Dungeon Raider System

Chapter 156 Rocky road Part 1

Uriel emerged from the chamber of echoes with more questions than answers. Although successful, his investigation went in a different way than he expected and now he didn't know what to do next. At that moment, while he was still deep within his thoughts, the sudden realization of what had been bothering him for so long finally hit him.

"Where is Rocky?" That was the most urgent question he needed to answer.

While the serpent cryptid could have disappeared after being defeated, the same couldn't be said for Rocky. There were no signs of struggle, no blood splatters, nothing that proved that Rocky even set foot in the cave. Had he not seen Rocky climb down with his own two eyes, he would have doubted anyone entered the pit in ages.

He already figured out that the cave wasn't as big as it seemed which made the fact that they couldn't find any clues of Rocky's presence even more baffling.

"Unless..."

"Over here!" Someone pointed a gas lantern towards Uriel. "Sage?"

Amy's entire party showed up drawn by the rock grinding sound that came off from the Chamber of echoes without knowing what to expect. Even so, they were taken aback by finding Uriel showing signs of a battle in his armor.

"Yes, it's me."

"How do we know you've not been impersonated?" Amy asked but the one who replied was the driver after a quick check on his device.

"It's him, my scanner doesn't show any entity rank cryptids nearby." Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

"There's no time for all this, we need to find Rocky!" Uriel tried to hurry back to the entrance of the cave but his way was being blocked by the whole group.

"What do you think we've been doing all this time?"

"No," Uriel shook his head. "I don't mean it like that. Listen, I can explain everything on the way back but first answer one question. When we passed the chamber of echoes..."

"The what?" Everyone asked in unison not knowing the name of the chamber behind Uriel.

"The place where we heard a lot of voices! Anyway, when we passed that place, was it really you the one who said there was an entity rank cryptid nearby or was it a fake voice?"

"It sure as hell wasn't me!" The driver replied, much to everyone's surprise. The reason why everyone panicked the first time they passed through the chamber was because they thought the driver had warned them of the presence of a strong cryptid. None of them, not even Uriel, knew that the chamber had the ability to bring back echoes of the past voices.

"I figured everything out, there's no skinwalkers in this cave. Actually, there aren't any cryptids here either. The FOD that affects this place comes from a structure and not from any cryptid."

"Then how do you explain what happened to Amy? Something pulled on the rope, we all saw it happen."

"That was Rocky!"

"Impossible! If he found the rope that means he knew we came here to look for him." Amy didn't want to believe her close friend would abandon them knowing they came to his rescue, but Uriel didn't have any reason to lie.

"I know it's hard to digest, but hear me out. Rocky was about to become a heavenly rank, he followed the cryptid to this place and killed it as soon as he landed. That's why there aren't any traces of his passing.

Then, he turned off his lantern and hid somewhere near the entrance waiting for us to pass him and once we were at a distance, he pulled the rope, climbed the cave and left us stranded in this place."

"What you're saying doesn't make any sense. Rocky would never do something like that to us... we're his friends."

"There's a way to prove it. If it truly was a cryptid the one who pulled the rope, the rope will most likely still be in the entrance. On the other hand, if it was Rocky, my guess is he must have taken the rope with him to make sure we won't be able to use it to climb back up."

Amy wasn't willing to believe Uriel's accusations at face value, but at the same time, there was no harm in trying to find the exit and confirming it with her own eyes.

"That sounds good and all, but... we've been walking for hours and we're completely lost."

"This place is actually a lot smaller than it seems. In order to find the exit all we have to do is to take some distance from each other and light a flare. If my theory is correct, after climbing down here we entered a round maze and the only reason we didn't notice is because of the weird material it is built with."

The group did as Uriel told them and, soon enough, they were able to see how the hallway curved in the distance. They then found a concealed entrance that led directly to their starting point.

While his theory that the cave was a straight passage that led to a round maze was correct, the other reason why they couldn't find the exit so easily was because the gas lantern they hung up wasn't there anymore.

"No way! The rope isn't there anymore!" The female evolved whose trait allowed her to shoot light from her eyes covered her mouth in disbelief.

"This isn't enough evidence... I refuse to believe something like that." Amy shook her head even in the face of what could be considered condemning evidence. "Rocky would never..."

"Maybe not, but then... I've noticed how you guys treat the evolved in your party." Uriel wanted to make a point but the Driver stopped him.

"What does that have to do with anything? We treat them how they deserve. They're useless in combat and the only reason we bring them is so they can take care of the chores."

"I don't know what makes you think they're less valuable as persons than you are, but if you look down on the evolved, then... how would you treat the ascended if you were of the heavenly rank? Would you still believe they're your friends. Would you still want to share the loot?" Uriel's last question hit them with the hard truth. Something they knew in their hearts, but didn't want to believe.

"But then... that would mean... we don't have any means to climb out." Amy pointed out the obvious. The slippery pit was difficult to climb down even with the help of a rope, climbing it back up with nothing but their hands and feet was certainly impossible.

"Leave it to me." Uriel said as he placed himself under the hole. Even though no light seemed to enter the cave from the pit, the same couldn't be said about water and Uriel got soaked in just a few seconds. "I might need a push though."

Both ascended launched Uriel upward and he clung to the first rock he could grasp. Then, he activated Dash taking advantage of the strange properties of the pit that covered the light emitted from his skill.