23 Before The Red Dawn Arc V : Rescue

We walk inside the room and the room itself is very dark that we can't see anything inside. Well, it doesn't affect Robert and Rania who is a Dark Elf and Arachne. They can see everything and walk safely. If I assume correctly, this place isn't an ancient hidden room, it was just built few daesh ago and the builders forgot to put some light here. This corridor is simple from front, but honestly when you walk inside and explore, this hideout is far complicated than Viorelle's basecamp that we had visited before. It has many hidden traps and corridors. We even met magical traps and wraiths inside. But, since we can spot them faster than they are, we can get rid of them easily. We rested in a room and I saw my watch. It seems we have spent two heverra inside.

"We still haven't reached our destination? Seriously?"

"Yes and we still need to walk again maybe for one or two heverra?" After I said that, I heard Rania's sighing voice.

We keep walking and exploring the dungeon. Not long after that, we reached a big room and we decided to rest a bit there. But when we wanted to sit, four daggers are flying to us.

"Watch out!" Hel blocked the daggers with his shield.

It seems Robert, Erick and Rania have predicted that ambush. They have blended themselves with darkness shortly after the attack. From far, I heard two steel weapon being clashed to each other and quelling sounds. Meanwhile, we secretly moved to left edge of the room. After that, I gave Suzuka a code that I will join the battle in front of us and she nodded in agreement.

I activated my [CA] [Presence Concealment] and entered the realm of darkness. I sense ten enemies ahead and three allies. Robert and the others are handling four of them, while the six are still lurking in the darkness. Seeing this chance, I threw sleep needles with high sleep effects on them, along with stun needles. It's a bit cruel since you will be sleep paralyzed for some time but I don't have other choices. Only three of them hit the target. One of them evaded that and came to me with unbelievable speed. I parried his dagger and jumped to his back. I struck his neck with a Martial Art Technique and he collapsed instantly. I picked all of them and tied them with Rania's web in my inventory. Well, I picked this stick web when I cleaned the first carriage couple daesh ago. This web is stronger and durable than metal wire but it weak against fire and water. After I tied them, Robert came to me with other four people. It seems all of them had finished their job.

I asked Yuna to brighten the light and now we see ten people are tied up…wait, Rania tied them in strange and misleading position. Even the people I caught have already tied in bizarre position.

"Mfufufufu…" Rania was grinning lewdly.

"Haru-chan, if you want extract some information from them…let me do that job…ufufufu…"

"Yeah…yeah…you got it."

"Alright, now let's see who they are…" Naval takes off a mask from one of assailants. Then, he is surprised.

"This is…Calia-san?!" When we walked to Naval and see what happened, we surprised as well.

"Moreover, she is starving and dehydrating!" Yavia ran to her and cut the web.

"Quickly, take off their masks!" I take off one of the assailants' mask and surprisingly, it's Pablo under it.

"Hey, Spidey untie this shit quickly! Their faces have turned blue!" Luna unties one of the assailants.

We untied all of them and gave them water. They drank very quickly until it choked them. They coughed a bit and I touched Calia's head. She has high fever until it makes her face turned red.

"So hot! Yavia-san, did they catch a cold?!"

"Yes. Other than that, their mana and stamina has greatly depleted…"

"We must—"

"…h…elp…"

"Celia-san?! Can you hear me?"

"…Ishizaki…-san?....is that…you?...Thanks…The Maker…"

"What's happened?!"

"…Guild…Master…is…inside…help…us…" Then, Celia collapsed.

Yavia stored her in [Time Elemental Magic: Storage] and she told that I don't need to worry. She said Celia's condition has worsened and we need to tend her quickly. Suddenly, Tim ran to me and he said that he has found 200 people far inside. He pulled my hand and we ran together to another room not too far from this room. When we reached there, I saw Ayumi, Kenzia, Robert, and Erick tending the fainted people, which are none other than Guild Master's team.

"Haru-san! Bring these people outside! They need fresh air as soon as possible!"

"Alright, Ayumi-san! But why are you not storing them in storage?"

"The storage is meant for the people with critical condition and I need to save my mana to heal all of them! Quickly, we don't have many times! Call other people from outside as well!"

"Y-yes Ma'am!"

I need to use strengthening magic to carry four people at once. I returned to the room before and asked the others to save the reserve team inside. They nodded and left. After that, I used [Teleport] to Boss Room.

"Leader! What the hell is that?!"

"Oh Ridell, call everyone here! This is urgent!" Ridell nodded and he ran somewhere. Not long after that, every people from subjugation team came.

"Everyone, hear me!" I gave them a briefing and explanation. Shortly after that, Julio and Hel came out while carrying four people and let the Healers to tend them.

"Alright, half of Healers please waits here and tend these people. Half of you follow me right now! Oh wait, leave the experts here. Knights take the respiration device with you! You have done it? Good! Let's go everyone!"

We walked with inside until we reached the room I visited before. We need more than a heverra to move the people inside to outside. Thanks to strengthening magic, we can do this without being tired. The Healers tend the collapsed people very quickly and now all of them have been tended from their critical condition.

"Huuh…finally….I can…sit…"

"Thanks for your hard work, Arnold-san."

"Oh, Ayumi-chan! Good job to you too!"

The Healers are still monitoring and tending the injured while The Alchemists are creating drugs and potions for the injured. I asked Yavia and Zikiya for the details of their sickness but they refused to answer my questions.

"My apologies Ishizaki-sama, I don't have time to talk right now. Maybe, after we returned to our base."

"Please wait patiently until the revelations come to you, O Eldert Rtheie Anwei (O, The Curious One)."

"Oh okay, okay! I'm sorry for disturbing your works!" I rubbed my neck. They gave me a smile and left.

"Oh, Ishizaki-dono! What are you doing there?! That's Healers area of work! Come here!" Kenzia called me.

"Oh right! Sorry!" I walked out from there.

Kenzia told me that the Reserve Team got extreme mana exhaustion, extreme dehydration, starvation, and trachea infection due to lack of air. However, before she finishes her explanation, other party leaders came to us and asked us to return to our own base because the night has come.

"Let's return to our base and discuss this tomorrow, Ishizaki-dono."

"Alright, but what must we do with them?"

"Hmm…we must split them since our base can't fit for 200 people at once." Everyone nodded after hearing Naval's proposal. But suddenly Arnold shouted at me that he doesn't want Guild Master in our basecamp.

We took forty people with us and stored them inside my [Time Elemental Magic: Storage] but before we can return, a very dazzling light appears from the center of Boss Room.

"Is the Boss will—ugh…!" Thomas covered his eyes with his arm.

"Cih! We let our guard down!" I said.

The light fades slowly not long after that, a girl shows up in front us. The girl is none other than Rilea's missing daughter. Shortly, Rilea appeared in front of her.

"Mama…!" The girl flew to Rilea.

"Isreiolle chilverin!" (My Beloved Child) Then, they hugged each other.

("Hey, is this dialogue will take a full heverra?") Arnold whispered to Robert.

("Hey, that's harsh Arnold. Let them enjoy this")

Not long after that, Rilea approached me and she thanked me for what I did to her. Rilea said there would be "a huge catastrophe not long after this and we will meet it sooner than we expected." I asked her for the details, but she just smiled to me and she disappears. After she disappeared, I heard a voice in my head that told I would meet new companions and a "big storm" that will kill all of us (my party members and me) in the future. I feel restless after hearing that, but I can't think other than to not let my guard down.

After Rilea disappeared, we returned to our bases with [Teleport] and we tend the injured in our [Tentriutum]. I let the Healers and Priests do their job. I sit on my bed in Boys Room and thinking about Rilea's words. Deep in thought, I was surprised when Robert shook my body.

"Aniki, what's happened?! Did you get a mental debuff?!"

"No…no, I'm fine."

"Is that so…? Wanna go to onsen together?"

"Ah…yes." I stand up and I picked my bath utensils. Then, I walk with Robert to go there.

"Are the boys there?"

"Yes, they are. After we returned, they immediately took off their gears, ran there and jumped in. Hell, Toval and Arnold got a cramp on their back and legs."

"Bfffttt…as expected of them." When I almost arrived there, I met Ayumi and the other girls headed on the same way. We walked together until we arrived at onsen. Well, boys and girls have separated Onsen anyway. I realized the girls had built super protective defense mechanism to prevent the boys from peeking on them.

"Do not even try to peek us…Kaichou, Robert-kun…..nyufufufu…"

"You must said that to Toval or Ello, Luna-chan."

Luna and the other girls entered the onsen as well as Robert and I. We took off our clothes first then we washed our body before entering the onsen. After that, we dip on the onsen together.

"Ahh…this is life…" I felt my fatigue washed away from my body.

"True, nothing can beat onsen after working hard all day…" Robert dips his body until the water reaches his mouth.

"But honestly, this man-made onsen can't beat real onsen in Yamato Island. I miss that island very much."

"Blplblplbplp…" Robert shows me an expression like "I'm also want to go back there very much."

Not long after that, from the mist, I saw Khazim, Arnold and the other boys were laughing over Toval. It seems a magical beam that used as defense mechanism shot him with ridiculous power until it burnt his body.

On the next day, Zack and other party's leaders are visiting our base along with Guild Master and his Vice Leaders to check the injured. I told them they are fine right now and only need to rest one daesh or two daesh again. After that, I asked Guild Master about how he can be trapped inside the dungeon.

"Well, when we arrived there, everything was fine and nothing happened. We built our basecamp like usual: dug the cave, dug the ceilings, finding the water source, etc. But one day, when four of our party members went outside to find stones and soils, they met that…what was that again? Oh yes, The Soul Harvester. That thing struck two of them until they almost died. The other two who survived that attack picked their dying friends and ran back to base. They told me about that Soul Harvester thing and I decided to take it down because I thought I had enough party members to do that. But when we had stationed in our positions and tried to ambush it, it spotted us and immediately used its big scythe to sweep all of us."

"Then, what happened next?"

"Well, same like before. Many of our members were dying and we must tend the injured. But, the injured numbers were much larger than the survivors. We must thought other ways to save them and thankfully, we managed to save all of them thanks to Rogues and Knights, as well as storage magic. We retreated back to our base quickly to treat the injured. We treated them for a daesh or less, but when one of our member wanted to go outside to ask your help, the door is sealed with ancient magic. He reported that back to me and we decided to break it open. But, when we tried to break the door and unseal the magic, a spell activated. The spell had effects to drain the target's mana, stamina and life slowly. Even our Priests and Clerics can't cure the debuff. Then, we can't do anything but slowly withered away. Our food rations that supposed was enough for four daesh depleted in two daesh to support our life. You know, the injured were the one who needed the food and water most. Until the healthy ones can't eat properly and turned sick. Our Priests and Paladins can't do anything except withered away and grew weaker every day, except the Dark Elves and Imps. Well, I…no, we had given up for our life on that time, but all of you came to us. I can't thank enough for all of you."

Well, Guild Master's words are true. Most of Guild's Priest, Cleric, Druid and Sage are from Holy Elf, Undine Elf and Sylph Elf Race. If they haven't had a contact with their elements two daesh or more, they will have a [Body Degeneration Symptoms]. Normally, this is would happens if their body hasn't received enough [Natural Mana] from nature itself. For example, a Holy Elf needs a light to recharge their mana and refresh their body. But, if an individual turns off his or her [RA] [Racial Ability] that has relation with [Natural Mana Recharging] for example like [Light Dragon Gods' Blessing], he or she will not encounter this symptom.

"Oh, that's The Dark Elves and Imps were quite healthy on that time. Though, they were still no match for us."

"You don't say Zack-dono. They have [Dark Dragon Gods' Blessing] and [Companion of Darkness] [RA] [Racial Ability]." Then, Nanderiolle and Zack laughed together.

"Leave that aside, Guild Master…you said you didn't meet the Soul Harvester when you arrived on the dungeon for the first time?"

"Yes, that's true Frantoire-dono. Tavaniris-dono told me that you and Alexandria-dono here met a ghost in Viorellia's basecamp?"

"Yes, it's true. Then, the ghost clung into Ishizaki-dono here and blabbered unknown language on him."

"Wait, wait there Tavaniris-dono…Rudolph-dono, did you meet her when all of you dig the cave?"

"No I didn't, Naval-dono. I only remember when we were digging the cave we found a treasure box with strange language and color on that time. I informed this woman and we agreed to open that when our mission has done. After that, I don't know what happens since I was mapping the area and when I returned, the base had destroyed like that."

"Why you decided not to open the chest?" asked Kenzia.

"Well, we afraid we will be sucked into strange dimension. The chest can be either trap or quest." We tried to guess about something but we failed. But suddenly Robert asked something.

"Excuse me, Rudolph-dono. May I ask?" Robert asked Rudolph and he nodded.

"When you were mapping the cave and outside, were there any people who guarded the basecamp?"

"Hmm…no…everyone was busy creating the basecamp and mapping the terrain…eh—!" He suddenly looked at Viorelle but she glanced away.

"Why are you feel restless and keep silent in this discussion, dear Viorelle-sama? Did you perhaps know something?" Rudolph is staring and smiling at Viorelle.

"W-what a-are you ta-talking about, Rudolph-chan? Ahaha…ahaha…" She glances away and feels anxious.

"Rudolph-dono, did the person who guarded the base was…"

"Yes, Alberto-dono. It was her." Rudolph grabbed Viorelle's shoulders and she jolted.

"Don't tell me…" We stare at her together.

"Care to explain something, dear my beloved leader?" Rudolph grips her shoulders tightly and smiling to her. We stand up from our chairs and surround her while clenching our hands.

"FFFUUNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA….!!!!"

We "interrogated" (tortured) her for a heverra and she told us everything without a single of lie (oh well, it was because Rania joined the "party"). From her explanation, this is what we learnt:

1. The boys who knew the chest location and shape went together with Rudolph. After Rudolph left, only her knew the location and shape of the chest.

2. She secretly went on the chest location alone and opened the chest. She did that after all of her party members went on exploration while the rest of them were busy creating the base.

3. She found a pretty pearl necklace on the chest and she took it. But suddenly two ghosts appeared in front of her and asked her to return the pearl. But she refused to return it, then she ran away from them. When she looked back, she saw a huge shadow appeared from the box and captured the little ghost. Then, the huge shadow disappeared nowhere. I told Guild Master the shadow flew to dungeon where Guild Master stationed and on the same time, Guild Master's group was busy creating their base.

4. I asked Delrieth (My Necromancer Squad's Leader) and he said it's often to meet a [Quest Trap] inside a strange looking chest. His description on the chest's shape is similar like Rudolph's explanation.

"Fu…funya…please*sniff*forgive*sniff*me…" Viorelle is crying.

She kneels down before us. I heard Khazim, Arnold, Toval and Ello's are laughing hysterically as well as Rania. I saw my party members looked her with "what the hell" expression and the cured Guild Master party members looked her with angry gaze. Meanwhile, Rudolph was covering his face with his hands.

"Viorelle-dono…you almost killed 200 people as well as us. Did you know that?"

"I-I know*sniff*please…forgive*sniff*me Zack-chan…" We looked at Zack and he shook his head. The Guild Master is also covering his face with his hand.

"Please, if you want to punish her, let me also receive same punishment as her." Rudolph bows his head to Guild Master. Other party members started to whisper after they saw that.

"I heard [Ishteris Sunaria] Party's achievements were from the Vice Leader's hard work, they said the Leader did nothing but fooling around or being clumsy." Well, this is bad. If Guild Master doesn't say anything, Viorelle's name and her party's name will be stained.

"Viorelle, I as Guild Master will—"

"LEADER! LEADER!" Jack ran inside. I asked him what happened.

"THE RED RAIN! THE RED RAIN HAS OCCURRED!" We are shocked after hearing that.

On another place, a demon is sitting on the top of a ruined tower along with its dragons. He is murmuring something.

"Vas elrim meythellium" (This is the time…)