"Is that?"
"What the."
"Is that a loli?" Temur demanded.
"That looks suspiciously like male," Jael said.
Whatever it was, it was small, the size of a fist, and wore colorful clothes; they couldn't see its face properly because it was covered by a black veil. The thing hovered above them buzzing like a bee. "Welcome great warriors!"
Their voice was both deep and feminine at the same time.
Everyone looked up as if they had been expecting it to appear since. As if to confirm his suspicions, Jael looked back at the door, and it was gone; everything was now an unbroken, crumbled village.
"I've never seen a talking monster before," Litha whispered.
"Is that even a monster?" Cele whispered back.
Whatever it was started to speak. "I welcome you brave warriors who are here to look for the lost treasure of Adonijah!"
Whispers started to spread mostly among the newbies who stayed behind. The focus of it was that – what type of zone is this? Even Litha was looking up in complete surprise. They had never heard something like this before.
"Are we sure we are in a zone?" Tim asked. "Or is this some kind of prank?"
The veteran who had seen and been to this type of zone before smirked. Especially the freelance Awakeners, they enjoyed looking at the Guild teams appearing confused and clueless. Anything to pull over those overconfident brats. They would eat all the benefits while the clueless wander around!
"Why didn't Thayer tell us anything?" Jael frowned at Dile. "Did he tell you anything?"
Dile closed his eyes and his ears flickered. "He told us none of this. We are new to this as well."
Darkness descended and surrounded them, a thick black fog that rolled. "What is going on?" Jael called but he received no answers.
It's as if the dark ate his voice. Jael paused and listened, he couldn't hear anything around him. Or sense anything. 'Have the hunt began? What is going on?' He couldn't hear the beat of his heart or the step of his feet. "Litha!
Temur!" His mouth formed the shape but no sound came out.
Temur and Litha are feeling the same. They couldn't see or hear, he sniffed the air. "I can't smell either?" Temur slowly extended his hands forward, and he struck something, someone by the feel of it, and immediately his hand connected, he could see the person faintly.
"Dile? Can you hear me?" He asked and beastman nodded.
Once you touch someone, then you will be able to see them faintly and hear them. Temur held on tightly to Dile, and they began to find the others by extending their hand in the dark. Soon, all six of them were holding each other's hands in a circle.
"We have a problem," Temur said.
Jael saw others as if he were looking through a wet, broken mirror. "We can't see or sense anything unless we are touching the thing, we are practically waiting food for the monster."
Litha sent mana to her eyes and made them glow like a flashlight but nothing changed. She gritted her teeth. "How can we defend ourselves when we can only see through touch? Temur and Dile, shouldn't you guys have a higher perception than us?"
Temur pushed his senses to their limits, but it was as if a wet blanket had been put over them. "I can't sense more than half a foot from me. What about you Dile?"
"A foot."
Cele created a fireball, and it hung above their heads, but it looked like she was the only one who could see it. She frowned. "And we don't know the type of abilities others might have. What if they can see? What if they target more than monsters?"
The silence that lingered among them was heavy and fear lay between it. This wasn't how Jael imagined it would go. Will they be taken out without even trying anything at all in the zone?
Temur made a decision. "We can feel our feet on the ground. We should move slowly and see if we can bump into a building. If we can see when we touch it then we enter and get away from the open."
Just then, a blood-cuddling scream of pain tore through the air.