The Achievement Junkie

The party gathered back at the outpost since it was cleared by Rydel and Maynard. Rydel climbed down the watchtower to meet everyone below.

"Well, we know how they're communicating," said Rydel, showing the contact crystal to everyone. "It's a good thing we caught them off guard and took the offensive."

Going through the goblin captain's storage necklace, all they found were weapons and dried meat rations. They found some more weapons inside the outpost, but nothing else. It supported the idea that the goblins received some outside help to obtain better materials and hadn't advanced due to their intellectual advancement.

"Is there anything else?" asked Jack.

"Nope, none of the other goblins had anything besides a weapon," answered Brunar, flinging a dagger into a pile of weapons.

"Alright, let's head out. If there's nothing here, then the other outposts are probably the same way. All that matters right now is getting to the goblin city." Rydel took the lead and they tied themselves up to leave.

They used the same ambush tactic on another two outposts without any issues, other than lack of rest. Everyone pushed forward with a few yawns along the way, just waiting for the chance to see the city and take a much-needed break.

The third floor was dark and barren; not a single azure crystal was left to light the way. Not even a single creature could be found anywhere, so there weren't any threats besides the goblin outposts.

Having relaxed as they got in a rhythm, the party was getting tired and were distracted by any thought that crossed their minds. Even Rydel was starting to slack and wasn't quite as sharp as he could've been.

It had been over an hour since they passed the third outpost, but nothing was in sight. It was somehow appearing to get darker. Intrigued by this, Rydel heightened his focus again while the others simply followed along.

Out of know where Brunar ran into Rydel's unmoving back. Jack collided with Brunar's, Slivia with Jack's, and so on until the party was at a complete halt.

'What's going on?' asked Jack telepathically, not daring to speak aloud.

'Don't move, I'm trying to investigate the path. Something's off,' answered Rydel.

'Like what?' asked Maynard.

'I… I'm not sure. It's just like before but for some reason, everything in front of me is an even deeper shade of black. It feels like the world ends right here and stepping any further we would fall off the world's edge. In all my travels in this mine, I've never felt quite like this,' Rydel struggled to describe how he felt.

Jack took a moment to think before he replied in his mind, 'Can we walk around that blackness?'

'I think so,' answered Rydel with a shrug.

'Then that's what we'll do.'

Rydel nodded silently as he whispered, "Everyone, be extremely careful to follow the exact direction I'm pulling you."

The party leader took a few steps and pulled the rope carefully with his arm, making sure to lead the group around that strange darkness. Brunar was extra careful, sensing the seriousness of the situation. He would mirror Rydel, pulling the rope along carefully.

Each step was quiet yet strangely heavy on their hearts like they were silently traversing a cliff. The tension felt unnecessary, yet mandatory by the nature of that darkness.

The party did its best to continue despite a few yawns and the exhaustion that was setting in. Slivia was a good example of this as her footing was clumsy or overlooked at times.

The next person to show their tiredness was Troni, whose feet would fumble on occasion. Since the ground wasn't always even in that region of the mine and the darkness wouldn't let him see his own hand in front of him, Troni was the first person to trip and fall to his knees.

Troni quickly caught himself and tried to get back up, but the sudden tautness of the rope caught Slivia off guard. Maynard remained still, but Slivia's footing was lost and she fell backward.

The next in line was Jack, who heard Slivia groan as she was pulled down. He turned to look back instinctively as he was pulled down face first. When Jack landed, he was surprised to land softly. His head found a pillow-like cushion to break his fall and the ground beneath him felt extremely smooth to the touch. Enjoying the awkward circumstance, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Ow!"

Slivia's sudden cry caused Jack to widen his eyes and activate the kari stone out of reflex. Jack was dumbfounded to find himself on top of Slivia with his head resting on her ample bosom and blush on her nervous face.

"Sorry!" Out of fear, Jack tried to push himself back off but collided with the falling Brunar instead. They pushed each other to either side of Slivia, Jack to her right and Brunar to her left.

It wasn't too big a deal until Jack looked down and couldn't find the ground, despite having his kari crystal lit.

'Jack!' Rydel mentally shouted as he grabbed Jack by the back of his cloak and pulled him back, returning the blushing hero atop Slivia.

Originally, Jack thought Rydel would be furious about him using the kari crystal, but everyone was glad Jack had in that instance. The party looked to their right; the same direction Jack had fallen.

There was no ground, only a sheer cliff shrouded in darkness that appeared to easily overwhelm the light of the kari crystal. They could only look about two meters before the remaining light was engrossed in complete darkness; the same deep darkness that Rydel had seen.

"This…" The party was speechless at the abysmal scenery in front of them, especially Jack who immediately put out the kari crystal's light.

Other members of the party activated their kari crystals out of curiosity, but Jack tried to stop them and yelled, "Get back and no lights!"

Amidst Jack's yells, the rolling darkness expanded and flowed towards the party. Jack jumped away but didn't get very far with everyone being tied together. By the time the others followed his example, the darkness had surrounded them.

The light from the kari crystals was dimmed and overpowered, not letting anyone look beyond their hand's reach. Suddenly, Jack was being pulled off the cliff. He tried to fight it and tried to find the source but was scared stiff to see the rope around his waist pulling him into the abyss.

Without any other choice, the party was pulled into the abyss one-by-one. They felt like they were falling but at an extremely slow speed, as if the darkness was so thick that it was tangible enough to slow their descent through the air. Everyone was still connected by the rope, but they couldn't see each other.

Everyone was screaming, yelling, or shouting, everyone except than Jack that is. Jack was stiff and hyper-focused on the situation like his gaze was sharp enough to cut through the rolling darkness. Soon, something came into view and everyone stopped screaming.

Black tendrils lashed out from the darkness, embracing each unsuspecting party member as quick as lightning. They were firm yet felt ghastly to the touch. As they wrapped themselves around the party members' limbs and torsos, a ghostly chilled filled their lungs, making it even harder to breathe and concentrate on the situation.

Jack managed to avoid them with the help of the gladius that he had pulled out of storage, anticipating the sudden seizure of dark tendrils. Rydel and Maynard were able to avoid most of the tendrils and managed to free themselves quickly with their strength.

'Are you free?' asked Jack telepathically.

'Yes,' answered Rydel.

'Ya know it,' said Maynard.

'Good, we'll have to take this thing on together,' said Jack. 'It's a Nightmare Lily, are you familiar with them?'

'Nightmare Lily!' Both Rydel and Maynard were shocked by the announcement.

'I'll take that as a no,' continued Jack. 'It emits pheromones that can darken night itself, letting it hide in holes, pits, caves, and other shaded places. If you can close your eyes and focus hard enough, you'll notice that you're actually on the ground and no longer in the air.'

Hearing that, the veteran adventurers didn't know what to think. Taking some deep, focusing breaths, they closed their eyes and physically felt around them. Like Jack had said, they somehow felt the ground beneath their feet. Amazed that they were upright after having thought they spun around in the air, they both opened their eyes to see more tendrils creeping up on them.

'The Nightmare Lily is known for disorienting its prey before its tendrils drag it towards the mouth within the main bulb. If we're not fast, we'll lose someone,' Jack's voice wavered as he announced this. 'I'm too weak to fight it, but you can follow the tendrils back to the bulb and attack its brain, just above where the tendrils are connected to the main body. Make it fast!'

Not wasting another second, Maynard and Rydel dashed into action. They quickly followed the tendrils back to the main bulb and found Slivia and the two young samurai being pulled towards a gaping maw within a mass of giant, dark-purple flower petals.

Just as Slivia's feet neared the opening and she could feel an acidic breath against her leg, the veterans slashed through the base of the bulb-like Jack had described. A shrill whine was let loose as the tendrils were loosed and the frantic bodies of the trapped adventurers fell to the floor. The darkness slowly began to clear, letting everyone's kari crystals shed light across the visibly wilting body of a fully-grown Nightmare Lily.