I did not wish to take so long but to dive deep into a dungeon with so many unknowns. I had to make sure we had a way to fight any monsters. Diving in without proper readiness would just kill us. Even with Iena at my side, there is nothing saying we wouldn't get overwhelmed with just the two of us. Diablo had to stay behind to keep my mother from doing anything stupid. She seemed quite attached to Diablo, which made him the best choice even though Diablo was giving her the eyes of an abandoned puppy as I left.
We stood inside the dungeon, where I had everyone do a last check on their supplies. "Is everyone ready?"
"Yes, Boss!" Everyone shouted at the same time. I nodded, and with me in the lead, I once again set up a multi layered barrier on the tunnel leading to the exit to ensure our escape route.
When we got to the end of the tunnel, I did not exit right away. I turned around and looked at everyone before nodding to Iena. Iena stepped forward and waved her hand. A rope made of magic wrapped around everyone, tethering us all together but with enough flexibility to allow us to move around freely. "This rope will allow us to find you at any time in case we get split up. According to Master, the fog is quite thick, and one could easily get lost. So we will need to ensure we are able to find one another without issue. Also, since this place is probably an undead realm, you need to watch out for a certain kind of flower. It's called a Dream Flower. It is a flower that has an intoxicating scent. The smell alone will draw you towards it and put you into a hypnotic dream. So if anyone goes missing, report it immediately. Do not follow their tether! We do not all want to be caught under the flower's influence. Even we demons must be careful of this flower."
"Alright, you heard her. Let's get going." I yelled before taking a step out into the wet, muddy graveyard looking area ahead of me.
I have no idea if I was even going in the same direction as I was before. But I still moved forward. "Yell if you see any signs of someone passing through the area." This was the most important thing. I knew I had already mentioned it to them many times on the way down to the dungeon from the cliff, but I had to make sure they all understood that this was the most important part of our trip in this dungeon. We were not here to clear this dungeon, just here to find my father.
We made our way past the wooden and stone grave markers to where many broken-down homes were. It looked similar to the place I was at before but slightly different. The first house did not have a broken down door unless it repaired itself, which could be a possibility.
"We will search each house one by one. I will go in first to see if it is clear on the first floor. Any signs of anything, yell out immediately." I gave out one final order before heading to the closest house to us.
When we arrived, the old wooden porch creaked under my weight as I created a flame sword in my hand and walked to the front door. This one was slightly ajar and made a grinding sound as I pushed it open. I did not have to worry about knocking it off its hinges this time. Because Adel and Sophie were behind me to make sure nothing strange happened as I entered. They were not going to enter the house, and I was only checking to see if the front room was clear or not.
When I entered, I was met with a dusty, musty smelling room. I wrinkled my nose as I looked around. Once I saw that it was clear, I waved my hand at the others. Everyone quickly filed in and stood before me. "Work in groups of two. Do not split up for anything. If one of you is in danger, yell out at the top of your lungs. We can not risk anything here. We must be extra careful. I do not want to lose any of you."
"Don't worry, Boss. We will be safe." Steven replied.
"Alright then, Adel and Iena will form a two person group. I will go with Hailey. Sally with…." I made up the teams with the best possible combination. The reason I had Hailey with me was because she was still the weakest in the team, and I did not want to leave her alone. Iena was with Adel due to her status. I basically split up teams to have one strong and one weak person in the team in order to ensure everyone was covered.
With teams set, everyone split up. I had Hailey walking behind me, holding her staff, looking this way and that way. I could tell she was slightly nervous or maybe even scared. Maybe she isn't good with ghost stuff. "Umm…. Boss…." Hailey suddenly spoke up.
"Yeah?" I asked as I looked around the staircase for any signs of anything strange.
"Why did you have to choose the basement of all places!?" Hearing her voice quiver, I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh? Where is the valiant girl who was waving spells this way and that way during the last dungeon dive?" I asked in a teasing manner.
"This and that are different! We are talking about ghosts here!" Hailey whined. It seems that she really was not good with ghosts! This was quite interesting. I should tell Amanda.
"While they may be ghosts, they are still monsters, and you already know how to cast soul fireballs, so why are you scared?" I asked.
"Still ghos…. Gh…. Gh…. GHOST!!!!!!!!!!!" Haily suddenly screamed out, causing me to look in the direction he was pointing. When I turned my head, I was met face to face with not a ghost but what looked like a wraith!
