A deep thumping noise reverberated from the walls as Thane and Leon hurriedly ran out of their home. At first, it was slow and steady causing the walls to rumble with a sound like distant cascading thunder. Thane almost stopped to turn around and look at what caused the noise that overtook the blaring siren from the Ivory Tower. However, his father pushed him to move forward even though some stopped to take a look.
“Thane! I told you to run and not look back!”
There was no time for a response or complaints from Thane.
Suddenly, the earth shook violently.
The tall and sturdy stone walls gave a mournful bellow as it crumbled to the ground. The intense powerful tremors knocked everyone down onto the cobblestone streets. Thane and Leon had no choice but to turn and look back in horror. The protective walls of the kingdom had just collapsed.
A storm of dust and debris washed over the area, overtaking those fallen on the ground. The deep thumping noise ceased, with only the Tower’s urgent blaring siren ringing in the hazy background. The onlookers went silent with shock and growing trepidation. Blinded by the dust storm that surrounded them, they could not see what was coming for them. But unlike most that waited to see before making any sudden movements, Leon hurriedly pulled Thane up and pushed him along as they ran again towards the Ivory Tower.
And Leon was right to do so.
The combined manic screams of hundreds of thousands of Dungeon creatures blasted from the distant forest across the clearing of land between it and the Lazar Kingdom. The monsters came out in droves from the distant forest, no longer trying to hide their presence in the twilight of dusk.
A horde of giant Minotaurs led the coming slaughter as they rushed out between the trees, charging straight at the opening in the walls. Their massive bodies shook the earth as they rammed full body one after the other at anything blocking their path. Their massive hooves ripped up the cobblestone streets as their horns toppled buildings.
Lady Gwenievre, the ruler of Ivory Tower, was overconfident and grew complacent through the centuries. She and all her subordinates also noticed the attack too late. The Ivory Tower immediately sounded the alarm at the covert attack that was now a full-on invasion. An emergency quest popped up on blue screens to all the Climbers of the Tower, requesting immediate action.
Evocation of Mandatory Quest: Protect the Lazar Kingdom and Destroy the Attacking Dungeon Creatures!
Alert! The heinous Dungeon and its nefarious creatures and Heathens are attacking the Kingdom! All Climbers are to proceed to defend and repel all of the evil attackers! Drive back their invasion and destroy their forces! Failure is not an option!
…
Rewards:
Kill 100 Dungeon Creatures - 1 exchangeable Token
Kill 10 Dungeon Heathens - 1 exchangeable Token
Save 10 citizens of the Lazar Kingdom - 100 Tower Points
Failure:
The Destruction of the Lazar Kingdom
Elimination of the inhabitants
Invasion of the Dungeon into the Ivory Tower
The collapse of the Tower System
…
The wall guards, who were few in number but consisted of mainly Climbers, were the first to respond. They would not allow the enemy attacks to persist. The guards with a swappable mage class called down the elements with their spells on the attackers. Holding out their hands, they chanted as they used the power granted to them by the Tower System. They suddenly extended their arms to the sky before swiping them down through the air, commanding nature to do their bidding. Bolts of lightning flashed and struck down from a cloudless sky, electrocuting the berserk rushing Dungeon creatures. Many fell, but many more still charged forward.
More Climber Guards responded and hurried over to the area under attack. With groups of three, they cast skills with large areas of effect. The air thinned as it heated up from huge molten balls of fire that rained down from the sky. They whistled through the air and crashed into the packed hordes of rushing Dungeon creatures. Agonizing screams from the monsters shook the surroundings and even the cloud of dust particles. The retaliating attack scorched the earth and burned the monsters to ash. The Dungeon creatures that were lucky to be a bit further back showed fear at the wide-scale death of their comrades. The Climbers cheered as their morale was boosted by their small victory.
However, the battle had only just begun. The most troublesome foes scurried up the unattended areas of walls with their various mutated bodies. The Dungeon Heathens were once human, but after being enslaved, their flesh and blood were consumed. However, their minds and souls were chained into rebuilt bodies created from what the Dungeon deemed as a superior form from the infusion of man and monster. Those enslaved were no longer human, but not simply monsters either. They retained their human pasts and egos, but all of it melted with their new bodies formed from the Dungeon’s dark desires.
The Climbers faced a three-pronged attack. The first was against the normal Dungeon creatures who charged, aiming to enter through the broken section of the walls. The second came from the enslaved humanoid hybrids now on top of the walls and rushing towards the cheering Climber Guards from their small victory. A scream from one of their own finally alerted the Tower Climbers that the battle was far from over.
A lifeless Climber dangled, pierced from his back and through his chest, from a thick and powerful arm with dragon-like scales. The large hand with razor-sharp nails, that extended out through the dead Climber, ripped the still-twitching heart from the rib cage and held it out for the Climbers to see. An eerie deep laugh echoed into the surroundings as the murderer simply clenched his hand and squashed the heart. It splattered, with flying flesh and blood, in an example of the fate for the others to come. The psychopathic grinning Heathen lifted its arm, and with a flick, easily flung the dead body over the side of the wall.
What looked like a human man, but was clearly not, the Dungeon Heathen creepily scanned over the Climbers with his infused reptilian features. He evaluated his foes while trying to distract them till more of his fellow Heathens showed up.
With dark gray metallic scales as skin that shielded his bulky muscled physique, the humanoid reptilian grinned manically from ear to ear. A pair of blood-shot wide-stretched eyes gazed at its next victims. But the Climbers did not stand still. Anger from their fallen comrade surged within them, and they blasted out their fury through the strikes of lightning that almost struck the reptilian man.
The Heathen reacted with superhuman speed, jumping off the top of the wall and stabbing his scale-plated hand into its sides. He knew he could not face the Climbers alone, and instead focused on his main objective. Using his heavy body weight to drag him down the wall, he left a subsurface scar in his fall.
An unrelenting attack of lightning chased after him, but he kicked himself midways off the towering wall and flipped into a roll on the ground. He looked up and gave a devious grin at the Climbers before he ran off into the packed cityscape.
…
Thane and Leon were pushed and shoved left and right as they ran with the fleeing crowd of their fellow escapees. Madness consumed the mob. It was every man, woman, and child for themselves. Many, especially young children, lay unmoving, trampled, and dead beneath the feet of the crazed rushing masses of people.
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Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream stopped the rushing crowd. Like a dam that blocked the flow of a raging river, the flooding masses of people racing down the cobblestone streets suddenly slammed to a stop and rippled backward. Thane and Leon were near the front as the people before them abruptly stopped. Running full speed, they collided and everyone toppled over.
However, instead of anger, the ones they rammed into desperately scurried over them, stepping and pushing on top of their bodies.
“Ouch! Stop! What the heck, dude!?” Thane shouted at the man climbing over his body to run back into the crowd.
The man did not swear back or apologize either. His panic-stricken eyes did not look at Thane at all but only focused on the fearsome sight in front of the crowd while trying to run away. Thane followed the fear-filled man’s eyes and finally understood why the masses of escaping people suddenly halted.
Before him stood a group of Heathens, all of them mutated with different powerful monster characteristics. There were not many of them, only around ten or so compared to hundreds in the crowd that stopped.
However, unlike the horror-filled mob, the ten looked at them dangerously with faces full of glee. They rushed forward to the crowd and began the slaughter. Screams of horror screeched left and right as the crowd tried to run away, but those further back blocked the path for the ones in front. The ones who turned back scratched and punched those in their way, but it did little. Death was already upon them. The Heathen tore into the crowd, ripping limbs and appendages in a mass killing spree.
Leon pulled Thane behind him. They faced off against the reptilian man that earlier escaped from the Climbers on the wall. Leon kept his eyes on the smirking Heathen but turned to his son.
“Thane. Listen. You will live. Make sure to eat healthy. Be kind to your friends and even to others you don’t know. And do your damn laundry; it’s starting to smell. I love you, son.”
“Dad!”
The Heathen grinned with an unusually creepy wide smile. He spoke in a deep voice, “Touching, but do not worry. I will make sure the two will go to the Abyss together.”
A red pop-up screen appeared in front of the human hybrid.
Subjugation Quest!
Tonight We feast! Take the humans! Bring them to the Dungeon dead or alive! Death and destruction to the abominable Towers and their Infidels, the betrayers and damnation of the Oath!
Prime Objective and Reward:
Destroy the Lazar Kingdom’s walls! - 50 Dungeon Tokens
Take the humans - 100 Dungeon Points per body taken
Secondary Objective:
Kill the Tower Infidels! - 1 Dungeon Token per kill (body not needed, but an additional token will be given if the body is claimed)
Third Objective:
Destroy the Lazar Kingdom’s infrastructure - ten points per building destroyed
Enter the Ivory Tower and wreak havoc! - 10 Dungeon Tokens for destroying the statue of Lady Gwenievre, 10 Dungeon Tokens for burning down the fields and food storages on the first floor, 200+ Dungeon Tokens for killing any higher floor boss
The Heathen swiped away the screen and charged, intent to kill the father-duo for some needed Dungeon points that, when accumulated, would be converted to tokens.
The Heathen was fast. His stats were high. The scale-plated hand lunged forward to grab a hold of Thane first. He was not going to let Thane escape.
However, Leon was not going to let that happen. He shoved the Heathen’s hand last minute, causing it to go slightly off course and to only slightly scratch Thane’s shoulder. Using his free arm, Leon shoved his son hard to get him away.
“RUN, THANE!”
Thane flinched from the sudden powerful push from his father. He blinked. And in that blink of an eye, he opened them to see a horrid sight. Time slowed. His heart dropped, skipping a beat. He could not believe his eyes, but they opened wide, bewildered at the sight before them.
The Heathen’s sharp scaled-clad hand pierced through his father’s abdomen and through his lower back. The Dungeon Heathen dragged Leon as he quickly reached his free hand to stab Thane. But Leon was not going to let it happen. With the last of his strength, he grabbed a pocket knife from his trouser and stabbed it into the Heathen's neck.
“Thane! Run away now!” Leon shouted with a struggling hoarse voice.
“I can’t leave you, Dad!”
“Thane! I won’t make it. Live! Run away!”
“Dad, I can’t! Not without you!”
The Heathen rubbed his barely penetrated neck and spoke with a cold voice that lowered an octave. “Damn. That kinda hurt. Just for your stupid act, I will tear your son limb from limb and let you hear his screams before he dies. Get over here, kid!”
“Thane! If you cared at all for me and your mother, run! Please! Listen to me this one last time!” Leon cried out while trying to hold the Heathen back.
The Heathen easily flung his father into the side of a building and lowered his stance. He looked at Thane with the eyes of a predator playing with its prey.
“Run, Thane!” Leon bellowed as he looked up from the ground. He tried to push off the ground but his strength was fading strength.
Thane gritted his teeth and turned around and ran. But there really was nowhere to run. The desperate but stuck crowd and the frenzied murdering Heathens blocked his path. Seeing a door to the building close by, Thane ran in hopes of somehow getting inside.
However, the Heathen was too fast. Thane turned around as he sprinted, and the Heathen was already grabbing his wrist. He flinched from a sharp pain as the Heathen yanked his arm and pulled it out of its socket.
“I will show your daddy dearest his punishment for stabbing me in the neck.”
The Heathen dragged Thane back to his father that bled out beside the building.
“Dad!” Thane shouted in alarm.
“Daddy! Daddy! Look!” The Heathen mocked, kicking Leon in the face. The force launched Leon up and slammed him into the wall. The Heathen positioned his foot underneath Leon’s chin and pressed it against his neck. The sudden kick knocked Leon out of his dreary state. At that angle, he looked on in horror as the Heathen lifted and stretched out his son’s dislocated arm for him to see.
“Your son will now pay for you stabbing me. Cry for me, kid. I want to see your dad to squeal.”
Sharp and burning pain radiated from Thane’s shoulder but he gritted his teeth and glared hatefully at the Heathen. Thane refused to fear the sadist. He struggled with the pain and used his working arm to launch an elbow at the Heathen’s head. The attack connected with a small thunk. Lines contorted on the Heathen’s face as he frowned from the onset of boiling anger.
“Like father, like son. Your resistance is for nothing. I will show you two a fate worse than death. I will torment the two of you till the end of time! You will both wish you were dead!”
Locking one arm around Thane’s chest, the furious Heathen clenched his hand around Leon’s neck. He lifted Leon up, and Leon choked while gasping for air. With all the blood he lost, life was already slipping out of him. Not caring for himself and on the brink of death, he desperately tried to pry his son out of the Heathen’s hold.
Thane struggled too, punching the Heathen’s arm that extended into the air and dangling his father’s dying body.
“NO!!!” Thane cried out in despair at the loud crunching sound from the snapping of his father’s neck. He madly punched and kicked the Heathen in a berserk state.
The Heathen tossed Thane’s father back against the building, and his dead body bounced and hit the floor, laying motionless in a pool of blood. He grew annoyed at Thane’s mad fists and elbows that pummeled his body. They did little damaged as the Heathen’s stas were high. But a buzzing fly was annoying. His hand launched and wrapped around Thane’s neck, lifting him up into the air. Fear and panic meshed into Thane’s furious state. He forgot about his dislocated arm and jabbed and kicked at the Heathen.
The hand around his neck tightened as the Heathen prepared for the final blow. Only the regret of no revenge and anger at his powerlessness filled Thane’s mind.
But he was given one more chance.
A sword slashed down, attempting to cut off the arm that was about to snap Thane’s neck. The Heathen immediately let go and dropped Thane onto the ground. He flipped to the side and raced across to Thane’s dead father.
A powerful one has come. The Heathen thought as he lowered his body and yanked Leon’s body from the ground. Suddenly, a crack in space opened up and the Heathen stuffed Thane’s father’s body into his inventory before it vanished into thin air.
“NO! DAD!”
Thane watched on in despair. He pushed off the ground despite all the pain and madly rushed at the Heathen. However, a massive hand suddenly weighed down on his shoulder and stopped his rash run toward Death.
“Retreat! Grab your spoils!” The Heathen shouted at the others. More Climbers raced towards their location. It would be a losing battle with just the ten or so of them.
The Heathens immediately turned their tail and ran back to the walls.
Thane attempted to swat away the hand holding him back. “Get off me! I need to get my dad back!”
“It’s too late. He’s gone. And the Dungeon Heathens have taken his body. There’s nothing you can do.” The tall burly man, clad in a set of leather armor that showed off his bulging muscular figure, said with a pitiful voice.
“Shut up! I don’t care! I’m going after them! Now let me go!”
The man’s rugged face frowned. Thane had a death wish, but he was not going to allow another free human to become an enslaved Dungeon Heathen. He shouted at Thane with a deep voice.
“And do what exactly?! What can you do, brat?! You’ll just feed that damn Abyss Dungeon!”
“I don’t care! Get off me!” Thane struggled, trying to push off the arm on his dislocated shoulder. He ignored all pain and reason, only wanting to get back his father.
A sudden pain came from a thud to his neck. The man attempted to knock him unconscious. Thane refused to succumb, but his vision went blurry as he looked up and cursed the brown-haired man with a stout nose.
“Damn you, fucker. Damn you. I need to save my dad.” Thane said as his voice slowly turned into a whisper before he fainted.
Vice Guild Master Liam of the Adonis Guild looked down at Thane with a sorrow-filled look. He glanced up at the death and destruction the Dungeon and its creatures left behind. Blood and body parts smeared the broken roads and shattered buildings red. He gritted his teeth in rage and looked back at the unconscious Thane.
“You can’t save your dad anymore, but you can get revenge on the Dungeon. Become strong. Grant your father true peace. No one should have to live enslaved by those horrid Dungeons.”