Chuck starts to laugh, but he stops as he gets a slap to the back of the head.

“Is something funny?” Bug asks with an angry look at Chuck.

Joel looks a bit awkward as he stops mid step, thinking over his answer. “Well, it’s just that, Bug is a… it is a bit of a weird name. No?”

“Hmm… honestly? Ya. But I’m not the one that picked it. It’s just what I was born with, and I haven’t honestly felt like changing it yet. Don’t really know what I would even call myself, you know?”

Chuck giggles in the back and whispers, “How about Payday, hahaha.”

“No, I don’t think that Payday is a good name. I definitely feel like Bug is better than that.”

All of them looked shocked by this. How had she heard what he whispered from half a room away. Not to mention all the other weirdness before them. The corpses, her having three arms, the magically appearing clothes, the fact that she can talk and even has a name, but most of all, is the fact that Bug looks calm despite basically being cornered in this room.

Joel moves to ask another question after taking one more step, but is stopped as Bug talks over him.

“That is close enough, humans. Don’t think that I don’t see that you are trying to box me in.”

Joel nods his head to her and give a laugh, “Haha, well yes. Quite the smart Gremlin, huh? You see, you have quite the bounty on your head. Ten gold if we can bring you back dead and prove that it is you. But you see, if we bring you back alive? The little Noble lady said she would double it. Said she wants to kill you herself for what you did.”

“Hmmmm? Really? Twenty gold, is that a lot? I’m afraid that I don’t know how much your money is worth.”

“Oh, yes. That is a lot. Even split between the four of us, that is still enough money for us to live very comfortable lives and have a lot of fun for a couple of years.”

“Oh? Is that right? Hey, could you buy cookies using that gold?”

“Cookies?” Joel asks.

One of the yet to be named guys pipes in and says, “They are a snack that the Nobles and rich merchants eat. Supposed to taste pretty good.”

“Oh, well, yes Bug, I’m sure that we will be able to buy plenty of cookies. Maybe if you ask nicely enough, that Noble girl might even give you one before she kills you. Who knows?” He says with an eager smile.

“You think so!? Hmmm, but I don’t think that dying is worth just one cookie. And besides, I currently have some of my own.” Bug tells him. With a wave of her hand, the box of cookies appears in her hands. Opening the lid reveals the still warm and fresh baked goods and their shining sugar crystals and squares of melty dark chocolates. The humans clearly react to the magically appearing box and are even stunned by the smell.

“How did you do tha-“ Joel tries, but is interrupted by Bug, who speaks over him loudly, her chin raised and her face looking smug.

“I have to say! You have been much more cooperative with answering my questions than some people have. So far, I have had to kill everyone that I have met, because they were too stupid. But just for you Joel - and only for you- I will give this offer. Turn around and leave. I will let you live if you do.”

“What? You don’t honestly think that I would do that, do you? Hahaha, and what about the others?”

“Well, those two I don’t really care about, but Chuck over there is dead. I don’t like how he was looking at my chest.”

Chuck barks out a laugh and points at Bug, “Ha! Well, ain’t you just a cocky little bitch? I was just joking earlier, but I really am going to rape you now, you little shit! Might as well have some fun with you before we turn you over the Noble girl.”

“Chuck, seriously? What the hell is wrong with you? That thing is basically an animal.”

“Hey, ass is ass, and tits are tits dude. Besides, she has a cute enough face to get off to- Ehh…”

Chucks words get cut short as an arrow pierces the side of his head. He drops dead, his weapon falling from his hands and a stupid pervy look stuck on his face as he hits the ground.

The others stop in their tracks as they see him drop like a puppet with its strings cut.

//Killed lvl 8 Human – 40 exp gained!

“I really don’t like stuff like that. The thought of him touching me is honestly revolting… Oh, and Joel, I apologize. Earlier, you asked if it was me that killed all of these people, and I said maybe. The answer is yes. I killed everyone here, and soon, you guys will be joining them. But the offer for you still stands. If you run now, I swear, I’ll let you go.” Bug tells him with the sweetest little smile.

“Bullshit! Flint, Faulton, find the archer! I’ll handle the Gremlin! There is just the two of them, we can handle this! Even if we have to bring it back dead, that is still ten gold for the three of us to split!”

Oh, their names are Flint and Faulton…Not like it matters.

Still with a sweet and innocent look on her face, Bug asks, “Hmm? Who ever said that there was only two of us?” Snapping her fingers, all the corpses in the room stand up and turn towards the humans. “Also, my offer has just expired. You just lost your chance to leave with your life, human." She says as her face and tone grow cold. "Kill them.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Wha?”

The room immediately descends into chaos as the zombies attack. The axe wielding zombie reaches Flint first and brings his axe down on him. Deflecting the blow to the side, Flint tries to strike him, but ends up getting tackled by another zombie and knocked to floor. As those two are tumbling around, Joel kicks away the zombie of the mean girl and then cuts a mob zombie in half. Faulton is meanwhile busily hiding behind his round shield as several zombies swarm him, pushing him off to the side and away from the others.

Joel hears Flint scream as he goes down and rushes to his aid. With of swipe of his sword, he removes the head of the zombie that was pinning Flint down and trying to bite his face off. Bug watches on from her seat as the corpse continues to fight even after losing its head, honestly surprised that they can keep going even without a head.

It isn’t until Joel kicks it away that he can finally get his friend back up on his feet, but he isn’t looking good. Because Flint isn’t fully protected by armor, the zombie had managed to take a couple of bites out of his arms.

“That looks like it hurts! Careful that you don’t bleed out, human!” Bug jeers from her perch on her boulder.

They both turn to curse at her, but are stopped as more zombies attack them. Off to the side, Faulton has his back to the wall and is swinging his short sword at anything that he can hit from behind his shield. Every time he strikes with his sword, fingers, hands and even an arm, go flying, but the assault on him doesn’t abate one bit even as the zombies start losing parts.

Flint screams, “We can’t handle this! We’re surrounded!”

“We need to get back to Faulton! Regroup!” Joel responds.

They push against the crowd, sword and daggers hacking apart the zombies as they try to make their way to their ally.

Flint lets out a grunt as a stone hits the back of his head, stumbling, he isn’t fast enough to react as another zombie slips past Joel and bites into Flint’s throat. Flint and the zombie both go down in a mess of limbs as Joel screams for his friend.

“Flint, no!”

//Killed lvl 9 Human – 45 exp gained!

Kicking away the mean girl again, Joel looks over the room and sees that it is hopeless to keep fighting. He throws an angry look towards Bug, who is still comfortably sitting on her bolder, and then yells to his last friend.

“Faulton! We need to run! Push through however you can and run damn it!”

Faulton calls back with a war cry as a response and noticeably redoubles his efforts to push past the swarming corpses. With another roar, he slams his shield into the zombies and makes an opening. Pushing though, some of them latch onto his shield, but he simply lets it go and runs for his life.

Joel removes the head from another zombie before kicking aside a second. A small opening is made, and he risks it to push his way through. Hands find his armor and try to pull him back, but he desperately fights. Swinging his sword, hands get forcefully removed and the mean girl receives another kick to the chest.

Ahead of him, at the entrance to the room, Faulton runs for his life and almost makes it out. He collapses to the ground as a zombie falls on top of him, having fallen from where it waited above the entrance in ambush.

He goes down screaming and is quickly swarmed by a bunch of the mob zombies that were chasing him like a pack of rabid dogs.

“Faulton!” Joel screams, the anguish clear in his voice.

Continuing to fight desperately, and fueled by despair, he finally manages to tear his way out of the hoard of zombies and runs for the exit. He wants to save Faulton, but the zombies are already on his tail. Looking to his friend, the only part of him that he can see is a single arm that is desperately waving for help as he screams over the sounds of tearing flesh and gnashing teeth.

His friend isn’t dead yet, but he cannot save him. So, he runs.

“Ahhh! Don’t let him get away! Kill him, kill him!” Bug yells, bouncing on the spot excitedly and pointing, as he reaches the entrance.

Just as Joel is about to make it out, an arrow hits him in the side, knocking the wind out of him. Looking to the corner of the room, he finds a zombie with a bow hiding behind a boulder.

Catching himself just as he is about to trip, Joel keeps running and ducks as a second arrow is sent his way. He makes it out the door and runs. Behind him, he can hear as the little monster in clothing screams, “After him! Kill him! Don’t let him escape!”

He runs and runs. A look over his shoulder is all he needs to see to know that he has a horde on his tail. The zombies run almost like rabid animals, with even some of them chasing him on all fours, screaming gurgles escaping their torn lips and through blood-stained teeth.

Running, running, running. It is all he can do to keep moving as the adrenalin courses through his system and blocks everything else out. He needs to run, or he will be eaten. That is all there is to it. Just run! Just keeps running!

One turn, followed by another. The stairs leading back up should be near, one more turn. Just keep running!

Another turn and then he spots people. Up ahead, they are fighting a group of Goblins. Pushing himself as hard as he can, Joel pushes himself through ragged breaths. Even as his limbs grow heavy and the burning pain inside grows to be too much to ignore, he still keeps running.

Up ahead, the fighting figures don’t notice him until he is running right through the middle of the fight. From the look of it, it is a bunch of beginners, probably on one of their first trips to any floor lower than the first. Joel doesn’t even have the words needed to give them a warning as he runs through.

“What the hell?”

“Hey, watch it you ass! What the hell!?”

“Grecko!? Gee fa kaaa!”

“Holy shit!!!”

“Ahhhhh!”

Joel only turns for a moment to see as the zombies collide with both the adventures and the Goblins. It immediately turns into a melee as the zombies tear into both sides and turn the battlefield into a bloody mess.

Joel keeps running. He can’t help them; he can only hope that they will be able to hold them off long enough for him to get away. Throwing a silent apology and a prayer their way, he leaves them to their fate.

Another turn, another, just a little bit further and then he finds it. The stairs! If he can just get up the stairs it will be a straight shot to the Dungeon’s exit! He just has to make it up the stairs!

The climb is long and hard. Joel’s limbs all feel heavy, protesting with every step he takes, and it is getting hard to see through his cloudy vision. But he continues to move even as his heart beats heavily in his ears. Just keep climbing! Just keep moving!

He trips over himself as his leg gives out under him. Reaching up, Joel wipes away the hot liquid dripping from his nose and finds blood. His hand is buzzing and feels like it has fallen asleep. Biting his glove, Joel removes it and is shocked as he finds his hand looking black and spider-webbed in green veins.

Poison. That’s right, that’s how that guy died… I need a doctor… I need, I need to… The antidotes!

Moving as fast as he can, Joel throws off his pack and digs into it with his one good hand. Pulling out a vial of purple liquid, Joel pulls the cork out with his teeth and then downs the entire bottle. Coughing, he waits to see if it has taken affect, but the pain in his body refuses to go away. Pulling down his collar, Joel is shocked as he sees that the poison is still visibly spreading though his body, the green veins covering his flesh before it slowly starts to turn black and rot.

How?! We got these antidotes to handle the poisons on the second layer. How can this poison from a Gremlin be this strong!?

“Cough! Hawk, ahhh…”

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Joel drops the empty vial and continues to pull himself up the stairs.

A doctor, no, a healer, or a priest! If I can just get out of the Dungeon… If I can just-

One step after another, Joel continues to pull himself up the stairs. One step after another, until finally, he reaches the top.

Breathing heavily and his vision fading, Joel reaches one last hand outward. With a wet cough, and a shake, he spits up a mouth full of blood dyed green and black. The last few beats of his heart ringing out in his ears as his final breath leaves his body.