Chapter 3 – The tunnel

Devon

“What did you do, Dan’Gul?” Devon screamed at the Orc. They all watched the entrance to the dungeon with large eyes.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that!” The Orc's eyes were bulging and red shot. He was almost frothing at the mouth.

“The spell was flawlessly executed. I had it verified by a magistrate in Zingala. You! You must have done something to it.”

“Don’t kid yourself Hexer. None of us would dabble in such vile magic.” Liara's face was full of scorn and she looked ready to resume the fight from before.

Gripping her mace, the others could hear the leather squeak from the pressure.

Devon held up his hand.

“Stop, there’s been enough killing. Lay down your weapons now and we’ll try to salvage this mess.” He looked towards Dan’Lug’s companions and they tensed under his hard gaze. The tension mounted until the small Ratkin threw down his daggers, followed by the Deathguards war hammer. The Dark Priestess looked like she wanted to say something but instead, she threw down her flail.

Dan’Lug would not have any of it though.

“No! I didn’t sacrifice so much to end up in some damn Empire prison or worse, dead!” He threw back his sleeves, revealing the two curses he had been conjuring, and raised them towards Devon.

“I will find the boy and kill him and take from him what I need.”

As he whipped his arms forward two things happened. An axe came from the right slicing his rightmost arm at the elbow. From his left, a giant war hammer descended which such force that it crushed the arm cleanly at the other elbow.

With nowhere to go, the mana gathered within the Hexer turned upwards the only way it could. The magic started to crawl up his arms, flesh dissolving and rotting instantly. The orc stared with an open mouth, unable to realize that he was dead. He thought himself immortal already, like so many of those who walked the Dark Paths without the knowledge or aptitude for it.

As the magic reached his throat, he tried to scream but all that came out was a wet gurgle followed by the flop of his head as it detached from his severed head, the rot having eaten straight through his neck.

Korgan and Kain were looking at each other from either side of the dead orc. They nodded toward one another and Kain dropped his weapon again. Morgana moved forward and collected their weapons while Liara secured them with mana-suppression shackles. The three squirmed as the magic took hold, draining them of their power and leaving them no stronger than the Norms.

While this was happening, Devon stood at the edge of the pit looking down upon the entrance to the dungeon. A Death dungeon. There was nothing as heinous as dungeons of that type. There was only one other existing dungeon of that type in the world. That dungeon was constantly monitored by the acolytes of the Dark Gods, under the ever-watchful eyes of Devon’s own order of Paladins, the Dawnstriders.

Korgan approached his old friend and followed his gaze toward the pit.

“What do you think is going on?” Korgan asked the dark-haired youth.

“I have no idea... This shouldn’t be happening. If I had been faster or if I had been closer, I could have taunted Dan’Lug then she would still be alive. Hell, if we were just a little bit faster then who knows how many prisoners we could have saved?” Devon had a tear in his eyes, all the deaths tearing at his soul.

Korgan laid his massive hand on the young man's shoulder and squeezed gently.

“You can’t think like that Dev. We did what we could with the information we had. None of this is on our shoulders, it’s all on that damn Greenskin.” Korgan looked over at the headless corpse and spat.

“You’ve led us for three years now Dev, you always make the best decisions and you haven’t led us askew yet. So, what should we do now?”

Devon shook off the self-pity and looked around. Taking in the scarred area at the small cul-de-sac they were standing in.

“Liara, take care of the prisoners, disarm and disrobe them, mana-shackles all the time. Morgana, get back to Linchester and send a message to the capital, tell them we have a newborn death dungeon that has been manipulated by an unknown spell and fed enough experience to tier up. Do not mention anything else until the Inquisitors get here.” He turned towards Korgan.

“Let’s build something a little more defensible as we wait. The Dungeon hasn’t changed so whoever or whatever fell in, hasn’t died. My guts tell me it won't either.”

Devon moved away from the edge and started walking to a copse of small trees as he spoke to the dwarf.

“We don’t know what time difference this dungeon is on. It could have been ten minutes or an hour in there by now and we need to prepare for it to emerge successful. If that happens, we’ll face a bronze-ranked enemy.” The others listened intently and they all trembled as they got to work.

Devon paused and looked back at the dungeon. The others wondered what was going through his mind but they had their tasks.

Devon's mind was clouded by doubt. He was pretty sure that he was the only one who had seen just exactly what happened there at the end. He saw the fear and confusion in the eyes of the young man who fell, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was just as much a victim as the farmers.

The goddess protects he thought. Then he went back to work.

Belmont

Belmont screamed bloody murder as he woke. His heart was pounding so hard he couldn’t stop himself from shivering as he lay on the cold ground. Sobs of terror and fear escaped his closed lips as he caught himself from screaming more. It was a miracle a rat hadn’t eaten him when he slept.

He didn’t know how long it took, it could be minutes or hours but soon his heart slowed to its normal rhythm, and his body slowly relaxed. Focusing on his breathing he stood up and looked around hoping to be able to see something. As he opened his eyes another yelp escaped him, but this time he controlled himself.

He could see the room perfectly now. It wasn’t brighter or anything but the darkness was not as deep and it was like he saw the room through some kind of filter.

“What is going on with me? Why is this happening.” He noticed something blinking in the corner of his vision and focused on it.

You have killed a Plague-Rat.

Congratulations you are a level 1 Necro-Lord.

Attributes have been activated and completed after awakening.

You have been awarded three starting skills.

You have three attribute points to distribute.

You have learned the Skill – Deathless Gaze level 1

You have learned the Skill – Bone Spear level 1

You have learned the Skill – Summon Lesser Skeleton level 1

You have entered the Dungeon of the Lone Peak, complete the dungeon within three weeks, or be purged.

He read through all the notifications thoroughly. He wanted as much information as he could get, but the messages were as vague as ever. Except for the purging part, that was pretty clear.

Bel thought he would feel trepidation and fear again but somehow, he felt more secure now when he had calmed down. Much more so than he was used to. With an instinctive thought, he brought up his status screen.

Name: Bel - Bringer of the Apocalypse

Class: Necro-lord (Path of the Summoning Warrior – Death Specialization)

Tempering: Tin (Untempered)

Level: 1

Unassigned points: 3

Attributes:

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 6

Constitution: 5

Intelligence: 6

Willpower: 15

Skills:

Deathless Gaze level 1

Bone Spear level 1

Summon Lesser Skeleton level 1

Summoning Pool 0/3

Traits:

Apocalyptic Being - +1 to all attributes/level

System Breaker – You ignore the rules of the Gods

Avatar of Death and Destruction - +3 Free attributes/level

He gaped at it. Was this who he was? Was this his entire being written down on some burning scroll floating in the air? No, he thought to himself. I am more than this. I am not the bringer of anything, and I'm going to prove it.

But first, he needed to get out of this place.

Taking a minute he went through his screen, analyzing the different parts.

Skipping his name, class, and title that made him shiver, he focused on tempering. He wondered what that meant. He had a sense of strengthening parts of himself, but the how still eluded him. Bel also wondered over the knowledge he now seemed to have, or at least the hint of knowledge. He wanted to avoid thinking about it but something or someone had been in his head.

Moving on to the attributes he thought they felt simple enough and also similar to the RPGs he was used to. Strength affected his overall muscle capacity while dexterity focused on his nimbleness both in body and hands since there wasn’t an attribute for agility.

Constitution probably affected his health and resistance to disease and other physical effects. Intelligence affected his mind and the rate that it worked, but it also affected how well he handled mana. Willpower differed in that it increased the mental strain he could take as summoning creatures could tend to go rogue without a firm hand controlling them. At least that was his theory based on nothing else but experience from games and literature that might or might not be real.

He saw that he had a summoning pool of 0/3 at the moment and since no knowledge came to him, he assumed it was a combination of summoning skill and willpower that made up that number.

Belmont checked the cave mouth and now that he could see in the dark, he noticed that it was a tunnel leading deeper into the ground, but the area seemed deserted. He moved up to the entrance and looked down the tunnel just to be sure, but he saw nothing not even the end of the tunnel. He focused on the rest of his status for now.

Deathless Gaze was probably the skill that allowed him to see in the dark. Focusing on the skill didn’t give any more information. The more he looked around the more it felt natural and within a few seconds he got a new notification and the screen changed.

Deathless Gaze has leveled up.

There wasn’t a noticeable change, not yet. But it gave him the understanding that if he used his abilities, they would grow stronger. Deathless Gaze seemed to cost him a tiny amount of something. It seemed to be an ability that needed to be activated but afterward it was all passive. He must have done that before opening his eyes before.

It differed from the other two skills. He could sense their cost in layman's terms and that made him notice the dark tendrils of mist coursing through his body. A substance he could sense like a warmth in the back of his gut. It was a cold mist clinging to his veins and they originated somewhere within his chest, in a part he thought of as a pool. With a wave of his hand, he used Bone Spear. The result was disgusting. He had imagined holding a bone spear and he did, except the material for the shaping mattered as well. The pile of corpses shifted and a corpse exploded as the bones of the man reshaped themselves into a spear longer than Bel.

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Bel dropped the spear and gagged but there was nothing to throw up anymore. That’s when he noticed the thirst and hunger. He must have been down here longer than he thought for it to return. Getting control of himself again he bent down and picked up the spear. It was a simple spear of bone, more like a javelin than an actual spear. It was thankfully not covered in blood.

The cost of the skill was small but he could feel the dark mist diminish within himself. He also felt a little more tired than before. He wondered about something and so he moved up to the entrance of the tunnel, several meters from the pile of corpses and he used the skill again, picturing what he wanted to too do. This time the result wasn’t as gross.

A spear of bone materialized in his hands but the drain this time was almost ten times as high and the sudden loss of mana, or whatever it was called here, made him lightheaded, luckily, he had two spears to lean on. When the wave of fatigue left him, he got a new message.

Bone Spear has leveled up.

“I guess I need a source of bone if I want to use it more often, but it's good to know that I can use it in a pinch if I have to.” It felt good talking to himself. It helped him focus. With some trepidation, he moved over to the closest corpse, a young man probably in his late teens. The boy had his throat slashed just like the others and Bel touched his forehead before bowing his head in respect. He didn't want to do this but he needed help if he was going to get out off here. Bel sat by the body of the young man for ten minutes, indecision raging within him. In the end, he didn't have a choice.

“I’m sorry about this.” He suspected that the last skill worked similarly to his bone spear and without materials, he wouldn’t have enough energy to cast it. Steeling himself and holding back the gag, he cast Summon Lesser Skeleton and the results were as gruesome as the last time. The flesh melted of the boy leaving only the skeleton whose eyes started to glow an emerald green. A sort of awareness awoke in the back of Bel’s mind and he could sense his creation.

“Up.” The creature stood immediately. He sensed that he could command the creature non-verbally as well but it felt better using his voice for now.

This time the fatigue left him quickly but he could still feel that he had used almost all of his current mana and his body reacted to it. He felt sluggish and his hunger had gotten worse. Bel didn’t know how long it would take for his mana to refill or if he needed to do something to help it along but he focused on the most immediate problem, food, and water.

He wasn’t sure how; it wasn’t a skill but he looked at the corpse of the dead rat and he knew that it was still somewhat fresh. He just didn’t know if it would be a good idea to eat something called a Plague Rat.

Bel handed the skeleton his second spear.

“Carry the rat and follow me.” The skeleton immediately followed his commands, the problem was that it didn’t appear that strong and it was evident as it tried to lift the rat and hold the spear at the same time. The result was a somewhat comedic relief and Bel found himself chuckling at the scene.

“Drag the rat.” He finally said after watching the skeleton fumbling with the rat for a few minutes. It grabbed the rat's tail and started walking after Bel. Bel moved up to the tunnel again and took a deep breath, which he immediately regretted due to the stench, then he started walking down the tunnel. He hadn’t forgotten about his free points and as he walked, he pulled up the burning scroll again.

He wondered if there were builds or a limit to attributes, unfortunately, he had no one to ask these questions. Instead, he focused on what he needed right now. He had no idea if three points was a lot but he received one point in every attribute as well so he guessed that was probably pretty good.

As he kept going down the long tunnel, he felt a new wave of dizziness. The lack of mana in his system affected him still, he couldn’t tell but it didn’t feel like he had regenerated any mana yet. He wondered what attributes affected that if any did. He saw that there was no mention of mana in his status. He wasn’t surprised that there wasn’t one for health or stamina, those things probably couldn’t be quantified that way.

But constitution would probably help him right now. Especially if it affected his need for food and sleep. His stomach growled and his throat itched from dryness just then.

He had to test his way forward. He put one point into intelligence and two points into constitution. A wave of energy coursed through his vein and his mind felt lighter and faster and his hunger and tiredness crept back somewhat. It didn’t go away but he felt better.

Bel did a check on his mana and saw that though the pool in his chest felt just the tiniest bit deeper and wider it was still mostly empty. He had to focus on the path as the tunnel started to twist and turn but it was still unbroken packed earth as far as he could see. He looked over his shoulder and the skeleton was happily following him with the rat and spear in hand. How far did the tunnel go, he wondered.

Several hours later he was still walking the tunnel, the only change was a turn here or there but nothing else, no doors, no rooms, no creatures. He wondered why that rat was so close to the well as there seemed to be nothing else down here. He didn’t want to think about it but a small seed of doubt had started to grow in him. What if the tunnel didn’t have an end, or what if the end was too far for him to make it? His stomach ached and he almost couldn’t produce saliva in his mouth anymore.

Bel decided to take a short rest and sat down with a sigh. His feet were sore and it felt good taking the weight off of them. The skeleton made his way up and stopped a few meters from Bel.

“You don’t mind the walking, do you?” He looked at the skeleton, but the only difference from before was that it had a lot more dirt on its feet and shins.

“Is there anything left of who you were before in there?” The skeleton didn’t answer, it just kept its glowing green eyes forward.

“You looked like a good kid, you must have been what 15, 16? I don’t know what happened to you but I’m sorry for it nonetheless.” He was silent for a moment before whispering.

“And I'm also sorry for what I did to your corpse.”

“I don’t mind the company but it would’ve been nice to have someone to talk to, especially about this crazy system.” Silence.

“I wonder what your name was? You’re going to need a name... I’m going to call you Josiah because you looked like a farm boy.” Josiah didn’t react of course but Bel felt better anyways.

Closing his eyes and laying back against the earthen wall he tried to relax for a few minutes. A few moments later he jerked awake as he heard a scuffling sound. He quickly got to his feet and moved Josiah up with a thought, verbal commands forgotten. The rat lay on the ground where the skeleton dropped it.

Bel raised his spear and held it at the ready, out of habit he checked his mana and he felt that it was partially restored. Had he been sleeping? It didn’t feel like it, he was still tired and sore from the walk. There was no way of telling time down here.

He pushed the thoughts away again and focused on the noise. The tunnel had a bend about twenty meters down and he could see movement as three large rats came around the corner sniffing the air.

He hadn’t watched the last rat that closely in the struggle so he gave these a once over. They were truly disgusting. Large patches of fur were missing. They were so many spots of furless skin, they more resembled mole rats with some fur. Their eyes glowed a dull red and their large teeth gnawed at the air.

The trio of rats shuffled closer and suddenly froze as they noticed Bel and Josiah. With a gleeful screech, they charged forward.

Bel sent a mental command to Josiah to attack and the skeleton suddenly sprang into motion. He was quite capable of fighting without supervision as he demonstrated. With a heave, he sent the bone spear he held toward the lead rat which such strength that the spear cleanly went through the whole rat before stopping half buried in the ground behind it. The rat took a few more steps before collapsing, a pool of dark blood forming underneath it.

Bel was momentarily stunned at the savagery of Josiah. The skeleton didn’t even slow down instead charging past the dead rat and throwing itself at the second one, where it started to tear and rend the flesh of the squealing rat. Throwing your weapon is always a bad idea even though I knew that. But the rat didn’t put up much fight against Josiah as its bites did nothing to the skeleton's magickly-infused bones.

The fight ended within seconds when Josiah ripped the struggling rat in two, blood and gore splattering all over the white bones. Bel would have been sick if it weren’t for the problem before him.

The third rat ignored his struggling brother as it only had eyes for Bel. Bel readied the bone spear but his hand was shaking from the adrenaline and he felt sweat dripping down his back. Trying to steady the spear and hit the rat as it threw itself at him, his courage failed him just before it hit and he threw himself to the side hitting the wall, but the maneuver worked and the rat soared past him with a surprised squeak.

It landed a few meters behind Bel who pivoted and, in his panic, lashed out with the spear, by a fluke it hit the rat just above its right back leg and the leg went limp. The rat gave a startled sound of pain and turned towards Bel. It started to charge him again but the leg slowed it down, allowing Bel to move back passed Josiah.

Bel’s heart was pounding but as he passed Josiah the skeleton gripped the spear right out of his hands and threw it at the last rat. His aim wasn’t as good this time but he still managed to pin the rat to the ground as it hit just below its neck piercing flesh and bone and into the ground. The rat franticly tried to get free but it only did more damage to itself and before it could register what happened, Josiah stepped forward and brained it with his fist. The skeleton was stronger and harder than normal bone should be.

You have killed a Plague Rat x3.

“Why weren’t you that strong before when I asked you to carry that rat?” Bel was confused. Why did the skeleton suddenly act so strong, was it because this was its intended use, a killing machine?

As the adrenaline settled a wave of fatigue came over Bel again. Stress truly tired you out, he thought to himself.

His stomach gurgled and he reluctantly looked at the four rat corpses. He planned to find something to burn so he could cook the meat but it seemed he had no choice but to eat it raw. That’s when he noticed the white glowing mist around the three new corpses.

He wondered if they had some type of disease that they were releasing. He moved away from the corpses and commanded Josiah to move them. The mist didn’t seem to affect the Skeleton as it once again awkwardly moved the corpses.

Bel tried sniffing the air but all he could smell was the normal stench of the rats. With a small shuffle, he got close to the first rat and held his breath as he poked the rat with his foot. A notification appeared then startling him and before he could stop himself a squeal escaped his lips. Red-faced from the embarrassment he looked at Josiah.

“You heard nothing!”

He then read the notification and his mouth dropped.

You have received 1 copper coin.

You have received Flint and Tinder.

“They give loot?!” Bel was surprised, to say the least. This system felt more and more like a game and even with the possibility of death, it felt surreal. Like someone was playing a huge joke on him.

He quickly touched the other two rats and got another two copper coins, an empty waterskin made from some kind of leather that he hoped wasn’t a rat, and finally a stack of firewood.

The items didn’t materialize until he held out his hand, unfortunately, he only figured that out when he reached for his spear and all the items materialized on his hand. Most of the items weren’t much to worry about but the firewood left a large bruise.

After Bel was done swearing, he picked up the items, the waterskin he hung on his jeans, it had a leather string. The coins went into his pockets after he examined them.

They were circular with a small hole in the middle and strange markings, like runes, around the edges. He wondered if it was a language or what meaning they held.

The flint and tinder easily fit in another pocket but the firewood was a problem. There were ten almost identical logs which probably weighed a few kilos each. He solved the problem by giving the logs to Josiah who silently but happily carried them in a princess carry.

Feeling done and ready to move on, his sight fell on the corpses on the floor. He hadn’t thought about it but his mana had refilled somewhat. He couldn’t make a full cast of the spell but he could make use of the bones here. Concentrating he cast the skill, spell whatever, on the closest rat corpses, and the flesh melted off of them and two skeleton rats stood before him.

Summon Lesser Skeleton has leveled up.

A wave of fatigue came over him and a pressure settled on his shoulders. Bel could feel the stress on his mind and body to control these three skeletons. He understood the limit imposed on him now.

He wondered when he was going to level again. He had killed more enemies now than when he leveled the first time, but yet again he had no idea about the rules here. Perhaps leveling was rare and extremely hard. He had to stop thinking about it as a game, this wasn’t a game it was a world with different rules than what he was used to.

Shaking the questions from his mind again, he steeled himself and grabbed one of the remaining rats’ tails, and started walking again. He would stop and try to cook the rat if nothing better came up in the next couple of hours. But he felt that the sudden appearance of the rats probably meant that there was a change from this blasted tunnel nearby.

The tunnel kept turning and twisting and he could have sworn that he walked back the way he came several times. His thirst and hunger grew and he thought about eating the damn rat raw. The rat was heavy but he kept dragging it, he wouldn’t give up now. He was close, he could feel it. Then suddenly something shifted in the tunnel and one of the rats came back and looked at him. They couldn’t communicate but he could sense something, the orders he gave them were specific. They weren’t in danger but the other rat was about a hundred meters further down the tunnel. He could sense his creations at all times, not their exact locations but that they were alive, he chuckled to himself at that thought, and what direction they were in general.

Josiah kept walking forward stoically in silence as usual and Bel put his last energy into picking up the pace. A few minutes later the tunnel ended and a cave opened up, a perfect circular domed cave with stalactites growing like teeth from the ceiling, but the floor was perfectly leveled and more packed earth with a few rocks here and there.

Bel saw something then that made him drop the rat and shuffle forward. On the other end of the cave was a pond, a beautiful large pond of dark water. His mouth started to cramp from the thought of sticking his head into that cold water. He was running towards the pond when a sense of alarm spiked through him. His eyes had adjusted to the fact that he could see perfectly in the dark, then why couldn’t he see the bottom of the pond? His eyes widened at a sudden movement from the pond and he threw himself backward even as he slipped on the earthen floor. Without thinking he sent the summons forward.

A shadowy mass of tentacles exploded from the water trying to grapple him. Bel would have died right there if it wasn’t for the two skeleton rats that threw themselves at the tentacles, gnawing and biting into them, thick dark blood flew everywhere as the thing undulated from pain, although no sound came from it.

A pair of bony hands gripped his shoulder and Bel yipped in surprise and fear before he noticed Josiah dragging him back from the fight.

The rats were fearless and had no regard for their safety, but they were still rats and the first one and then the second rat was torn apart by the creature.

Bel saw now as it had emerged from the pond fully, that it was a large octopus, pitch black with two glowing white eyes. The thing was hideous but now out in the open the fear he felt lessened. Instead, steely determination took over. The octopus had lost the element of surprise and tried to pull back down into the waters.

“Oh no you don’t!” Without thinking, Bel summoned a bone spear but instead of summoning it to his hand he flicked it towards the creature and it flew straight as an arrow, piercing the creature and pinning it to the floor. He didn’t even notice the fatigue and mana drain this time. Instead, he roared and charged it, Josiah, at his side.

With another flick and a bone spear pierced the head of the octopus, it flailed around in pain but didn’t die. Josiah charged past Bel, he wasn’t fast and he made an awful ruckus but with thrust, he threw himself forward with his bone spear and skewered the octopus a third time. It tried to grip the skeleton but suddenly it went limp and a strange sensation came over Bel.

You have killed a Voidopus.

You have leveled up.

You have secured a safe zone.

Bone Spear has leveled up.

Summon Lesser Skeleton has leveled up.

A sense of energy coursed through him but it didn’t heal him or take away his fatigue or hunger. He wobbled as he realized that he had severely overdrawn on his mana, he was empty and his head felt full of cotton. His legs couldn’t support him anymore and he fell over unconscious.