CHAPTER 24: WRAITH!

Sebastian led them towards the door, which had vines running over it. It looked like it had been rusted shut. Curiosity welled up inside Wade at the sight.

"I have a question," he said.

Sebastian glanced at him, but said nothing. That was basically him giving permission for Wade to ask.

"Other people have been in this dungeon, right?" he asked. "Then, why is the door closed? Surely, someone must have opened it before."

"That’s how dungeons are." Rowan said from behind them. "You can cause as much damage and destroy things, but when you leave, it resets itself."

"Dungeons are like story scripts you have to fight through. However, they don’t stay constant. If you delve through them a lot in quick succession and get used to it, it eventually recognizes you and changes the script."

Wade nodded at the explanation. That made sense.

They finally arrived at the door.

"Cover me." Sebastian said, holstering his axe on his back and placing both hands on each side of the double doors. The doors were tall, reaching high up to the ceilings.

Ingrid had a bow nocked, pointing it towards the hall behind them. Rowan pointed his staff towards the door. That was the direction the wraiths are most likely to come through.

With a grunt, Sebastian pushed the doors open. It groaned at the hinges, the sound traveling far. In a few seconds, Sebastian had the door wide enough for them to comfortably pass through.

He finally straightened, dusting his hands. "To add to Rowan’s explanation," he glanced back at Wade, "dungeons sometimes adjust their components based on the person interacting with them."

"For example, this door." He gestured at the door he just opened. "My strength stat is much higher than yours, and it took me great effort to force the door open. Yet, if you were the one who tried to open the door, you would’ve been able to open it too."

"The dungeon adjusts the difficulty of certain tasks in order to keep the effect constant. If you had pushed the door open, it would have taken you effort, and it would’ve made the same noise it just did."

"Always remember. Dungeons don’t just test an adventurer’s physical prowess. It can also test their mind."

Wade nodded in understanding, and with that, they walked through the door.

They emerged in a long corridor, the other end darkened by shadows, making it hard to see from this end. However, that wasn’t the only strange thing about it.

The corridor was unnaturally wide, its ceiling high, just like the hall behind them.

To the left side of the corridor were large windows, each one covered by glass. The windows looked into a large courtyard, and sitting on it was a garden with normal sized plants and flowers growing beautifully in it.

On the right side of the corridor, mirrors had been arranged opposite the windows, each one just as large as the opening opposite it. The mirrors each had a crack splitting them in the middle, but they sat comfortably on their brackets.

It was as if the building had been built with giants in mind.

"Stick close to me." Sebastian said, his voice low as they made their way forward. "Don’t let the sights fool you. They can attack from anywhere."

They made their way through the corridor, the sounds of their footsteps strangely muffled.

Sebastian had his axe in his hands, keeping an eye out for any wraiths.

Rowan held the rear, his back to them. He walked backwards, keeping pace with them and not taking his eyes off the hall they’d just left.

Ingrid was on the right, her arrow nocked as she faced the mirrors on the wall. That was the most likely place the wraiths could attack from.

Wade was on the right, his eyes on the courtyard through the window. There was no rule saying the wraiths couldn’t attack from there.

They continued walking, and before long, they were in the middle of the corridor, both ends shrouded in darkness.

’What was that?’

Wade blinked as he noticed something in the courtyard. It had been a flicker, gone before he could register it.

He narrowed his eyes, his attention roving over the flowers.

"Ghost," he said. The others nodded, not taking their eyes off their targets.

’Ghost’ was a signal. A way for him to say he’d noticed something, but hadn’t been able to tell what it was. That way, the others would be alert if anything did come from his direction.

"Eyes on." Ingrid barked a second later, and everyone was instantly on guard. It meant that she’d seen wraiths through the mirrors, but they hadn’t attacked yet.

"Hold." Sebastian commanded, and they paused, each one still facing his own direction. They stood there for a few seconds, ready for the wraiths to jump out from anywhere.

"They’re gone." Ingrid finally said.

"Be alert." Sebastian rumbled. "They—"

Wade’s eyes widened, his mouth moving before his brain could even process what his eyes were seeing.

"Wraith!"

The thing he had noticed earlier hadn’t been from the courtyard. It had been wraiths moving through the glass’ reflection.

He surged forward as they popped out of the window pane, claws outstretched. He expended mana, a [Basic Ward] blooming to life in front of him. He slammed it into the wraith nearest to him, sending it back into the window.

It slammed against the window, shattering the glass, and dropping into the courtyard below.

The wraith next to it, swiped at Wade’s head, but Ingrid’s bow snapped into its face, shattering its head into pieces. Its body followed suit an instant later.

Behind them, Rowan slammed his staff into the ground, and a wave of light surged outwards in a 90 degree angle, slamming into the wraiths and shattering their body in an instant.

Sebastian swung his axe, loping the heads off the wraiths in front of him. Then he stumbled forward as three wraiths slammed onto his back.

Wade ducked under a swipe, swinging his sword and shattering the wraith. Ingrid stepped forward, using her bow as a club to kill the wraiths.

He turned, intending to cover her back, when he saw it. His eyes opened in horror.

The wraiths were multiplying, climbing out of the mirrors. They were being assaulted from both sides!