Chapter 271: smelling the next floor
The wall exploded a few moments after. The blast threw all of them aside, they slammed into the ground and the walls, despite having jumped out of the way, a cloud of dust rose high along with burning green flames.
The flames and dust died down, and they finally looked up to see what attacked them. Then they saw a figure floating out, it had on a black robe and green flames for eyes.
Immediately they saw it, they leaped to their feet, scared that it might be the same being that took away Sofia, but they noticed that it didn’t have an orb in its hand, and it gave off a weaker aura in general.
But it was strong, they could tell, especially after the attack that destroyed the wall. Riven got to his feet first and pulled his sword.
"Twilight, I need your help," he said.
"I’m with you," she replied. He nodded, got into his stance, ready to fight, and lunged forward, moving as fast as his body could move. Blue flames exploded from the sword as he cut down.
The undead created a dark green ball of flames and lunged at him. Silva slashed, the sword collided with the flames, and it exploded, pushing him back.
He landed and slid back a few feet. He looked up, and the monster was already preparing another attack.
Crackle!
Lightning crackled. Noel shot forward, his sword moving in a swift motion coated in lightning. The monster was unable to react to the attack; the sword cut into its shoulder and was then followed by a massive blast of lightning that threw it back into a wall.
The skull of the monster cracked, it was disoriented. Jack lunged at it, sending a powerful kick into the head, smashing the skull entirely and killing it instantly.
"That was much easier than I thought it would be," Jack said.
Noel turned to look at his brother. Riven had been moving much slower and much weaker than normal.
"Riven, is everything fine?" Noel asked.
"Yeah, let’s just go and find her," he said and tried to walk past, but Noel grabbed him by the shoulder. "I know when something’s wrong with you, so tell me what’s wrong," Noel insisted.
"I said it’s"
"Tell me already," Noel barked. He grabbed Riven by the shirt and pulled him closer. "There is something, so why are you hiding it? Is it because you don’t trust me? I thought we already had an understanding," Noel said.
"Sigh," Riven let out. "I trust you. If anything, I trust you and Jack the most out of everyone. You already know my secrets, and Jack is someone who will never tell.
"The issue is that if I tell you, I feel it would be raising a red flag," Riven said.
"What’s it? Just tell us," Jack said, walking from behind.
Noel leaned in and whispered, "Or is it something you can’t tell anyone who doesn’t know your truth?" he asked.
Riven shook his head. "It’s not that," he said, then walked to the hole in the wall. "I’m scared that we might be walking into something that’s beyond us, but we can’t stop, and it’s messing with my head.
"I can’t think straight. Those monsters were numerous times stronger than us, so what do we do when we can’t stop them, but we can’t back away because Sofia is there?
"I’ve been thinking about it, and honestly, it’s worrying. What if we all die?" he asked.
"Well, you dragged us down here, so no time for all this," Jack said. He looked at the hole, his nose moving as he sniffed. "Whatever those things want with Sofia, it’s not good," Jack said, then peeked at the hole.
"This way," he said and ran in. Noel followed after, and Riven last.
’I can’t tell them that I got two warnings from my Chaos title, and that means the danger is beyond what we can handle.
’I dragged them all into certain death, and they don’t know. But I can’t stop now. If there’s even the slightest chance that we can save Sofia, then I’m taking it regardless of the risk.
’I wish I could somehow stop them and go alone, but that’s impossible, they won’t even hear it,’ Riven thought as they ran behind.
"So what did you smell this way?" Noel asked Jack.
"There is definitely a path leading downward through here. My kind has already registered the smell of this entire floor, and when that hole opened, I noticed a distinctly different smell coming from below," Jack explained.
"Then would it mean that monster came from below?" Noel asked.
"I don’t know. I thought the floors spawned monsters themselves," Jack said.
"This floor has been seriously lacking monsters for some reason," Riven said, and just as he did, several undead appeared in front of them. This time they were fully armored, while some were mages with staffs, floating in the air, skeletons covered in mage robes.
"Looks like the floor’s finally waking up," Jack muttered, cracking his neck.
The armored undead roared, the sound echoing through the hollow corridor. Riven dashed forward first, blue flames igniting along his blade as he swung in a wide arc, slicing through one soldier’s shield and sending it crashing into another. Sparks scattered as metal clashed against metal, his body twisting with each swing.
Noel raised his hand, lightning coursing through his veins. "Scatter!" he shouted, thrusting his palm forward. Bolts of electricity leapt through the ranks of the undead, frying three of them instantly, but more kept coming, their empty sockets glowing a pale green.
Jack spun low, his leg sweeping through a skeleton’s ribs before crushing its skull beneath his heel.
A skeletal mage began chanting, its staff glowing with emerald fire.
Riven cursed, raising his sword as the flames surged toward them. But the spell was completed before he was able to reach, and a massive fireball was hurled at them at full speed.