“So these are the famous adventurers that I’ve heard you talk so much about?” Matt asked Bob, watching as the plated-armoured, green-red, horned, red-eyed devil-like woman defeated yet another of his Giaspiders.
“Yes, master,” Bob said.
"Any suggestions on how I can stop them?” Matt asked, unable to come up with any strategies that came out with him on top.
“....”
“Bob, Bob, ” Matt said, saying Bob’s name over and over again in the hopes of getting a response, suddenly becoming more and more concerned and a slight bit shocked as the seconds continued to go by with no response from Bob.
“....”
“Bob,” Matt said yet again receiving no response.‘Ugh, What’s happening, usually he’s so keen to volunteer as much knowledge as he possibly can, this is so unlike him.'.
“Bob, How do I stop them, Bob?” Matt asked. asking the same question yet again in the hopes of getting a response.
“You don’t” Bob’s voice suddenly rang out.
‘Hhhh, he’s fine,’ Matt sighed, relieved to hear Bob’s words. “Huh, what do you mean Bob?” Matt asked, unsure of how to take Bob’s words, going on to say more only for Bob to suddenly speak.
“You don’t, master, there’s nothing you can do…..” Bob said, suddenly interesting him, seeming afraid, to Matt at least, for the first time in well ever.
“....but not to worry,” Bob said after another second iteration of his dreaded void-filled silence. “From what I’ve seen of them, so far at least, they look like a scout team. You should be fine. But I’m sorry to say, master. That you can't do anything"
‘We’ll see about that’ Matt thought, mentally reaching out to the remaining 20 or so bugs that he had left to him, intent on cutting them, thinking to send one section after the group of 3, and another after the gigantic green, red, haired devil-like woman only to find himself unable to do so.
What the hell’ “Bob why can’t I control my bugs”
“Agh that '' Bob said. “Sorry master, I know I should have told you but I thought it better for you to experience it for yourself”.
“What?Told me what?” Matt asked, almost screaming at this point.
“About the Aura that pervades all living beings, preventing you, or any other dungeon core for that matter, from using any active abilities or skill whilst they are in the vicinity of a dungeon.”
‘Agh Bob………………….’
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‘I swear if there were any traps in this dam dungeon then he’d be tripping all over them’, Jaret thought watching Alen, the noob that he was, as he was again hit by one of the dungeon’s insectile snakes only for it to stop and bounce off a blue ball that faintly fuzzed as one of the spiders many hairs filled tentacle-like legs hit it, the energy barrier, that abb’s had at his insistence put up over the noob, doing its work, protecting the young noob like it was supposed to.
‘I mean why did the Guildmaster have to be so insistent that we take him on anyway? He knows I hate nobles. That's what it is isn't it,’ Jaret thought instantly swerving to the side to avoid a sudden fireball that Abbs had suddenly sent his way. Jumping in shock as one of the Gigantic-sized spiders attempted to jump him from the ceiling. Instinctively bringing Lightbringer up, killing it, receiving the measly amount of 1EP for his troubles.
'He's some nobles brat whose daddy paid the guild to power level him...How else could a noob like him have such expensive stuff?’ Jaret thought, ever stepping onwards, filled with disdain as he resumed his watch upon the young kidlike noob as he continued to mess about with his Dam gold-diamond-filled sword like it was some sort of toy.
The very sight sickened him. Sickened him.
How the nobles could afford such extravagance on one of their own and yet still they couldn’t even be bothered to pay an ounce of interest towards the upkeep of their various private armies that they all employed.To the men and women who for them.’My brothers and sister’, the people who fought, bled and died for them in their many, many wars, was degusting.
And all just for their own selfish little desires.‘Oh, great lady, why must you test me so...' Jaret silently preyed, gripping Lightbraker ever tighter as he continued to watch, quickly glancing away to the side, to Abb’s, away from the noble noob and all that he represented, in the hopes of stopping himself before he could do something that he knew he could never come back from.
"This way..." Abb's said her eyes half-open/half-closed, her having seemingly caught onto what he wanted of her without him even having to ask, turning and pointing to the cave on the left side without him needing to ask.
“Come on, we don't have all day," Abb’s yelled, eyes half-closed still, not even turning to look at him as she continued onwards through the dungeon, relying, he assumed, more upon her mental map ability than she was to her other senses to lead them all through the dungeons.
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"Ok, Ok. Here we go," He said, stepping to where she directed him, keeping an ever careful eye on the young ignoble noble noob as he did so, filled with the ever fatal knowledge that he could kill him any time he so wanted, and yet was something he would never do as it would make him the very thing that he so hated and strove never to be.
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“Ha,ha,ha. That tickles!” Tam shouted, giggling, not even attempting to block as the irritant spider that was her opponent swiped forwards with one of its many hind legs, hitting her with such force that it would have almost assuredly flattened any normal Novice-ranked individual, though all it did to her was force her back a step or two.
“Ha, my turn,” She muttered, her heart pumping to the brim with excitement, barely a scratch on her, having absorbed the brunt of the blow with the help of her Master level constitution, immediately stepping forwards, with a devilish smile upon her as she raised her axe.
, “FLAMING DEVIL RAGE!” Tam roared, instantly turning, twisting her great giant broadsword Axe to the right, ensuring that she was fully faced with the gigantic-sized spider as she activated her flaming devil rage ability, flames suddenly appearing in an instant, pouring out from her many, many pores, instantly spreading up, down and across the eternity of her gigantic body and her axe both, healing the few wounds that she possessed as it did so.
"Hah!” Tam screamed one final time, pushing her axe down upon the gigantic spider.
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‘What the….’,’ Matt watched, amazed and more than a bit dumb stricken, as the tall green-red-haired Giant of a woman lit up herself and her gigantic, broadsword-like, axe with some sort of green coloured like fire, her having seemingly activated some kind of skill or ability that allowed her to set herself alight, making herself look more like a demon than she already did. Watching in sheer horror as she used her newly inflamed Axe to split yet another of his creations in two.
“The cores, not far now!” She vainly shouted to seemingly empty air heading, forward’s. towards the general vicinity of his core.
‘Oh no there getting closer’, Matt panicked, the fear of death having quietly overtaken any sense of reason that he might have had left. Never had he ever been more afraid for his own life than he was right at this very second. Wishing now that he’d taken Bob’s advice and waited a little longer before opening himself to the world.Promising to himself that he would pay more attention to the advice that he was given from now on.
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“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!” Jaret screamed at Tam, filled with rage and anger both at her very presence. “ Leaving us as you did! It was irresponsible. It was irrational! And worst of all! It was cruel! You should have known better! Tam! Well, what do you have to say for yourself, say something dammit!”
“I’m sorry sir,The…” Tam as blunt as ever said, looking downwards in shame. “The bloodlust overwhelmed me,” She said, suddenly crying.
“What? But, but, but....” He said, shocked for words, having never seen Tam cry before in all the seven years that he had known her. “I thought you said you were getting the hang of it. That you had control.”
“Yes sir I was, but now it’s worse than ever before!” Tam said, stoically brushing her tear’s aside, seemingly unwilling to let him see anything more than he already had.
“You, you could have told me. Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped. Did you know about this?” Jaret asked instantly, turning to Abb’s, knowing that if Tam would have told anyone it would be her.
“No” Abbs shook her head in shame, as tear-eyed as Tam if not more so, immediately rushing over to Tam, to Jaret's chagrin having as he did to rush to the side to avoid her as she went to tackle her lover and best friend into a hug, not an easy task when one was in plate mail no matter there constitution.
“I know my love, I'm sorry,” Tam said, “I’m sorry…”, Tam continually looked downwards in shame. Accepting the hug from Abbs for what it was. A gentle gift of kindness from one who loved her the most. Not even attempting to push her away even as she continued to look downward, away from him in shame.
“Well you couldn’t, could you,” Abbs sobbed out, seemingly crying for the both of them, Jaret quietly watching, staying to the sidelines as they continued to hug their problems away. “Hhh,'' Jaret sighed.‘I don’t know If I should be angry at her or sad for her. ‘Can I be both?’, he wondered, unsure what to say or do.’.
“No” Tam halfheartedly said, still looking downwards, a slight mumble in her voice.
“I’m sorry chief, I let you down, But I think I found a way to fix it. '' Tam said, finally looking upwards at him. Pulling out from her pocket a tiny black stone diamond that seemed to shine as bright as any dungeon core or sun possible could.
“It’s ok you don’t have to…” Jaret said only to immediately stop, suddenly beaming with shock at the tiny black diamond-like stone that she now held in the palm of her hands.
‘A reset stone’, “How! How did you…” Jaret said, curling his hands up in a ball, as shocked as the others seemed to by this sudden development. Sighing. Taking a quick breath, calming himself before continuing on.
"Huh, where did you get it?"Jaret asked, having finally calmed himself, sighing outwards as he did so.
“The pale dungeon, sir.” She said, not a hint of regret on her as she spoke the words. Not that he could blame her, she was in an impossible situation, ‘Still, she could have told us, I would have helped’ He thought, both strangely sad yet happy at the same time that she had not.
“The pale dungeon?” He repeated, needing to be sure for the sake of the party if nothing else.
“Yes sir, the pale dungeon,” Tam said. "I swiped a small piece of shard when no one was looking and had an enchanter create it"
‘Hugh good,’ “Ok.” He said, muttering, sighing at Tam’s words, content at least for now with her answer. Not blaming her for her actions, she had done the best she could with what Fate had given her.
“Ok, sir,” Tam said with obvious confusion within her eyes and voice. Having evidently expected some sort of condonement from her words. A shout. A punch. Perhaps even a kick of the team for good measure.
And yes, certainly that last one would have perhaps been the obvious choice had they been on the surface. But they weren’t, and he couldn’t afford to lose her now, not when it would mean sacrificing all this hard-earned ground that they had already covered.
“Yes ok,” Jaret said, having fully finished his rant. Turning to face her. “You did what you had to do. I may not like it. But I understand why you did it. Now, let’s go. We can talk more about this later. Right now we’ve got a core to find,” He said to Tam unsure of what else to do with her but use her as he would any other time. “Common, let's go,” he said, daring her to challenge him.
“Yes sir,” Tam said, head down in defeat, seemingly not willing to risk pissing him off further than she already had.
“Good,” He said, turning to Abbs, intent on asking her how far it was to the Dungeon's Core only for her to promptly speak up. “Not far now, sir, about 2 maybe 5 minutes away if we slow our pace down a bit”, she said, having answered his question without him even needing to ask.
“Ok then, let’s not do that then, Hhh here, we go,' Jaret yelled, mumbling, giving one final quick nod to Abbs and started to walk forwards even faster than before, the rest of the party all quickly increasing their pace to match his own as he did so.