They finally make it to the dungeon.
The entrance to the dungeon is a archway, with a solid marble door, the overgrowth makes it looks like an accent structure.
Kaito can't wait to get in there and he starts walking up.
Max grabs his shoulder. "I need you in the back, it's the safest place for you." Max tells him. "You don't have to worry about me." Kaito tells him.
Max rubs his eyes. "This is serious, you've most likely have never been inside of a dungeon before it's very serious." Max stresses this to Kaito.
Kaito sighs and agrees with a nod.
Terra pats his shoulder. "Don't worry about it too much lil buddy, when you learn a bit more, you'll gain more trust." She tells him.
Kaito rolls his eyes. at this point Kaito was now here for a chance to get a sacred arte. If what they're saying is true, he can get one from this dungeon. Anything's possible right.
"Ray stay in the back with Kaito, make sure no one gets hurt, Terra you're up front with me, and Kaito guard Emma." Max instructs.
Kaito raises his hand. "No you can't be in front." Max says and Kaito lowers his hand.
The dungeon doors are pushed open by Max. Kaito in the back smiling ear to ear with excitement oozing off of him, what will the inside look like will it be a grand magical place as he's been imagining all this time?!
The doors fully open and they walk inside.
Kaito's face drops as he sees the inside.
Kaito is greeted with cold and damp walls, the smell of mold wafting through the air. Dim unimpressive lighting made by torches of adventurers here before them.
Kaito is extremely underwhelmed. He was expecting something more grand, and not so dingy.
They continue forwards. "It's a recently appears dungeon, the information guild came in looked around and left, they didn't discover any monsters inside." Max explains.
The sentence confuses Kaito. "How does the dungeon just appear?" Kaito asks. Max shrugs. "There's multiple theories for this phenomenon, but most are just speculation." Max responds, he looks over and notices Kaito's confused face.
He shakes his head. "I don't know, we're just here to clear it so monsters don't wander outside of it, disturbing the town folk." Max dumbed it down for Kaito.
The ground around them begins to rumble and Kaito's excited for some action.
Sprinting down the corridors, dog sized spiders sprint at them.
Max summons a blade getting into a fighting stance. Terra follows quickly pulling a sword from a glowing golden portal.
Terra and Max sprint forwards and slash through the beasts with ease. Before Kaito can even join the fight, all the monsters were already defeated.
The monsters turn into crystals and Emma quickly begins collecting. "Why'd they turn into rocks?" Kaito asks. "Those are not rocks, they're chunks of raw "magic" you could say, monsters born in the dungeon are comprised completely of magic so when slain they revert." Max explains.
Kaito scratches his head. Not understanding his explanations at all. Max squints at him, finding himself annoyed by him.
Kaito groans. The dungeon is actually boring him. He had thought it a place of wonder and adventure, most adventurous thing that happened is the Ray guy jumping when the monsters came.
Max shakes his head. "Don't get too comfortable in here. This was supposed to be dangerous, I don't know why it seems so harmless, but it's unsettling." Max says.
Terra nudges him. "Relax a little Max, you're always just so uptight." Terra says.
Ray holds his staff close. "I'm not too sure Terra, it seems too.... easy."
Max sighs and they all continue walking.
After walking through the corridors, they only encounter small beasts. Which are easily defeated, but the ease of the dungeon unsettles Max and makes his skin crawl. Like there's something here they're just not getting, creeping just in the shadows.
Terra sees no big deal in the quick and easy job. She hoped to see Max get slapped around a bit, but whatever she guessed, couldn't have everything easy. Ray is just happy everyone is safe.
They encounter the treasure room. "This is strange, I can clearly see the chest but there's no monster in sight." Max says.
Ray starts to notice the obscurity of the situation now as well. "Yeah there's usually bigger monsters guarding this stuff right?" He asks. Anxious to proceed any further.
However some among them fail to catch this.
Kaito runs past them. "I call the chest!" Kaito shouts bolting forwards laughing happily.
Terra is shocked by his boldness and gives chase. "It won't be that easy to snag the treasure!" She shouts as she runs.
Max doesn't budge but instead is lost in thought. "How come we didn't encounter any dangerous beasts, the scans of the dungeon indicated danger, even now in this treasure room there's nothing so how come...." Max face is suddenly flushed with fear.
Max summons his blade. "Stop don't open that chest!" Max shouts but he's too late.
Kaito tosses open the lid of the chest and a scroll flies into his hand. The roof of the room begins falling in.
The entrance shuts behind them trapping the other three inside, Max shoves Emma away from an oncoming boulder that nearly crushed her. She's sent sliding across the floor.
Kaito narrowly jumps out of the way of a giant boulder that crushes the chest he was just opening. Behind him Emma falls slides into him knocking him over. A hole opens up behind him and he falls in unable to react to it. Emma falls down the hole with him.
"Little buddy?!" Terra shouts trying to go after him but she's swallows by another hole.
Everyone is split up by the sudden cave in.
As he's falling Kaito goes to reaches into his bag and grabs lucky waking the cat up. He also manages to grab his book, before his bag is ripped away by the force of the wind. He holds lucky close and he's knocked unconscious upon contact with the floor.
When Kaito comes to, Lucky is meowing fervently, his whiskers brushing against Kaito's face. Kaito groans, his head throbbing. He raises a shaky hand to his forehead, coming away with fingertips slick with blood. Disoriented, he scans his surroundings, only to notice his backpack smashed just inches away, the bandages crushed beyond use.
"Well isn't that just great." Kaito groans, he grasps a nearby piece of wood, trying to summon fire magic. A flicker of frustration crosses his face as he recalls the loss of his abilities. "Old fashioned way like mom taught me." He lights a torch using flint and steel.
His torch light flickers weakly, illuminating only a small area around him.
The flickering light reveals a disturbing sight. Emma, motionless, but for her shallow, labored breaths, trapped beneath a mountain of debris. Panic lurches within him as he sprints to her. "E-Emma are you alright?!" Kaito's voice trembles at the sight.
Kaito brings his light down towards her revealing the gruesome truth, Emma's arm is pinned, grotesquely twisted beneath the rubble, a dreadful sight that sends a wave of nausea through Kaito.
"Oh no...." Kaito panics.
Blood trickles incessantly from deep lacerations, pooling and soaking into the dirt. Emma cries out in agony, her piercing screams bouncing off the cave walls, amplifying Kaito's sense of worry.
She flails around in pain, crying.
In the chaos, Emma's good hand finds Kaito's arm, clutching it with an iron grip, her eyes pleading for relief. Kaito stares at the gore, "it's ok, I'll get you out!" His resolve hardening amidst a sense of horror. He begins prying at the crushing boulders, each movement causing shout a fresh, harrowing scream from Emma, inside Kaito had blamed himself, the chest he opened cursed them both.
Upon freeing her mangled arm, Kaito is met with a harrowing sight, it's shredded by jagged stone, the flesh pulped and bones shattered. Kaito is snapped back to reality as Emma's voice wavers, insistent, "Stop the... the bleeding. I don't want to die." She weakly begs.
Kaito hits his head. "Think Kaito think!" He tries to remember how to do this.
Desperation fuels Kaito as he rips strips of cloth to fashion a makeshift tourniquet and splint, he's doing his best but, his very small medical knowledge leaves him fumbling, though determination pushes him through the gore and fear.
It's a sloppy, messy job but finally, with a bloodied, but stabilized arm, Emma's body succumbs to the intense pain, her consciousness slipping away. Kaito watches, his mind a whirl of dread and regret, cradling the responsibility of her fate amidst the grim atmosphere and the haunting echoes of her cries lingering in the dim air.
Kaito falls back, sitting down the situation before him having him stunned. Lucky meows next to him and gives him gentle licks on his face.
Kaito wipes some of the blood from his forehead, still taken aback. "Ive gotta find the others." He steels himself and stands back up.
He gently lifts Emma up in a bridal carry, carefully he holds her cold weak body still feeling her soft breath brings a bit of comfort to him. "If I find Max, or Ray maybe they can help her." Kaito assures himself.
He turns to find the once dingy dungeon has turned into a labyrinth. Above this was an unimpressive sight, likely a ploy to lure in overconfident adventurers, a trap that worked all too well.
He sneaks around the dungeon making sure to avoid all monsters.
Despite his best efforts though Kaito cannot shake the feeling that he's in extreme danger.