How To Survive A Calamity

"A waste?"

I nodded in affirmation and said.

"If it were me, i wouldn't just waste such a setting only to wipe out a different group just for the extra points. In the first place, we've only come this far for one main reason. So an instantaneous obliterating one shot attack may be out of the picture early in such a scenario..."

"Ehh, Vic, what are you going on about?"

"He's saying that, if this were a trap, then our ambushers would be laying in wait nearby for us to descend into the crater for the same reason we're here..." Trise said, and her voice slowly trailed off.

And just, then, Deandra, standing by my side, gazed at me strangely and added.

"To steal our water."

"I don't really get it, but there are five of bodies in the crater. If this really was an ambush or a trap, then would that also mean the bodies in the crater are fake used to serve as baits?" Chelsea asked a really valid question.

Each of the groups present in the dungeon were supposedly made up of five members each, just like ours. If there really was going to be an ambush, and if this was really supposed to be a trap, why would all five members of the group decide to play dead inside the carter?

Usually, wouldn't they have at least split the group in two or so? One part to act as bait at the bottom of the crater, and the other part to hide at the edges and wait for the perfect moment.

That kind of thing.

But one that was obvious with little thought, i didn't need too many seconds to think before replying.

"The bodies could be fake, maybe the result of a special skill or something like that. At the same time, maybe the order of sequence of the trap, if there even is any and we aren't actually just wasting our time standing around and contemplating nothing, is wrong from what we're imagining. Or maybe, it is even made to be intentionally misleading for us to reach the exact same conclusion we have like this, and the expected trap is something completely way out of our expectations and random to think about..." I rambled on incomprehensibly.

In the end, it was all a matter of perspective, there was usually so many ways to look at something.

In cases like this, one needed to keep an open mind.

But there are also times you don't have to go all that far, times when the clues were almost literally presented to you on a golden platter.

In the end, i shrugged and folded my arms across my chest and said.

To sum it short...

"There's more than one group. Two or three maybe."

"The first things we were told at the terminal was that, wether we choose to antagonize each other as groups, or joun forces against the dungeon is up to us..." The one who said this was Deandra, quickly beginning to develop a thought process akin to mine while the others just stood back, a little lost in the exchange.

"Yeah, probably." I answered vaguely and stood up. The sharp biting wind of the desert moaned more hauntingly past my ears, the brewing storm from the edge of this world was still encroaching closer.

With the rising wind of this level, the desert sandy ground was being swept all over our feet.

Then i did something that completely disregarded all reasoning so far.

"Here we go!"

I jumped into the crater.

Immediately, i heard Deandra's voice and Don's snap at me from behind.

"1499, what are you doing?!"

"But didn't you just talk about how bad it would be if we fell in."

I leaped into the crater and my feet touched the scorched ground below. I rubbed the back of my neck and replied to the other standing above at the edge.

"There's no point. If it's a trap, we already fell for it. Besides, didn't i tell you to watch your steps from the beginning? Well... watch your step."

Then the next second —

Something happened.

-Boom!

There was suddenly a small tremor that quaked through the surroundings, forcing the ground to tremble and boil underneath our feet. It was like a shockwave was being spread across the sandy ground underneath us.

It was also a familiar sensation to all of us.

"This is...!"

"The king of the Desert?!"

But, i thought differently.

"No, not really."

The crater carved into the desert ground shook, and then the dunes forming the edges where Don, Deandra, Chelsea, and Trise stood ontop of collapsed lile a crumbling sand castle, bringing their five figures descending to the bottom.

Watching their figures easily and carelessly tumble brought a sigh to my lips.

"I told you watch your steps."

It wasn't the Desert king that caused the small earthquake...

It was someone else.

Then several hooded figures began to appear from above, clad in dark worn out cloaks. They appeared around the periphery of the now widened crater, surrounding us from all directions above.

And at the same time, the five bodies which were seemingly supposed to be passed out on the ground began to move.

"Hieek! A-are they coming hack to life?" Trise yelped with a blue face and stumbled backwards until she hit me. Continue reading at empire

I caught her shoulders, holding her in place and said.

"No, you idiot. They were never dead, and in the first place, they weren't injured enough to be life threatening. That's why their bracelets never reacted."

It was just as we had thought.

They were bait.

Big reveal... I thought dryly.

It was an orchestrated trap. A sloppy one.

...One i more or less carelessly walked into it seems?

I looked at the five figures standing above us, and one of them stepped forward and leaped into the crater along with us.

They had a tall and massive figure wrapped underneath their cloak which only further accentuated their intimidating appearance.

Then a low rumbling sound like a laugh echoed out. From the voice i could judge it was a male, after all.

"You bastards talk a lot."

I shrugged back at him indifferently.

"Took you bastards long enough."

Our ambushers had finally shown themselves.