Gordon walked around the patch of shimmering air, frowning. He waved a hand through it, making its label appear, hovering in midair.
Destruction Dungeon: Level 1
“This is weird,” he said, for the hundredth time.
Levi grinned. “Yep.”
“This is weird,” Gordon repeated.
“Yep.”
Gordon looked at Gremlin Two, then at the hovering dungeon entrance. “You say he came out of a place like this?”
Gremlin Two nodded, and Levi grinned. “Yep.”
“Weird.”
“Ready to go inside?”
“No! This is a... glitch in reality. You don't just go walking into a glitch in reality!”
“Yeah, I do. All the time.” Levi drew his shortsword and activated its beast aura. The phantom brown visage sprang to life around its middle, and Gordon stopped to stare. “I take my magic sword and stab the dungeon monsters. You comin'? I'm about to reach a threshold level, so it would be a waste not to clear this place while we're here.”
Gordon shook his head in disbelief. “This is so weird.”
“Yep. Come on in. I'll protect you.”
Gordon continued to shake his head in bewilderment, but followed Levi into the dungeon.
It was set up much like the first, with an empty pitted room full of sand and gremlins. Two sprang on the first enemy gremlin immediately, pounding the creature into the ground effortlessly. He was level 4 now, after all.
“Don't kill it,” Levi called out. “Let Gordon do it.”
He passed Gordon the manablade. The power drained from it quickly once Levi stopped feeding mana into it, and its glow faded away.
Gordon took the sword awkwardly, as though it were a live snake that he had to hold firmly lest it strike him.
“You could also just stomp its skull with your boot, if you prefer that,” Levi said, while Gremlin Two held down the squirming, bleeding monster.
“I don't believe this is happening,” Gordon said dazedly. “I stepped through a hole in space into a crazy fantasy movie.”
“Yep. And it only gets crazier from here. Stab the gremlin and you'll see for yourself.”
He watched Gordon closely as he stepped over to the gremlin and, taking the sword in hand like a machete, cleaved its head right off.
Levi focused on him, and his summary appeared.
Gordon McKaine: Level 0
Health: 95/95
Levi grinned as Gordon's face slackened in shock. “Congratulations, Earth Human! You have Awakened!” he sang out, chuckling at Gordon's confusion. “You're going to want to accept that Fighter class you just unlocked.”
Gordon poked the air, and ‘Fighter’ appeared in his tag. Since they'd entered together, the system automatically understood them to be allies and would display more information to each other than it would for a stranger.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Now, do you think I'm less crazy?”
“I think I'm going crazy,” Gordon muttered, still holding the sword. “I thought I needed to stage an intervention; that you were having a midlife crisis and... I don’t know, run off with a hooker or something. I think I might have preferred that.”
“I could never do such a thing to Irene, and I’d sooner die than abandon Peter, but I think I'd prefer that scenario too.”
Gordon looked at him, his face growing concerned.
Levi grimaced as the weight of the responsibility pressed in upon him again. For a few minutes, he'd managed to forget. It felt like a practice session with a rookie comrade, without the concerns that constantly assailed him in the outside world.
He pushed away the thoughts and nodded. “You remember I mentioned demons, earlier?”
“You said a lot of stuff that didn't make sense.”
“There's an invasion coming. I don't know if it's the actual 'hell' from all the religions, or just another plane of existence, but the system recognizes them as Demons. There are a lot of them, and they're insanely powerful. The weakest are around level 30.”
“That doesn't sound too bad.”
“After ten years, five of which I spent fighting almost without pause, I was level 79.”
Gordon frowned. “Wait... what?”
Levi froze, realizing that he'd slipped up. He hadn't meant to bring time travel into this, but the bat was out of the belfry now, so... He shrugged. “Yeah, I... came back in time.”
Gordon stared at him, then shook his head and threw his arms in the air. “This is too weird.”
“I agree. Definitely too weird. Whoever thought this should be my life, I'd like to...” but he couldn't go on. He shook his head. “No. I'm glad I'm back. I'm glad I was able to start over. I'm glad of the chance to change things this time around.”
“This is insane.”
“Yep.”
“You. Levi Morrison. My co-worker. Irene's husband... a time traveling level four Tamer prophesying the apocalypse.”
“Yep.”
“That's unbelievable.”
“You've mentioned.” Levi grinned. “Now, shall we continue our dungeon delve? You should be able to reach level 2 by the end of it.”
“Do you want your sword back?”
Levi waved for him to keep it. “I'll act as spotter. Until we get to the boss room, nothing here should be enough to threaten you. If too many swarm up on us, I'll step in. But I'd like to get you leveled a bit, get you used to it.”
They forayed down side corridors, investigated dead ends, and fought their way through the place with impunity.
Gordon caught on quickly. He must have had some outdoorsman blood, because he picked up the sword faster than anyone Levi had met. Sure, he swung it like a machete, but against gremlins you didn’t need finesse.
Gremlin Two cackled gleefully as he joined in the slaughter.
They all reached the first treasure room without difficulty.
Levi began to see how this could be turned to a proper advantage. One man claiming to have fought monsters could be dismissed; two could potentially persuade Irene that he hadn't gone crazy. With Gordon to help, he could better ensure Irene's safety and protect Peter while he leveled.
And once he could get Irene into a dungeon... Well, he wouldn't be surprised if she took it entirely in stride and started beating up gremlins like a kung-fu supermom. Irene and her sister Cassandra could be wild when left to their own devices.
A whole potential future unfurled itself before him. He didn't have to worry. He could do this. Sure, there'd be the awkward day of convincing them to go on a dangerous and violent road trip, but after that! After that they would be a team, they'd fight through dungeons together, and when the demons came, they could outrun anyone who tried to hurt them.
This would work.
He shook away the visions of his desires, returning to the present. The treasure room contained one each of mana and stamina restoratives, a greatsword, and a set of arm bracers. Levi passed the sword and bracers to Gordon, reclaiming his shortsword.
“You want me to wear these?” Gordon looked at the bracers, bemused.
“You'll be glad of their protection once we hit the boss room, which should be coming up soon.”
“Sure you don't want the big sword?”
“I'm a dual-blade guy. A two-hander like that would only slow me down. But your style is much more chopping, and the extra power should work out well for you.”
They cleared one more room of gremlins, Levi coaching Gordon through the motions, then reached the final hurdle in the next room.
Level 1+
(Goblin Mage)
Health 100%
“Stay out of the way and don’t get killed,” Levi told Gordon, hefting his beastly shortsword. Finally, the chance to fight properly again. “This won't take long.”
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