Chapter 27: Labyrinth, I

"Hah…" I let my breath out as I got mentally ready for what was awaiting me and the party.

"We're nearly there." Luke talked quietly, right next to me.

Right now we were in a black car with darkened windows so people can't see inside, it is like one of those government cars.

I had no idea we would be traveling to the venue like this.

We were in the back seats, Sean was sitting to my left while Luke was sitting the opposite of him, to my right, and here I am in the middle.

"Hmm," I hummed as I looked out the window, the roads are already crowded with cars and people.

"Dear Gentlemen, we're here." The voice of the driver was heard as the car stopped.

"Thank you." Luke showed appreciation as he opened the door. The instant he placed his foot out of the car, camera shutters and flashlights overtook the whole place.

I got out too, and then Sean. I didn't know where to look and how to act in front of all these people.

"Keep calm, don't dart your eyes around, focus on just one spot somewhere and you'll be good to go." I heard Luke's whispers which proved useful.

Outside, was just a layer of a red carpet leading forward, barricades on the right and left to keep people from jumping in and getting in the way.

"Huh?" I took one step forward and noticed that the ground was soft. Are we in the Perpetuity Dunes already?

I looked over at Sean, a smile etched on his well-featured face, with the breeze swaying his dark-blue hair about, same with Luke's crimson ones.

"Shall we go guys?" I announced loud enough to be heard by both.

"Yeah, let's go," Sean pronounced clearly.

We started walking towards the end of the red carpet, people talking everywhere creating inaudible noises.

"Can you explain how you got through the process to join the Dune Dungeon Raid?" I heard a man forwarding that question to me.

"No reply." I raised my hand in a slight wave and continued walking.

We received a lot of other questions, we dismissed them all.

After walking on the red carpet for quite some distance, the crowd started to lessen, or should I say we walked too far from the main venue, and besides the welcome mat we were walking on, were just barricades and dunes.

"It's finally ending." I heard Sean exclaim as I looked where his eyes were pointing, and noticed a building, not of great height and width, but it looked or gave the vibe of the ancient Greeks' praying temples, like the whole Greek mythology aura.

In front of the gates were security with black suits and what could only be the other raiding participants.

Step.

"Ah, here they are, the main guests of today's." announced a buff man with a huge body.

"Yeah!" I heard an affirmative tone from a skinny boy on the left of the enormous man.

"Uh? Hello there, my name's Elias Ayla and I'm also like you, one of the participants. I hope we can have a good time with each other down that abyss." I introduced myself politely.

"Drop the formalities, I am Valen Weis, and this scrawny kid is Michael Donovan." He slapped Michael in the back as he announced with a loud laugh.

I looked at others, a certain gloomy guy got my attention as he raised his voice immediately, "Elijah Langston, I'll be in your care from now on."

Behind these four guys, were two groups of men and women talking to each other.

"そそそう,これからわたしたちはきをつけたいいけない.(TL/Ah, yeah yeah, from now on we got to be careful.)"

"Huh, Japanese people? Over there are… Koreans!? Damn, uh, the boys are all looking, uhm, effeminate…" I mumbled on and on by myself until some noticed and also started approaching me.

"Heh, so he's the one, that everyone's talking about. Domo, Aoi Akihiko desu." Aoi Akihiko, hair color white as snow, his body is matured and well maintained. He seems to mix Japanese phrases into the other language intentionally.

"Oh, hey there, Aoi. Great to meet you, and these are?" I greeted him and gazed toward the three people in his group.

"Ah, hai (yes), these are," he pointed at the dark-haired boy which seemed to have quite a thin body, "Uemura Ren, oh I should say his name first, Ren Uemura."

He then pointed toward the girl in the middle, "She's Haruka Maki," she didn't have any outstanding features to her. Her body was surprisingly well-endowed by the chest, short, and her face was cute, like a big round dumpling.

"And, saigo (last) but not least, Mai Sakaguchi." This girl… I hadn't paid much attention to her, she had dark hair and dark eyes, and… she was the spitting image of Layla.

"Huh? Uh, hello there, Ren, Haruka, Mai, let's get on well with each other." I forced a stiff smile on my face, sweat trickling down because of my racing heart.

"I'll go and meet the other guys too," I pointed towards the Korean group, trying to run away from here.

"Ah, mondainai (no problem)!" he lifted his thumb towards me.

***

"Hello there, as you might've already heard me before, my name's Elias Ayla, and I hope we can get on well with each other from now on!" I repeated the same stuff over and over again.

The Korean group consisted of a male with a well-built body and two females who seemed confident in their abilities.

"Sho Dae-Hyun," the male spoke first.

"Li Hae-Won," the female in the middle raised her voice the moment the man finished.

"Qo Soo-Bin," and finally the last of the Korean quietened.

Hmm? I got lost in thoughts, "Hm?" I looked between the Japanese and Korean women.

Hm? And the men too. Why do they look so similar to each other?! Like I know Asian people look like each other a little, but these guys are all like brothers and sisters… They could be long-lost brothers and sisters though--Phuu.

My breath left my lungs as I received a surprise attack from Mai Sakaguchi.

She glared at me, "Tch, dead weight."

I could feel a vein popping on the right side of my forehead.

'Did she just 'tch' me?! THIS ME?! Fucking bitch!'

I mustered the biggest smile I could make right now and asked her politely, "C-can I have a reason why you just punched me 40 seconds after our encounter?"

"Ew, what's that gross smile, disgusting, go die!" She whipped her head the other way.

"Eeeeehhh? This bitch!" I held her in a headlock, "Whom are you telling to die ngngngngn!"

"Ew, am getting molested now, humph." She yelled even though I didn't hold her strongly, she wasn't even trying to resist… Or so I thought.

The next moment I received a kick from her back foot to my genitalia.

"Khuu…" Again, breath left my lungs as I fell to the ground.

"Hahahahah, we got some loud kids, this is going to be fun." I heard Valen's noisy laugh from where I was laying around.

Loud bitch! I thought to myself.

He turned to face the dungeon gates slowly and spoke in a serious tone, "Well, are you all ready?" his resolve could be felt from where I was laying down on the sand.

***

That was it for today's new part, I have another piece of art for the sake of starting the second volume, and here I'll drop it on the comments again. Thank you and keep enjoying the story!