30 Black Pyramid’s Gate

Hey everyone, author here ~ I just wanted to let you know that about the first 50 chapters of MDS can be considered "Volume 0" or in other words "exposition" flushing out the world, plot, characters; you know the name of the game. Henceforth, however, from 50+ the story should (emphasis on SHOULD, I get distracted) become a lot more clear-cut. So I hope you stick around, it is free and all ;)

Oh and powerstones would be totally radical my dude ~ thelostboy

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It's the night after the escort team left. A day has passed and the camp hasn't sat still in that time.

Many changes took place leading up to the pyramid's raid. For example, beyond the pyramid, but still within the camp's walls, workshops littered the open space. Men and women alike ran around in droves – fetching various materials and blueprints for the mechanically gifted of them.

Bows, crossbows, swords, shields, daggers, and a whole adventurer get-up needed to be supplied to everyone asap! And yes, that included the people not joining the raid itself.

In the event that the raid fails and the vanguard along with their reserves are slaughtered. . . there still needs to be those who continue what they died for. People will still need to lead the newbies, grow their strengths, and gather their forces; all just to try again.

To once more attempt at escape.

And if the raid fails those who stayed behind should have all of the gear they'll need to be successful.

In addition to basic gear however, larger, prettier devices were being constructed as well.

Thanks to the ingenuity of a few engineers, blueprints were created for various siege weapons such as catapults, battering rams, and ballistas. With those options now available, the Admiral didn't hold back in his orders!

He commissioned the entirety of his militia to collect the needed materials. For days, the militia did nothing but chop wood and mine iron. Thank god the jungle was filled with boulders covered in rich mineral deposits or else the adventurers would be severely lacking in the gear department!

Due to this large commission of siege weapons, large piles of raw materials now surrounded the ancient pyramid. Stacks of wood and logs, huge piles of mined metals such as copper, iron, and nickel plagued the grounds like animal feces.

It was on this night, after bidding farewell to the escort team, that the Goblins swarmed the camp these adventurers learned to call home!

It started with the rumbling in the night. Subtle and soft. Soon though, its soft shaking turned to monstrous quakes!

The Goblins slammed into the wooden walls surrounding the pyramid! The sound of shrieks and howls assaulted the ears of the sleeping adventurers, forcefully pulling them from their slumber and waking them to something far worse than a nightmare!

The Goblins savagely tore at the wooden walls! They gouged each other's eyes and clawed at the flesh of their brethren around! Digging their claws into the Goblin before them, they climbed atop themselves until they breached the wall!

Pouring over the edge like water, the Goblins spilled onto the ground and immediately took off running! It was at this time that the archers were overwhelmed and their screams resonated between the trees of the jungle.

The Goblins acted swiftly and charged towards the camp's important landmarks! One group busted ass towards the wall's gates! In merely a minute, the Goblins figured out how to undo the massive wall's latch and open the gates!

As the gates opened, a line of Goblins stepped forward with bows already arced into the air.

Meanwhile, Isaac and Church rushed up the pyramid's floors the moment they heard the banging on the camp's walls! By the time they reached the exit, however, the wall's had already been overflown by green flesh and the camp's gates were being drawn open.

Standing in the pyramid's gateway, Isaac and Church stood paralyzed while they watched as everything they worked for was razed to the ground. Their attention, however, was immediately drawn to the slowly parting gates – not the gates themselves, no, but the flickering crimson light found between them.

The Goblin archers carefully aimed their fire-dipped arrows towards the sky. Less than a second later, streaks of light reflected off of Isaac and Church's eyes. Like the shooting stars that they resembled, mere rocks penetrating the atmosphere, the fire arrows eventually plummeted from the sky and crashed into the mounds of wood that lay scattered around the camp!

Suddenly, Isaac heard the stumbling of feet and the panting of breath behind him. Turning around, he saw Admiral Adams ascending from the staircase alongside a swarm of his muts.

"What the hell is going on?!" The Admiral roared.

But soon after he made it up the stairs, the Admiral finally caught a glimpse of the camp's state beyond the pyramid's entrance – now especially so due to the wildly spreading fire encroaching around.

"It's all over. . . " A random member of the Admiral's militia dropped to his knees, his eyes wide and his voice shaking uncontrollably, "it's all fucking over!!!"

The Admiral launched himself backwards and tackled the crumbling man! Covering his mouth, the Admiral gazed threateningly into his eyes.

"Are you trying to get us all killed!!" The Admiral hissed.

But the man bit his hand in defiance!

In his moment of freedom, he roared once more.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE SUPPOSED T–" The Admiral put him in a choke-hold!

"We raid tonight!" The Admiral whispered as to not attract the attention of the Goblins, but his voice remained stern and absolute nonetheless.

"Tonight?!" Church beckoned.

"There's no other choice! Don't give me your shit tonight, Church!" The Admiral released the squirming man in his grasp.

"What about the ballistas?! What about the thirteenth group?! What about Olive?!" But Church continued to protest.

The Admiral dragged the barely conscious man to his feet and patted his shoulders. Now successfully domesticated, the panicking man returned to his place in line beside the others.

Taking his first step back down into the pyramid, the Admiral looked back and met Church's gaze.

"Fuck 'em!" The Admiral turned back and descended.

Church looked at Isaac, but all he saw was a powerless man clenching his fists in anger, staring incessantly at the raging infernos beyond them.

"Let's go." Isaac said coldly as he turned his back to the pyramid's entrance, and to Church, as he descended behind the militia.

Gritting his teeth in anger and having no other choice, Church followed suit. They descended all five floors of the pyramid and arrived at the final level.

There, they saw the hazardous movement of people running back and forth. Some looking for the friends they've made here while others search for weapons and gear they could use.

Twenty percent.

That was the number of people still living outside the pyramid. The number of people who were perhaps claustrophobic or simply preferred waking up to the sound of birds and the kiss of the morning sun.

Twenty percent that had already been slaughtered.

Twenty percent that was missing and required searching for.

Also, due to the newfound horrors beyond the pyramid, it was easily decided that all members of the camp would participate in the raid. If they didn't, wouldn't they just get slaughtered by the Goblins anyway?

Some of these people still lacked gear and weapons of their own; still lacked proper training and synergy, but they had to try and survive – no matter the cost!

So they scrounged for old gear and picked up any weapon they could find all while the Admiral organized people into squadrons.

These makeshift squadrons basically became the reserves for the reserves – they'll be placed as far away from the front-line as possible as to not disrupt all of the plans the Admiral has devised over the past month.

Very quickly, over a hundred people began to fall in line under the Admirals scrutinous glare. The squadrons had been formed and the plans had been communicated.

Silence consumed the pyramid's final floor as the hundred-plus group of people took a moment to steel their resolve. During said silence, they began to hear the growls and shrieks of the Goblins above! Their scratchy voices echoed off the pyramid's walls and haunted the group of adventurers below.

Then, they started to hear something else.

The sound of wheels in tow and the clacketing of wood against wood. Being pushed towards the behemoth black Gate at the front of the hall, a beautiful blue gem strode into the hall atop a wooden cart.

"It's time!" The Admiral roared.

The Awakened and unawakened alike made way for the glittering crystal and as it drew closer to the black Gate, a shimmering light erupted from within its blue case.

The oversized Magic Crystal lit up with a beating heart of energy and levitated off of the wooden cart. Hovering above the ground, the light from within the crystal suddenly exploded outward towards the black Gate!

With a tether of light leading it, the Magic Crystal floated across the hall and carefully slotted itself within the hollow space of the Gate.

A loud 'click' resounded throughout the hall and immediately the Magic Crystal erupted with violent light! The flash bang drowned the entirety of the final floor and blinded all of the people present!

By the time the light subsided and the people were able to see again, instead of an open Gate as expected, they saw nothing but darkness.

Utterly infinite and incomprehensibly horrific, the Admiral felt a rush of goosebumps assault his back!

The darkness felt ominous! It felt unnerving and definitely dangerous!

"SCREEEE!!!"

The sound of the Goblins grew louder!

'But where is the other side? Every Gate has led somewhere! But this!? There is nothing! Unless the Gate leads to outer space itself? But that'd be preposterous! Nothing could survive that!' The Admiral debated with himself.

Now he truly didn't know what to do!

'What went wrong? Why did the Goblins suddenly attack us? Why was everything on fire!? The Goblins have never shown themselves to be intelligent enough to craft such weapons!'

The Admiral turned his head towards Isaac.

'Unless. . . they're from deeper within the jungle? But that's a month's worth of travel! What caused them to come now?!'

"AHHH!!" A woman's voice screamed above the hall, interrupting the Admiral's thoughts.

In the back of the hall, the first Goblin exploded towards a newbie girl. With a dagger in hand and bloodlust oozing from his pores, the Goblin assaulted the minimally prepared girl and slashed at her calves!

"Fuck! We're out of time!" Isaac yelled.

"Into the Gate!" The Admiral roared above the frenzied Goblins now pouring into the room!

The Admiral looked to his side where Isaac and his cohort stood.

"After you." The Admiral bowed towards them.

Church smacked his lips.

"What a bitch!" Church snapped before turning towards the wall of blackness and embracing its visage.

"He's right, you know." Isaac commented before stepping into the darkness himself, Lily following right after.

The Admiral ignored their remarks and turned towards his militia.

"Now charge!!" The Admiral bellowed.