The trio walked down the stairs to inspect their kills and get a closer look at the enemies that chased them with a vigor incomparable to any of the other monsters they had fought so far in the dungeon.
Before they could make it to the mess of limbs, the corpses began to disintegrate away, leaving nothing behind.
“Master, I feel like those things are going to be a major issue if this town is full of them.” She looked to the door they had rushed through to get to the stairs on the lookout for any more intruders.
“I get it but we are already on this floor so there isn’t much we can do beyond fight our way through it.” Drew made his way to the exit and peeked out around the edges for any sign of danger. The streets were completely clear and devoid of any life just as they were when they arrived.
“Where did they come from? Any guesses?” He turned his head towards Sapphire who appeared to contemplate the question.
“They weren’t inside and they aren’t roaming the streets so they must be hiding out somewhere unless they only spawn in as we travel through the building.” He turned away and walked back into the street.
The buildings were still very sparsely placed compared to an actual modern city or the metropolis he originally arrived in. The areas around were brightly lit and offered no place to hide from any wandering monsters on the prowl for a dungeon invader.
The trio walked deeper into the town and inspected the buildings that littered the landscape. They all appeared to be some variation of the house they burst their way into originally. It was a strange cookie-cutter city that showed very few signs of degradation and even fewer signs of dungeon influence. The large houses stood watch over the roads they traveled as they found themselves working their way into the town, unabated by waves of beasts or confusing tunnels.
“Master, I saw movement from one of the shutters on our left.” Drew glanced to the side and saw the slight movement from the window as something inside the house darted away.
“What do you think? Fight?” The plushy merely nodded her head as they rushed to the door of the house. His momentum carried them through the wooden barricade and into the store.
The layout was only slightly different than the first house, but it was straightforward enough that he found the stairs and began to run up them. The sounds of his weapons and armor moving around filled the silent building as they arrived at the second floor.
Surprise was not an option, so they opted to blitz through the floors to locate the life hiding inside the place.
The second floor was just as devoid of beasts as all the others, leaving them to rush up the stairs again in search of violence. This time their efforts were rewarded.
As they stomped up the stairs, loud shuffling and frantic footfalls entered their ears. They sped up their pace to crest the staircase before the beast could attack them from the high ground.
They reached the top and readied themselves for an attack from the hiding monster only to be left waiting and waiting for something to happen.
“Do you hear anything?" Drew whispered to Sapphire as they stood at the ready for an ambush.
Slowly, they inched forward into the space with nerves building up. They nearly reached the boiling point as they began to take a corner the glint of something caught his attention.
Drew turned his head to his left and looked into the darkness above a cabinet. The torchlight flickered side to side when it shined favorably upon the subject he noticed. A pale figure stared at him with wet milky eyes from on top of the wooden structure. Its arms and legs were lanky and contorted in weird shapes to fit on the small surface.
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The stare down lasted a few seconds before Drew turned to it and raised his weapons up.
“What is it master” Sapphire questioned his guard and looked around for the cause.
“Up top.” He nodded his head in its direction and waited for it to move.
Sapphire finally spotted the creature and readied her blast.
Despite the incoming attack. The thing merely stared at them from its hiding spot. The darkness hid it well as the light barely reached it. The pale white skin and shimmering eyes were the only way they could tell it was still sitting there motionlessly as the flickering hinted at its existence
Sapphire's blow finally let go and rocketed into the monster as it pierced flesh and destroyed its right arm.
The act of aggression finally caused it to stir as it unfurled its body and dropped onto the ground in a barely living mess. The pale skin was white like he thought, with blue and green undertones, showing off the sickened state of the beast.
Despite the unhealthy appearance, the lanky arms were covered in dense muscle and little fat.
It clacked its teeth together as it tried to lung toward the group with its damaged body. The mess of appendages let Sapphire destroy or damage much more than she normally would have been able to.
Drew held his place as Nurgle hopped down and rushed the crippled creature to end it before it could make any more of a mess of the place. The savage cleaver strikes ended the weird monster and awarded them the experience.
+100 xp for defeating Albino Corrupted Citizen [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 8870/9600 xp
“Great, now we need to be careful about ambushes in the dark.” His exasperated voice filled the still house as Sapphire gazed around the room.
“Master, I do not think this was the floor that had the movement. Those are the wrong shutters. There should be another floor.” Drew paused at the revelations and took up a guarded stance again with Nurgle running back to them.
They took up arms and progressed with less speed than before as they took care to look for any signs of a hidden enemy waiting for them to drop their weariness and maul them to death.
They finally located the only door left to explore and opened with as quietly as they could manage. A steep set of stairs sat before them as they entered the barren room.
“You guys be ready. I need to put my weapons down to climb it.” His small companions prepared themselves as Drew looked up to the thing place, he needed to climb to. The stairs led to a hatch that blended in with the rest of the ceiling and looked to be sitting in place. He took each step with care as he finally made it to the top.
He placed his hand on the tile and slowly lifted it up to push it aside. An unexpected barrage of light blasted their eyes as sunlight from above poured over them.
Drew’s eyes finally adjusted, and he slowly crept into the attic. He glanced around and saw piles of boxes all around the place and a massive hole in the roof that allowed the light in.
“No dangers to speak of. Be cautious of the boxes. It’s like a maze in here.” He finally lifted himself up and secured his weapons again. It was silent beyond the steps they slowly took until a new noise disturbed the peaceful tension.
“*sniff* please. Ugh huh ugh.” They all froze as the first sounds of humanity plowed into Drew like a Mustang into a crowd of onlookers. The fragile voice of a young boy almost made him fumble.
He staggered slightly as he took uncertain steps forward.
“Master. Hold on. It makes no sense for there to be a human just waiting in here. Keep your guard up.” He seemed to snap out of a light trance as he stopped and looked at his plushy partner.
“I..I… Yeah. You are right.” Drew readied his sword and shield and worked his way around a pile of crates when the shutters they originally saw came into view.
“*sniff* please. Ugh huh ugh.” The same set of sounds came from their left as they walked deeper into the attic. The figure finally came into view as they looked into the distant corner of the attic.
A slight movement was barely noticeable in the dark recess as they advanced on the lone figure. It was a shadow of a person, just visible if he squinted hard enough.
Drew gripped his instruments of war.
Sniffles and low cries filled his ears as he took each step with ginger care. The boards were silent underfoot until they were only a few stripes away from the huddled-up figure and the darkness had begun to overtake them.
One last step before the figure would be completely revealed to them and the old wood they stood on let out a long and torturous creak that alerted everything inside the cramped space.