Undead creatures. Skeletons, and some kind of mummies, similar to the draugrs I’d seen in a few games.
That was my first time seeing those things in person. The hunters sometimes fought monsters that escaped the dimensional rifts, but images from inside the dungeon itself were nonexistent.
Apparently, when someone stepped inside a dimensional rift, cellphones would turn off for some reason. Cameras too. No one could get images from inside.
I pulled my old phone out of my pocket just to check. Yeah, it didn’t turn on.
Mike was fighting the undead using his katana, trying to look like a cool samurai or some shit. Still, even while focused on the fight, he noticed me pull out my phone.
"Vince, phones don’t work in here, you stupid twak. Toss me one of my potions, now!"
I opened the bag I was carrying, which had all the items from the group. Each person had different potions and supplies, so I had no idea which one Mike wanted.
He didn’t look hurt. The undead hadn’t hit him, not even once. So what on Earth did he need a potion for?
"The orange potion, stupid," he shouted.
I pushed a few things aside and checked every corner of the backpack. There it was, glowing orange.
My heart raced as I picked it up and threw it at him, hoping he’d catch it midair. If it hit the ground, I’d never hear the end of it.
When Mike caught the potion, he opened the bottle and poured it on his katana. The weapon ignited. Flames wrapped around the blade.
A fire imbuing potion, made from materials harvested inside the dungeon itself. I heard they killed monsters that could use fire just to make those things. Genius insight, right?
Mike swung his katana, now wreathed in fire, carving through the undead with extra damage.
At one point, I spotted a skeleton slipping behind Mike, ready to attack from his blind spot. Honestly, for just a second, I thought about warning him. I didn’t.
But Mike easily sidestepped the sword coming at his back without even glancing around, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. Then he spun and cut the skeleton in half.
With each monster killed, shiny crystals dropped to the ground. Monster crystals, used to boost attributes like strength.
The rest of the group was fighting too, obviously. Sarah’s ability was easy to read: she could summon chains made of who-knows-what that locked enemies in place.
More of a support type, it seemed. As for the red-haired woman, she was in a different league entirely.
Her ability was lightning. It covered her whole body, spiking her speed to something insane. She blurred across the battlefield, dropping monsters left and right before I could even track her.
When the fight was over, Mike praised her.
"That’s the power of a rank A ability. You’ll become such a great hunter," he said. "I hope you remember us. Maybe help us raise our ranks a little?"
He ended that with a sheepish laugh. What a weasel.
She didn’t say a word back. I was drifting off in my head when Mike’s shout snapped me back to reality.
"Vince, come here and take the crystals. I’ll watch you put them inside your pocket-dimension one by one. I don’t want you robbing us."
I walked over. The others drifted away, leaving only Mike, who counted every single crystal himself. I knew why. The bastard wanted to skim off the top before his teammates saw the total.
Obviously, I kept that thought to myself and just gathered the crystals like he asked.
Activating my ability was difficult, to say the least. My stats were garbage, especially my WILL, so controlling it took a lot of mental energy.
Everyone else had academy training. I didn’t. So when I focused on my skill, sweat dripped down my forehead and my head started pounding.
After a few seconds I managed to activate it. A metallic cube materialized in front of me, floating.
I crouched and picked up one of the monster crystals from the ground, moving slowly so Mike could track every movement.
"I’ll toss it inside the cube and it’ll get stored there," I told him, explaining the ability.
One by one, I dropped the crystals in. Forty total from that first fight. Imagine how many we’d collect by the end of the dungeon run, and I’d only walk away with ten.
We kept exploring after that. More monster groups, more fights. I watched from a distance and handled the loot once things died down.
The hunt lasted maybe two hours. Or three. Hard to keep track of time in there. We stopped a few times to recover stamina and eat.
I didn’t eat anything. They didn’t offer, and I hadn’t brought food either.
Other groups had explored that rift before, not all of it, but most. Still, we came across something that didn’t match any report.
A stone tomb.
Mike raised his fist to stop everyone the moment he spotted it, its shape solidifying as we drew closer through the fog.
"What’s wrong, Mike?" Sarah asked.
"I read a lot about this rift before we came here, and I don’t remember anyone mentioning a tomb. But we’re not in the deep zone, so what is this? Did we actually find something new?"
Sometimes the structure inside a dungeon shifted. Nobody knew why, but it happened. Maybe this tomb was exactly that.
The team huddled to decide whether to go inside. I didn’t get a vote, obviously.
They decided to push in. This was their shot at finding something worthwhile.
I followed close behind. Something felt off about that place, and I couldn’t figure out what.