Chapter 129 – Infiltrators
A small mouse ran through the darkness of the damp tunnel stopping occasionally and sniffing the walls.
It ran in circles a few times sniffing something between the crack in the stone walls before munching something and dashing further down the tunnel. When it came to a big cross-road with many tunnels coming together it stopped carefully looking around and sniffing the air.
The water streamed from every tunnel that intersected in this place creating a small pond that then streamed down the largest of tunnels. Several stone arch-like bridges crossed these small rivers of murky water from one tunnel to the other in a circular path, between them.
After sniffing the air for a while, the mouse finally decided to enter this cavern-like place and scrambled to the side, running close to the wall. It stopped at another tunnel entrance looking around with caution while sniffing the air. Its ears jumped from side to side trying to hear any hidden danger.
Unlike the other tunnels, the entrance of the one that the mouse decided to stop by had a fence made of metal bars that would prevent anything larger than a cat from sneaking between the grates. The gate of the fence was closed shut and total darkness covered the tunnel beyond the fence.
Mouse looked around for a few moments and then turned away from that fence and ran back to the tunnel it came from disappearing in its darkness.
As the mouse disappeared from view two eyes appeared in the darkness behind the metal fence that the mouse stopped by. They gaze in the direction that the mouse has disappeared in while exuding a faint purple glow. A faint contour of a person in a cape could be seen in the darkness that stood gazing from behind the fence in silence. It stood there a few minutes without moving before merging back into the shadows while its glowing eyes dimmed and slowly dissolved in the darkness as if they were just an illusion.
*****
In the dark damp tunnel, a man sat on a wooden chair with his legs on the wooden table. Sitting with his eyes closed he seemed to be asleep. Slow drops of water from the ceiling and the faint murmur of the flowing water coming out of the darkness further down the tunnel were the only sounds permitting this place. To the side of him was a large wooden double door that was closed shut.
Massive stone walls of the sewers went up under an angle, bending from one wall toward the other creating an arched ceiling over his head. The wooden door was repeating the contour of the tunnel and fully closed the path making this place a dead end of this tunnel.
This was one of the entrances to the Black Market dungeon.
A faint tremor ran through the walls of the tunnels. It was so weak that the man did not notice it, however, a trickle of dust fell from the ceiling landing on the table with a quiet rustle.
Man suddenly opened his eyes looking up with vigilance.
"What was that?" He asked cautiously, looking around but after a few moments did not receive any answer. Only some faint sound akin to a light tap on the wall was heard from the darkness of the tunnel. He sighed with relief and closed his eyes again.
But just a few minutes later another trickle of dust fell from the ceiling, however this time he noticed the tremor that caused it. He stood up from his chair and walked in front of the door with his back toward it looking into the darkness of the tunnel in front of him.
"Did you feel it?" Asked the man gazing into the darkness.
"Yes." Said the voice out of nowhere. It was rough and rumbling as if it came out of some animal's mug instead of a human's mouth. There was no one in the tunnel besides the man so he could not see where the voice came from. "But I don't know what it is. We have another problem though. I suspect the investigator's team is here. I saw a suspicious rodent. It's not an observer, but I felt something strange in it. Better not risk." Added the voice and a dark figure covered in a black cape walked out of the darkness.
"Alright. These tremors irk me too. Better be safe than sorry. Get inside. We close this entrance." Said the man. The figure in the cape came close to the door and put one hand on the wood as if pushing the door to open, but instead of opening, the wood of the door bent as if made of jelly, then it moved as like liquid and enveloping the hand of the caped figure then pulled in its whole body. The caped figure sank into the door as if it was plunging into the water, but before it completely disappeared its head suddenly turned to gaze back into the tunnel.
"They are here." It said and they heard the loud metal scraping sound with a faint flash of sparks from where the metal fence was. Then the caped figure disappeared in the wood with a slight ripple spreading through the wood before it turned back to a solid wooden door again.
Right after the caped figure disappeared inside the door, wood streamed out of the door with jet-like speed connecting with a table and chair, and morphed into a giant hand that grabbed the man that was left standing in the tunnel and pulled him inside the door sucking him into the wood just like the previous figure.
While the man was plunging with his back into the wood that enveloped him like a liquid he smirked gazing into the darkness.
"You government rats don't learn your lesson, don't you? Your death will be a lesson to the others." Said the man with a smirk on his lips gazing at the young man in black leather armor and a face covered with a mask, that rushed toward him out of the darkness with a flash-like speed holding a sword in his hand.
*****
As the mouse entered the tunnel it quickly ran through it without stopping until it reached the bend with another crossroad.
As it came to the intersection it saw several humans standing there gazing down at it with their faces covered by masks.
Mouse looked at the people warily, before turning to another mouse that stood near these people and squeaked a few times.
"It's there." The mouse that stood among the humans said in a human-like voice after listening to the other mouse squeak. "This is the entrance. Two guards. One human smell and one something this mouse never met."
"Alright, we go inside in two teams. Me, Ron, and Tara rush in, the other three back us up from outside." Said the woman standing in the center of the group.
"The hell, teacher? This is too long. They will run away by the time we all arrive there again. We tried this a hundred times and let them get away each time. Let me rush in. You know my system, I am the quickest in the whole platoon. I will take them by surprise and hold them down until you all get there." Said the male standing at her side.
"No! Going alone is too dangerous." Exclaimed the woman in command.
"Then hurry up! I am going!" Answered the young man and disappeared in a flash.
"No, Ron! Stop! Fuck! Follow him!" She hissed and the group rushed after him.
"Damn, idiot!" Hissed the voice of a young woman rushing right behind the team leader. She and the woman in command were the quickest of the leftover squad, running close to each other but way ahead of the other three people.
Ron that rushed first was so quick that they did not even see him ahead. Just a few seconds after they rushed down the tunnel they heard the sound of the metal fence being slashed open by the sword, meaning that Ron has already reached the fence and rushed inside the dungeon entrance tunnel.
It took them another ten seconds before they reached the cavern-like room where tunnels intersected and quickly rushed to the fence that had a gaping hole in it where Ron slashed through the bars with his sword. The Faint glow of the red-hot metal on the stumps of the cut bars of the fence was still visible when two women plunged through the hole rushing inside the dark tunnel. However, just a few moments later they stopped cold in their tracks looking at the scene in front in shock.
"Fuck! Quickly save him!" Roared the commander.
"Ron!" Screamed the young woman at her side with fear.
*****
Young knight used his systems skills to the utmost, flashing through the tunnels so quickly it took him barely a few seconds.
With another skill he sent two beams of energy that slashed through the metal bars of the fence as easily as cutting through butter, sending streams of sparks on all sides. He reached the fence right after the two beams before the cut bars could even slide off the stumps of the leftover fence and kicked them with the back side of his sword, sending them flying into the darkness of the tunnel on the other side of the fence.
Without delay he rushed through the gap, plunging into the dark tunnel behind the fence. He flashed through the long tunnel coming out of the shade in a dimly lit space in front of the huge wooden door that blocked the tunnel.
Ron rushed into the faint light just as the guard standing at the door was grabbed by the strange wooden formation in the shape of a huge hand elongating from the door and pulled into the door, sinking in it as if he plunged into the water. He saw the smirk on the man's lips that was sinking into the wooden door.
"You government rats don't learn your lesson, don't you? Your death will be a lesson to the others." Said the man gazing at Ron.
Without thinking, Ron sent another slash in the form of a beam toward the man, but the strange root-like formation of wood with a jet-like speed streamed out of the door blocking the slash sent for the man. It was so hard that the beam that previously slit the metal bars like butter, barely cut the root elongating from the door in front of the man to the middle. Not even close to cutting entirely through.
As Ron realized that his attack has failed, the man that was pulled into the closed door completely vanished in the wooden surfaces sending a ripple through the door as if it was a surface of the pond. Next, the roots elongating from the door returned as well and the door was back to its original shape.
Ron rushed to the door and slashed at it with his whole strength but could barely leave a scratch on its surface.
Then he noticed that the door started to lose color and became faint, gaining transparency by the moment with its side disappearing quicker than the center. From the sides of the door where it was connected to the tunnel's walls, floor, and ceiling, water gushed into the tunnel soaking Ron's boots.
He looked down at the rushing water in shock then looked up at the door that now floated in the air not connected to the tunnel at all. The streams of water that were flowing over it became wider with every moment as the door dissolved into the thin air.
"Fuck!" Hissed Ron seeing the rain of water dropping at him from above. Water rushed between the partly transparent door and ceiling in a stream making him realize that what waited behind the disappearing door is a wall of water reaching up to the ceiling.
He jumped back from the door and flashed back into the tunnel using his skill to speed up to the utmost but halfway through the tunnel, he was met with a faint glow of a transparent wall from a barrier smashing into it at full speed.
The barrier was solid as a brick wall bouncing him off and sending him sprawling on his back. He lost all sense for a few moments from the force of the hit and crawled back to his knees as the water rushed at him covering the floor to the knee.
With shaky legs, he stood up leaning on the transparent barrier wall shaking his head to clear his spinning view.
Gritting his teeth Ron squeeze the handle of his sword and slashed at the barrier leaving a scratch on its surface that started to immediately mend.
He slashed again and again, but only just a few more slashed the wooden door behind him that was blocking the huge mass of water of the flooded tunnel behind it completely disappeared unleashing the mass of water into the tunnel with Ron blocked between it and the barrier.
The water hit him like an avalanche hammering him into the barrier wall so hard he lost his breath. Air rushed out of his lungs as he was sucked into the water by the turning and spinning water that hit the wall and splashed to the sides before rushing counter stream and then pushed back toward the barrier.
Barely pulling to the surface, he managed to take in a rushed gulp of air before the water flooded the tunnel entirely leaving no breathing space at all.
"Ron!" He heard a muffled scream through the water and gazed at the barrier, seeing the terrified faces of his teacher and Tara lit by the faint glow of the barrier.
Then his teacher roared and a thick gush was slashed in the barrier from which the water rushed to the tunnel and soaked the women's feet. However, that hole was nowhere near enough to let him squeeze through.
This did not stop his teacher in the slightest as she sent slash after slash at the wall with Tara joining her in a desperate attack at the barrier. After they managed to send a few slashes they were joined by the leftover team that only after a few seconds of shocked stupor started to slash at the wall with fervor.
The barrier soon gave way under their collective attacks and crumbled, freeing the mass of water all at once, washing everyone further down the tunnel until they all hit the metal bars of the fence.
Just as the barrier crumbled, the commander plunged her sword into the ground holding its handle with a firm grip, and outstretched her other hand in front of herself while gazing at the wall of water that hit it with force.
The water hit her hand and then flowed over her as if it had met a wall. The woman struggled to stay in place gazing into the water searching for Ron, then bent her knees and jumped into the rushing stream of water, grabbing her student's hand and pulling him toward herself and hugging him
As they flowed through the water instead of being washed away haphazardly they followed a straight line that went straight through the gap in the fence and was carried by the rushing water out of the flooded tunnel into the cavern-like room outside and plunged into the deep pond at the intersections of the tunnels.
A few seconds later she went up out of the water gasping air with heavy intakes while pulling Ron's limp body out of the water.
She puddled through the water with one hand pulling Ron with the other until she reached the stone surface of one of the tunnels and with one hand threw Ron over her shoulder on the stone floor before grabbing the edge and pulling herself up on the floor near him.
"Tara, Jake, Will, Don!" She screamed crawling over Ron. "Is everyone alright?"
"Fine"
"Fine"
"Fine"
"How's Ron?"
Sounded the voices of her teammates one after the other as they plunged into the caver from the flooded tunnel while their commander performed CPR on the unconscious young knight.
As Tara rushed over she saw jets of water spit out of Ron's mouth before he turned and started to cough heavily.
"He'll be fine." Finally said commander, breathing out a heavy sigh.
"Commander Beatrix, " Said the mouse running up to them. "What happened?"
"This idiot got himself in the trap. The dungeon's door was blocking the flow of water in the tunnel. As the door disappeared the water rushed into the tunnel. A fucking barrier blocked his escape. They put a barrier not to stop us from rushing in but to stop us from escaping. Fucking bastard."
"Another fail then." Said mouse.
"Yeah." Answered the woman standing up. She looked down at herself seeing her whole armor soaked in the dirty sewer waters. "Fuck." She muttered, throwing her damp silver hair back.
*****
As the man walked out of the wooden surface of the door into the unnaturally smooth cave tunnel he was met by the person hidden under the black cape.
"That investigator rat will have to puddle full force to get out." He smirked at the figure.
"That was risky to adjust the barrier like that." Said the rough voice from under the cape. "It was made to stall them while we escape, not to play your stupid games. You risked losing the entrance just for your own amusement."
"Don't be a spoilsport. Don't you monsters know how to have some fun?" Said the man with a condescending look at the black-capped figure.
"I…" started to say the person hidden under the cape but felt a slight tremor run under his feet and a trickle of dust fell from the ceiling to the floor making both men look up at the ceiling.
"What the?" Said the man standing near the door."
"It's that vibration again." Said the figure in the cape. "What is…". A black thorn-like object suddenly pierced its chest, stopping its words at half a sentence. Black as shade spike elongating from the shadow under him, went through his spine and exited his chest killing him instantly.
Before the man in front of him could even understand what happened, his body was bound by the black rope that crawled out of his shadow over his legs and to his arms and body, piercing through his skin with thorns.
Before he could scream his mouth was closed by the hand in black gloves.
A woman clad in black suddenly appearing from behind him pressed one hand on his mouth while grabbing the man's head with the other. Black wines streamed over his skin from her hand covering his whole face in lines. Slowly these lines crawled over his whole body then they streamed in a strange zig-zagging pattern toward the wooden door behind him, piercing into the wood.
"Entrance seized." Said the woman looking over the man's shoulder at the four more figures that lifted themselves out of the shadows of the two people. Just as they fully appeared, shadows covered the figure in a black cape and pulled him down, making him sink into the shadow at their feet.
"Infiltration success. Squad two protects the exit. We proceed with the mission." Said one of the four women.
A moment later a black-caped figure appeared from the shadow once again only this time there was no gapping hole on its chest, yet it stood lifelessly as a puppet.
Three of the four women sunk into its shadow and then the black-caped figure started to walk down the tunnel in the direction of the Black Market, while the other two sank into the shadow of the man that stood with his back to the wooden door while thin black lines coming from his shadow spread over the door.
As the black-caped puppet walked through the tunnel with three women hiding in its shadow another tremor ran through the walls of the dungeon and a trickle of dust fell from the ceiling once again.