The tentacles continued to attack Gary and as they did Gary continued to swing both of his swords. When his regular sword cut the tentacles they grew back nearly instantly, while his new sword once they had cut the tentacles, they would no longer regrow.

  The New black sword seemed to have some type of special property that worked against the beast. After slashing at a few more tentacles they eventually started to retreat and head back under the bridge.

  "Good riddance!" Gary said.

  Gary then quickly rejoined up with the others and Badger couldn't help but admire the sword that Gary was holding. It was Jet black in design but the edges were deadly sharp but then Sloth noticed something on the hilt.

  "Hey what's that?

  Gary then lifted the sword and looked at what Sloth was pointing at. Gary noticed immediately what had got Sloth's attention. Around the hilt where the sword joined a symbol had been engraved. A symbol of an eye with wings.

  "Isn't that the Dark guild symbol?" Badger asked.

  "Well it's mine now so, what does it matter?"

  "Maybe you shouldn't keep it. What if they've done something to it."

  Gary then gave the sword a few test swings.

  "It feels fine to me, besides these tunnels are filled with deadly beasts, without Ray, we're going to need something to protect ourselves."

  Jack then started to walk off into the tunnel.

  "Hey, where you going?" Gary asked.

  "In case you forgot, we need to find Ray." Jack continued to walk further into the tunnel and the rest quickly followed him behind.

  ****

  Somewhere deep down below in the Dark pit was a pool of water from which was connected to the waterfalls above. Ray dragged himself out of the pool and onto the cave's ground dripping with water. His whole body ached from the fall and if he had to guess, a few of his bones had broken.

  But Ray could tell that his body was already trying to heal itself. The new evolution caused Ray's body to heal at an even faster rate. Not quite at the rate of Jack's body but now the two were quite comparable.

  When Ray looked at the water he had just come out from, he noticed that it was actually a river. The current wasn't strong but suddenly he also saw the body of the Minotaur float past motionless.

  Ray then immediately opened his system and tried to send a message to the others, to make sure that not only they were okay but to let them know that he was too.

  For some reason, the system seemed to be unresponsive. Then Ray tried to perform his mana steal skill on one of the Red wing members.

  That too for some reason had failed. Lastly, Ray tried to perform one more thing, he walked up to the river and activated his ice attribute slightly. Then part of the river his hand was touching started to freeze.

  "Looks like my powers still work at least."

  Ray didn't know why but any abilities that required a long distance to use, were unusable at the moment. Meaning he would have to navigate his way through the tunnels and meet up with the others.

  There was the possibility that the others might have headed back and tried to return to the surface, but Ray was still adamant about exploring the whole underground area.

  So far it was full of beasts that he had never encountered in his life before and Ray felt like either the shadow plague or the Dark Guild had something to do with it. If the academy was going to attack by beasts of this caliber, then they stood no chance. Ray was better off running away from the academy with the others and forming a base somewhere else.

  ****

  Jack and the others continued deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel headed downwards which was a good sign meaning they were heading in the right direction towards Ray, but the path soon leveled off and once again the tunnels no longer looked like an ordinary cave but instead was crafted fully out of stone slaps.

  The area widened and they could no longer see the top of the ceiling. There were many paths through the tunnels and they continued to follow Jack.

  "Do you even know where you're going?" Gary asked.

  Once again, they had reached a point where they were able to select multiple routes to head down into. Jack started to sniff the air before choosing one.

  "that way!" Jack said as he pointed at one of the tunnels.

  "And how do you know that?"

  "I can smell water, can't you?"

  "What am I a dog?" Gary said.

  Despite Gary's fears of them being lost down here forever, he had no choice but to trust Jack. After walking for what felt like hours the others were starting to lose hope.

  "Maybe Ray is dead?" Badger said. "He would have sent us a message by now right?"

  "or he could just be passed out," Garry replied.

  "Why don't we head back up and call for more help. We can get Von and the others to call for a search team and have more chance of finding him."

  "I don't think that's a good idea." Jack said, "Remember what Ray said, the academy could be attacked any day now. If all of a sudden many knights go missing to look for Ray, it will be the perfect opportunity. The academy is already low on knights as it is."

  "Don't you think Avrion is already doomed?" Sloth asked. "You saw the beasts down here, Ray is the strongest person in the academy right now and even he couldn't deal with two of them."

  Then Jack suddenly stopped and started sniff once more.

  "The water, we're getting closer it's this way."

  As the group followed Jack, they too could now hear the sound of running water. And eventually, they entered a large chamber with several different tunnels all leading in a different direction.

  "Do you know which one?" Gary asked.

  "The smell is coming from all of them and the sound is bouncing off the cave walls, I can't tell which one," Jack replied.

  Suddenly the light crystals they each held started to fade.

  "What's happening?" Sloth cried.

  Then the lights went out and they were in complete darkness.

  A sinister laugh could be heard and all of them recognized it well. It was Morfran the Dark Guild leader.