The huge dent that could be seen in the shutter was worrying everyone. It was clear that it was the doing of a single creature, and the sudden stop in the Wendigo's noise also made it apparent there was something far stronger than them in there."Over here!" Archer[Quinn] said, deciding that they had to make a choice, left tunnel or right tunnel. No one cared as long as they could get away from whatever was about to chase after them.The entire group had entered the left tunnel, but none of them was as fast as Archer[Quinn] himself, and he was trying his best to hold back his speed for the others. The only one that could keep up a little was Zamier[Vorden]. He always had been naturally athletic, and it seemed like his long legs helped him greatly in this situation.Then Riha[Cia], who was falling behind the others, suddenly felt a rock caught on her foot as she tripped and fell to the ground."Come on!" Rebecca[Layla] said, lending a hand picking her up off the ground.
The flooring wasn't exactly smooth. Although the cave looked to be carved and man-made, it was left untreated and there were now many bumps that had grown from below and above. It made it even harder by the fact of how dark it was.
As they continued to run, it seemed like there was no end in sight, and then Archer[Quinn] had picked up something with his sėnsɨtɨvė ears. Although they had run a good distance away from the shutter, in the cave-like area, loud sounds would often bounce, and his ears were highly sėnsɨtɨvė.
A loud scraping noise was heard, followed by a few clangs. It was clear that the creature had managed to break the Melimum[Glathrium] door somehow. Straight after that, cries and shrieks followed and the sound of hundreds of footsteps were heard coming after them. The Melimum[Wendigos] were now free.
Knowing this, Archer[Quinn] didn't want to frighten the others even more. If they focused just on running, perhaps they would fumble and fall even more now.
"Come on, keep going, I can see something up ahead.��� Archer[Quinn] lied, but it was the encouragement they needed.
The sound of the Melimum[Wendigos] footsteps were getting louder by the second. Archer[Quinn] knew they were faster than them, and it would only be a matter of time before they caught up.
Just in case he decided to slow down and head to the back of the group. Tobias[Logan] had made a note of this move, and he had a good idea of what was going on.
After running a bit further, there still was nothing ahead, and the others could only guess what Archer[Quinn] had said wasn't true. Then a few moments later, the sound coming down from the tunnel could be heard by everyone. Still, it was hard to tell how close they truly were.
"Just keep going, don't look back. If they come near, I'll deal with them." Archer[Quinn] shouted, and the others did just that.
Occasionally turning around once in a while, Archer[Quinn] was waiting to see them pop into his view. He turned and ran. He kept on running and then, they finally came. There were too many to count, and only so many could fit through the tunnel at one time. He had no clue how many were in the hoard.
What surprised him most though, was that the Melimum[Wendigos] were even climbing up on the sides and the ceiling of the tunnel, on all fours. There was one in front of the entire pack that was above. Seeing this, Archer[Quinn] paused and threw a blood swipe directly above. Slicing off its legs and causing it to fall to the ground, its legs soon started to heal, but that didn't matter. For the others behind continued to run forward, trampling over the fallen creature.
"Get back!" Archer[Quinn] shouted as he threw out a few crescent blood kicks, but the distance between them was still great, and somehow most of them managed to move by scaling the walls in certain areas. If the attack did hit, they were able to stop it from hitting their vitals.
"I see something!" Rebecca[Layla] said. "Up ahead."
It looked like a true exit really was in sight for them all. Hoping to slow them down, Archer[Quinn] directed one of his blood swipes at the cave wall, hoping it would collapse. Even though it had caused a deep groove, it didn't have much effect, due to how thick the cave walls were.
Finally, as Zamier[Vorden] rushed ahead towards the tunnel exit, he thought perhaps there would be freedom, but instead, he paused for a brief second looking around him. The tunnel had led to what could only be described as a bridge, linking to another tunnel at the other end.
The bridge didn't have anything below holding it, and from the side there was no telling how deep it was. As the other's joined him, they had done the same by looking around.
"Keep moving, it will hold our weight, don't worry." Tobias[Logan] said. "It was used before, can't you see, the sides still have the Blue lights."
Tobias[Logan] continued forward ahead of everyone else, and the rest of the group soon followed. As they got up to the half-way point, Archer[Quinn] was still a little behind everyone else and had only just arrived at the start of the bridge.
"Archer[Quinn], hurry up!" Zamier[Vorden] shouted.
Picking up speed, Archer[Quinn] zoomed ahead to the centre and turned around again.
"You guys keep going, I think I can get rid of a good chunk of them on this bridge. I'll slow them down as much as possible and I promise I'll catch up."
Zamier[Vorden] wanted to argue a case, telling him to come with them, but seeing the girls and the others, huffing and panting, he knew they were slowing down. Eventually, they would be caught if Archer[Quinn] didn't do anything.
As they were starting to gather on the bridge, Archer[Quinn] threw out a blood swipe after blood swipe knocking many of the wendigos off the bridge. However, some were able to crawl underneath and started to make their way to the center, trying to attack them. But Archer[Quinn] was strong, knocking them away and off with a single strike.
Still, using the blood Skill[ability] was taking up his life force and he would need a better solution soon. The only good thing was some of the Melimum[Wendigos] were dying in the process giving him a good amount of exp, but it didn't seem like all the ones that were falling off the bridge had the same effect.
Finally, the group had reached the end of the bridge and was at the entrance of the tunnel.
"What about Archer[Quinn]?" Rebecca[Layla] asked as she turned around and saw him fighting the Melimum[Wendigos].
"He'll… be okay, " Zamier[Vorden] said hesitatingly.
Then something strange started to happen.
"Look!" Riha[Cia] pointed. "They're heading back."
The wendigos were no longer pushing forward and instead started to slowly crawl back to the entrance, but then they made way, making sure not to block the path. A Lot of them then proceeded to curl up into balls and if one was to look close enough, a slight shiver could be seen.
There was only one time when Archer[Quinn] had seen a similar action happen before and that was when the King tier beast appeared under ground.
A large footstep was heard, and out from the shadow they could now all see what had the other Melimum[Wendigos] all startled. It was a beast that looked similar to them, but a bit different at the same time.
Its body was pale, just like theirs, only wider and larger in size. It's forearms were longer, and at the end it had three claw-like fingers that stretched out about half a meter long. Its arms laid there by its side, and its fingertips scraped across the floor. Its eyes looked completely dead.
As soon as Archer[Quinn] saw it he knew he was in trouble because the system had reacted. A ding in his ear was heard and the notification screen in front of him appeared.
[Quest granted]
[Defeat the Buffan[Boneclaw]]
[Rewards ??????]
[Optional quest: Become the Buffan[Boneclaw]'s new Master]
Although he didn't really understand the details of the optional quest, he knew the only time when it didn't specify the reward meant it would be a tough battle ahead of them.
Archer[Quinn] looked back at the others, he could see their worried faces, then he looked at all the Melimum[Wendigos] and the Buffan[Boneclaw] in front of him.
"Guys!" Archer[Quinn] shouted. "Exit from this place, try to find as much information about Arian[Fex] and Tony[Peter] as you can, and wait for me. I'll see you there."
As the Buffan[Boneclaw] and the Wendigo's got closer towards the centre of the Platform, Archer[Quinn] stomped his foot hard on the ground, and punched downward performing the Japheth[Ham]mer strike.
The other slowly watched Archer[Quinn], the Buffan[Boneclaw] and the wendigo's fall into the dark pit.
To be continued....
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