Chương 64: (B2 Chapter 15)

We were obviously never going to be able to move silently through the entire massive hall. So, we didn't even try. I lured two of the crawlers well past the boundary of the larger hall and within the smaller one. The hallway curved and once the larger hall was no longer visible, the crawlers let out a shriek of rage at having seen the group assembled. Lucas and Sam were out in front and took care of taunting one each, while the rest of the group were behind them.

No one attacked though, as we needed to see what they were capable of first. I already knew that they could be killed easily, but I had no idea about their attack capabilities. The crawlers rushed in towards Lucas and Sam, and once they were near, they paused for a split second where I saw their small hind legs bend, then they exploded straight to the two men. Lucas was able to get his shield in place, the crawler crashing into it with a thud and falling to the ground, shaking its head at the impact.

Sam, however, was a bit slower to react. He also raised his shield, but wasn't able to get it high enough before the crawler arrived. The crawler hit the top of his shield and bounced off, sailing over Sam and going towards the group behind. Omar, who had prepared a mana bolt well in advance, launched it at the crawler in mid-air, making it burst apart and shower everyone below in guts, blood, and general nastiness.

"Oops," he had the sense to say as Lucas drove his sword onto the crawler he was fighting and turned around, presumably to give Omar a disappointed look. Lucas's back was covered in dead crawler, and so was Sam's and basically everyone else was just covered in it. It was an extremely funny situation, for me that is, as I was far away and completely clean.

Once the crawler's bits and pieces had finished drenching everyone, there was a heartbeat of silence before everyone started shouting at Omar, who sheepishly tried to defend his actions. I held back a laugh and instead focused on the surroundings, especially from the direction that led to the wider hall. The group's shouts continued on while I kept an eye out for any crawler that was attracted to the ruckus, when I suddenly realized something. Their voices… they're too quiet…

I stared back at the group, who were bickering about loudly without a care in the world. Despite that, their voices sounded like I was watching tv on low volume. I was very familiar with these people, and I knew for a fact that they were much louder than what I was hearing right now. My mind went back to the start, when I had absentmindedly noticed the low voices that everyone was speaking with.

I had just assumed they were speaking softly due to the unfamiliar territory we found ourselves in, but now I wasn't so sure. I started walking away from the group, and each step muted their voices further. About 30 feet away, just when the bend of the hallway was about to make it so I would no longer be able to see them in a couple more steps, their voices suddenly disappeared.

I paused, then took a step forward, and I could hear them again, though I had to strain myself and concentrate to be able to make out a few of the louder voices. Taking a step back again, the sounds disappeared, but I could still see the group speaking and gesticulating. My mind went back to the crawlers, and how they are attracted to sound. Then I remembered the gaping holes in the ground that silently appeared and disappeared, never making a sound.

And now, this – dampening sound so that it won't be able to travel much. Ever since we entered this dungeon, an absolute principle that had accompanied us had been the silence. Everyone had sounded like they were speaking in hushed voices, even though they weren't, and the sound never travelled far enough away to echo back. Even my arm moving through the stale air of the dungeon didn't make a sound, no matter how fast I moved it. I feel like making any kind of sound is not something the dungeon likes…

As soon as the realization hit me, I snapped my eyes back at the group, who were now in the process of trying to clean themselves while I could see that they were still speaking with each other. I started making my way towards them, wanting to tell them to be silent. However, I saw something that made me pause. My eyes widened as I saw a hole, much larger than any I had seen before, silently appear over their heads.

"Watch out!" I yelled as I used quick step to rush at them. My shout probably didn't reach them, as no one showed any reaction at all. My enhanced perception allowed me to see a much, much, larger version of the crawler appear from the hole, preparing to launch itself down straight onto Omar, who was, as usual, the loudest of the bunch. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. In desperation, I did the only thing I could think of.

I raised my hand and let out a wind bolt aimed at a point in the middle of the ceiling and Omar. At the same time, the monster about four times the size of the crawlers launched downwards; claws outstretched to gouge Omar. Quick step ended just then, and the world sped back up. My wind bolt luckily managed to hit one of the large crawler's outstretched claws, making it screech in pain and retract its arms. I used quick step again, as the screech had made everyone stop what they were doing and look up in shock.

It was too late to do anything though, as the large monster crashed into the shocked Omar, taking him straight to the ground. The group immediately reacted, but my attention was on the hole as another one of these monsters had arrived at the entrance and was preparing to drop down. I launched a wind bolt at it, and this time, it struck true. The wind bolt pierced through its mouth and detonated inside, taking out the monster's face with it in a loud blast.

The monster's claws lost their grip due to the impact, and the monster started dropping down. A third use of quick step let me launch towards it, impacting it with my entire body and making sure it didn't hit anyone below, even though it was probably dead. The sounds of combat, now at full volume, reached me, but my eyes were still on the ceiling, where another hole had appeared. A large crawler's claws started appearing in the entrance, as another one of the monsters made its appearance in the first hole.

The spell I launched! It made so much noise that there is now a second hole! I looked down at the group and saw that they had managed to take out the large crawler, but there were numerous bleeding injuries on a lot of them, while Omar was down on the ground, bleeding profusely from his badly torn up face. Marcus was beside him and had just started healing him. I looked back up just as both the crawlers launched themselves down, the claws of two more appearing in the holes.

"There's more above, watch out!" I shouted, alerting the group to pay attention to the monsters on their way. I jumped high and towards one of the crawlers, my dagger glowing with piercing strike leading the way. The dagger hit its mark at the base of the neck and the monster stilled immediately, while my left hand released a wind bolt towards the second one. It managed to hit it in its body, and a second, much larger shower of bloody guts hit everyone below; however, no one complained this time.

I landed back down, kicking off the monster carcass from my dagger.

"They're attracted to sound, so keep quiet!" I said urgently.

"Also, keep your eyes on the ground as well, if anyone sees any holes appear, let everyone know immediately!" I wasn't sure how we could fight off these things without making a sound, but we would have to try. Two more monsters dropped, and two more took their place in the holes. At least they die easily… Over the next few minutes, these larger crawlers kept appearing, though luckily no new holes appeared.

I kept repeating about the importance of staying silent while fighting, but that was getting increasingly difficult. The frequency with which these monsters were appearing had kept increasing, and now two new monsters were launching from the ceiling every few seconds. There were now at least five monsters on the ground with us, with four more in the air and two that had just appeared in the holes. I looked around and saw monster bodies littered all over the place.

Sam was hunkering behind his shield while Hannah stabbed at a large crawler from behind him, Madelline's well-timed hex assisting them and lowering the pressure. Omar hit one with a spell, blasting it all over the place. Lucas had activated his ability a few minutes ago, allowing us to remain calmer than we would otherwise have been with such a crazy situation. My eyes met Lucas's, and he said what I was thinking.

"Run back to the entrance!" he shouted. We started backpedaling rapidly, moving away from the spawn point. As soon as we were clear, I launched a wind bolt at the nearest monster and the group turned around and started running away. Omar was luckily healed almost completely by now, so he could manage to run as well. Lucas and I covered their retreat – Lucas with his shield and sword and me with my dagger.

I was breathing heavily, and a small headache had started, so I knew I was running low on both stamina and mana. I couldn't take the time to open my inventory, take out a mana potion, and drink it, not while we were being pursued by about a dozen large crawlers. We soon reached the end of the hallway and entered the circular room, and I saw the moment the monster in the lead crashed into something at the boundary of the room, completely halting it in place.

I watched in fascination as the rest of the large crawlers also crashed into the invisible wall, crushing the few in the front. Looks like one of the dungeon tropes of there being a safe room at the entry point is thankfully present in this one. The large crawlers were now pacing back and forth at the boundary, snarling and repeatedly scraping their claws against the invisible wall. I kept my attention on them, in case the dungeon, or the system, decided that the safe area was no longer needed.

However, my fears went unanswered, as a couple minutes later, the monsters paused all activity for a moment, before turning around and rushing back down the hall, disappearing from sight. I let out a deep breath that I didn't realize I had been holding, and straightened. My actions were mirrored by most of the group, as almost all of them let out some of the tension. All except one.

"What in the bloody HELLS was THAT?!" shouted Omar, still with a little blood dripping from his face.