---Maddy---
The dungeon was located over halfway down the cliffside. The walls got slick with dew and the surroundings darkened as they made their way down the path towards it.
It was nearly nighttime by the time Maddy’s group reached the entrance and she started to wonder about her timeline – how long she had been here. What had happened when.
It had basically been nightime when we left from the tutorial but was just past midday when we came out. Did we spend that much time in the in between area? Is this the end of day two?
I was slightly hungry at the end of the first day and kind of forgot about that when we passed through the barrier.
I haven’t slept once yet, but as soon as I came out of the in between I was well rested and full of energy?
Finally reaching the entrance the group found a rope ladder for the final stretch. Not wanting to carry her scythe down one handed, Maddy tossed it down first. A faint clanging rang out through the darkening pit as she clambered down to retrieve it once more.
Checking carefully to make sure her rough treatment of the blade was fine, Maddy and co looked up towards a large cave mouth.
The entrance to the dungeon was perched on a thick round slab that extended out into the pit. The entrance itself looked decidedly less sculpted than the buildings up above. It was very ‘cave-like’ as opposed to carved abode. More 'natural seeming'.
Presumably, it was set up like this – a ladder straight down to it – in case monsters came out of the cave…they would run out into the pit or find themselves trapped and go back in? Because monsters can’t climb ladders?
Going need a bit more information than that – I thought monsters stayed in the dungeon and nothing I read said otherwise.
Glancing over, Jess spoke quietly – soft voice whispering that she would take the lead in case anything jumped them.
Nodding, Maddy stood behind her more thankful for the protection than she had been before.
As they stepped into the entrance, the group felt the air change. It rapidly grew warmer – a faint musty smell wafting out from deeper in.
At roughly fifteen feet away from the entrance, a black cloth seemed to be installed in the ceiling.
Carefully walking over to it and poking the material for safety, the group peaked through and then slipped past.
Beyond the cloth door the path opened up and changed. The walls shifted from rough stone into a straight corridor lit by strange alcoves full of light.
It was wide enough across they could all walk side by side if needed and tall enough they didn’t feel cramped.
Peeking into one alcove, Maddy saw the light bulb was set up into a hole in the top. Pulled up to be invisible from the front a glowing bulb shone light down and bounced it out into the hall.
“Lightbulb” was only the closest analogy she could make. There was a bulb and it was producing light… but its texture looked almost organic in nature and there wasn’t any sign of electricity or external power connected to it.
Trying to pull the bulb out to take with them, Maddy felt first a slimy exterior and then her hand being burned.
“Ahh, Don’t touch the lights guys” She relayed back holding her stinging hand by her side.
Slowly the pain faded, and she realized her hand wasn’t burned after all – just tinged a slight pink as if she had slapped something hard.
“Left or right?” Jess called from up ahead.
Choices. Sigh.
Why was there a choice with no way for her to figure out if it was good or not?
“We don’t have any information, doesn’t matter – anyone want to randomly pick?” Maddy asked after a few seconds of silence.
“Right” Troy responded from behind them.
“Right it is, careful to watch our behinds, we don’t want to be ambushed by something coming up behind us” Maddy relayed stepping behind once more.
Troy nodded looking happy and the group began making their way deeper.
Carefully making their way forward, it wasn’t long before a light skittering sound was heard from ahead.
Bending slightly the hallway suddenly revealed…well. What could only be a monster.
If Maddy had to describe it, she would say it was like a centipede had been combined with an albino rat – a long furry snake-like body leading out to a pointed nose and lined with hundreds of tiny black legs.
As soon as it saw them the creature charged – a crack sounded out as Jesse's whip placed a barrier in the centi-rat’s way, halting its charge immediately.
Trying to orient herself, a flash of light zipped past Maddy’s side, and the monster was skewered by an bright glowing arrow.
Wiggling slightly like a pinned worm, the monster died. Black juices began to leak out of the hole left by the slowly dimming arrow and a chemical smell filled the air.
Maddy hadn’t done anything – couldn’t do anything. Her weapon was not easily swung in such a confined space.
She could probably swing it if she contorted her body and stood by the wall but…that was unwieldy. That was an excuse – her weapon did not take to hallways well and nothing she could do would change that.
But she knew that going in. It was the price she made by picking a lesser used weapon.
…lesser used for a reason but one she wouldn’t regret. She wouldn’t change to a generic weapon at the first sign of trouble.
“Everyone alright? That didn’t seem worse than anything on the plains?” Jess called back after finishing her check of the body – unlike the tutorial it wasn’t vanishing. It was very much a real corpse – a faint sweet but ‘chemically’ smell curling up from it.
“I’m fine” Troy called placing another arrow on his string. “[Lightshot]’s cooldown is much longer here than it was outside. I won’t be able to use it a lot”
“I…can’t swing properly, I could have hit that monster as well, but I’d also have clipped your legs. Sorry, I hope we reach a cavern or something”
Maddy made sure to point out her faults and act sheepish for not hitting their first encounter.
…a faint part of her had started trembling as soon as the monster appeared and wouldn’t calm down.
If she died, that was it. It was over, there was nothing she could do. Coming down into the dungeon flared up as a dumb decision. She was making nothing but bad decisions she should hole up somewhere safe far away.
Clamping down on her emotions Maddy pointed ahead and said they should continue – not a single hint at her inner turmoil leaking out.
…
Onwards the group walked. After a few minutes, they reached a second fork and turned right once again. This time two demon ferrets – as Troy had called the centi-rats – attacked instead.
They were partway down the second hallway and attacked simultaneously but were dealt with easily in the enclosed area – one was hit by a regular arrow in the head and the other was squished up against the wall and kicked flat.
…Maddy once again was not a part of either of those attacks.
It was only after those teasers that they reached the first room.
A large open cavern underground, lit by a single lamp far above met their eyes.
All along the walls glowing greenish gold vines seemed to be growing in and out of the stone – it looked sickly like worms digging out of someone’s flesh but also natural in a way.
All across this room round domes – like a village of miniature stone igloos – met their gaze. Each igloo containing the blinking red eyes of a demon ferret – it rolled off the tongue more, so Maddy had converted her name for them.
Gathering up, the group stayed near the entrance and created a formation similar to what they had on the planes. Jess stood in the front center a bulwark against the swarm. Maddy stood on her right side so she could swing safely. Troy stood on the center-left because he didn’t care as much.
Clearing her throat, Maddy made a large “Hah” sound drawing the monsters out and towards them.
Waiting until the first demon ferret was in range, Maddy swung carefully. Muscle memory timed and angled her blade just right to hook into the side and open them up from the top.
…the demon ferret kept coming, skittering towards her despite leaking fluids wildly.
Lunging to the side slightly, Jess laid a barrier directly in front of Maddy’s legs as the monster lunged the last foot. At this distance, she could see the way the clear-ish, yellow-ish defense appeared. It grew like….it grew like the air was a liquid and the barrier a sped up growth of ice across its surface. Like an invisible box of invisible liquid that turned solid and filled its container.
Smash.
The monster hit the barrier angrily – banging its head and squishing it's injured back into the wall even as it disappeared.
Too extended to try and bring her blade below her feet, Maddy had a stroke of inspiration. She pulled the weapon up to stab the butt of her scythe down onto the slightly stunned rats head.
A faint crack and squish sounded out as she broke something inside – presumably its skull – then shifted her scythe back into position to swing once again.
🥖 Achievement get: Butt killer. (non sexual)
Description: Killed a monster with the butt of your weapon. Where did you think that was going?
----------------------------------------
Stat: +2 arm power.
Another ferret charged.
This time she used [the reaper's blade], bringing it around sharply and cutting in a wide sweep – the black rot taking hold of furry white flesh and finishing off what she could not.
Again and again and again she swung.
Like a farmer collecting wheat at the end of the season, the combat quickly shifted to simply being physical exertion.
It wasn’t hard. Not while protected and with a stream as consistent as they were coming.
The seconds began to drag and blend together as she ‘pulled back, paused, swung’ on repeat. A few minutes into the assault and she could no longer hear the ‘thunk’ of arrows being shot. Her partners shifted as she fought, her position pushed out further.
What were they doing?
She could hold.
Roughly ten minutes passed. Ten minutes of fighting before Maddy finally started to wonder if something was wrong.
“What’s the chance this is endless?” She called sideways – noting Jess blocking and funneling monsters towards her in a more manageable stream.
“What?” Jess yelled back, preventing a particularly rabid looking one from sneaking around the side.
“They keep coming from those burrows, what’s the chance they never end?”
Jess actually stopped for a moment letting one through as she paused – it lunging at Maddy’s legs.
This time Maddy kicked it hard – a faint splash of something spraying her ankles as she did.
“…possible. Sorry about that.” Jess hastily resumed funnel duty.
A ring of bodies now lay just outside of Maddy’s range, the corpses melting slightly together with the aftereffects of her skill.
“Why isn’t Troy shooting anymore?” Maddy asked glancing to the side where he appeared to be aiming endlessly.
He mumbled something as she felt a faint stinging from her leg – the splattered fluids from earlier burning several welts onto her flesh.
“I can’t hear you over the skittering” Maddy found herself raising her voice.
“I only have a hundred arrows or so left, I can collect them after the fight but I have no clue how many monsters there are and thought it was better to get anything that escaped you two.”
“Well you let that one through. I think they have acidic blood or spit or something. Careful with getting any of their fluids on you everyone.” Maddy ignored Troy’s mumbled response about not wanting to hit her leg.
She realized she was losing her calm. Realized she was ruining their perception of her – that she needed to get a hold of herself before she broke their early relationship.
It said a lot about a person the way they acted under stress and Maddy did not want to come off as a bitch.
She recentered. She was fine. She was handling it.
There was a literal pile of proof that she was ‘handling it’ all around her.
The smell was starting to waft back. Sickly sweet like someone had vomited after gorging on fruit roll-ups. Like a fruit roll-up factory had been sprayed with bleach and ammonia…the mustard gas created corrupted with sweetness.
But that was fine.
…what was the chance that it was poisonous? Did she feel like vomiting?
…they should probably try and change their situation somehow.
“Alright. I think we should either try and get across the room or head back. There doesn’t seem to be an end to these monsters in sight. I’ve killed at least one pretty consistently every few seconds now.”
“We should probably head around the outside of the room instead of going down the center and getting surrounded. I’ll be better able to defend you two that way.” Jess mentioned while pointing to the left.
“Good idea. I’ll follow your lead.” Maddy responded after looking about.
Inching to the side, the group made it roughly twenty feet before something stopped them.
“Ouch”
Troy yelped and shot Jess – his arrow digging into her shoulder after he was attacked from the side.
Hidden against the rock face, several grey tendrils stabbed out – reaching repeatedly like ‘wall hands’ in a horror movie. Where they had stabbed into Troy, dull scabby splotches had spread quickly.
Looking closer, Maddy decided it looked exactly like rough blisters made of stone – like Troy had been wounded and partly healed but the healed ‘scab’ was straight granite.
“Watch it” Jess snapped, reaching around and ripping the arrow out – throwing it to the side.
The group was falling apart. They had worked well together on the training field but switched to blaming each other for every single thing at the first ‘real’ excursion.
…this was Maddy’s fault.
She was trying to let everyone do their own thing, she had made this group but hadn’t once claimed to be its leader. She needed to actually lead. Give direction so her companions didn’t feel like they were floundering.
“Everyone, back towards the entrance, give me a few minutes – something's bothering me.” Maddy spoke while waving her free arm.
Backpedaling wildly, the group mostly reached their original position – it was a few feet away from the previous pile of bodies and less smelly.
Maddy breathed out and started to step through her thoughts, a portion of herself taking care of the monster culling almost on autopilot.
For some reason she no longer felt like putting her thoughts down point form.
‘For some reason’, it was probably her foundation.
Now her mind just flung solutions and thoughts all over the place – tossing them back and forth in a messy juggling manner and just expecting her to keep up.
…it was weird to think about herself in third person and that self observing part could definitely better be used actually thinking about the situation.
This was a solvable problem.
This was a ‘designed’ challenge. A ‘designed’ situation not a natural one.
There was a room with endlessly spawning monsters that seemed to want them to go towards the center. It prevented the obvious safe path with arm hands – was there a hidden path? Should they head back and try a different route?
If Maddy was just a bit faster at killing – just a bit more confident in her maneuverability – she would consider ‘just running through’ and fighting from the other side.
If they could just lower the number of monsters that were attacking…
Maddy stared at each of the igloos. They seemed surprisingly fragile now that she was looking at them more carefully. Like a wasp’s nest, or paper mache structure.
“Troy, can you try shooting one of the nests? Use a [light shot] if you can.”
Nodding, the boy drew his arrow slowly. The bow seemed to be gathering light over the course of a second as he pulled it back. A nice smooth charge that collected all one place before flying out when he released.
His arrow shot true into the center of the room and hit the nearest nest.
Like a bull in a vase store, the arrow smashed through with the sound of broken pottery.
It smashed clear through the first igloo and impacted the dome behind it. After the second structure it lost most of its momentum and lay slowly dimming in broken shards of nest.
Maddy did not understand how [light shot] worked.
…that was not a valid thread of thought right now, she needed to focus.
The destruction of a nest seemed to confuse the few demon ferrets running towards her and the constant assault lulled as they looked over investigating the destruction in their midst.
Wanting to see what her own chances were, Maddy took the moment to run towards the nearest nest – winding back as she ran and holding her weapon low.
Activating [the reapers slash] and swinging like a pitcher she twisted – smashing her blade tip through up to the hilt.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
A black pulse of necrosis spread across and dissipated into nothing…not appearing to do anything.
Well that was anticlimactic.
…up close the igloos looked like they were made of clay. In hindsight there was nothing living for necrosis to decay, and it was probably a dumb attack. It was definitely a dumb attack in hindsight.
…at least Maddy could pretend it was a test to see if they were living or not? Scientific process, flesh rot does not effect the igloos.
Twisting her scythe and yanking it upwards she pried it out of the clay creation ripping off most of its top. Inside she found it… empty. Nothing was inside, nothing to show how the demon ferrets had been appearing, no hole down into the cave floor no weird contraption just…empty nothing.
Several ferrets were swarming her – running over to her new position away from her companions – and she didn’t think she could face them all at once.
“Jess, block for me as I get back into position.” Maddy yelled even as she turned and began running back.
Dashing past her companions she turned just in time to see half a dozen ferrets attacking at once. Two were blocked by a barrier snapped out at the edge of her whip. Another two were blocked after the tank threw her hand out for the second time casting it right in front of Maddy.
The final two went around both sides of that last shield and jumped to savage Jess’s legs and waist.
Smashing her whips handle down on one, Jess yelled “Off you creepy fuck” and seemed genuinely disgusted for the first time.
There was a faint wince of pain in her voice as she grabbed both of the monsters by the head and flung them away wild gibberish and curses leaking out before she composed herself once more.
A third monster that had shook off most of its stun, charged once more but was skewered by an arrow.
Maddy took a deep breath and then stepped forward back to Jess’s side. She sidestepped in front of the tank for a moment to kill the three mostly stunned creatures in front of her then regained her position.
She didn’t have her ‘skill’ to attack them anymore and that meant none of her attacks were a sure thing.
If she managed to hit their heads perfectly they were gone easily but everywhere else left them as cockroach like zombies skittering forward unstopped.
Their legs were much harder to focus on – just removing a few didn’t seem to stop them – and so most of her attention was aimed at heads.
“Troy, whenever you can attack a nest. We’ll focus on all the monsters, if you can’t make it normally wait for your skill to cool down”
“okay”, Troy drew back and let loose another blindingly bright attack. Wiping out another nest he tried a regular arrow before giving up and waiting for his skill.
“You said cooldown is decreased in bright areas right?” Maddy called back, mind free enough to start wandering again.
“Yes?” Troy spoke nervously holding his bow like he was about to get in trouble.
“What needs to be in light to recharge? You? Your arrow? Can you go stick either in an alcove to recharge?”
“My arrow does and…sure. I’ll try that”
Scrambling over to an alcove just inside the hallway behind them troy held is arrow inside eyes staring at some invisible note.
“Got it” He yelled after a few seconds running back to make a new shot.
A new rhythm was discovered. One of troy running back and forth between the same alcove and his position to attack a new nest – trying to recreate his feat of hitting multiple each time to save time.
Slowly the periodic attacks slowed. Soon one was attacking every 15s, then once every minute.
By this point the three started pushing into the cavern maddy and jess attacking igloos as well.
Maddy killed a demon ferret exiting a hole then bent down and stared into it curiously.
The igloo was still empty but nearly completely in dark. It was like some video games where monsters only appeared in dark places – this was her new running theory as to why they were spawning when they did.
All they needed to do to break a spawner was let in some light. A hole or two in the top was mostly enough.
Still they had suffered enough at the room's hands, that Maddy made sure each igloo was wide open and smashed.
A box flicked into view for each of them the moment the last nest broke.
🥉 Achievement get: Tier 1 dungeon room clear. (Rare)
Description: Blind clear of a swarming area you have discovered a secret and used it to progress.
----------------------------------------
Stat: +2 mental power,
Stat: +2 decision making power,
Stat: +2 mental stability,
Stat: +2 mental speed,
Stat: +2 arm power,
Stat: +2 arm speed,
Stat: +2 core power,
Stat: +2 body poison defense.
Stat: +1 lungs poison defense.
Stat: +1 running speed.
Stat: +1 voice power.
“Nice! I got nearly a dozen total combined stats from that!” Jess whooped.
“Same!” Troy excitedly spoke while staring at the air.
…that was a lot of stats. Did they say a dozen?
…Maddy had received more than that. Was it because she had killed the most? No this system didn’t discriminate based on kill count.
Was it because she was the only one using a scythe? She knew it was helping but she didn’t think it would be that big of a change.
…was it because she didn’t have a safety? That…felt like it might be true. Was it worth it though? She couldn’t say.
“Alright everyone, let's head forward carefully. I’m starting to get thirsty, and I read there are rest areas in dungeons.” Maddy spoke up urging everyone to continue onwards. Onwards and deeper.
…
The group walked through a hallway looking up at carved paintings. A scene of stickmen with antlers was drawn on the wall. Some depicted the elk men hunting stylistically designed demon ferrets – chasing them through fields and tunnels with sharp hooked spears.
the ferrets were hiding and the paintings shifted to show one hiding again and again the painting growing smaller each time. Finally they passed through a black curtain and entered a…rest room.
The rest room wasn’t furnished per say, but rocks were shaped into benches they could sit down on. In the corner, some glowing roots climbed down into what looked like a fruit bush – the fruits themselves some strange pear-like shape with soft spikes coming out of it. Below a crystal clear pool of water lay – Maddy realized suddenly just how thirsty she was and nearly ran over to lap it up like a dog.
Stopping herself at the last minute she cupped her hands together and drank deeply before standing up once more.
She wasn’t hungry but felt like she had to take some fruit. She didn’t know the next time she would eat and it was right there.
The chance of it being poisoned was nearly zero. Dungeons that left safe rooms always did so in good faith – she read they really hated trapping or impersonating a rest area but that book made it sound like they were intelligent. Her being allergic or unable to eat the fruit due to differing biology…that was a less likely problem.
“Anyone want to try some of the fruit?” Maddy called back to her companions, both of whom had sat down on a bench carved into a nook in the wall.
I’m not using them as poison testers…or I am a little but It doesn’t matter if they die. My life’s more important as selfish as that sounds.
Dammit, its true, but it sounds so bad no matter how I try and justify it.
“Sure, toss me one” Jess sighed both legs spread wide like a dude on a subway.
Watching her eat the cube fruit with a contemplative face Maddy wandered over and sat beside her.
“Tastes like…slightly fishy apples. Not as bad as it sounds” Jess spoke.
“Raving review, Guess I have to try one as well.” Maddy laughed and took a bite.
It tasted like a very light tuna sandwich. The texture screamed apple and there was definitely a hint of the taste…
Maddy was definitely not a fan. It was edible though and jess was right in saying it wasn’t as bad as it sounded.
Offering a bite to Troy the two watched his face scrunch up and laugh.
Slowly the trio unwound as they sat there in the rest room. A part of her wanted to keep going as soon as possible but suddenly everything started to catch up and Maddy found herself getting sleepy.
Her eyes drifted off for the first time since she got to this new world and she collapsed onto Jess's lap.
The last thought Maddy felt as she drifted off was a sudden faint worry that the apples were poisoned with some sleeping agent…a worry she could barely get enough energy to focus on before everything went dark.
…
Maddy awoke still sprawled across Jess's lap her feet kicking into Troy’s leg feeling incredibly well rested. She didn’t know how much time had passed and so, as she jolted awake, she panicked.
“We’ve been wasting time! Guys, are you awake?” shaking Jess’s shoulder until she opened her eyes, Maddy was quick to notice the hole in her shoulder. Jess’s grey shirt was pierced where Troy had shot her, but the skin below was unblemished and whole.
Groggily blinking eyes that quickly regained intelligence jess jumped up as well full of energy. Poking Troy as well Maddy found herself considering how strange a place she had chosen to sleep in.
A cave deep underground with magic glowing roots everywhere.
Two new friends that were basically strangers.
“Is everyone ready to continue?” Maddy spoke making her way over to drink from the pool again.
“I…have to use the washroom” Troy mumbled looking uncomfortable. Staring around Maddy saw a small closet-like shape near the door they had come in.
Walking over Troy ducked beneath the corner and shouted back happily that it worked.
Listening and pretending not to hear the faint sounds coming out of the room, the group continued on, entering the far side of the rest room into a new corridor, this one sloped downwards.
After a few feet, the tunnel opened back out and began twisting back and forth. Making sure to keep a sharp eye on their path the group slowly regained their sense of urgency and paranoia, ready to be attacked at any moment.
After less than half an hour they came into a large room with an altar in the center.
Smooth and boxy the altar drew their eyes and they walked towards it not looking up.
An incredibly faint scream was all the notice they had before everything fell apart.
An incredibly incredibly small worm-like version of the demon ferret – a many-legged caterpillar with dark black legs – dropped onto Jess’s head and began burrowing down.
A flash of blood flew out and splashed onto Maddy’s face as she saw the beetle dig down. Burrowing, seeking, the worm dug straight through her friend’s skull – tossing flesh and bone like little more than dirt being dug away by an energetic dog.
Down through her head and through her throat the worm passed a faint bump visible as it moved.
Jess looked glazed and confused staring straight ahead as the creature attacked.
“Help her! How do we get it out? How is she still alive?” Maddy jumped forward glancing back and forth across her friend’s chest unable to track where the bug was crawling.
Troy had stumbled back in shock as Maddy saw a faint bump pass over Jess’s breast and work its way down her arm.
Everything was happening too quickly. Maddy’s plans and decisions flew away, her half decided ideas about completing the dungeon and breaking her skill ripped apart and scrambled into one.
It was hard to imagine her friend dying – in this moment it felt hard to imagine they would come back especially when she could see the blood leaking out of her mouth and dribbling down her cheek.
She knew what she had to do. This was not the time to experiment on her friend. This was the perfect situation to experiment. She couldn’t risk her friend's life. She had to save her.
Holding out her scythe, Maddy pulled back and activated [the reapers slash]. She pulled her blade around carefully and slowly brought the sharp end towards Jesse's upper arm.
She could see a bump moving around could see the inner damage being done. Carefully her blade hit and the black rot took hold.
She was using this to heal. Her skill was bent towards being a scalpel. A deathly rot to kill a worse problem.
Grey sickly necrosis spread from the point her blade lay. Slowly it travelled up to Jess’s shoulder and down to her forearms.
A frantic digging sounded out and part of jess’s arm fell off – a dying bug twitching on top of it. The creature's digging had hit softer flesh and pulled it out.
Stamping down Maddy squished the bug beneath her sole and felt herself change.
🥈 Achievement get: Tier 2 dungeon room cleared. (Rare)
Description: You have survived an ordeal with quick thinking and the sacrifice of another.
----------------------------------------
Stat: +6 mental speed.
Stat: +3 communication power.
Stat: +3 sound defense.
She felt the strange sense she had to activate her skill buckle and grab onto something – ripping through some metaphorical barrier to collect it for herself. There was no time to think, some remnants of the barrier seemed to be giving her information. Like shards of glass from a window she had broken each containing words cut off and fading.
She could pull this…something into her body. Place it somewhere purposeful.
She could push this…something out of her body. Bring it out so she could look at it and see it for what it was.
Maddy chose external even as the blue box appeared.
Skill breaking. Your continued actions deemed as consent. [The Reapers blade] lost forever. No additional actions taken.
📓 Achievement get: A hint of magic. (unique)
Description: You’ve chosen a faction. Magic you claim! You who wish for the ability to do anything. You who wish for the world to be more. You who perhaps doesn’t know quite what you have done. Good luck.
----------------------------------------
Death [Unlife] mana gained. Life [Undeath] mana gained.
Concept of application gained. Concept modifiers of scythes, transference, and collection gained.
Knowledge of [the reapers blade] transferred to knowledge of recreating the skill’s effects.
Two lines flickered to Maddy’s senses. She could tell in the original language of magic life was phonetically written as inverse death. Death was phonetically written as inverse life. The status translated both versions and flickered between the two – shifting as it communicated.
Her skill was gone as was everything that made it up. In exchange…Maddy knew what she could do.
Looking over at Jess’s still blank and dazed-looking face Maddy lay her hands carefully around her pulling the woman down to the ground.
Jess moved with little resistance, eyes trying to focus on her even as blood pooled everywhere.
She should not be alive. The only reason she was alive had to have something to do with her foundation.
Maddy wiped blood off her friend's cheek and slowly drew a symbol across her forehead. Faint hints guided her hands – the barest touch of knowledge she didn’t have. The barest whisper of what she could do. She could try without this but it wouldn’t be as effective. The time wasted was worth it.
Finally finishing the spiralled symbol Maddy lay her hands down and began to push at part of herself.
Her mana, the raw fuel for her broken skill not yet fully healed. It was an abstract thing, held outside of herself and within reach of her mind. Slowly but surely her hands began to glow a soft green, and a faint trickle of energy seemed to leave and spread through her friend.
It passed beneath Jess's skin as it travelled towards the women’s wounds slowly, achingly slowly. The skin at the top of Jess’s head closed and her eyes regained focus – confusion shifting to pain over the course of a few seconds.
Maddy’s mana source was incredibly small. The skill had been more efficient than she could imagine – her current stumbling felt feeble. Her current regeneration paltry.
She could feel every single drop of power as it appeared and was immediately dragged to healing duty. Each drop shifted in a certain instinctual way towards life, each drop immediately consumed by her spell.
📓 Achievement get: Beginner mage. (unique)
Description: Used a spell on another practically.
----------------------------------------
Stat: +3 mental picturing power.
Stat: +3 memory.
A full ten minutes later, Jess stood completely fine waving her healed arm cheerfully. The damage Maddy had done with necrosis had done much more than the bug in the end – her arm taking twice as long to reform fully.
It had given her time to study the woman’s body in more detail as she healed. Jess’s flesh seemed different. It was hard to see where muscles started and ended, it looked like there were thousands of capillary blood vessels everywhere. Her bones were big and full of holes and almost embedded into the surrounding muscles.
'Generalized body' was pulling a number on her insides. It looked like a mess, but it had healed fast and that was all that mattered.
At the end of the day, all Maddy had really done was push Life mana at her. Jess had done the rest.
“Are you okay?” Maddy asked cautiously. That had looked beyond fatal, and she was worried about any trauma from the ordeal.
“Hurt like a bitch but I’m good now. How long have you been able to patch me up like that?” Jess spoke jumping about as if testing her body.
“I broke my skill – guys I can now use magic!” Maddy found it hard to stop herself from getting excited. She didn’t like the situation she had been in. She didn’t like that she had done it based on half-figured-out ideas – but the results spoke for themselves.
Bravo little miss paperwork. I tried to sneak you some knowledge – piggyback off the official channel – but it didn’t work. Going to have to find a work around…so hang with me.
In the next few days find some time alone to contact me. I’m not allowed in this walled off reality, so you’ll need a vessel. Make a small humanoid shape and fill it with death mana like you just filled that chick with life mana. I’ll do the rest – already got a taste for your mana from the system feedback just there and I should be able to manage it.
PS: There isn’t actually a time limit, but I might get bored if you take too long. It's not my life on the line so try and muster up some urgency yourself.
…her excitement dropped a bit as she read over the message. Right…there was that.
She still didn’t know if she wanted to accept whatever ritual this mysterious suspicious individual was asking for. Contacting him – she was pretty sure it was a male – felt safe however. She could ask for clarification then.
“Do…do you want to continue? We have one last event to deal with if the rule of threes holds true in this dungeon.” Maddy asked after a minute.
Looking down cheerfully Jess nodded. “I’m fine Maddy, I’m the tank, I can take that sort of damage no problem.”
“Okay, let's go.”
Stepping ever deeper the group began to walk carefully – checking the ceiling frequently. Maddy was hoping for another rest room – she hadn’t read enough about dungeons to know what the chance of that was, but knew it was a possibility.
As they walked, Maddy relayed her experience with breaking her skill. Troy nodded as he thought and Jess seemed off-put by it – maybe just because she had been the one who went through her arm being turned to mush?
After a while the walls began to depict the elk men once more – this time hunting a demon ferret that grew bigger and bigger.
Maddy paid close attention to the murals this time – their last situation might have been avoided if they recognized the hint and better studied the pictures.
Maddy kept a close eye on the way a red ball from its head seemed to grow and multiply down its back.
The last mural held a many legged snake at least twenty feet long and covered in several red bumps.
“Okay, I bet we are going to have to face that giant demon ferret. Look for red bumps I bet we have to smash them all” Maddy relayed to her partners both nodding seriously.
Onwards they walked Maddy staring down at her scythe as she moved.
She knew mostly how her skill had worked – and was pretty sure she could still ‘cast it’ manually but…it wouldn’t be quite as strong. Not without practice. She also knew she could make it stronger by enchanting her weapon better. She could draw symbols and strengthen her skill past its previous point. She just…didn’t know fully how. She didn’t even have a method of carving or painting any symbols.
…she should really turn around and come back later. Breaking her skill was 100% the right choice in the moment – and for the future – but it came with some complications.
Before she could talk herself out of it they entered yet another large cavern – this one full of pillars and many many entrances and exits everywhere. Holes in the roof. Holes in the ground. Holes in the walls. There were dozens of places to go, dozens of places something could be hiding.
Unlike everything up to this point, the light was not evenly applied – walls were hidden from sight, sharp shadows cutting across holes. Light sources were placed sparsely turning into searchlights as they shone through holes or past pillars.
“Keep your eyes peeled, get ready to dodge or hide at a moment's notice” Maddy warned. The group slowly walked around the edge of the room checking every hole nearby as they went.
A rumbling sound rang out followed by silence.
“I think it came from that direction?” Maddy spoke softly pointing. Nodding the group positioned themselves and slowly travelled deeper into the mess of areas.
A rumbling sound rang out again – this one much closer – before suddenly from the mouth of a cave less than 30 feet away a giant face rushed out. It reminded Maddy of the basilisk from a certain magical school story she had loved as a child. Roughly four feet tall, the head was massive and covered by long shaggy white fur. Its hair ran and dropped down its face covering a gaping crocodile-esk mouth that was wide open and full of hundreds of razor-sharp teeth.
Travelling out of the cave mouth incredibly quickly the body just kept coming and coming.
Each of its legs thundered as they pulled it forward its body continuing to slide out.
Maddy jumped to the side throwing herself behind a pillar as the massive hairy many-legged snake flew past. It was faster than her, faster than anyone in their group by a good amount.
It just kept coming. It was so much longer than her “at least 20 feet” estimate from before.
Finally, the tip of the tail came out almost as soon as the head had disappeared into a tube behind them.
She had just barely noticed some pink bumps along its back before it was gone once more.
This creature was fast. Faster than anything they had faced right now and in such a confined space if felt faster than anything Maddy had ever seen.
It was too strong.
Maddy found herself dodging once more as it came rushing dangerously close to her, unable to do anything but scramble from pillar to pillar.
Her partners were somewhere nearby – she could hear them scrambling as well – and it was only in the first charge that she tried to attack.
Her scythe swung around – death mana pulled awkwardly out and along it in a pseudo reapers slash.
Her attack opened a gash along the monster's side but might have been little more than a papercut for all it noticed.
Flicking its tail at the end Maddy found herself flung back several feet smashing into a pillar completely winded her head banging off the stone behind her.
Suddenly her friends were beside her, Jess was yelling something wildly.
Oh, she was going to place a barrier and Maddy should attack as soon as the creature hit.
Nodding, still finding it hard to breathe, Maddy braced herself on the pillar and held her scythe weakly. They needed to kill this monster.
A part of her felt like she was slightly concussed, but a majority focused on the problem in front of them.
It was like a video game. This was a boss monster. The boss monster had obvious visible weak points they had to attack. Sure, it was faster and stronger and bigger than them but the bigger they were the harder they fell right?
Maddy was definitely concussed.
She held her hand beside her head pushing Life mana into it as quickly as she could. Slowly everything grew back into focus.
⚕️ Achievement get: Self field medic. (Rare)
Description: Healed yourself while still in danger.
----------------------------------------
Stat: +3 reaction speed.
Stat: +3 head bludgeoning defense.
Sooner than she was expecting, Jess had flicked her whip out and placed a barrier directly in the snake's path.
Like a train hitting a Volkswagen beetle, the snake bulldozed through the barrier barely slowing down.
It shook slightly and changed directions before it angrily aimed toward Jess and charged forward once more.
Maddy swung her scythe high in the air. It was harder to aim this high up but she still managed to slice the top off one of the pink bumps. The core shattered surprisingly similar to the way the little demon ferrets’ heads had shattered. Maddy was nearly positive they had all had a core in their head.
Specialized body?
Beside them, Troy shot an arrow piercing another core before it sped up once more.
The legged train disappeared into a cave and then suddenly came out of another hole close by, rushing directly towards Maddy.
Everything was happening too fast, there was no time to think properly. She wasn’t going to dodge in time.
Suddenly Jess was there. She stood directly in the monster's path arms outstretched and created a single large barrier.
Maddy had just enough time to think her new friend was dependable before half their body was gone.
The rat-like head had twisted sidewise and swallowed her head and upper body crunching through stat increased defense slowly but surely.
Maddy’s mind went still. She knew intellectually that Jess was fine, she would just revive, it's fine…. but it was hard to even keep that intellectual fact in find seeing her friend's severed legs and waist fall to the ground with a strangely dry thunk.
Maddy was screaming. She was holding her mouth so she would no longer scream. She was hiding once more.
It took a good solid moment to calm down. This delve was a lot. Too much was happening and it all felt too real. Maddy thought it might have been easier to deal with if she had a revival but it was still too visceral. Too graphic.
Her hands shook and her eyes glanced around noting – Troy at the far end of the room. He raised a finger to his lips then ran to the side slowly drawing his bow as he did. Light began to shine and soon [light shot] was drawn but not shot.
Light moved across the room as he soon became the brightest source of light in the cavern.
A shadow cast by his skill moved over and settled on Maddy. She was…hidden slightly. The light controlled the shadows and worked opposite to its goal.
It was then that she noticed the boss moving past eyes squinting slightly and sliding over her.
It was closer than she thought. It had nearly gotten her while she was processing Jess’s sacrifice.
A [light shot] flung forward from its source hitting the beast and blinding it momentarily.
Maddy ran as its head thrashed about – not away but towards its back. Her scythe was pulled back above her head and stabbed down onto the nearest core. The thrashing increased.
Her scythe was pulled back once more and stabbed down onto another core and another. Somehow she managed to avoid the worst of the thrashes and after Troy hit another core and she stabbed another two it was done. Enough had been hit that the monster was still. It shuddered, several of its legs stabbing out a few times and then it was still.
🥇 Rank 1 dungeon cleared. (Rare) 🥇
Among the first to clear a dungeon and the first to clear this specific dungeon, you have done so in record time.
Clear stats:
159 monsters killed. (new record)
Time taken 27 hours. (new record)
Party size 3.
State entering dungeon. Rank 0, Tier 1.
Free points gained 20.
----------------------------------------
Main Reward:
Active skill: Words of death
Apply death mana to your voice, vibrating necrotic timber to all who hear. Damage based on emotion and words used. Damage mitigated by sound defense