As soon as Colt set foot on the first step, the stairs began to glow with blue lines. The soft light illuminated the path for them as they steadily descended into the earth. Once all three of them were partway down the staircase, the doors above them slowly ground to a close. Creating a loud bang as they did so.
Colt frowned because he knew that loud noises like that one were usually meant to provide an atmosphere for the rest of wherever a player was exploring. 'This doesn't look good. It reminds me of dungeons in other games. I thought this was meant to be a simple quest that just had a few extra mobs?'
"Hey Exile, you still sure we're enough for this?" Donna asked with a smirk as she noticed the look on his face.
"Maybe. Once we see what we're up against, we can make a decision." Colt quickly replied to stop her from saying anything else. He did not want them to get cold feet or lower their own morale.
It took them at least ten minutes to get halfway down, and from there, they could see a pair of giant blue stone doors that should lead deeper inside. Colt paused as he judged their height and decided that this Quest was most likely a bad idea right now. It was giving him the vibe of needing a complete party.
"Yeah, screw this. I know it's worth five stat points for everyone, but this doesn't look good." Donna decided to say her own thoughts first just to make it clear where she stood.
"I'd like to have a look, but I have to agree with Donna. I'm not as strong as you two, so I'll probably die in there." Beans refused to take her eyes off of the doors as if she were afraid that they would open up at any minute.
The pair did not even wait for Colt to say anything, choosing to turn back on their own. The moment that they took the first step back to the surface, Colt pounced into action.
"Run!" Colt yelled as he slammed his shield into a boney arm that suddenly shot out of the dirt wall to try and grab Donna!
[You have attacked Lost Soul (Weakened)]
[Divine Power Damage Check… Enemy Endurance 2. Your Endurance 10. Your Divine Power is superior. You have dealt -8 HP.]
[New Milestone: Lost Soul (Weakened): 1/100]
The hand burst into black dust as he struck it. However, the walls had come alive with wriggling boney limbs as they tried to pull their bodies from the dirt.
"They're weak! Just force your way through!" Colt shouted, thinking that this would be easy as he smashed two more with his axe. A scream interrupted his thoughts from up ahead as he sensed Beans' HP take a sharp dip!
"Don't let them claw you! Their attacks are based on Authority, and it's rated at 10!" Beans shouted down to Donna and Colt as Lost Souls started to fill the staircase ahead of them like a wall.
Colt studied how they looked. They were blackened skeletons wearing degraded commoner-like clothing. Not a single one had a weapon or armour. 'If their Authority is at 10, then they can't hurt me as long as I block with the shield. But if they swarm me, they can do a steady stream of minor damage until they wear me down.'
Colt felt like something was not right as he cleared a path towards Beans. He made use of the empty space at the end of the stairs by forcing several of these Lost Souls off at once. Unfortunately, it did not count towards his new Milestone. When he glanced over the edge, he noticed that they were still moving.
'I guess they don't take fall damage.' As he glanced towards the top, he noticed more and more of these mobs filling the stairs. It almost felt like an impossible task for the three of them to return to the surface.
Donna yelled as she grabbed one of the Lost Souls and pummelled it with her fist while Beans screamed like a woman possessed, and Sparta kicked the closest mob off the edge. Colt focused on blocking any attacks aimed at them to preserve the team's health as much as possible. The weight of the crowd above them pushed down as they clawed at them, dealing damage.
'We can't last like this. Even if I use Bonfire.' Colt cursed as his Lost Soul (Weakened) Milestone updated to 17/100. 'Wait. This is supposed to be impossible!'
Colt glanced back down the staircase and noticed the crowd was significantly smaller in that direction. Most of them appeared to be the Lost Souls that their group had thrown off the edge!
"Guys! We need to go down! Trying to get out of here is the trap!" Colt shouted to make the women shift their offensive to the other direction.
"Are you mad! What will we do if they all crowd in behind us?" Donna shouted over her shoulder.
"And what will you do if we get to the top, but the doors don't open? Look at the situation! It seems like they're trying to prevent us from escaping, but I think that's to distract us from the real answer!" Colt shouted back as he broke away from them to force his way downstairs.
"Damn! Beans, let's go after Exile! We can't make it through these mobs without him anyway!" Donna growled as she became pissed off with Colt for leaving them behind.
Colt swung his axe from side to side as he ducked between a pair of groping hands, sending two more Lost Souls to oblivion in the process. Colt started to ignore many of the attacks and focused more on clearing the path as quickly as possible.
[Lost Souls (Weakened): 23/100]
[29/100]
[37/100]
Colt panted as he finally set foot on the ground in front of the blue doors. 'Almost there!'