Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 153 Chamber of echoes

Uriel climbed down the hole in the ground with the help of the rope. Because of the rain, the narrow walls of the pit were slippery, but as an ascended he didn't have any issues going down until he eventually touched ground right next to where the flare they previously dropped had landed.

Although from above it seemed like an impossibly long fall, it was actually a short descent and there was a lot of spare rope at Uriel's feet.

"Amy! I Made it!" Uriel made a cone with his hands and shouted upwards but then he felt a hand pressing on his shoulder. It was the driver who was shaking his head. Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire

"It's no use, she won't hear you."

The reason for this was unknown to them, but no sound or even light could escape from the pit. It was a supernatural phenomenon without any logical explanation, though Uriel theorized it could be related to an active structure similar to those he found in Chichén Itzá.

A quick check on their cellphones was all the hunters needed to confirm they were in the vicinity of a cryptid but, thankfully, the device that warned them of the presence of an entity rank cryptid didn't react.

"Any signs of Rocky?" Asked Amy after landing, she wanted to get everything solved as soon as possible.

"No, but this place... Its strange." One of the female evolved pointed out, her eyes were projecting a powerful light that pierced the darkness. "My trait isn't working properly."

"How so?"

"It feels as if the walls are swallowing the light." She placed a hand on the wall and Uriel could finally see what she meant. The walls were made of a black stone that didn't reflect any light. They were able to see, but without the reflections it seemed as though the place remained dark no matter how much they attempted to illuminate the place.

To avoid losing their way in the darkness, they tied several ropes to the one they used to climb down and they also left a gas lantern near the entrance so they couldn't miss it even if they came back at night.

Since Uriel had already achieved his goal of entering the pit he decided to remain in the back of the group and avoid drawing any attention towards himself. He needed to remain focused on his own investigation and he also trusted Amy's party would be able to deal with whatever beast or monster rank cryptid that might show up.

It wasn't that he was avoiding to face insect-like creatures, or so he told himself.

"Rocky! Rocky!" Amy voiced out as loud as possible, but no answer came. "Well, we're already here, there's no point in staying put anymore."

Everyone directed their lights to different parts of the cavern to spot any entrances or hidden paths, though after a while it became clear there was only one way they could possibly go. They made their way across the underground hallway with careful steps, often getting startled by stepping on a puddle of mud or water, until they couldn't see the lantern they hung near the entrance anymore.

"Stop!" Amy commanded. "Something tugged on the rope."

"Was it Rocky?" The female evolved whose eyes produced light asked but then another tug on the rope made everyone fall silent as though expecting something else to happen. Everyone pointed their lights back to where they came from and, since Uriel was the last one in line he was briefly blinded by them.

As the leader, Amy was the only one tethered to the rope and everyone simply followed her. That was the reason why, when the rope was forcefully pulled by something in the blackness of the ominous cavern no one else was dragged but her.

It was a movement so powerful, had the rope not been up to hunter's standards it would have been cut off immediately and much to Amy's dismay, that wasn't the case.

"Someone catch her!" The driver yelled.

Amy passed by each and every single party member at a speed so fast they were all caught off guard. Uriel, though, was quicker to reach than the rest of them and produced his swiss army knife from his trait and cut the rope in a single movement.

Amy slid a couple meters more but she was fine and quickly stood up. Now they didn't have any means to backtrack their footsteps and they soon became disoriented.

"Shit!" Amy cursed.

"Who said that?" Amy cried.

"Strong cryptid nearby!" The driver shouted.

"We're going to die!"

"I didn't say that!"

What followed was a myriad of voices that made it seem the place was crowded by people, all sorts of meaningless conversations and complaints echoed infinitely in the chamber they were in. It was confusing, disheartening and more than anything, frightsome.

Everyone hurdled together while covering their ears and Amy took it upon herself to confirm whether their companions had been impersonated or not by touching everyone with her silver chain. She then made a thumbs up but refrained herself from speaking as the sound of a thousand voices made it impossible hear anyway.

They ran towards a random direction and followed the first open path they found trying to escape the unidentified enemy and kept going that way until it was silent again.

"What the hell was that!? It sounded like an horde!" Amy asked Uriel, the only one with previous experience dealing with skinwalkers.

"It could be just one, they can fake sounds and voices but something is off. Before mimicking someone they need to graze their skin and among us you're the only one who's been wounded." Uriel said looking at the small trickle of blood on her cheek caused by her getting dragged through the ground.

"Well, I'm still me." She said showing the silver chain to everyone, though they all seemed a bit distrustful.

"I say we go back and leave Rocky behind. We already tried to rescue him, but if things keep going like this, we're all going to die pointlessly." The driver voiced out what should have been everyone's thoughts, but Amy wasn't ready to give up just yet.