Deep Prison Part 1

The place where we arrive is a big town by the sea called White Coast that is close to Tristanis. Behind the town is a large mountain that I imagine is where the ruins are. The report given to us said that the entrance to the ruins was found at the foot of a mountain after an earthquake. Besides, even from here, that mountain gives me a strange feeling.

Arriving at the town entrance, the carriages had to enter through a gate but what struck me most was that there were no guards. Although it is a lively place with many people and a lot of trade, there doesn't seem to be any security.

"This place is amazing!" Shaila said, leaning out of the carriage window.

"I had heard of this place, but it is also my first time here." Hisa commented, "Looks like the perfect relaxation spot!"

"Hey, remember why we're.... here....," Dante was saying but was distracted by a group of Beast-Kind women passing along the roads.

It really is a nice place! A beach with clear blue waters can be seen in the distance and the streets have many people who seem to be having fun. I have spent most of my life in a small village, and I don't know the outside world very well, so this place seems fascinating.

Moments later, the carriage stopped. Once we were all out, we met up.

"We have finally arrived." Seto was the first to speak.

"We don't have much time to waste. We're the last to arrive, so if there's anything you need to buy, now is the time." Dante continued.

"Hey! Are you going to enter those ruins too?"

We hear someone's voice speaking to us.

After turning to see, it was a group of three men. 2 Humans and 1 Beast-Kind, who were drinking under the shade of a tree.

"You guys are a bit late. The other guilds have been out for a while now." One of them said as he kept drinking.

"Which guild are you from?" Another one of them asked.

"We're from Midnight Dawn," Hisa replied.

"The guild that is in decline!? HAHAHA!"

That comment didn't go down well with any of us. Even though I haven't been in this guild for long, it has become a special place that I can call home, so it always bothers me when I hear comments like that.

"What's so funny?" Hisa asked, sounding annoyed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude." The guy replied, "But you guys will have a pretty rough time."

"What do you mean?" Leona asked.

"Well, I imagine having to face two S-Ranks won't be easy at all."

"Two!?" I said out loud without realizing it.

"Huh? Do you guys not know? Kase from Oblivion and Maiya from Stormbirds passed through here on their way to the ruins."

"Maiya is here too?" Seto asked once more in disbelief.

It's not the first time I've heard that name. There are only 11 S-Ranks, so it's not uncommon for their names to be known far and wide. Maiya is one of the 2 S-Ranks that are Beast-Kind.

"I figured it could happen," Dante spoke up, "There will be valuable things inside those ruins, so it's not uncommon for an S-Rank like Maiya to be here."

"I bet Oblivion with Kase will be the winners of all this." One of the men said, "You're crazy! Dark Dragons are the most respected guild of all. My bet is with them." Finally, the male Beast-Kind, who was with them, continued, "You know nothing. Maiya and the Stormbirds will show you the power of the Beast-Kind! I bet one silver they win!"

The three men were arguing among themselves, fighting over which was the best guild. However, none of them even mentioned Midnight Dawn.

"Time to go. We can't waste any more time here." Dante told us.

"Yeah."

We started walking away from that place.

"Hey! Are they really going? Better stay here with us to drink. The girls in your group are so cute! We'll have a good time if you stay!"

We ignored what those drunks were saying. Only Hisa turned around and gave them the finger before continuing to walk. It was kind of funny to see that. In everyone's faces, I can see that we think the same. Instead of demotivating us, the words of those drunks made us want to show the world that our guild should not be underestimated.

We did a little shopping for things we needed before heading once more to the city gate. This time in the direction of the ruins.

"We'll walk from here," Dante told us.

According to the directions that some of the town's inhabitants gave us, the entrance to these ruins was two or three hours away on foot. We started walking along the path we came from but then took a small path leading to the mountain's foot.

"Are you OK?" I asked Shalia, who was walking next to me and looked nervous.

"I'm fine, Darx. Don't worry. I actually thought I'd be more nervous, but so far, I think I'm managing it pretty well." Shalia answered me, smiling.

"Any problem, let me know, and I'll try to help you." I said.

"Thank you!" Shalia said as she hugged my arm.

As we walk around, there are some monster corpses. I guess the other guilds took care of them when they were passing by.

"Dante, what can you tell us about Maiya and the Stormbirds." Leona asked.

What Leona asks is something that interests me too.

"Stormbirds is one of the great guilds of the Beast-Kind. Let's say it's equivalent to what Dark Dragons is to us, and Maiya is a member of that guild." Dante answered, "I have seen Maiya a couple of times in meetings between nations but never on the battlefield. All I know is that she is a monk, capable of destroying everything in her path."

She has the same class as Ryul.

"In fact, Maiya was recently in the castle," Seto said.

"Really? What was he doing there?" Shalia asked.

"It was a meeting with representatives of all nations. The queen wants to collect a tax from the other nations as payment for defending the border with the demons." Dante answered.

"I didn't know that," Seto said.

"The Queen says that the human territory, being a border with the demons, will serve as a shield for the other territories, so she expects compensation for that." Dante continued.

"And what happened? Did they accept?" I asked.

"Not really. All afternoon there were fights and complaints about past things," Dante replied, "The queen actually wants to concentrate her defenses in the north, but she can't because of the risk that the Beast-Kind take that as an opportunity to invade from the south," Dante answered.

"Why would the Beasth-Kind do such a thing?' Shalia asked, "If the human territory fell to the demons, they would be next."

"Common sense doesn't work very well on them, hahaha! Well, the reality is that the history of Humans and Beast-Kind has been through many tumults throughout history. It is difficult to forget old grudges from the past."

"What is true is that if an agreement is not reached before the Demons make their move, it would be catastrophic for all the races." Hisa added.

We've been walking for over two hours, so we must be close. The first signs of battle can be seen in the vicinity of the ruins—destroyed trees and marks on the ground from what looked like small explosions.

"Looks like the plan worked." Seto spoke, "The other guilds seem to have already entered the battle. While they are entertaining each other, we can finish off."

"STOP!" Hisa suddenly yelled.

We all stood still, looking at her and the surroundings, not knowing what was going on.

"It won't be as easy as you say, Seto." Hisa stated, "Hey, Gerald. Use your magic right there," She said, pointing to the path in front of us.

"What?" Gerald asked, confused, seeing nothing in front of us.

"Just do it," Dante told him, looking thoughtfully at where Hisa pointed.

Gerald, still confused, did as he was ordered and created a stone pillar from above the point where Hisa pointed. Not even a second before the stone pillar appeared; a magic circle emerged on the ground, making the whole area explode violently. The explosion was so intense that it created a strong gust of wind as well as flying rocks everywhere. In disbelief, I saw the area where the blast took place. If we had passed by unnoticed, there is no doubt that we would have died. They really tried to kill whoever passed by.

"There are several magical seals left behind as a trap," Hisa said while pointing to various places.

"How did you know it was there?" Gerald asked Hisa.

"One of Hisa's skills is seeing magical traces," Neku replied.

I don't know what impresses me more, the fact that Hisa can see magical traps that are invincible to us or that Neku has spoken. She has spoken very little all the way and they are always short answers.

"From here on out, we will begin to walk cautiously in the formation we agreed upon," Dante told us before starting to walk with Leona ahead.

We moved forward, destroying several of the traps the other parties left behind until we finally reached the place's entrance. Coming out of the sea of trees, I could see the landslide caused from the earthquake in the mountain. I don't know what I expected when I heard that we were going to one of the temples left behind by [Zrephia], but I think this place is not what I expected.

It is what anyone expects to see in an area destroyed by mother nature except for one thing. There is an entrance at the foot of the mountain among the rubble of dirt and trees. It's the biggest entrance I've ever seen! Its height is easily similar to a four-story building. It has no doors or anything, and the only thing I can see inside from where I am is darkness. More than a temple, it seemed like the door to hell.

"It's nothing like the other [Zrephia] temple I went to," Dante spoke.

In a talk we had, Dante said that four temples left by [Zrephia] have been found in the last few years, and he has been to one.

"Something about this place gives me a bad feeling," Hisa said.

I think the same as Hisa. Never has a place given me chills like this. Something in me makes me feel that this is not a place people should enter.

"Are there more traps, Hisa?" Seto asked.

Hisa looked around and replied, "Looks like there aren't anymore."

"Let's go in!" Dante said, leading the way.

We started to walk to the entrance when I felt that someone was looking at me again. I turned around quickly, trying to find something but nothing.

Did I imagine that? Don't tell me the church people are watching me even here. I hope that is not the case.

I kept walking together with the group and entered through that big entrance. Just as we entered, a pretty cold wind current surprised us. Inside it looks like an ordinary cave with a fairly high ceiling. There are more monster corpses that don't seem to be of high rank. We keep moving in silence, quite attentive to our surroundings, until we reach the end of the cave. Or at least it seems that way because there is a big wall with some weird writings marked on it, which blocks the way. Looking closely under that wall, there were some stairs with broken statues on each side and a door at the end.

"What an amazing wall!" Shalia said what I was thinking.

The writings on it were impossible to distinguish. I guess the passing of the years has taken care of that. We went up the stairs and saw that the door was already destroyed, so we just walked inside.

Inside, it no longer looked like a cave. Now it looked more like a temple. More writings and drawings were on all the walls. Also, torches lit the place quite well.

"What a fascinating place," Seto said as we walked down a hallway with pillars on each side.

This hallway reminded me of the ones in the castle. However, there is no light from outside, and the light from the torches makes everything look reddish. Come to think of it, the fire from the torches doesn't seem normal. Are they done with magic? How long have they been on? Another thing to think about is that we haven't encountered anyone. This place is big, considering we haven't encountered anyone.

Soon my question would be answered. At the end of the hall was a large open area. It was a circular space with doors all around, but the most impressive thing was a gigantic hole right in the middle.

"What the hell is this place?" Hisa asked with a surprised tone.

"I don't know, but it's nothing like anywhere I've been before," Dante tells her.

"I really don't think this was a temple," Seto added.

As we walked towards the hole, we contemplated the many doors that were all around, and when we reached the hole in the ground, we were all speechless. Only darkness. It was a hole that seemed to have no end. In addition, it appeared that all the cold we felt came from this hole. I thought that the further down the earth someone goes, it had to be the hotter, but in this place, it seems to be the opposite.

"Maybe it's the gate to hell after all," Gerald muttered.

"Eh? There seems to be something there!" I said, pointing to a shadow in one of the hole's walls.

Upon closer inspection, it appears to be some kind of monster that seemed to be a fusion of a bat with a rather bizarre beast that appeared to be sleeping on the wall.

"Don't make too much noise," Dante told us, "I've never seen a monster like this before, but my gut tells me there are a lot more of those in this hole, and they are most likely from quite a high rank."

"So what do we do now?" Leona asked.

We all turn to see Dante really confused by all this.

"All the reports we received seem to be wrong," He replied, "This place certainly seems to be from the people of [Zrephia], though it doesn't seem like it was a temple."

"What is it then? Will there be valuable things or not?" Neku asked.

"There's no way to know." Dante continued, "We didn't see anyone from the other guilds, so it looks like they went ahead and entered one of the doors surrounding this place."

"Fiuuu! That's quite a few doors!" Seto expressed.

"Let's check the place and the doors. Maybe we can find something that will guide us somehow." Hisa told us.

We split up and began searching the place. Everything in this place looked the same; however, after opening each of the doors, it seemed to lead to a different path. There is nothing to tell us which way will lead us where and the other guilds left no trace of which path they took either.

After investigating for a while, we meet once again.

After discussing for a while, we came to the conclusion that the only way forward would have to be to choose one of the doors at random.

"There is no way of knowing how deep this cave is, and from the looks of it, this place will be an absolute labyrinth, so we have to plan the food well since we don't know how many days we will be here," Dante spoke, "From now on, watch each other's backs at all times and support each other whenever we're in combat whether it's against monsters or other adventurers."

"Let's go!"

This place will be dangerous. I hope Syvis is doing well.

[Moments earlier in another place]

The group of adventurers from Midgnigh Dawn gazed at the mountain and entered what they thought was a [Zrephia] temple without knowing someone was watching them. A group of four demons is looking at them from afar.

"That should be the last group." The white-haired demon spoke.

"Oh! I know two of them!" A female demon said in amazement, "The blond one is called Gerald, and he was my fiancé when I took on the appearance of his fiancée Caroline, and the other one is named Darx. He is a rather peculiar human with red eyes."

"Red eyes?" The dark-haired demon asked her.

"I thought the crazy princess lineage of [Zephia] had disappeared!" The white-haired demon added, sounding a bit scared.

"Oh, you guys were alive when the royalty of [Zrephia] was still around. You two really are old relics, hahaha!" The other female demon commented.

"Keep laughing, and I'll cut off your head, Usofra. I don't even want to remember that treacherous witch." The white-haired demon said in an angry tone.

"Answer what I ask you, Namy. Is that guy with red eyes related to the royalty of [Zrephia]?" The black-haired demon asked.

"Even you Girras are afraid? Who would have thought that even you would be so afraid of that lineage too. It makes me curious now to know what kind of people that royalty was. For your peace of mind, I highly doubt they have a relationship, and it's just a coincidence. Darx was a pretty weak adventurer the last time I saw him."

"If he really was such a weak adventurer, he wouldn't be here." Girras said.

"Whatever the case, it seems that many high-ranking adventurers will be in our way," Usofra spoke.

"That doesn't matter. Our mission remains the same," Girras spoke, "We have to get to the target before they do and kill as many high-ranking adventurers as we can in the process."