“So, about using your guide? It would be a big help.”
Max turns and looks to everyone else, getting back some silent responses and looks, he looks back to Bug.
“Let us discuss this privately?”
Bug shrugs. “Go ahead, I’m still eating my meal after all.”
“Alright, were going to talk over there…”
The group turning to leave, they nervously watch Bug as they walk away from her, but she doesn’t move from her spot on the leaf. Instead, she just continues to munch on her food.
Once they are far enough away, they huddle up and whisper quietly, wary of Bug eavesdropping with her surprising sense of hearing.
“Ok, what are the chances that she is lying?” Sam starts.
“Pretty high, but at the same time, low. If the first layer is full of Undead like she says, then it would be easy to check, but also time consuming.” Max answers.
“And assuming that there are Undead up there?” Adds Jakub.
Hannah pipes in, “Then we would be risking our lives. Undead are relentless and they don’t stay down unless they are completely destroyed. Not only that, but it only takes one getting loose to potentially end a city… Which is where it gets even worse for us…”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if there are Undead flooding the Dungeon, then the Guild Master should be following lockdown procedures… They can’t risk an infestation. Which means that no one will be coming in to clear the Dungeon until they can get an extermination force put together.”
“But if we can manage to reach the entrance by fighting our way out, then they’ll let us out, right?” Jakub asks her.
“… Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how bad it is at the entrance. We need to remember that this Dungeon doesn’t spawn Undead, it spawns living monsters. An Undead Dungeon will only ever spawn up to a certain number per floor. Even the people that die in an Undead Dungeon won’t be raised as more Undead. They just get eaten by the Dungeon. But, that isn’t the case with this one…”
Hannah swallows nervously before continuing, but realization is already on everyone else’s faces.
“Every day, the Dungeon restocks its floors with the Mana Wave. And every day, the Undead are up there killing everything. And almost everything that gets killed by the Undead will be raised as more… And this will happen every day. The numbers going up with every Mana Wave until it gets to the point that the Undead have nowhere else to go; except to leave the Dungeon and flood into the city…”
“Hannah, what’s are chances of us fighting our way out?” Max asks nervously.
“If the first layer has been full of Undead for two days now, like she said, then that is already about two or three times the normal monster density per floor. And the Undead don’t fight like normal monsters. They swarm like rabid animals and don’t stop even as you hack them apart. We would be bogged down for the entire layer, and I am no help in a fight…”
Sam cuts in, “Didn’t she mention something about poisonous mushrooms?”
“Mhm, there is that to… Considering that it was a necromancer that is spreading them, they can’t be anything good. We would have to ask Bug about them.”
“Assuming that she isn’t lying.” Says Jakub.
Max cuts back in, “I… I don’t think she was. At least she didn’t seem like she was lying, or she is just really good at it. Plus, what about when we first met her?”
“Mh? What do you mean?”
“She followed us and had us cornered in the Safe Room. And the entire time, it looked like she was checking us over. Maybe she was checking if any of us was the necromancer?”
“And what? Her not knowing how to light a torch was what? A way to stall for time or something?” Jakub asks incredulously.
Sam says with a shrug, “She did have everything she needed for lighting one. Plus, who honestly doesn’t know how to light a torch? Even kids know how to do it.”
Max continues. “Ok, we will need to ask her for more proof, but for now, I think it is best that we assume that the first layer has fallen. Which means that getting out of the Dungeon is our new priority. How do we do it?”
Hannah raises her hand a bit, “If we can’t make it out through the entrance, then our only way out is to use the teleporter on the tenth floor.”
“Only problem is that we would have to beat the second boss to use it, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Wonderful… So, it is either we fight our way out through several floors of Undead, or…”
Everyone turns to look back towards Bug who has finished eating her food and is now doing some stretches on her leaf.
Max sighs. “Let’s go and talk with her...”
The party breaks their circle of whispers and walks cautiously back towards Bug. She quickly notices them, simply acknowledging them with a look before resuming her stretches.
By the time they get back to her leaf, Bug has herself in the splits and is bending forward, reaching for her toes with her torso practically parallel to the floor.
Sam can’t help but whistle as she walks over, “Damn girl, you are flexible! Hahaha!”
“Mmmm, thanks.” Bug says as she works through the burn in her muscles.
She really is… Hannah thinks to herself as she watches Bug shift her posture to bend her herself forward between her split legs, stopping as her chest presses against the surface of the leaf, her body now like the letter ‘T.”
Bug turns her head, her eyes snapping to Hannah. “Stop watching me. For some reason, your gaze feels… different.”
Hannah looks away, trying to hide a blush as Bug lifts herself with four arms and brings her legs together to sit cross-legged. Pulling her scaled cloak back around her body, Bug gives everyone a look, her eyes lingering on Hannah for a short while before eventually returning to settle on Max.
“So, have you decided?”
“We would like to ask you some things first?”
“Go ahead.”
“Well, first, can you prove that there are Undead in the Dungeon?”
“What, you don’t believe me?” Bug asks with a little grin on her face.
“Not necessarily, no. But it does seem a bit too convenient.”
“Hmmm… Fair enough. Earlier, I did say that there are already Undead in this layer. Wild things left behind by the necromancer. You are bound to run into them eventually. I’m pretty sure that there should be a giant tree frog zombie around here somewhere… darn thing…”
“Alright then, next question. Why are you heading for the second boss? If the necromancer is here, then shouldn’t you be searching for her here?”
Bug looks around at the massive forest that expands further than she can see. In the distance, a waterfall is dropping thousands of gallons of water from somewhere up above, a rainbow is shining from the light passing through its mist.
“This place is huge. She could be anywhere. But I have a feeling that she is planning on heading deeper into the Dungeon. In order to get away from her pursuers. And if I can get there first?”
Max finishes the thought. “Then you can set a trap instead of wasting your time searching and possibly missing her…”
Bug simply returns a smile and doesn’t say another word.
Max thinks for a bit and then nods. “Ok, next. Can you beat the second boss?”
Bug just shrugs. “I’ve never even seen the boss, but if it is anywhere near as easy as that big boar was, then it shouldn’t be an issue. Tell me about the boss some more, you said it was a giant spider, right?”
“We’ve never fought it either, obviously, but from what we have heard, it is a giant spider that makes its nest in the center of the tenth floor, right above the stairs leading to the next layer.”
“What can it do?”
Max looks to Hannah, and she takes over, finally having gotten her blushing back under control in this serious situation.
“It is called the Brood Mother Black Widow. It can use spider webs to restrain targets, spit poison, and all ten of its legs are bladed. Besides that, is also its bite and the paralytic stinger on its abdomen. It is well armored, but its eyes are a weak spot, and heavy enough blows can break its armor.”
Bug nods as she listens to Hannah list off some details. Before looking back to Max, seemingly prompting him to continue. But before he can, Hannah asks a question.
“You mentioned some poisoned mushrooms in the first layer. What is that about and can you describe them for me?”
Bug looks back to Hannah and thinks for a second before answering. “They are about as tall as me and some as tall as you. Their flesh is like a rainbow of colors, and they have frilly parts that hang and flow in the wind. They also have this poisonous oil that drips off of them and smells really nice. Last I saw, they had filled the second floor and started spreading into the third, probably also the first and maybe the fourth by now…”
Hannah has a scared look on her face now, and she shakes as she asks, “And the necromancer is the one that spread them?”
“Most likely.”
“Oh, that is not good… That is not good at all!”
Max turns to her, “What’s wrong Hannah?”
“If it is what I think it is, those mushrooms might be the Deathly Walking Fungus… Did they grow on the creatures up there as well?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Bug nods. “Yes, the Undead had them growing all over them. Looked like walking mushroom people.”
Hannah turns to Max, her face pale as a sheet of paper. “We NEED to get out of the Dungeon as quickly as we can. Now!”
“What’s the matter, they’re just mushrooms.” Says Sam.
“What’s the matter!? Do you know about the scorched lands to the south-east? About what happened there?”
“Yeah…? Place is always on fire for some reason.”
“Those mushrooms are the reason! Three neighboring kingdoms were swallowed up by those mushrooms in a plague, when one king had the BRILLIANT idea of using them as a biological weapon on his neighbors! The mushrooms got spread further by animals, monsters, birds, and any idiot dumb enough to eat them. In just a couple of years, the mushrooms had covered the lands, and their capitals were consumed, the people that couldn’t get away, reduced to walking blights that spread spores with their every breath!”
“Huh… So, why is it the scorched lands now?” Asks a nervous Jakub.
“An Immortal. Everyone in the surrounding lands was panicking, and the only thing that seemed to be effective was fire. The Church eventually managed to hire an Immortal to take care of it, and their answer was to burn it all away. Three kingdoms went up in flames, and a day later, the mushrooms were all burned away. The only problem though is that the land is still burning even to this day, almost seven hundred years later…”
“Oh…”
Bug asks a question next, startling everyone as they had almost forgotten about her as she was sitting quietly on her leaf, happily listening to Hannah's story.
“Where did the king get the mushrooms from?”
“Nobody really knows… Any documents related to how he got them were most likely destroyed in the fires long ago, but a popular theory is that he got them from a wandering merchant that sold them as a solution to his problems. They actually wrote a children’s book about it, supposed to teach some moral lessons about not trusting shady people that offer you easy solutions, because it will probably just turn around and become a problem for you later as well.”
Sam whispers in the back, “I’ve never heard of this book before.”
“Because you don’t know how to read.”
“You don’t either, Max!”
Bug and Hannah just ignore them for now, both thinking different things about the story and about how the knowledge within applies to them. Eventually, Bug speaks up again. “Well, luckily, I haven’t seen any of the mushrooms here in second layer yet. I’m not sure if they can get past the first boss room to spread down here…” She looks to Hannah, who just shakes her head no.
“Well, that’s good then… Problem is that the necromancer could decide to spread more of the mushrooms down here. Like say… before entering the second boss room? If I was her, that would be a good way of wiping out any pursuers that managed to chase her this far. If they don’t make it to the second boss fast enough to catch up, they will have the mushrooms in front of them, blocking their path…”
Hannah picks up after Bug, completing the thought as everyone listens in shock. “And even if they tried to escape back up to the first layer, they would have more mushrooms and the Undead blocking their way out…”
Max curses, “Shit! We're boxed in!”
Bug gives him a smile. “Not yet. Not if I, or we, can get to the boss first, that is. Might I remind you that the necromancer doesn’t have a guide.” Bug says pointedly, her eyes on Hannah. “With your help, we could get there first and make it to the third layer.”
“Why not just ambush her before the second boss?” Jakub asks.
Bug looks to the others, seeing if they will answer for her. Hannah eventually comes to the answer and speaks. “Because on the tenth floor, the necromancer has little reason to not use her mushrooms against us! She is planning on spreading the mushrooms there anyways, but at the top of the third layer? Unless the necromancer is immune to the mushrooms, she won’t want to risk it. She’ll be getting chased by her own mushrooms as she tries to clear floors eleven through twenty on her own… So, it is much safer to face her after the boss by setting a trap for her.”
Sam pipes in. “Plus, she’ll probably be tired after taking on the boss. It might even take out some of her Undead for us and make our fight easier.”
Max and Jakub look to Sam before then looking back to Bug who is still sitting comfy on her leaf. Max eventual works up the courage to ask, “Assuming that you would be willing to accept our help, for a split of the bounty, of course…”
Bug looks off to the left for a little bit as she considers the offer. Eventually, she answers. “Fine. I am willing to spit the bounty evenly. That means two gold per person. Or four if we take her alive that is, since it is double for live capture.”
Hannah pipes in. “Considering the threat the necromancer poses to the nation; I wouldn’t be surprised if the bounty has gone up. If those on the surface discover the mushrooms and are busy keeping the Undead from escaping, then the king of Sil will probably increase it. Not to mention the Church.”
Max, Sam, and Jakub all look to each other and nervously swallow as the potential couple of gold coins each, just multiplied into small piles of gold in their minds. Their adventurer hearts filling with greed at the promise of wealth and a life of comfort and fun.
Turning to Bug, Max asks. “And you’re fine with splitting the bounty evenly? Equal shares for everyone?”
“Mhm, yes. I don’t have too much of a need for the money. So long as you help me, I don’t mind splitting it evenly. Hannah can help by guiding us to the boss, and you three can help with fighting and keeping the Undead occupied. I’ll handle the Necromancer. Seems like a fair deal, yes?”
Everyone looks to each other and nods as Bug smiles, thoughts of an early retirement from adventuring in their minds, and plans for their futures held in their hearts.
Max, seeing that everyone is in agreement, nods and turns back to Bug, reaching out his hand he says, “It a deal then.”
Bug looks at the offered hand curiously for a second before finally reaching out to grab it. Shaking hands, they part with Bug looking at the palm of her hand curiously.
Hannah asks her, “Everything alright?”
“Hm? Oh, I’m… I’m just not used to people touching me. Don’t worry about it.”
Pulling her arm back under her cloak, Bug stands and then gets to work on folding up her blankets and sleeping roll. Somehow tucking them into her cloak one after the other as they disappear inside. Her cloak doesn’t even bulge as more items are brought inside.
Hannah can’t help but watch in amazement as the items disappear, as her party discusses plans behind her, not even watching.
Is her cloak a magic item? I read of rings and bags that can store many items, but it is always legendary individuals, hero’s, and rulers of empires that have them… How would this woman have one? I’ve never heard about anyone famous named Bug, let alone someone that looks like she does… Hmm, although, being a Body Mage, her appearance might just be a disguise, and Bug? That has to be a fake name. Is she a traveler from a faraway land? Ahh…. I want to ask her all about herself, but if I am right, then I doubt that I will get any answers… I probably shouldn’t ask about the cloak either. If it is as valuable as I think it is, she will probably be very guarded about it and might not like having me poking around…
Bug looks over to Hannah as she finishes packing away her stuff. Standing on the leaf, she is almost to the same height as Hannah now. Looking each other in the eyes, Bug says, “I don’t like being looked at…”
Walking forward, Bug alights from the leaf, leaving it waving in the air as she walks past Hannah and down further along the branch. She stops and turns a short distance away as she watches Hannah and waits for everyone to get moving.
Mhh, she is definitely very perceptive. As for the cloak, I don’t think that it would be a good idea to tell the others. They had good recommendations from the Guild, but that doesn’t mean that I can trust them to not try and steal something as valuable as a storage artifact while in the Dungeon. Adventurers are adventurers, no matter how good of people they seemingly are… And if they fail to kill her and take it, then Bug would probably kill all of us for trying, myself included. And even if they succeed? They might end up killing me to keep my mouth shut. After all, I’m not actually a part of their party…
Standing off on the sidelines, Hannah watches as Max and his friends finishes talking and then move to join Bug. The sight of them all standing together would almost be comical – considering that Bug is half everyone’s size- but because she can probably rip them all apart with her bare hands if she gets pissed, it is far from a joking matter right now.
Max smiles to Bug and she returns the smile. “Well, looks like we will be working together for the time being then. Glad to have you, Bug. Now, let’s hurry up and get to the second boss, shall we?”
“Sounds good to me, let’s go.”
Max and Bug turn to Hannah, the question obvious and unspoken.
“Just a little further. You see the branch that is crossing just under ours, further ahead? We’ll have to climb down to that one, and then it will be a straight shot to the stairs from there.
With directions given, Max and his party take the lead as Hannah follows them. Bug remains a bit off to the side, not wanting to walk in front of or behind the party. And though everyone is curious about her, she remains silent as she follows along, her scaled cloak pulled tight around her body and shining in the light that pours down from the canopy far above, her head from the chin up being the only part of her body that is visible.
----------------------------------------
Stats
Name – Bug
Age – 0
Race – Gremlin
Class – Little Bodily Horror
Level – 25
EXP – 15/5000
Free Stat Points - 0
Heath – 270/270
Stamina – 90/90
Mana – 304/304 [Total = 470] [-166 From Control Upkeep]
Vitality – 45 [+1 From Equipment]
Endurance – 30
Strength - 27
Dexterity - 47
Magic - 47
Intelligence - 47
*Luck – N/A
*Note: Luck is a work in progress stat. Points cannot be put into this stat at this time.
----------------------------------------
Well, this certainly makes for a fun change of pace. Hahaha. Who would have thought that all I had to do was change my appearance a little bit and suddenly, the humans can’t even tell that I am a Gremlin anymore. Even the smart girl doesn’t seem to suspect me. They just think that I am human that went too far with the Body magic or something. My legs and feet still feel a little awkward from changing them to be like a human's, but it was worth it so I can blend in better. Just wish that I didn’t have to keep my tail tucked in my shorts… Might have to pick up Grow Tail here soon so I can change how it looks or shrink it into a knub. The less that I look like a Gremlin, the better…
Bug glances towards the humans while she walks a short distance beside them. Her eyes inevitably landing back on the Level 3 smart girl.
It would be nice if she would stop staring at me though… Most of the time, it feels like she is looking at something interesting, like she wants to study me or take me apart or something. But sometimes… usually when I don’t have my wings wrapped around me, it feels like she is looking at me in a different way, almost like those mobs that wanted to touch me… It makes me want to cover myself. I feel like this is yet another reason why it is good to wear clothing. Thank you so much Redacted, for that first gift…
Sending another look towards the girl to get her to stop staring, because that seems to work for the most part so far, Bug eventually gets tired of walking in silence and decides to throw a question at the girl.
“Hey, Hannah, right?”
“Ah, uhm, yes? What is it?”
“Why do you wear that thing on your face?”
“What? You mean my glasses?”
“Yeah, why do you wear them? What do they do?”
“Oh, uhm, my eyesight isn’t very good, so I wear these so I can see better. Without them, everything is blurry, and I can only see things that are close.”
“That can happen!? Is that some kind of sickness or something? A curse?”
“No, it just happens for some people. It doesn’t help that I spend a lot of time reading by candlelight…”
“And these glasses help you see? Can I see them?”
“Uh, sure? Just don’t break them. They are expensive and I need them…”
Bug walks closer and extends a hand to receive them. Watching Hannah, she notices as she starts to squint as she looks around, her hands gripping her clothes nervously as Bug handles the glasses.
Putting them on, Bug looks through them and reels back as her eyes try to compensate to the suddenly blurry vision of distant trees. Taking them off in a hurry, the others laugh as they watch, probably already knowing what was going to happen.
Bug just quickly returns the thing to Hannah, who happily puts them back on.
“How is that supposed to make your vision better? It just made everything hurt to look at.” Bug asks as she rubs at her eyes.
“They only work for people that need them. For people that have good eyesight, they just make your vision worse.”
“Are they magic?”
“No, they aren’t. It’s the curvature of the glass. Depending on how it is shaped, it adjusts what you are seeing and can help correct your vision. Only specialized craftsmen know how to make them though, so they are expensive.”
“Hmmm…”
Bug looks up at her and at the glasses as she thinks.
I could steal them, but I don’t think it would be worth much to me. Could I sell them? She said they are expensive, but I don’t even know who I would sell them to or for how much… Would have to leave the Dungeon first anyways. I wonder how much they would be worth in the Point Store? Meh, if it comes down to a fight with these humans, I can always just break them so she can’t see. Even if she is only Level 3, I already learned not to underestimate a human just because of their Level.
…
On the subject of eyes though, I really don’t like the idea of mine going bad. Plus, what if an attack takes my eyes? Getting blinded in a fight wouldn’t be good... Was saving up to get Body Modification, so I can finally grow taller, but I think I’ll get Grow Eyes first… There we go, that’s all my points spent again, but at least now I can heal and regrow eyes if I need to. Plus, this spell is one of the necessary ones for getting Grow Head, and I need that one… Not going to grow any extra eyes though. Having more than two would just be weird… Regardless, I can use it to enhance my eyes, so I’ll do that later when I have some time.
Hannah had looked away, blushing for some reason, as Bug was staring at her face. Looking at the smart girl’s eyes, Bug notes that they are a brown with rings of green around them. They match nicely with her curly brown hair.
I could also use it on her and heal her eyes, if I wanted to…
Hannah looks back down at Bug again, a weird blush on her face still for some reason as she nervously returns Bug's stares. Bug gives her a glare before looking away and making some space between her and the humans.
“I don’t like it when people stare at me.”
“Ah! But its ok for you to stare at me!?”
“I was looking at your eyes.”
“Eeh!” Hannah squeaks out as she turns away, her blush coming back again stronger for some reason as she looks away from Bug.
Weird human… Maybe instead of healing her eyes, I’ll just grown a foot on her forehead…