As Nuel took a satisfied sip of the soup he had made, the other party members gathered around, their curiosity piqued.
Thorne was salivating inches about his head and Nuel wondered how he had managed to get himself to move quickly within a short period of time.
Perhaps, he got lured by the aroma of his soup. Aria and Lila, the two girls in the group, couldn't help but stare at the steaming bowl, their eyes widening in unison.
"Is that...soup?" Lila asked, her voice extremely sweet and soft.
Nuel nodded, holding back a cold demeanor.
Aria's eyes grew even wider. "It smells amazing! Can we have some?"
Thorne also chimed in, his stomach growling in anticipation. Nuel chuckled, ladling out generous portions into wooden bowls.
Aria closed her eyes, a look of pure bliss on her face. "This is...wow."
Lila nodded vigorously, her mouth still full. "Mm-hmm, so good!"
Kael and Kanji arrived just in time and after they had devoured the dungeon soup Nuel made with some bread, Kanji started a conversation about the outcome of their journey.
"There are two other floors within the floor we went into and as you all know, there's a time limit for clearing this dungeon. At this rate, we might not defeat the dungeon boss and we all might be trapped in here until rescue comes." Kanji explained.
"What do you suggest we do, leader?" Thorne asked, preparing his shield to move.
Kanji looked at every member briefly before saying what was on his mind.
"We will move in groups of two."
"I will go with Nuel!" Aria without digestion the situation properly said before Kanji peered at her with someone else.
"Good. Thorne and Lila can peer up together, right?" Kanji asked.
Both nodded, preparing themselves to leave already.
Kanji handed out party pendants to each member who would be leading the peered groups.
"This is a bond seal. To activate the bond seal, simply touch it and infuse a hint of your mana. This will link us together, allowing us to communicate privately and securely in case any of you come in contact with an advanced beast or perhaps the dungeon boss."
Kael stepped out of the shadow and picked up from where Kanji had stopped.
"The deal will glow softly, indicating that a bond has been established. If anything happens on your floor, be quick to let the others know before retreating."
The regrouped party all walked into their respective floors, the time limit they had inside the instant dungeon appearing on the bondseal.
{Instant dungeon time-limit: 1:00:00}
{Countdown continues}
The floor Nuel and Aria walked through was calm and almost unalive. They encountered no beasts markings or signs of the existence of beasts on their path.
Aria kept yapping endlessly about meaningless things to Nuel and he paid little to no attention to what she was saying.
Finally, they arrived at a dead end. An enormous chunk of the dungeon already parted into a valley with a bottomless pit.
Nuel walked towards the edge, kicking a stone into the dark hole, but he never heard the sound of the stone hitting the foot of the pit.
All that could be heard arousing from the pit was a soft howling of unseen forces and a cold mist shrouding out of it.
"That's it then. Let's go back to the others." Nuel said, preparing to turn around.
He could feel his gear holding him down a bit, perhaps it was getting heavy on his body due to the long walk he had been taking ever since he ventured into the dungeon.
"Are you sure about that? We might want to look further into the hole." Aria asked, taking a look at the valley and then back at Nuel.
"Yes, let's activate the bondseal now."
"That won't be necessary." Aria said, her voice different from the once cheerful and obsessive little girl.
Nuel turned around to face her, confused why she had said that or what had happened to the change of tone with her.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Because she had called me even before you knew it happened." Kanji suddenly said from behind, appearing with Kael on his side.
A frown settled on Nuel's brows, his hand slowly making way towards his loin to grab his sword as he tried to decipher what was happening.
Nuel looked at Aria, not wanting to believe she might be in it with them. Kanji and Kael had been suspicious since the beginning of the dungeon quest, but he had pushed that feeling off because they all had fallen victim to the dungeon's cruelty.
"How are you guys here?"
"You don't want to know." Kael said, catching Nuel off guard with a quick move.
Kael unleashed a torrent of ice magic at Nuel, covering the ground in a slick layer of frost and ice. Nuel, caught off guard, lost his footing on the treacherous surface.
He slipped and stumbled, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to regain his balance. But it was too late. Nuel's feet flew out from under him, and he plummeted into the dark, seemingly bottomless pit that yawned open behind him.
Aria, standing close to Nuel, wasn't able to dodge the ice magic either. The blast hit her, and she too lost her footing.
"Kael, no!"
She cried out as she fell, her hands grasping for something, anything, to break her fall. But there was nothing.
She followed Nuel into the pit, their screams echoing off the dungeon walls as they disappeared into the darkness while Kanji and Kael stood at the tip, looking at them fall like miserable beings to their death.
The pit was endless, with no visible bottom or safety net to catch both Nuel and Aria. The sound of their terrified yells faded into the distance, leaving Kael and Kanji standing alone, with Kael's ice magic dissipating as suddenly as it had begun.