“We are about to meet the boss of this floor, so ready up everyone!” Liam exclaimed.

Ludo wished he could have been excited or even nervous over Liam’s statement but his mind kept pulling him back to his conversation with Jana. He looked back at her but she simply stared back at him with indifference. Quickly giving up at trying to figure what was going inside her mind, he decided to focus on the incoming threat ahead of him.

Liam and Bergmann pushed the doors open, as they creaked and raised a miniature dust storm, the party pushed its way inside. They were immediately hit by a bone chilling draft and an eternal emptiness. Ludo could barely make out Liam and the other’s silhouette and he himself couldn’t see beyond his nose until Jana created a fire from the tip of her wand.

Liam called them all together and gave something resembling a speech to boost their spirits, only Bergmann cheered at his attempt while Jana stared at him with an unamused expression and Ludo was still too on edge at expecting Jana to attack them all at any moment.

“Don’t worry Ludo, the bosses on the first levels are easy” Liam said, noticing Ludo’s nervousness. Ludo didn’t react and Liam looked at Bergmann and Jana “Right guys!”

Jana and Bergmann avoided his eyes his gaze.

“Don’t be like that guys, you’re worrying the boy!”

Liam couldn’t be more wrong but Ludo didn’t dare say a thing in fear of his own life. The party decided to focus on the room again, which had absolutely nothing going for it. It had no furniture, no carpets or tapestries, nor elaborate paintings to be seen. Only the barren stone was there for their eyes to see. The party became more alert as they pushed through the desolate room hurdled together to avoid being lost. Until Ludo noticed a faint movement from the corner of his eye.

Ludo alerted the rest and activated his magical eyes, trying to see what had caught his attention. Through his enhanced sight, he saw the outline of something not so far away, Ludo placed his hand on his sword until that outline crept closer to the party and grew, Ludo could barely move as it the outline became larger than any monster he had seen before.

As in waiting for a cue, blue orbs suddenly lit the room, bathing it in an unsettling blue light, the walls shook and for a moment Ludo thought the room was about to collapse on their heads, but instead what appeared made Ludo wish that was the case as the walls sprung up skeletal arms and hands and they pushed out a small army of skeletons from it, to make matters worse the now lit room revealed what had been hidden away in the shadows.

Large, rotten and putrid, the abominable thing roared as it prepared to fight the party. The only thing Ludo could do was stare at the thing.

HULKING CARCASS (BOSS)

UNDEAD, UNHOLY

LEVEL: 12

THREAT: INSURMOUNTABLE

The carcass stumbled forward and raised its left arm and with let out a ghastly sigh. The skeletons raised their spears, swords and axes and charged at the party. Despite their fragile appearance they were relentless, not letting anyone rest for a second, every skeleton they killed was replaced by another as the horde paradoxically grew in size by the second.

“We need more fire!” Liam yelled at Jana who raised both of her hands into the air and right above her, the largest fireball yet began to manifest itself.

“Ludo, don’t let any skeletons near here!” Liam said and Ludo readied his bow.

Liam and Bergmann then leapt at the incoming skeletons. Axe and sword raised high, they hacked at any skeleton intending to harm them and like before, any surviving skeletons were struck down by Ludo’s arrows. Jana was still preparing her spell, now the ball of fire had reached a the size of a cantaloupe.

Both Liam and Bergmann saw this and both stroke the ground with their weapons, breaking through the floor. The force of their strike created a visible shock wave that send the skeletons back. Upon seeing this, Liam told Jana to release the fire. She pointed at the direction of the skeletons and the large fireball shot straight towards them. For a brief moment Ludo thought the fire ball was about to crash onto Liam and Bergmann but, as if it had a mind of its own, it swirled through both of them and crashed into the closest rank and file of skeletons.

What happened next was a scene of wondrous inferno as the fire connected with the other skeletons with tendril like flames, engulfing all of them until there was nothing left but their loot and the purple mist on the room. Now, only the boss stood between them and victory.

The hulking carcass remained unmoved by the recent developments, seemingly uninterested as Liam and Bergman circled around it, getting closer like a predator which has set their eyes on prey. The carcass was not amused and it stomped the ground as hard as it could, throwing Liam and Bergmann away from it and sending large amounts of brick at every direction. Ludo was forced to jump and run away from the debris. Jana on the other hand raised her wand and stopped it midair.

As the rain of brick subsided, Ludo began shooting arrows at the boss until it became aware of his presence. The arrows did little to damage it, instead giving the hulking carcass a prickly appearance. The boss let out a ghastly roar and and began to chase Ludo around the room, all he could do was evade the boss as it tried to grab him or hurl chunks of wall and floor at his direction.

Ludo was able to dodge many but he was getting tired fast, it was just a matter of time until one was able to hit and kill him. Despite Ben guiding him within his mind, Ludo tripped with a rock hidden in the shadows of the dim room and fell face first to the ground. He quickly turned around to see a large rock coming at him, all he could do was put his hands between himself and it. He closed his eyes, expecting it to come, yet it never did.

Ludo opened his eyes to see the large chunk of rock frozen in midair and from the corner of his eye he could see Jana raising her wand. He observed how, with great difficulty, she moved the rock to above her head and thats when Ludo realized that she had picked all the rocks that the hulking carcass had thrown at Ludo and was holding them with wind magic. The hulking carcass also realized this and now shifted his attention at Jana but it was too late, with a simple flick of her wand, all the stones came crashing down upon the boss who was quickly buried by all the rubble.

Liam and Bergmann reappeared a few seconds later, bloodied and bruised but with no evidence of major injury. The room had fallen into a trustworthy silence and for a second it seemed they had won. But all their hopes were thwarted in the form of a deafening roar that disoriented everyone and the hulking carcass escaping its crude mausoleum. Its glassy eyes were fixated upon one thing, Jana. The boss roared again and charged at Jana. Liam and Bergmann jumped at the boss who swatted them away like insects. Ludo threw himself out of the way to avoid being trampled. That left it with an open route directly towards Jana.

“Run away!” Ludo yelled, but Jana’s movements had become sluggish and dull.

“She can’t!” Liam yelled out in the distance. “Those spells tired her out.”

Ludo, despite all reason, ran towards the boss in an attempt to stop it from killing Jana, he drawing his sword and ignoring Ben’s pleas for caution. His self-training days before proved essential, Ludo was able to catch up with the boss rather quickly and without thinking much, jumped and slashed at the carcass’ eyes, making it whine and flinch as his white eyes fell to the floor with a disgusting sound. Jana used this opportunity to pull herself into the shadows and away from the boss.

Liam and Bergmann had regrouped and came to Ludos aid, attacking the blinded boss in every direction, cutting away arms and fingers and causing great injuries through the boss’ body until they themselves tired out. However, the carcass lived up to its name and cuts proved to do little against it, and to the party’s horror, the carcass began to assemble itself back, grabbing its severed hand and placing it where it should be, followed by his eyes.

The carcass raised its fist and slammed it with all its force to the ground, for a second time sending the party flying at all directions with its terrifying force. Ludo hit the wall and was left disoriented, his head spun and vision blurred, what was worse was that through his limited vision, he could see something huge running at him.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Jump to your left!” Ben said at the back of his mind and Ludo did just that. Not a second later the carcass crashed into the wall were Ludo had been.

The carcass began to chase Ludo again but this time Liam and Bergmann began to attack from behind. As his back was cut, acid began to spring out of the wounds, adding another form of harm it could inflict upon Ludo and the others. Despite all this, Liam and Bergmann were relentless and Ludo joined them as well. Whenever the carcass began to attack one of them, the other two would attack, drawing its attention away.

“Now!” Bergmann yelled at the void and from it a large fireball, larger than the one before, manifested before them with Jana just below it. Ludo observed as she practically threw it at the carcass.

Liam, Bergmann and Ludo jumped out of the way as the fire ball hit the monster in the chest, exploding in contact. The monster was consumed by the flames. Unable to get rid of them, the monster crumbled, subsumed by the growing flames until he was no more, leaving behind a large pile of ash and its loot.

The party rushed in to grab what the boss had left for them. Large chunks of green flesh, two glassy eyes, Ludo’s arrows and four cards. The chunks of flesh were of especial interest to Bergmann, who claimed they were used to make better healing potions while Jana stashed away the eyes. As Ludo put his arrows on a quiver, Liam walked up to him and handed him one of the cards.

“Don’t lose it.” Liam said as he handed the other two spare ones to Bergmann and Jana.

“What is this for?” Ludo asked.

“Dungeon cards, they’re used to pass checkpoints between floors without needing to deal with the boss again.” Liam walked up to a door and pressed the card onto it, the door lit up and opened on its own to reveal to the party a new flight of stairs.

“Again!? That thing comes back to life!?” Ludo pointed at the ashes of the boss.

“Yeah, its part of a larger creature after all.”

“Larger creature?” Ludo asked, frightened by this new information.

“The dungeons are the creature.” Jana said. “Remember, he has no memories.” She added to Liam.

Liam quickly ended the conversation and told everyone to prepare for the next level as they began their descend through the stairs. Each with a torch in hand, it was not the all consuming darkness nor what lingered deep within, hidden and in waiting to ambush them, but that Ludo knew that Jana was close to enacting her betrayal, he just wasn’t sure when.

“I think this is you’re cue to get away from them.” Ben said on the back of his head.

“Not yet”

“There is stubbornness and then there is whatever you are trying to pull, boy.” Ben said.

Ludo ignored Ben until the latter eventually stopped talking, leaving Ludo in a much blissful internal silence. The party had arrived at the bottom of the stairs and the new set of corridors had changed dramatically from before. The bricks and other signs of civilization had given way to naked rock which made up much of the room and a river flowed besides them.

“The next room is just ahead.” Liam pointed ahead and turned to Bergmann. “We better be done with this.”

The next thing Ludo felt was someone knocking the wind out of him and throwing him to the floor. As he lay there, he saw that Liam had closed his distance with Jana, his sword was mere centimeters away from her neck. She had tried to take out her wand but Liam had been faster. Ludo now looked at what had pushed him to see an old man standing just where had been and embedded deep between his neck and shoulder was Bergmann’s axe. It didn’t take much for Ludo to decipher what just had happened.

In the spur of he moment, Ludo jumped at Bergmann, who was trying to dislodge his axe from the old man and sliced at his neck with Glass Guardian, decapitating him with one quick attack. Bergmann’s body exploded into a mixture of red and purple cloud before his body had reached the ground.

At that moment the world seemed to stand still, neither him or Liam or Jana dared to move or breathe. The only sound that filled the path was that of the old man, desperately battling to stay alive as his wound kept bleeding. Liam eventually broke the silence a few seconds later, laughing at Jana.

“So it was a collusion!?” Liam pressed his sword into Jana’s throat.

“It wasn’t!” Jana said.

“And you” Liam said, ignoring what Jana had just said. “Don’t take another step or your friend here is dead.”

“She isn’t my friend.” Ludo said coldly.

“She—“ Liam was thrown to the wall by Jana, who had raised her hand and casted a wind spell.

Jana had underestimated Liam as he overpowered her spell began running towards her, his sword raised high above his head. As he was about to strike her down, Ludo involved himself by blocking Liam’s attack with Glass Guardian. Liam jumped backwards and Ludo threw his sword away and raised his hands.

“Can’t we talk and not kill each other!?” Ludo looked back and forth between Liam and Jana.

“You’re an idiot.” Liam and Jana said in unison.

“There is no coming back from what she did!” Liam yelled. “You know he doesn’t like betrayals.”

“That wasn’t the plan!” Jana shouted back. “I didn’t want to work with him—“

“And you decided to murder us!?”

“No…!” Jana cried out.

Ludo had no idea what was going on nor who they were talking about, but his mind was racing and unbearably barren, Jana was in the verge of tears and Liam was about to attack her.

“Can’t we—“

“No we can’t, Ludo. After what just happened I can’t let you two live.”

Liam’s words shook Ludo to his core. He was aware of the dangers as Auria had warned him and he himself was no stranger to life or death situations with his constant hunt for monsters. However, this was the first time a person had posed a threat to him and declared it so boldly as well that he couldn’t muster the strength to speak as the possibilities of dying completely came tumbling down upon him.

Liam now attacked Ludo an he could do nothing in his shocked state but watch Liam’s sword and his eventual death creep closer to him at a crawl. Luckily for him, a fire ball came to his aid and exploded near Liam. The faun was forced back by the attack and Ludo was snapped out of his state of shock. He looked back to where the fire ball had come from and saw Jana with her wand raised and a trail of smoke coming out from it.

Liam tried to kill Jana a second time but Ludo responded to all of his attacks aimed at her, blocking and pushing his sword away. Liam now focused completely on Ludo, rushing him down and not giving him a chance to rest nor strike back. The faun was able to play around Ludo and Jana well, positioning himself in a way were Jana couldn’t do anything without harming Ludo and Liam used this to press his advantage on Ludo.

Ludo tried as much as he could, remembering what Emmer had thought him many months prior, Ben’s on the fly advice during fights and what he had picked up, but it was not enough. Soon enough, Ludo was left a mess of tattered clothes with deep cuts to his legs and arms. Ludo’s legs shook and he was beginning to slump, but he still wouldn’t let himself fall, knowing that if he did that death would be inevitable.

Liam stroke at Ludo’s sword with a strong hit and disarmed him before kicking him into the ground. Ludo tried to crawl away but Liam pinned him down with his foot, his sword pressed slightly on the center of his chest.

Ben! Can you help me!? Ludo thought as could do nothing but watch as his soon to be murderer pulled his sword back and was about to stab him.

Ludo closed his eyes, expecting the cold steel to destroy his body, but instead he felt an incoming warmth and an explosion happening close to him. He opened his eyes to see Liam thrown a distance away and engulfed in flames. He screamed as he tried to put himself out by crawling into the river but was raised up in the air.

As Ludo observed the horror unfolding before him, Jana came walking by, wand raised high. She stopped besides Ludo and dropped a healing potion for him which he quickly drank. Finally, after much screaming, Jana dropped Liam to the floor and extinguish the flames.

“You know who you are working for, right?” Liam coughed out, his face was horribly burnt and his right eye was missing. “The only thing you two have done is sign your death warrants.”

Jana didn’t reply, instead she raised her wand and a burst of fire came out on the opposite end, engulfing and pulverizing Liam instantly. Jana finally collapsed and began to cry as a red and purple mist filled the room. Ludo, now healed walk up to Jana and tried to comfort her before walking up to the two bags left by Liam.

“Let the dungeon consume that and their souls, we can’t make him suspect us.” Jana said, grabbing Ludo’s arm.

“Consume? And who is this person you—“

“Listen to me Ludo” Jana said. “Liam, Bergmann and I were part of an… organization, and they don’t take things like this lightly. I’ll tell them that they died fighting monsters and I couldn’t save them.”

Ludo wanted to press more Jana for more information about everything that had unfolded but the coughing of the old man caught his attention. By some miracle he was still alive. Ludo ran to the old man and searched in his bag for any unused healing potions still on him.

“Too late for that, I’m afraid…” the old man said.

The familiarity of the voice was enough to freeze Ludo in place, he looked back at the dying man, who was more than happy to show him a bloodied grin.

“Ben?”

“The one and only!” Ben laughed as he coughed out more blood. Ludo began to frantically search for anything that could help him stop the bleeding under Ben’s neck, running out of options he ran to Jana pulling her close to the dying man.

“Help me!” Ludo pleaded.

“There is nothing we can do, there is too much damage.” Jana said.

“WHAT!?” Ludo roared. “You can create fire whenever you want but you can’t cast a spell to—“

“Ludo. Listen.” Ben said, his gasps were now slow and fleeting.

“No!” Ludo yelled. “I can—“

“No… its over.” Ben said, reaching for Ludo’s hand.

“But you can’t die.” Ludo was on the verge of tears.

“And yet it appears I am…” Ben sighed, for a brief moment Ludo saw a glint of desperation on his eyes. “listen, you have great potential to do good, but a lot of evil as well. So promise me… promise me, that you won’t do nor be persuaded to do any evil regardless of how great their price is, be it in wealth or fame and that you will stick to being a good man.”

“I will” Ludo repeated as Ben’s grip became weaker by the second until he breathed his last. His lifeless, glassy eyes now stared at the roof partly clouded by a white mist within them, his body became limp and he was undone. The closest thing Ludo had to a friend was gone.

Ludo pressed his head on Ben’s chest, apologizing again and again over his recklessness. However, even in death, Ben still had something to surprise Ludo with as his body, instead of exploding into a purple and red mist, began to shine and float upwards. Ben’s body began to crumble into dust that still shined brightly like a star and bittersweet sunset unfolded before Ludo and Jana as each little dot of light was snuffed out as the seconds unfolded until all that was left in the room was Ludo, Jana and the ever so familiar darkness.