The Flying Emporium

Chapter 227

“So, what do we do now?” The person who asked this question was still more of a boy than a man.

“Well, not much we can do, is there?” retorted another of similar age, “someone has to step up. Make up some excuse and forfeit.”

“Someone, huh?”

“Guys,” the soft voice of a third person, an equally young girl wearing long, light-colored robes, was easily overheard.

“Well, I say the one who registered us on such a short notice and without asking beforehand should have the honor.”

“Guys.”

“You can talk, but have you seen the amount of people watching? No way, I can-”

Guys!”

“What?!” Finally, the girl managed to get through to the bickering boys.

“Look,” she pointed and directed their attention towards yet another, the fourth and last, member of their group, “Over there, Annie found something.”

“What did she find this time?” One of the boys asked, rolling his eyes. But as he turned around, “What the fuck!? What is that?”

“How- When…?” The other boy was just as confused by what he saw.

Without waiting for an explanation they knew they wouldn’t get, both of them made off and towards the girl who was busy closely inspecting the strange looking building they had somehow overlooked, just a few hundred meters away from them.

Huff Puff

“What’s that thing, Annie?” asked the first boy to arrive.

“No clue, Vik. Still trying to figure that out,” the girl answered without turning her attention away from the creepy stone structure, “But looks like a crypt to me.”

“A crypt?” asked the other boy, who caught up just in time to hear Annie’s words, before he could inspect the building more closely himself. Then, just to make sure he and Vik hadn’t just imagined things, “How did we miss this thing before?”

“Hm.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The boy was clearly annoyed by this noncommittal answer.

“Either way, doesn’t really matter right now. We still have to figure out what to do about this whole-”

“Guys, come help me out, will you? The doors of that thing are fucking heavy.”

“What are you doing?”

“You can’t just-

“Paul, Vik. Don’t just stand there. Help me,” Annie repeated.

Without waiting for the two boys to react, Annie put her whole weight against the massive double doors. And finally managed to open them just wide enough to take a curious peek inside. What she saw caused her to momentarily hesitate.

“I- I think there’s a dungeon in there!”

Hearing these words, everyone fell silent.

After a while, “Are you... certain? What makes you say so?”

“There aren’t any monsters. Right?”

“Just come and look! There’s a portal in there. Now help me, will you?”

The two boys shared a quick look before finally jumping into action; now all three pushed the doors until the gap had widened just enough for a person to pass through.

And then they stared.

“See? I told you there was a portal inside!” With that, Annie stepped through the door and into the dark interior.

For now, she ignored the shimmering portal, the only light-source inside, and started looking around.

“No coffins,” she observed. “So not a crypt after all, I guess? But nothing else in here either.” She sounded almost a bit disappointed and her focus shifted back towards the portal. She took a step into its direction.

That move finally woke the boys up from their stupor; they quickly hurried after her.

“Careful,” Paul warned.

“I know, I know,” she replied. “But aren’t you guys curious? Don’t you want to see what’s on the other side?”

“I mean, we don’t even know if it’s truly a dungeon,” Vik pointed out. “It could lead anywhere!”

“Oh, please. What else could this be? Of course, it’s a dungeon portal,” Paul, the other boy, challenged.

“Ooh? I didn’t realize we had an expert in our midst.”

“Dude, I-”

“Stop bickering already, you two,” Annie admonished. “I still think we should take a look. I mean, we can always turn around. Right? And we could broadcast all of it! Better than having to forfeit, no? Wasn’t that what you guys were so worried about?”

“I mean…,” Vik stopped himself.

Both boys again looked at each other, more serious this time. And nodded.

“Fine,” the boy conceded.

“Whatever you say, boss,” Paul also agreed. “But in that case, I suggest we hurry. We should at least make sure how to use that crystal. Not sure what time it is exactly, but it should be about time for us.”

“I’m already recording,” came the soft voice of the other girl, who, after she had caught up to the group, had remained silent.

“Whaaat? Since when? This is live, no? People are watching? Quickly, we need to introduce ourselves! Otherwise, we might get disqualified! If we aren’t already.”

“Quit panicking already! Boss, I think you should handle this.”

Ahem

Without arguing, the leader of the group cleared her throat and turned around to directly face the recording crystal the group’s healer was carrying.

“Hello! We are a group of four adventurers and explorers. I am Annie, the leader! And those here are-”

“They don’t need to know that!”

“Yeah, skip that part! Continue with the motto!”

“What motto?” Irritated by the interruption, the girl turned towards one of the voices off-camera, where she saw someone mouthing the word N-O-V-E-L-T-Y.

“Ah, right! Novelty. Ehm. We are… new adventurers!” was the first thing that came to mind. “Aaand… right. This will be our first dungeon. Ever. I guess that’s pretty novel, huh?”

“We might even be the first people ever to enter this dungeon!” added another voice, still secretly convinced this building, and therefore this portal, hadn’t been there just mere minutes earlier.

“If this even is a dungeon in the first place!” Came again the reminder.

“Well, either way! Let’s just assume it is. So. Shall we go?”

“What? Just like that? Don’t we need to discuss and prepare first?”

“What’s there to discuss? You know what to do. Just do as we practiced! Go, go!”

With that, the girl materialized her one-handed mace in her right, and a big, sturdy shield in her left. Then she turned around to face the portal, waited for a moment-to take a deep breath, to mentally prepare herself, and to give her teammates similar opportunity to ready themselves-, and then, with all the confidence she could muster, stepped forward and disappeared.

She was then followed, first by a boy who was now carrying a bow, and then by another who had a big magic tome floating in front of him.

At this point, only the crystal-bearer recording everything, the shy healer of the group, was left behind.

She hesitated for a few seconds, and then also stepped forward.

“-we do now?!”

What greeted the healer and the audience of the Broadcasting Event on the other side of the portal was sheer panic.

In a matter of seconds, the confidence of the group’s leader had completely fallen apart. Everyone was either screaming, frantically looking around, or both.

“Nissa! There you are.”

The girl couldn’t even inquire what was going on before her name was called out; by now she too was scared without even knowing what was going on, just because of everyone else’s antics.

“There is no exit! No- The portal leading outside. It… it’s missing!”

“Surely it’s just hidden somewhere around here? Aren’t all dungeons supposed to have a way back out, right at the beginning?”

“Bu- but! Doesn’t that just mean I was right?” Vik tried to convince himself just as much as everyone else, “that this isn’t a dungeon, I mean.”

“You again! Just look around! What else is this supposed to be?!” Paul wildly gesticulated, pointing out their surrounding, a corridor, wide enough for all four people to traverse side by side, dimly lit by magic torches arranged on either sides of them. With one direction walled off, there was only one way to go.

“Stop shouting and stop arguing!” Annie interrupted in an attempt to restore order, her wits slowly returning, as the heavy responsibilities of being the leader of this group somewhat cleared her mind.

“As I said before, it doesn’t really matter if it’s a dungeon or not. We need to be careful, either way. Be ready for anything. So stay composed, you hear? So far, nothing has really changed!

Now, everyone get into formation as we practiced and follow me. And don’t talk unless it’s important!”

Hearing Annie take charge seemed to calm down at least the boys; though if it wasn’t for Nissa’s continued trembling, the audience-who was closely following these newbies’ first real adventure with bated breath-, would have seen that everyone else, including Annie, was also still shaking.

Annie, her weapon and shield firmly grasped, took her first step into the dark corridor, whose end couldn’t be seen.

Only the two next pairs of torches could be made out in the darkness, and only the group’s steps and their breathing could be heard.

Annie at the front, Vik and Paul maybe half a meter behind her with roughly two meters in the middle between them, and then Nissa following behind; the four moved in a diamond shaped formation, allowing everybody to dodge forwards or backwards without getting in each other's way; Nissa had come up with that herself.

Like this, they walked forward into the unknown. Past the first pair of torches.

Then past the second pair, maybe twenty meters later.

By the third pair, the group’s steps had become lighter, their breathing more relaxed.

By the fou-

click

As quickly as her low level allowed her to, Annie pulled up her shield; half a breath later, the other three reacted similarly.

Vik drew his bow. And Paul’s tome began to flip through its pages as if searching for just the right spell for this situation.

But nothing else happened.

Anxiously, the group waited, frozen in place, not daring to move even the slightest bit, afraid even to breathe.

For a whole minute, they just stood there, nervous and unsettled, mental exhaustion quickly overcoming them.

“Are you okay?” Annie finally asked, not daring to turn around.

Three confirmations later, she let out a deep breath.

“Any idea what that was?” This time, three negations.

And so, unsure how to react in this situation, another minute passed.

“I- You stay where you are. Don’t move, but be ready for anything. I’ll take a step and see what happens.”

But nothing did happen, though Annie almost wished otherwise.

Somehow that would make the situation less nerve-wrecking. At least then, they knew what they had just triggered.

As things stood, however, the group didn’t have much choice. All they could do now was to tremble in fear and continue forward.

It took them almost five whole minutes to make it to the next pair of torches, just another twenty meters ahead of them.

And there they stopped. Again. Afraid of having the situation from before repeat itself; afraid to step into a hidden trap.

As thoroughly as they could in those lightning conditions, the group stopped and searched the ground for possible pressure plates. To no avail.

Using some of Vik’s arrowheads, checking if those would trigger any hidden mechanism once they hit the ground before them, was similarly inconclusive.

All the group could do was hold their breath and continue to sneak forward.

Until, without further incidents, and half an eternity later, they had reached the ninth pair of torches. At which point they could see there was only one more to come; they had almost reached the end of the corridor.

From then on, their pace became even slower, the fear of that click sound still fresh in all of their mind.

Another ten nerve-wrecking minutes later, and the group found themselves standing in front of a closed gate which covered the whole width of the corridor.

Only then did the group slowly relax, breathing a sigh of relief.

“So, wha-what now?”

“Now we will find out whether this truly is a dungeon or not. Be ready for anything; stay behind me.”

That said, the young woman at the front used her left shoulder to push against the obstacle in front of her.

This time, unlike earlier, outside, the left wing she put her weight against opened with almost no resistance. Almost as if by itself, it swung wide open, revealing a well-lit, dusty, circular room.

The whole room was entirely made out of stone featuring artistic, albeit morbid, engravings of skulls and bones arranged in strange patterns.

And in the middle, the prominently placed, long awaited Sarcophagus.

At this point, everyone understood what was likely awaiting them. But with nowhere else to go, all they could do was to exchange encouraging glances and nods, swallow their apprehension, and step inside.

Bang

Instinctively, the whole group turned around.

As they had the predicted, the door hat slam shut behind them.

Nissa, who had stayed behind the rest of the group the whole time, was now the closest to the entrance.

Despite her better knowledge, the healer pushed and shook at the door.

In vain, of course.

At the same time, the sound of stone scraping across stone could be heard. Again, all heads flung around.

“It’s a dungeon alright! Are you happy now, Paul?”

“Shut up! I swear once we’re out of here I will-”

“Both of you, get a grip! Fan out and stay at a distance. Only I need to stay in melee range!

Paul, ready some spell. Vik,” Annie was about to shout further instructions while still only a single skeletal hand had made it out of what should have been its final resting place, when a seldom heard voice interrupted her, “Annie!”

“Wha- ”

“Use that stuff! That oil. Quickly befor-”

“Good thinking!”

The what seemed to be the sole enemy of this strange, unusual dungeon, was still putting itself together, when the tank of the group put away her shield of all things.

The next moment a small hexagonal shaped flask appeared in her hand.

“Paul! Catch! It’s the only one we could afford, so make it count!”

Secretly doubting something like a stat-increasing elixir could truly exist, the spellcaster of the group obediently uncorked the small flask his group leader has thrown him, and downed it.

In the meantime, the girl had summoned another small bottle into her trembling hand, the red contents of which she was now dumping over the metal head of her mace. The moment the last drop was spilled, she discarded the bottle and once again materialized her shield in its stead.

And just in time to raise it over her head and defend against the heavy attack of a worn but heavy sword coming down at her.

Blargh

Just like that, Annie was spitting blood and overcome by fear. Despite her successful defense, one third of her health was gone.

At least this was enough to get the other three people moving.

“You bastard!” Paul shouted as the tome in front of him flipped to one particular page, only one of two that wasn’t empty, in fact.

The transparent image of an ever-shifting ball rose up from that page, where it hovered in place. With a pushing motion, Paul then reached out towards it, pushing it.

Upon touching it, this template of a spell was filled with actual magic and turned into a blazing ball of fire which shot out in the direction he had motioned.

Its impact on the huge, human-shaped skeleton’s rib-cage was underwhelming, to say the least.

But it was enough to make it stumble, just for an instant, as it was slowly raising its dull but heavy two-hander above its head.

Just long enough for Annie to snap out of it and dodge backwards and evade the attack.

At the same time, two other things happened.

First, Annie felt a warm light washing over her, replenishing half of the health she had just lost.

And secondly, Vik was unleashing a barrage of arrows upon the fearsome opponent.

Out of the seven arrows fired, however, only four actually hit; the remaining ones flew straight through all the gaps in its body.

The damage dealt so far seemed uncomfortably negligible. Still, this maneuver bought the group valuable seconds; Annie might be the group’s tank, but as she was yet to make a move, the skeleton’s attention was now shifting away from her.

Which opened up an opportunity for her to activate one of her skills and swing her coated weapon in a wide arc towards the mindless monster’s spine.

crack

“Yes!”

Would cracking the spine of a magically moving skeleton be enough to paralyze it? Would a few broken bones be enough to stop it? Annie wasn’t exactly sure about those things. But she clearly did some damage.

“It’s work-”

Without warning, and faster than anything the group would have thought possible, the skeleton spun 180 degrees, swinging its large weapon around viciously.

Crack!

That wasn’t just a small chip. That was at least one rib completely obliterated.

“Ann!” her teammates shouted frantically.

Arrows flew and missed, fireballs hit and seemed largely shaken off.

This time around, the enemies’ attention stayed firmly on the reeling girl spitting blood.

Despite all, she managed to raise her shield once again, and just in time.

Though that alone would’ve been useless if it wasn’t for yet another healing spell revitalizing her at precisely that moment; an instant later, all the damage that had just been healed, and more, was already gone again.

The skeleton, though somewhat sluggish, simply overpowered them.

Annie’s defenses, even combined with Nissa’s healing, were not enough to resist their opponent for long.

But at least that sluggishness allowed for the group to at least try to retaliate.

Nissa cast another healing spell, putting Annie back to maybe one fourth of her total health, quickly followed by the only other spell she knew, a small healing-over-time spell. That was all she could do before her mana pool was almost entirely exhausted.

“Aim for that crack! Aim for its spine!” If everything had gone as planned, no one but Annie would be giving instructions. As things stood, however, Paul took it onto himself to issue the command, seeing as their leader was in no condition to do so herself. Given the evident success of her one and only attack so far, he decided their best bet was to focus on that small vulnerability that had just opened up.

Under such circumstances nobody argued back, but seeing how his previous [Arrow Barrage] had been ineffective, and given the new instructions, Vik’s only move was to use his only other skill.

“Then buy us time,” he therefore demanded.

Paul understood where the [Archer] was coming and nodded in return, a gesture naturally lost in the midst of combat.

One of his fireballs was still midair, as his tome began flipping again.

This time, an elongated, triangular shape arose from the book.

Again he put his magic into this shape. And the icicle flew forward. Not towards the target he himself had designated, but towards its feet.

Where it dissipated impotently, not achieving anything.

“Again!”

“I know!”

At the same time, the two girls were consuming potions. Nissa, the healer, blue ones, replenishing her mana; Annie a red cube.

The latter was hurting all over, the small ticks of Nissa’s healing spell doing little to alleviate the pain. But it kept her alive. And strengthened her enough to allow her to quickly swallow the strange potion, simultaneously scurrying away from her lifeless grinning opponent, almost slipping in her own blood in the process.

Again the massive slab of metal came crushing down towards her.

‘Missed,’ Annie breathed a sigh of relief. That would buy them another two or three seconds until its next attack. ‘Unless it suddenly speeds up again!’

She shook off this thought. If that was the case, they were already dead. No use even thinking about that possibility.

Sidestepping the puddle underneath her, while gritting her teeth in pain, she quickly lashed out at the small wound she had left behind earlier.

Then, making sure their enemies’ focus was still on her, she quickly jumped backwards, away and outside of its large attack radius. Keeping it focused on her while maintaining her distance, in her mind, was their only chance.

And just as she intended, the skeleton, not willing to let its prey slip away, was about to move after her.

Fush

That icicle was more successful than the first, freezing it in place. Even if it was just for an instant, that was more than enough.

It, first, allowed Annie to put some more distance between them while slowly recovering her health.

And secondly-

Swoosh

Clank

“Bullseye!”

“Not enough! It’s not enough! Again!” The boys kept shouting.

The energy consumption of Vik’s [Snipe] ability was immense, and so was its preparation time. And a hit, despite its name, was not actually guaranteed; repeating this feat would in no small parts come down to luck. At least its damage, if it did hit, was equally immense.

That much was proven by the skeleton’s reaction; with one foot still frozen to the ground, its upper body now turned away from Annie and towards the [Archer].

Trusting his mates, the latter again took aim. Five seconds. That’s how long he would be immobilized now that he was activating his [Snipe] skill again. If his group-members didn’t think of something, he would be done for.

The others also understood what was going on and did the best they could.

Paul, using his left, kept drinking mana potions, while using his right to infuse magic into his icicle templates, giving up the initial plan of him being the main damage dealer of the group and instead trying to slow down the enemy the best he could.

Though the two girls by now had also caught up to the plan, in the midst of battle -their first real battle at that-they hadn’t seen Vik’s attack coming. More importantly, they hadn’t seen its shift in aggro coming.

That’s where the problems truly began.

Nissa, realizing that Annie, for now, was trying to maintain a safe distance from their enemy, was now under the impression she could focus some of her attention elsewhere, and go into the offense herself.

After all, even she as a newbie knew that holy element healing skills such as hers were an every undead’s weak-point. And so, instead of topping up their tank’s health, she had opted to turn her healing-over-time regeneration spell into an attack aimed towards their adversary.

Problem was, none of Paul’s spell wanted to freeze its target. Step by step, the thing came dangerously close to Vik, who was still rooted in place.

And so it was left to Annie, after all, to pull the monster’s attention back onto her.

Just like before, ignoring the impossible pain in her chest, the girl approached the skeleton from behind, activated her skill to take a large swing and-

“Nooo-”

The girl’s enchanted mace, once again, had found her target square on. But it wasn’t enough to actually fell their foe. And so, with their foe still on its feet, what followed was also exactly the same as before. Again, with superhuman speed, a pile of bones shouldn’t possess, it suddenly snapped around swinging with it its large weapon towards the target which had just assaulted it.

While Annie, still at relatively low health, hadn’t seen this attack coming, Nissa very much did.

With a healer’s sense of duty to keep their party alive and well, fully knowing that another healing spell of hers not only would be too late but also too little, the youngest of the group threw herself in front of her friend, absorbing the blow in her stead.

At this point, even the last semblance of order dissolved into chaos.

Annie was momentarily paralyzed, her brain refusing to process what had just happened. As for the others, they hadn’t even clearly seen what was going on, only that their healer was down and their tank wasn’t moving, either. All the while, their enemy was about to attack again.

“Move. Move! What are you doing?!” Paul was screaming incessantly, trying to get the girls to move. Simultaneously, he unleashed everything he had onto the boss, hoping to draw its attention; at this point, no one had the time to carefully aim for any eventual weak points.

But it wasn’t enough; Annie took another hit.

Unlike the skeleton’s special retaliatory move, its regular hit, though painful, wasn’t enough to finish her just yet. But it snapped her out of it. If she didn’t start moving, they all were going to die, she realized.

With the last strength she could muster before giving out herself, she flew into a fit of rage, using not only her mace but even her shield to strike and the foe towering above her.

Which only further ensured that neither Vik nor Paul would ever manage to gain the skeleton’s attention and turn it away from their tank, who was just about to faint.

“Move! Run,” sounded the desperate pleads again.

“What are you doing?!” Pressing their attacks while desperately shouting, was all they could do as their lifeless opponent kept going after their friend, who was refusing-and at this point probably also unable-to move.

That was when the whole body of the dungeon’s sole monster, one last time, was bathed in a bright light - the last tick of Nissa’s healing spell.

With no forewarning and without much fanfare, their so far unrelenting enemy simply collapsed into itself; before the grinning skull had even reached the floor, it, and all its other bones, had already turned into dust.

Leaving behind only its crude weapon and a random assortment of loot.

And a shimmering portal.

It had been a quick and painful battle; even those who weren’t hurt directly were on the verge of passing out from sheer exhaustion.

For a good five seconds, the group of youths didn’t understand what was happening, half expecting the skeleton to reemerge behind them.

Only when they finally did, the yelling began anew.

“Quick, let’s get out of here! I’ll take An-”

“Nissa! Get her out of here! I’m fine, just get Nissa! Please, be okay.”

Under Annie’s instructions, Vik, the [Archer] and physically stronger of the two boys, quickly carried Nissa through the portal, praying it led outside.

***

The sight on the big screen was a particular one. Suddenly the scene everyone had been watching changed to that of a seemingly empty room, dimly lit by a faint flicker coming from behind and the bit of light that shone in from the narrowly opened double-door in front of them, a gap through which, in the distance, not only an immense crowd of people could be seen but also parts of a screen. On it, a hint of a video feedback.