Just to be sure, though, he also summoned his runes.
[Demon fragments: 1062/2000]
Ray really wanted to thank his past self for this decision. Before today, he had gotten his counter to about 600 fragments, and since that was more or less, his first real kill of the day, it meant that this one kill brought him 400 fragments.
He also suspected the now dead sleeper to have 'only' been a castle guard. Those were given a sizable amount of shards as payment for their work, but compared to hunters, or the pathfinders, the veterans among the hunters, most of them did not have that many.
For a single moment, Ray's mind went to very dark places, before he shook his head, to get those thoughts out of his mind. Just now had already been something of a surprise for him. It appeared as too easy to take another ones life. Too easy in fact.
When he snapped out of his thoughts, he noticed how the others were already discussing their situation.
Having noticed the wetness of the surroundings, as well as the puddles of black water that were accompanied by the smell of sea salt, Sunny turned to their wonderful pathfinder and asked the first question on his mind, "Where are we?"
Effie looked at him for a second, then looked up, and shrugged, "A hundred or so meters below the surface, pretty much exactly under the city wall."
Noticing his gaze that appeared to realize something, she added, "You probably guessed correctly. Come night, this place is going to be full of seawater. The chasm behind us, is what prevents the catacombs from being flooded by the dark sea."
Due to listening in on the conversation, and also having grasped what she meant, Ray completed what Effie had been thinking, "So, we should get out of here, as soon as possible, if we don't want to be found by some depth dweller or drown in the dark sea…"
"Pretty much, yeah." Effie affirmed his statement, causing him to sigh in response.
Thankfully, the day was still fresh, and the cohort had therefore still more than enough time to continue on their way, and hopefully reach a high vantage point outside of the city walls.
Moments after Effie's response, Nephis stood up from where she had been resting until just now. She looked over the cohort, her face may have been pale, but her eyes carried her usual intensity.
"Lets go. Gather your strength, it is not time to rest."
All of them stood up, some groaned, but in the end, everyone was back on their feet, and continued down the only available way. Away from the chasm, and deeper into the catacomb's tunnel.
Most members remained silent, trying to regain their lost strength, or preserve what little they had left.
Ray much rather checked his memories' conditions. He first felt over the surface of his knightly armor, noticed multiple dents, but nothing truly serious. As for the rest of his stuff, his shield looked only slightly roughed up, its potential seeming to shine through. Stormpiercer, meanwhile had a few scratches here and there.
Right now, he wished he could send them back into his soul sea, but he couldn't.
Something was stopping the spell, Ray was already glad that his 'roommate' had given him this advice.
When he was finally finished with the few inspections he did, Ray was suddenly pulled into a conversation, "Hey, do you know how Effie knows her way around here? You have spent the most time with her, didn't you?
The relatively tall young man directed his gaze to the direction the voice came from, and noticed Sunny having come over at some point. Facing the question, Ray needed to think about it for a second, before he could answer.
"Well, my answer would be more speculative on that topic, to be honest. Whenever our conversation topics went towards, either the waking world or her previous cohort, she tried to change the topic or gave short answers.
You should probably ask her yourself, who knows maybe you will get a real answer." Ray finished his response with a shrug. Over the past few months, and especially since he went out hunting with her, he started to respect her. And with that came also consideration towards apparently sensitive topics.
Not getting a real answer, Sunny followed the advice, and simply went over to their pathfinder, to ask her directly.
To Ray's surprise, she actually answered.
"The knowledge about the catacombs is somewhat of a legacy that is getting passed on among the outer settlement hunters. In the group of the host that came after us, there must have been a hunter who had lived in the settlement, before he eventually joined the host.
As for myself, well I've been down here a few times, when escaping some really nasty nightmare creatures. But it has been only once that I went this deep."
Effie shivered for an instant, most likely recalling the time. "It was shortly after I arrived in the dark city. Back then, the strongest outer settlement hunter somewhat took my under her wing. We then went down here with an entire party."
Sunny responded with his usual partly sarcastic tone, "Yeah? That party must've been very strong to return from this place alive."
She merely looked at him once, and lightly sneered afterwards. "...who said anything about returning alive? Actually, they all died that day. I was the only to survive."
From a few steps behind them, Ray still heard most of what they said. He could only sigh inwardly, upon hearing the dismissive, tone Effie spoke with. In the time they spent together, he had long gotten to know that she tended to make jokes about certain topics, if she couldn't avoid them.
Nevertheless, as one of the few people he really considered a friend, it hurt, seeing her like this.
Sunny remained silent and in though for a short while, but eventually spoke again, "If they all died, then why the hell did you bring us here?"
Effie looked at him, threw a glance back at the others, and then shrugged. "Because no matter how strong that party was, they weren't even close to this one. Do you even realize how strong the seven of us are, all put together."
There was something else she added, but Ray couldn't make it out exactly. After that, he began loosening up his tense and exhausted muscles, preparing them for what would come next.
A few minutes later, Effie, after having just finished discussing something with Nephis, turned to the rest of the cohort, and signaled them to stop. "Listen up. We're close to the central chamber of this maze, and with it, the exit to the surface is right ahead. However, getting to it won't be easy."
The tall huntress hesitated, and then said:
"If we want to make it outside, we will have to act fast. There's a big fat bastard of a Nightmare Creature that lives in that chamber. However, it takes time for it to fully wake up. So… don't stop to look at it, don't panic, and don't lose your cool. It might look scary, but if you follow Neph and do what she tells you to do, you should be alright."
She then paused for a moment, letting the others understand what she had just said, before she grinned and continued, "Alright. If everyone is ready, then let's go meet the lord of the dead."
There was instantly one thought in Ray's mind, 'Great, that thing is a tyrant…'
All of them continued their journey, now even more tense, but nonetheless ready.
...Soon enough, they entered a giant underground chamber and everyone's eyes went wide for a moment.
The giant underground chamber was circular in shape, and as massive as the grandest halls the castle offered. Its wall were made out of the same gray stone slaps as the city wall, but here, there were also many streams of the cold, nebulous and black water, which covered many parts of the walls.
And then, there was the ceiling, in which a crack was letting the pale sunlight enter the harrowing chamber. A giant stone hand lay there, its palm open, and directed towards them – or rather directed towards what lay in the middle of the chamber.
In he middle of the open space lay an enormous pile of bones. Human bones. This pile reached nearly halfway to the distant ceiling, and must've consisted of the bones of thousands… no much rather tens of thousands of humans.
It was a truly chilling sight.
But for some odd reason, it looked mesmerizing to Ray. And also somewhat… familiar. A feeling as if he had already seen such a thing, long in the past, but simply could not recall.
Sadly, once more, there was not enough time to think, and Ray quickly snapped out of it, and got ready for what was to come. Apparently though, he didn't seem to have been the only one to have been entranced by the pile, if the shout from Effie towards Sunny was any indication.
"Doofus! Wake up!"
Sunny snapped out of it, and continued to look around with a bit more understanding and caution, compared to before.
By then, Nephis was already summoning her familiar golden rope, and when it had weaved itself into existence, was just about to hand it over to their charming archer, but then… then the tranquility of the underground chamber was instantly broken through, by the sounds of bones scraping on one another.
In the next instant, an enormous pillar of bones shot straight from the pile of bones, heading directly towards where the cohort were standing.
Ray did what any sane person would've done in that situation; prepare to dodge, and while doing so, seriously questioned his life choices...