Edited by: NetLord -> Yes, you forget to sign your job mate. Fret not, I did that for you. Ya think that if ya screwed something no one would know? A-a, that's where you are wrong, kiddo.

We kept moving onward with caution, double checking every corridor and chamber. I will repeat myself saying this over and over again. This dungeon was weird! Floor difficulty is insane, the layout of rooms was definitely not random. Paths curved and rotated making a complex maze, soon we started re-entering the same chambers after more than 30 minutes of constant walking. Some paths were designed to be seen only after you would look back, Along with very hard monsters.

- “So, right now?” Gis asked

- “We went there a moment ago.” I answered

- “Are you sure?” dragoness squinted her eyes.

I once again looked at map in my mind. Yes, the corridor to our right was already marked in my head as place we have already went through. I knew why my dragoness was concerned, she may be a “little” foolish, but by years of experience she learned how to deal with dungeons, even some far more complex than this. Even if it was nothing more than instinct, it was still something one could rely on.

- “Unfortunately yes.”

I can’t blame her, I would also chose this one. From this perspective it looks…

Perspective.

I start towards the right corridor.

- “You said this corridor is wrong, so what are you looking for?”

- “How many traps have you seen until now?” I ignored her question.

- “There were quite few chambers with those nasty eggs…”

- “They aren’t traps, treat them as regular foes…”

- “REGULAR MY ASS!” I was interrupted rudely

- “… making no actual trap encounter. But what if we simply didn’t notice those traps because they are so numerous we treat them as regular surrounding?”

- “That… that… Zari, that does not make a sense.”

- “Picture trap in your head. What do you see?”

- “Pitfalls, rocks falling on my head, arrows being shot out from a wall, spears springing out of the ceiling and floor, something that would kill us on spot.”

- “No, traps are nothing more than additions, they are supposed to slow us down, maybe exhaust us so monsters could finish us off. If we would die on spot, that would be only better for dungeon, but what if the traps here are not meant to harm us physically?”

- “And how do you imagine this to work?”

- “The layout of dungeon and crystals that are part of the walls… look.” I dig one little pebble from the dungeon wall, putting it within my palm.

- “A rock, A very fine rock. If I would throw it at some beasts, I am sure I would be able to smash their skull. If I knew that this dungeon has such a fine armory here, I would bring a sling!”

I cast a little flame on the tip of my finger, the light that falls upon little pebble made it slightly change its color, even my hand changed its shape a little.

- “Rock walls that change color, so?”

- “Sweetie, this rock changes color depending upon the angle of light that falls upon it, and somehow that twists the vision of everything around us.”

- “…speak in common.”

- “The same corridor may appear completely different depending on the time of day, this being the reason why you thought we had to go down corridor to the right. Without a map or making marks in a dungeon we would walk in circle forever and ever, slowly wasting our food and water.”

- “… son of a bitch!” she hissed quietly “Are you sure we are at 1st floor, Even 50th floor of Tower of Despair wasn’t that crazy! Monsters are weaker, but everything else…”

- “Apparently dungeons differ when it comes to their personalities too, with this one is a freak of nature… just like me.” I grinned at my statement.

I would love to dwell in consideration regarding the anomalies of dungeon place, but one, I have only general information about dungeons, and two, right now I am in the middle of it, place, that is filled with monsters and a optical illusion, with neither making the best conditions for scholarly divagations.

- “Gis, would you mind if I would start leading the way?”

- “You have a way to deal with this… illusion?”

- “To deal with? I can’t change the structure of dungeon, but I will know which path we already used.”

- “Just because I am curious, how?”

- “Smell.” I lied. “I will be able to easily tell if we crossed the same path.”

- “Lead the way.” she agreed moving behind me.

And we entered the tunnel to the left. Ah, and then it all started again. Swords started flashing in the dark reflecting light when beasts jumped from rock ledges. Gisele performed her savage dance again, she looked dangerous yet beautiful in her movements, that are always deprived of any unnecessary movements or action. I covered her back at same time with D’iabel as a spear, using it as to throw the beasts away, giving the dragoness as much space as she needed when beasts attacked at same time, if somehow I would notice an opportunity, I would use it to stab weak points, or unarmored body parts.

Another thing we learned: indeed, fiend’s hound pack counts few dozen individuals, but it doesn’t meant that there is only one of them on the floor. On one hand, it means that there is more monsters to deal with, on the other, these are fighting each other for hunting grounds. We managed to get into passage where two clans were bleeding themselves dry, as the battle was heading toward the end we jumped in and finished all the remaining warriors, then we went to look for the horde queen’s, that were laying in secluded chambers.

How did we find them? We moved through tunnels that looked least appealing. With bumpy rocks, few ledges to jump across and areas completely deprived of any tracks. Beasts, in their savagery, paid attention to cover ALL traces leading to their lair. The only smell was their urine, that was more used to mark their territory and hide traces to their family members. No one would be lurked here by smell of blood, for those less intelligent beasts it was a message – no food here, only dozens of monsters. Though, will all of their efforts, it caused an almost unbearable stench.

This is also where I found the first treasure chest. The female dog-monster was literally lying on it…

- “Psst! Hey, Zari! I think I see treasure chest, there! That beast is using it as bed!” Gisele whispers to me.

…

- “Good eye, sweetie…” I couldn’t bring myself to inform her that she stated obvious.

She smiled and raise her thumb proudly.

- “So… In and out?” she asked.

I quickly thought about other possibilities. A sneaky attack was out of question, the beasts already proved to have more than great senses of smell and hearing. I could cast few spells, but outcome would be similar as with physical slaughter, I would just waste mana. Better keep that for harder enemies.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

- “After you, sweetie.” I answered with a nod

- “I am leaving you task of covering my ass.” She started raising from the ground.

- “That’s a lot of place to cover for one single me…” I allowed myself to tease her

- “I AIN’T THAT FAT!” she yelled at me drawing attention of monsters from around the chamber, that raised on their rear legs lifting their body and twitching their ears in all directions looking for a source of sound. We were localized quickly.

Monsters opened their maws showing of their long, razor sharp teeth and letting out vicious hisses.

It didn’t matter. We agreed on in-out anyway.

The horde’s lair was a specific cavern, very big, enormous even, with many tunnels located on many different “levels” on which you could get jumping from ledge to ledge. We started sliding down from one of such ledges using rocky wall of the dungeon.

Once again we faced our enemies. Few scouts, few warriors, few smaller female hounds that served around horde’s queen… and Queen herself, together with her mates.

[Fiend's Hound - Horde Matron]Level27Hp[889/900]Sp[1349/1500]TitlesStubborn

Head of the Pack

Vengeful

She is One, She is ALL

SkillsEnchanted Senses [Passive] [Level NA]

Tracking [Passive] [Level 10]

Bite [Active] [Level 8]

Pack Call [Active] [Level NA]

Mutilate [Active] [Level 8]

Status effectsBlinded [Permanent]

Despite its name it had nothing to do with actual Fiends. It was simply names after them to point out their obvious corruption.

Queen of the pack, matriarch of the horde. She is the one responsible for giving birth to rest of the pack, but if you think that her only job is to lay and breed and thus she poses no threat, think twice.

These beasts have only one rule: only strong can breed, this way their ensure that their offspring will be as strong as possible, every year, before mating season, all males and females fight for right to breed:

Two strongest male becomes Alpha and Omega, strongest female: a Matron

Her cohabitants were here too, with similar descriptions. These three were actually bigger than Vargs.

Another things that made this dungeon simply fucking broken, when you encounter a mini-boss, they usually have a few guards at best but here, she is guarded by bunch of regular beasts and in company of two other mini-bosses. Is this place really trying to kill everyone on spot?! Though I consider this as a challenge and accept it.

- “Guide my hands, spirits of war…”

Gisele turns around and smacks my hands, disturbing my chant.

- “The hell are you doing, crazy woman?!”

- “No spells, just weapons.”

- “What?!”

- “You came here to train. You won’t use magic here!... except for bugs, I hate them. Draw your weapon, honey, I will personally smack you each time you will want to cheat!... also, wanna check who can kill more?”

I looked at her with pure hate in my eyes.

- “Very well, I would win anyway, so let’s just focus on fighting!” she smiled brightly at me before facing beasts.

The creatures acted differently then before, they didn’t just charge in, instead, they cramped around baring their teeth, with the Matron still lying in rest. I would said she was looking at us like she was not impressed at all… but, you know… blindness? Anyway, she yawned, opening her maw widely, with saliva thick on her dagger-like teeth.

Same things cannot be said about the Alpha and Omega. They were howling and clamping their mouth as if I offended their great ancestors.

- “Not attacking, do you know a way to taunt them?” Gis asked after coming few next steps indeed, charging at such a mass could be unwise, dragoness would still wreck a havoc, but she could be scratched seriously here and there.

- “I could throw a fireball or two…”

- “No.”

- “You could pee here.” I joked.

- “WHAT!?”

- “They are using it to mark territory. That would be like spitting in the face of the noble.”

- “Why can’t you do that. Ha?”

- “You are a female, that beast is a female. Males here serves a secondary role.” I kept joking.

For a moment she looked as if she was considering it, for a split of the second, I almost saw her finger traveling to her belt, but then she turned around to me.

- “You fucker! You are mocking me!”

I snickered. It was worth trying. I would have such a nice thing to tell in the guild after returning. About Gisele that in the middle of battle took her pants down and peed on her enemies to show dominance. I consider it as a wasted opportunity, whatever, there will be next time.

- “You know what?” she hissed grabbing me by the collar “… I just found a new way of breaking their lines!”

She lifted me.

- “Come on! You can’t be serious!”

But she was.

She threw me across the room right in the middle of the toothed mass. Of course that I saved myself with a magic casting mana shock wave to throw beasts to the sides. Still, because of the way I landed I didn’t deal much damage, maybe I caused few bruises in best case scenario.

Once again I raised D’iabel in its spear form and twisted my body protecting myself from jaws that tried to feast upon my face. I shoved wood and iron between the beast’s teeth. As soon as it locked its mouth around it I moved my whole body into throwing creature to the side. I push the butt of the spear behind me hitting a monster that tried to attack me on my back, finishing with few series of fast pirouettes hitting beasts bodies, I didn’t kill even one of them, but I managed to painfully wound them.

Never joke about staff weapons, kids. I heard “So, you have piece of wood? What are you going to do with it?” Many times, but I will do plenty of things.

A staff in good hands can turn any enemy into blue bag of shattered bones and bruised muscles. Yes, it may be problematic if enemy is wearing an armor… But do you see any armor on these hounds? Exactly, me neither.

Meantime, as I am struggling to keep distance from them, I kept getting notification after notification that my partner is enjoying herself behind my back.

- “You were supposed to guard my back!” she said as I felt her body pushing against my back as each of us faced the circle of monster around us.

- “To protect your back I need to see them. Don’t you think that it’s a bit hard of a task when the one who is supposed to be protected is throwing the protecting one into mass from whom the protecting one is supposed to protect the protected one?!”

I yelled, while impaling the stomach of the beast that jumped at me. As soon as my weapon was trapped in its flesh another creature rushed at me from the side. I kicked the beast that kept my weapon occupied leaving it ready for me. I moved to the side and rammed my shoulder into monster on the side. Then once again I jumped to now lying beasts, grabbed my spear and twisted it in the body of monster: to enlarge the wound and to retrieve my weapon

- “I didn’t understand a single word from what you just said!” she laughed cheerfully swirling her sword from above her head killing creatures with one, maybe two fast slashes.

After we got rid of more or less half of the lair’s guardians, Alpha and Omega decided to join.

The difference wasn’t that great, I think they could be hardly called champion-rank monster. They simply had higher level, I was expecting greater challenge from these two.

Indeed, avoiding their attacks required far more focus, and their cooperation with rest of the pack was tiresome…

But something was off. Something was wrong. Something was missing! Something, that was driving me nuts! I needed more! More adrenaline! It didn’t differ from feeling of clearing area in game you already visited hundred times! You know how they were about to act and… and… and….

- “IS THIS ALL YOU GOT YOU USELESS FUCKERS!?” I roared, and my voice sounded as if it was said by three men at once.

- “Z-zari? Everything all-right?!” Gis asked concerned

~ Too long we were forgotten

~ Too long unsatisfied!

~ Feast, host, feed us!

~ Butcher them! Kill them! All of them! Kill them so hard, that they will reincarnate as an abortion!

~ Fighting so heartlessly! Their life is on stake… yet they are… THEY ARE!

- “YOU ARE OFFENDING US WITH YOUR LACK OF PASSION!” I screeched.

I throw D’iabel away. The weapon turned into a smoke that traveled to my hand and materialized as ring, while at same time my fingers morphed into long, curved, vicious claws.

I avoided beast attack from the left, ducked under another one jumping over me and pierced with my fingers skull of the one attacking from the right

You are now [Enraged]- [Pain Nullification - Lesser] granted

- Reaction speed up

- Mental attributes down

More, MORE! I need to feel your anger! Let me feast on your wrath! Gouge on your hatred!

I bolted onward carving myself a path to my target – the Matron. She “looked” in my direction after noticing I was charging at her. She bared her teeth in savage grin and raised her body a little.

I jumped, she lunged.

But, before we were to clash, I rolled down under it raising my hand and leaving long, yet shallow cuts on her belly, just enough to make few drops of her blood fall upon ground.

The mass of beasts froze for a moment tasting air, finding new scent, scent of their ruler bleeding.

I raised my finger to my nails licking them clean.

- “You taste like shit… Which means I will eat you because of duty, and not pleasure.”

Monster howled in madness. Quickly marks [Enraged] appeared in their status effects bar. In few moments [Enraged] turned into [Furious]

- “Purrrfect!” I said gazing over storming mass “… Your Wrath! Your Pride! Makes me so…sooo!...” blood started pumping in my veins, I heard as my hearts started finally beating like crazy. “So… Excited!”

That what I was craving for! That what I needed to feel again! AND AGAIN! After over a year of pretending in human clothing, after I made my instincts grow dull! I needed this purity! This heat! This savage madness! I used to scold Gisele for such reckless actions,yet I am a hypocrite!

But it doesn’t mean anything for now. Back then, I was once again the craziest and most dangerous beast in that dungeon.