Chapter 555 Dungeon In A Dungeon?
Apparently this entire floor was really filled with other Dungeoneers. We're pretty much meeting another party every few dozen steps.
I noticed that the number of monsters appearing on this floor was also much higher as compared to the previous floors that we had gone through, which explains why we only started seeing any Dungeoneer parties here I suppose.
And, as the previous Rejmar had first told Sebastian when he asked about the number of Dungeoneers, there's apparently quite a number of quests put out in the Guild for monster material gathering recently.
Someone was paying quite a lot of money to get monster materials and a lot of Dungeons are packed with Dungeoneers fulfilling those quests right now. Which meant that it wasn't limited to this Dungeon as well too.
Sebastian visibly frowned when he found out about that.
"Is it a problem?" I asked.
The Head Butler considered for a moment, "Hmm… It is outside of what I had planned but I can adapt, don't worry. Let's continue to the next floor."
He then moved through the Dungeon corridors, walking past the various Dungeoneer parties that were still engaged in their own battles around us.
The fact that he was even navigating through the Dungeon without consulting a map and making turns at each junction told me that he probably had this entire floor memorised.
Sure enough, we reached the stairs leading to the next floor relatively easily.
But just as we were about to descend, there was a loud shout followed by the sound of a stampede.
I turned to see what the commotion was and was greeted with the sight of a group of Dungeoneers running towards us.
The Rejmar leading the way shouted at us, "Run!! It's a monster stampede!! Get out of here!!"
I turned to my companions, "Monster stampede?"
Katsuki answered me, "Someone must have triggered a trap that summoned a lot of monsters and they chose to run away. But in doing so, they are leading the monsters through the floor which in turns gather even more monsters and increase the size of the stampede exponentially. This group of monsters would start chasing down anyone they find."
Odeta scowled, "Grrr… This is a problem… The monsters won't just disappear so they will remain on this floor until someone gets rid of them…"
The Rejmar party that was being chased by the monster stampede rushed past us without a second glance, all of them running down the stairs to escape from the monsters.
Sebastian nodded at us, "Now, it seems like the perfect opportunity has presented itself. All of you are to defeat this stampede but there shall be no leader here once more. Carry on."
I turned my gaze to the monsters that were rushing towards us.
Leading the front were several Orcs as well as Tunnel Rat Stalkers. Behind them were a few giant spiders and giant golems that were bringing up the rear.
Well… This might be a fun fight.
Groelle and Odeta nodded at each other and rushed to the front, both of them adopting a wrestler's pose as they faced the charging horde without fear.
That prompted Gwen, Seraphine and Delmare to stand behind them while Lisa, Katsuki and Selene took position in front of me.
The Orcs at the front roared a challenge when they saw the Amrap and Wrunch standing at the front of the party, a roar that was returned by the two girls as well.
"Eins!" I called, summoning the Shadow Guard in question.
She greeted me with her usual "Master" before turning to buff Groelle with [Strength] and [Lightning Clad] while I did the same with Odeta.
The first Orc tried to leap at Odeta but received a backhanded slap across his face, shattering his skull and sending him crashing to the side of the corridor.
The other monsters weren't even phased by this display of strength and continued their charge towards our front.
The result was a wave of monsters crashing against Groelle and Odeta, trying to push the two girls back.
Both of them dug in their heels and stood their ground, only letting the monsters get a few centimetres of ground before being stopped.
Gwen and Seraphine did not hesitate and immediately began attacking the monsters in front of the Amrap and Wrunch from behind, quickly smashing and shooting down several of the Orcs.
Delmare also joined in, using her enchanted rapier to stab in between the gaps at the monsters' vitals.
The spider monsters seemed to get impatient and tried to crawl along the ceiling to get to our rearguards but several water spikes and lasers cut them down, courtesy of Selene and Lisa.
Katsuki had already disappeared from her position to strike at the monsters from the flanks, cutting down even the ones that were in the middle of the stampede.
It's quite scary how well they are working together now as compared to before, though I guess the fact that the threat we were facing was only coming from one direction was a big factor.
For this fight, I actually didn't really need Eins's help in buffing and healing but it certainly took half of the pressure off me so it was quite a big bonus.
Conversely, my party only needed to concentrate their attention towards the front since they knew that I was safe as long as I remained behind them.
Well… That and Sebastian was also beside me so even if there was a threat coming from behind, he would still prioritise protecting me over the training anyway.
And as though the Dungeon wanted to test that theory… The ground beneath us started to shake violently, causing me to lose my footing.
I only managed to avoid falling over because of Eins catching me while the others weren't as lucky,
What the hell was that?
I didn't even get to vocalise my thoughts when the ground beneath us lit up, revealing itself to be a magic circle.
The size of it was big enough to suggest that it enveloped the entire floor and wasn't directly targeting us in particular.
I turned to Sebastian, wondering if this was another part of his training plan but the surprised look on his face told me that this was most definitely not part of the plan.
Katsuki was the first to come to my side while the others also turned to gather around me.
There was the sound of glass breaking and my vision went white.
When I finally could see again, I found myself standing inside a rather small enclosed room with stone walls on all sides.
It was completely dark but my proficiency with Umbramancy ensured that I could still see even in this darkness.
What's more, despite the fact that Katsuki and Eins were practically hugging me to protect me before the flash, it seems like I was alone in here.
I wasn't too sure if it was a teleportation trap or what, but the fact was that I seem to be separated from everyone else.
Did the same thing also happen to the others? Or was I the only one sent away?
"Eins?" I called out to the Shadow Guard I had summoned.
No response.
That means she isn't in my shadow and should still be outside. Can I link my mind with her to take control over her even if she's not near me?
I concentrated and I felt my body shift before my view changed.
I was now looking at another room that was similar to the one I woke up in and I knew for a fact that I was now looking through Eins's eyes.
Ok… This isn't good…
I maintained my connection with her and tried to search for a way out, only to realise that there was a door along one of the walls for both mine and Eins's room and I directed both myself and Eins to open it.
Peeking outside, I found out that both rooms opened to a stone corridor with various carvings on its surface.
While the content seemed to be a little different between mine and Eins's walls, the style was the same which led me to believe that we should at least be in the same area.
I turned back to look in the room and I realised this was actually a prison cell. We're in a literal dungeon right now.
This is odd…
Is this a dungeon within the Dungeon or did we get teleported outside of it somewhere else?
I tried to pinpoint where Eins was and I got a vague idea of her direction so I guess I could just order her to find her way towards me.
In the meantime, I inspected the carvings on the wall, thinking that it could perhaps tell me if I was still inside the Dungeon or not.
Hmm… The carvings look like people are carrying someone or something on a platform to an altar… And then there's someone on the altar standing on the altar praying to something… One of the gods maybe?
The rest of it was scratched or faded out so I can't make out the rest but at the very end of the carving, a crystal thing was left on top of the altar with several skulls depicted around said altar.
Yeah… I'm just going to guess that there's something to do with sacrifices or whatever with this…
All I know is that I definitely do not like this place and finding the others is my top priority.
Hopefully everyone's alright…
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l