Riven didn't reply immediately. He thought for a moment and asked.
"Did you by any chance see anything unusual?"
The Forest Princess replied in a playful tone.
"Now why would I tell you that?"
He didn't like the tone of her words one bit. Did she really see something that she was hiding from him?
He wasn't sure so he asked, trying to gather more information.
"I was just asking to know if there is danger around us. Can't you share even that information with me"
The Forest Princess giggled and said.
"Well I did sense a strong aura that really shouldn't belong to a newbie like you but we knew from the moment we saw you riding on Awakened Beast that you weren't normal. So don't worry there is nothing unusual."
Riven heaved a sigh of relief. That meant she had no idea about his subject. It was good… very good. But if they knew he wasn't a normal newbie then it meant he had to be more careful around them.
Just then he heard footsteps. He turned around and saw Null and Gravitor approaching them.
Null walked around the corpse of the Awakened Spider, stared at it for a moment before he turned to Forest Princess and said.
"You have killed the spider, good job."
Null then added a heartbeat later.
"But now we need to leave this tunnel as soon as possible."
Riven turned to Null and asked.
"Why such a hurry?"
Null replied.
"It's because the spiders are hunting us down… we need to leave this place soon."
****
Riven wiped the purple blood off his face using his hand as he continued moving forward. He glanced at his surroundings; even Null, Gravitor, and the Forest Princess were covered head to toe in purple blood.
Then he lowered his gaze, staring at the sword in his right hand. His sword was covered in purple blood and pieces of flesh stuck to the surface of his sword like gum.
He had driven the sword into the bodies of countless spiders over the past hour, killing them. Even though he couldn't use the sword properly, it didn't take much skill to stab through the weak flesh of the spiders.
Gravitor glanced at him and asked.
"When will we reach the end of the tunnel?"
Riven replied in a flat tone.
"No idea."
Gravitor didn't say a word and continued advancing. Although Gravitor didn't say anything he could tell he was very annoyed.
This wasn't only him… even Null and Forest Princess were annoyed too.
And who knew how long their patience would last. What if their patience ran out before they reached the end of the tunnel? Would they kill him?
Riven wasn't sure, nor did he wish to find out.
A few minutes later his worries disappeared. A few meters away from them stood a colossal gate, covered in moss and rust. On the roof, there were no signs of a web of string or any spiders.
Riven let out a sigh of relief and said.
"We have reached the end of the tunnel."
No one replied, they continued walking towards it, only stopping when they were arm's length away from the door.
Null walked towards the gate, put his hand on the surface, and his hand glowed dimly for a heartbeat before the glow disappeared.
Then Null's voice echoed through everyone's ears.
"At the other side of this gate is the Vrekhar base"
Null turned towards Gravitor and said.
"Break this door down."
Gravitor nodded. He pulled something from his pocket — a pair of gauntlets. Riven recognized them instantly. Gravitor slipped them on and moved toward the gate.
But before Gravitor could walk towards it, Riven asked.
"What if Vrekhar soldiers are nearby? Won't the noise alert them?"
Null shook his head and said confidently.
"There is no one anywhere near it."
Riven frowned and asked.
"How do you know?"
Null turned towards Gravitor and said.
"Hurry up Gravitor. I don't want to waste time."
Then he turned towards Gravitor and signaled him to continue. Gravitor nodded and walked towards the gate while Null stepped back, standing before them.
Riven didn't speak a word. He knew that they weren't going to tell him everything since he was just a guide not a member of their team so he silently stared ahead of him.
Gravitor drove his fist into the gate with everything he had. Each impact sent shards of metal flying, a deafening bang rolling through the cave, the entire gate shuddering.
The punching continued for the next few minutes until it came to a halt. When Riven looked carefully, a small hole had been formed in the gate.
Gravitor gripped the two ends of the hole with his hand and forced it to widen. As seconds passed, he heard the sound of metal twisting and expanding.
Then a heartbeat later, something snapping and twisting echoed throughout the tunnel.
When he looked at it again, a hole large enough for a human to pass through had been formed on the gate. However, the edges of the gate had become twisted, sharp, and jagged.
Gravitor turned around and said.
"Done."
Null didn't say a word instead he walked straight towards the hole while signaling them to follow him. Riven took a deep breath, followed him, and stepped inside.
The moment he stepped inside, he immediately took a good look around him. The place was pitch black but the enchantment of the mask allowed him to see clearly.
The place was drowned in absolute darkness, so deep that even shapes ceased to exist beyond a few steps. The walls and floor of the place were made up of brown bricks.
And an unnatural silence hung in the air, vast and oppressive, as though the entire world had been smothered beneath an invisible weight.
Even breathing felt loud there. The air itself seemed heavy, pressing against the skin and sinking into the lungs with suffocating slowness, while the endless blackness stretched in almost every direction like a bottomless abyss.
Then suddenly, Gravitor pointed towards a certain person and said.
"Look there, everyone."
Riven looked in that direction and saw a dim light — almost non-existent but still present. So they approached. When they reached it, Riven peered inside — and his eyes narrowed. Three Vrekhar soldiers knelt before another, one clad in heavy armor.
He recognized two of the kneeling Vrekhars. One was the soldier who had hunted him after his escape — the one he'd assumed Null and the others had killed but he clearly was wrong.
However, his attention wasn't drawn to him but rather the Awakened Vrekhar in the middle. That guy was the leader of the forces that raided his hometown. He might know the whereabouts of his sister.
"I must capture him…"