CVETKA KRALJ

Following the others, Cvetka saw that they followed the fleeing lizards to what looked like a portal: A circular hole in the night, out of which violet light seeped. Cvetka ran to the group, tried to get ahead of them and shouted: “Stop!”

The others seemed not to notice her and moved around her. Tapping one of them gave the message that Yanigalean Resistance could not be extended any further at her current level. Cvetka made a gesture indicating futility. “Not at the current level!” she murmured.

Crystal cursed badly. “We need to follow them. We are not sure what is happening to them and if they are able to resist.”

Cvetka nodded: “That sounds awesome.”

Crystal and Cvetka followed the group into the dungeon. The sky was glowing in violet and the ground was stony and cold. The ground looked dark, almost black and even through the shoes, Cvetka could feel the icy temperature. The ground was slippery as well as in odd, irregular shapes, making moving difficult. The two slowly moved but the main group too struggled getting ahead as well. She heard the sound of movement behind them. Turning around, she saw another one of these lizards, except that this one had violet glowing patches of scales, while the others were just in the vague colour of the sand.

Cvetka struck the monster with her iklwa. She was not able to break the scales and this time, there was no convenient drop to throw the animal off of. She only kept it at bay.

Crystal screamed as she saw the giant reptile approach Cvetka. As she was without any good offensive skills, she could just use her quarterstaff and her mediocre physical attributes.

The monster shifted its attention to the loud target and lashed its tongue out at Crystal.

An upward slash with the iklwa severed it. Crystal removed the disgusting tongue from her clothing, ripping it in the process and momentarily making Cvetka wonder just how straight she actually was. She chided herself and averted her gaze towards the giant lizard that approached. Her thrusts and slashes were now directed at softer targets: the eyes, the nose holes, the opened mouth, or if this was not possible, to keep the sharp claws and teeth in a distance from herself and Crystal.

Crystal hit the giant monster onto the head, the claws and onto the knees. Her main goal seemed to be to keep the lizard away from herself and Cvetka and allowing her some precious chances for strikes into vulnerable areas.

She was unsure how much time had passed when the lizard was suddenly hit by a projectile. Rush shouted at her: “What the fuck are you trying to accomplish here‽ Let me handle this!”

He casts a spell and blasts the animal with another bolt of fire.

Crystal looked at him as if he was slow: “Why are you using fire on a fucking Salamar‽ That’s how these things recover! Have you not paid attention in class‽”

Rush shouted back: “This is a variant. You see the purple scales, don’t you? These have other affinities! Though I am not sure what their affinity is…”

Cvetka responded: “Mental affinity, if I’d have to guess. You entered this dungeon as if you were in a trance.” She examined whether the Salamar took any damage or even recovered from the firebolts, but that didn’t seem to be the case either way. She shouted to Rush: “Do you have other elemental spells? It seems reasonably resistant against fire.”

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Rush shouted back: “How many levels do you think I gained in this short time since integration‽ I am only level 3!”

Cvetka responded: “And I am only level 2 and have chosen one of the new classes, so you are still ahead of me in terms of level and class knowledge. But I am going to take this…” she slashed at the salamar, making it bleed more heavily out of its left eye, “...as a no.”

Rush once again threw a firebolt at the salamar.

Crystal smacked the left knee of the giant monster and it collapsed onto its side. That allowed Crystal, Cvetka and Rush to hit the monster with what they had.

Cvetka stabbed it through its eye and felt the shift in her grow more substantial. She then saw the notification: She killed the salamar and advanced to Level 3. This time, she gained a spell, or as it was officially called, skilled practise: Mirrored Damage. There was no further description of the skill, but she had an idea what it would do. She activated it and then asked Rush to slap her to test a skill.

Rush did so and immediately held his own cheek. “What the fuck‽” he screamed.

Cvetka rubbed her own cheek as well. She said: “So, the spell works. Let’s hope that it does against the salamar.”

SKIPS-ONE-STEP

“Shivers, these are salamar, salamar variants actually.” Skips explained as she used her after the second integration rather ridiculous speed to get close to the salamar, Shivers detected on the horizon. She carried a simple spear that she stabbed into the creatures’ heads and then rushed away. Sometimes, she immediately defeated them, sometimes, she just injured them and had to attack a second time. She used her own speed and the limited area of vision of these animals for her benefit by attacking from behind and running away before they could catch up. The message that she gained the skill Spearmanship appeared in a red notification. She ran back to Shivers: “We have a skill. I am submitting it as we speak to the repository.”

Shivers, who had formed a party with Skips in order to get part of the experience, even though xe felt quite uncertain about fighting.

Shivers immediately replaced one of xir level 2 skills for the new level 1 one as well as a level 1 recovery skill. “I took it. May I try?”

Skips confirmed and reminded Shivers where the weaknesses on a salamar were. Shivers confirmed: “Tongue, eyes, and ear holes, got it!” Xe then ran towards the nearest Salamar, a water salamar with an elemental weakness to fire. Within a moment, the scorpion of Tsanh whipped xir tail towards the right ear hole and secreted poison into it. The monster would not immediately cease to exist and so xe used the spear to attack the monster until it expired. Xe felt like celebrating, but felt a vibration in the sand. Xe concentrated for a moment and then struck xir spear into the sand and over and over again struck something in it. Only the fact that the spear turned dark in the sheen of monster blood.

“Sand predatory-animals-that-live-in-the-ocean?” Kiresula asked no one in particular in confusion, the term ‘shark’ being automatically translated to the closest equivalent, “these things should be way above what is expected in a newly integrated territory.”

She shouted at Shivers to run immediately. Hearing the desperate tone, xe ran and a giant shape emerged from the sand in pursuit. It did somewhat look like a shark, however, one that was sand coloured. Its mouth was gigantic, its eyes mere tiny black dots and its gills looked crystalline.

Skips ran up to Shivers to take the spear. She shouted: “Shivers, do you see some kind of red circle of light somewhere around here?”

Shivers confirmed: “Towards the Village constellation. In the direction of the Little Tent!” Skips didn’t see anything there but trusted the Solidarity boosted sight of Shivers. In the fight against the monsters, xe had proven just how amazing xir sight was.

“Crap, that is a Level 9 dungeon that is spewing these monsters and will continue to do so until the first defeat!” Skips cussed.

Shivers had heard of dungeons, but never encountered one. Yet xe knew that Level 9 was bad news. “So, we need to assemble a group to clear it together!”

Skips agreed: “Indeed! Can you ask some strong people from the village to come? We have to clear a dungeon.”