Chương 157: Chapter 154: Bonfire

The darkness devoured us the moment our feet left the platform. Within seconds, I saw nothing. I couldn't confirm whether all of us had jumped, or what we were falling towards; all I knew was that Lune stuck to my shoulder once again, her warmth comforting me in the descent. She didn't seem to be afraid. We must have been falling for a good couple of minutes, but there was no end to it.

Whether something truly moved down here, I didn't know, although if something was lurking around, we'd have had no way of fighting back, so ultimately, there was nothing I could do. Eventually, we seemed to have crossed a threshold of sorts, because the sound suddenly came back. The wind blew again, and I could hear it crystal clear, clearer than I'd heard anything in the last hour. And I also felt the fall. Before, it was like a thin but solid sheet that slowed me down — it was not unpleasant at all.

Now, my stomach had lifted as I took up speed, and I wasn't weightless anymore.

"Anyone hear me?" Alice shouted, her voice distant but definitely clear.

"I'm here," I answered.

"So am I," Cyrus said somewhere to my right.

"I hate this," Denxy shouted, and one by one, the others answered.

"Can anyone see the bottom?" Alice asked.

"No," Alysanna replied.

"No," Rafael said.

"I see only glory," Verdugo called.

"Of course you do," Talion said immediately. The darkness swallowed a few nervous laughs, but the sound at least made the fall feel less like being erased and more like, well, a fall. Lune suddenly lifted her head as a faint sound got mixed into our voices. Water. A stream loud enough I could easily distinguish it from anything else, and a second later, cold air rushed past my face.

"Water below!" I shouted.

"Brace!" After a fall this long, water should be no different from solid ground. The darkness thinned enough for me to see a black surface beneath us, reflecting faint blue-green specks from somewhere high above. It was a lake. A massive one at that. Vast enough that I couldn't see its far side at first, only the suggestion of stone walls and distant glowing mineral veins. I braced for impact. Thankfully, it wasn't fatal. In fact, I suffered no damage at all, but the hit still drove the breath out of me.

Cold swallowed everything. I went under hard, armor dragging at my limbs, bow secure across my back but suddenly much heavier. Lune was still on my shoulder for half a second, then she kicked away from me, paddling toward the surface with surprising competence. I pushed upward. The water was dark enough that up and down had to be found by instinct. My lungs burned by the time my head broke the surface. I dragged in air and coughed. Around me, the lake exploded with other players surfacing.

"Everyone up?" Alice shouted.

"Up!" Denxy called, then immediately coughed.

"That was not fun in heavy armor!"

"Verdugo, you're a liar," Leona said.

"I still hate this cave."

"I'm sorry, hermana," Verdugo coughed.

"But it is still not over, so I'm no liar yet."

"Talion?" Alysanna asked, and the Cleric answered a second later.

"Alright," Alice said.

"Shore. Find shore." It took me a few seconds to orient myself. The lake stretched through a cavern so large it was difficult to judge the scale. The ceiling was somewhere far above, lost in darkness except for scattered patches of blue-green light clinging to the stone like stars reflected underground. Pillars rose from the water in the distance, thick enough to be towers, and some were joined by natural bridges or broken pieces of ancient masonry.

The shore was visible to our left, a long slope of black stone and sand leading up into a wider cavern. No enemies or any kind of dungeon mechanics were visible. Swimming in armor was not pleasant, even in Godsrealm. The system helped enough that nobody sank like a stone, but it was still a workout. Denxy looked like a fortress trying to imitate a boat. Corral moved with stubborn, steady strokes, while Verdugo somehow managed to swim while keeping his axe visible above the water, as if it was not waterproof.

Lune reached the shore before most of us, shook herself, then stood on the stone and watched me struggle toward her with what looked like judgment.

"Don't mind me," I muttered when I dragged myself onto the shore. She sneezed. We pulled ourselves out one by one. Alice was among the first, immediately turning to help Carmen and Desirae up the wet stone. Rafael climbed out beside her and then grabbed Denxy by the arm. Somnus emerged from the lake looking like a drowned nobleman, only much more shadowy and mysterious. His dark robes clung to him, his hair hung in his face, and his expression suggested he had many thoughts and none of them polite.

Redcap looked him over.

"You okay?"

"No."

"Injured?"

"Does 'emotionally' count?" Scale crawled onto the stone and collapsed on his back.

"I never thought I'd miss the bat."

"Do not say that," Talion said from beside him.

"It might hear you."

"Good. I want it to know." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Alice waited until the last player was ashore before she relaxed slightly.

"Status check." The raid answered properly this time. Health bars were stable. Mana was recovering. No lingering drowning debuffs, though several of us had a Waterlogged status that reduced movement speed by fifteen percent and, according to the tooltip, would fade once we warmed up or dried off. I sat on a flat rock and wrung water from my cloak.

"I hate realism," Carmen said, twisting water out of her sleeve.

"At least you're not wearing full plate," Denxy said.

"You'll dry fast." She looked at his armor.

"You sound jealous."

"I am jealous. I am also ninety percent water by weight now." The cavern beyond the shore opened wide. It wasn't just a lake chamber; it was a resting hollow, or at least had once been one. The stone sloped upward into a broad floor of dark rock, smoothed by the lake. Old carvings lined parts of the wall, but they were faint, worn down by moisture and time until most of the figures had become little more than outlines. Unlike the roost above, this place felt completely forgotten.

In the middle of the cavern stood a circular platform made of stacked black stone. It was waist-high and maybe four meters across, with a shallow bowl carved into the center. Around it were benches cut directly from the rock, arranged in a loose ring. At first, I thought it was another altar, and my hand went toward Spriggan's Will out of reflex. Then I saw the old charcoal marks.

"It's a fire pit," I said.

"A very fancy fire pit," Alysanna noted.

"Bonfire platform," Cyrus agreed.

"And unless the dungeon is being crueler than usual, this is probably a rest point." Alice approached it carefully, sword still in hand.

"Any traps?" Scale and Mano Roja moved before anyone asked, circling the platform and checking the edges. Adaptive joined them, silent as always. After a minute, Scale tapped the stone with his dagger hilt and nodded.

"No traps I can see."

"Same," Mano Roja said.

"There's even wood here," Diego said.

"And it's not rotten away. This was waiting for us." Cyrus lifted one hand.

"Finally, something I'm overqualified for." We put all of it inside the pit. A small flame sparked above his fingers and drifted into the carved bowl. The moment it touched the wood and old charcoal, the entire platform caught. The bonfire rose high. Orange and copper flames curled upward, giving off heat and light that spread across the cavern in a wide circle. The wet stone glistened. Shadows retreated from the benches. A second notification appeared.

Rest Point Activated: Lake of the Lower Gate Players within the bonfire's warmth recover from Waterlogged at increased speed. Out-of-combat regeneration increased. Duration: 59 minutes, 55 seconds Once the duration wears off, players will gain the Well Rested bonus.

"That answers that," Cyrus said.

"One hour," Alice noted.

"We use it." Nobody argued. We gathered around the fire with the kind of relief that came only after surviving too much in a row. Weapons were still within reach, and no one sat with their back fully to the dark, but the raid loosened. Helmets came off, cloaks were spread across benches, even gloves were removed and placed near the fire. We weren't sure it helped, but there was no point in not trying.

The first time I was submerged in water, my underwear had dried up after equipping my clothing items, however that was different. I took them off before getting soaked. Camazotz should have warmed us, I thought. We produced food from our inventories one by one, and within a few minutes the ancient bonfire platform of Xibalba had turned into the strangest picnic I'd ever attended. Lune curled near the edge of the fire, close enough to enjoy the warmth.

Her fur had puffed up after the swim, making her look twice her normal size and significantly less dignified. I decided not to say that out loud.

"She looks like a wet fox-shaped dandelion," Talion said, echoing my thoughts. Lune opened one eye. Talion leaned slightly away from her.

"A noble dandelion." She closed her eyes again, and I grinned. I settled on one of the benches and checked my interface again.

"Communication is blocked," I noted.

"Was it like that throughout the entire dungeon?"

"Ever since the caves," Cyrus nodded.

"It is quite worrisome, to be fair." He sat across from me, staring at the same notification.

"I don't like this."

"The cave?" Desirae asked.

"The silence." He dismissed the interface.

"Athos and Blue were supposed to keep me updated on the seal rotation. If a Field Boss spawned while we were in here. If Second Wind found a Guild Creation Tablet, I won't know. If Crimson Court found one, I won't know that either."

"Would knowing change anything right now?"

"No," he admitted.

"But I would still like to." Alice leaned forward, elbows on her knees, her hair still wet from the lake.

"King's Glade has the same problem. I can't reach Phantom, and our Serendine people were preparing another boss sweep. Being cut off this long is rare."

"You have a Tablet already," I pointed out.

"Yes, but that's not the only important thing," she answered.

"I have no idea what's happening outside, and with the Crimson Court ambush from before, I very much would like to know."

"Same," Somnus said from where he sat beside Redcap.

"Ajax was getting ready to tackle the Wolf Queen this morning."

"Wolf Queen?" I asked.

"Field Boss in Shademere Forest," Redcap said.

"Summons Shademere Wargs, and it's really damn fast." That sounded like an interesting fight. Verdugo leaned back against a bench, boots steaming near the fire.

"Second Wind will get the next one." Cyrus glanced at him.

"Confident?"

"Yes, amigo. Either Athos gets one, or we do in here." That didn't cross my mind, yet, although it was very much plausible. Avalon had gotten theirs from a dungeon, or so I've heard. And this expedition was two-thirds Second Wind. King's Glade didn't need one yet. That left Somnus, Redcap and me, and the latter two was thinking the same thing.

"We are hear because we owed Lothras," Redcap shrugged.

"So Midnight Sun forfeits their right to a Tablet if one drops."

"What he said," Somnus murmured.

"Just less formally." The conversation drifted after that. Denxy and Rafael compared shield skills, then argued about whether knockback resistance was undervalued compared to raw defense. Alysanna asked me about Spriggan's Will, while Cyrus and Somnus discussed potential cooperation between their two guilds. At some point, Desirae started passing around spare food from her inventory.

It was a simple stew stored in small clay containers, and when heated near the bonfire, it became the best thing I had eaten in a while. Maybe that was the exhaustion talking, but Godsrealm had a way of making simple meals matter, especially when they came after a fight that had reduced eighteen players into three standing and fifteen waiting behind a sealed door. The Waterlogged debuff had already faded. My cloak was dry enough to wear again, though it smelled faintly of lake water and smoke.

Lune had stopped looking like a dandelion. The Gloves of the Roost-Hunter sat in my inventory, so I gave it a closer look. Host of the Hunt still looked absurdly good. Not solo-friendly, though. Maybe Godsrealm was trying to tell me something. Or maybe I was reading too much into loot because I'd been underground too long.

"Dangerous face," Alice said. I looked up. She had sat down beside me at some point.

"What?"

"You were thinking too hard."

"I do that sometimes." She nodded toward the non-existent ceiling.

"You did well up there."

"So did you."

"I know." I laughed. She smiled faintly, then looked toward the path leading away from the cavern.

"I mean it. The last phase would have ended badly without your calls."

"It would have ended badly without Cyrus's damage, your Thunderstorm, and everyone else buying us the time to reach that phase," I said.

"Camazotz was pretty clear about that."

"He was." Across the fire, Cyrus stood and stretched.

"Ten minutes." The announcement shifted the mood immediately. Conversations quieted. People checked equipment, closed inventory windows, drank water, ate the last of their food, and made sure they still had enough potions. If someone didn't, we pooled a couple together. I stood, and Lune jumped onto my shoulder without being asked.

"You ready?" I asked her. She looked toward the far end of the cavern. There, beyond the reach of the bonfire, a path led downward between two leaning walls of black stone. It was wide enough for the raid to move through in formation, but the angle was steep, and the darkness beyond it had a different texture than the cavern. It felt closer to the thing below. The rest timer reached zero.

We gained the Well Rested bonus, granting us 5% extra experience, and the bonfire's warmth retreated a little, as if the dungeon had politely informed us that comfort was no longer the focus.

"Back to work," Denxy said, lifting his shield.

"Unfortunately," Talion replied. That earned an elbow-hit from Alysanna.

"Don't be such a mood-killer." Verdugo rolled his neck and grinned.

"Into the true depths, then." We left the bonfire behind. The warmth faded step by step, replaced by cold air rising from below. The underground lake grew quiet at our backs. And the darkness swallowed us once again.