The group entered the cave and reached the first hall of the tomb where the ancient king built his gravestone, the pillars and walls were all in pieces and debris scattered around, time had consumed the structures however the pathways were trampled with slayers footsteps often so it was molded with impacts and separated from the dust that accumulated in the corners.
" Astrapede bodies, huh " said Drao as they came across some dead Astrapede around the gravestone.
Master Mayher walked closer and examined the sight, " Fresh cuts, it's not been long. Someone was here recently "
" But who could it be? the guild issued a notice to not enter the cave until the investigation is over " said Cyril as he looked around for clues.
" Someone who didn't get the notice? " said Drao.
" Hmmm, it doesn't make sense, whoever it was must be a slayer. " said Master Mayher. " Lets keep going "
They proceeded to the hallway which led them to the cave of Decay Strata, however the hallway was long and filled with night varaes. The Moonglow spell illuminated their pathway but with a hallway which was as big as a hall, it was impossible for the Moonglow light to reach every corner. As they proceeded in the hallways, noises of hissing and rattling became audible from the dark corners of the hall.
" Activate Magic Sensor, " casted Drao.
" Witch Spiders?, " said Cyril.
" Quite a few of them, right flank, " informed Drao as he scanned the corners with Magic sensor.
They unsheathed their swords as the noises became much closer and closer and out of the darkness emerged multiple Witch Spiders, as big as a horse which shoots net-like webs to entrap their prey and poison them with their venomous fangs. However, despite the number, They quickly annihilated the varaes in no time, they used fire spells and quickly dealt with them.
" They are still so ugly, no matter how many times I have slayed it! Yuck!, " Drao frowned in disgust as he squeezed his sword out from the flesh of a Witch spider.
" Burn their bodies before Legreeches feed them off, " said Master Mayher.
" Yes sir, " answered Cyril and burnt their bodies with fire spells.
" Lets go, " said Master Mayher.
They continued down the hall with ease and after walking for ten minutes they came across more dead Witcher Spiders scattered around in cold blood, fresh of wounds.
" No sign of magic, all of these are precise wounds with blades " examined Drao.
" Our intruder could be a skilled fighter class. " commented Cyril.
" Looks like an expert, " said Master Mayher.
" This seems like it just happened a few hours ago, " Drao remarked after carefully examining the body, the blood stains were still wet and hadn't dried up properly.
" So, he may still be inside the cave, " said Drao.
" That's possible, let's hurry, " said Mayher.
Following the usual pathway that leads to decay strata, they emerged into another hall, it was a throne room with huge stone sculptures of sentinel carved parallel to the pathway on each side. And at the end of the hall, just behind the throne pavilion, the wall had collapsed long ago and that opening was the path to Decay strata. However, the hall which should be infested with night varaes was unusually quiet for some reason, normally Astrapedes and Witch spiders would come attacking them but it was rather peaceful which was unusual of such a place.
" I don't like this, why is this place so quiet?, " said Cyril lifting his Moonglow high up in the air to look around.
" Has this anything to do with ' our visitor ' ?, " asked Cyril.
" Has the beast escaped here already?, " wondered Drao.
The group looked around the colossal hall, there was no sign of varaes, it was like they had fled the cave.
" I reckon, our visitor really wandered into Decay strata alone, " said Cyril.
" It seems like he did, see this boot prints on the dust, " Drao said.
" He is really brave to be wandering alone unless he is a master of some sort, " commented Cyril.
Without delay, the group ventured into the Decay strata, unlike the dungeon, the Decay strata consisted of multiple caves spreaded out and the height of the internal structure was as high as a castle, the tunnel lead them further down and they reached the first junction of the strata, where multiple tunnels and caves branches out.
" Activate Magic sensor, " casted Cyril.
" You sense anything?, " asked Drao.
" Yes, there are some Astrapedes hanging on the ceiling and some varaes far away at the corners, " responded.
" Alright, any sign of this visitor or the rumoured beast?, " asked Drao.
Cyril scanned around the surrounding and replied, " Nothing unusual so far, "
" He may be headed to the Errtoen cave, " said Master Mayher.
Errtoen cave is the next main big cave from the junction, Errtoen cave is filled with magic cluster mines and cave mushrooms, Flowsooer. As important that cave was already, if one walked upto the very southern wall of the cave, the entrance to Abyss strata could be found, although scholars have confirmed multiple routes that can lead to Abyss strata, a more recognisable one was located in the Errtoen cave. However, only few have really dared ventured into the Abyss strata out which only one returned back alive, the rest were all unheard of, although the survivor didn't obtain much any useful information as he was forced to run back due to an ominous presence residing in the darkness of Abyss Strata, he said even light seems to be consumed by the darkness of Abyss strata.
" Let's go then, " said Drao and began to proceed towards the tunnel that will lead them to Errtoen cave.
" Wait, you see that ?, " pointed Cyril and he ordered his Moonglow to move closer to the entrance of Errtoen's tunnel.
And what they saw was a pile of Nightcrawler bodies lying around and dealt with the same wound, the precise wound of the blade.
" Was there some sort of war going on here?, " said Cyril.
" He is really skilled to be able to fend off that many Nightcrawlers with just pure sword skills , " commented Master Mayher.
Nightcrawlers were a type of varae that can walk on both hind limbs and on four limbs, their body is hairless covered by grayish skin and their anatomy looked similar to that of a crouching starved monkey, one could say they are one of the few varaes that is humanoid in appearance but they are far from human, they don't possess intelligence and abilities like human, they may share a similar anatomy to human but they are entirely a varae, they hunt on instincts and with their elongated claws and limbs, they can climb rough surfaces and hang on ceilings.
" What amazes me is that normally Nightcrawlers don't group together this many, so what really happened here?, " said Cyril.
" Were they being controlled by something else? " said Drao.
" Unless, a higher position of the same species like how alpha wolf can command the rest of the pack, " replied Cyril.
" Are you suggesting a Nightdevourer?, " said Drao.
" The chances just increased, let's go! it seems our gallant warrior headed towards Errtoen cave, " declared Cyril.
The group headed towards the tunnel, past the dead bodies of Nightcrawler, and increased their pace slightly and finally emerged into the Errtoen Cave, Stalactites decorated the wave like design of the ceiling of the cave. The cave was filled with glowing Flowsooer mushrooms all over the place, clustered mines could be spotted here and there, it was much a bigger cave hall than the junction of the Decay strata.
And there in the center of the cave, was a dead body of a slayer, eaten half of the corpse, something fed upon it recently. They approached the dead body and investigated the scene.
" Is this our visitor?, " uttered Cyril while studying the wounds.
" Very likely, the footprints match the description of this man. " said Drao.
" Who is he?, " asked Master Mayher.
" Never seen the face around here, hmm.. he looks to be around forty, wrinkled skin, untempered beard, dark circles beneath his eyes, shrunken cheeks " remarked Drao. " Signs of stress too, "
" Claw marks and it's surprisingly deep, it totally lacerated along with his armor, its a weak leather armour of course but there shouldn't be any varae strong enough to lacerate through armor and wound a slayer this deep, " said Cyril still checking for other clues on the dead body.
" Unless there is one in here, " said Drao, " I have a bad feeling about this, "
" And look, the entrails are missing which only suggest it was eaten, " said Cyril.
Master Mayher kneeled down on one knee and checked the dead body's clothes and he came across a small plate carved with something on it. " A guild sponsored rank plate and he was an expert slayer, "
" A varae capable of killing an expert slayer, huh? " stated Drao as he looked around the cave once more.
" So the rumor is true, there is something here disrupting the balance of power, " said Cyril as he finished examining the body.
" I can only think at worst, a veteran Nightrotter. Although I haven't seen one, Nightdevourers usually have long claws but a Nightdevourer shouldn't be able to kill an expert slayer. " said Drao.
As they were busy guessing the source of the trouble amongst themselves, something moved up on the Ceiling and though it intended to conceal itself earlier, now it was bearing its fang and coming out of hiding.
" Watch out !, " shouted Master Mayher and they all looked upwards at the ceiling of the cave.
" What in the world is that?, " uttered Drao in a soft voice as he was frightened at what he saw.
A dark figure lay wrapped around one of the pointed stalactite hanging up there and it moved in a cautious attempt but it was letting out a murderous aura.
" That is no Nightrotter!. " said Cyril.
And it dropped from the ceiling and landed on the ground with fierce force, a humanoid varae, just like the rumors suggested, seven feet tall, extremely well developed humanoid body with composed muscles and limbs that resembled a human, however it was hairless and its body was covered with dark gray skin and the head, two horns protruded sideways and arch upwards in a diabolical beauty.
" My magic senser couldn't even detect its presence, " commented Drao.
They unsheathed their weapons and stood facing it, whatever it was they didn't know but they were aware of one distinct characteristic that suggests it was a Nightcrawler species, the hairless and gray skin. It stared at them with a calm expression on its face, the face was developed to a certain humanistic features, the nose bulged out like humans, the eyes had pupils but its eyes were cold and lacked empathy.
" This is really bad, I have never seen a Nightcrawler or anything that can stand like this and look at that heigh-!, " said Cyril.
" Cyril, we will cover for you. Run back to the guild and inform them of this calamity, this is no Nightrotter nor Nightdevourer. This is the ancient legend of Nightcrawler evolution tree, Look at those horns, it confirms the legend, I once read it in an old archive in Leberethian library. This is no doubt, The Nightcrawler Lord. " announced Master Mayher and with Master Mayher eyes like that, They knew he wouldn't lie at this point, Cyril nodded and prepared to run back when...
To their utter nightmare and surprise, it spoke, " Humans. Die, "