S10, Dungeon Dogs

“Be careful, they are fast!” One of the trainees shouted in a tired voice.

The dungeon dogs were growling menacingly. Due to our arrival, they had been cornered between our two groups inside the dark corridor, but given the state of the other adventurers, we couldn’t take advantage of the situation to close the encirclement. We would endanger the other trainees if we were to push the monsters to their side. We had to attract the dogs’ attention and kill them ourselves.

I examined the dungeon dogs. The couple beasts that had turned to confront us were in good condition while one of the two facing the trainees was slightly wounded. It was a stark contrast with the battered trainees.

‘If we had arrived just a bit later we would have found a very different scene.’ I thought grimly.

We were ready to fight. Bolton was at the center of our formation, with Terence at his left, I covered the right side and Falnid stood behind us as a backup.

Suddenly one of the dungeon dogs rushed at Bolton but nimbly backed off once it saw his spear coming. Watching the creature make a feint I could already tell this encounter would be troublesome.

“Fuck!” Terence swore on his side of the corridor. He had also attempted to pierce the dog, only to be met with empty space.

I also strove to hit the other creature. I thrust my spear several times, but the monster managed to stay just out of my reach using agile hops and quick steps. I should advance, but then the dungeon dog would be forced to the defensive line of the wounded adventurers.

“This isn’t looking good! Can you keep all of them at bay for a moment?” I asked the trainees.

“Eh? Impossible!” One of them shouted with a fearful expression.

The three standing novices were clearly tired and too scared to hold the enemies at bay. They were already having a hard time resisting the attacks of two of them.

“I can help!” Falnid’s determined voice came from behind.

“Falnid, stay back!” I sternly warned him. “Throw some repellent their way.” If it worked as it did with the rats the monsters’ movements would become duller.

“Argh!” One of the trainees shouted in pain. His leg had been bitten by a dog.

“Damn it!” I needed to do something fast, if the other group fell we would be facing four of these monsters.

‘Should we escape?’ The thought entered my mind, Father had always advised me to retreat immediately when I found myself in danger.

Falnid sprinkled a handful of dark powder in front of us, the monster took a step back to avoid it, but as soon as the dust settled they started harassing us once again.

“The powder is not doing anything!” Falnid shouted with a disgruntled voice. The dungeon beasts weren’t showing signs of unrest after being exposed to the repellent. Also, the two on our side were clearly stalling for time, waiting for their companions to take care of the other group. They were cunningly observing the situation and moving without making a sound.

“Simon! What do we do?” Terence was aware that we were in a bad position and he wanted to withdraw before things turned sour.

“Wait a little more,” I replied while racking my mind. There had to be a way to gain the upper hand. Our main problem was that we were unable to hit the enemies. If we could blind them with the lanterns we would have a chance, but the dogs were already accustomed to the brightness.

A vicious roar came from the other side of the corridor.

“Agh!” One of the other adventurers screamed in pain as his wrist was bitten by a dog. The monster kept clutching onto it until the boy let go of his spear.

“Fuck, Simon, we need to retreat!” Terence urged me with an alarmed voice.

He was right, we needed to escape. The risk was already too high. Those novices’ defenses could collapse at any moment.

‘But I can’t leave them to die, think!’

“Simon, what if I throw the bait?” Falnid hesitantly asked from behind. His voice tinged with anxiety.

“No, you will attract more monsters!” Terence quickly warned, almost cutting off Falnid.

“I think I can kick them if I get closer!” Bolton shouted in an agitated tone as he tried to step forward.

“That’s too risky!” I stopped him extending my arm and blocking his path with my spear.

We were panicking. It was time to flee. We couldn’t change this situation.

“Alright, Terence, we will leave.” I conceded with a defeated tone.

“What? No! We can’t leave them here, let me try the bait!” Falnid started making a fuss behind us, he had completely lost his composure.

“Falnid, stop!” Terence harshly admonished the young boy. “Turn around and lead the way,” he added with a calm and firm tone.

Falnid calmed down and quietly obeyed Terence’s orders. We began walking backward while facing the dogs, on the other side of the corridor the trainees had despaired expressions.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you.’ I lamented my uselessness. ‘If only the repellent had worked.’ I thought glancing at the dust mottling the floor. Then an idea popped into my mind.

“Falnid, pass me the mouthburner,” I asked with an excited tone.

“Uh?” Falnid sounded confused. I heard a rustling sound and Falnid’s hand touched my left elbow. “Here,” he said.

I took the small pouch and opened it while taking cover behind Bolton. I held a handful of the powder in my left hand and gave the bag back to Falnid.

I realized I was about to make a bold move. It was something I wouldn’t do in a normal situation. Father had always taught me to be cautious when facing an opponent.

“Terence, distract the dog on your side,” I instructed with a confident voice. “Bolton, stay a bit behind us.”

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“Simon…!” Terence began objecting but changed his mind after seeing the determined look on my face. “Just this one, if it fails we quit.”

I advanced and thrust at the monster in front of me, the beast had no problem dodging, but I took another kick step and tried to bash it with my shield, missing again.

The dog saw an opening and attempted to bite my left arm. However, an instant before reaching me the creature abruptly retreated. Then the monster yelped while shaking its head.

Some of the mouthburner I had in my hand had been released during the shield bash and it had entered the dog’s eyes, nose, and mouth, momentarily stunning the creature.

Terence appeared at my side and with lightning-fast movements sank the tip of his spear into the dog’s front leg. Bolton followed him and pierced the creature’s shoulder, just a bit higher than Terence’s blow.

The other dungeon dog jumped at Terence, but he deflected it with his buckler while retreating. I took the opportunity to stab my own weapon in the wounded monster’s neck.

The dog made a ragged growl while blood gushed out of his wound. It didn’t fall, but it was in no condition to keep fighting. Now we needed to finish off its companion before the ones fighting the trainees came to help.

I took a peek at the other group. They weren’t doing well. Only two trainees stood in the front line, the third had fallen back and was only holding his shield. The last one was still lying on the floor.

While Bolton and Terence held the other beast I struck the injured dungeon dog again. Once I pulled my spear out of its body the monster finally collapsed.

“This is our chance, let’s corner it against the wall,” I exclaimed, circling the second creature.

We surrounded the beast and manage to land a couple of hits. I left the wounded foe to my companions and rushed to help the other adventurers.

The monsters heard me approaching, and one of them turned to face me but its injury made it too slow. This was the one that was already injured when we arrived. I sank my spear in his flank and it stumbled. Instead of pulling my weapon I let it go and bashed the dog’s head with my shield, at the same time I took my dagger from the belt and stabbed the creature’s neck. As soon as the blade left its flesh the creature fell.

I heard gasps of surprise coming from the wounded trainees, but my eyes were focused on the last opponent. The dungeon dog looked intimidated and hesitated to attack. I sheathed the dagger and retrieved my spear.

I pointed my weapon at the beast. “You two, help me push it against the wall,” I asked the two trainees who could still fight.

They didn’t answer and just stood in their position, I saw in their expressions that they were too fearful of the beast.

“Simon, let’s do it!” Terence shouted with determination appearing beside me. They had already taken care of the other dungeon dog.

We encircled the last monster. The mutt lashed out and tried to escape, but without enough space to evade we finished it without much trouble.

“Yes! We did it!” Falnid cheered and excitedly raised both of his arms.

“That was a hard battle,” Terence said catching his breath. He had leaned down and rested his hands on his knees to keep standing. “Simon.” He turned his head and looked at me with a serious expression.

“Yes?” I replied hesitantly. I knew my last actions with the mouthburner had been reckless. If the powder had failed to affect the dungeon dog I would have been wounded, endangering all of us.

“That was one hell of a move.” He told me suddenly showing a broad grin. “But next time you try something like that, tell me beforehand,” he added changing back to a serious expression.

“Yes!” I nodded at him.

I observed my companions. None of us had been injured during the fight. Besides the tired Terence, Bolton was absentmindedly rubbing some bloodstains off of his boot and Falnid was looking at the other trainees. I also turned around to face them. We still needed to take care of their wounds and get out of the dungeon.

“Th- thank you,” one of the novice adventurers nervously stuttered as we focused our attention on them.

“Do you have a blood potion? Edwin is badly hurt,” another one worriedly asked.

“Sorry, we don’t have any,” Terence replied with a regretful voice. “How are your wounds?”

“We are fine, but Edwin…” Answered the worried adventurer while looking at his comrade on the ground.

The two trainees that had kept their positions had a few shallow bites. At first sight, they didn’t seem very serious. The one who had lost his spear had a couple of nasty wounds in his leg and wrist. He would need some good care to recover. The worst one was the adventurer on the ground, he was unconscious and barely breathing. The blood flowing from his neck had dyed the upper part of his shirt and formed a dark puddle around his head.

Since their companions were still in shock, Terence crouched near the heavily injured boy and started treating him.

“I’m going to give him some first aid. Does anyone know how to treat wounds?” Terence inquired while holding the boy’s head.

“I know the basics,” I replied.

“Uh, I also know a bit,” Bolton said hesitantly.

“Good, Simon, do you think you can do something for this guy?” Terence asked while dexterously using some bandages to try and stop the bleeding.

“Not more than you are doing,” I said with a bit of regret.

“Then go patch the other trainee. We need to move quickly. Bolton, check if these two have some serious wounds, and Falnid, keep watch. Tell us if something dangerous approaches.” He ordered in an energetic and confident manner.

I went to help the novice with the injured wrist. The wound looked quite bad. If we were in a forest I would be able to improvise a splint for it, but here I could only fix it using his arm guard as support.

“Try not to move it,” I told him. “You will get better treatment on the surface,” I added before starting to deal with his leg injury.

Meanwhile, Terence had somehow devised a way to keep the unconscious adventurer’s head from moving too much with some bandages and a piece of leather armor. “Bolton, can you carry him on your back?” He asked after making sure the bandages wouldn’t get loose.

“Yes, I think I can,” Bolton answered looking at the unconscious boy with a worried expression.

“Nice. Simon, I need your help to secure him. You two, help me lift him up,” Terence signaled to the two remaining trainees. They were still stunned but followed Terence’s command. The two raised the boy and kept him in position while Terence and I used some rope to tie him onto Bolton’s back.

“Alright, Simon, guide us. Falnid, take care of the light. If too many rats approach us use some repellent,” Terence quickly instructed everyone. “You three, walk behind Bolton. If he gets tired try to help him. I will stay in the rear.”

…

“Simon, go ahead and tell the instructors about our situation. We can find our way from here,” Terence told me.

We were already near the exit, we didn’t have much problem on the way back thanks to the repellent.

I hastily turned a few corners and soon arrived at the main hallway coming from the dungeon’s entrance. Now I only needed to follow the straight slope to reach the surface.

I ran all the way to the training grounds where the guild members were practicing. When I arrived my was heart pounding hard from the effort.

“Instructor Remme!” I shouted and gestured at the familiar figure. “We need help. A group of adventurers was attacked by dungeon dogs and one of them is badly hurt.”

“Damn! How bad is it?” Instructor Remme’s expression darkened after hearing me. “Marcus, come here!” He bellowed at the passing instructor.

“He was bitten on the neck, he was bleeding a lot and now he is unconscious,” I explained in a worried tone.

“Marcus, go call Luelle. Tell her it’s urgent,” Remme commanded the approaching instructor. “Also bring the herbalist here, we are going to need him. Alright boy, let's go take a look.”

Remme wasted no time and we immediately strode back to the dungeon. “Did you give him any blood potion?”

“We didn’t have any,” I told him regretfully.

“Let’s hasten our pace.” Instructor Remme’s said in a calm tone, but his expression grew even more somber.

We started running and met up with the group on the sloped path leading outside the dungeon.

“Help me get him down,” Instructor Remme ordered without preamble.

With our help the instructor made the unconscious trainee lie at his side. Despite being so close I couldn’t notice his breathing.

“Give us some space.” Remme hurriedly inspected the wound under the bandages and poured half of a red-colored potion on the wound. Then he made the boy face upwards and forced the rest of the drink into his mouth before he started pressing the trainee’s chest repeatedly.

Everyone at the scene had serious expressions. Only the sounds of instructor Remme trying to help the unconscious trainee could be heard in the hallway silent. After a while, I heard voices coming from the entrance. As they came near I recognized my uncle and Alchemist Luelle.

“Remme, let me take a look,” Luelle said approaching the trainee. “Did you give him a potion?” She asked with a concerned tone.

“I only had one on me, sprinkled half on his neck, and made him drink the rest.”

The alchemist's expression also grew somber. “This isn’t looking good. Lift his head. I will give him another one.” She took out a blood potion from her robes and made the unconscious boy swallow it.

Despite the alchemist's efforts most of the red liquid spilled from the boy’s mouth and fell down his neck. I watched in a daze as the two shades of crimson mixed and flowed down the slope towards the darkness of the dungeon.

Alchemist Luelle grimaced at the sight. “Remme, keep trying to reanimate him, otherwise the potion won’t help,” she instructed. “Do you know when he stopped breathing?” She asked while examining the trainee.

“He was still breathing when I gave him first aid,” Terence replied with a serious tone. “Maybe Bolton knows.” He added hesitantly.

“Um, I’m not sure. I could barely hear his breath when I began carrying him,” Bolton said in a really quiet voice.

“How long has it been since then?” The Alchemist raised her voice in annoyance.

“Less than an hour,” Terence replied with a downcast expression.

“We can only hope for the best.” Alchemist Luelle sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

“Is someone else hurt?” My uncle asked, breaking the ensuing silence. “We should treat your wounds as soon as possible.” He turned around and tried to take our attention.

But no one replied. The novice adventurers evaded my uncle’s gaze. They probably thought their injuries were of no importance compared to their companion.

“This boy was badly hurt in the wrist,” I pointed at the adventurer I had treated previously.

“Bring that arm here, youngster,” Alchemist Luelle stood up and ordered the trainee with a penetrating gaze. “Oh, this kind of wound should be dealt with soon. Otherwise, you could lose mobility permanently.”

The alchemist took out yet another potion, poured a bit on the novice’s wound, and made him drink the rest.

“Sadly I can’t do more than this. You will need to take care of it until it heals. Gardner should be here soon. He will patch you better than me,” Luelle commented tightening the bandages again.

My uncle was about to say something when Instructor Remme talked. “Luelle, he is not resuscitating,” He quietly informed the alchemist.

For a moment stillness reigned in the hallway. Alchemist Luelle stared daggers at Instructor Remme before talking. “Then we can’t do anything else. Blood potions can make the body recover a lot faster, but they aren’t a miracle cure,” She stated.

“Wasn’t there a way to revive people inside the dungeon?” Falnid asked in a pained voice.

“There is, but it requires the help of an archmage.” Luelle’s expression was full of regret.

“Luelle, Remme, wait here for Gardner. I will bring the boys outside,” my uncle interjected as he moved to obstruct our sight of the body.

We all followed him outside the dungeon leaving behind the two guild members and the corpse of the dead adventurer.