Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 154 First trial Part 1

The group walked aimlessly across the cavern for what seemed like days without encountering a single clue about Rocky's whereabouts or any cryptids for that matter. To avoid wasting their fuel too soon they kept a single gas lantern on, something that didn't bode well with them but Amy insisted since it was mentioned in the hunting manual that cryptids had the advantage in complete darkness.

But the rest of her friends didn't see things that way as a spark of distrust was lit in their hearts the minute she refused to go back.

It was already uncharacteristic for her to take risks, but the fact that she didn't even consider going back made them think she might have been impersonated. Asking everyone to turn off their lights also seemed suspicious, even if it was also a rational thing to do.

Fortunately for the group, one of their evolved was capable of emitting light from her eyes and it somewhat appeased their fear of the dark.

Once they finally settled down to rest they were startled by a low growling sound that came from a short distance.

"Sorry, I'm a bit hungry I guess." Uriel scratched the back of his head in mock embarrassment, something the rest of the group didn't appreciate much.

Although Uriel had shown to be a helpful member, all they knew about him came from the rumors running around about him in the Cryptid hunting agency which led them to think he had a twisted personality.

"Be more serious please, we're in trouble and all you can think of is food. Are you not an ascended?" Amy scolded.

"Maybe he lied about that too." The driver muttered under his breath.

"I don't think he's lying." Amy defended Uriel as she thought he had been honest with them so far. The fact that she saw Miss Dragonfang herself trying to recruit him was all the proof she needed to know he was actually an ascended.

"Of course you would say that, you two seem to be working together!" The driver accused. "You asked us to turn off our lights and got us stranded, it's suspicious to say the least."

"Hey! What are you implying?"

"To be honest, I'm not buying that silver can do shit to skinwalkers and you're also acting different. Maybe you two are skinwalkers that already infiltrated our party and you're trying to get us to fight each other."

"No way! It's you the one who wants to start a fight!"

"Fight? I don't want to fight you." The driver showed the palms of his hands. "But I think we should get separated. I don't trust either of you right now."

"I'm still the leader, if I say we stay together then we stay together!"

"I say it's time to go back and call for help. If anyone wants to come with me you're more than welcome." The three evolved looked at each other for a couple seconds before nodding their heads. "See? Even those shitty evolved get it." Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"You can't do this! I'm only doing what's best for the group, why can't you guys see it?" Amy said with a broken voice.

Uriel took some distance from the group and thought about their situation. Something was off, but he still didn't know what was bothering him so much. The obvious assumption would be that the driver had been impersonated and he was trying to get the members to fight but, even though their argument lasted a while, none of them seemed particularly interested in getting physical.

Had they not been inside a dark cave with mysterious properties and the possibility of encountering a shapeshifting demon, Uriel would have thought it was just a regular argument between party members.

"Hold on a second." Uriel interrupted the quarrel by lighting up a flare that blinded everyone. "No one has been impersonated and I think I know what we should do now."

"Great! You can go pound sand for all I care, now stay out of our discussion. You're not even a member of our party."

"Fine." Uriel shrugged his shoulders. "If you say I'm not one of you, then I'll just go."

"Wait! You can't go alone!" Amy tried to stop him, but Uriel wasn't having it. Not after trying to be helpful time and time again only to be shunned.

Uriel ignored Amy who was still calling him and realized that, even though their party seemed more professional, they weren't really prepared to face real situations. The minute something went wrong and they couldn't follow the manual anymore, everything started crumbling down.

After separating from the group he headed to the underground chamber where they heard all of those voices. Before entering the chamber, he lit all of his flares and threw them at different spots on the ground. Even if he was right and there wasn't any skinwalker around, it wouldn't hurt to be extra careful.

The whole chamber was illuminated thanks to all the flares he used allowing him to notice that the chamber was actually much smaller than he initially thought. Not just that, the ceiling wasn't that high and there wasn't any place where a skinwalker could have remained hidden.

'So, there really was only a single entrance and no exit. This means we came and went from the same direction.' Uriel inwardly thought after realizing the small chamber made a perfect semi circumference.

The whole cave gave the feeling that it was much larger than it actually was and the only reason they've been wandering for so long was because they remained hurdled in a single group fearing they might be attacked by a cryptid. 'But if that's the case, it would mean we passed this chamber many times already and yet, only the first time we heard all the voices.'

"Hello?" Uriel whispered after entering the chamber as an experiment, but as soon as he stepped inside the grinding of stone gears resounded all over the place and the entrance was sealed.

[System notice] The first trial to open the Chamber of echoes has started. Warning: defeat will result in death.