Kaden slogged through chest-deep mud, headed toward the coordinates the Guildmaster sent. Behind him, Eve huddled on a raft, less a sign of her being afraid of mud and more that she would need to stand on tip-toes to keep her head above water in places. Kaden pulled a rope to keep her moving. “Night’s a few hours off. If we spot any place better, we should camp. There’s no telling what will spawn.”
Eve’s long blond hair was braided and pinned to her head, and she wore glass spectacles that would let her sense heat. “It’s all the same color, for now, we’re safe.”
Stabbing pain in Kaden’s leg told him he’d been attacked again. He ripped the [Sludge Poisoner] off his thigh, broke the spine, and [Reaped] the meat in one blow. The one he’d [Soul Bound] earlier offered him complete poison immunity.
“There’s a structure,” Eve said. “It’s small but I can see it through the trees, probably five hundred yards away.”
That gave Kaden motivation to keep moving. It had been sixteen hours in muddy water, sixteen hours of swimming when he couldn’t ford. “Keep an eye on it, it’s probably where we’re heading.”
After another hour, Kaden was growing tired. “Any closer?”
“It’s larger than I thought. And further away.”
Night, and the Time of Monsters came with a howl that echoed through the dark. All around Kaden, bubbles rose to the surface and popped, and in the distance, wings began to hum.
“Probably [Giant Mosquitoes],” Eve said. “Watch for [Bog Toads] as well. They’re cold blooded and won’t show up like the mosquitoes will. The structure is a hundred yards off.”
Eve’s hundred yards off was about as accurate as most men’s six inches, as Kaden saw the looming shadows in the darkness. He pulled the raft faster as his feet brushed solid muck, and then, inch by inch, rose up from the water. Leeches did their best to bite and then fell off.
He pulled Eve ashore and helped her stand. “71, I could use wisp light.”
The wisp bobbed into existence.
The Inverted Tower had been the dungeon’s name, and now Kaden knew why. The structure sticking up was the top floor of a tower with a broken banner pole atop. Kaden stepped over the railing and located the door.
Node is suspended. Resume? [Y/N]
Kaden chose no, opening it wider. “The Dungeon is suspended, it says. I have no idea what that means.”
“I’m going to suppose it’s safer inside than out.” Eve joined him inside. “The stairwell goes down, and there’s writing here, but I can’t make it out.”
Kaden wanted to start a fire, but the slightest movement had him throwing himself against the dungeon door to slam it shut, as a deep growl sounded from outside and echoed ten times. A hundred times. A thousand. “[Demodiles], that’s all.”
Eve triggered a heat stone, using it for light. “It’s a map of the dungeon. The dungeon provides a map with notes on each boss. How quaint.”
Kaden wanted to check on the core, but priorities were priorities. “Are there any [Unonos?]”
“Sixth floor,” Eve said. “There’s a note here. Floor three is flooded. ‘We flooded floor three. Take that, you maurading bastards.’”
DISTRESS CALL ON HOLD FOR 536 YEARS, 8 MONTHS, 10 DAYS, TWO HOURS AND ONE MINUTE ROUTED TO NEAREST DUNGEONMASTER.
New Quest: Rescue the Tower from the Princess! Node 75520145x10x24th is in danger! Resume the node and destroy the intruders. Reward: Entity Seed Set (Matched).
Now was not the time for dungeon distractions. Kaden repeated the Quest to Eve. “We need to go to floor six to get an [Unono]. How many levels does it say?”
“Seven,” Eve said. “How am I supposed to survive the flooded level? Not all of us have been suffocated by Centurion [Shadow Blades].”
“I came prepared. I have to resume the node. That means whatever monsters this thing has will be unleashed. Stay near me, if it’s too high, I’ll drag us both out.” Kaden waited as Eve joined him.
Resume Node? [Y/N].
Kaden chose yes. The air cracked like static electricity. Five moons appeared on the door in a circle. “Fifth rank. Stay with me. I wasn’t given the option to choose combatant or non combatant.”
Lights lit up on the first floor, and moss withered and died. A crackling voice rang out. “Welcome, Adventurer. Know the peril on which you stand. A wizard builds his tower high, but mine grows deep, and if—if—if—[Mauraders]. [Mauraders] everywhere. Too strong.”
The last words weren’t human. They were the right sounds but not a voice. Kaden had heard Dungeon cores speak through mobs, and these concepts were basic ones, the sort of instincts he expected. Dungeons were a great deal like beasts. Their desires and thoughts were simple.
Eve’s normally pale face had gone white. “Was that..the core?”
Kaden nodded. “Think of it like Vip. It has a home. It wants that home free of these [Mauraders]. And on the way, we’ll get a [Unono].”
“Anything attacks us, I’m going full Kaden,” Eve said.
Kaden led the way down the stairwell. The second floor was carnage. The mobs were probably [Mushroomians] but they were all dead, torn to shreds and sprinkled through the tower floor. This room was markedly larger than the one above it, but still, these would have been minion battles, probalby three spawns and a spore trap.
Kaden picked up a heavy spear with an obsidian head and a torn leather breastplate. “Mauraders are melee with some range.” He summoned Trinity, letting her follow him to the second floor. Or was this the fifth floor? Did numbers count up or down? The answer would come soon, if the next floor was flooded.
This floor was mechanical traps. Swinging logs, rolling logs, logs with spikes logs that exploded. The machinery still rotated but a multitude of corpses filled the floor, clogging machinery. Kaden pulled one into Inventory and then dumped it on the ground.
They were humanoid, but with features like dogs with overgrown canines and flat noses and all different colors of fur and skin. Their armor was leather, their weapons obsidian, and [Reap Materials] offered nothing from the corpses.
“I’ve heard of these,” Eve said. “They’re strong. So strong, and they disregard pain during battle. They have a pack buff, but more importantly, a skill called [Share Wounds]. Mother—Mother said once killing one of them required killing the whole pack.”
That was bad. “These are level twenty five. That skill is going to make them stronger than us.”
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“I can help. [Plague] reduces everything. Movement speed, agaility, mana and health regen. It’s regarded as weak but only by those who don’t appreciate what it can do.” Eve kept close, holding on to Kaden as he blocked several spear traps.
“Those shouldn’t have triggered. Ok, that means Dungeon mobs are hostile.” Kaden reached the far side and got his answer. “This is the flooded floor. I had to do an underwater dungeon once without any equipment, so when I picked up stuff, I got this.”
He handed her a mask with six wide, flat flaps. “I’ll warn you ahead of time, it reeks like dead fish. You can work out why that is on your own. Hold on to my back, I’ll walk us through the underwater portion.”
Eve wasn’t much of one for physical affection, but she grasp his neck like she was trying to strangle him and gasp in short, choking breaths as Kaden pulled Trinity into his soul and descended. Bubbles rose near his shoulder as the [Match Lizard boiled water.] Kaden hesistated, then pulled the lizard into his soul. It didn’t even register.
The flooded level was flooded by a cluster of waterstones. Kaden could turn them off, but the water was keeping whatever waited below, below. The eerie green underwater light highlighted the dozens of dead [Mauraders] Kaden collected.
A shimmering mana barrier kept the water from descending, but as Kaden started toward it, Eve pulled on his arm, pointing.
He strode in slow steps across the tower floor. A woman floated, her hands still gripping a bracelet. Kaden tried to take her into Inventory.
The corpse didn’t budge. He quickly dragged her and Eve back up the stairs and out of the water. “She’s alive. At least, technically.”
“Carwon Balis, level twenty [Chain Beserker], she’s using [Endless Chain].” Eve checked the woman’s pulse. “Her clothes are rotting threads. How long was she under there?”
*Hello.* Kaden made every effort not to shout with [Mind Speech].
Carwon gasped and wretched, rolling over, and speaking. It took a moment for [Multispeak] to kick in. “Death to the Marauders.”
“I can get behind that, “ Kaden said. “This is Eve Black. You’ve been underwater a really, really long time. It’s night. There’s [Demodiles] outside. The dungeon’s been paused forever, and I’m sorry to say this, but I have to keep going down. There are [Mauraders] below.”
“Like I didn’t know,” Carwon said. “Thank the gods, a [Beast Master]. We sent for help. I didn’t expect one of you. [Vokraken] or [Drake?]”
Awkward. Kaden thought of half a dozen different lies. “There are no other [Beast Masters]. I have a [Drake] I tamed but it’s not here. With me, I have a [TriTerror], a [Rock Gobbler], a [Lightning Chevalier] and the world’s most pissed off [Match Lizard].”
The woman couldn’t look at him. “And a [Transfusionist.] How’s life, Princess?”
“You know nothing about me,” Eve said with a chill colder than the water.
“[Transfusionist.] Always royalty. Ever seen one who wasn’t? No, you haven’t.” She stood and stretched, ripping the rotted robes she wore. “How long— never mind. I don’t want to know. Where’s everyone else?”
Kaden summoned Trinity. “I’m not worried about being outnumbered.”
“They were supposed to pull me out after the [Mauraders] were drowned,” Carwon said. “So, let’s be honest about things. There’s thirteen [Mauraders] in the lower levels. Hassan blocked the core room. We flooded the puzzle room.”
“Ok. Stay here, you too, Eve. I’m going downstairs and killing them. If I have to, I’ll drag them back to the water room one at a time”
“You’ll need to halt the water stones, then break the seal, and be ready. The moment you do, they’re going to come running. [Share Wounds] makes them unbelievably tough.”
“Well, we have to go to level six. We need an [Unono] to lure in a [Slaver] so we can kill the bastard. Kaden?” Eve held up her mask.
He headed back down, this time, turning off the water stones and keeping a grip on one. The water began to lower immediately, and in less than thirty minutes, Kadens tood in two feet of water. “If they come charging up, let them come. I still have [Glacial Blast].”
“Excellent!” Eve truly was excited.
Kaden broke the mana barrier and let the water gush down the stairs. The stench that rose up was truly awful. The howls were even worse. Five [mauraders] scrambled up the stairs, fighting water.
Straight into [Glacial Blast].
[Maurader - Beast Man]
Mauraders come from the Veron wasteland, where eating their own and anything that moves is not only acceptable, it’s the way. Forming packs that grow stronger as they share each other’s harm, they overrun any Adventurers who underestimate their power.
Level: 25
HP: 3,000
Mana: 600
Skills: Bite, Claw, Blunt Weapons, War Club, Share Wounds
Kaden activated [Moment of Speed] and brought Remembrance down on the head the first [Maurader]. The blade bit deep—and stopped.
[Share Wounds] distributes 800 points of damage.
No worries. Thirteen of them meant thirty nine thousand hit points. Kaden drew [Thorn Caster] and fired six arrows, stacking poison. The first [Maurader] stumbled forward—into Trinity’s blind head, which bit down and crunched, then worked back and forth, chewing with her hind molars.
She’d never met anything meaty enough to grind.
[Beast Soul] said she was ecstatic, letting her serpent head poison and her blind head chomp repeatedly at fingers.
Kaden had moved on, leveling a strike with Remembrance at the next one’s neck.
Crippling Strikes has inflicted a crippling injury.
[Share Wounds] distributes 500 points of damage and paralysis.
Plauge infection struck all five, as Kaden unleashed the water stone—and [Glacial Blast] against the ones trapped in the stairwell. “Keep them trapped. The pack is vulnerable.”
“How the hell do you see that as vulnerable?” Carwon shouted from the stairs.
“They share their HP,” Kaden said, delivering a neck-strike—and another—and another. “Which means the pack is getting weaker while these are encased in ice.”
A scream of raw, unadulterated rage ripped from Carwon’s throat, and the woman leaped down to swing a chain with hooks on every edge, wraping it around one of the [Maurader]’s necks and sawing. “Bleed! Bleed! Bleed!”
Every move came faster, and the blade cut deeper. Beneath them, howls of fury said the pack had worked out their mistake. Kaden wasn’t counting damage, but Trinity had pinned hers and ripped and tore with her hind legs, stabbing and biting.
The wounds built up.
Without warning, Trinity crunched, and her [Maurader] died. Kaden’s simply slumped over, while the one Carwon sawed lost his head.
“They cut the pack bond,” Carwon said. “I was doing almost eight hundred damage per pass. Either we run, or we attack, we can’t let them heal.”
Kaden slammed Remembrance down, smashing the ice and stealing the corpses in the same blow. He had Thorn Caster drawn and two arrows in the first [Marauder] before it slipped the first time. Trinity tackled that one, screaming in rage as it clawed her. Kaden speared the one that peeked out. “Poison’s flowing.”
Something was wrong. The [Mauraders] had stopped attacking, and the one alone died as Trinity ripped, bit and speared.
Nine left.
Kaden held up a hand and activated [Stealth Aura], then leaped down, grasping the stone wall so his feet never touched the ground. The next floor had been an armory, probably a reward for facing the previous ones. Eight heavily armored [Mauraders] huddled together around one who made Kaden feel small. He used [Stealth] to slip around the room and activated the water stone before climbing onto a weapons rack. The stone gushed water that trickled out wider and wider. It crept across the floor.
The first [Maurauder] noticed the water and sniffed.
A roar from above told Kaden everything was going sideways, as the staircase shook, and Trinity descended, dragging a dead [Maurader].
[Glacial Blast] only caught five of them, freezing them to the floor. Kaden used Thorn Caster to shoot every last one of them, then put a fifty point arrow through the big [Maurader], who spun to face him. “Surprise!” Kaden shouted.
The hiss was Trinity activating [Razor Scales], each of which dripped with poison. She charged the four closest, using her bulk to slam into them.
[Split Second] let Kaden dodge a spear to the head and slam Remembrance down at the neck of one of the [Mauraders] even as Carwon’s chain rattled and she struck, wrapping a chain around one of the dog-men’s feet. In the same motion, she summoned a spiked weight on the end of another chain and swung it overhead.
“[Plague] everyone!” Eve shouted, then activated [Life Explosion] over and over on the biggest [Maurader].
It stumbled forward, then pivoted to crouch.
Kaden poured two hundred points into [Moment of Speed] and tackled him, driving the legs out from under the [Maurader] as he tried to lunge at Eve. The result sent both of them crashing into the staircase just below Eve.
The one he wrestled with fought to strangle Kaden, who could [Resist Suffocation] with the best. A simple summons. An angry [Match Lizard]. A burst of flame, and a roar of pain made Kaden smile as he cut with the Levicon blade.
“Whatever you did, keep doing it!” Eve shouted. “They’re all bleeding. Oh, they’re all bleeding! I need mana!”
Kaden activated [Mana Drain] and powered Eve as she used [Life Explosion] to bleed the pack. “Keep going.” Kaden ignored the blows that rained down on him as he switched targets, draining and powering.
An iron ball exploded through the head of one of the pack, and Kaden learned exactly what a [Chain Beserker] was. Now she wrapped her fists in her chains and used them to punch.
Every blow appeared on all of them.
Kaden only had to hold on as Carwon tore her way through the pack, ending it by smashing the big one repeatedly. She crouched over the corpse and then turned to look at Kaden, snarling as she prepared to attack.