Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Missing

"Where is she?" one of the vampires growled.

"Has she hidden? She can't have gone far!" another exclaimed.

Everyone started searching the surrounding area, but there was no trace of her. The artifacts to detect Gjaki's aura were of no use now, as only one of them had recorded her aura, and it wasn't in their possession anymore. The others had been on other floors of the dungeon, so they were useless.

"Damn! She couldn't have vanished!" another one cursed.

"What's happening here?" a guard suddenly interrupted them.

So many adventurers leaving the dungeon at once had attracted attention. There were several dozen of them, and their attitude was strange.

The vampires looked at each other, for a moment considering whether to attack and kill all the witnesses. However, causing a commotion in the middle of the city wasn't the most prudent course of action, nor was it that they had done anything that could expose them.

"Ah hello. What handsome guards! You see, this has happened... Several groups decided to compete against the swamp guardian, and then we all went out together. But we're missing a companion. We're worried about her. She was quite injured after the fight, but she didn't want to wait. That girl is very stubborn, and very unreasonable when she loses. Have you seen her?" a vampiress answered.

She was quite attractive, and a subtle blood skill made her almost irresistible. She was speaking with a sweet, seductive tone, and both guards felt the desire to please her with whatever she asked for.

"We haven't seen her, but we can ask around. What's your name?" one of them offered, bewitched.

"I'm Lin. Thank you very much for the help. Please ask quickly, we're very worried," the vampiress asked with apparent innocence, while approaching the guard seductively.

Unfortunately for them, after a while they discovered that no one had seen any injured adventurer leave the dungeon. There was no trace of her.

"How's it possible?"

"Has she deceived us?"

"Maybe she has a special pass, and has gone out somewhere else?"

They had no idea what had happened, they only knew that they had lost track of their prey. More than twenty of them had died for nothing. They felt frustrated and disturbed. The consequences of failing in their mission wouldn't be light.

Therefore, they decided to stay in the surrounding area, hiding, waiting for her to appear. They would wait as long as it took, even without knowing if she was still inside.

Furthermore, they could not delay reporting what had happened.

"What happened!?" Kan Golge asked angrily when they contacted him.

He had felt the death of many of his children, something that hadn't happened in a long time. That had put him in a very bad mood. It was a pain to convert and train them.

"Father... Group three found her and decided to attack, as they believed they had a good opportunity. When reinforcements arrived, everyone was dead. It seems that the target has powerful allies," the vampiress explained.

"Keep going."

"When group two arrived, the target used a pass to get out. They told us, so we all left, but we found no trace of her. We don't know if she had a special pass and went out to another point, or if she's actually still in the dungeon. We'll keep watch," she informed.

She remained silent, feeling her father's anger. Since she and her group hadn't been directly involved, she hoped they wouldn't suffer the consequences, although she couldn't be sure. When their father became angry, the repercussions could be terrible.

Those in group two were worse. All of them were nervous, sweating, they seemed to be waiting for their execution. One of them was contacted by Kan Golge.

"Explain situation and casualties," he just ordered.

"We arrived when there were only two of the group three left. They pointed out the target. They said that she was weak, so we rushed to attack her. We didn't expect that there were traps along the way. Four fell, and were seriously injured or killed. They were finished off by mana beings. Two others went to deal with an archer who had attacked us from afar, hindering our advance. We don't know how they died. While circling the traps, we saw the target take out a dungeon pass and disappear, while taunting. We immediately followed her out," the vampire explained.

"Why're you so stupid!? Are you not able to use your head!? You should have stayed to check it out! Weren't there others who could get out? At least, you could have interrogated her companions or taken hostages!" his father became furious.

It didn't take long for the survivors of the group two to feel terrible pain throughout their bodies. Their blood seemed to boil, as if it was burning inside them. It was a torture that they had to suffer for hours, and from which it would take them days to recover.

The rest looked at them in horror. They were also relieved that they weren't the ones writhing in pain. They all knew what it felt like, and just remembering it made their chill.

"Retreat. She knows you're here, and you attracted too much attention when you left. Our enemies may come to investigate," Kan Golge finally decided, once his anger had been vented.

Nilgha accompanied them for a few days. They had convinced her that it wasn't wise for her to leave alone, that they might be waiting. Anyway, she didn't resist much either. There was a soft bed, a hot bath and delicious food, in addition to exercising with a group that surprised her every day.

She discovered that they were all visitors, and that one of them was the Blood Queen herself. They all had a multitude of skills and spells, and their strength was growing at a speed that could only make her envious. It didn't take long for them to reach level 94.

Therefore, she accompanied them to the final boss of the penultimate floor of the dungeon. It was something like a giant crocodile, although Eldi claimed it looked more like an alligator. Neither Goldmi nor Gjaki saw the difference. Nilgha didn't even know what he was talking about.

"So, do we use the easy method or do you want to fight it?" Goldmi asked.

"It's slow, very big and easy to kill. It's not a big challenge, but it has a lot of health. Also, its 'helpers' are annoying. I vote for passing it quickly," Gjaki argued.

"For once, I agree with Gjaki. It's not worth wasting time," Eldi agreed.

"For once..." Gjaki repeated, looking at Eldi sulking.

"Don't fight... Not even my girls are like that," the elf reproached them. She felt nostalgic when mentioning them, she missed them. "What about you, Nilgha?"

"If there's an easy method, the better. What's that method like? I have never heard of it," the member of the resistance was interested.

"Well, there can't be many who can do something like that. Goldmi is in charge," Eldi responded mysteriously.

Nilgha followed them curiously as they killed some lesser beings, and the boss was looking at them menacingly. They chose a somewhat rocky place within the boss' area of influence, and cleared the surrounding area of plants.

Goldmi walked forward to an area where there were still plants, escorted by her sister. Then, she summoned Nature's Fury, and quickly turned towards the rocky area.

They stood there watching how all the plants seemed to have gone into a murderous frenzy. They moved and attacked the boss and its subordinates, without them doing anything to defend themselves. Those mana beings weren't programmed to consider the plants as enemies.

Nilgha stood gawking, while the rest calmly dealt with the few plants that approached. It worked the same as in the game. That skill was overpowered in the right circumstances, thus allowing them to use the dungeon against itself.