16 The Red Warning
Roger and the others attempted to force the gate open, but it repelled them with an invisible force.
"What's with this gate? I've never heard of a gate being locked."
"Should someone go back and ask about this?" another suggested.
"Idiot, secret dungeons like this don't last long. They appear randomly and can disappear just as suddenly. We don't have time to waste here. We have to enter this portal fast," Roger insisted.
While Roger and his crew continued to struggle with the gate, John and the others were too frightened to even move.
Kith remained sprawled on the ground, his brain matters scattered across the floor.
Seth realized that he couldn't shake Roger and the others off, especially now that they had found the gate. They would never leave it alone.
Moreover, Roger's statement about secret dungeons disappearing just as suddenly dawned on Seth.
The notification popped up over his head once more.
[Do you want to enter?]
Seth struggled to make up his mind, but then another notification appeared.
[The Secret Dungeon will disappear in 00:57!]
Realization struck Seth. These type of dungeons had a time limit!
Without wasting another second, he thought of [YES].
The gate glowed, and the invisible barrier broke. A chilly air wafted out and the [White Key] disappeared.
"Boss, it opened!"
"Finally!"
Roger and the others rejoiced as they finally managed to open the gate.
However, Seth only felt dread. His instincts warned him of danger. He saw something hazy and red fogs started to came out of the portal.
"Do you see that?" Seth asked John.
"See what?"
"Those red fogs."
John was confused. "What fogs?"
Seth didn't say anything more and observed the others. Roger and his group seemed like they didn't notice the fog either. Because if they did, they would surely have second thoughts about entering the portal.
It looked like he was the only one who could see those strange hazy things.
Was it his perception?
"Let's go before someone sees us here," Roger urged, excited at the prospect of entering a secret dungeon, and gain new abilities.
Perhaps he would finally ascend to become one of the few S-rank Ascendants, just like his older brother.
At the side, Seth grabbed John's hand and whispered in his ear, "You shouldn't enter."
John's face remained pale as he looked at Seth with wide eyes. "Huh?"
"Hey, you! Stop talking and move on! You're holding up the line!" Selena intervened, pushing John and the other Gofers into the portal to ensure that they all entered.
They needed all the help they could get if there were new materials in the secret dungeons.
"Do you want to be pushed too?" Selena snapped at Seth.
Seth stared at the gate one last time before finally entering.
[You have entered the Secret Dungeon!]
Everyone were transported into a large space. The giant door behind them closed with a loud BaAnG!
~WhoOOosSh!~
Torches illuminated the hall, casting flickering shadows. Bones and strange white fluids littered the ground.
John and the Gofers huddled together at the very back, trembling with fear.
Seth took a deep breath, taking in his surroundings. It resembled an underground cave, but much larger. The space was filled with rocks, crystals, skeletons, and those mysterious white fluids. The smell of decay and sulfur was suffocating.
"Hmm . . . I don't see the boss?"
"Do you think it's here?"
"It's here," Roger said with conviction. "I can feel it."
He was right, Seth thought. The boss was here; he could feel it too.
Seth rubbed his left eye, throbbing from the contact lens he put in. The blackness of his left eye was strange, and he had to wear contacts to appear normal.
Just as he was about to remove the contact lenses, shouts echoed in the large space.
"It's HERE!"
"The boss is here!"
The strange white fluids on the ground moved and coalesced at the edge. A large humanoid ooze of a milky white complexion took form, and a name of [Gallium Goo] appeared above its head.
But the strange thing was, the name was in red. Seth didn't know what it meant; the beasts outside had white names, but this one had a red name.
"AaArRgH! What is that?!"
[You have ENGAGED the boss, Gallium Goo!]
[SURVIVE for 1 hour!]
[Time Left: 59:57:40]
Survive? Seth was confused. He just had to survive for one hour and didn't have to kill the boss?
Rather . . . how do you even kill that thing? Seth thought, his heart racing. That familiar sensation began to prick at his nerves. He thought he would never feel fear since he had nothing to lose anymore, but who would have known that he still did?
At this moment, with every fiber of his being, Seth knew he might not be able to defeat this ooze with his current stats.
Seth's left eye throbbed, but he didn't have time to check it when Roger and his team began their battle.
Didn't they see that thing? Seth thought. They couldn't defeat it; he was sure of it.
And Seth was right.
The Gallium Ooze didn't even flinch when magical attacks came flying towards it. The magic sizzled and disappeared, leaving the Ooze intact and unhurt.
"It's impervious to magic!"
"That's not a problem!" Roger was confident as he transformed. The earth and rocks in the area coalescing around him, forming his armor.
He ran towards the Ooze with full force, like a ravaging bull, while Selena supported him from the back with her arrows.
With its massive size, everyone assumed the Ooze would be slow, so they didn't expect it to stretch its arm and whip it towards Roger like a lash.
True to their rank, Roger and Selena easily dodged the approaching arm, but their other members weren't as fortunate. The mages at the back who couldn't evade in time found themselves ensnared inside the Ooze's grasp, as if it had swallowed them whole.
They struggled to break free, but the fluid that composed the Ooze seemed thicker, more like a gelatinous substance than water.
What's worse, their armor corroded, indicating that the Ooze inflicted acidic damage.
Within minutes, two of Roger's group succumbed to death.
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|| A/N ||
I keep my fight scenes shorter than a squirrel's attention span. Because let's face it, nobody wants to read a battle longer than a soap opera episode.
But hey, what's your take on it? 🥊😂
