Scale of Reality

Cave of the Vanquished: Part 1

Muji POV

"Damn it's dark in here. Attendance for all members! Ray!"

"I am present Madam!"

"Muji!"

"Here."

As Ms Shinmon went down the line, I felt our surroundings. We were three hours into the cave, and so far we hadn't ran into any monsters.

Ms Shinmon was acting as the party leader, but she told us she wouldn't do anything but order us around, unless things got very dangerous.

The fact that we hadn't ran into danger yet was a bit surprising to me. The only other sense of scouting we had was Lapis, but he was...sleep walking?

I didn't know.

"As long as Ms Shinmon is here, our lives aren't in danger. That said, I shouldn't let my guard down."

"What're you thinking about Muji?"

I looked to my left, my eyes had adjusted to the dark so I could see that it was Jax. Looks like he wasn't having trouble seeing either.

"How it's weird that we haven't ran into trouble yet. For a hunt where monsters should be every corner, it's weird that not even one skeleton has showed up."

Jax shrugged a bit.

"Maybe they heard I was coming and all ran."

Mya walked over and smacked him in the back of the head.

"How is a skeleton supposed to hear without ears dummy?"

"They can see without eyes."

"You don't know that."

The two began to bicker once more as I just began to ignore them. I felt a tap on my shoulder as I looked, seeing Shanna.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know anything about the structure of the cave? Like with your senses."

I hummed and shut my eyes, feeling the ground with my feet and mentally visualizing the area.

"From what I can get, the floor seems to be hollow of some sort. Something very heavy can probably put a hole in the ground. The walls probably won't break anytime soon though. Why?"

Shanna smiled a bit.

"I was a bit afraid the skeletons were hiding in the walls."

"I would've known so don't worry about that."

Ms Shinmon whistled very loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"Look ahead, there are two paths."

I looked ahead, indeed seeing two paths. Ms Shinmon motioned for me to come over as I did so, placing my hand on the ground.

"They both seem safe, I don't sense anything."

Ms Shinmon nodded and instructed the group as we went down the left path, walking deeper into the cave. As we walked for about ten more minutes, I suddenly sensed a lot of things coming towards us, and fast.

"Were being attacked!!"

Ms Shinmon clicked her tongue.

"Guardians!!"

Mateo and Xander rushed to the front of the group, slamming their shields on the ground. Using their mana affinities of wood and metal respectively, they enlarged their shields and blocked a plethora of arrows that were headed straight for us.

Lapis was suddenly awake, thankfully, as he rushed up to the front of the group.

"There's about 25 of them. This isn't looking good."