Fyar opened his eyes. The first sight that greeted him was a calm blue light.
A giant aurora vortex spun slowly in the unfamiliar night sky. The cold light from the vortex illuminated his face. Around him, a field of dim, glowing blue crystal flowers swayed gently, as if blown by an unseen wind.
Silence reigned.
A constant low hum was audible, like the faint vibration of the crystal plants around them.
The pain in his arms and legs still stung sharply. Fyar looked at his hand. He was still gripping his pistol tightly.
Thank goodness I brought all my ammo before leaving the festival.
Did we succeed? In those three seconds, that asshole should have lost his power and been hit by the artifact’s effect.
He turned to the side. Illya’s body lay among the crystal flowers. Her breathing was shallow, her chest rising and falling regularly. Her right hand was still clutching the shards of Cyhas’s black orb necklace.
Fyar approached, shuffling over the soft moss-covered ground. He pressed his fingers against Illya’s neck. Her pulse felt weak but steady.
She’s alive. Thank goodness.
Fyar let out a long breath, thin white steam escaping his mouth. The air here felt cold and damp.
A groan was heard nearby. Zaefal sat up with difficulty. His face was dirty with dried blood.
His hand pressed against a wound in his stomach. Beside him, Rasie held her head, wincing.
Cyhas stood with trembling legs, her face pale.
"The afterlife?" Rasie asked hoarsely. She looked up at the spinning blue sky. "S-so this is the realm of death..."
Rasie looked around. Her eyes widened when she saw Fyar.
"Purple hair?! No, wait... Why did you enter the same realm of death as me, the fuck?!"
Rasie looked at Zaefal. "You too, Zaefal?, You die?!"
She looked at Illya, who was still lying on the ground. "I-Illya?!"
Rasie looked at Cyhas. "And... huh?!"
"Is it because we died together that we’re in the same realm?" Rasie asked, confused. "whoa, whoa, what the fuck happened?"
"Calm down, Mommy. We just moved locations," Fyar said flatly.
"Moved locations? this shit is so confusing!" Rasie frowned, her mouth slightly open. "Tell me what the fuck actually happened?"
Fyar was silent for a moment, putting his hand to his mouth. "Yeah, hmm. So basically, those two people disappeared, and their boss appeared, then we used Cyhas’s artifact. And boom, we’re here."
"What? The boss? artifact?, they disappeared?, why?, are you high right now?, Explain it properly, idiot!" Rasie was still confused. "Why did the boss suddenly appear, and why did we suddenly use an artifact, and why did we move here?!"
"The boss, or 00, performed a ritual sealing the entire city. And well, the only way we had was to use that artifact," Zaefal answered flatly. He scanned the surroundings sharply. "That artifact can transport us to different locations over a considerable distance."
"And well, the risk is that we move to a dangerous place and only one person moves to a safe place."
Zaefal paused for a moment before continuing, "And regarding this place, I don’t know where it is. Neither at the academy nor in the library have I ever read a description of a place like this."
"00?! The man with a bounty of four hundred thousand gold coins?!" Rasie gasped.
She approached Zaefal and pushed his shoulders hard with both hands.
"You met 00?! You’re alive? Huh? Don’t tell me this is the afterlife?! Are you kidding, Zaefal?!"
Zaefal tapped Rasie’s head gently. "Calm down. Precisely because he was 00, we were forced to use that artifact."
Rasie rubbed her forehead. "Ouch." She then let out a long sigh. "Alright. Even though I’m still a bit confused....So technically, some ritual I don’t know what ritual, but that shit failed and we were thrown here, right?"
"Well, you could say that. Failed or not, we don’t know. But if that 00 moved with us, then it failed," Fyar said as he stood up and walked around to look.
He crouched down and picked up a glowing blue leaf from the ground. The leaf felt cold and slippery, pulsing slowly in his hand.
This feeling. Like when we entered the level 15 dungeon. Did we enter a dungeon? Fyar thought.
I managed to make him inactive for those three seconds. We should have succeeded. And the city is no longer sealed. The only question is, who teleported to a safe place? Or did that bastard go to the safe place?
Slowly, a soft groan was heard. Illya began to move. She opened her eyes, blinking to adjust to the blue light.
"What is this place... d-did we succeed..."
Illya looked at Fyar. "Fyar?! Thank goodness!" A faint smile appeared on her pale face.
She then looked to the side and saw Rasie. "Rasie, you’re awake? Thank goodness!"
Fyar approached Illya. He crouched down, checking the girl’s body. He touched her arms and shoulders, looking for new wounds. "Does anything hurt? Are you injured or scratched? Do you feel dizzy? Any effects from being hit by that artifact?"
"No, I’m fine, really. Seriously," Illya answered softly, trying to sit up.
"You did well," Fyar said, helping her sit.
Zaefal stared at Cyhas. "Are you okay?"
Cyhas nodded slowly. Her hands were still trembling,"Yes, I’m fine."
Cyhas then looked down. "I’m sorry for only telling you about the artifact at the last moment. I..."
"No, no, Cyhas," Zaefal interrupted. "You did your best."
"You did your best."
Cyhas nodded gently. She then looked to the side. "Are you okay, fat.."
Cyhas’s pupils constricted. She looked around frantically.
"Father?! Father isn’t here?!"
Oh, right, Eutas isn’t here? I just realized. Fyar scanned his surroundings. Did he teleport to a different place? This is bad. Eutas isn’t a high-level adventurer. If he isn’t the one who moved to a safe place, then...
"Father?!" Cyhas began to panic. "Oh no, no. he won’t be able to survive!"
Tears began to stream from Cyhas’s eyes, flowing heavily down her dirty cheeks. She began to sob, her body shaking violently.
Illya rushed over to Cyhas, who was starting to collapse.
"Lady Cyhas!" Illya crouched down and hugged Cyhas, pressing the girl’s head to her chest and rubbing her shoulders gently.
"Illya... my father, Illya. He can’t possibly survive, Illya. H-how is this happening? What should I do?! Is he okay? I’m scared, Lady Illya. I’m scared... I’m scared he..." Cyhas said, her eyes wide with panic, her breathing ragged.
"Mr. Eutas will be fine. Believe me, Lady Cyhas, believe me. Remember what you said, there must be one person who moves to a safe location, right?" Illya looked into Cyhas’s eyes, trying to convey calmness. "That must be Mr. Eutas, Lady Cyhas. That must be Mr. Eutas."
Cyhas nodded imperceptibly in Illya’s embrace. Her breathing was still ragged from crying.
Fyar looked around the field of flowers. There were only five of them.
If corpses get teleported too, then the probability of Eutas surviving is high. But if corpses get thrown elsewhere then... Fyar fell silent.
A moment of silence. They were all processing the situation.
Suddenly, a large shadow passed over them. The aurora light in the night sky dimmed for a moment.
Fyar immediately aimed his pistol upwards. Zaefal drew his sword. Rasie took a fighting stance.
The figure glided slowly through the air.
It was a giant whale. Its body was transparent, like it was made of liquid glass, and emitted a bright blue light from within its organs. Its large fins paddled the empty air as if swimming in seawater. Its large tail moved slowly, leaving a trail of shimmering light.
The whale emitted a low,
Huuuuummmm...
The vibration was felt down to the ground beneath their feet, vibrating their breastbones.
Fyar lowered his pistol slowly. What creature is that...
Fyar looked around again. Alien trees towered high with glowing purple and blue leaves.
"This..." Fyar said.
Zaefal kept staring at the whale swimming in the sky. "This place... might be a high-level dungeon."
They looked at each other. Their guess was the same. They were stranded in a dungeon.
If this is a dungeon, can we survive? Should we find the exit as quickly as possible and avoid fighting monsters? Fyar looked at Zaefal. "Do you have a plan?"
Zaefal was silent for a long time. His eyes were now looking at the trunk of a giant mushroom tree far away from them. Rasie, Fyar, and Illya seemed to wait patiently for a plan from their leader.
After a long silence, Zaefal finally spoke again. "First, we calm ourselves down. And find a place we can use to rest."
"After that, we’ll try to find what we can eat here."
"Once our energy and mana recover, we’ll go explore and find a way out of this place."
Zaefal looked at his comrades one by one. "As much as possible, we must avoid confronting monsters here because their levels are likely high. But if we are forced to... then we must face them."