Descent of a God

Widow's Crypt Pt. 1

"Ah, right! The Aurora Constellate is happening next week. So you're going to stay here for the festival too?" My mother's mood brightened.

"Wow! A whole week?" My drowsy sister perked up at this and pulled on my sleeves.

"Yup, that's the plan. Let's all go to the festival together." Looking at my family, I gave them a smile and hugged my sister and mother before walking down the stairs.

"Be careful!" my mom shouted one last time while waving. Waving back at them, I stepped inside the carriage with Jude. Once inside, I followed Sylvie's lead, catching up on my sleep until we arrived. I heard Jude sigh as he saw me fall asleep.

___________________________________________

Jude POV:

"Arthur, Jude!" Stepping out of the carriage, I spotted Curtis waving at me, his smile wide and genuine.

"How was your trip back home? Did you get to catch up with your family?" Claire patted Arthur on the back when we reached the group of students waiting at the front gate.

"Good, you made it!" Professor Glory gave us a smile too as she began her headcount. Looking around, besides Curtis and Claire, I saw Clyde, Lucas, and a few other students that I never really paid attention to. I did one more quick check but didn't see Tess, and by the frantic look on his face, neither did Clyde.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Once Tess ran through the front gate, she caught her breath, her face flushed and hair messy.

"You're the last one, Princess Tessia. We can start heading out now." Professor Glory took note of everyone's presence once more and nodded in satisfaction before turning around and leading the class of fifteen students to the teleportation gate.

Arthur and I glanced back to see Tess walking alongside Clyde when she caught his gaze. Giving him a shy smile of affirmation, he replied with a small wave but otherwise continued making small talk with Curtis and Claire until we arrived at the gate. Yeah, those two are definitely dating already. 

"Right now, we're near the edge of the Grand Mountains. If we walk a few hours this way, we'll arrive at a famous pub of gathering called Dragonspine Inn. Back when I was an adventurer, that was the place to chat and get information on various mana beasts and dungeons. We'll be going to a rather low-level dungeon so don't worry too much. I will also be with you at all times but I'll refrain from helping unless it is absolutely necessary so don't look to me for answers." Professor Glory waved her right hand and from her dimension ring appeared a small pile of black cloth.

"These are shawls that you guys will need to wear inside the dungeon. The dungeon we're exploring is called Widow's Crypt. It's a fairly straightforward dungeon without any traps or mazes so don't worry about getting lost. It is, however, very cold in there, which is why you need these shawls. The mana beasts you'll mostly be facing are nasty little creatures called snarlers. There are two types of snarlers in this dungeon that you'll need to be wary of the minion snarlers and the queen snarler. The minion snarlers are the ones you guys will be facing. Their queen burrows to the bottom floor of the dungeon so you won't see it, but just know the difference. You'll see what the minions look like once we go inside, but for now, we're going to split you up into four teams of four." As Professor Glory finished informing us, she pulled out a small piece of paper from the inside of the shawl she was wearing.

"I've already decided on how teams will be split so take a step forward as I call you. Curtis, Claire, Dorothy and Jude; you guys will make up the first team." Our professor motioned for them to pick up their shawls and step to the side. She then called the next five students, which left me with a bitter feeling.