//Time 00:00

//Starting New Day

…

The doors open for the second time in Bug’s short life and the humans enter. She remains waiting in a hallway, resting in a crevasse in the ceiling. Actually looking for them, these openings and hiding spots are honestly pretty easy to find. The only trouble is reaching them, especially when they are in the ceiling.

Thankfully, Bug has no trouble with climbing, the task coming almost completely naturally to her.

Resting in the ceiling, Bug watches and waits as she listens to the sound of the humans entering the Dungeon. The vast majority of them simply continue down the central path, their destination most likely being the second floor.

Other noises are weird sounding, definitely not humans walking, but Bug eventually figures that it is probably the humans dragging a bunch of trash to be dropped off in the dump. Bug resigns herself to go their later and empty the place out for whatever points she can get. As much as she doesn’t like touching the human’s trash, at the end of the day, she still needs the points.

It takes a while for the first group of humans to make their way down her hall.

Bug lets them pass. There is five of them, and despite their levels all being lower than Bug’s, she doesn’t want to risk taking a group that large. She almost got strangled to death by a group of two after all. She doesn’t want to risk it.

A second and third come and go. They were too close together and Bug would have risked getting both groups on her if she took too long. So, she waits and listens…

Finally, a fourth group comes. They are alone and no one else is nearby. Off in the distance, other groups are already busy making noise. Probably slaughtering the mobs and taking their furs. Bug’s thoughts go to those two relaxing mobs and how they were perfectly content to just sit there and lazily munch on moss.

They’re probably dead now… I hope they went quick and painless.

Bug focusses herself as the new group gets closer and gives them a scan.

‘lvl 4 Human’

‘lvl 5 Human’

‘lvl 6 Human’

The highest level one of the bunch is a man with a great sword and is wearing metal armor. It doesn’t cover his entire body, but even from a quick glance, Bug can tell that all of his vitals are covered. While the rest of him is dressed in a thick shirt and pants that looks very resistant to stabbing.

The other two are looking much less frightening. They are dressed in only simply leather armor and their weapons are a mace and a bow. The girl with the mace has even less leather than the boy with the bow, as she is wearing some kind of robe.

Bug wants to take out the armored target first, but she just doesn’t see that going very well. He is leading from the front and would have support from the two in the back as he fought Bug. Even with the level advantage, Bug doesn’t see herself being able to take them down like that.

So, her target switches to the one in the back. The boy with the bow.

Waiting for them to pass under her hiding spot, Bug watches until the moment to strike comes. Assassination sings in the back of her head as she pushes herself forward, rope and dagger in hand as she falls towards her target.

Bug lands almost without noise on his shoulders. He buckles a bit at having someone half his size land on him, and as he looks up to see what just dropped on him, Bug strikes.

Stabbing her dagger into his temple, Bug wraps the rope that is hanging from the ceiling around his neck twice and pulls it tight as he falls forward. His fall is stopped before he even hits his knees, his body hanging limply by the neck as it slouches forward.

//Killed lvl 5 Human – 25 exp gained!

Thankfully, he was not holding anything in his hand when he died.

It takes a couple of seconds for the corpse to become claimable as an item, and as soon as it is, Bug pulls both it, everything it had equipped, and the rope into her inventory.

Bug drops to the ground as the corpse disappears and sprints forward, dagger at the ready, and makes for the back of the girl in the robes. She turns just as Bug is drawing near.

Bug stifles a curse on her tongue and keeps moving.

“Huh, where did Shane go? Wait, what! Ahhhh!”

Bug lunges forward as the girl notices her, the mace flying towards Bug’s face with an awkward swing. Ducking under the blow, Bug strikes and tries to stab the girl. The wind gets knocked out of her as the blade sinks into her gut, but there is no familiar feeling of metal sliding through flesh, instead there is a resistance as her blade fights to tear through what feels like flexible metal.

Someone roars and the girl is pulled back as the large figure of the armored man pushes himself in-between them. A fist flies at Bug's face as she pulls back, but she is still grazed by the metal gauntlet. The hit knocking her off balance and causing her to fall to the ground.

Another roar and the sound of clinking metal, Bug rolls to the side and brings up her dagger just in time as the massive sword comes down on her. Just barely managing to catch the blade with her own, she pushes the blow to the side a little and it buries itself into the ground beside her.

Her hands are shaking as she looks at the massive sword that nearly split her in half, the force of the blow having shaken her to her core.

He moves forward to deliver a kick to the downed Bug, and she scurries away, slashing at his leg as she pulls back to avoid the kick that would have probably sent her reeling. The knife hits his thick pants but does not draw blood. Instead, there is only a layer of stuffing that is exposed as her blade tears open the thick fabric.

Pulling back further, Bug climbs to her feet as the big human pulls his sword out of the dirt. Behind him, the girl is already catching her breath and raises a hand towards Bug.

“Oh water, I beseech you! Grant me your power so that I may pierce my enemies! Water Spe-“

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Bug sees the water forming in the palm of her hand and instantly decides that she doesn’t like what she sees.

A magic user!

Before she can finish her incantation, Bug points towards her and screams, “Inflict Pain!”

The girl bites her tongue and screams as she falls to her knees, her spell exploding in her hand and showering water everywhere. Shock fills both of the humans at the sight of what just happened, but this doesn’t stop the big human from charging forward.

He swings wide and low before Bug can make any distance. Storing her dagger, she takes out the club and the make-shift shield, holding them both to block the blow.

Great sword meets the lid of a barrel and a thick stick, and unsurprisingly, wins. The blade plows through the wood and sends Bug’s light body flying to the side as she is carried by the force of the blow. A trail of blood flows through the air as she flies down the hall until she hits the floor.

“Ahhhhhhhhh! Damn human! Hurts! That fucking hurts!!!” She screams as she holds her left arm. It hangs loosely in her grip as the bone has broken through the skin, a thick laceration flowing down her arm and spilling blood.

Bug wants to scream and cry, but she can feel them charging at her. Death is laughing at her, and she can feel it. Her core sings with the aura of death that is filling the hall right now.

Bug looks up in time to see the big human and the girl. They are both charging her, murder in their eyes as they plan to finish her off.

She needs to run. She needs a distraction. And thankfully, she had prepared an option while she was waiting in ambush.

“Inflict Pain!” Bug screams.

The both of them falter as they get hit with a single points worth of the spell. They resist it more than the others had, but it is enough, she only needs a moment. Bug draws her good arm back and withdraws two throwing knives from her Inventory into her waiting hand.

Throwing them both at the same time, she aims for the girl’s face as it is the only exposed part of her body. As the pain fades and she regains control of her body, the girl flinches as she sees the knives hurtling towards her face.

She screams and tries to cover herself with her arms, waiting for the blades to sink into her. They never come.

Peeking past her raised arms, she sees the tall figure that had stepped in the way of the knives.

“Lyose! Thank you!”

“Don’t worry Young Miss! I won’t allow this beast to harm you!” He takes a step forward as he raises his sword, “Now, let us finish off this hellish little monster!”

He moves to take a step forward and falters. His large frame shaking as his legs lose their strength and he almost trips. Catching himself at the last moment, he falls to one knee as he grimaces.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Lyose! What’s wrong? What happened!?”

The girl runs forward and places her hands on him. She can feel as his body shudders under her touch. Looking him over, she finds the knives. One had fallen to the ground, having been knocked aside, but the second is stuck in his arm, having managed to pierce through his gambeson’s protection.

“Young Miss, the enemy…” He works out between panting breaths.

She looks up to find the thing and spots it as it is running away, already most of the way down the hall as it clutches its arm to its chest. She raises her arm and aim for its back. “Oh water, I beseech you! Grant me your power so that I- “

Lyose coughs and falls forward. Taking her eyes off of the fleeing figure, worry fills her heart as she looks to her most trusted bodyguard. She cancels the spell as she hurries to help him.

“Hold on Lyose! I will help you, please, just be still.”

“The enemy…”

“It has run away, let me tend to you.” Grabbing the knife, she pulls it out of his arm. The blade comes out covered in the crimson red of blood, but also with a coating of green liquid containing black swirls. The knife smells of the promise of death, and upon looking at the tainted blade, her instincts scream at her to throw the horrible thing away.

Tossing it away from herself in a hurry, she quickly moves to help him.

“Be still Lyose. You’ve been poisoned. Just wait one moment and I will heal you. Everything will be alright!”

Placing her hands upon the wound, she speaks an incantation. “Oh water, I call upon your aid! Please help me in healing the sick. In mending the wounded. In curing the diseased. Cleanse this person of all that would ail them and give them the strength to live. Healing Waters!”

A glowing sphere of water forms in her hand as the incantation is spoken. With it complete, she places it against his wound and wills her mana to flow into him, guided by the spell. Beneath her hands, the wound slowly closes and seals until all that is left is a scar.

She wants to let out a breath of relief, certain that this will be enough, but when she looks over her bodyguard, she finds him to still be shaking and is getting closer to collapsing.

“Wh-why didn’t it work!? This spell is supposed to clear even the worst of poisons from the body!”

Peeking out from his gambeson, she finds something. Moving forward, she peels open the collar and looks at his neck. His veins are pushing up against the surface of his skin, a sickly green color is dyed into them and is turning the surrounding skin necrotic.

“Wha, what is this!? What kind of poison could do this!?!? Ahh! A doctor! We must get you to a doctor immediately! Lyose, come, please. Let me help you. We must go now!”

She tries to help him stand, but his weight is too much for her to carry.

“Please Young Miss. Leave me…”

“No! I am ordering you to stand. The entrance is not too far. I will help you!”

“Ye, yes, Young Miss…”

He fights to stand and move as she gets under his arm. He can barely carry himself as he drags his feet, his great sword dragging behind him as he shuffles forward. She puts her everything into helping carry his weight as they slowly crawl back to the entrance.

Lyose grows more and more fatigued as they draw nearer to the entrance.

“Keep walking Lyose! Don’t stop! We’re almost there. We will find you a doctor as quickly as we can!”

“…. Mhm…”

The best he can do is mumble out an incoherent word in response, more of his weight shifting onto the girl as he loses the ability to move properly.

Eventually, they reach the main corridor and come across a group of fresh adventurers.

“Help! Please, Lyose needs help! Please!”

“Holy crap! What happened to him?”

“He’s been poisoned! Please, he needs a doctor! Help me carry him and I will pay you.”

“How much?” Asks their leader.

This doesn’t take her by surprise in the slightest. Adventurers are greedy people, and if they see a chance to earn money, they will take it.

“Ten silvers! You’ll be paid as soon as you bring him to the Emergency Medical Building of the guild.”

“Ten silvers!? Can you actually-“

“My name is Catherin Raingarden, Third daughter of the Raingardens. I swear on my family name that you will be paid not a silver less! Now hurry, please!”

“Holy shit a noble! Ah! I, uh, I mean… Yes milady. Right away!”

He waves his people forward and they carry Lyose away from her, quickly making their way back toward the entrance where they’d just came from. Catherin catches her breath quickly and then move to follow as the group rushes.

Ten silvers are on the line for them, and they don’t want to risk losing it if he dies before they get paid. Even worse still would be if the Noble girl decided to blame them for his death by not getting there fast enough.

Their leader runs beside her and nervously asks. “Milady, if it is alright, might I ask how this happened…?” From his tone he is clearly not used to dealing with Nobles, but is trying his best. Catherin could care less about that right now though.

“A female Gremlin. It wore clothing and wields weapons and even magic. It attacked us out of nowhere! Before we even knew what was happening, one of my escorts was already missing. Shane… He is probably dead... Lyose managed to wound the beast, but it threw poisoned knives as it made its escape! Lyose protected me…”

“A Gremlin did this!?”

He looks at the weakened Lyose and grimaces. His arm is hanging limply as he is carried and the skin that can be seen is blackened and rotten. Crawling up his neck is those ugly veins as he breathes heavily and sweats up a storm.

It thankfully does not take long for them to escape the Dungeon. A waiting Guild Representative by the gate outside greets them. The following is a blur as people move around and rush. Money changes hands, names and reports are given, and a description of the monster is made.

By the end of the day, a Guild Receptionist is reassuring Catherin that a bounty has been placed on the monster that is probably lurking somewhere in the first floor.

She weakly nods her head as she sits next to her loyal guard.

The doctors… they had just told her that nothing can be done… They have never seen a poison like this before, and despite trying everything that they could, nothing was able to rid Lyose’s body of it.

Catherin looks down as she watches him breathe, every breath being a labor that might be his last. She cries as she looks over his now frail body that used to be an embodiment of strength and might. Her giant protector. Her trusted guardian. The man that always been by her side since she was a child. Even so much so that he is more familiar and beloved to her than her very own father.

She lifts his withered hand to her lips and makes a promise as she kisses it. “I swear to you, Lyose. I will see that little monster dead. Be it by my hands or another, I swear to you that it shall curse the day that it crossed our path. I will avenge you!”

Placing his hand on his chest, she leans forward and hugs him, the tears running down her cheeks wetting the sheet that covers him.

Whispering though her tears and the anguish in her heart, she speaks into his chest. “Please. Please don’t leave me Lyose…”