Chapter 267: captured
They headed deeper into the dungeon, and then a group of undead skeletons came out. They rushed at Riven and the group. This time, Riven wasn’t allowing anyone to take this one. He lunged forward, his feet moving in a blur.
The first skeleton struck with a slash, but he parried it easily and then kicked it right in the chest, shattering the bones. He spun around quickly, his sword already digging into the head of the second one.
Two dead in an instant, but his eyes were already locked on the next target. He moved out of the way as it attacked, leaped onto the wall, bounced off, and kicked it right in the head, smashing it into the ground and shattering the skull.
One attacked from behind. He rolled out of the way and thrust through its head, twisting and shattering it.
"He is really going at it," Jack said.
"Yeah, he hasn’t had the time to fight to his heart’s content recently. He has been stuck in everything that was happening," Noel said.
By the time they finished speaking, the fight had already ended. Riven stood there with a soft smile on his face. This was the place he belonged, not behind an academy wall—no, here, out in the field, battling his heart out.
He gathered all the crystals. The system sent a message that he could absorb them, but now wasn’t the time.
There was also something that he loved—the fact that every undead he had killed had actually amassed system points for him.
He turned off notifications to ensure he didn’t get distracted, but every one he killed gave him ten.
"Alright, let’s go ahead," Riven said. He was about to take a step when suddenly, the ground split apart. An explosion so massive it threw all of them back. Riven slammed into the wall and hit the ground hard. He looked up slowly through the dust, and there he saw them—two creatures in black cloaks floating over the ground.
Their eyes were darkness, green flames burning in them. Their skeletal hands stretched out, and a green ball of energy floated in their palms.
"What are those?" Riven asked. They all got to their feet, taking out their weapons and getting ready to fight.
[The one loved by chaos has been activated]
[The one loved by chaos has been activated]
[The one loved by chaos has been activated]
A string of messages that scared Riven immediately. He subconsciously took a step back. This was the first time that he was given three at a time. Something was definitely wrong, and it wasn’t a good type of wrong.
"We have to retreat," he said. They all turned to look at him, confused, but the next moment made them understand. One of the beings raised its hands, and a green ball of energy formed. It continuously grew in size until it was the size of a human.
It hurled the ball at them without wasting any time.
"Runnnnnnnnnn!" Riven roared. The ball cut through the air as it destroyed the walls and the ground, obliterating everything it touched.
The blast was so powerful that it threw all of them flying. Then the second one moved toward Sofia, who was on the ground. She was struggling to stay conscious. It grabbed her and started pulling her away.
Riven could only see blurry, but he saw her getting pulled away.
"Sofia, Sofia!" he roared, pushing himself up and chasing after her, but the first being attacked with another massive ball of energy directed at Riven.
But Riven didn’t care. He rushed forward until Noel dove, hitting him out of the way before the attack struck. The blast still threw them all back.
They slammed into the ground, hitting the walls like rag dolls. When they finally stopped, they could barely move. Riven slowly pushed himself up, his head bleeding, his vision blurry.
"Sofia, Sofia," he called out, taking a step but collapsing to his knees. He stretched out his hands. "Sofia."
The others slowly got back up. Jack was bleeding badly from his side, but he simply took off his shirt, tore it, and wrapped it around himself.
He looked up in pain, glancing at Noel and Riven, who were struggling to get back up. Noel pulled out a healing potion, and so did all of them. They drank it as fast as they could.
Riven got on his feet first. He started walking toward the hole in the ground. "We have to go after her," he said.
"We need some sort of plan first, bro. We don’t know what’s down there or what’s waiting for us. We could die," Noel said.
"Yeah, I agree with Noel. Normally I would be the one eager to go fight, but those things didn’t just take us down—they did it without breaking a single sweat.
It was like we were flies to them. I don’t think we can handle that. Maybe we should call someone," Jack said.
"What the hell are you saying? Sofia was just dragged down. I’m not even talking about this," Riven said and jumped into the hole.
They both got up and ran after him, jumping into the lower floor.
They landed hard, the air thick with the stench of rot. The tunnel beneath the dungeon stretched endlessly, dim green light pulsing along the cracked walls like veins. Riven sprinted ahead without slowing, his ragged breaths echoing against the stone.
"Riven, wait!" Noel’s voice called, but he didn’t stop.
Jack and Noel finally caught up to him, their footsteps pounding in unison. Riven glanced back, surprised to see them at his side. A faint, almost guilty smile tugged at his lips.
"I thought... you’d stay behind," he muttered.
"Tch, what do you take us for? You’re not the only one who cares about her," Jack said, gripping his weapon tighter despite the blood soaking his bandages.
Before Riven could answer, a sound cut through the silence, rattling, scraping, dozens of bones grinding together. From the shadows ahead, skeletal figures began emerging, their hollow eyes glowing faintly green.
"More of them?" Noel hissed, tightening his grip on his sword.