Chương 50: The Graveyard Part 1

Almost a week passed before Damion heard from Arica. Apparently, it was not as easy as she thought it would be to find people willing to escort their group through a dungeon. In the end Arica managed to convince a B Rank knight in the Justiciar Order to accompany the team into the dungeon. Damion did not know for sure, but he felt the Justiciar was probably the one who had interviewed him twice. The morning of their dungeon mission, Damion met Ethan and Arica at the Adventurer Association.

From the Adventurer Association they traveled to the city center. Damion had never considered why the central part of Saung had its own set of high thick walls. He always figured it was to have the inner part of the city as a redoubt to protect the population if the outer walls were ever breached. But now that he knew the dungeons were housed in the central part of the city Damion understood it was to protect the rest of the city in the event of a dungeon breach.

While Damion and Ethan had never been in the central part of the city, and as far as they knew neither had Arica, somehow Arica seemed to know the way. When they arrived at a large building with a large metal door Damion guessed they had arrived at their destination. His guess was confirmed when Damion noticed a familiar Justiciar knight speaking with someone by the door.

"Greetings," the Justiciar said when he noticed Damion's group's arrival.

"I am told Mage Arica already handled the dungeon entry terms. Shall we go inside?"

"Yes, I think it would be best to complete our introductions inside the dungeon," Arica said. The man the Justiciar was speaking with pushed a button on a nearby terminal and the large metal door opened. Behind the door was large chamber that was empty except for a glowing archway in the center of the chamber. The Justiciar let Arica lead the way and she walked right into the shimmering archway. Damion and the others followed behind and an instant later were inside the dungeon.

From his previous life, Damion had expected a dungeon to be like those in video games from Earth. However, Damion did not find a cave or a castle with a maze to follow to find the end boss. Instead, they found themselves just outside the entrance to a graveyard. The graveyard was surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Inside the fence was what one would expect of a graveyard. Gravestones of varying sizes, a couple of mausoleums and in the back of the graveyard a small chapel.

"Alright, introductions," Arica said.

"I think everyone knows me, since I pulled all of us together and I think you all know Damion and Ethan, so I guess that leaves our final member."

"My name is Mathis Moretti," the Justiciar said as he removed the helmet that concealed his features.

"I am the executive commander of the Justiciar Garrison here in Saung. I am a B Rank knight and have agreed to make sure none of you die."

"And what is the cost of having you as our safety net?" Ethan asked. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"He gets to keep the spoils of everything he kills," Arica answered.

"And the entrance fee?" Ethan asked.

"The normal entrance fee for this dungeon is 10 gold per person, which I or Justiciar Mathis could cover for you two, but I decided to take the alternative entry fee option."

"Ten percent of our take?" Ethan asked shocked.

"That is correct," Arica answered.

"It will likely be more than the ten gold, but this way none of us have to pay anything out of pocket."

"Yeah, but we can't carry much in the way of materials from the Demonic Beasts. Losing ten percent might not be much more than 10 gold, but it will still eat into our profits," Ethan said.

"I guess he doesn't know," Damion said looking at Arica.

"Know what?" Ethan asked.

"I am a spatial mage. I can collect everything in the dungeon. Ten percent will be a lot more than 10 gold, but our profits will be much larger than most groups that clear this dungeon."

"Except that everything Justiciar Mathis kills is his alone. I'm guessing the ten percent will just come solely out of our share," Ethan pointed out.

"Justiciar Mathis' share is his own, yes," Arica said.

"But what we make by selling our shares to the Adventurer Association should be considerable."

"Don't forget, Ethan, Justiciar Mathis will only step in to save us. If we can kill everything on our own, his share won't be anything." Damion told Ethan.

"As Damion said, I will only step in if necessary. Though I do hope to make some money this trip." Mathis answered with a smile.

"Not that I want any of you to get injured."

"As soon as we enter the gate to the graveyard the undead will start to climb out of their graves," Arica briefed.

"The closer you are to a grave, the faster the occupant will arise."

"So, we should slowly advance together, to limit the number of undead we face at a time," Ethan said.

"Precisely," Arica replied.

"Damion, you are our frontliner. Ethan, you cover his flanks, stop anything from sneaking up on him. I'll blast anything that you all can't handle."

"Right," Damion said as he started moving towards the graveyard entrance.

"Damion, try not to incinerate the undead. The less damaged the Demonic Beasts are, the more money we can make selling their parts."

"Sure thing, I'll only use my fire attack glyph if I can't take them down with conventional attacks."

"Let's go then." With Damion in the lead, the group filed into the gate. As soon as they crossed the threshold of the gate the graves closest to the gate started to rumble. Dirt was being pushed up and after about thirty seconds a hand punched out from a grave to Damion's left. The hand braced itself on the ground and was using the leverage to force its body above ground. Damion looked around and saw another hand pop out of the dirt and was trying to unbury its body.

A quick swipe with his sword and Damion severed the hand closest to him. Another swipe and he took the other skeletal arm off at the elbow, leaving another undead struggling to climb out of its grave. A third skeleton had managed to get its upper half out of the ground while Damion was dealing with the two arms. Damion decapitated it quickly and started scanning the nearby graves for more undead rising.

Damion was very quickly happy to have severed the arms of the undead he had, as even more undead were starting to push themselves out of the ground. The skeletons so far had all been very weak, but Damion suspected ones further in would be stronger. Considering this was a C Rank dungeon, the guardian would be a C Rank Demonic Beast and the rest of the creatures could be anywhere in strength between F and C Rank.

As more skeletons dug themselves out of their graves, Damion continued to dismember some and decapitate the ones that were close to freeing themselves. By slowing some, it allowed Damion to restrict how many undead were a threat at any given time, but the rate the skeletons were rising meant that pretty soon Damion was going to be overwhelmed.