Chương 165: Chapter 160

Somnus kept looking at the rest of the party until the stone slab fully closed, then let out a deep sigh. He knew the decision was objectively the correct one, but alas, objectively correct decisions were not among his favourite ones. And neither was being alone in a deep, dark dungeon full of goblin-zombies keen on murdering everything living. Of course, he would never have said that out loud in front of the others. So what if being alone in narrow spaces evoked past traumas that made his skin crawl?

He was surrounded by the all-stars of the kingdom, and to his satisfaction, he pulled his weight whenever needed, so he wouldn't let a little phobia stand in the way of succeeding with the expedition. He pushed the memories deep, deep down, closed them in an imaginary box, and threw away the key before taking a look at the tunnel he was stuck in. The walls were solid, there was no way back, and the mechanic didn't even raise the stone block anymore.

The realization hit him: maybe there really was nothing more to it. He had to stand here, in a confined space, with nothing to do, unable to log out in order not to endanger the continuity of the expedition, having nowhere to go. It truly was like solitary confinement.

"Well," he murmured, "at least it's something I'm used to." He sat, then started thinking out loud.

"The prompt said the dungeon would take roughly sixteen hours to complete," he said.

"Tops. That would leave our merry little band with about eight hours left." The system at the entrance of Xibalba had warned them that the expedition would last for anywhere between twelve to sixteen hours. Worst case scenario, they were halfway there. Just as he was about to lie down to count the different stalagmites on the ceiling, he heard rumbling. He stood up quickly and raised his staff defensively, but there were no enemies in sight.

Instead, a part of the left wall was resonating, dust falling from the crevices. Somnus stepped next to it, placed his palm on the cold stone, and pushed. Whether his action helped or it was just a system mechanic, he did not know, but he was happy to do something regardless. The resonating part sunk into the wall, then moved out of the way, and just as Orion thought, a secret passage was revealed. Thank the gods, Somnus thought. He was never happier to delve deeper into dark tunnels of ancient spirits.

* The joy faded fast. Nothing terrible had happened yet, but the newly found passage was a hundred times more claustrophobic than the previous one, and that meant Somnus was a hundred times more on edge. The walls were different, too. Chains covered some of the narrower parts, with mechanics connecting them together, although he could not interact with them. It felt more like a service tunnel than a cave path. Nothing attacked him, and there were no puzzles to solve either.

Just him, the darkness, and the way forward. Darkness. It was actually funny. Somnus chose the Acolyte class for one reason, and one reason only: to show a middle finger to his fears. Ever since he was little, the darkness, the shadows, the closed places with no way to leave had haunted him. He spent his life hating the sensation of the absence of light. So why Acolyte? The only class out of the fifteen starting ones that had anything to do with darkness seemed like a certain mismatch for Somnus.

He wanted to conquer it. He wanted to finally be in control. He wanted to erase some of his most unwelcome memories. It worked. Well, sort of. Shadows served him now. The darkness gave him power. He slowly but surely overcame the burdens he'd carried all his life. And then Lothras messaged him. The Paladin told Somnus to help a friend of his, and of course, Somnus agreed. By that point, he was obsessed with Godsrealm. He wanted to be better, too, and the best way to do that was sticking with talented players.

Of course, Midnight Sun had a lot of great adventurers, but none could be compared to the Paladin of Crimson Court. Redcap and him were up there in terms of skill, but they still fell short next to Lothras. The Paladin helped them get better; they cleared quests together, they bettered their game sense, and gained items and skills they would have had no access to otherwise. They owed him. Still, who would have thought that Orion wanted to lead three parties deep below the mountains?

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Honestly," he murmured.

"That's a stupid question." The three caves of Fang Forest were getting more popular by the day. Somnus knew of them, and he knew they were insanely difficult. Why would Tidemark's prodigy need help if not for clearing the hardest content available? He could have guessed. Not that he would have refused, anyway. Nobody, not even Redcap, knew of his fears. And he wanted to keep it that way. Twenty minutes passed, and there was no change in scenery.

Somnus was starting to lose track of the situation, when he suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of lightning. He pressed his ear to the wall. He'd heard the same sound plenty of times throughout Xibalba to know what was happening.

"They're here, too," he said to himself. It was Alice's Lightning Blade. The crackling of electricity was unmistakable. The sound of it was faint, but it came from somewhere next to the tunnel. Another path, perhaps. The next ten minutes felt better, because the Acolyte could occasionally hear his teammates through the walls. That made him feel a bit less secluded. Finally, the tunnel ended in a round chamber. It was filled with enemies, but Somnus was happy for the change of pace.

Hollowed Gaoler Level 28 They looked similar to the Carriers and Attendants from before, although there were no bowls anywhere in sight this time. Instead, they carried hooked chains and lanterns that shone with sickly white light.

"Ominous." He counted seven of them. Somnus was level 25, so getting rid of seven normal monsters, even if they were three levels higher than him, shouldn't have been much more than a warm-up, however, he was still careful. Xibalba often threw a wrench into the cogs. The moment one of the Gaolers separated from the group, he cast a simple Shadow Bolt, luring the monster away from the rest. It turned towards the caster, and flung its chain in his direction.

Somnus used Quick Step, then sent a Dark Lance straight through the Gaoler's body. He was keeping to his basic skills, trying to reserve more important cooldowns. Besides, the Level 15 ability Dark Lance was still one of his hardest hitting spells next to Void Arrow and Shadow Bolt Barrage. It took a chunk out of the monster's HP bar. The Gaolers was almost finished, but the rest of the group realized what was happening, and by the time the first one fell, the other six were already trying to chain Somnus.

"Void Jump!" he blinked through the shadows, repositioning, then cast Soul Drain to offset some of the damage he took. In the next five minutes, he got rid of three more Gaolers. They were problematic enemies for the Acolyte. Other than the fact that he hated chains with a passion, their lanterns were also weakening his shadow-based spells, and even neutralized some of the debuffs he used.

They were practically immune to Crippling Hex and Dark Bind, and although Shadow Armor kept him alive, they managed to catch him with the chains once his movement abilities were on cooldown.

"That's unfortunate," he murmured. The chain had a health bar on its own once it bound him, however, with his hands stuck to his body, he couldn't perform the movements needed for casting the necessary spells to break out. For a while, he was in trouble. Then he remembered that his new, level 25 skill, Siphon Life was an instant cast. The chain was not a legal target for the skill, however its user was. Somnus cast Siphon Life, draining the HP of the Gaoler currently chaining him.

For a basic ability, the spell was incredibly powerful. It finished off the remaining 40% of the monster's HP, healing Somnus in the process. The chains broke, and he was once again free to move. The two remaining Gaolers were struck with some of his largest cooldown spells; he wasn't keen on getting bound again. The moment he finished cleaning them up, another path opened. Stairs were leading upwards, in a circular motion. He climbed them.

The higher he was, the less he heard from his party, and after a while, there was only silence again. He arrived into another vast chamber, with a circular platform in the middle, and a massive door at the far end of the room. On the platform, Somnus saw three levers, which immediately made him think that Orion's theory was all but confirmed. He tried each of the levers for good measure, but nothing happened.

Looking around, he realized that one of the walls was actually made of glass, or something resembling glass. It was see-through and clear, with a view of a cavern room almost as big as the Roost of Camazotz. It was far below the chamber he was in, lit with what looked like moonlight, although where the source of the light was, he did not know. A bridge was leading toward the lit platform of the cavern, coming from the direction of a circular, stone slab the size of Tidemark's walls. The entrance, no doubt.

The symbol on it resembled a whirlpool. A dark, circular shape that seemed to move, although Somnus thought it was like those tripping images on the internet. They looked like they were moving, too, if you focused on them, despite being simple pictures. Regardless, he couldn't keep his gaze on it for more than a couple seconds at a time. At the far end of the cavern below, covered by the darkness that the moonlight couldn't pierce, Somnus seemed to have noticed something else: the shape of a throne.

He couldn't think about it for long, because the sounds of fighting got his attention. He turned back to the mechanism, waiting. A minute later, another trapdoor opened in the floor, revealing a similar staircase, and a bald man climbed out of the hole. It was Verdugo.

"Dios mio," he wheezed.

"Give me monsters, give me bosses. Just no more stairs, por favor." Somnus smiled.

"Hey, partner." He rattled the Berserker.

"Somnus, amigo! So glad to see a friendly face!" The Acolyte felt the same way. Orion had been right about everything so far. They talked about their respective journeys to what they decided to call the control room. Verdugo's path was eerily similar to his, but with more, weaker monsters. They talked about the levers, as well.

"So we are waiting for expeditioner number three, right?" Verdugo asked.

"It appears so."

"I wonder who it might be," Verdugo said, then changed the subject.

"I was very surprised to see the secret door open. I wanted to take a nap." Somnus couldn't help but laugh. The leader of Los Asesinos really wouldn't have left anyone else behind, but it seemed like he didn't think about the situation much further than that. After a while, the last trapdoor opened, as well. I wonder… In the end, Orion had read the situation correctly.

"It seems Cyrus was right," Adaptive said, looking at the other two players.

"Him, too?" The Swordsman nodded.

"He said Orion would come to the same conclusion as him, so I had to stay behind. Even if you decided on Alice, it would still be our best chance of success." Somnus thought about it. If Alice were here instead of him, they would have no access to healing, buffs, and debuffs, but the three of them were sturdy, and would have still had a good chance. If Cyrus sent Talion instead, and Orion decided with Somnus, they would not have enough damage or defense to carry on. Both Orion and Cyrus made the correct decision.

Somnus was impressed by that.

"Disculpe," Verdugo said.

"What are you guys talking about?"