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Clover Weinport.
The Weinports were a wealthy merchant family hailing from the Beastman Kingdom of Zimmskar. They made efforts to keep good relations with both the Free States of Jayu, and the Human Empire; Turina. They were one of the few families left that still bothered to trade between the three major powers, dropping by all sorts of other places along the way. Clover had been to many places with her parents and took pride in her work.
Transporting the magical goods of the Babel Towers, which would surely better the lives of people everywhere.
Trading with the Barbarian Tribes of the Delirious Jungle and the Scarred North, bringing them new technology and types of food.
Even more so, she took pride in the fact that the Weinport Trading Company visited nameless villages that weren’t even marked on some major maps. There were entire villages that depended on the Weinport Trading Company to bring them enough stores for the winter. It was actually on one of these trips that Clover got kidnapped by the Samak Horde.
They were staying the night at a remote village on the outskirts of the Jayu State, too close to the desert for any other caravan to visit. Not because of the heat, no merchant worth their weight in coin would turn down an opportunity to trade for mere heat. Rather, the reasoning for avoiding that area that Clover ignored was precisely why she was here. There had been news of the Samark Horde growing more aggressive, expanding their borders and taking captives. Clover knew it had been dangerous but she still followed her parents; as the next heir of the Weinport Trading Company, it was her duty to see things through.
She still remembered the attack with clarity. People screaming, buildings on fire and blood running like water through the village roads. Funnily enough, the orcs didn’t bother with anything resembling a sexual assault. After all, what was the point? Only orc women could give birth to orc children. Contrary to belief, the orcs were well disciplined and had no emotions at all in their faces. Only resignation and duty.
They slaughtered everyone that was too old to be taken captive and would probably not survive the journey. The young were left behind. This wasn’t Clover’s first time seeing an orc horde’s handiwork, she knew their thought process. If they survived, they would make valuable captives in the future. If not… well, orcs always welcomed a challenge. They would accept the challenge of revenge driven children in a heartbeat.
She still did not know whether her parents and friends survived or not. She was in the midst of getting on a carriage when the orcs attacked and kidnapped her. Clover wondered whether she would ever get to find out what happened to them.
In the beginning she thought about giving up. What was the point? She came from a merchant family and the orcs’ weed-out process for developing strong warriors wasn’t something she was confident to survive through. But whether by luck or fate, she met L’teya in the tunnels. The elf-barbarian immediately accepted Clover as a friend.
“You have clear eyes! No lies!”
Clover would forever be thankful to L’teya. It was she who brought her out of the tunnels and gave her another chance at life. She swore to herself that she would grow stronger, strong enough so that when the chance came she could pay back her friend. But there was another person who kept plaguing her thoughts.
Lock Slaveborn.
It was a ridiculous name, she thought. Way too obvious that he was lying. There was no way that a person’s surname could be called ‘Slaveborn’. He was unassuming enough, tall and lanky with just the right amount of muscle to pass off as a farmhand. His black hair had grown out enough to cover his eyes and reach the bottom of his neck. He had obsidian eyes that were always shifting from side to side, trying to see everything and catch something that could be of use to him.
On some level, Clover respected him.
On the other hand, she didn’t trust him.
L’teya had once told Clover that ‘Lock Slaveborn would be good-looking if born an elf. Pity.” Clover honestly did not understand why L’teya continued to trust him. He was savage, ruthless and calculating; everything that L’teya hated about some of the other slaves. Yet, everytime Clover brought it up L’teya defend him saying that he had eyes burning with a ‘warrior’s fire.’.
She had to admit that Lock was nothing if not a survivor. Clover still remembered watching him fight during their Mak’gora. Lety had taken on two of the slaves, one for her and one meant for Clover. Another thing to be thankful about. The Weinport Heir had plenty of time to watch Lock’s fight.
“He’s a fucking animal.” She told Lety when Lety asked her what exactly happened.
Weinport hated to curse, it was a sign of mental weakness and lacking control over one's emotions. But no matter how many times she replayed Lock’s fight in her head, that was the only term she could think of to describe him. He used his teeth and his shield with barbaric, no offense to Lety intended, ferocity. He was nothing like the other people that she met, orc, beastman, human or even the barbarians whether they be human or elf. There was a wildness about Lock that scared her. He never backed down, no matter how grave the injury. He was willing to tear out someone’s throat like a wild beast just to ‘leave a message’.
He reminded her of a monster in human form, always looking for the moment to tear out someone’s throat.
And now…
She saw him pocket the [Dimension Ring] from the man who attacked them at the entrance of the cave. Why? Why did he not share it with them? They could have found something useful together. He didn’t even know how to open one up, so there was no point in hiding it from them. But she had seen his eyes right before he closed them.
Distrustful.
Calculating.
Looking so far ahead that Clover couldn’t even imagine what he was looking at.
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But she knew one thing for sure, Lock was growing stronger. It was evident in his fight with the man. Even Clover, with her limited expertise, could tell that he was different. Controlled and calm, he kept his animal nature chained up. Yet, Clover knew that it lurked just beneath his skin ready to emerge at any time.
So she’d watch him.
Then she’d teach him so that she could keep tabs on what he knew.
And if Lock ever betrayed them… Well, at the very least Clover would be ready.
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The dungeon we entered was a marbled hallway, an upgrade from the tunnels from our first trial as a slave. The hallway looked like it belonged in a grand castle, dark-blue marbled pillars towering over us with ceilings so high that I couldn’t make out the design that was drawn above. If I squinted my eyes just right though, some of the paintings on the ceiling became visible. From what I could see, they were signs of various beastman praying and worshiping a figure covered in light.
“We were lucky that Clover could open the door.” Lety said, clapping said woman on the shoulder.
“Not luck.” I kept my comments to myself though.
It wasn't a coincidence that Clover could read the lettering on the door. It had been a gamble, but an educated one. The theme for this dungeon was that it was one of the last remaining temples of a forgotten beastman goddess. As long as we had a beastman in our party, we would be able to ignore over half the traps in this temple. The door had been unexpected, but the fact that Clover could open it was because we entered a temple meant for a beastman in the first place.
That was the first reason I chose this dungeon: we had Clover with us.
Though I had to admit that it had been a relatively close call.
I looked at the ceilings once more, seeing the drawings fade in and out with the flickering torches.. These torches were placed strategically on the gargantuan pillars, just enough so that we could see around us but not everything. There were shadows in place that provided plenty of hiding spots for monsters. We had been walking side by side so far, and I wanted to change that before we met any monsters.
“Wait.” I stopped walking and the other two followed suit. “Let’s change our marching order.”
“Is that necessary?” Clover asked.
“Yes.” I answered and pointed at the two. “L’teya, you will be in the front and using your new detection ability to find any monsters. Clover, you stay in the middle and keep your ears peeled.”
L’teya with her [Tremor Sense] could detect any walking monsters before they got to us. Clover’s enhanced hearing and vision would be most effective in the center.
“And you’ll bring up the rear?” Clover asked with a bit more bite than normal.
“Yes.” I had no intention of explaining any further.
Truthfully, I could have been in the front but I doubted my ability to engage in combat and give orders on the fly at the same time. I knew enough about this dungeon to help us get through it, but if I was in constant danger and panic I wouldn’t be as effective as I could be. This marching order was the best we had of getting through this without any hindering injuries that would affect us if we ended up finding those adventurers outside.
“When we fight, not if.” I had to correct myself.
Always expect the worst.
“Ok. Fine.” Clover shrugged and I saw Lety shake her head.
“Something’s going on.” It wasn’t unusual for Clover to give me an attitude, but never like this.
I just brushed it off as the newly added stress of being in the dungeon. Or perhaps I did something that she didn’t like. Either way, what was important was that we were in formation.
“Lety, let us know as soon as you sense something. You too, Clover.” The backs of their heads nodded and we continued on.
We spent the next few minutes in silence as the tension began to build up in the air. The feeling that a monster could attack us at any second had us on edge. This was different from the time we had been charged with escaping the Dokkaebi Tunnels. The hallway was many times larger, and the light source was weaker. I kept my eyes peeled as well, though I doubted I could do a better job than Lety’s [Tremor Sense] or Clover’s naturally enhanced beastman’s [Hearing] Stat.
“Something’s approaching us.” Lety lifted her axes.
“Damn. It hasn’t even been 10 minutes since we started walking.”
But it was to be expected.
I chose this dungeon not because it was safe, but because it could get us stronger faster.
The drop rates for Spirit Cores in MSS were horrendously low, some of them as low as .003%. The highest were in the single digits. So how did players raise their chances of getting Cores?
There were two ways.
You killed as many monsters as possible or entered places that had a higher Core drop rate than normal.
This was the second reason I chose this dungeon; this place had both. It had a mob of monsters ranging from grade 8 - 10 depending on your luck and had a higher Core drop rate for these monsters. This dungeon was also friendly we didn’t have to go too far in to find the monsters. They’d come to us.
Namely, monster waves.
“I’m hearing them too! There’s a lot of them!”
Two creatures leapt at us from the shadows, and the sound of barking filled the halls.
“Clover, behind me!” I stepped in front of Clover and took place next to Lety.
[ Pyogyun (䶂犬) ] - Grade 9
These guys looked like a love child between a pitbull and a tiger; the only difference being that they were completely black and possessed a large flap of skin attached to their front leg and back leg. They ran on all fours like a dog but at the height of their run, the monsters would glide for a few feet then repeat the motion all over again once landing. Their eyes were roughly at our height and I froze at seeing just how large these creatures were in real life. These eyes shone red in the shadows and I saw the spittles fly from their mouths in a maddened frenzy at the sight of us.
Lety didn’t hesitate to step into the onslaught of the canines and with her first strike, cleaved the leader’s head in two with a downward strike. She tried to follow up with a horizontal slash to blind the creature but had to back up as the other two jumped in. I slid in next to her and raised my shield, feeling the creature slam into it.
I hadn’t been ready for how strong it was and slammed into Lety from the force of its blow.
“Shit!” I felt my balance slip and was about to fall backwards. If I fell backwards and the creature got on top of me, they would be free to attack Lety from both sides.
Luckily Clover slammed her bow into the creature’s snout and forced it to yelp and back off. I fell to my knee and immediately stood up, eyeing the situation. The pyogyun that Lety slashed was pawing at its jaw. The jaw was not just four pieces of loosely hanging meat, dark purple blood pooling on the marbled floor.
“I’ll finish it off!” Lety leaped towards the creature, her axes already swinging.
Meanwhile its partner had recovered and lunged at me once more, but this time I was ready. Right before impact I took a step forward to cancel out its momentum and my stance held.
“Clover!”
Thankfully she understood what I wanted her to do. Clover dashed to the side and pelted the creature’s hide with her arrows. It howled in pain and tried to get around my shield, its jaws snapping shut next to my neck. Its claws scratched my shield and slid off, leaving long gashes on my thighs. The beast roared and placed the entirety of its weight on my shield, trying to tip me over.
Taking a knee, I shoved my sword into the soft part of its belly.
There was a bit of resistance from my sword, but the sinewy muscles gave and I felt the blade sink in almost to the handle. The pyogyun yelped in pain and backed away instinctively but that ended badly. I felt its guts spill out onto my hand and the floor and it basically cut itself open on my sword. But the movement was too sudden, I lost grip on my weapon midway. The battle was pretty much over though, Lety’s pyogun was no longer moving and the one in front of me lay on its side, breathing laboriously.
I grimaced at the sheer amount of blood these things spilled on the floor. The marble had been stained a dark purple, almost black in some places. In addition the one I had cut up had spilled all sorts of things from its stomach. I felt queasy and quickly picked up my sword, trying not to look at the scenery.
“Guess killing a few Dokkaebi and Agwi isn’t enough to prepare me for this.”
It was the thing about Pyogun, they just resembled dogs way too much for me to completely see them as monsters. The [Lesser Dokkaebi] and [Agwi] had literally been stuff out of my nightmares, creatures of imagination. But the Pyogun kind of looked like something I could see at a zoo. It reminded me of who I used to be before I came to MSS.
“That was… surprisingly not too bad.” Clover said.
Lety wiped the blood off of her axes on the creature’s fur. “I expected a tougher battle.”
“Because of the formation we were in.” I thought to myself.
As long as the formation of a party was correct, most dungeons shouldn’t be too much trouble barring level differences. Lety had been at the front and detected the Pyogun early on, allowing me to step to the front at the right moment. This gave Clover the protection and room she needed to fire her bow. I noticed from our practices that Clover wasn’t the best archer out there and needed plenty of time to line up her shot. Hence, why the one with the shield, I.E me, had been the one to stay behind her and get ready to support her.
“Not that I plan to be a tank for long.”
Right now, I was fulfilling the role of a tank but that would soon change.
“I’m hearing more footsteps. Same as before.”
“I also sense them… and there’s more of them this time.” Lety confirmed.
I nodded to them. “Same formation.”
1 wave down.
9 more to go.
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