5 days ago...

***

The expedition team gathered in front of the closed city gate of Astalan. Numerous people of different backgrounds were gathered around, from the knights donning shining armor, adventurers with their unique style of fashion and gear, to the commoner who volunteered due to the alluring reward of one Gold coin for all survivors. In order to maintain an orderly way of keeping track of all who embarked on this expedition, numerous tables were set up near the gate with Adventurer Guild employees manning each table. Their job is to check everybody who are heading out in. This offers the government numerous advantages, such as keeping track of who deserves the reward, and if things go south, it helps to know how many people and who had died.

Even though it was still quite early, merchants, as if blown to the scene by the chilly morning air, came to sell their wares. They set up stands and some just laid out their goods on a piece of cloth on the ground. Among the items that they sold, recovery items dominated the market, and since this would be last minute spendings for these people heading out, the prices of these items were way above what they would usually go for. Still, there were those who were paranoid and needed to buy even more recovery items such as potions to ease their mind.

That morning, Loganel met up with the others for the first time in about a month at the front of the school. Around them were some other parties of students that were also going. In total, the students including him probably summed up to about seventy. Most of the other students appeared to be quite nervous about the expedition so they hesitated in signing up. However, it seventy people was still more than what Loganel had anticipated.

Loganel didn't say much as he accompanied the others to the city gate. Instead, he worried about how he would fit into their system. It has been quite some time since they had fought together, and Loganel scanned their equipment in hopes of acquiring any hints. All of them had upgraded their gear in the past month, and it was no longer the crude armor and weaponry that they've used earlier. Rather, it was of respectable quality.

Loganel discovered that Tetsuya, in addition to his holy sword, Exflage, was now equipped with a shiny metal shield that was designed to be retractable into a smaller surface area which he wore on his wrist as a gauntlet, which when he needed, would be able to expand and transform into a medium sized shield.

As for the others, Loganel didn't notice many major equipment changes. All he could tell was they they've upgraded their gear and that was all. They're now equipped with different accessories such as rings and necklaces which protects against elemental damage and possibly has some other additive effect that Loganel wasn't too sure about. However, Loganel's eyes were caught by the necklace that Azura wore on her neck.

She had that necklace I think a month ago...

Loganel felt some discomfort by that thought. However, he soon shook that thought away and focused his attention to what was at hand. They were now at the city gates now and were in line to check in with the Adventurer Guild employee at the table that they were lining up in.

Since Tetsuya was considered the leader of their party, he was given the responsibility of doing all the talking. Loganel had no issue with this, and in fact, he welcomed it since he wasn't the best at doing such things.

After checking in, they were given a number. According to what the female Adventurer Guild employee, this number was so that Marsha could better strategically coordinate attacks and formations.

With everything taken care of and there still being about half an hours time until departure, everyone just hung around and talked. Loganel saw that the adventurers in the crowd would approach people of other parties with the intention of exchanging information. Even Loganel understands that information is crucial and could even determine life or death. In the situation that they're in right now, he understands that the more information he could get the better. This was mostly due to the fact that he had only been down to the third floor of the Ekeletas Ruins while the current expedition's goal is to reach the depths and discover everything that was still left to be discovered.

According to the text on the walls of Ekeletas, it is highly likely that the ancient city was only thirteen floors deep. Past expeditions were able to successfully reach floor ten, meaning that there are only three more floors to be cleared until the depths could be reached.

Loganel was somewhat worried that he would be lacking in information. That was the reason why he walked to and about the large crowd of people. He made sure to make himself as unnoticeable as possible as he tried to eavesdrop on conversations. He wasn't the best at socializing, so he reckoned that this approach would be the most effective.

"You must be Loganel," Loganel heard a woman's voice calling out to him.

Loganel looked over his shoulder, and discovered a woman with rose-colored hair and was dressed in a light armor consisting of a white protective coat that ended below her knees with a shiny metal breastplate covering her torso. On the woman's hips was a long sword.

"You're..." Loganel searched his memory to see if he had met her before. However, he wasn't able to.

"Look," some murmuring began to arouse from the people around. "That's the Flora."

"Really? What's she doing here?"

So she's Marsha Merilot, the Knight that is leading this expedition... Loganel thought.

"Avelin told me about you."

Marsha smiled as she reached out her hand for a handshake. Loganel's eyes followed the movement of her hands and when he saw that they had stopped, he brought his out in response.

"Avelin told me to help you out if you get into any trouble," Marsha explained. "But if you're her student like me, and I know what kind of training you've been through, then you should be fine. You know, since you haven't quit."

"So you've been through that as well?" Loganel looked at her, eyes starting to tear up as he recounted the physical extremes that Avelin had pushed him through.

"Yeah," Marsha placed a hand on Loganel's shoulder so as to comfort him. "Don't give up," she said. "Stay strong." Her eyes were a bit teary as well from recounting her days under the guidance of Avelin.

After the two of them shared their brief moment of comradeship, Marsha excused herself. She had to head back and return to her position since it was time to head out. Therefore, Loganel waved her goodbye and walked the other way to return to his party.

After a few minutes, Marsha appeared on a makeshift stage that was sturdy despite it being only recently built and designed to be easily removed when needed. Seeing her appearance, everybody quieted down and approached the small stage so as to hear everything she was to say.

"Alright everyone," Marsha began to speak. Her voice was authoritative and pulsed with power. She was as if a perfect example of a leader. "Thank you all for coming out today. Starting today, we shall be clearing the Ekeletas Ruins. We shall explore every single unexplored parts of that ancient city, and step foot on places where those before us had stepped foot thousands of years ago."

Her speech continued on for a bit. and as she spoke, Loganel couldn't help it but think back on what Avelin had said about Marsha. However, once his brains were filled with the whiny image of Marsha when she was about sixteen, so four years ago, he could not feel the same authority and power coming from Marsha anymore. Rather, he would feel kind of warm inside when he realized how the cute girl before him has struggled to maintain her image of power.

"You alright?" Tetsuya nudged Loganel lightly with his elbow. "Your face is looking like a parent who's seeing their child walk for the first time."

"I-I'm fine," Loganel looked away, face red with embarrassment. He could feel the others staring at him, so he was afraid to turn his head and look their way for fear of them seeing him the way he was at the moment.

Not long after, Marsha's speech was over. From there, she proceeded to assign each group to their respective positions in the overall formation and assign each party their own respective roles.

"Groups X and Group Y," Marsha started.

"That's us," Tetsuya whispered to the rest of us to alert us and make us pay attention.

"You will be on the lower left flank," Marsha explained as she read off of a piece of paper that has the formation drawn onto it with scribbles on the side in writing only she could read. "Your job will be to assist the groups in front of you when need to and eliminate any enemies that slipped past the front lines."

After that, Marsha finished assigning each group their respective positions and roles. And from there, she hopped onto her war horse. Her horse slowly trotted to the front of the group that was now lined up in an orderly fashion as it prepared for its march to the Ekeletas Ruins. Everybody stood there in perfect posture as they awaited the city gates to lift open. It was as if a deadly plague of silence has infected everyone present, for no one made a world. All that could be heard was the cranking of the gears as the city gates slowly opened as it lifted off the ground.

"March on!"

With Marsha's command, the expedition team started mobilizing. All four hundred and thirty-seven of them marched out of the safety of the city in high spirit. To the majority of them, this was just an opportunity for easy money. According to the testimonies of surviving members of the past expeditions, it should be relatively safe. Of course, there would be deaths, but nobody thought that they would be the one that will die. They all believed firmly that they would return home to the embrace of Astalan and their family members with an extra one Gold in their pockets.

However, little did they know that for the majority of them, up to eighty-five percent of them, this was going to be the last time they will be in Astalan. If you would've told any of them beforehand that they would lose their life if they participated in this expedition, they would've laughed you off as a fool. No one would believe that after reports from past expeditions heavyily indicating that the most dangerous monsters in the ruins would be a monster like the Cleaver, which they believed the Summoned Hero had taken care of. Plus, the Summoned Hero as well as the Flora would be going on the expedition as well. There should be nothing to worry about. At least that's what they thought.

What these men and women are about to put themselves through is nothing they had seen before. Never before in their lives would they see how easy it was for humans to be massacred. Never before in their lives would they even think about joining the expedition if they would've known what was awaiting them. What they are about to endure, can be best described as a beginnings of a nightmare: a hell in the living world.

Author's Note:

Gonna be a long expedition, so bear with me. It will have a buildup period (can;t just let you get to the good part immediately). The build up period would be worth it for the overall experience I promise.

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