While the first year were puzzled by the reactions their seniors were showing, those who have graduated from the academy and those who have little knowledge of it were mortified.
Most of the participants in the fifth group looked mortified as they here murmur and whispered among the crowd about the dungeon.
Looking at their pale faces, some even thought of backing out of the tournament now after all the faces some people were making looked as if they were about to enter hell.
Though Lucas wasn't surprised by their reactions since Sanctum of Despondence was known for its eeriness what surprised him most, was how the hell did it come here in the preliminary round.
The Sanctum of Despondence was a famous dungeon in the Cyprus kingdom.
A few centuries ago, this dungeon suddenly appeared but there were no monsters in there. when warriors entered. Maybe it was cleared before it made an appearance or their chances of its monster being lay hidden and escaping the warrior's presence.
So, the kingdom made these dungeons a place to hold tournaments.
The tournaments and battles were going quite well until demons were able to invade the dungeons and bloody war took place inside the dungeon.
Demons and the humans who entered it fought with each other and many died but something unbelievable happened after that.
The bodies of the corpses rot but the skeletons were left behind and didn't decay even after a few years.
When more people entered the next year, they heard strange noises and sounds and saw illusions. Later it was found that those who were due here would become a ghost, so put it simply it was a haunted place for ghosts to gather.
Their bodies would either turn into an undead or if their bodies are destroyed there would roam as a ghost.
The chances of ghosts appearing world were quite low as the Church generally purifies the dead people so their souls don't turn into a ghost.
Since there were Gods and undead in this world, it made sense for the ghost to be there.
Similar to most games, the Churches were particularly adept at dealing with the undead but no one from Church entered the dungeon to cleanse it.
There had only been many small wars in this world over the past few centuries, so most humans hadn't seen a ghost before, inevitably Lucas was among them. Even in the novel, the information about ghosts was quite low and never appeared till the chapters he had read.
Moreover, this dungeon was locked and was inaccessible unless someone or something cause it to change the plot again.
So, it was inevitable that the students entering it would feel a little fear about encountering one.
The students frowned as they saw the creepy images and undead crawling from the ground in the crystal as Vice Principal Josh the inside of the dungeon as it wasn't shown before.
But to Lucas, it felt like an opportunity.
He smirked as he saw the projection and thought as if it was fate.
"The Ring of Karakarass, I had would be quite useful. I have found the nourishments and can get a minion." Lucas smirked.
He felt that this was just a mere appetizer that had been prepared especially for him.
Seeing the hesitation in Josh's eyes, Lucas knew they are not going to change it and it was making him more certain someone of higher authority had a hand in it.
Soon, all the groups were allocated to the dungeon. With the preparations being completed, the staff members led the participants to their respective dungeons.
....
It was common for the people to think that dungeons can appear anywhere and think that a dungeon was a physical location in this world of a certain place but it was a grave misunderstanding.
Dungeons were like tangible mirages, possibly it was a little similar to the concept of Schrodinger cat.
It would be wrong to say they existed in reality as they instantly vanished after being cleared, yet they were real.
Lucas interpreted that dungeons were locations similar to his dimensional plane, an alternate plane that existed between dream and reality.
If he hadn't seen the dimensional plane, he wouldn't have known much about it.
Sanctum of Despondence was rumoured to be a remnant of an ancient civilisation. It was impossible to tell which kind of civilisation was that since time had eroded most discernible information and that was why it was chosen to use in the tournament before.
Many guess that the Sanctum of Despondence was a part of another world that was cut off from that world and merged with our world in the form of the dungeon.
Lucas's image flickered, as a beam of light fell on the ground and it disappeared leaving Lucas in an unknown place.
Starting at the dense canopy forest and the moon that had been blocked off by dark clouds, Lucas heaved a soft sigh out of lamentation for all the rumours.
He knew something odd was going to happen again.
"Maybe, I have become a divine fate predictor for real," Lucas muttered and sighed.
He could see white apparitions glistening in his vicinity and he could hear incompressible whispers coming from all around.
A dark mist under the moonless night, together with the prying eyes and creeping malevolence, it was a standard cast for a horror movie.
Quite a terrifying place indeed, if he could add anything on top of it, it was dangerous, judging from the terrified cries filled with melancholy and despair which hadn't ceased for a single instant ever since he entered the dungeon.
Lucas looked around to see the white and dark lights fading and appearing out of thin air, along with the screeching sound of the rustling of leaves which give one a tingling sensation of despondency crawling under his skin.
But till now no one attacked or came near Lucas, the ghosts nearby were all appearing and disappearing taking a peek at the boy who appeared as they are curious about the boy.
The Ring of Karkarass that Lucas was wearing now was emitting an aura of undead which was similar to the ghost of the undead.
The ghost and undead distinguish others from sensing the aura of life unless they are at a higher level and have certain intelligence.
So they felt the boy was of their kind but although Lucas's life aura lessened the death aura emitted from him, making the ghost take a look at the mysterious living undead creature, it didn't hide all his life aura.
It was because his rank was too shallow to control death aura completely, moreover, he was not a necromancer.
Lucas's heartbeat started to hasten on hearing the shrill cries.
"Don't come here!"
"Damn it, can't these things be killed to death."
"While others are fighting at the medium level we are fighting in the dungeon of hardcore level," Lucas muttered as he heard sounds of explosion and bombardment.
Piercing shrieks, furious howls, explosions and clashes of blades. It had only been a few minutes since they entered the dungeon but it was already a turmoil in the forest.
It was all within his expectations though. He shook away all the unnecessary thoughts. He had only one thought in mind, the silver sphere of light located in the distant sky that was falling in the middle of the dungeon, in ancient ruins.
