Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Thaden got up out of his chair and stored it into his Inventory all in one motion. 

“I have no idea.  This… doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Coming in from the southwest, which was in the direction where the Descent into Darkness dungeon was located, and was where Steven and the other Raid Party members had gone the day before, was a group of Contenders.  All through the day while he’d been waiting for someone to show up, he had been half-expecting to see the core members of the Exploitation Guild arrive from where they had investigated his claims, and that was certainly what he was witnessing.

What was shocking, however, was that Steven and the others that had gone to the dungeon to investigate…

…weren’t alone.

“What?” he asked himself more than Sadia.  “How is this possible?”

Smiling and laughing as they strode quickly toward the designated gathering area for Guilded Glory, Steven and the others that had gone southwest were leading a much larger group, and it didn’t take more than a half-second to recognize every single member of the Raid Party that he’d been forced to abandon in the Descent into Darkness dungeon when they had clearly been mind-controlled.

Speaking softly so that only Sadia heard him, he murmured, “Do you think they’re still being controlled?  Are they now some sort of infiltration group that the Adversary is setting loose on the world?”

“I… I don’t know.  It’s possible, but there’s no way of knowing until you interact with them.”

As they got closer, Thaden couldn’t help but notice the expressions on the faces of the Raid Party that he’d left in the dungeon, including the Guild Leader and Corinna, and they appeared to be… normal.  He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see if they were still mind-controlled, as if some sort of infiltrating agent of the Adversary would have a blank stare or shifty eyes, but he saw nothing of that.

His new third eye that wasn’t actually physically present in the middle of his forehead, which he’d largely ignored since his Class evolution, roamed over everyone as they approached.  While he didn’t know exactly why he received it or what it did, he’d noticed that when he looked at people, either Contenders or Charee, they shone with a white aura that surrounded them; the few monsters that he’d glimpsed in the forest the night before, as they were passing by, had a darker aura, as if the white had been tainted in some way.  He could only assume that it was because they were constructed using a purified type of Adversarial energy or Mana, but it was still tainted somewhat due to where it originated from.

Therefore, he fully expected his third eye to reveal that each member of his left-behind Raid Party were likewise tainted in some way, such as a darker aura or specific dark spots around their head indicating that their thoughts weren’t their own.  To his mind, there was no possible way that there wasn’t some sign that they were still being controlled by the Adversary, and while he wasn’t all that knowledgeable about his whole third eye thingy, he fairly confident that if this sign was there, he would see it.

Yet, even as his special eye roamed over each and every one of them, he saw not a single thing out of the ordinary.  They all had bright white auras that appeared identical in purity to anyone else he’d seen after his Class evolution.

As Sadia said earlier, it didn’t make any sense at all.

“Thaden?  Look who we found—did you get taller?  You seem a bit different.  Oh, that’s right, you evolved your Class, didn’t you?  I wasn’t aware that a Class could physically change you like that.”  Steven seemed to be rambling as he spoke to Thaden, approaching at a half-run.  The Omenic Drifter could practically feel the excitement and giddiness coming from the Blade Stalker, and the same sort of emotions appeared to be mirrored in the other core members of his subsidiary Guild. 

Before Thaden could respond in any way, which was already difficult because his mind was still trying to play catchup to what he was seeing, Rachel shouted, “Thaden!  I’m very glad to see that you’re safe.”

 There were multiple nods from the rest of the Raid Party at the Guild Leader’s words, including Corinna, who smiled in relief at seeing him.  He couldn’t help but be thankful the Lieutenant had survived as well, as she had been a good friend during the Intermediate dungeons leading up to this most recent, unfortunate one.

Finally finding his voice as everyone came to a stop around him, he questioned, “How?  What happened?”  He looked at Rachel when he asked that, but it was Steven who answered. 

“Well, we followed what you told us to do, and we approached the dungeon cautiously from the outside.  When we didn’t feel anything like you described, this dumbass—” he said, pointing his thumb toward Adelpho, another member of his core Guild group, “—decided that it would be a smart idea to rush inside and see if there was any difference in there.  And, as you might be able to guess, there certainly was a difference,” he added with an uncomfortable-sounding laugh, and the others with him looked equally uncomfortable.  “Anyway, we felt a Level Compression unlike any I’ve felt before, and it pressed us into the ground immediately when it fell over us outside of the dungeon.

“That would’ve been bad enough, but then this same Level Compression literally dragged us inside through the entrance against our wills.  I watched as half of our group were sucked inside, their skin nearly ripped off as they were dragged against the rough ground, before it was my turn.  Let me tell you, it hurt tremendously, but none of us could do anything to prevent it.  As soon as I passed over the threshold of the dungeon, however, I expected to be killed immediately by this powerful presence that could affect us from so far away, but that obviously didn’t happen.

“Instead of dying… nothing happened,” he continued, shaking his head.  “Or so I assume.  To be more accurate, none of us remember anything after we were pulled inside.  The next thing I actually recall is walking out of the exit in the cliff wall, as if emerging from a dream.  When I finally looked around, it wasn’t just myself that walked out, but the rest of our group, as well,” he added, waving toward the smaller group of Contenders he’d traveled to the dungeon with.  “But that wasn’t the best part, of course; joining us were the ones we came to see if we could rescue!”

   The Guild Leader nodded, and after seeing the question on Thaden’s face, she took up the explanation.  “We had a chance to talk on the way back from the dungeon, and the last thing any of us remember before we walked out with Steven and the others is entering the dungeon with you and stepping a foot on the descending stone platform.  Everything in between those two events are, simply, gone.  We all received rewards for killing our way through to the end of the dungeon, including the Achievement for completing the entire thing, but none of us remember anything about it.”

Her face grew a bit darker at that moment.  “But Steven mentioned something about us being mind-controlled?  And then there was a story about some sort of monster of the Adversary?  He seemed to be telling the truth about being sucked inside the dungeon by some powerful force, but none of us actually saw what you proposed to have seen.  And with the System not letting us know about it, I’m not sure what to believe, because there was no feeling of it after we exited the dungeon.  Thankfully, we’d obviously completed the dungeon long enough ago that I was able to send a small team inside the dungeon entrance to check for this monster as well, after pulling back about a mile at Steven’s suggestion, but they didn’t feel anything, either.”

Thaden wasn’t sure what to believe, either, as all of this seemed impossible.  He could only shake his head at the what he was hearing.  He looked around at everyone, each of whom seemed earnest in their explanation of events, wondering if they were even now simply acting as if they weren’t mind-controlled, and attempted to feel if there was any type of psychic effect emanating from them.  When he found nothing to indicate that there was any further influence going on, which he still didn’t believe was possible, he asked, “Are you sure you don’t remember anything?”

Rachel and Corinna shook their heads and shrugged helplessly.  “Nope, nothing.  I hope the Boss battle was epic, though,” Corinna added with a smirk.

“What I don’t understand,” Thaden said after a few seconds, “is why you were all let go if you were trapped inside the dungeon at this thing’s mercy.  More importantly, how do I know that you aren’t all still mind-controlled right now?”

“You don’t, unfortunately,” the Guild Leader said almost immediately.  “I can only speak for myself, of course, but I don’t feel like I’m being controlled.”  She paused for a moment, before continuing.  “I will acknowledge that something certainly happened down there to wipe our memories of almost the entirety of our delve, and I have no logical explanation for it.  But that doesn’t mean that something is influencing us even now.”

She had a point, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was too odd about this whole situation.  “Hmm.  I wonder if the System did this?” he mumbled to himself.  Or, more specifically, to the one listening to him speak softly.

“Are you talking about what happened in Darkwood Vale with the old Coalition Region Leader?  How the minds of the residents and even the Contenders were wiped of the Coalition building blowing up and killing hundreds of people?”

He imperceptibly nodded at Sadia’s questions.

“Well, I can only say that it’s possible that the System wiped their memories, as it has that ability, but the problem with that theory is the monster itself.  As you know, the System couldn’t have eliminated the threat itself, as it would need to issue a SPECIAL Quest to take care of it – and there weren’t any.  So, either the Adversarial Elite was somehow killed or spontaneously died, or it’s missing from where it showed up entirely.”

Sadia’s words caused his body to turn cold at the implications.  “I doubt it was killed or spontaneously died, so if it isn’t in the dungeon anymore… where is it?”

The giant squirrel didn’t have an answer for that, nor did any of the others who heard him.  

“Regardless of what happened to it,” Rachel said with her arms crossed against her chest, “the important thing is that we’re safe and free from the dungeon.  The Descent into Darkness has been completed, we’re alive and well, and as far as I can tell, none of us have any lasting side effects from whatever happened to us.  Plus, whatever you think you say isn’t there any longer, so it’s entirely possible that the Assimilation System got rid of whatever shouldn’t have existed in the first place.” 

“Actually, something even more important,” Corinna said with a grin, “is that we’re looking at the very first Contender to reach the next evolved Class.  How does it feel to be over Level 200 now?”

Thaden experienced a bit of whiplash at the sudden change in subject, and it took him a few seconds to respond.  “It’s, uh, interesting, especially my new Class.  Which reminds me, don’t cast any single-target spells or use any single-target abilities while you’re near me—” he began to warn them, but Rachel cut him off.

“Wizened Solitary Shaman?  Wait a minute… oh, no.  What did you do, Thaden?  This is worse than your previous Class!” she exclaimed, appearing disgusted as her vision was staring at what he could only assume were the Rankings – and the fake Class breakdown that was included with his place on it.

“No, no; it’s not a Wizened Solitary Shaman,” he quickly corrected her.  “It only displays that way because I have a unique Class that automatically stays hidden.  So, instead of a Wizened Solitary Shaman, I’m a Wizened Solitary Shaman.”  The second he attempted to say Omenic Drifter, he felt something affect his voice, and what he actually said was not what he intended.

As he stood there, confused at what happened, Steven snorted in amusement.  “That sounds like the same thing, Thaden.”

“No, it’s a Wizened Solitary—grr, it won’t let me say the name.”  He thought about his conversation with Sadia about his new Class and wondered why this didn’t happen then; he could only conclude that since she was technically a part of him, that seemed to make a difference, but with anyone else, the same thing that hid the Class description from everyone else was actively attempting to prevent him from saying its name.  Fortunately, it didn’t seem to obscure the Class’s traits, as his earlier warning about single-target spells and abilities hadn’t been altered – at least, he didn’t think so.

“But you’re going to provide even less PICK than before, to the point where the only thing our people will get out of Partying with you is loot; while money makes the world go ‘round, gaining only a tiny fraction of what they should is going to hurt.  A lot,” Rachel continued.

“Ignore the description of my Class for a moment, and just trust me on this.  In reality, this is what my new Class does…”

He went on to explain all of the different traits, and it was only when he got to the point where it described altering the description of his Class did the words that came out of his mouth not match what he was attempting to say.  When he was done, everyone still looked skeptical, or perhaps they were worried about the whole 1% chance of instant death thing; either way, the Guild Leader sighed and shook her head.  “It’s not that I don’t want to believe you, but I’ve never heard of a Class acting like that before.  Regardless, we’ll discuss this more tomorrow; for now, I know I can speak for everyone here that we need the rest of the day off after everything that happened.”

He nodded, knowing that this was probably the best outcome he could hope for when he revealed his new (real) Class.  As some of the Raid Party started heading toward the city gates, he caught Rachel’s attention before she could get far.

“Who was supposed to meet me out here today for a Raid Party?” Thaden asked.  “I’ve been out here since just after dawn and no one seemed here for me,” he further explained.

She chuckled.  “It was either going to be some of this team here or nothing, depending on whether you needed some time to get used to your new Class.  Obviously, we have no desire to go anywhere right now, so you’re free until tomorrow.”  Without another word, the Guild Leader turned away, joining the others as they headed for the gates. 

Steven was the last to go.  “We’ll meet you out here tomorrow morning, boss.  I’m with the Guild Leader; we need some rest after the craziness that happened near that dungeon.”  At Thaden’s nod, he had to jog a bit to join up with everyone else before they got too far.

Thaden stood there watching them get into line as thoughts tore through his mind at what felt like lightspeed.  First and foremost was the sneaking suspicion that something was horribly wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.  It could be that he still wasn’t convinced that the leadership of Guilded Glory, as well as the core group of his subsidiary Guild, weren’t being influenced, despite having no visible or even invisible proof.  It could also be that the whole situation seemed entirely too convenient, and the timing of everyone seemingly freed from the dungeon was suspicious as hell.

But what occupied his mind the most was the disappearance of the Level 710 Adversarial Elite from the dungeon.  Was it still there, hiding until another unsuspecting group of Contenders wandered in?  Was it actually dead?  Or, the worst of all possibilities to his mind, did it somehow escape and was even now rampaging across Tarth, somehow hiding itself from the System. 

“I can’t read your mind, but what you’re thinking of doing is so obvious that you’re practically shouting it out loud.  I would highly advise against this course of action; for all we know, it’s a trap specifically for you.”

Thaden nearly backtracked on the risky plan he’d just put together after hearing Sadia’s warning, but he firmed up his resolve.

He had to know.

The only way to do that was to see for himself if it was true.

“Doesn’t matter.  I have to check out the dungeon, or else I’m always going to suspect everyone I work with of being under the influence of that thing.”

Sadia mentally sighed, but didn’t try to change his mind; she knew that it would do no good.

Placing his Wyvern’s Flight cape around his neck and letting it hang off his back, he was soon airborne and heading at full speed toward the southwest, where the dungeon he’d left his entire Raid Party in the day before could be found.