Chapter 82: The Grave of Dreams I

  “Thanks to Janette we are here a day earlier than planed.” Rita said and Janette answered over com “You are welcome.”. Grace made a move to strangle Janette but Marcus held her back. “No matter the costs, this is a good thing. Every day earlier increases the chances that we are the only raid team down there.” Alistair Cromwell said, using centuries of English manners to keep his calm. Marcus let go of Grace, who had calmed down too, and looked around the dust covered ruins.

  They stood at the entrance of some large structures, or what was left of them after eons of this horrible atmosphere had ground them down. You could barely see twenty meter far and all that was to see was black stone rubble, collapsed walls and broken pillars.

  The whole raid slowly made their way to the expected entrance, everybody was sore with the exception of Janette who had a spring in her step. They were a larger force than Marcus was used too. Besides the ten class holders four autonomous robots, “Mules”, followed them. The machines were a heaven sent for any raid. They looked a bit like mechanical cows, or mules, and their long cylindrical body could be filled up with up to half a ton of cargo. Besides that they were very mobile and reasonably sturdy. They carried a lot of the provisions, ammunition, reserve weapons for the raid and later they would hold most of the spoils they would find. Hopefully.

  After only five minutes they came to a part of the ruins where the ground had sunken in. Or the structure underneath had collapsed, depending on your view point. The team gathered around the slope and torches from their armors illuminated the dark entrance way. “If there is really such a large structure underneath than there must have been a proper entrance nearby.” Carlos said looking at the sad excuse to a dungeon entrance. “Definitely. But it must have collapsed or we would have found it years ago.” Mr. Cromwell said. “Good news, bad news.” Janette quickly said and raised her machine gun in the direction of the entrance. “Monsters do have an aura. But we also have INCOMING!”

  While their new allies looked a bit dumbfounded, the clan went into combat mode, as they knew what Janette was talking about. Marcus went to the front and ditched his backpack. The rest spread out and seconds later several agile bodies shot out of the hole below and towards the raid team. The ranged class holders acted first and Marcus realized that their allies were not lacking behind. They had adapted to the situation without much fuzz. Several of the monsters went down to concentrated gun fire and metal fragments. One beast staggered and fell over its body strangely twisted and blood dripping out every orifice. Only one made it to Marcus, who welcomed it with a haymaker. The agile body bent, shattered and flew in pieces down the slope. “That’s it for now.” Janette said and they relaxed.

  Marcus stepped closer to one of the better preserved corpses and gave it a look. It was four legged, with brown to black skin and about the size of a very large dog. It had a bulky head with horns and a jaw full of nasty teeth. But that was not what stood out the most “Is this metal?” Achara poked the spine of the monster with her blade and it made a metallic sound. The spine looked like a metal construction that had been grafted onto the monster. The same was true for the large metal claws on the front legs of the beast.

  More people came and looked at the weird implants, “Can monsters have metal pieces in them?” Marcus asked and Kou said “We know monsters are somewhat based on their environment. Maybe, if there is a large metal construction underneath they were made like this?” Rita moved on the corpses over and revealed more metal on the chest. “I doubt that. Look at those cuts and anchors. This looks like something that was done on purpose. The devil knows why and who did this.”

  “Well done everybody.” The lords voice brought everybody back to the task at hand. “We faced our first challenge and mastered it without any problems. If I may ask what do you mean with “aura” Janette?” He smiled under his rebreather and Janette shrugged her shoulders “It is my Game Changer, I can see auras around class holders, and as it turns out monsters, too. Works through walls and a bit more than a hundred meter distance.” She explained and Hammond whistled, while the others looked stupefied.

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  “You mean… you can see everybody, all the time, through walls.” Rita said with a strained voice. Janette nodded and did not react at all to her distress. “That is how it is. Good thing it works against monsters too. They have a nasty grey aura.” she said and Mr. Cromwell clapped his hands. “This is phenomenal Janette. This ability is invaluable for any dungeon raid. Why have I never heard of it before?” He asked and Janette answered with a honey sweet voice “Because I’m the first person to ever unlock it.”, she said and moved towards the makeshift entrance.

  “We should record these things for the public archives.” Rita said and took out a scouter from one of the Mules. She made several videos, close up pictures and added some basic information for now. “Anybody have an idea for a name?” She asked, “Maken, that is Japanese for hell hound” Kou said and Rita put it in after nobody objected.

  Marcus watched the raid move forward with the exception of Candis. She crouched next to one of the dead monsters and had a hand on his metal spine. Marcus stepped next to her and she looked up “Who ever did this is no less a monster than this beast.” Marcus nodded and helped her up. Those modifications would have killed any animal but monsters were a lot tougher. As he stepped into the darkness of this dungeon, he had a very bad feeling in his stomach.

  They entered a half broken room that had an opening to another room or corridor. “Seems like somebody has been here before us. Was it the first group who found this?” Grace said looking at some rubble that had been moved by hand. “Possible, but I’m not sure to be honest. For now we should work under the impression that we are not alone.” the lord said and Carlos took out his fine long sword. He, Grace and Achara had not even moved in the entrance fight. The firepower of Janette’s and Hammond’s heavy machine guns together with the fragments and Blood Boil had been more than enough. Even Marcus’ action had been more for show than needed.

  They made it into the next larger room and all they found was red dust and rubble. Most of the dust in the air was gone and they no longer needed the rebreathers. It was about 10 °C cooler than outside which made life a lot easier for most raid members, especially Candis. Janette gave the okay that there was no monster nearby and the group leaders discussed where to go next. There were several openings leading from the room in different directions. “This is a good moment to talk about my friends.” Hammond said, standing suddenly next to Marcus. He dragged the surprised Achara and Kou to Marcus and started explaining “I do have four friends, you can not see them but they are here, I promise.” the man said and Marcus was excited to hear about his spirits.

  “Doodles, makes you feel good, you forget all fear and anxiety. He is also warm and soft and hums when he sleeps, so you will not be cold or lonely.” Hammond explained. “Bert is big and strong and likes to punch things. He makes you stronger and makes your body hard to break. He also likes girls so he wants to stay with you Achara.” Hammond said with wide smile and Achara looked a bit insecure about the situation.

  “My third friend Skittles is always busy, flying around and doing fun things. When he comes to you you will feel lighter and you can move faster and jump higher. He also tells lewd jokes, but only if there are no children around.” Marcus tried to imagine that at this moment Skittles might sit on Kou’s head, it was too funny and he laughed. “Now my last friend, Draculi he is a mean one. He sucks the life and energy out of bad people and makes them weak. He only sometimes, rarely, nearly never does it with friends. I always tell him to stop when he does.” Hammond ended his explanation and moved away as if they had just talked about the weather.

  “The crazy thing is, that they are real but only Spirit Guides can see them.” Marcus said and found the class so amazing. They basically create their own imaginary friends that give bonuses or maluses to who ever they connect to. The more powerful the Spirit Guide the greater the effects and instead of new abilities they gain new “friends”. They are extremely unique buffer and debuffer based on the personality of their spirits. Marcus turned around and looked at Hammond. I wonder how they look like, Marcus thought. But it was a big taboo to ask about the spirits in detail, it is a far too intimate thing to share with others. And what if there are gross? Would you like to know if some big, hairy, blue spider is sitting on your head all day long?

  Out of a hunch Marcus jumped up and he felt lighter than normal. With little effort he managed to jump to the ceiling of the room. “Seems like Skittles is with me.” Marcus said loud enough that Hammond heard him “Yes, you are slow so I told him to stay with you. But it is okay, he likes hanging out with Draculi and he likes you lots.” Hammond said with a wide smile. “Does he now.” Marcus said with a bad feeling in his stomach. “Yes. He says you taste very good.”

  Great, just great. Marcus thought.