Adventures Beyond The Void [Season 1]

Chapter 35: Blood and Gold (part 1)

3RD POV

Five minutes earlier...

Selin landed gracefully on the underground cave floor. The place was massive. A dome-like expanse stretched hundreds of meters wide, with ancient stone pillars spiraling up to support the vast ceiling above. Moss clung to the crevices like veins, covering the fragments of the forgotten structure. 

   Selin: - What...?

Her gaze was trying to trace anything that could be helpful.

   Selin: - This place... it's not in the kingdom's registry.

And then it hit her. Her staff dipped slightly, her body going rigid.

   Selin: - No way. A dungeon?!

BOOM!!!

Dust rained from the ceiling in thick clumps. The stone beneath her trembled with violent groans, followed by multiple noises that sounded like cries or screams. She steadied herself on a nearby pillar, blinking through the falling dust.

   Selin: - An explosion? Guess my squad is there.

Clenching her staff, she bolted toward the noise. Her boots flying over broken tiles and uneven ground as she sprinted down one of the side tunnels.

She didn't see it.

The figure, half-hidden among the rocks, didn't move. As Selin disappeared into the tunnel, the masked mage stepped out of the shadows. His gaze flicked upward toward the distant opening, catching the muffled voices above. Reinforcements had arrived. Without a word, he moved toward the far-right wall of the dome.

He stopped before a moss-covered surface and traced a symbol into the stone. Purple light flared; a sun marked with a crescent moon. The moment it was complete, the wall trembled, more symbols igniting across its surface. A hidden passage revealed itself. He stepped inside and the stone sealed shut behind him.

Meanwhile...

Ronan drove a clawed uppercut into a criminal, slamming him into the ground, then turned to assist Nicholas, who blocked a strike with the shaft of his spear. Lyra unleashed a resonant shock-chord, sending one attacker flying, only for another to appear behind her, thrusting a spear of light toward her back.

CLANG!!

Kenju's axe cut through the air. The attacker dropped before finishing his war cry.

   Lyra: - Thank you!!

   Kenju: - You're welcome!!

Airos hovered in the air, eyes flaring as a blast of compressed air hurled three cloaked mages into a crumbling wall.

   ???1: - You traitorous bastard! You turned your back on your own people!

   Airos: - Nah. I just stopped pretending my life was okay.

A concentrated blast of wind exploded outward, knocking one mage into a wall. Another tried to counter, only to be kicked in the face mid-cast as Airos used the wind to launch himself into a flying spin. Hunter, meanwhile, was pure chaos. Wild-eyed and with zero regard for caution, he charged headfirst into two enemies. He punched one in the gut, sending a jolt through the man's entire body, and then accidentally zapped himself a little when he tried to uppercut the second.