SOE 0020: Entering Vineta

When they all finally reached the dungeon, they came upon a grand cave of an unfathomable depth that didn't allow any light to enter. It was as if it was a blank void of emptiness that didn't allow any light to get reflected inside and sucked it all in. Leo could barely see the walls of the huge cave and nothing more. His eyes then went to the group of eight people who were already present with their horses and equipment.

Five of them seemed like combatants judging by their varied armor and weapons. As for the other three, they seemed like they were just there to see the five off and take care of their horses in the meantime. As the sounds of the horses' hooves clanked on the road, the party of eight was drawn to the sound. Their gazes went to Leo and his group as the three of them approached the dungeon's entrance.

When the horses stopped, Rochard promptly got off of his horse, "Marcus." Richard nodded as one of the finer-dressed men approached him.

"Ser Richard." The man greeted Richard with some respect, "I presume this young man is Mr. Leopold Solomon?" His gaze shot to Leo who was just getting off of his horse.

"Yes," Leo asked as he walked to the man, his noble gait evident even though he was wearing armor and was geared for combat, "Greetings." Leo wasn't familiar with the man and gave him a succinct greeting.

"This is Marcus, Young Master," Richard introduced, "He is one of the North Duke's butlers."

Leo acknowledged Richard's words with a nod as his gaze moved to the rest of the people. Marcus understood that he didn't wish to dally and said, "Allow me to introduce the party that will be traveling through the dungeon with you."

He gestured to a tall, slightly buff man who was wearing heavy armor, "This is Alaric Frost. He is a heavy-handed melee fighter. An Adept."

Leo nodded and approached the man. He gave Leo a slightly proud look and said, "Greetings." He extended his hand that Leo grasped before shaking and responding with a curt greeting of his own.

Not dallying, he introduced the rest of the party, comprising two swordsmen — one an Adept male and the other a Journeyman female, a Journeyman archer, and a tracker, this one being another Adept.

Just as Leo thought that they were done since all the armored individuals had been introduced, Marcus moved to one of the finely dressed people and addressed them, "This is Ms. Lyra Winters. She is a non-combat class Knight and will be the tactician for the duration of the dungeon dwelling."

"Oh?" Leo was slightly surprised but greeted her all the same, "I'll be in your care, I guess."

"Likewise." She smiled politely yet distantly.

"I should introduce my partner here," Leo said while gesturing to Ingrid, "This is Ingrid, an Adept archer."

With the pleasantries put aside, the six people from the duke's personal guard along with Leo and Ingrid got ready to enter the dungeon.

There wasn't much talking involved since the group of six only treated it as a job. Leo was merely a Novice aura wielder and the party's identities were stable and high enough that they had no need to suck up to an heir of a duke's house, let alone the falling Solomon house. To them, it was nothing more than a job and they would at best maintain cordiality with Leo, but that was it.

Everyone stood close by as they walked into the darkness, "So is this like a cave entrance that we have to traverse for a while, or some kind of magical thing where we'll appear in another world momentarily?" Leo asked no one in particular.

"The entrance to all dungeons is similar," It was Lyra, the tactician knight who answered Leo's query, "These caves are portals to a separate location with a similar yet different reality and basic natural laws. Hence the need for you to be coming here in the first place."

Just as her words finished, Leo felt the darkness abruptly disappearing as a flash of light assaulted his eyes, forcing him to close them. He had to take a few seconds to recover and open his eyes, and when he did, he was greeted with the scene of the so-called dungeon.

"Dungeon doesn't really seem like that apt of a term, no?" Leo mumbled as he saw what could only be described as a forest in his vision. Looking behind, he saw the same cave-live darkness of the exit portal. At the boundary of that portal, Leo expected to see more of the forest, but what greeted him was an expanse of pure white. He felt his perception of distance and reality distort as he saw the pure white expanse of nothingness. He realized that this forest floor was like a floating island in the expanse of whiteness.

"Is this how the edge of our Alfian realm looks like…" Ingrid murmured as she saw the same sight as Leo.

"Nah," Leo corrected Ingrid, "The Alfian realm is, by all accounts, circular. You keep moving in one direction, you will end up at your original location."

"Let's not dally," Lyra said as she started giving each of the members of the party positions to take.

Leo wanted to suggest that they let him deal with some of the enemies, but decided otherwise after seeing the distant nature of the party. Since they were merely treating his escorting as a task and nothing more, he wouldn't lower himself for such a trivial request. He had to maintain not only his own dignity but also that of his duchy. Every step, every move he made represented not only him, but the Solomon Duchy behind him, so he had to be aware of these kinds of situations and act accordingly.

Lyra assigned the positions to each of the party members as they fanned out and started moving in a predetermined direction. Lyra kept herself, Leo, and Ingrid in the center of their formation as the two swordsmen took the lead, working in tandem with each other. The large man was walking at the side, ready for any kind of ambush while the archer was standing closer to the center. As for the tracker, he had two daggers in his hands and was steadily making his way with the buff man.

Leo was confused about why they didn't have anyone watching their back but didn't ask, presuming that the party considered the lower floor monsters too weak to take seriously.

As they continued moving, Leo saw the first monster. It was a large rat that came up to the knees of the swordsman that it approached. It had a ferocious mouth with two teeth sticking out as it drolled while growling viciously. The Journeyman swordswoman didn't flinch at its sudden appearance and calmly stabbed her sword through its neck, instantly ending its life.

Leo looked at the rat curiously as the party continued moving. Before he could even get a closer look at it, the rat disintegrated into particles of light. Leo was surprised since he thought that the rat would be able to be used as a spoil for them.

"Does the same happen to the people that die in the dungeon?" Leo asked, he was too curious not to. He realized that the rat and essentially all monsters were constructs of the dungeon. If the natural laws of this place worked to pull their essence, the same should be the case with the people who die in the dungeon.

"Not exactly," Lyra answered, "The monsters are constructs made by the dungeon itself, while we adventurers usually come from the outside. The dungeon does attempt to devour the humans that enter too, but it is a much slower process. A body must be left for a few hours to be completely absorbed by the dungeon."

Leo hummed in acknowledgment and didn't say anything further. The party met a few more monsters along the way — a few more mutated rats, a weak-looking snake, and a couple of goblins. They were swiftly dispatched by the sword wielders who were at the front as the party continued walking at a quick pace.

Within a couple of minutes, they were at the entrance of the second floor. It was a similar portal with nothing but darkness, but the cave-like structure surrounding it had a different color, and the walls seemed to be flowing with magma that gave an orange sheen to the walls surrounding the inky darkness of the portal.

Without stopping, the party entered the portal and ascended to the second floor.