"Who goes there?" A deep and aggressive voice boomed through the room.
"We-uh-we-are-uh-" Bloo failed to make a comprehensible statement to reply with.
Wilt hushly announced, "We might be in for a fight, guys."
"Coco…" The bird agreed.
The entity in the doorway finally revealed itself. A tall muscular warrior with deep blue skin protected with dented stone armor, with a long fuzzy white beard reaching all the way down to his breastplate. The foe was clearly a giant. "You be outsiders then, you are trespassing, begone you must!" The warrior tightly gripped his blade, getting ready to slash the closest person, which was Bloo.
The slime narrowly dashed out of the way as the blade swung vertically, and he roughly landed by the table. The enemy attempted to cut the slime once more, following up with a downward swing.
"I got you covered!" Wilt yelled out as he dashed into action, clashing his longsword with the giant's blade. He held his opponent's sword up and away from Bloo, buying him time to escape.
Bloo scurried away from the struggle restlessly, positioning himself behind the foe. Eduardo launched over, warhammer in hand, and swung straight for the knockout. The attack was successful and the hammer bludgeoned the giant's head, a loud pound emitted from the impact. The giant heavily winced while holding his head in pain, releasing his blade from Wilt's.
Coco had a makeshift slingshot ready, she loaded a stone and shot at the dazed enemy, aiming for the head. The projectile failed to land and arched straight over the flailing giant's head and behind him, and it hit Bloo right in the face.
The slime fell over when the rock hit him, gripping his face in agony as he groaned, he scolded, "Watch where ya' aiming that damn thing!"
"Cocococo!" Coco apologized.
Soon, the enemy regained his bearings, and he went for a swift slice at Wilt. Wilt attempted to block with his sword, but failed due to blocking too low. The sword gave a clean diagonal cut at Wilt's torso, and it began to bleed slightly.
"Ouch! Damn you!" Wilt cried out as he gripped his chest and backed away.
"¡Vas a pagar por eso!" Eduardo yelled as he swung his hammer once more. The giant dodged and kicked Eduardo in the back of his knee, causing the purple monster to tumble on his back.
Wilt got back into the fight and began to clash swords with the giant again. The clanking of iron emanated with precise strikes, it created a flurry of blades. The sword fight moved throughout the room, with the giant slowly gaining advantage on the red swordsman as moments passed. Bloo stood up and prepared a Fire Bolt to intervene, aiming for the giant's back.
Wilt was pinned up against a wall and was about to get stabbed when Bloo's Fire Bolt evocated, the slurry of fire beams hit the giant, he backed off Wilt and lurched away as he howled in pain. The slime didn't skip a beat, he pulled out his dagger, quickly ran and hopped onto the giant's back, sticking securely to the giant's stone armor. From there, Bloo repeatedly stabbed the giant's unprotected neck over and over again with his dagger. Blood was spilling out of the deep knife wound and Bloo stopped when the giant began gagging.
The slime jumped off the giant's back and looked back at the dying foe. The bleeding warrior was choking on his own blood, he tried to stop the bleeding with both of his hands, dropping his sword. The giant attempted to speak one last time, "T-The Over-over-seer will-will…" Those were the only words that the giant managed to say before collapsing on the floor, succumbing to the pooling blood in his windpipe.
Bloo was breathing hard, clutching the bloodied dagger, "He's done."
"Thanks for the help and good work, man. Nobody can come back from that," Wilt complimented with a grin.
Eduardo went to inspect the body, grimacing due to the blood that was still pouring out, "I'll never get used to this…" Ed began looking over the giant.
"Cocococococo?" Coco asked if the giant had any good loot.
"Realmente no, the only stuff this guy has is a strange emblem, old stone armor, some rations, and three gold pieces," Ed answered while sizing up the armor. "Hmm, but his armor might fit me," Ed wiped away some blood on the breastplate and tried to slide the armor on over his head. He began to struggle as the armor couldn't fit over his large horns, and he started to force it on, which wasn't making any progress as well.
"Uh, Ed, you're doing it wrong, you're supposed to unfasten the sides and then put it on," Bloo mentioned.
Ed held up the armor and looked it over again closely, "I don't see- oh, nevermind!" Ed unhooked the leather straps on the sides, and properly equipped the armor to his torso, fastening it to his body. He turned around to face the other three, smiling, "How do I look?"
Bloo laughed, "You look stu-"
Wilt quickly interrupted, "You look pretty cool, my man!"
"Really?! I mean- thanks. Y'know it's pretty hard these days to find armor that fits me so-"
"Let's move into the next room, c'mon we don't have time to waste on a fashion show!" Bloo interrupted as he picked up the rest of the giant's items to put into his inventory.
Ed wanted to continue, "But it's true-"
"Zip it. Let's go," Bloo went ahead and entered the next room.
Ed groaned, looking down. Wilt spoke up, "Sorry bout' that Ed, your previous struggles to find armor are interesting n' all, but we really need to keep exploring this place."
"Cocococococo, cocococococo," Coco backed up Wilt's statement.
"It's fine, let's just keep going…" Ed said as he followed the slime, obviously disappointed.
The next area appeared to be the main room, as it could hold around a hundred people comfortably. A long, stained, deep green rug created an aisle in the center reaching from the large double door entrance in the back, all the way to the front. Religious symbols decorated the walls, most of which were made from bronze. Dozens of oak chairs were lined up, row to row, all facing towards the front of the room. A podium made of marble stood tall amongst the chairs. A sliver statue of a kipine loomed in the high ceiling of the room, hanging right over the podium with frayed ropes. The statue matched the appearance of The Overseer.
"Huh, so that's where all the chairs went," Bloo remarked.
"This isn't just a dungeon, it seems to be a place of worship. Strange…" Wilt was creeped out by the atmosphere of the room. The room wasn't nearly as pleasant or inviting like a normal church, the area felt more devoted and hostile. Usually in most churches at the village, religious symbols and figures are always about level with the visitors, giving the area the feeling of equality and balance. This room, however, had everything hanging over the people, which was only enhanced by the statue towering over. The room was very good at making a visitor feel small.
"Cocococococo, cocococo," Coco voiced her concern about potential enemies in the area.
"You're right. There could be another giant nearby, you and I should go check around to see if it's clear in the other rooms together, Coco," Wilt turned to Ed and Bloo, "You two look for any loot in here. If things get hairy, we'll try to signal y'all. Be careful!" Wilt instructed as he equipped his longsword and began heading for one of the doors parallel to the one they came from.
"Cocococo!" Coco reminded them to stay vigilant, and followed after Wilt, leaving the other two alone together.
"Looks like it's just me and you, Azul." Ed said.
"Let's start ransacking this place!" Bloo walked over to the podium and inspected it. He circled around it, and looked for anything worthwhile. "Treasure, treasure, treasure, anything valuable, c'mon there has to be something here!"
"D'ya really think there's any tesoro in the podium of all places? A chest is probably hidden in a more secure place," Ed said as he took a seat in one of the chairs.
Bloo rummaged through the podium for a bit longer, throwing aside old parchments and books carelessly, he then suddenly stopped. "Y'know you're probably right, Ed. But actually you're not because check this out!" Bloo pulled out a small chest with silver trimmings.
"Oh, wow, you found a small chest, how amazing," Ed said sarcastically. "The thing probably has an old bible in it or whatever,"
"We'll see bout' that. If there so happens to be something really cool in here, I'm not sharing it with you!" Bloo smirked, and forcefully opened the small chest.
His smirk immediately transformed into a disappointing frown. Bloo pulled out a strange hourglass. "What the?" He decided to inspect it closer.
The hourglass was about the size of a typical lantern. It had silver trimmings, similar to the chest that contained it. The trimmings had an intricate design that consisted of unknown symbols and characters. Rust was beginning to show on the bases, highlighting its age. A lot of sand was on the bottom and the passageway to the other end was very narrow, with an educated guess, it would likely take about ten minutes for all of the sand to drain downwards when flipped.
"Whatcha' got there?" Ed stood up to take a look at the item also.
"It's some old and weird hourglass. It's kinda heavy too," Bloo answered.
"Is it magical? It sure looks magical."
"Hmm…" Bloo began attempting to sense any magical energy radiating from the rusty hourglass. The hourglass had a prevalent aura of dark magic encompassing it, creating waves that pulsate through the entire room. "This thing has dark magic all over it, so it could be some kind of arcane focus, I never seen one like this before though…" Bloo shook the sand around a bit, "But we could get enough gold from this to fill a pig pen if we sell it to the right hands!"
"I don't think we can sell that within village grounds, amigo. The elders would think we're trying to practice evil magic. In fact, I don't think we should even take that," Ed said as he backed away from the hourglass.
"I'm not talkin' about selling it to a common merchant, I'm talkin' about selling it in the black market!" Bloo grinned.
"Isn't the black market for magic extremely dangerous? Mr. Herriman always told us to never buy anything from there, as the items sold could be cursed or that the sellers are evil people looking to kill and loot you."
"That's just crap that the school made up to prevent village kids from getting ripped off and crying to the elders. If you know what you're doing, you could get very powerful items or get a good fistful of coins from selling stuff. It's safe, man," Bloo placed the hourglass upside down on the podium absentmindedly, causing the sand to start counting down.
"I dunno, maybe we should ask Wilt whether or not we should sell-" Ed stopped talking when the room suddenly became dark as the torches that were clinging to walls burnt out in unison, leaving only darkness.
"What the hell? What's going on? Ed, where are you?" Bloo called out to Ed when fierce wind began to whirl around, even though they were currently underground.
"I'm right here, Bloo! I can't see you! What's happening?! I'm scared!"
"Stay right where you are! I can see well in the dark!" Bloo began to pace over to Ed, who was strangely further away from him than he was before the lights went out. Bloo noticed grass crunching and branches breaking under him, as if they were in a forest of some kind. "Okay, I'm right by you, Ed. There's too much wind to make a torch, so you have to follow my lead!" Bloo grabbed Ed's hand.
"This is so creepy! Do you see a way out? Please tell me you see a way out!" Ed was quivering in fear, gripping tightly to Bloo's slimy hand.
"There's just so many trees, I can hardly find a trail or anything. How the hell are there trees growing here in the first place?" Bloo looked around, scanning the area for some form of navigation. He suddenly noticed a silhouette lingering in the tree line. "What is that? Someone might be watching us!"
"Could it be Wilt or Coco?"
"I can't tell from here, the trees are preventing me from getting a clear view, I'm going to call out to see if it's them," Bloo took a few steps forward, still gripping Ed's hand. He yelled out, "Is that you, Wilt?! Coco?!"
The silhouette suddenly drew out long appendages from its sides, which looked like long wings. The figure in the distance was definitely not Wilt or Coco. The winged creature flew up swiftly and disappeared in the darkness of the cloudy night sky that had manifested.
"That's not our friends, and it doesn't seem like anyone friendly at all…"
