Chapter 97 Chapter 24.1 - Afterwards
While Astron was far away doing his own thing, the life inside the dungeon wasn't that easy for the rest of the party.
The party was able to overcome the Putrid Embertree Spirit and the Sylvans, but they almost lost their lives in the process.
It was thanks to the fact that Fred wasn't healing that but rather disturbing their conditions and setting debuffs to the party.
Because of all those small acts, the raid, which was supposed to go smoothly, didn't go as expected.
SWOOSH SPURT
"This is the last one."
As with the one last slash, the monster's head fell to the ground; the party was finally able to take a breather.
"Haaaaah…..You all fought well…." The captain of the party, Anya, spoke between heavy breaths. Her clothes and armor were ragged, wounds were all around her body, as well as some pieces of her skin turned slightly dark.
"Captain, are you okay?" Coming near to her, Hari asked, looking at her captain and the one she fought alongside. In this fight, the one who took the most damage and endured the most pain was undoubtedly Anya, as even with her shield down, she put her body first.
"I am fine, I am fine….You don't need to worry."
"Really?"
"Yes. Thanks to someone, we were able to turn this situation off."
"Right? I wasn't expecting him to be this strong either. Certainly, the Hartley Family lives up to their name."
The reason why the party was able to complete the raid swiftly without any injuries was because of a certain rising star in the party.
"Ethan."
The boy with blue hair had blood splattered all around his body. But that blood wasn't his own but rather the monsters he had just massacred.
"Ethan, can you hear me?" Standing beside her was a young girl with brown hair. "You need to rest; you have been overworking yourself." She said, looking at Ethan.
"Haah…..We need to find him…." However, the boy's eyes were elsewhere as he was looking into the fog.
As the party caught their breath and tended to their injuries, the urgency to find Astron weighed heavy on their minds. They knew time was of the essence.
Anya wiped the sweat off her brow, her eyes scanning the vicinity. "Ethan, we'll find him. But we need to regroup and ensure everyone is in a condition to move."
Ethan nodded, albeit reluctantly. He understood the practicality of the situation, even if his heart urged him to rush in search of Astron.
Even though they had cleared the dungeon, there was a possibility of other monsters still residing there, and most importantly, Fred might have done something on the path.
He knew that just by rushing, he wouldn't do any good.
"Understood." Ethan nodded his head as he reached his own spatial artifact, his watch. Grabbing a high-grade stamina potion and a healing potion from there, he gulped them immediately.
As the party rested while tending their wounds, Ethan was the first to finish regaining his strength.
"I will look after him now. We shouldn't waste any more time." For him, the time was tickling, and he didn't want to waste any more time. Ethan knew even though Astron must have had a potion of his own; he wasn't strong enough to go against all those monsters wandering around the place.
Also, thanks to what Fred did, the monsters must have also started rampaging, and this would make it even harder for a weak hunter like Astron to resist.
"Sigh….Okay….We are finished as well." With those words, Anya also stood up. Since her strength and rank were higher than others, and she was a tanker, she had a regenerative skill in her arsenal; she also gathered her strength fast.
"Let's go, everyone…." With a wave of her hand, the rest of the party members started looking for the clues around the dungeon, trying to find where the Astron was.
They first passed the second stage but couldn't find any clues about Astron. On the way, they killed a bunch of rampaging Sylvans, but it was no longer hard for them.
Then they reached the first stage, where the fog was not around, and the rain was pouring down endlessly.
Since the first stage covered a slightly bigger area, they decided to split up and look for clues.
As Ethan was walking around in the direction of the entrance, suddenly, he smelled something.
"This…..Blood?"
He sensed something ominous. His intuition, which was something he was proud of, was now screaming at him at the fact that something had happened here.
The air felt slightly scruffy and evil.
"Demonic Energy."
He easily identified the source. Hartley Family was known for their martial prowess, but they were also good at killing those who sold themselves to demons.
"Frey."
There was only one person in this dungeon who could have utilized the demonic energy, and that person was the bastard he swore to take his vengeance.
"Don't tell me?"
As he approached the scene, he could see the blood splattered all around. The ear in Ethan's eyes grew. His mind was racing, and every possible scenario played out before him. He couldn't shake the dread that had settled deep within him.
"Astron... no..." he whispered to himself, the words heavy with anguish.
He examined the scene carefully, fear gripping his heart as he found Astron's blood scattered on the ground. "No, this can't be," he thought, his mind unable to comprehend the possibility. "Astron was talented, but he's not as strong as Fred. Did he fall here?"
In his mind, even though Astron was a talented Hunter, he was still weak. He himself had witnessed his strength firsthand countless times, and he knew how fragile Astron was.
"What is this?"
However, as he wandered around a little bit more, he came across a small little metal piece.
"Bullet?"
It was a bullet from a gun. He was not an expert in terms of bullets, but that one was slightly eroded as if it was subjected to an energy.
His brain racked a little while, but he couldn't comprehend where this bullet came from.
'This might be Fred.'
He thought it belonged to Fred since he didn't think Astron had the gun. Guns with mana-enhanced bullets were expensive and hard to manufacture, and Ethan knew Astron wasn't that rich. He was an orphan with no parents; how could he afford to use that expensive weapon?
Just as he was about to walk a little more and wander around, suddenly, he felt walky-talky vibrating.
"Hmm?"
It was a simple device to communicate inside the dungeon. Since the dungeon was a different dimension and space, it was impossible to use smartwatches and phones where the signal should be sent to a satellite and antenna in a different world.
Therefore, most of the hunters used mana frequencies to communicate inside the dungeon, and this walkie-talkie did so.
"What is it?" he asked as he looked at the space.
"Come to the entrance of the dungeon now." He heard Anya's voice from the other side, taken aback in response.
"Why?"
"We need to talk."
"What happened?"
"You will see."
As he heard this, even though he wanted to look around a little more, Ethan knew he had found as many clues as he could find right now.
There were no traces of bodies, and aside from blood and some bullets, there was nothing much. So, in the end, he gave up and walked to the side of the entrance after putting the bullets into his pockets.
*******
"What do you mean by that captain?"
"I mean what I said."
In front of the entrance of the dungeon, the five members of the party stood up, looking at each other.
Anya gestured to the gate that would take them to the dungeon and started speaking. "The moment we finished this raid, we should have been spitted out by the dungeon, and the dungeon gate should be closed."
This was a fact that is known by almost every Hunter in the industry, and Anya was also familiar with that fact. Even though she had forgotten it in the heat of the moment at the start, after some time had passed, she realized this and called everyone immediately.
"However, it didn't happen," Hari added as she also looked at the dungeon.
"Indeed, it didn't happen." Anya continued. "This is out of the norm and should not have happened."
As she spoke, her face got more serious. "This means either this dungeon is not supposed to close or-"
"Or something is blocking it." Ethan completed her sentence as he also looked into the gate. "You are saying someone had tempered the gate."
"Yes."
"Then, it must be Fred."
"Indeed. It must be him. He probably did it in order to safely escape from the dungeon without killing the boss. It should have been his intention from the start."
"I see." Ethan looked downwards as he started pondering. "Then, this means staying inside the dungeon is also dangerous."
"That is correct. We can't predict what is going to happen inside the dungeon anymore since that bastard had played with the gate."
"….." Just as Anya said, everything made sense. The concept of gates and dungeons was still an enigma to humans; therefore, Ethan easily understood her decision, but at the same time, he didn't want to understand it.
Because it simply meant abandoning him inside there, and he was against that idea.
"I know you don't want to leave him there, but Ethan, you need to understand that we already looked everywhere and couldn't find anything about him. No traces, nobody. Nothing. I don't want to say it, but either he has already left, or he is-"
"Don't say it."
Refusing to hear what Anya was about to say, Ethan raised his head and looked at the gate.
"Okay….." Anya realized Ethan refused to accept that as she looked into the rest of the party. "I had already contacted the association. They will soon send a team to investigate this issue. The officer said we should stay here for a while and secure the gate for the possibility of any dungeon leak."
With those words, everyone started waiting. The wait for the investigation team felt like an eternity for the party as they still couldn't relax. For Emily and her guild members, this exploration was a very important one since the future of their guild was related to it, but for Ethan he was mostly concerned about Astron.
WROOM!
Finally, the hum of approaching vehicles broke the tension in the air. The Hunter Association's team arrived, a group of professionals equipped to handle mysterious dungeon occurrences.
"Azure Crest Guild?"
"Yes. I am Anya Guzzman; here is my license." After confirming the identity of the members one by one, they immediately set to work, analyzing the gate and the surrounding area.
Anya briefed the team about their raid, Astron's disappearance, and the suspicion surrounding Fred's involvement. The investigators scoured the dungeon entrance, meticulously examining the gate and its mechanisms for any tampering.
Hours passed, and the investigators concluded their examination, shaking their heads. "There's no doubt. The gate was intentionally tampered with. Someone wanted it to stay open," one of them reported to Anya.
She nodded, her face grave. "Is there any way to fix it?"
"There is no need to fix anything. The mana seal used in order to keep the dungeon open will soon deplete. The dungeon will close itself immediately."
Ethan overheard the conversation as he approached the investigator. "What if someone is still inside there? What is going to happen, then?"
"If someone is still inside there, then it is very hard to predict what may happen there. Either they are going to be forced to get out of the dungeon, or they will be trapped inside."
"….."
Ethan clenched his fists, frustration welling up within him.
"However, you are not allowed to go inside there."
"What? Why?"
"This dungeon is currently under investigation and will be regulated according to the rules outlined in the 3rd section of the 9th article of the dungeon law. No other Hunter will be allowed to enter this dungeon aside from those permitted by the association."
"But-"
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to reenter the dungeon," the lead investigator reiterated, maintaining a firm stance.
Ethan felt a surge of frustration and desperation. "You don't understand. My friend is in there, and time is running out. If we don't act quickly, we might lose him."
"I sympathize with your situation, but going back into a dungeon that's been compromised is against protocol and the law. It's too dangerous, not just for you but potentially for everyone involved," the investigator explained, her tone unwavering.
Anya stepped forward, attempting to mediate. "Is there nothing we can do? Surely there's an exception for situations like this."
The investigator sighed, understanding the gravity of the situation. "I wish there were, but we can't bend the rules on this. We'll work on sealing the dungeon as soon as possible, and in the meantime, we'll start a thorough search inside.
Hearing this, Ethan clenched his fists as he looked at the dungeon gate.
In the end, Ethan was left with only one option.
Waiting for the dungeon to force Astron out if he was there instead of trapping him….
And just like that, the members of the party were dismissed from the gate in the presence of the investigation scene…..
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