CHAPTER 93: DARK, WARRIORS, AND HAELIONS

Arthur finally lets go of Julian and steps back. He looks him over with clear concern.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

Julian shakes his head slowly. "No, I’m fine. Tired as hell, but fine. How did you find me?"

Arthur straightens his back and sighs. "Your message."

Julian’s eyes widen. "The one I sent from the dungeon?"

Arthur nods. "Yes."

Julian breaks into a wide smile. "Awesome."

Arthur chuckles. "You’re exhausted. We need to get you out of this dungeon. Come on."

"Out?" Maeve lifts her face from Liam’s chest, still sniffling hard.

"Yes." Liam answers. "Out. You don’t want to stay here, right?"

"No!" She shakes her head quickly... then notices the wet patch on Liam’s clothes. Her eyes widen and she slaps both hands over her mouth.

"Oh my god." Sniffles. "I am so sorry." Sniffles. "I didn’t realise—" Sniffles.

"It’s okay," Liam says.

Meanwhile, Julian’s brain finally starts working like normal again. He looks around with his scientist eyes.

"That bright light was brilliant. What did you do?" He glances up at the "sun," still floating about three meters above ground, illuminating everything around them.

"How did you make it?"

Arthur and Liam exchange looks.

"Well," Liam starts, "we didn’t make it. It wasn’t us."

Julian frowns. "Then who was it?"

"Guys," a female voice calls from the darkness, just beyond the reach of the light.

"The haelions are coming. From what I can tell, this herd is larger than before. I’m turning off the light now. I’ll light it up again when they arrive. We’ll use the same strategy as before."

Pause.

"Understood," Arthur and Liam reply at the same time.

"Come on." Arthur moves, guiding Julian toward the cave. "Rest inside. Put up Aegis and stay put. Leave this to us."

"Who is that?" Julian asks, curious. "A woman? Why is she—"

He suddenly gasps. "Aldriana?! Is that her? You brought Aldriana?!" His expression is a mix of excitement and apprehension.

"Yes," Liam says. "We’ll explain the details later, but she was our only choice."

"Ouch," Aldriana comments from the dark. "You make it sound like I’m a horrible choice."

"No! I didn’t mean it like that!" Liam panics.

She chuckles. "I’m just messing with you. Go take your positions and get ready."

Julian and Maeve enter the cave, but Julian doesn’t activate Aegis.

"They’re broken," he says. "I didn’t bring any spares. I arrogantly thought I wouldn’t need them."

Maeve pats him gently.

Outside, Arthur and Liam position themselves on trees.

"Ready?" Aldriana asks.

"Ready!" both men answer.

The next second, the area goes dark again. The four of them blink rapidly to adjust.

"Sorry," Aldriana says. "Later, you won’t have time to adjust. It needs to be as bright as possible to blind the haelions."

Arthur takes out a pair of sunglasses and puts them on. "Go ahead. I’m wearing my sunglasses."

"What?" Liam’s voice comes from the tree opposite him. "You brought sunglasses to a rescue mission in a dungeon?"

"Yeah. You never know when you’ll need them. Like now. See? It’s better to be prepared."

Liam and Arthur continue talking, prompting Maeve to glance at Julian in confusion.

"Why are they still talking? Don’t they know the haelions have excellent hearing?"

Julian chuckles. "Of course they know. They’re baiting the haelions. Making sure the haelions know where to go."

"Baiting? But— but the haelions are powerful and this time there are more of them." Maeve is stunned.

"They know that. Didn’t you hear what Aldriana said?"

"This Aldriana... is she the same woman who cleared the Beachwalk dungeon?" Maeve asks.

"Yes. The same woman. Although I’ve never met her."

She should be the one who whispered those words to me. Is she also like me?

The haelions arrive right on cue, stopping in the middle between Arthur’s and Liam’s trees. Both men keep making noise to distract them. Even though the area is dark and the only light comes from the glowing plants and trees, everyone can still see the silhouettes of the haelions. And what happens next is mind-blowing.

The haelions slowly split into two groups, one facing Arthur’s direction and the other facing Liam’s.

"Wow! They really are like soldiers! This is amazing!" Liam shouts loudly.

The haelions grow more agitated. They search for his voice but can’t pinpoint it.

"Yes! This is disturbing to say the least!" Arthur responds from the opposite side.

The haelions facing him are also restless. They want to attack, but something is holding them back.

In the shadows, Aldriana frowns. Why are they not attacking? They might not be able to see Arthur and Liam clearly, but they can definitely hear them. They should be attacking the trees. Why aren’t they moving?

Arthur and Liam wonder the same thing.

"Are they waiting for an attack order?" Liam asks.

"It sure looks like it," Arthur answers. Yet another thing that doesn’t add up. He’s lost count at this point.

"One thing I’m now sure of," Arthur continues.

"Their leader, the one commanding them, might be this dungeon’s King."

"I agree." Liam grips Aetherion tightly. "We need to defeat him to clear this dungeon."

"We must defeat him to stop anyone from entering again. Look at the missing person reports. We don’t want that number growing, now do we?" Liam adds.

"So you’re saying we don’t take Julian and the lady out first? Instead, we go find the Dungeon King?" Arthur confirms.

"Is that selfish of me?" Liam hesitates out loud. "And am I even strong enough to do that?"

"It’s not like you to doubt yourself," Arthur smirks in the dark.

"Well, there’s a way to do that," Aldriana says from the shadows.

The haelions jolt in panic, scrambling to locate the new voice. Their formation collapses instantly.

"Hah! Haelions are still haelions! They’re not smart enough to adapt!" Liam laughs.

Julian and Maeve stare in disbelief. They never imagined it would be this easy to confuse the horse haelions. They glance at each other.

"Why didn’t we think of that?" Julian asks.

"We should have," Maeve deadpans. "We’re librarian and lab geniuses."

"We should be smarter than them," Julian says flatly.

"What way?" Liam asks Aldriana.

"I won’t launch the light. See if you can defeat them in the dark, in their element," Aldriana says.

Arthur’s eyes light up. He likes challenges, and it has been a long time since his last dungeon exploration. He feels more and more like one of Aldriana’s students instead of a CEO. The fact that he is not her student but Liam is almost slips his mind.

"Is that a challenge?" Liam asks, excitement bubbling. "One I will gladly take. Now, watch me take all of them down, Arthur."

He jumps down and starts slicing.

Arthur chuckles. "I can’t let you have all the fun. Let’s see who kills more."

He jumps down as well and begins cutting through haelions.

Julian and Maeve watch from the side, once again feeling stupid and inadequate.

Julian shakes his head. "They’re not that different from us. We can do it too."

Maeve nods beside him. "Yeah. Piece of cake."

Arthur and Liam move nothing like Julian and Maeve earlier. The first two are true Sentinels. Their skills are far above the last two.

Especially Arthur. His years of experience shine brighter than Liam’s. All his movements are efficient. No wasted motion. Nothing fancy. Just straight, precise, and deadly.

Liam is not that different from Arthur, but as the fight continues, it becomes obvious Arthur has more experience.

"Wait! Arthur! This is my challenge!" Liam protests in the darkness, somewhere among the haelions.

"This is also your challenge! See if you can kill faster than me!" Arthur calls back through the chaos.

In a short amount of time, it becomes clear the haelions are no match for Arthur and Liam. They move like killing machines.

Julian and Maeve watch with matching why-can’t-we-do-that expressions.

Arthur feels like he’s back in his younger years, when all he had to worry about was money and surviving.

Such freedom.

While Arthur and Liam behave like two children fighting over a bag of candy, Maeve’s exhaustion finally catches up to her.

She suddenly slips to the ground, panting.

"Maeve?" Julian notices and crouches beside her, but even he winces in pain as he moves.

"Julian?" Maeve looks at him with concern between her breaths.

"Are you both injured?" a female voice suddenly asks.

They both snap toward the voice and see a young woman in all black — black clothes, black baseball cap, black mask, jet-black hair in a high ponytail, and dark eyes.

"Aldriana?" Julian whispers.

She nods. "That’s me. Are you hurt?"

Julian exhales. "I actually am injured. I fell on a sharp rock. My side... it should be bruised and maybe some internal bleeding, but we can’t really check."

"Don’t worry. I’ll handle that," Aldriana says gently. A moment later, a light orb with a soft glow forms above them, illuminating the area.

Maeve’s eyes go round as saucers. Magic. She can do magic too.

"Wow," Julian breathes out. "You can really do magic. You’ve been using magic."

She nods. "Yes. I can. Now, let me see your wound."

Julian shakes his head. "Look at her first. She’s injured too." He turns to Maeve. "By the way, Maeve, you did magic earlier, right? Those fireballs? They are magic too, right?"

Maeve blinks several times rapidly.

Oh, shit.