Brick sat and watched the three get into bed and cover themselves in their blankets. Mara had her own blanket, along with a host of other tricks up her sleeve. An odd girl, Brick found. But enjoyable. Her healing was potent enough, though relying on a strange to keep them alive was a quick way to end up dead.
Especially with the prospect of a dungeon, exploring something new with somebody unreliable covering their backs? And if Mara were to be trusted, then there was no way to even know what the dungeon would hold, if it was a dungeon. Maybe it was just a trap, set by whichever group Mara was working with.
Though, in its own way, that would be enjoyable too. It had been quite some time since they’d had such exciting days, and with James’ insanity concluded that left very little to interrupt them on their travels. Wolves and beasts that roamed the woods, but after a decade of travelling they were simple to avoid. Maybe they would run into some high level beast before they got to the dragon, but Brick doubted it.
A wandered, maybe? Though they were rarely a fun sight to see. And the smell. Brick scrunched their nose in disgust. Why wanderers never thought to keep a cleaning skill on hand was beyond Brick. At least hop in a river from time to time. It was as though the filth was a part of the life, necessary for whatever it was they got up to.
Maybe raiding dungeons, Brick supposed. If there was one here, just below the surface then there would be others. To think otherwise would be arrogance. They weren’t the lucky ones, the fated group destined to stumble into the lone dungeon in the area. There were more dungeons, they were just hidden. From the shadows? From the wanderers?
Brick looked at the group. Blue and Brick were asleep, their breaths even and consistent. Mara however, was still awake. Her breathing was stunted and ragged. Not enough to be a concern, the girl was perfectly healthy. But people who slept were shockingly consistent, Brick found. Each breath the same as the last — or if it wasn’t, it was very different. Snores and snorts, not just brief pauses and slightly longer draws.
She hadn’t slept much on the trip, not at all to Brick’s knowledge. Though Brick hadn’t been awake the entire time themself, so that didn’t mean Mara hadn’t slept at all. Not once had Brick noticed her breathing truly fall into that consistence of sleep. Brick shook their head. The girl was hiding much from them, but at least so far, she’d been helpful. The hovels she made were far better than hiding in some roots, even if her initial attempts welcomed James’ fruitless attack. Her healing would save them plenty of resources when they did need to fight, and if Brick was being honest, the girl was just good company.
Interesting company might be more apt, Brick thought. She’d seen dungeons, travelled the forests, and at barely over level one hundred, alone? If she ever felt comfortable opening up about her life, Brick would soak it up like a dry sponge in a bucket of water. But it wouldn’t be right to pry, when they weren’t interested in sharing their pasts either.
Brick chuckled to themself. Their past was likely much more innocent than Mara’s was anyway. They didn’t have some grandiose tale of exploring the wilds and delving into dungeons. Just some shitty kids that didn’t quite like the expectations society had of themselves. A boring story in comparison, Brick imagined. But still a secret they held close.
The night passed with Brick thinking about the dungeon, and their plans to tackle it. It seemed far too difficult to keep Mara alive while they dove into the depths. None of them could see in the dark so they would need light. But how would they know when to put the lights out? When to once again light them and venture further?
A time class would be convenient, Brick thought. Mara had one, though she’d never shared any indication of being able to tell the time. Perhaps it just wasn’t powerful enough for her to have a time keeper, or perhaps it was just more attuned to healing than time. Maybe she could help Brick get a time class of their own during this trip.
Once the dragon was done, they’d need something new to occupy their time with. Finding, and subsequently exploring, dungeons seemed like a great idea, if they could do so with a reasonable expectation of safety. Pleasure was important in life, but not more important than life itself.
When light came, Brick woke up the rest. Spark and Blue both seemed excited, an eagerness to explore something new visible behind each bouncy step they took. Mara pretended to wake up when Brick shook her, a routine that they’d fallen into in their time together. Did Mara know? Or perhaps she truly was just an odd sleeper. Maybe she needed some help herself to get a better night’s sleep, though she was the healer so what would Brick know.
“We’re starting immediately.” Brick said when the group got up. They focused on their Spacial Fold skill and teleported them to the middle of the field.
“Blue, Spark. You two lead the way. When we get in, you two will be at the front still. Mara, you’ll be in the middle and I’ll hold up the rear. When night falls, if we’re still in the dungeon we’ll need to react quick if the shadows come to life because of our lights. Mara, are you sure you want to take the risk?” Brick asked as Blue and Spark started leading them to the dungeon entrance.
Mara nodded. “Yeah, this’ll be fun.” She smiled.
Sometimes, Brick got the feeling that she truly was the monster that killed the hydra for James’ party. The carelessness of it all, how casually she treated everything. Even with James’ attack, she didn’t seem to be bothered at all. No fear, no anxiety. Not as far as Brick could tell, at any rate.
She seemed so detached from it all at times. As though nothing that happened could matter, that all of this was just a game to her. If it weren’t for the identify skill, Brick would never believe she was only level one hundred. The confidence she held was beyond what somebody at her level should wield. Maybe she looped?
Loopers never lived alone, though. Throwing away all of your power for some future benefit without anybody to protect you in your weakened state? Idiotic. Many tried, none survived.
Either way, Brick didn’t mind. James’ party was just as idiotic for being offended by the creature that killed the hydra. In the first place, would a little light be enough to kill something that could rip a hydra in half in the blink of an eye?
Ridiculous. Just the thought that Mara might be the very same creature gave Brick comfort. She wouldn’t betray them as long as they didn’t betray her. And if push came to shove, some beast they couldn’t handle charged them down?
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
At least there was the chance they had something more powerful at their side. Relying on her wasn’t worth it, but it couldn’t hurt to hedge their bets, either. They’d do everything they could to be as safe as possible, and if that wasn’t enough they’d at least have some hope that Mara was more than she said she was.
Maybe James was upset because he’d already betrayed her. That was the only thing that made much sense to Brick. Fear of her chasing him down because of his betrayal, of ruining his life or maybe taking it for her own.
Blue knelt down as the group stopped near a berry bush about waist high and pulled aside some of the leaves. A hole, just large enough for a person to squeeze through was revealed beneath the bushy leaves.
“Spark, Blue. You two are taking lead. It doesn’t matter who goes first.” Brick said.
Spark grinned and hopped to action, squishing their body into the hole and vanishing into the darkness. Light flickered beneath the hole a moment later as Spark ignited their torch and crawled away into the larger open cavern below.
Blue followed a moment later, then Mara. And then finally, Brick climbed down. There was a short tunnel that made Brick thankful nobody seemed to have claustrophobia, which opened up into the larger cavern just a little bigger than the rooms Mara had been carving out for them.
To one wall in the cavern was a stone bench with skulls hanging from the armrests, and at the opposite end of where they entered was a tunnel that bent downwards, leading deeper into the dungeon.
“So what do we do here, Mara?” Brick asked. She was the only one with experience, though she didn’t seem to be an infallible wealth of knowledge. Or perhaps she was, but simply kept much of it hidden?
Mara shrugged. “Like I said, every dungeon’s different. I have no idea what’s going to be in here. No way of knowing what’s going to be in here. Earth stuff, maybe. Since it was already doing some earth magic. But that’s just a guess. It could be unrelated.”
Brick nodded. “Mara, how much can you feel if you’re manipulating the earth around us? Could you notice tunnelers, footsteps? Disruptions? Anything?"
Mara pulled on her lip with her index finger as she thought, revealing the wicked sharp fangs in her mouth. Brick held back a shiver. They were never pleasant to see, how had she gotten them? And how did she still seem so human despite them?
“I could notice disruptions. If something’s tunneling to us, I can let you know. It’ll take up some of my mana though.” Mara said.
“Do that, then. Keep an eye below us and near any walls we’re going to be around. If we’re at least five feet away from a wall you can ignore it, we’ll have time to react if something happens.” Brick said.
Mara nodded. “Okay.” A wealth of power rushed out from her, seeping into the earth. Her mana was amazing to witness, even without a mana sight. The feeling of power that hung behind it was awe inspiring.
“Good. Blue, Spark. You two lead the way down the tunnel. We’re going to move with quickness, but keep your wits about you.” Brick said.
The two nodded and pulled their spears out in front of them as they walked down the tunnel. Mara followed along behind them, that subtle power flooding out from them into the ground and walls. Brick fell in behind them, and they followed the tunnel as it gently curved around to a fork. It continued forward on its gentle curve and split off to the right to what seemed like a much larger cavern, though most of it was obscured by the tunnel walls and floor.
“We continue forward.” Brick said, and the group continued winding around to another room identical to the previous one. A bench on one end, and a hole that lead up to some compressed dirt. Brick climbed up and shoved some of the dirt aside to see the outside again. “Looks like another entrance. Back to the fork, we continue to the larger cavern.”
Blue and Spark nodded, then led the group through the tunnel to the cavern again. It was set in the middle of the tunnel between the two rooms, and if Brick’s estimation was right, would be the large cavern they found when Mara broke through into the dungeon the first time.
The tunnel they followed poked out near the top of the cavern, with about a twenty foot drop down to the floor. Brick peered over the edge, and nothing was visible beneath. They waved their torch, casting light deep into the cavern but even as the flickering light lit the cavern, nothing was visible. No creatures, no treasure. Just emptiness.
“Tunnelers!" Mara shouted from behind Brick and leapt back into the tunnel. Brick teleported Blue and Spark back to Mara a moment before two forms flew out of the walls at incredible speeds, shooting across the tunnel and vanishing into the wall on the other side.
“Are they still around?" Brick asked Mara.
She nodded. “I think there’s four, maybe five of them. It’s hard to keep track, they’re very quick.”
Brick nodded back. “Into the cavern then. It might be an ambush, but it’s better than fighting them in close quarters here where they have the advantage.”
Blue and Spark took off and jumped into the cavern, with Mara following close behind. Brick waited a moment longer and then teleported down into the cavern. Down on the floor, even Brick could tell they were in trouble. The ground seemed to quake as whatever those creatures were carved their way through the earth.
“Plan?” Blue asked.
Brick shook their head. “Nothing yet. Mara, fire water anywhere you think something’s going to come out of. Blue and Spark, take them down if you can. I’m going to try and catch one.”
A moment later, a blast of water shot out from Mara and impacted the ground just behind Blue. Blue spun around and slammed their spear into the ground as another of the creatures just poked out of the surface. The spear impaled the creature, and Brick got a better look at them.
Moles. Mutated by whatever magic the dungeon used. About the size of a young wolf, with long dark black claws and vicious fangs lining their mouth. Blue’s spear pierced through its skull and black blood dripped from the creature, splattering against the wall as they swung their spear over head. The mole ripped from their spear and squished into a distant wall.
Mara shot another two blasts of water out. One just behind herself, and another just behind Spark. Spark spun and impaled another on their spear, while Brick teleported behind Mara and waited.
The mole popped out a moment later, its dark claws just scratching Mara’s back and drawing blood. She grimaced and staggered from the pain. Brick reached out to grab the mole as it arced through the air, just managing to grasp its back paw. The mole flailed with an immense strength, ripping its paw from Brick’s grasp and vanishing into the ground again.
Brick grinned. This was going to be fun.