Chapter 3

The blinding light lasted for a moment before giving way to darkness, dimly lit by scattered formations of crystal sepherium. The glow from the stones painted the dungeon in an eerie green hue, casting long shadows along the stone walls; any movement giving the impression of things scruuring in the semi-darkness. Four entrances to the tunnels were spread out amongst the large cavern they found themselves in, shrouded in shadows. Yena began walking towards her tunnel when a hand grabbed her arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Jin, his grip on her arm instantly making it numb.

“My tunnel sir”, she replied, startled at his sudden ferocity “I’m in team C, taking the west path.” Jin frowned.

“And how do you know where your tunnel is?” Yena blinked, looking around,

“Errm because I can see-“

“See?!” exclaimed a voice behind her, “What do you mean, you got night vision or something?”

“Ah,” Yena said understanding the situation, “I have a skill that lets me see in the dark, team leader, sorry for not saying anything about it earlier”

“No” he paused, “I’m sorry for suspecting you” Jin replied glancing at his led watch, “But you can never be too cautious in dungeons.” He switched on the mana powered lamps, the D class team leaders following suit, lighting up the cave they were in, “Make sure you tell us before you do something next time, okay. I might have attacked you a split second later.”

“Um yes sir,” she paused. “Could you let go of my hand now please?”

“Oh Sorry,” Jin said, releasing her promptly. Yena rubbed her numb arm to bring back circulation. A dark red Welt had formed around her forearm bruising her pale skin, so this was the strength of a C class hunter she mused, sticking closely to her group as they entered the tunnel.

Sweat dripped off Yena’s forehead and into her eyes. She blinked rapidly and licked her salty lips. It had been almost three hours since they had entered the dungeon: an hour in the real world, and her arms felt as if they were going to fall off from tiredness. Especially her right arm which was swelling a dark purple perhaps even broken from when Jin had grabbed her earlier. The muscles on her back felt like lead, heavy and stiff, and a splitting headache had formed between her eyes from the pressure of the dungeon and the noise of the constant hammering of the pickaxe and whirr of the drills magnified by the tunnels added to the pain.

Yena took off her goggles and rubbed her temples before she sluggishly continued smashing the rocks around the crystal, her lack of attention causing her to hit the actual sepherium with the pickaxe, a loud clang echoing through the tunnel, sending an electric shock through her body. Yena’s knees buckled from the accumulated fatigue. Dropping her tools, she breathed heavily leaning on the ground for support. Her hair was plastered against her damp neck, the lack of airflow from her mask making it harder to breathe the stale air.

“Are you okay Miss?” Yena felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see a concerned-looking Mark. “Here take some water and rest up for 10 minutes” the hunter locked eyes with Yena’s mining partner who had stopped his mining to come over. Yena pushed the hand away attempting to stand up. She had to collect a minimum of 5 Kg of sepherium, to complete her quota and she was still short by at least 1 Kg.

“It's fine I'll give you some of my sepherium. I've mined extra anyway” Yena glanced up at the miner through her tired eyes, surprised.

“No, I can't take your work.” One kg of Seperium is worth 800,000 won, and how is he going to give it to me just like that,

“Don't worry it's better if you rest up in case we have to run,” the miner said, looking at the hunter for confirmation, who responded with a nod.

“It's fine, I'll make sure that this guy,” Mark said, slapping the miner on the back, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t rob your stuff, so you can take a break okay?”

Yena’s body answered for her. The resolve to continue collapsing under the prospect of rest. She slumped up against the wheelbarrow, her eyes closing instantly a hand brushed against her forehead moving her hair back from sticking to her face. Yena, heard the whine of the drill get quieter as her voice cancelling ear cups were put on. “Thank you,” she mumbled sleepily.

Yena awoke to find herself in a massive hall, tiled and painted in sepherium crystals. She looked around bewildered. Oh, this is probably a dream, she thought, eyeing the ceiling of the hall that stood so high, that Yena couldn't tell where the room ended. Four black pillars etched in a moving sequence of white scrawling, towered at the centre of the room, each column reaching to the sky.

Yena stood up and instantly found herself in front of one of the towers, her head felt as if it would split from the constant thumping of her headache, but all Yena could do was stare at the moving characters. Each letter changed and ran away from her as soon as she focused on it. Her head felt as if it was disintegrating, being eaten from the inside as if there was a worm crawling through her brain.

“HEY WAKE UP!” Yena snapped her head back from the pillar to find herself transported amongst the blue fire from 6 years ago. She covered her mouth with her sleeve and blinked rapidly, clearing them from the black smoke that was trapped in the tunnels. Tunnels? Yena ran stumbling on the uneven ground, her vision distorted by the sudden system notification.

-(Identify lv1)- Goblin fire-

She ignored it and found the handle of her pickaxe, avoiding the flames that swirled at her feet.

“YOU TWO GET BACK TO THE MAIN CAVE!” Mark shouted, blasting the air in front of him with a flex of his hand, the smoke momentarily cleared

-(Identify has reached level 2)- Goblin-

revealing the corpses of four goblins, their skin a dark green bulging with blue boils, “I CAN HANDLE THIS, SO STAY BACK” Yena did not need to be told more than once. She picked up her pickaxe and ran without a second thought.

Fatigue and pain were secondary, her instinct to survive taking precedence over her headache which was stronger than ever. The sound of running filled the space behind her, gaining on her. Yena veered off the path to take a sharp right into one of the smaller tunnels, the movement causing her to drop her pickaxe and stumble face-first into the ground. Yena covered her head with her arms resulting in sharp points of pain spreading across them, as they were pierced by the jagged rocks. Yena stood up, ignoring the pain and continued running, not knowing where she was. She glanced behind her, which was a mistake once she caught sight of the billowing flames chasing her through the narrow tunnel.

“Where are you going?!” shouted a voice, “That's not the way to the meeting point!” Yena spun around searching for whoever had called out to her, to no avail. The smoke-shrouded everything around her, like a blanket of ash. It formed into a thick black barrier that Yena squinted through, the cave devoid of any sepherium to give light.

-(Nocturnal Sight has reached level 2)-

She blinked away the notification, the skill level up not helping except adding shadows to the smoke. Shit! I'm lost. The blanket of miasma drew closer to her as if it had a will of its own.

Yena fell back surrounded, reaching out for the wall, which was no longer there. She desperately searched for an exit, when from the corner of her vision, a sudden ray of white light shone through the haze. Yena ran towards it, not knowing what it was. Her eyes watered from the smoke stinging before she just shut them and ran blindly towards the white light that got brighter and brighter. Yena felt a sensation of falling, before darkness overcame her...