The camp slowly woke as the morning hour arrived. As Loganel opened his eyes, he was greeted by the darkness of the underground ruins of the ancient city of Ekeletas where no sunlight reached at all. Instead, the only illumination available where from the fire burning in the torch lamp that stood on their wooden stands, the eerie green glow from the mysterious vein-like lines etched into the city infrastructure and buildings that pulsed with Mana, and the Mana crystals laid out in the city like street lamps by the ancient civilization that had resided here in the past. Despite the obvious darkness, everybody was up and about due to the fact that there were knights making rounds through the camp, waking anyone who hasn't yet in order to set off on time.

This was the third day of the investigation, and the team has yet to reach its mark. In fact, they were still a few floors from their previously reached depth of ten floors. Now, with the sixth floor cleared, it is scheduled that the team shall reach its previous benchmark by the end of the day, and set up camp in order to ready themselves for the unknown.

As Loganel walked around the morning camp, he realized that there was an obvious decrease in morale following the mysterious events that had happened the day earlier. Almost a hundred people had perished or had mysteriously vanished up until now, causing anxiety among those that still remained. Neither the volunteers or the knights expected to lose almost one fourth of their entire team, but the expedition must continue and they must keep foraging forward.

The team mobilized, moving on down into the seventh floor. Just as before, there were no Kobolds in sight. Rather, there were more bones of humanoid creatures laying about alongside with detached limbs with decaying flesh. Once again, the team was able to reach the end of the seventh floor with no problem, other than the sudden disappearance of fifty more expedition members, most of whom where the peasants that had volunteered for easy money.

"The lower levels must be infested with Undead," an experienced adventurer muttered to his party member. "But it's kinda weird how there's nothing on this level as well as the one above us other than whatever it was that's hunting us."

"Yeah," the other person nodded. Normal Undeads should not have any intelligence to even think of moving down to the lower floors. Shouldn't they just be wandering about?"

"That's what I'm confused on," the first adventurer crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And I don't get why we're continuing on with this expedition."

"Me too. I still have my fiancee waiting for me at home. This was supposed to be my last adventurer," the adventurer sighed and shook his head, shrugging as he did so.

The team continued onto the eighth floor, which was when things suddenly changed. The once so quiet city suddenly bustled with activity as enemies were finally spotted. Skeleton Warriors and Zombies roamed this floor, attacking whatever living being they set eyes on. With finally something to break the eerie silence, the team actually experienced a boost in morale as they could finally rest easy knowing that these Undeads might be the enemy that they were worrying about.

"Loganel right!" Tetsuya called out to Loganel as he blocked the incoming attack from the sword of a Skeleton Warrior, warning Loganel of the incoming Zombie.

Loganel immediately responded to the call out, knocking back the Skeleton Warrior that he was previously engaged in combat in in order to fend off the incoming Zombie. Loganel knows that he can't kill these creatures since the only way to defeat the Undead is with Holy Magic, which is usually only known by those who's occupation involves the Holy Church. Juliana, having learned from the Priest School, has knowledge of such spells, and Tetsuya, having being trained under a Paladin, both wield the keys to defeating these Undead enemies. What the others could do is only to stall the enemy.

Tetsuya let out a sigh as the Undead around them was cleared out. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah," Sheriel responded. "It's just...kinda scary."

"You tired?" Azura asked Tetsuya, who shook his head in response.

"Come on everyone," Tetsuya gathered everybody's focus. "Let's get to the end of this floor and stay cautious. I don't know why but I got a bad feeling about this place."

As they walked, they could hear the sound of fighting echoing in from other parts of the eighth floor that came from the other side of the tall stone buildings that lined the sides of the road. Occasionally, they would see Undead, but usually only one or two at a time, and if the fighting prolonged and they made a lot of noise, that would attract more. That was why they would often keep their noise level at minimal in order to not draw the attention of more Undead enemies.

"We should be nearing the end," Tetsuya reported to the others as he looked over at the map that Juliana held out for him to see. "If we continue at this pace, we should be right on schedule."

Suddenly, a loud howl could be heard from behind them, and immediately they drew their weapons almost as if it was second nature and turned around to face the enemy."

"Did I speak too soon?"

Tetsuya bitterly smiled as he entered into a combat stance, eyeing the dark street behind them awaiting for the enemy to arrive. From the dark street, they could hear footsteps of the monster approaching at a rapid speed.

"Everyone be careful," Tetsuya called out, readying his sword and shield. "This might just be the monster that took out all those people."

It was a tense standoff. Everyone has heightened their alert to the max level, concentrating their senses heavily on whatever danger that might be approaching them. This monster, hidden in the darkness of the streets, led Loganel to believe that it must be able to see clearly in the dark, which made him and his party members to be at a huge disadvantage. In addition, from its ability to easily kill more than a hundred people in the expedition team meant that this creature is a powerful foe.

Then, from the darkness, it lunged out. It's silver fur shined as the light from the torch illuminated it. In it's fierce yellow eyes, there burned a fire of hatred, and its sharp fangs were seeking for vengeance against whatever that had wronged it. This monster was a giant wolf, almost the size of a one story building. It pounced at Loganel at an insane speed, making it so that Loganel was only able to move out of the way at the last second.

"We need help over here!" Tetsuya unwittingly called out for aid, taking the risk of attracting Undead to his location.

Tetsuya immediately rushed to the front with Loganel, making it so that the healer and mage was behind them and protected by Azura, who provided assistance to them two. However, after arriving at the front and facing the beast, Tetsuya immediately recognized the fact that with just him and Loganel it will be impossible to contain this powerful beast.

"Get over here quick!" he called out to the other teams in their vicinity.

Tetsuya pushed towards the wolf, using his shield to protect himself from the wolf's sharp fangs and claws. As he distracted the beast, Loganel attacked. He coated his blade in fire Mana, and slashed at the beast's fur. However, Loganel's blade seem to merely glance the wolf each time he attacked, and the fire seems to be easily dispelled by the creature's protective coat of fur.

Meanwhile, as Loganel attacked, Tetsuya was doing his very best to hold the beast back, He had jammed his shield in between the creature's fangs, hooking his arm so that the creature couldn't back off, and essentially trapped it so that Loganel could hack away at it. However, he severly underestimated the beast's strength, and felt it pull on his arm almost as if attempting to rip his entire arm off just to set itself free.

"Hang in there!" Tetsuya heard Sullivan shout out as the boy stabbed his spear into the wolf's strong hind legs. The spearhead merely penetrated the fur and only part of the skin before the wolf, with a strong kick of its hind leg, knocked Sullivan into the air, causing Sullivan's spear to dislodge and fall onto the ground.

With the sudden distraction, Tetsuya freed his shield and arm from the beast's fangs and backed up. He regathered his poise and held up his sword in a combat motion. He looked around and discovered that Sullivan, Kaz, and Morgan were all surrounding the beast with Loganel, and that Teryani and Marilin were with Juliana and Sheriel.

We might have a chance, Tetsuya grinned as he suddenly saw a faint glimmer of hope in this battle.

Now facing multiple enemies in numerous directions, even for this wolf it should be a tough battle. It should've at least. The reality is that this wolf simply leaped into the air and out of the circle formed by the humans. From there, it became even more aggressive. It swiped out at Morgan with its sharp claws, ripping apart his protective robe and flesh, causing blood to gush out of his torso.

"Loganel cover him!" Tetsuya shouted for the closest Loganel to aid the wounded Morgan.

"Kaz get him out of there!" Sullivan barked out.

Loganel and Kaz immediately mobilized. However, with a powerful swipe of its tail, the wolf forced Loganel and Kaz to back up. As it did, the wolf glared at them as if warning them to not get any closer. Upon seeing that death stare, Kaz's cat ears drooped down in fear, and Loganel was stunned and unable to move.

"G-get away from me!"

Morgan tried to yell but as he drew in air, the blood rushed into his lungs, causing him to choke and cough up blood. He looked around the ground for his mace, and when he grabbed hold of it once again, he whacked the wolf with it with all his might. However, the wolf merely ignored it and placed its paw on his wounded torso and began pressing down.

"No please!"

Morgan called out in pain as his body was slowly crushed, until finally, his ribs gave way and his torso, along with his heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines within him, all were flattened until they exploded.

Loganel and the others could only watch in horror as they realized the power difference between them and the wolf. This wolf is the apex predator here, and they have no right to even challenge it if they do not want to end up being a crushed mush on the ground.

"Run!" Tetsuya shouted. "Whatever you do, stay alive!"

The group immediately started fleeing. As the wolf licked up the crushed flesh of Morgan, they sprinted with all their might, burning up all the fuel they had stored up from eating. In the darkness, it was extremely difficult to run.

Looking back, they could hear that the wolf has finished consuming whatever was left of Morgan, and was now chasing after them. They couldn't see the wolf for it was still a few distance away and hidden in the dark where no light could reach their eyes. However, they just couldn't help it but to look back in fear that it'll just emerge from the darkness and take another one of them.

Due to the extreme darkness of the road, Marilin tripped and fell over. Sullivan immediately stopped to help her up, but then, the loud howl could be heard once again as the wolf approached them. Sullivan looked at Marilin, who's face was red after having tears rolling down her cheeks from fear, and back into the darkness.

"Go!" he shouted at the girl and pushed her away from him. "We gotta go!"

Sullivan pushed Marilin along as they struggled to catch up with the others. From where Sullivan was, they were pretty close, and catching up to them shouldn't be a problem. However, it suddenly became one when in the corner of his eye, he saw a large claw swipe at him. It was as if time had slowed down as he slowly moved his eyes over and saw the incoming attack. However, when he had realized it it was too late.

Sullivan was thrown against the building to the left of the street, and the impact cracked the stone on the building and fractured his spine.

"No!" Marilin cried, but Kaz grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her forward so that she could only look on as the wolf dug its sharp fangs into Sullivan's chest, piercing his lungs. Sullivan's eyes appeared dead and deprived of any hope as he stared sullenly at them. No one could tell what he was thinking, but they all knew that he was slowly suffocating to death and was in extreme pain until the last second.

"Ahh Nooo!" Teryani cried out as she turned the corner into an alleyway and was greeted by a large swarm of Undead that were attracted by the loud noise they had made. "Get em off me!" She tried to push the Zombie's arm away from her, but the Undead had gripped onto her flesh and clothing tightly. "Help me!"

The others closed their eyes and continued on their escape. They know that there was no hope in rescuing her, and that who ever dared to do so would end up like the others: dead. All they could do is live with the guilt that they had just left someone behind to die, and they could do nothing to save her.

There was a sullen atmosphere among those that were still alive, especially for Kaz and Marilin for they were the last two of their party that were still alive. Everyone was tired, and all yearned to stop and rest. They entered a random stone building in hopes that they could use it as a temporary resting spot as they hid from the beast outside.

Inside the building there was a surprising amount of open space available. In fact, there were no furniture at all, which was quite weird when considering all of the other houses and buildings all have the furniture with everything laid out as if its residents just mysteriously disappeared. What was present was some kind of drawing on the floor that has now faded to the point that it was indiscernible.

"Are we safe now?" Sheriel asked.

No one answered her. Instead, everybody held their breath in silence as they listened to the footsteps of the wolf outside to see if it was going to enter the house or not. Their hearts pounded from the psychological stress and physical fatigue they were just subjected to, and it was so loud that they felt as if they could hear each other's heart beats.

As they concentrated on the wolf out doors, they didn't notice the green veins of Mana pulsing into the house, slowly illuminating the faded drawing on the floor.

"I think it's gone," Tetsuya sighed as the sound of the beast's footsteps suggested that it has walked away. "Is everyone alright?"

"A-Azura and Loganel are gone..." Sheriel said in a trembling voice.

"What?!" Tetsuya and Juliana exclaimed.

They looked around the room, and that was when they noticed the faded drawing on the floor. It was emitting an eerie green light which has now started to slowly fade. However, aside from that and Loganel and Azura's disappearance, all was calm as if nothing had happened.

Author's Note:

What do you guys think so far? And Happy Valentines day (when I'm writing this it is Valentines Day.)

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