For quite a while, a new smell had been permeating through the air in the caverns. One of flesh, one of resistance, or, as some of the creatures living here liked to call it, one of dinner waiting to be served.

The monsters, filling the many caves to the brim, didn't take notice of this, some just didn't care, and some wanted to feast, but were afraid of him. The king of these abyssal caves.

“Hm… the meatbags are early”, A rippling voice spoke. It seemed to come from everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. The weaker monster cried out in fear and tried to get as close to the walls as possible, begging to whatever god was listening that they didn't have to die yet. “Seems the Augmentum was wrong. No matter. Dinner has already been served, and I wouldn't want to be late.”

With that, the beast walked forward, ready for its next meal.

I teleport again, this time landing in one of the many corners. Looking around, it was obvious that I had teleported far. Growls could still be heard in the distance. This time, though, they were much, much nearer. If I ran at full sprint for a minute, I could probably get to them. They could do the same to us too.

Rule number one of dungeon crawling; You always need to be prepared for a battle any minute.

Three sets of feet simultaneously land behind me, causing me to jump a little in surprise. I had been so ready for a fight, I nearly forgot about working in groups.

Looking behind, I took note of who I would be working with. Two of them I knew, and the other two I didn't.

Elora was here, of course. Would be weird if I, her bodyguard, was in another group. The other person I knew was Maxime, the half-giant bodyguard, and one of the more interesting people I had met.

I look the other two over, double checking if one of them was a bodyguard in disguise. Judging by the way they acted, though, it was obvious they weren't. I had memorized every bodyguard´s face, and even makeup wouldn't make them look like eighteen-year-olds.

Maxime nods in my direction, refraining from making any noise. She had obviously done this before, and would probably not even need the glamour cast on us. It made everything blurry, so maybe that was for the best.

Looking over at Elora, I connect a telepathic bond between us.

“Ready to get your grades up?”, I ask over the telepathic bond, a joking tone to my voice. She jumped a little because of my voice, clearly startled by the sudden noise.

“Jack, I told you to not do that in stressful situations”, Elora fired back at me, clearly irritated.

“Sure. Are you ready, though?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good.”

I look over at Maxime, who nods at me in conformation. She had been doing some weird sign language with the other two students, most likely asking the same as me.

“Let's go”, I whispered out loud, my voice sounding slightly distorted.

All three students nod simultaneously and turn invisible. While they would most likely be invisible to most humans, people with eyesight like mine would notice they were here. From the oddly shimmering lines on the floor that weirdly looking like an outline of a humanoid, to the slight breath particles, it was obvious to see them. For the monsters roaming this place, though, I wasn't sure if they would notice them in the slightest.

Elora was the first to walk forward, quickly followed by the other two students. Maxime and I stayed in the back, letting them do their own thing. We would only intervene if it became necessary.

A little time passed, and the surroundings changed. The colors change from a scarlet red to a blood red. Shining, red crystals began to protrude from the cave walls. The sounds we had heard in the distance were drawing nearer, and I was beginning to catch glimpse of… things. I never had enough time to see their whole body. Only small parts. Even though I saw so little, though, it scared me so much. Like the surroundings, their body was a deep red. I never saw any skin. Only pure, red muscles. The muscles looked like that of a normal human, but there were many holes and cuts covering them. Not wounds. Just round holes that went through their bodies. Even from just glances, it disgusted me, and almost triggered my gag reflex. It was utterly disgusting. If I hadn't seen stuff like this before, I think I would have just broken down.

It wasn't the things I saw with my eyes that made me paranoid, though. It was the things I heard. The voices I heard. “Is somebody there?”, “Help me! Please!”, “It's chasing me! Please help!”, and “Where are you?!” was one of the many things I had to bear trough when I walked through this place. When I heard it first, I thought somebody was actually here, trapped in the dungeon. Then the voice cracked naturally, quickly turning into that of a monsters growl.

Whatever things that were out there could imitate voices. I didn't even want to think about how it learned those voices.

After some time, one of the students actually tried to call out to the voices. Before he could even utter more than a loud croak, Maxime was holding her hand over students mouth, quickly, and harshly, whispering something in the student's ear. The student shut up after that, visibly pale. I didn't know what he had been told, and I didn't want to know. The voices didn't shut up after that. They had heard a response, and now they knew that there was dinner to be had.

Walking the stretch of the first floor, I think we actually stumbled upon another group once, but I wasn't really sure. It was kinda hard to see invisible people from a distance that was over fifteen meters. If it wasn't blurred from other students invisibility spells I was seeing though, we might have a problem on our hands. I could have used mana-sight to see the students but decided not too. It would be a waste to use my mana so early. Needed to save it for later.

Time passes yet again, and the creatures get more and more erratic. They move around the hills trying to get our location. We can all easily them constantly sniffing the air, hoping to get some scent they could track to us. I prayed they found nothing.

I also finally got a look at their full form. They were four-legged creatures, that reminded me of a giant lizard cut up into, put back together again, crammed a shit-ton of teeth in its mouth, and then given steroids that made its muscles swell to unimaginable sizes.

It was bloody disgusting to look at. The most disgusting thing on them being the hollow, black sockets where their eyes were supposed to be.

Moving on, we finally begin seeing the end of this hellhole called the first floor.

“Finally”, I hear one of the students mutter. That was a big mistake. A very big mistake.

The lizards, looking like they were made of homemade barbeque sauce, instantly turned to face us. This wasn't good at all. They knew where we were.

Sniffing the air, the lizards move their mouths in what I can only assume was some kind of smile. They tracked down our scent.

“Found you”, the three lizards said in sync, their sounding as inhuman as a voice could possibly become.

And with that, they ran towards us, their mouths opening to unnatural proportions.

Seems my job has now officially begun.

I channel me out in my hands, ready for the moment to strike. Glancing over at Maxime, I see that she had drawn a massive Warhammer from out of literally nowhere. Was it an enchantment or something? Question for another day.

The lizards, who I now knew was a group of four, were closing in on us faster than expected, forcing me to use a speed enhancement on myself. Haering me move around, two of the lizards change their course to me.

Shit.

Multicasting Greater Earth Strike, I try to slow them down by just a tiny bit, but they just shock it off, as if it was nothing. These guys were tough.

But not tough enough it seemed. The one that tried attacking Maxime got hit hard by her Warhammer. It didn't get blown away. It just exploded into a mass of gore on the ground spraying both Maxime and one of the students with its blood.

Back to my attackers. They were nearing me, and I had to delay them for as long as possible. I sent a Fireball in both their faces and watched them, with a surprised look on my face, as they screamed in agony with high-pitched voices. They didn't like fire.

Seems they have a weakness.

Just for good measure, I cast two extra Fireballs for each of them and turned my attention to the last attacker.

This one seemed to be the leader, being almost twice as tall as the other. It had not engaged us at the same time as the others. It had simply stood in the background, studying how we reacted.

“Well, now”, the lizard said, its voice echoing throughout the caves. “I have a proposal to you. If half of you kneel for me and willingly become my food, I´ll let the rest of you go. How does that sound?”

That was a no from me. Pretty sure it was a no from all of us. Why would it ask that, if it knew we would say no? Unless…

I quickly open a Telepathic link between me and Maxime.

“It is stalling. We need to move”, I say over the link. She looks surprised for a moment, but her face quickly defaults.

“Didn't tell me you were a Psionic”, Maxime said. “No matter. Any suggestions about what to do? Its friends should be here in about… 45ish seconds.”

I thought about it for a second. While we could probably fight them off and survive, I couldn't say the same for the students. They had almost no combat potential right now, and won't be able to protect themselves. That leaves one option.

“You take the students away as silently as possible. I´ll serve as the distraction”

“Are you sure if you can handle this?”, she asked.

“I'm pretty sure. Now, go”, I answered.

“... Fine”, she said, signaling for the other to move as silently as they can.

“I hear you moving”, the lizard said, the holes in its head beginning to open and close at a rapid rate. “Don't tell me you're trying to run. You know you can't hide”

I walk forward, each step being as loud as possible. The lizard instantly turned to me, giving me its full attention.

“Don't worry. We´re just discussing your offer”, I answered loudly, my voice nearly being at shouting levels.

“If you're discussing my generous offer, then why cant them hear you talking. I have pretty sensitive ears, you know”, the lizard questioned, a paranoid tone in its voice.

“We´re using sign language. Have to make sure you won't use our discussions to our advantage”, I answered.

“Huh. So that's why you're moving so much around? Pretty inefficient way to communicate. Would be better if you used your tongues”, it said, taking a few steps forward.

“Yea, but we don't really want you listening”, I said, taking a few steps backward.

“And that okay. But, could you do me a quick favor, and tell one of them to say something? Just to sure that they´re here”, it said, its pace increasing.

“I don't think they want to speak to you right now”, I said, beginning to channel mana into both my hands.

“Oh, really. Well, then. If they don't wanna speak with me, maybe they want to speak with one of my many friends”, the lizard said, grinning at my general direction, its many teeth moving around in its mouth.

Looking around me, I begin noticing many different shapes closing in. Some were big, some were small, and some were gigantic. Every single one of them laughed while singing a chant that I knew would haunt me for a long time.

“Wherever you are, come out. Wherever you are hiding will be found. No one will ever hide from The Many Voices.”

… I was in some deep shit.