CHAPTER 34: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS PART 2

Questions and answers part 2

34

Rouke looked at Alex and then at Sarah and said as he walked away.

"You tell him everything, I’m going to rest a little and try to think of something" leaving these words behind, he sat down next to Tiffany.

"You should sit down, it’s a long story" Sarah said bitterly as she sat on the cave floor, out of politeness Alex also sat down.

Sarah took a deep breath and began to tell her story.

"It all started on the first day, there were about 55 of us hunters, some of us were experienced hunters and were responsible for the urination, led by Rouke"

Hearing that there were more than fifty of them, Alex almost choked trying to imagine the horrors that reduced such a number to just three, Sarah didn’t notice the strange expression on Alex’s face, she continued.

"The first strange thing we noticed was that the monsters and resources we were supposed to find initially were absent, only a dark, terrifying atmosphere rewarded the dungeon"

She paused for a second to let Alex get his bearings in the story.

"And then, those things started appearing in large numbers, at first it was just that, large numbers and only low-level hunters died"

She glanced at Alex to see if he was actually listening and continued telling.

"When the hunters and spiders were killed on the battlefield, their corpses were dragged to their headquarters, can you guess why?"

She asked a question, but didn’t let Alex answer it, she continued narrating.

"The bodies were taken to their queen, and then intelligent spiders began to appear, some of them even had speech, some were strong and some weak, but they all commanded swarms, when this happened, death became a constant in each confrontation."

Alex listened attentively.

"When we realized that our numbers were dwindling while theirs were growing, we made a decision. At this point, there were only 28 hunters, many of us were already dead."

"Did you invade their nest?" Alex asked, to which Sarah responded by nodding.

"Of course, Daniel had located their nest and Rouke led us in a glorious battle to claim the queen’s head, but we failed miserably and only three of us managed to escape as you can see, but what did we discover?"

Sarah shuddered, her face turning gray as she remembered what she had witnessed.

"All the monsters that originally inhabited this dungeon, the spiders we killed, and our fellow hunters who fell in battle, were all devoured by the queen to spawn more mutant spiders."

Alex’s eyes widened in surprise.

"We had discovered why spiders, some looked like different monsters and others looked like humans and possessed intelligence"

A tear almost fell from Sarah’s eyes, but she held it back and continued speaking.

"We were forced to watch 8 of our hunters being devoured alive by the queen and seeing her give birth to a child who she called her king, 20 of us were spared and imprisoned, stored to serve as food for when the child emerges from the cocoon"

She looked up at the cave ceiling and said pitifully.

"Now we are nothing more than cattle, they continue to hunt us to feed their king, if it weren’t for us being devoured alive, I believe we would already be in port by now"

She looked at Alex and this time a tear ran down her cheeks she turned away to hide it and said.

"That’s more or less what happened, I’ll tell you the details later." She turned and went to a corner, leaving Alex alone.

Alex began to reflect on what he had just heard, the problem ended up being bigger than expected, he had to reformulate the strategies he had planned several times.

Unfortunately, even though he gave great information, Alex knew that the Blue Spirit Guild was still hiding something, but it didn’t matter if half of what they had said was true, so there was hope.

There was only one way to complete this dungeon, but it was very risky and depended on factors Alex couldn’t control, but thinking on the other hand, he couldn’t wait for someone to come and save them.

There were two major problems with waiting for rescue: first, because of the vast time difference, rescue would arrive in weeks or even months, and by the time help arrived, they would be dead and the spiders several times stronger.

Another problem was his own: with him here, who would rescue his sister? Would the Hunters’ Association save his sister? Maybe, but Alex wasn’t sure if the Association would do that for a one-star rookie Hunter.

Or perhaps, the hunters’ association would save the life of the acclaimed professor, whose deeds were a mystery, but when Alex remembered his mother’s condition, he abandoned any faith he had in the association to solve his problems.

Thus the night arrived and very quickly in the midst of thoughts, a new day began.

"Leader, Rouke, have you thought about what we should do?" Alex met again with the blue spirit guild, the sun was shining, although covered by clouds.

24 hours had passed and Alex had recovered all his skills, his MP and HP were at maximum, if there was a right time to make a move, this was it.

"We will wait for rescue, we are no match for these creatures before our numbers were greater, it will not be now that there are only three of us left that we will have any chance "

Rouke’s words held some truth, but if it were up to him, Alex was sure they would all end up dead sooner or later.

"Leader Rouke, I ask you to reconsider your decision. The time difference means that rescue will arrive too late, and as we speak, the spiders must be devouring their companions and becoming stronger."

Alex said with a firm and dignified look, but Rouke shook his head and said holding his large axe.

"More than anyone in this cave, I am aware of this fact, but I have a mission to fulfill, although it is unfortunate for my companions, they were aware of the risks of entering a dungeon, therefore, my answer remains the same"

Seeing the man’s resolve, Alex wondered if he had to fight with just his knight, his plan consisted of reaching level 30 and using the system reward he earned along with his class.

It would be very important to have Rouke’s help, he was a guardian with warrior and leadership skills, and Lady Sarah was a healer, having these two would be vital to his plans.

"The same goes for the two young ladies?" Alex turned to the two women and asked hopefully.

"I am the one who makes the decisions here, I believe my words were clear enough, if you wish to seek death, leave us out of it" Rouke’s brow furrowed as he said these words.

"Do you have any plans in mind?" Rouke glared at Sarah when she asked that question, she didn’t care just stared at Alex.

"Yes, I do," the words were spoken firmly.

"What’s the point of him having a plan if it’s going to fail anyway, not to mention that we won’t go, we have a mission to accomplish, do you still remember?" Rouke said before Alex could open his mouth.

"Okay, I won’t force you then. Good luck waiting for help."

Alex said and before walking with long strides towards the exit, but then a voice that had been silent the whole time asked a single question.

"Where are you going?" Tiffany’s beautiful voice sounded in the cave, Alex didn’t turn around, just stopped for a second.

"Where else would I go? Of course I’ll finish off the spider and clear the dungeon before their king is born and devours his companions."

Alex’s words were spoken with his passive skill, Aura of Royalty Lv1, causing a weight that could not be disputed.

"Wait, I’ll go with you" this time Alex turned and looked back shocked before giving a friendly smile, who would have thought these words would come out of Tiffany’s mouth?

It wasn’t just Alex, both Rouke and Sarah were surprised too.