CHAPTER 5

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[Dungeon]

The first floor held nothing new since the last time I had watched Sigurd challenge the floor. But it was new to this group, and apart from the group of teenagers that had had a fairly poor showing, they were the only other group to enter. As such, I was very interested in how they would fare. A different style of group with mostly straight forward fighters.

It seemed that the first floor held no real issue for them; they seemed aware and alert, not stopping in awe at the majesty they were greeted by. I didn’t know whether to feel offended that they weren’t taken aback at my grandeur, or happy that I had a good challenge again. Perhaps a bit of both…

They advanced through the first floor in short order, stopping only to collect the chests and cut through the trees.

While they walked and talked through the easier sections, I considered the riddles;

The first one was clearly something abstract or natural. I thought it unlikely to be an object as they couldn’t be both big and small, or short and tall for that matter.

“So, first delve guys, we’d better show them losers at the guild we’re the best, I want to get down through the first five floors at least” one of the adventurers said, pulling my attention. He was leading, a few steps ahead of the others, sword held loosely, its tip pointing towards the floor, slightly away from him.

“Don’t doubt it.” Another replied, confidently.

“We’ve got it, no problem, one down already and it was piss easy.” A third said with a soft chuckle.

Just you wait! I thought to myself, envisioning their downfall at the hands of my wolves, waiting down below.

“…” I faded out again as they went back to rambling nonsense. They were taking the stairs slowly and cautiously, good practice as I had thought about trapping the stairs at some point. I hadn’t yet, but it was something I was considering.

Everywhere and nowhere, the closer you get the less you see. I thought to myself mulling over the words.

So, perhaps it was something that could blind you?

Darkness perhaps?

Hmmm, that was a strong possibility, it did fit the riddle, but it didn’t feel right. Darkness could indeed be large and small; shadows and night. But it just wasn’t right, I knew it. The riddles were designed to help me design my floors; Memphis wouldn’t have suggested darkness for the wind theme.

As I was puzzling over the riddles, something occurred to me. Something one of the adventurers had said.

Guild!

The guild was here!

That was fantastic, it looked like things would be picking up soon. More adventurers to challenge, more mana to be harvested, more excitement and more building!

Yes!

The adventurers had made it down to the second floor, choosing to descend to the floor and ignore the paths in the trees. A wise decision probably. It was a deadly fall to the forest floor if you slipped and just one mistake would be costly. Whereas on the floor, you could get away with some.

“Wow” they exclaimed as the foliage parted, and they saw my work. A serene forest floor, golden green light filtering down from above, casting a speckled pattern upon the floor where the leaves cast shadows. A gentle breeze ruffled their hair and carried with it the hint of danger. I imagined they felt a slight shudder trace its way down their spines.

I span my vision around them, looking at each and every one, absorbing everything. Would they sail through just as easily as before, slaughtering my wolves? Would they get caught off guard, ready to join the skeletons I had already claimed? Or would they fight a desperate battle only to emerge victorious? At what cost?

The anticipation was killing me. Get on with it!

“This dungeon is ridiculous!” one of them exclaimed. I preened. “I mean, look at it. I… I… What the fuck!”

“It’s nothing like I expected. They told us it was different, but good god. The first floor was something else, but this!!!”

“Focus guys, this is how we get ambushed, we are not going to be the first party that loses someone or has to go back early because we got awestruck. How embarrassing that would be.” The leader said, firmly. They all readied themselves. Looking around with bland gazes, searching for any sign of danger.

Stolen novel; please report.

There wasn’t any, the wolves were still moseying around at the other end of the floor, and the cats were lazing around in the trees having a nap. Sometimes I wondered how effective the would be. All they seemed to do was sleep. Stupid buggers. I didn’t voice any of this though, I was sure Memphis would take afront to that. ‘Cats were regal after all’ sod that!

I considered the second riddle while waiting for the wolves to approach.

It came to me in a moment: Toxic gas. It was invisible, deadly and gas had two siblings: solid and liquid. It was a surprisingly easy riddle and certainly a good hint for my floor design. It could be carried on the air, and if implemented correctly I could make a very deadly level without a huge lot of work or mana. Perhaps even my first major trap levels

I had no clue for the third riddle, nothing I could think of even slightly fit the clues. I sighed; my mind felt like it was clouding over.

I stopped when I saw that first nose twitch. The wolves had their scent, it was only a matter of time before a fight.

The group was working their way through the trees, searching for any sign of treasure when the wolves began to move. Slowly, sneakily, they crept forwards. Their sleek grey coats sliding over the floor in silence. Disturbing only the littlest of leaves and twigs.

As they circled around the group, I felt the tension build, like a trap waiting to spring the circle closed, confining the adventurers who were none the wiser. This was why I loved my caverns. Small tunnels would prevent this kind of fight, and if everything I had heard was true, many of the adventurers coming to challenge me would be totally unprepared for this kind of fight.

On some unseen signal, the wolves stood, advancing from the trees, prowling. A menacing snarl painted across their faces.

“Oh, shit! Wolves!” one of them called out. “Three o’clock”

They all span, turning to face the same direction. Eyes wide as they took in the threat. My wolves were big. Months of living in such a mana rich environment with plenty of prey had seen them grow in size until they easily stood waist height with the humans.

“Weapons ready!” the leader called.

“Hya” they all responded, swords held steady. The mage slid in behind the warriors lighting up a fire ball in both hands. They made for a strong sight, facing off against the wolves. However, they had made one critical mistake.

The wolves dashed forwards, those at the back leading first, the men raised their swords prepped for a slash but unaware of the wolves charging towards their exposed backs.

The wolves snarled and howled as they jumped, landing on the men from behind and slamming them forwards, into the ground. Claws scratched frantically, sliding off the metal armour with a horrible screeching sound, drawing blood in the few places they met skin, lacerating deeply. The wolves from the front pounced also, jaws clamping down on limbs and torso alike, trying desperately to rip and tear chunks of human flesh away.

The mage took it worst, his thick heavy cloak doing far less than the armour at stopping the ferocious attack.

“Vi Dis” he screamed, blowing through a huge chunk of his mana. I felt a bit of the waste mana filter through to me. A light blue dome exploded out of him, the rippling border picking up the wolves and throwing them back, away from the party.

They scrambled to their feet, all downing health potions and chucking the bottles away. They tuned to the mage nodding their heads quickly before focusing again.

“Back to back!” the leader called out.

The men arranged themselves differently, the mage in the centre with each warrior covering a side.

“Retreat to the walls of the cavern, we’re gonna have to fight our way there. George, you lead forward.”

“Hya!” they screamed out, slashing hard at the wolves.

They took more hits in quick succession as the six wolves charged, but with each hit blocked by their armour they got in a heavy slash that drew blood, cutting deeply into my wolves.

It wasn’t long, until the first wolf died, a slice in its throat, bone deep. It bled out in a minute.

Another wolf got impaled on a sword, its broad tip punching out the back of the wolf like a nail through a plank of wood.

The sword got stuck in the heavy creature, pulling the man to the floor and causing all the others to stumble slightly.

This was it, chance two! The mage countered though, throwing out a wall of flame that forced the wolves back again, lest they get singed.

The party made it to the wall, and fanned out again, looking on hard at the four wolves that stalked towards them.

The wolves rotated right, trying to get at the most injured man, but they followed suit, keeping them at their front.

A standoff, the wolves looking for a gap, a stumble, something to give them the edge, whilst the men just watched, gaining time for the mage to build an attack. Already I saw a glowing ball of fire, building in size and then compressing and changing hue.

Attack I mind whispered to the wolves, unwilling to stay out completely and let the mage do his thing.

With reckless abandon, the wolves charged. Bounding over the ground with an indomitable spirit.

They launched forwards, teeth bared, claws extended, a budding growl resounding in their throats.

Swords swung, the shiny blades carving bloody paths through the grey fur, spraying droplets of blood around, coating the walls and themselves in a splotchy mess of crimson.

The fire burned brighter with every passing second, and as the men continued to hold back the wolves, I knew it was over.

“Down” The mage called, waiting for his friends to drop to the floor before unleashing a cone of fire that ripped forwards, blistering the floor, and drying out and igniting the nearest trees.

It swept forwards, engulfing the wolves in an orange, white blanket, leaving only charred bodies and the sulfurous stench of burnt fur clinging to everything as it faded away.

A good fight, they did well to overcome their initial surprise, but without the mage they might well have perished.

“Nice job Brent”

“Thanks, that was awful close though, we need to be more aware. Its so different from the little tunnels, we need to keep that in mind, I don’t particularly want to be ambushed again.”

“True, yep, Brent is right there. We need to be more aware and more careful, we got complacent and it won’t happen again.”

“Yeah”

“Now, do we want to continue on knowing it is only gonna get harder, or do we want to stop for today? I know we said we’d get to floor five, but we’ve used two healing potions now and we don’t have too many more.”

“I vote we go back, and do some training, I know I’ll slip back into thinking like I always do during a dungeon, and Brent is right, we can’t afford to get ambushed again.”

“Everyone agree then?”

“Yep”

“Yeah”

“mmmhmm”

“Ok, lets leave then, we’ll have a quick look around for treasure though.”