Fanv's heart hammered in her chest as she ran through the tunnels. She was still in her human for, naked and filthy, blood and dirt clinging to her skin. Her legs pumped at record speed, bringing her towards the cave entrance where the adventurers had entered just moments ago. She still felt Maker's presence in her mind and body, filling her with energy and guiding her through the maze of stone and dirt. But it wasn't telling her to fight the intruders, no it had let Fanv make that decision herself. And she had decided.
She would stay in the dungeon and learn. Learn how to fight, learn how to survive, and learn how to control her violent impulses. She would fight and possibly kill, yes, but it would be on her terms.
She would try to scare the adventurers away, using violence if necessary, but her aim would be to make them leave alive. That was the plan but a growing part of her mind hoped they would resist. It wanted to tear their skin and rip through flesh and tissue until their last shred of life poured through her jaws and claws. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.
The walls of the tunnels vibrated with movement, she could sense the thousands of small creatures rushing beneath stone and dirt, guided by the dungeon itself just like Fanv. Maker was afraid and furious at the intruders, its emotions flowing into the minds of all its creatures. Fanv picked up her pace, almost flying through the dim tunnels, soon the stench of blood would fill the dungeon. She couldn't help but grin.
As the archer and scout of the group, Ben made his way first into the dark opening of the cave. Their mage, Kirk, had sensed the spike in nature's dormant magic reserves, a telltale sign of a nearby dungeon. Dungeons steadily produce magical energy that it injects the surrounding lands with, letting monsters and plants feed on it and breed at an abnormal pace. Rare plants and monsters were drawn to it and they could be turned into valuable materials. Ben's group had been lucky to notice it during their journey towards the coast. They had planned to stay the night in the small village Ogon and a dungeon would provide them with things to sell and trade for, letting them save up on their current funds.
Shaw held up his hand and signaled to the others to stop. His sight was surprisingly keen for a warrior who specialized in defense, almost better than a scout. He pointed at a small opening in the stony ground just a few meters up ahead. Many short trees and bushes hid a slope leading down to the mouth of a cave.
"It's rather small..."
"No shit Joshua, are you a scout now as well? I should just let you and Shaw take over from now on."
Shaw grunted in amusement as Joshua sulked at the remark. This was one of the times Ben felt almost unneeded and as usual, he was quick to inform the others so.
Joshua was about to retort but Shaw pushed past him and started for the cave, Kirk and Ben taking position behind him as support. Joshua hurried up to take his place as the rear guard, muttering about cocky archers while unsheathing his sword.
Shaw carefully stepped into the small cave opening, wincing as his armor scraped across the narrow stone walls. After about a meter the opening grew much wider, opening up to a much larger cave. A dim light joined the light from the entrance, seemingly coming from somewhere within the cave. Shaw moved to let the others follow into the room as he scanned for dangers.
The walls were crooked and uneven, rocks and stone jutting out here and there. The floor was made off dry dirt without any plants. The only noise seemed to come from the outside. It was unnaturally quiet.
Ben scanned the room with knowing eyes, noticing nothing threatening he signaled the others to keep moving. Kirk muttered something and a small flame lit up above their heads, illuminating the large cave and winding tunnel up ahead. Their footsteps echoed as they made their way deeper into the dungeon, continuously scanning the walls for any sign of the expected monsters.
They didn't have to walk far before the first monsters appeared. They came out of the walls.
Mice, rats, hares, squirrels, all sorts of rodents rushed at them in waves of gnashing teeth and glowing eyes. They all screeched as they ran towards the humans, then their voices burst like glass as a ring of fire blasted out around the humans, sweeping through the wave of rodents, leaving nothing but twitching and crumbling corpses.
Kirk's expression didn't change in the least after witnessing the carnage his spell created. Ben, however, had a hard time keeping himself from throwing up. He nearly lost it when he saw the second wave follow the first and meeting the same fate. The third however quickly retreated when they saw what became of their kin. The remaining rodents watched from their tunnels as the humans waited and then continued onwards. The rodents knew that only death would meet them if they kept rushing in. So for the first time, they silently followed the group instead of rushing them, plotting a new plan with better chances of victory as they went.
The adventurers continued their march after no more rodents appeared. They moved quietly, wary of any approaching enemies. Their vigilance paid off when Joshua swung his sword just above Kirk's head, cutting a lighting fast projectile in half, successfully saving the mage's life. The group stopped and Shaw raised his shield to protect them from any other projectiles. They heard something large scuttle away across the dark ceiling, retreating into the walls much like how the rodents had first appeared.
Ben bent down to inspect the broken projectile.
"It looks like bone or- wait a second is that hair?"
As he pulled on an uneven part of the white lump a thin veil of string stretched out between his fingers and the lump. It looked like spider weave that had been tightly compressed into an oval lump. It was hard and damp from a thick, sticky substance. Ben bit back the sick feeling he got from the strange projectile. It was hard enough to do some serious damage if it had hit Kirk's head like intended. The speed at which it was fired had probably been enough to send it right through his skull.
"I think our boy Joshua just saved your life, Kirk."
Kirk shuddered.
"I owe ya Joshy."
Shaw clunked his shield on the ground.
"Whatever it was that shot it seems to be gone now." He muttered in his deep bass voice.
"Let's keep moving." Ben was getting excited. If the dungeon had stronger monsters then it meant the materials gathered from their bodies would be even more valuable.
"It's a shame there's no plants tho. Coulda been some rare ingredients." Kirk sighed, then a second projectile went straight through the back of his head.
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The group sprang into action as their mage fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the two holes in his head.
"FUCK, SHIT, SHIT-" Joshua kept swearing as he swung around. The shot had come from the opposite side of the tunnel and slightly from the ground. Whatever it was that shot had been under the ground and gotten there fast from its previous position up on the ceiling. A dark furry shape dived back underneath the dirt as Ben's arrow struck it, just a second too late to hit the creature.
Shaw swung his shield down hard onto the ground, sending a shockwave through the silence as he roared a challenge into the darkness. The light of Kirk's spell was fading fast as the flame above them died out. And then something answered the roar.
A high pitch scream, close to the sound of a human woman, that then trailed into a scratchy vibrating sound. Soon many more such screams answered the first one. The cave system rang with it, coming from every direction. Strong, raw, fury made into sound. Then the stone around them rang even louder with the bangs of hooves striking it.
That's when they saw the first goat. A gray goat, no bigger than a dog, with marble-white hooves and patches of green mold covering their fur. The mold and the eyes were the only colors present on the creature. The eyes were an intense red that bled light into the tunnel, glowing with anger. It opened its mouth, revealing rows of serrated teeth and then it screamed again.
The humans barely broke out of their trance in time to react to the flock of goats that came from behind them. The small creatures smacked into them with the force of a horse-drawn cart. They ignored all hits to their heads or small bodies and sunk their teeth into any exposed flesh, then they thrashed their heads backward to get their opponents off balance.
Shaw swung his shield and knocked three goats of off Joshua, who in turn severed the heads of four others with his sword. Ben, however, wasn't so lucky and fell to the ground before the other two could help him. He screeched as the goats pulled him away and one of them stomped on his windpipe, crushing it and sending him into a gurgling fit of panic before another goat stomped right through his head.
Shaw bellowed in rage and crushed another pair of goats underneath his shield. The goats were too fast for him however and while he normally would have killed ten or eight with each swing he barely managed two or three when he got lucky enough to hit at all. This was thanks to the thousands of rodents that peered through their openings, watching every movement and filtering all useless information out and relaying the useful info to the goats with the help if the dungeon itself.
This was thanks to the thousands of rodents that peered through their openings, watching every movement and filtering all useless information out and relaying the useful info to the goats with the help if the dungeon itself.
Maker had, at the request of the rodents, linked them up with the goats to guide their movements. Supported by the thoughts and reflexes of thousands, the goats could out-move almost anything the humans did. But then something happened to the large human clad in metal, holding a shield almost as big as himself. Something in his eyes changed as he watched his partner fall onto one knee. He roared again, but this time it sounded primal and sent fear rolling through the monsters' spines. The rodents squealed and retreated, leaving the goats to deal with the mad human themselves.
The flock of goats hesitated and then the ironclad human swung his shield yet again, sending thirteen of them flying with crushed bodies. The goats were not as many as the rodents and the hits to their numbers affected them even more so because of that. Twenty-three of them remained of their former thirty-seven. The human roared again and twenty-three became nineteen. They felt the effect of the Skill the human had activated. [Berserker] spread fear among all enemies and made the user even stronger at the risk of overusing their own body, damaging them greatly at the end of the effect.
Shaw swung around and around, smashing and crushing any of the goats that didn't move fast enough. Joshua lay bleeding at his feet, barely breathing and with a crushed shoulder and leg. He felt his skill strengthening his body and coloring his vision red. Ben and Kirk were dead and the reality of it screamed into his mind to avenge them. The accursed goats backed away from him as he thrashed about, leaving him in a circle of corpses and glaring monsters. He saw them hesitate. He saw them back away and falter as he stood towering over his fallen comrades, one still breathing but not for long.
Joshua was bleeding out on the cold dirt floor. Small black clovers had begun rising from the dirt around him and their red glowing flowers seemed to sneer at him. He felt himself growing colder as the flowers glowed brighter and brighter. He could see Shaw swing around above him, trying to glare down every goat at once as the surrounded him. He saw Ben's bow a few feet away from him, somehow not broken by the stomping goats. Then he saw the new monster running towards them through the tunnel up ahead.
A twisted imitation of a wolf. Its legs and body too long and thin, coat a dark black with patches of white spread out across it, covering the legs and lower jaw completely. It had a jerky snake-like way of moving, spine rolling in waves to support the spindly legs. And its eyes screamed madness.
Shaw was too distracted by the goats to notice the wolf crashing into him, and when it did they both snarled and swung at each other. Shaw swung his shield and clocked the wolf on its side, while the wolf sliced its claws through Shaw's face. He'd torn the helmet off to widen his range of vision while the goats circled him.
The wolf howled and snarled as it lost its balance and fell. Shaw raised his shield to slam it down in the wolf's ribcage, his skill preventing pain from stopping his movement. He missed it by inches as it jerked away from him. It swung its head around like a snake and then locked its teeth into Shaw's ankle, metal crunching beneath it as it jerked his leg and threw him off balance. He landed on one knee and shoved his shield so it would fall onto the wolf. The shields weight would have been enough to do some damage to the frail looking wolf had it reached.
A blur of movement caught the shield midfall and changed its course enough to make it topple to the side, letting the wolf slip away just in time. It released its hold on Shaw's ankle as it did so, blood dripping onto the ground from its jaws, both Shaw's and its own.
The thing that knocked the shield awry sprung from the ground and collided with Shaw's face, knocking him onto his back. While it clung to his face Joshua got his first good look at the creature.
It was a hare. A hare that had grown too big and been molded into a grotesque imitation of the wolf. It had the same long limbs and snake-like way of moving. The pelt was a spitting image of the wolf and it had the same glowing yellow eyes. The goats were watching the three fight along with Joshua. He was too close to the fight for them to take the risk and kill him so they ignored him and watched the frothing wolf rear its head up and then slam its jaws into the man's face. The hare shot off just as it was about to be caught in between the jaws. It was fast. It kept a safe distance from the goats, dying human and wolf who was tearing into the already dead ironclad human.
The goats watched in dismay as the wolf began feeding on its kill. They had no interest in meat, no what they wanted was the Bloodclovers that bloomed all around the room as a result of the fight. Killing and crushing bodies was just a way to make the Bloodclovers grow faster and in abundance. Placing them near the top of the food-chain because of their bloodthirsty lifestyle was just a bonus.
Now they wanted to feed and to do that they would need to get closer to the wolf, who would most likely lash out at them for trying to steal its meal. What a pain. Grudgingly they began to nibble on the flowers furthest away from the wolf. The other human was dead now and if the wolf left it they could crush it up to make the Bloodclovers spread there as well.
The cheeky hare edged closer to the wolf and began nibbling on the clovers while carefully watching the wolf. It snarled at the hare but left it alone when it didn't go any closer.
What a troublesome rule the dungeon insists on. Preventing them from attacking each other cause of the excuse that they all gathered there to fight the humans. Fighting intruders was one of the highest priorities. The rule would keep the creatures from tearing each other apart after the intruders were dead. No animal from the lower ranks of the food chain would help if they knew they'd just be killed by the other creatures after they've helped to kill the humans so in a way the rule ensured that all creatures would help fight. The forced peace would end once they all returned to where they'd been when the dungeon first sent out the signal to attack. At least it didn't stop them from feeding on the remaining corpses and Bloodclovers. It's still annoying though...
[Intruders successfully eliminated!]
[Creature Werewolf (Fanv) gained a title]
[Maneater]
[Creature Shadowspinner gained a title]
[Maneater]
[Creature Dreadhare gained a skill]
[Imitation]