The Dungeon was much more difficult to find than I thought. To be fair, there were a shit-ton of things trying to kill us. And, unfortunately for them, Leah and I existed (Mia was currently sleeping in Treia’s arms “against” her will.)
I punted a rock at Leah’s face to stop her laughing. “Shut up already!” I snapped. “Not everyone wants to hear you go insane.”
She glared at me as casually punched some stone-wolf in the face, causing its entire body to shatter. She frowned.
“That was stronger than I expected. Must have a large bit of Endurance,” Leah mused.
“Really?” I responded, easily chopping through another with my sword.
“Your sword isn’t even remotely fair against these things; it’s literally just using Void to chop through them,” Treia grumbled from behind me. “Also, how do you carry Mia so easily?! She weighs more than your damned sword, which I didn’t think was possible.”
Char seemed to be confused as she responded, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“His sword is practically made of solid Platinum,” Treia grumbled. “Nearly ripped my uncle in half because he tried to take it.”
“What?!”
“I think the System likes him or something.”
“Oi! I had to escape an army of Valkyries to get this. I think it’s well earned!” I said. “I’m pretty sure you could get your own sword made of Platinum.”
“Not the point!”
I was going to say otherwise when a screen popped into existence.
“Oh, that’s nice.”
Void Manipulation - Tier 2
A manipulation Skill that allows you to draw on the Void Element and use it in a variety of ways. Can be used to develop new Skills. Now afflicts the Affliction : Tainted for 5 min | 3 days when damage dealt with this skill. Max stacks : 6 (Additive/Exponential). When you Taint someone, you can expend the stacks to deal 5000 damage/stack. This can be triggered at any time until stacks are cleansed or expire.
Damage : 200 Void Damage/s
Cost : 150 Mana and 30 Health/s
*Your Race : Voidborn Abyssal negates Self-damage dealt by this skill
Tainted : Take 10% (Additive | 5 min) more Void Damage per stack and take 10^(Stacks) (Exponential) Void Damage per hour. Cannot naturally heal this damage.
That’s completely fair, I thought. I think that I could deal 100k damage without even trying… wait. No, I can do more since [Prodigy II] exists. Cause that’s fair. At least it isn’t affected by [Wreath of Destruction].
I immediately detonated all the stacks that I’d applied to the nearby enemies. I saw them all seem to be eaten from the inside out, falling to the ground and writhing before the Void ripped through them.
I blinked. “Huh.”
Leah glared at me. “Seriously?! That’s no fun!”
I looked back at her, taken aback. “I didn’t think they had so little Health with all of their Endurance.”
I looked back at Treia, who was frowning. She looked back at me, confused.
“I think whatever you just did healed me,” she said. “I’m at full Health.”
I thought about this. “So… instead of ripping you from the inside out, Void heals you?”
“I think?”
I grinned. “That means I just have to constantly be throwing Void Mana at you and you’ll be fine. Which means you can gain Levels right now.”
She looked at me, betrayed. “Right…”
“Aren’t you almost at Tier 3?”
The moment she realized this, her betrayed expression turned into elation.
~~~
“Never… again,” Treia wheezed from my back. “I am exhausted and completely ready to cut everything apart. But, unfortunately for both of those desires, I would rather ride on your back for the rest of eternity.”
“Uh huh,” I said, absentmindedly, trying to both carry Mia and carry Treia. “I disagree with that statement.”
“Mhm. Love you too.” She kissed my cheek from my back.
Leah snorted, though she warily looked at Char, who was watching me struggle with Mia and Treia with a pensive expression. Mia simply looked over at Treia, annoyed, and went back to sleep.
Eventually, we decided to break off from our direct path and make a small camp where I could finally dump Treia off my back (to which she had many complaints about), and rest for a little bit, letting her recover.
Leah simply sat a ways away with Char, the two of them clearly half asleep. I got comfortable where I was sitting and listened closely to our surroundings. Treia simply laid with her head on my lap and with Mia on top of her, which she seemed to not mind anymore.
Ah yes, the System. Seeing as I’m ripping apart things, I’m surprised-
“Hey, Jason?” Treia asked with her eyes closed.
I looked down at her. “Yeah?”
“I should probably thank you. For just about everything,” she said with a sigh.
I blinked and looked down at her, looking down at her face that was partially covered by her blond hair.
Never realized how beautiful she was… wait, what does that say about me?
“There’s nothing you need to thank me for,” I said, absentmindedly pulling on a strand of my hair while looking into the distance. “I didn’t do much-”
“Jason, you and Mia single handedly have saved my home. You chose to help me Level even though I was rude to you when we first met.”
I glanced back down at her. “And barging into my home isn’t rude?”
She smiled. “Your home is my home.”
“Then, technically, I can say the same about your home.”
She opened an eye and gave me a mock glare. “I’ve told you that you can live in the manor. But you seem to not understand that.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I like looking at the stars.”
She shook her head. “We could look at the stars together, y’know. Just the two of us.”
Tilting my head, I thought about that. “That sounds nice.”
“Maybe with some of that pasta you make. Along with your chocolate pie.”
I shook my head, adjusting myself so I was laying next to her. “I know what you mean.”
“You better. We still haven’t gone on a date,” she muttered, laying her head on top of my chest. “I’m going to get some rest now. I love you, Jason,” she added, closing her eyes again.
I pulled her a bit closer. “I love you too, Treia.”
~~~
“BLEG!” I shouted, smacking Leah in the stomach as she poured water on my face, thoroughly waking me up.
“OW! What the-!”
Her voice was cut out as Mia shrieked and promptly encased her in a block of ice.
As we sat up, I glared at the block of ice that was quickly cracking as Leah forced her way out of it. Mia sat on my lap, soaked through with a withering stare at Leah. She kept reinforcing the ice, making it so Leah couldn’t escape.
I sighed. “Let her out.”
Mia looked up at me as if I was insane, but released Leah, who stumbled forward as the ice shattered like glass. She fell on her face in front of me and I simply stared at her blankly as she groaned.
“Didn’t expect that reaction,” she muttered into the dirt.
I simply pulled out my own water bottle and poured it over her head, eliciting a shriek as she sat up, shaking her hair out with a glare at me.
After she moved away, she muttered something under her breath. Mia responded with another chunk of ice at her head.
“Agreed,” I responded. “I like sleeping.”
***
Char looked at the Dungeon entrance from above, in a tree with Leah, while Jason, Treia, and Mia were in a different tree, speaking in hushed tones as they tried to figure out how to enter the Dungeon with the hundreds of Beasts guarding the entrance.
As they did this, Char was having her own conversation with Leah.
“You actually reported that? I couldn’t even record all that destruction!”
Char blushed slightly. “Well, I’ve seen a lot of things. I mean, you haven’t seen Mistress Harmony when she’s hell-bent on destroying everything around her.”
Leah seemed to think for a few moments, blowing her light purple hair out her eyes. “I’ve seen a taste of that, though I can’t really say if it’s a large amount or a small amount of it. She made an attempt to kill the Queen of the Abyss, though that backfired horribly on her and was barely able to escape.”
Char nodded. “Yeah. About that, actually: you… were Integrated pretty recently, huh?”
For a few moments, Leah looked conflicted. She stared off into the distance, her eyes trained on Jason. She seemed to be wondering if she should tell her a lie, but sighed.
“Yeah. We were,” Leah admitted, looking a bit nostalgic. “Sometimes, I miss it. Being able to annoy Jason every living moment, pretending to be scared of his snake, who was also mysteriously Integrated and turned into the Serpent you know today, having boyfriends and never being able to keep a relationship.” She sighed. “Back then, I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with Jason, and I knew I would’ve been happy. Jason would’ve too, no matter what he says. But, then, the System came and tore that all apart. I was told I was a Demigod and he was told he was an Abyssal, with neither of us having a choice on the matter.”
Leah shook her head and looked at Char. “I’m not saying I’m unhappy now, but I’m just trying to fight the constant need to grow powerful. To be able to protect. I have the choice to stop. But it’s unfair because Jason doesn’t have that choice. If he stops growing, he’ll be killed one way or another. But the only reason he hasn’t had an emotional breakdown is because he’s still in denial. It may not seem like it, but I’ve seen it. He refuses to understand that his own life means something and he’ll only understand when he’s at the brink of death. Then he’ll understand that this isn’t all a game. I realized it a long time ago. But, I didn’t have anyone to help me deal with it. He has a Bond who’d probably kill everyone here to make sure he was happy and a girlfriend who loves him more than she values her life, even though she’s a Princess. He’ll need the help. And I hope he understands eventually. Or else, it’d break him from the inside out.”
Char was quiet for a long time, processing this outburst. Some of what Leah had said hadn’t made much sense, but, from what Char could tell, Leah was concerned for Jason and his wellbeing.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She then nodded slowly. “You still love him, don’t you?” she asked, unable to judge Leah about it.
Leah seemed to struggle with this before she made a small nod. “I do. I won’t be able to give it up until he’s happy either. And he’s not happy. Not in the slightest.”
***
“Alright, I’ve got an idea,” I said to the group with a manic grin. “We blow it up and jump in afterwards. Flawless.”
Everyone gave me a blank look and I gave them an innocent look. “What?”
Leah simply sighed. “Do you have explosives you can just pull out of your ass?”
“Yes.”
“Exactly, so how are we supposed to- wait what?” she stopped mid-sentence to look at me as I whipped out a few Runes with a smile.
“Runes. Fire and Air ones to be exact. Combusts hydrogen and oxygen to make a large kaboom.”
Treia and Char looked at me blankly.
“Hydro-what?” Triea asked curiously.
I stared at her and opened my mouth to explain, but nothing came out. My mouth opened and closed uselessly for a few seconds before I looked at my hands, confused. Treia raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, the world’s not letting me talk,” I said. “Oh wait, I can speak now. What just-”
Char seemed to get the gist of it and nodded. “Probably the God of Knowledge. If there’s something monumental that people from other worlds know about but we don’t, they can’t directly tell us what it is.”
Treia frowned. “You’re implying that Jason’s from another world. That doesn’t make sense… aren’t they, like, really crazy? Jason’s a bit insane, but not to that level.”
Leah simply looked at me, completely taken aback. “You didn’t tell her?” she hissed.
“Uh… it never crossed my mind to tell her,” I muttered. “I forget sometimes.”
Triea looked at me, bewildered. “Wait, what’s happening?”
Leah simply huffed and looked at Treia with a sigh. “Jason and I are from a different world. Somewhere the System called ‘Earth 728G’. We were Integrated a few months ago.”
Treia gaped at Leah for a few moments before giving me a withering glare. I shrank back with a nervous laugh, patting Mia’s horn.
I looked at her, absolutely baffled.
She stuck her tongue out and giggled.
“Look, I just don’t think about it much-” I tried to start.
Treia cut me off with, “You know how many problems we could’ve avoided if you’d told me that to begin with?”
“Less than I would’ve caused?”
She glared at me for a long time before I shut up, grumbling under my breath to Mia.
“We’re going to have a long talk about this later,” Treia sighed.
After an uncomfortable silence, I said, “Well… let’s blow this up, I guess,” all excitement now dead.
My fault for never mentioning it, I thought.
I infused the slips of paper with Mana and let them fall to the ground below.
“Cover your ears,” I said, covering Mia’s for her.
She looked up at me and put her hands over my ears just as the slips of paper detonated, letting out a yelp and grabbing my ears instead. Treia jumped, nearly pushing me off the tree along with Mia, who still resided on my lap.
After the explosion’s echo died down, I grabbed as many of the people around me as I could and jumped down to the entrance, falling down into it.
You have entered a Dungeon
Average Level Beasts - 62
Current State - Broken
When this Dungeon is completed, extra rewards will appear due to its current state.
~~~
I woke up in my bed, trying to remember how I got there. I tried to sit up, but a weight on my chest prevented me from moving.
“Go back to sleep, Jason,” a familiar voice grumbled.
I groaned. “Get off, Leah,” I hissed, pushing her off of me and directly onto my backpack, which woke her up quite quickly. “We’ve got school today, dimwit.”
Leah glared at me, clearly contemplating whether or not she should hit me. “I don’t want to go.”
“You better. Now, go and get ready, ya rude lady,” I snapped, hopping off my bed. “I need to pick up Mia and you better be ready so you can say bye to her. It’s her first day of second grade.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled. “Wouldn’t want to miss that.”
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the other side of the room, where our closet was. Then, I froze.
Why does something about this seem… wrong? I thought to myself. Eh, who knows?
Continuing on, we left to go pick Mia up from my mom’s house, where she was waiting with her backpack on, both giddy and nervous.
Something about her calling me Jason just felt… incorrect. What could be wrong…
~~~
WAKE UP ALREADY YOU ASS! ENOUGH DAYDREAMING, Someone yelled in my mind…
~~~
I smiled at the young girl. “Ready for your first day of second grade?” I asked her as she pressed her horn… no, forehead against my chest.
She then looked up, her expression a bit confused.
I laughed. “How scary could it possibly be?”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Stop making bad references.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “It’s not bad if you recognise it.”
“It’s like a thirty year old movie!”
“You watch twenty year old romance movies. We are not the same.”
“DAMN YOU-!”
The door to my house was quickly opened, my mom giving Leah a flat expression. Leah shrunk back, muttering under her breath. After a moment, my mom smiled.
“Look at you all, starting school again,” she said with a wide smile.
Again? Wait a minute…
~~~
~~~
I shook my head and smiled back at her. “Not like we had trouble last year.”
Mia nodded in agreement, her hair floating into her face. I moved it out of her face and focused on her eyes for a moment. They shifted from blue to light yellow-
They were light blue.
Her eyes were light blue, like they usually were. I patted her head we bid my mom goodbye, some foreboding feeling bubbling up in my chest.
As we walked towards the school, we came across Char and Treia, who walked a bit behind Xaila-
There’s no one in front of them.
They walked alone together, talking to one another in excited tones.
“Heya!” I called over to them, catching their attention.
Treia’s face lit up at the sight of me and Mia, and she rushed over, Char right behind her. She stopped next to me, partially out of breath as she kissed me.
“Jason! We didn’t think you’d be here so late so we decided to start walking. But now I see why.”
Mia exclaimed, getting Treia’s attention.
“Yes, it is your big sister!” she said, pulling Mia out of my arms and spinning her around.
Treia can’t understand Mia.
I froze in place and said. “Something feels really wrong.”
The girls looked at me in confusion.
“What do you mean?” Char asked from Leah’s arms.
I reached up to my head and my eyes widened.
My horns were gone.
It was at that moment I realized that something was very wrong.
I looked at them for a long moment before trying to activate my Avatar. Nothing happened.
“Status?”
Nothing.
Why isn’t anything working? Hold on… am I dreaming? If so, why am I here…?
“Jason?” Treia asked, sounding worried.
Everything is fine-
“This isn’t real, is it?” I asked her, giving her a hard look. “And this isn’t exactly a dream either.”
For a few moments, all sound cut out. Then it went black.
~~~
I woke up again, this time to the sound of Mia’s hissing. Looking up, I saw that Mia was in her Draconic form, her eyes trained on me. They were all looking at me, their expressions empty.
“What in the hells is happening?” I hissed, trying to stand before realizing that I was already standing up.
Ailment Cleansed : Possession
Duration : 4:37
I stared at the shadow that was trying to scurry out of my chest before grabbing it and ripping it out myself.
Puppeteer - Level 70 | Tier 3
A Puppeteer takes control of its victims and causes them to attack anyone near them. They are notorious for being very difficult to escape from their grasp. The ones they possess experience vivid dreams that are difficult to distinguish from reality.
“So, they control people’s bodies. Huh. That’s mildly annoying,” I grumbled before blinking at the fist that appeared in my vision.
I instinctively activated my Armor and let it tank the hit before dodging as it shattered. I grabbed the arm that had attempted to punch me and threw Leah back towards the group, though with far more force than I meant to.
Then, before I could react, Mia was directly in front of me.
Ah. Shit- was the last thing I could think before her tail smashed into my chest, dealing nearly 100000 damage and smashing me into the wall of the cave we were in and going clear through it, into a room with a chest in it.
I looked at the golden chest for a long moment, wondering if there were any traps on it before simply opening it after reactivating my Armor. Arrows shot from a wall and promptly broke as I pulled out the sword that was in the chest.
Winds’ Fury - Level 75 | Tier Growth
Forged from the Four Winds’ anger, this blade has a constant Wind infusion that will occasionally let out an extra slash that deals half the maximum damage. This sword is imbued with the Skill [Ferocious Winds]. Whenever Wind damage is dealt, your opponent and all opponents nearby will suffer from Wind Slash, dealing 10% of the Max damage while decreasing Wind RES by 4%, stacking 10 times for 4 minutes, this effect doubled when [Ferocious Winds] is activated with the timer reset. While used with an Avatar, this blade will increase all damage by 50%.
Skill Cooldown : 5 min
Damage : 4000 - 12000 damage
+60% Wind Damage when on person
Skill : Ferocious Winds
When used, all stacks of Wind Slash will deal 40% of the Max Damage, while dealing their application damage every four seconds for 1 minute to all opponents affected by Wind Slash. This also increases the wielder's damage by 2% for every stack of Wind Slash affected by this skill for the same duration.
This is perfect for Treia! I thought, forgetting that the other four were still attacking me.
I was then reminded of that when Leah burst through the wall, her eyes trained on me.
Right, I should probably beat them up real quick though, since they’re clearly being Puppeted.
~~~
Ten minutes and a lot of cursing Treia’s speed later, everyone was on the ground as I waited for them to wake up from their beat-down… well except for Mia, who I was still grappling with.
“Why. Won’t. You. Just. Get. Outta. Her. Head, DAMN IT?!” I hissed, bonking Mia on the head for every word as she writhed under me. With the final hit, I saw the edge of the Puppeteer in her poke out.
I grabbed it and ripped it out of her, Mia shivering and falling to the ground with a slight wheeze. She then shook her head and twisted her head to look up at me with a glare
“Puppeteer. Controlled your body,” I responded, ripping the thing in half. “Five of the damn things didn’t give me a single Level.”
Mia shifted into her Humanoid Form, looking very disheveled.
“Y’all tried to kill me, that’s what. Though, it’s good to know I can beat you all up if I feel like it- er, need to.”
Mia sat up and looked at me, horrified.
she wilted, looking at the ground.
I gave her a sad smile before lifting her up and setting her in my lap. “Don’t say that. We just didn’t expect it. Though, that was pretty weird, seeing you all with completely blank expressions. I didn’t even know snakes had expressions.”
Mia just snuggled into me, looking at Winds’ Fury, which laid on the ground next to me.
I sighed. “Mia, none of what happened is your fault. You didn’t realize that you were controlled. It’s okay. I still love you.”
She looked up at me, her face still bearing guilt.
“Of course.”
She hugged me.
I laughed aloud. “You always give me a reason to rethink my life choices. But, yes, I have food. But don’t eat it all.”
“The others need to eat too! And me!”
She huffed and stuffed a muffin into her mouth, chewing slowly as we waited for the others to wake up.
The first to wake up was Leah, who shot up and looked around, confused.
“Wha- what happened?” She asked, trying to stand up.
I smiled and spread my arms. “Welcome to the Dungeon! The Dungeon is a fun experience for both you and the family. We are not responsible for the Puppeteers, however. They are here uninvited.”
Leah gave me a blank look. “What? Also, I was Possessed?!”
I shrugged. “Like I said, we are not responsible for the Puppeteers.”
“Huh…?” Treia groaned, sitting up. “Puppeteers? Possession?”
I looked over to her and grinned. “Yep. Also, when you recover, I got you something.”
She looked confused. “From a Dungeon? And why is my Health so low?”
“Could ask the same thing,” Leah muttered, scooting over to Char and using a Skill on her, healing her.
I cleared my throat. “I had to- ahem- request them to get out of your bodies.”
Treia looked taken aback. “So you smacked us around to get them out?”
I raised my hands. “Hey, I didn’t even use Skills. You’ll all be fine.”
Leah groaned. “There goes my self-confidence. You didn’t use a single Skill to subdue us?”
“Well, I had to use a few on Mia, but she has a fuck-ton of Endurance, so it was kinda necessary.”
“Not the point,” Triea muttered. She then made an attempt to stand and was able to take about four steps before collapsing next to me.
I caught her and she groaned.
“I think you need a bit more rest,” I said, mildly amused.
Ignoring this, she responded, “You said you had something for me?”
I nodded and reached into my Storage, since Mia had found it funny to throw it into there as I reached for it, and held out Winds’ Fury.
“I present to thee: Winds’ Fury.”
She simply stared at the light gray blade for a few seconds before she Identified it and her eyes went wide. I watched the emotions on her face as they shifted from confusion, to surprise, to disbelief, then finally to joy. She reached over and delicately held the sword, her mouth slightly open as she read the description. Then, Treia dropped the sword and wrapped her arms around my neck, her lips pressing against mine. For nearly ten seconds, we sat like that before she pulled away and pressed her face against my chest.
“Thank you, Jason,” she whispered. “I love you.”
I was about to tell her she should be thanking the Dungeon when I saw Leah give me a flat look, clearly able to tell I was going to say something to ruin the moment. I racked my brain as faint amusement filtered through to me from Mia.
I sighed and held Triea. “I love you too.”
For a minute, we sat like that before I realized Treia had fallen asleep, her body still exhausted.
“Huh. Guess we’re staying here for a bit,” I muttered. “I’d love to be thrown into a few walls, but I don’t think Treia’s gonna wake up soon.”
It was quiet for a moment before a muffled Mia squawked from between me and Treia.