Chapter 23 - The Irregular Gate 2

  "What's wrong?" the judgemental female warrior asked.

  Horast did not reply immediately, instead choosing to run his fingers along the inscriptions on the walls of the dungeon. The dungeon was dark, damp, and an uncomfortable tinny cold air hung like glue against the raid party's skin.

  "This is not like any other dungeon I've seen in all my years of dungeon raiding," Horast said with a strain in his voice. He appeared to be making a difficult decision. "Let's turn back."

  "Already?" another mercenary said, completely shocked. "What the hell do you mean, turn back? I rented this equipment and got ready for days for this raid and you want us to leave after two seconds in the dungeon? Are you crazy, old man?"

  Horast shot a glare at the mercenary, his eyes hardened even though a red flush showed on his face. "I may be tipsy, but I'm not stupid. My gut is telling me that there is something wrong with this dungeon, and unless we know any more, I declare that this raid is aborted under my authority as raid party commander!"

  A few eyes now looked back at the portal that brought them through, but suddenly they realized that the color of the portal had slowly changed. Instead of white like before, the portal now gave off a slight red aura, and that red was spreading.

  "What's happening to the gate?" one of the mercenaries asked. He moved towards the gate and tried to go through it, but to his dismay it appeared like his hand had come across an invisible barrier. "Huh? I can't seem to go through!"

  "Tch," Evon Mudd sneered. "Then why don't we just finish this stupid intermediate dungeon and get to the exit on the other side? Why are we wasting time being scared of some small changes? I thought that you lot were professionals."

  A red gate? William racked his brain, trying to think if there was any other situation where something like this had occurred, but he couldn't recall any.

  Suddenly, at that moment, a shockwave shot through the dungeon, sending ripples through the very air. The hairs on William's arms began to rise. That shockwave felt oddly similar to the one that caused the lockdown. Right as the shockwave passed through, the lanterns held by several of the raid party members instantly went out, plunging the room into darkness.

  "Another EMP pulse? What the hell?"

  William conjured his flaming orb, as several of the other mages did the same. Horast fumbled through his bag and took out a flashlight, fumbling to put in the battery as the flashlight sputtered on. "I knew there was something wrong with this dungeon, damn it," he cursed.

  "Maybe we should head back," an unsure voice said. "T-this might be like the big dungeon outbreak from last week again."

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  "We can't," growled a rogue with a scar across his face, standing next to the portal. "The portal's completely blocked. The only way we get back to our world is through the other exit."

  Something was definitely wrong here. William commanded his flaming orb around, illuminating the area around him. If only he had his light ability now, he thought.

  He took out his phone from his pocket and tried to turn it on. Suddenly, something felt strange. That sensation of mana swirling through his body had returned once more, and miraculously it had made a connection again with the phone, which began to shine once again with a brilliant white light, illuminating the room well.

  "Is that light just your phone?" a party member asked, completely taken aback by the brightness of the light coming from William's phone.

  "Yeah," he replied. Strange that it worked again. But why? Maybe it only worked in areas dense with otherworld energy like this dungeon, or... in the presence of a monster wtih significant otherworld energy. That was his working theory at the moment.

  Either way, the power had returned, and he couldn't stop the stupid grin from spreading across his face once more. His power had returned! Not that weak, useless flame ability, but that light that could probably make him a rank four awakener or higher!

  But what about the weapon? He reached towards the light, and instantly he could tell that the shard of light was there once more. He could draw it when he needed it. Knowing that, he decided not to. If he pulled out a strange ability like this, there would be no end to the amount of questions he'd get from everyone else, and right now he simply didn't need to bother with that at the moment.

  Evon Mudd looked at him contemptuously. "What kind of old model is that, rank one? Did your parents buy that for you ten years ago or something? I haven't even seen a phone that has a flashlight using its screen in years." He laughed. "That's sad, really."

  William, feeling far more confident now that his power had returned, decided to respond. "No one knows what happens on the other side of the gate," he said. "Don't be surprised if you find yourself on the news tomorrow, missing."

  "Is that a threat?" Evon said angrily, raising his hand to summon a rock.

  William simply shrugged and moved forward, using the light from his phone to illuminate the side of the raid party.

  "He does not know manners," Mantou said, catching up to William. "I don't like him."

  "Me neither, Mantou," William replied. "But let's focus on what's ahead of us for now. I have a bad feeling about this dungeon. EMP effects are supposed to only happen for the worst of dungeon breaks, and this dungeon hasn't even broken open yet. We're in uncharted territory now."