"That thing looks nothing like a dungeon." Soren lifted his head and squinted his eyes in order to look at the old abandoned tower. Now that he thought of it, what was an abandoned tower doing in a forest? The building felt out of place, almost as though it popped out of nowhere, but at the same time it had always been there.
"Well, it is." Lucian said. He didn't know why the dungeon was in disguise; it looked nothing like the first dungeon they had escaped from. Escaping from the first dungeon was difficult enough already. He didn't want to risk his life, endlessly fighting monsters with every turn that felt like a trap. He felt like he was better off surviving in the forest. The weather in Hlasked was weird, equally dangerous with every plant and body of water, but at least he wasn't stuck with the same scenery every day, and he could go weeks without having to fight any beast; all he needed to do was to just survive. "If we are going to separate Thorin from his teams, then we are going to have to find another way; that nasty dungeon is out of the question."
Marta and Soren nodded, but they couldn't think about any other options.
"What about trapping Thorin in the dungeon instead?" Luna asked.
"Since we only need to separate the hero from his teams, what about trapping his teammates in the dungeon instead?" Marta asked, twisting Luna's ideas. She smiled when Lucian nodded in approval.
"My system revealed the hidden identity of the tower to me, but it didn't for other players, so I'm sure that this must be one benefit that is only available to the hero and the villain, and since Thorin knows what the building is, we can't trick him; his teammates, on the other hand, we can trick instead."
"Yes, Capta_."
"Let's begin!" Lucian shouted before Marta could complete her statement; he scattered his teammates when he felt Thorin's flying blade heading his way.
Thorin could barely focus on his fight with Lucian because his teammates were once again getting their asses kicked. Whenever he would try separating himself from Lucian to help his teammates, Lucian would block his way.
"Stop trying so hard, Lucian." Thorin missed the kick he threw at Lucian. "You are exhausted, and who knows how many broken ribs you are trying to hold onto to keep yourself standing." He said in irritation as Lucian once again stopped him from helping his teammates. He didn't like how his teammates were slowly moving too close to the dungeon ahead; one step into the tower, and then they will be gone.
Lucian had broken ribs, but slowly they had been healing, and he faked his exhaustion. Knowing that Thorin hadn't caught up to his act made Lucian silently smile at himself.
Luna and Marta both unexpectedly stumbled into each other, irritated by the pain Luna felt from her wounds that weren't fully healed yet and hurt even more with any slight hit. She pushed Marta out of her way, but Marta mindlessly took Luna's action as an invitation to fight. Forgetting who her true enemy was, she jumped on Luna, lifting her folded fist over her face. Together both girls stumbled once again over the entrance of the tower and then suddenly disappeared.
"This is why I hate girls my age." Soren face-slapped himself. "They are too stupid."
"Where did they go?" The 4 men who were fighting against Marta and Luna muttered among themselves, too afraid to move forward so that they won't get carried away by the same force of magic that took their opponents away.
"Captain!" Soren urgently called out to Lucian.
Thorin didn't give Lucian any chance to move away from him. "It seems like I don't have to worry much about your teammate anymore." He grinned.
Lucian subtly drops his act of weakness and uses a fireball to block Thorin's sight while he quickly moves over to Soren.
'His attacks are weak, but he's still able to move so fast?' Thorin thought. He expected Lucian to be completely out of strength. "I should have crushed his ankle from the start."
"We have to go after them." Lucian cast a dark look at the entrance of the dungeon. Soren had explained Luna and Marta's mistake to him.
Lucian grabs Soren's arm. "Come on." He jumped into the entrance of the dungeon, regardless of Soren's reluctance. Immediately Lucian is transported to another dimension when his skin is harshly beaten by icy cold winds.
"Captain!" Marta cried out, happy to see Lucian. "You didn't have to come; you should have left us. I'm sure that we can figure out a way out of here on our own." She stutters, her teeth shaking from the cold as she rubs her arm to create any friction of heat she can manage.
"You mean he should have left you alone to die here." Luna glared at Marta, equally trembling from the cold. "I still can't believe that you ruined our plans and attacked me for a stupid reason; we are all going to freeze to death because of you."
"No one is going to die." Lucian said. He studied where they were; it was filled with snow and cold winds that blurred their vision and stopped them from being able to see what was ahead.
'Is this really a dungeon?' Lucian thought. It looks nothing like the first dungeon they were trapped in.
"Why are we just standing out here?" Reed asked in annoyance. "Let's go in and chase after them!" He stepped forward, but his teammates cowardly stepped back; no one was willing to follow him.
"That's a dungeon." Thorin said. "If you step inside, you are going to be trapped like them, and before we have the opportunity to kill Lucian and his team, what's in there might end up killing us first."
Thorin had a bad feeling about the dungeon; his system wasn't giving him full information on it.
"Captain, we still have to fight." Reed raised his sword. "We can't let them get away."
"Your magic isn't strong enough to fight against Lucian and his team." Thorin deactivated his magic. His twin lava blade disappeared. "Stand down, Reed." He ordered.
"What about you, Captain Thorin?" Reed asked, his expression twisted in rage, "Your strength is enough to face them; why are you still here?"
Thorin's eyes swept over what was left of his teammates. Their numbers were drastically reduced thanks to Luna's poisonous blade; now it pained him that Luna was still alive. He should have finished her. The shadows of defeat were cast over his teammates' faces even though they were the last ones left standing.
'They need me.' Thorin thought.
"I can't abandon the team; that would be irresponsible. I may have done something like that before, but not again." He turned his back to Reed.
Reed glared at Thorin's retreating form. 'Why burden yourself with weaklings who barely have interest to fight for you?' he thought.