A moment of silence passed as their faces paled in fright. They have been careful as they advanced, no one daring step a foot to explore the countless corridors and pathways they had come across on their way here. But now, they were about to be trapped by vile beasts and just the thought of it made everyone's heart fill with despair. For a moment all of them were frozen, a thousand horrifying thoughts crashing through their minds of the terrible fate awaiting them.

Lukas immediately whirled to action, his heart pounding like a freight train. Once bitten twice shy; it was enough for him to feel helpless once in a single dungeon. He took it all in, the hall they were in, the blue shimmering light above the walls contrasting deeply with his bright golden orb, the collected ragtag team he was about to face life and death with and the fact that he could hear the scampering sounds coming from the cracks of the walls. So much for sealing the only entrance to the hall he rapidly thought.

“Get your shit together.” His shout hit them like a truck, snapping them out of their stupor. “We will all die if we don’t do something.” He then commanded.

“Separate and gain ground. Do everything in your power to stall the damn beasts while I set up a grand protection spell.” With that he didn't even wait to check if they were listening as he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then summoned all of his focus on one of the hardest spells he had struggled to learn in the past few weeks that might just buy them some time.

Almost in sync, they all took a side forming a half circle from where they stood. With grim and determined faces, they readied their shields, staves and bows all in response to Lukas's call, nervously waiting for their terror to arrive.

And arrive it did. In huge droves of putrid and rancid rats that streamed inside the rectangular hall like a sea of black fur intending to swallow them whole. Everywhere; from the pathway they came from, to the hidden cracks on the walls, the hall was filled with so many of them that it was like mass of darkness seeking to devour the little light they had. They were everywhere, in every nook and cranny, that the stench alone would have overpowered their senses if it weren’t for the little motes of lights on their shoulders, flickering like a golden flame.

Still they weren't about to give up so easily, as the first one who made a move was Mira with her powerful awakened fire.

In a flourish of her amber staff, forcibly pushing her mana under the cadence of a rhythmic tone, she quickly materialized a wall of fire. With an increasing timbre, she stoked the flames to such a high degree of hotness that it basically haltered the beasts’ impetus. The flaring flames danced in such a conflagration that it singed and curled the glossy furs of any nearby rats just from its heat alone. The pyre cracked and fizzled, illuminating her figure like a mistress of fire. At that moment she radiated so much power that everyone around her beside Lukas could perceive the early makings of a future powerhouse.

Renesme on the other hand was not about to being outdone. She pulled her exquisite bow with all her strength, collecting so much of her mana that it shone in her hands in a blazing green, muttering a few words under her breath.

“Cloudburst Cascade”

Right as she finished, with an audible twang, a bright jade arrow carried itself high into the air and to the ceiling like a star before it exploded into shards of smaller sharper arrows that showered over the beasts like an avalanche of death. With just a single burst, Renesme gracefully cleared a wide patch on her side without any fluster.

Meanwhile on Geoffrey and Rexsi's side, they were forced to work together. Rexsi as a shadow rogue lacked large means to clear them all away like Mira and Renesme but working together Geoffrey proved to work to best of their abilities. Geoffrey heaved his shield as he rushed straight in the midst, bashing the rats aside like a bulldozer, ceasing their rush for just a short moment. But that moment was what Rexsi needed as he took out a pouch from his waist, smoothly filled his hands with dark powder and then swiftly blew to the oncoming beasts, spreading the fine grains to their side of the hall. It didn't even take a single breath before Geoffrey who was in the midst of bashing the beasts senseless with his ornate shield and slashing them with his sword, found himself surrounded by a cloud so dark it almost seemed as if was devoid of any light.

Taking the short moment of distraction, Rexsi seemingly assimilated into the dark cloud, with only a short squeals and shrieks heard in his wake. With Geoffrey’s quick thinking, he slammed his huge shield into the ground, raised his short sword into the air and then bellowed out in a deep voice, his roar reverberating within the walls of the halls, his whole body scintillating in a silver radiance.

“The Call of Valor”

He boomed, his outburst taunting the nearby confused beasts to converge towards him as if he was the only threat that existed in the canopy of darkness. This was a battle skill each respectable knight grasped as it could not only force the enemies within range into a short daze, it could also momentarily pull their attention on the warrior. It was obvious such skills were better used on mindless beasts rather than other intelligent folk’s as by the time the cloud of powder had settled, every single rat around him had fallen, with only a streak of blood on their throat. Singularly impressed and silently horrified, Geoffrey made note of something very important. Shadow rogues were a force to be reckoned especially in the dark.

It was at this moment that Lukas's eyes snapped open. He had to tune out all of the explosions of spells and descent of arrows to really pull the spell he was about to cast to a completion. The amount of hard work he did this past month was no joke as he had to reestablish his foundation, correcting all of the previous flaws his previous host had made and then familiarize himself with his element while still finding the time mastering new spells to add into his inventory. Suffice to say he had prepared extensively.

A flickering light emanated from his Starlight Staff, as he held it with both his hands and used it almost like a brush as he etched an uncommon rune to the floor. Just by a glance almost every one could tell it was an advanced rune, as it had more strokes to it than the previous runes he had inscribed onto the walls. Ever since he had learned on how certain sigils related to some very specific spells, he had used all of his strength to practice this one in particular, in preparation for his first dungeon run. He was just about to find out if days of his continued efforts have paid off.

“Sigil of Protection; Dome of Light”

He chanted under his breath instantly channeling a huge amount of mana from his body. If it was in the past with how frail he had found the body, he absolutely wouldn’t have dared cast such a spell. Not only did the spell demand a lot from the caster, it also required a delicate control on one’s body through the mana used to hold the spell, the hands used to carve the rune, and the staff used as medium to materialize the sigil in its full splendor.

Once completed, his Starlight Staff slammed on to the rune and in an explosion of light; a large glass dome of light glistening with a metallic sheen appeared around him, filling the dark shimmering hall with warmth and light. The rest of the group couldn’t help but stare, astonished. It took Lukas's vehement shout to make them realize the very obvious thing they should have done next.

“What are you all doing? Get in!” Under his insistent voice, Rexsi, Renesme, Geoffrey and Mira all entered swiftly into the glass dome, almost as if they were passing through air. But when the first wave of the underground rats rushed after them, they immediately crashed into it just as if a steel wall existed in front of them.

“Can it hold?” Geoffrey asked in a worry. This time, the wave of beasts was unlike anything they encountered. They had pelted them with powerful spells and skills, killed so many of them but they were tens more all bashing against the dome like a dam holding against raging waters.

Lukas took deep breaths as he simultaneously channeled the spell and visualized the godly statue in his mind palace in order to recover some lost mana. “For now it has to hold…” He started but he didn't even get to finish his sentence when…

BOOM!

The sound reverberated across the hall. All of them were filled with dread as they saw visible cracks forming on the surface of the dome, like a sharp melody nearly destroying the very little hope they had just obtained. Will this be the end of them? They wondered. Gnawed by rats, underneath the surface where they couldn't even signal for help if they wanted to.