"What?!"
Sunny woke up with a start. After a moment, he looked around and realized that, except for Kai who had been standing guard, everyone else had similar expressions of confusion.
Sunny spoke first.
"Hey, did anyone…"
"Hear a voice in our head talking about levels and classes like the spell did? Yeah, I think we all did." Effie answered.
Kai looked at them clearly confused.
"What do you mean? I didn't hear anything."
They all looked at him wondering why, out of them all, he was the only one who had not heard anything. After a moment Cassie spoke, giving them a possible explanation.
"He was the only one awake, the rest of us were sleeping, or about to. Maybe that's the reason."
Nephis followed after her.
"We should make sure that's the case before we keep trying to know more about this. Kai, go to sleep, tell us if you hear something when you do that."
Kai nodded and lowered himself to the ground, resting his back onto the wall, then, he closed his eyes.
After a few tense seconds when everyone was paying close attention to see if anything happened, Kai opened his eyes. Seeing that, Nephis spoke in her calm voice, though Sunny could detect a note of tension on it.
"Did you hear anything?"
"Umm, no, it's not that. It's just… you know it's a bit difficult to sleep with everyone watching me like that?"
There was a moment of silence after that before Effie burst out laughing. Nephis coughed in what seemed to be embarrassment while Cassie was clearly embarrassed even if she was not looking at him for obvious reasons, Caster just scoffed and looked away. Sunny, for his part, smiled at Kai while raising the Midnight Shard by the pommel.
"Do you want me to help you to sleep?"
"Uhh… there's really no need for that. What if you start talking first while I try to sleep?"
"Huh, well I guess that also works. What do you think Neph?"
Nephis just nodded. After that, everyone moved to give Kai space and started talking. Effie was the most eager and so, she spoke first.
"Well, what did you hear? It was similar to the Spell when it was giving me the appraisal, but also different. It said I had gained the [Warrior] class, level 5 and also some Skill. They were [Lesser Strength], [Lesser Endurance] and [Lesser Toughness]."
Nephis was next, she seemed to still be thinking about this new thing.
"I gained two classes, first there's [Flamebearer] I think it's similar to my Aspect, then there's the [Knight] class, level 6. It gave me [Reinforced Armor], [Aura of Fire] and… [Basic Riding]."
Nephis seemed a bit out of sorts with that last one and Sunny couldn't fault her. After all, the first two made sense but [Basic Riding] did not, in Sunny's view, it came out of nowhere. While he was still thinking about that, Caster spoke.
"I think I know why Lady Nephis gained that skill. It may not be common now, but knights in the era long before the Nightmare Spell were usually seen riding horses and rarely seen moving on foot. They were different from the knights we know such as the knights of Valor so it's possible these skills are based on that idea of what a knight represents."
After Caster said that silence descended between them once again, everyone was taking their time digesting his words. Before they resumed the debate, an exclamation was heard from the place Kai was.
"Hey, I heard it! It seems you were right, you have to sleep first to be able to hear that voice."
"Well, go on then pretty boy. What have you gained?"
"I received the [Archer] class, level 2. I also gained two skills, [Fast Draw] and [Improved Vision]."
"Hah! That suits you. Then what about the rest of you?"
Caster was the first to answer, his voice betraying a hint of pride.
"[Duelist] level 5, I gained [Solid Footwork] and [Opening Seen]"
Finally, only Sunny and Cassie were left, so he spoke first since Cassie looked to be still in deep thought.
"I also gained two classes. First there's the [Scout] class, level 3 it gave me [Dangersense] and [Keen Eyes], there's also [Shadow Dweller] just level 1, but it gave me [Shadow Control] which sounds exactly like my aspect ability."
Then it was just Cassie.
"I… I gained the [Seeker] class, level 2, I only received one skill [Clairvoyance]."
After they all said their part it was time to try and make sense about how exactly these classes and skills worked and how and why they received them. They already established that, to gain these levels one has to go to sleep first and then the voice will whisper in their heads, but how exactly would they keep leveling up? Will they keep doing so just by slaying these monsters time and time again, or is there a catch? With all these questions Sunny just shook his head and spoke to the rest.
"There's no use trying to get all the answers right now, we need to get out of here first, we can figure the rest after that."
Everyone nodded at that, Nephis then took the chance to issue orders again.
"Sunny is right, we need to focus on getting to a safer place first and fast, we have no water here so we need to get out of here tomorrow at the latest. We rest first and then we continue. Cassie, can you do anything to get us out of here?"
Cassie stopped to think for a moment and then barely nodded.
"I think I can, I'm not exactly sure, but I think my new skill will help me find my way to my objective. It's like a pull that tugs me to where I need to go."
"Good, we'll check that later alongside all other new skills, for now we rest. We need to be in top shape to go all out tomorrow."
It has already been some time since they started advancing again, everyone had already rested and was ready to make the final push to get out of here.
To do so, they mainly relied on Cassie's [Clairvoyance] to decide their direction and Sunny's [Shadow Control] to scout ahead. [Shadow Control] worked exactly like his Aspect Ability from when he was a carrier of the Spell, just a bit more restricted, Sunny hoped that it would improve once he kept leveling up.
As for Cassie's skill, after some trial and error they figured out how it worked. Basically, it was just as she said, once Cassie had a destination she wished to reach she'd feel a pull in the optimal direction. During their travels they had to change course more than once due to encountering monsters that had Sunny's [Dangersense] ringing bells loudly in his head. Due to that they also managed to find out that Cassie's skill led her in the shortest direction to her objective, thus, if there's more than one way out [Clairvoyance] would lead her to the closest one.
So far, they encountered different types of creatures, first there were those bats that they encountered at first, then, today they encountered some sort of spiders.
These spiders had a carapace with black and silver patterns which makes them seem armored. This armor covers their back and legs. They also varied greatly in sizes, the smaller ones were about one to two feet-tall while what seemed to be their mature version could be up to three feet-tall. They were manageable for the cohort as long as their numbers were not too great but thanks to gloomy Sunny was able to see a spider that was surely up to six feet-tall.
Lastly there were the monsters they were currently facing, they were…
"Skeletons and… what exactly are those?"
Sunny had honestly no idea what they had in front of them, there were the skeletons, those were obvious but alongside them were some other beings that had what seemed to be rotting flesh and they were moving slowly. But what concerned the cohort was the other two monsters in that group, they were similar to those things with rotting flesh but appeared to be more intelligent and they also had claws.
"I think they are… zombies? They certainly match the general descriptions from the books I've read, I'm not sure about the ones with claws though, maybe a stronger variant of them?" Kai said with an uncertain look on his face.
"It doesn't matter what exactly they are, it only matters how strong they are, Cassie you said we were close to the exit?"
Nephis turned to ask Cassie, who nodded and said they weren't far from what she could tell.
"Then we need to break through these undead and will be closer than ever to the exit, let's make fast the battle may attract attention, we do not want to get surrounded."
They all nodded and got into position with Effie at the vanguard as always, then, they charged with her.
The first contact was the easiest part as Effie crashed onto the skeletons with what remained of her bronze shield and sent them flying, the remaining ones were easily dealt by Nephis and Caster, Kai and Sunny did not even need to do anything, thankfully it seemed these skeletons did not rise again as the ones from the catacombs.
Once they were on the thick of it things became more difficult. These zombies weighed way more than the skeletons so they did not go flying as easily, instead, Effie decided to finally discard her shield by smashing it on the head of one of those creatures, and started carving them a path by using her spear. This time Sunny and Kai were not spared from the fight so they had to keep the monster away while protecting Cassie.
By the time they reached the center where those more powerful variant of zombies were, it got really ugly, as it turned out those monsters not only were more intelligent than the rest but also faster and more powerful, if Sunny had to make a comparison it was at the level of those Stone Saints back at the cathedral though they were probably stronger than all of them with the exception of Saint.
Seeing that they were impossible to ignore since shoving them aside would only bring more harm than good, Caster took a surprisingly smart and heroic decision.
"Lady Nephis, we should take these monsters on individually and deal with them fast, otherwise we will not be able to break through!."
After saying that, he lunged towards one of those higher undead, taking it away from the cohort. Nephis did likewise, even igniting her own sword with her flames, surprisingly it seemed they were particularly useful against that monster.
After those two went off to their respective fight Sunny had to step forwards and make a great effort to keep the rest of the undead away from Kai and Cassie who was providing whatever assistance she could with Quiet Dancer, meanwhile Sunny looked at Effie and could see her sweating rivers due to the strain of keeping the rest of the monsters back.
After what felt like an eternity passed, the strain began to reduce and that's when Nephis rejoined them, moments later, Caster did likewise looking disheveled and with small cuts on his face, seconds after that they finally broke through and started running with a clear path ahead. Once it was clear they made it away from the undead they finally stopped to catch their breath.
"That was close, there were too many of them, I don't want to face undead in a while, I hope they are not that common, Cassie how far are we?" Sunny said.
"Not much from what I can feel, we need to turn right at the next intersection and it's a straight line. Can you send your shadow to scout?"
"I can, but remember it does not have the same range as before."
After saying that, Sunny immediately sent his shadow forward. It seemed there were not many monsters left, just some stragglers, as for traps there were none at all, that was what Sunny was actually most happy about, since most of them did not trigger his [Dangersense] as opposed to monsters.
While Sunny was scouting with his shadow he noticed from the edge of his vision that, in one of the dark corners there was a pair of red dots, after a moment, he realized they were actually eyes that were staring at his general direction. He tried to get closer to them, but not even a moment after those eyes disappeared. Sunny debated trying to follow it but desisted, not only it was unlikely to bear fruit, but he also reminded himself they were on a time crunch, he was specially worried about that giantess, after seeing her sweat so much against the undead, he feared she was starting to get dehydrated, so he just sent his shadow back after completing his purpose.
"Cassie is right, there's a part where there's natural light not too far from here, I didn't see many monsters and there are no traps at all."
They started moving once again to cross the final stretch, on the way they barely needed to fight just crossing ways with two monsters. Once they made it to the same place Sunny last scouted they slowed their pace until they reached an opening to another smaller cave. When they crossed that opening they were briefly attacked by some rodents that Effie beat down but left alive with the excuse that they were 'cute', this cave though clearly gave way to the outside since, after a few steps, the cohort saw the bluest and clearest sky they have ever seen. They stood there admiring the moment before Nephis spoke.
"We are finally out, we'll move a bit more to find a water source and then rest again, we don't know anything about this place so we'll still move carefully and try to reach a human settlement to get more answers."
Everyone nodded at that and started moving, even though they were supposed to be on high alert they couldn't help but be distracted by the environment which was different from what any of them have ever seen, some of them thought that maybe this was how the era before the Spell and the wars destroyed the beauty of their world.
They kept walking on and finally climbed a hill in hopes that reaching a higher point of view would allow them to spot a stream or river to get water from. However, once they reached the highest point they all stopped dead in their tracks, their breath taken away by the sights presented before them.
Below them, a seemingly endless grassy plain stretched on the horizon, on closer inspection Sunny could notice that it was just an optical illusion of uniformly spreading grass when, in reality, there were ridges and valleys thousands of feet wide. To the east and west of them lay mountains so high and ominous that Sunny could not help but compare them to the Hollow Mountains. All of that coupled with the vast, blue sky formed a sight even Sunny had to stop and admire.
"Well, this is really a sight for sore eyes, I was getting tired of being in dark and sketchy places, lived in one of those for long enough already, don't you think so, Kai?"
Sunny said as he turned to Kai to see how he reacted to his joke, however when he turned around he found the archer completely focused on the view. His eyes seemed lost on the horizon, not even acknowledging Sunny or any of the cohort. Sunny was about to try and make him get out of it when he saw Kai close his eyes and take a deep breath, and then… he started singing.
"Oh, misty eye of the mountain below
Keep careful watch of my brothers' souls
And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke
Keep watching over Durin's sons."
By that point, even if the breathtaking views were not there, Sunny guessed Kai's voice would have done the job for them. Nephis had suddenly turned to look at Kai and completely froze, Effie snorted quietly and lowered her spear to the ground letting it support all her weight, Caster and Cassie visibly relaxed at his voice, Sunny, for his part, smirked and lowered himself to the ground and closed his eyes to enjoy this time of respite.
"Now I see fire
Inside the mountain
I see fire
Burning the trees
I see fire
Hollowing souls
I see fire
Blood in the breeze
I see fire
Oh you know I see a city burning out
And I see fire
Feel the heat upon my skin
And I see fire
And I see fire burn on and on the mountain side."
That night, they all heard the same voice once again, but this time, it had an eager note to it.
[Singer Class obtained!]
[Singer Level 6!]
[Skill - Soothing Voice obtained!]
[Skill - Echo Voice obtained]
[Skill - Song of Melancholy obtained!]
[Skill - Melody of Fire obtained!]
[Shadow Dweller Level 5!]
[Conditions Met: Shadow Dweller → Child of Shadows Class]
[Skill - Shadow Augmentation obtained]
[Skill - Habitat Specialty: Shadows obtained!]
[Scout Level 9!]
[Skill - Muffled Steps obtained]
[Skill - Concealed Presence obtained!]
[Skill - Disarm Basic Trap obtained!]
[Warrior Class obtained!]
[Warrior level 4!]
[Skill - Quick Slash obtained]
[Skill - Steady Footing obtained!]