guild watched this bewildering astonishment before them, they lost track of time and all senses at once. Nia was just there with them a second ago, but the walls had swallowed her as a whole.

With their eyes almost popping out of their sockets and their feet stuck in the uneven stone ground, and their brains losing perception of time and reaction, Armin finally broke through.

His soft voice resonated a little with the sudden darkness that enveloped them. 

"Well,... She's dead. RUN!" 

That was the cue they all probably needed and with a wild dash, they all took to their heels as the tendrils shot out of the walls again, lashing out at them in an attempt to make them fall.

The walls continued to shift and the uneven stone floor gave way into a trap which they all fell into. 

With their screams reverberating through the whole dungeon walls, they journey -ed through a fall into a— bottomless pit.