Risen World

Chapter 409: Centipede Graveyard Dungeon Part 1

As the giant centipedes body finally stopped moving and they all felt the surge of experience, Joshua looked around at the mess left behind by the battle. The giant creature seemed to have smashed its body into several large rocks around the crater like area causing destruction everywhere Joshua looked. Surprisingly the large Archways didn't have a single scratch on them even with the beast crawling all over them and slamming into them several times over. It was a sign that they were either not made out of normal rocks, or they might have been enchanted in some way to make them more durable.

Joshua quickly put the large body of the centipede away into his inventory since the exoskeleton could easily be used for making armor in the future. It might not be at the same degree as the armor they were able to make from the boss creatures in the canyon dungeon, but it would still be fairly good. Add a few enchantments to it and you could make all sorts of things with it. When Joshua saw Cinder's depressed face after he put away the centipede he couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of the giant spider trying to put such a large beast into a cocoon to eat later.

"Well that guardian wasn't so bad. It was big and all, but outside of its acid it didn't seem to have too many abilities to worry about." Amy said as she stretched a bit after the fight.

"We were lucky to get the jump on it after all. Plus we didn't have to worry about hanging from a cliff this time around." Adrian said with a shrug. "We're more than strong enough to deal with any creature in a level eighty max area at this point."

"Now with the big nuisance out of the way we can get to the dungeon. Hopefully this will be a short one, I'm getting tired of diving into caves." Henry said getting several nods from other members of the group. Joshua just smiled at the conversation before taking the lead as they all headed towards the dungeon entrance. Lilly put away all of her beast companions for the time being so that they wouldn't make too much noise as they moved into the dungeon.

Joshua wasn't worried about the difficulty of the dungeon with how far his guild members had come since their first territory war. They were all above level seventy at this point which meant they would have no trouble fighting against the beast inside of a level eighty dungeon. Joshua was just hoping this dungeon would give him enough experience to push him over the edge so that he could reach level eighty. The moment he did the alliance would finally be able to take on the other side of the prairie without worrying about being overwhelmed by a powerful creature's aura alone.

When they reached the stairway that lead down into the dungeon they all noticed right away that the entrance got dark way to quickly. It was still fairly early in the day being around ten in the morning so there was plenty of sunlight around to brighten up the early areas of the entrance. Even so it was as if there was a veil of black that appeared the moment they stepped a few feet into the dungeon. This reminded Joshua of the bat and beetle area of the canyon dungeon. He was hoping they wouldn't have to turn back since they didn't have their echolocation specialist along with them for the ride.

Luckily that wasn't the case as the darkness quickly started to be overtaken by a light coming from up ahead as they descended the stairs carefully making sure not to trip on any of the steps. When they got closer they could tell that the light was coming from torches that seemed to be set up on to some pillars that were aligned all the way down the path at the bottom of the stairs. The second they reached the last step and were close enough to the light coming from the torches they were able to get a good look at the basic layout of the dungeon.

Even though the dungeon had such a dramatic start with all of the massive arch ways surrounding the entrance, the inside was fairly basic. The height of the path wasn't all that much. It was too short for Tank or Titus to move through in their full size, especially when you took the pillars into consideration that they'd have a hard time trying to squeeze through. The path was set up like a hallway with two pillars on each side. The pillars had several intricate designs all over them, but nothing that stood out to show what the dungeon could be about. At the top and bottom of each pillar there was a torch that burnt brightly and only swayed whenever the wind from the entrance passed by.

Although the pillars looked intricate the rest of the area didn't. The walls looked like they were walking through a normal cave instead of a dungeon. This gave the entire dungeon a natural look, but it didn't seem to have a particular theme to it from what Joshua could see from his surroundings. "Well this seems pretty simple for the most part. Guess will just have to walk straight ahead to figure what this dungeon is about." Joshua said while walking over to one of the walls to get a better look at it just in case there was anything hidden in the areas further away from the torches. When he didn't spot anything out of the ordinary he returned to the group.

"I'm surprised. Usually these higher level dungeons we've been coming across lately always have a theme to them." Henry replied getting nods from the rest of the group.

"Maybe the theme will have more to do with the creatures inside of the place than the dungeon itself this time." Julia said as she conjured a ball of fire that easily floated in the air nearby. Although there were torches to light the way for the most part it was always good to have their own source of light just in case. She could also use it to attack an enemy right away if it was necessary.

"Well let's explore this place a bit and see what we can find." Joshua said before spreading out his aura sense a bit. From what he could tell the path seemed to gradually slope downward before opening up in a new area a ways away that branched off well out of the range of his aura sense. After getting a decent feel for the entrance to the dungeon he took the lead along with Ivan and Jayce at the front so that they could protect the group in case a large amount of beast came rushing their way.

As they first started making their way down the hall they noticed how unchanging the path was. All of the pillars looked exactly the same no matter how far they went. They were all the same height with the same two torches on them for as far as they could tell. They hadn't run into any type of beast let alone heard any sounds outside of their own footsteps and breathing. In such a quiet dungeon they were forced to turn to party chat since talking to each other would probably echo pretty far down the path. After a good fifteen minutes or so of moving down the path at a steady pace they finally came across a change in the dungeon.

The pathway opened into a larger room that was big enough for Tank to stand up in, but not too much more than that. The room had several more of the same pillars in it that they had come across while making their way through the dungeon so it was a lost cause for Lilly to bring out any of her larger beast companions in the area. There were well over a dozen of the pillars in the one room alone, but outside of the pillars there was one thing that captured everyone's attention right away.

When they all looked up towards the ceiling of the room there was this giant stone centipede that seemed to be carved into the ceiling with fine detail. Outside of few a few cracks here and there on some of the legs of the creature as its head hung down at the center of the room its depiction was almost a perfect replica of the beast they had just faced at the entrance of the dungeon. Knowing such a structure was hanging over their heads was a bit unsettling to everyone in the group so they quickly moved on further into the room to get away from the large head hanging from the ceiling.

When they got to the other end of the room they were met with three doors that lead further into the dungeon. It was clear right away to Joshua and everyone else that the center door was the door they would need to open to get further into the dungeon. It had a pair of locks on it that kept them from going any further and the aesthetics of the door in comparison to the other two just screamed that the boss was down that path and not the other two. The other doors were unlocked and each lead down a path that went off in different directions.

"Seems like we're going to have to go explore the other two paths to find the keys that will lead us through the big door. At least its only two paths this time and not four." Marcus said as he checked the doors for any traps.

"From what I can sense with my aura this isn't a very big dungeon so it shouldn't take us all that long to clear it." Joshua said before closing his eyes and pushing out his aura sense as far as he could down each path. His aura was blocked from searching through the locked door so he turned his attention to the other two. They both lead off for a ways, but neither seemed anymore distinct than the other. "Looks like we'll have to go down each path to find out how the dungeon wants us to unlock this door. I can't really sense anything out of the ordinary down either path."

"Well then let's just pick one and clear it out before coming back to the other one." Robin said. Adrian quickly flipped a coin he pulled out of his inventory then pointed towards one of the doors that they all went through. The second they all stepped through the large doors slammed behind them taking away their chance to turn back.