The two fell a few feet before the space opened. Reflexively, both extended their wings and glided down, alighting on a floor that crunched underfoot. Lucifer’s red-tinged dark vision shifted his perspective, and he could make out the bones they were crushing underfoot. The interior of the enormous cavern was completely smooth – the walls covered with some type of slime or ooze that slowly dripped down. A single tunnel extended before them.
Tinuriel held her sword at the ready, and Felix pulled out his knives as he activated Ghostwalk.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/K8N5DvZ0/Ghostwalk-WEBP.webp]
Tinuriel pushed through the bones as they rose up to her thighs – a macabre facsimile of pushing through deep snow. Felix followed along behind, eyes darting constantly to try and spot anything moving. His vigilance paid off, as a series of bones off to his right shifted slightly. He held up his hand, “Detect Hostiles.”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/436wHNr4/Detect-Hostiles.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/SQLxcn83/53-1.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 300 / 300
Anima 130 / 140
Vigor 259 / 260
The golden aura nearly blinded him as the entire floor of the room emanated the detection. That’s not good.
If it’s not attacking, just move on.
Tinuriel looked back at him with a quizzical look, “Coming?” Felix nodded, and the two continued forward. The ichor along the walls continued to make its way down, an endless, slow cascade of goop that made Felix feel disgusted. The scent was the worst part; sulfurous, rotten-egg smells permeated the environment. Thankfully, the bones were not actually doing anything. Why would they detect as having hostile intent?
Beats me. Just keep a low profile.
They went down the tunnel and Felix took the lead, keeping Ghostwalk active as they traveled onward; his Vigor slowly going down each minute. But it’s better than the alternative, he thought. The cavernous tunnel gradually shifted to worked stone made of some type of light-brown substance. Felix ran his hand along it and to his surprise, some of the rocks cracked away at his touch. “Sandstone?”
Tinuriel looked up at him, “What was that?”
Felix handed the chunk to her, “I know it’s a Dungeon, so the design is going to be whack, but sandstone as a construction material seems really, really dumb.” He looked around the hall and was barely able to make out small protrusions along the ceiling – odd, square-shaped studs that stood out by maybe a half inch. Tiny golden spindles radiated out from it denoting it was trapped in some way. “Lift me up there,” he told Tinuriel. She complied, grabbing his legs, and lifting him with ease. He pulled out his thieves’ tools and set to work. Oh, that’s ingenious. They were some type of water sprinkler system that would react to strong vibrations. That, combined with the sandstone structure told Felix all he needed to know about the trap. “It’s a cave-in. And once it caves in, the sandstone is weighed down by the water. We just must make very little noise when we pass under.”
Tinuriel set him down and nodded, lowering her voice to a whisper, “Easy enough.” They traversed the dangerous area without issue.
That Rogue class is coming in handy.
Yes, but paying attention in school also helped, Felix thought back. He continued in the lead, and they reached a T-intersection. “I don’t think Detection will help here,” he commented. “We have no clue what we’re looking for.”
Tinuriel sniffed the air, “There’s something acrid to the right. The left is…musty. Like drowned books.” She turned to him, “Which way?”
Felix gestured to the left, “Towards the soggy books.” They continued down the corridor – encountering a few more of the cave-in traps and bypassing them. But as they turned a corner – a portion of the floor fell out from under Felix. Caught off guard, he began to fall. Fallen Flight!
image [https://i.postimg.cc/FHmZSJQf/Fallen-Flight-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/X7p7pKPs/53-4-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Vigor 240 / 260
His descent was halted instantly as he willed himself back up to land on the edge next to Tinuriel. “That was close.”
She tugged on his physical wings from being in this Universe, “Why not use these?”
“Panic,” Felix said as he chuckled. The floor had not just collapsed from under him – it extended out several dozen feet to the opposite side. Peeking over the edge, he could see nothing. “Does it go forever?”
Tinuriel walked over and ripped a chunk of sandstone from the wall before dropping it. She counted at a whisper before they both heard the light crack down below. “Seven hundred feet,” she muttered.
Felix grabbed her and effortlessly flew them over the gap, landing on the other side without issue. “So far this has been an easy Dungeon level.”
“You jinxed it,” Lucifer wryly stated.
“Pff, yeah, sure,” Felix replied as he walked to a set of double doors and set to work disabling the lock that glowed slightly golden. He made quick work of it as the video-game-esque interface appeared to direct his actions. There was no trap, but the doors were heavily damaged. Opening them slowly, he saw the interior of the next room.
There was a sickly, green-brackish pool to the right that was enclosed in a semi-circle, with an enormous, brown skull sitting in the center. Two emeralds sat in the eye sockets, and immediately looked at him – the gems tilting to view him. A raspy, long-dead voice echoed outward, “Who dares disturb the tomb of the Lich-Lord of Zophalon?”
Querying System…This guy helped build the Dungeon to try and contain the flood waters. One of the architects.
“I’m a Versewalker,” Felix said as he opened the door the rest of the way. “Here with my Versewalker Escort. We are trying to defeat this Dungeon so we can reverse the flooding.”
The raspy voice cackled, “Come in, let me get a better look at you.”
Felix deactivated Ghostwalk and stepped inside, gesturing for Tinuriel to stay at the doorway. He stood in front of the skull as it regarded him with those emerald eyes. “Well, here I am.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“So, you are. Do you know the origin of the flood waters?” Felix shook his head and the skull continued, “We tunneled deep and discovered a Sky-Shard that exuded a torrent of water when touched. A valuable artifact, and wholly unique.”
“It sounds valuable,” Felix stated. “Endless clean, fresh water?”
“Precisely. So, it was brought to the surface. What we did not know is that too many hands touching it would cause…issues.” The voice cackled; a dusty, ancient rattling noise. “After it flooded one valley and we could not find a way to deactivate it, created this. This magical Dungeon was created from death and necromancy Magics. After all, we had plenty of corpses around from our mining efforts.”
Felix felt a chill go through him. This…person was most likely some type of manager for one of these mining companies, and by his own omission just now, ran a brutal industry that resulted in the deaths of workers. It made his blood boil; but he wasn’t sure if that was him, or Lucifer who was practically broiling.
“How many did you kill in your greed?” Lucifer asked.
The skull clacked its teeth, “Thousands died for our needs.” There was no hint of remorse. Just an accounting of numbers without any emotion tied to it.
“That’s monstrous!”
“That’s business. The level of the Dungeon below this one is where we contained it – the vault. This was my level where most of the containment Magic originated from; fueled by the corpses and deaths of the lesser peoples.”
I want to kill him…or re-kill him.
Just a little more information. Felix cleared his throat, “Did the Dungeon fail? The level above was flooded, and the whole world above was flooded.”
“It did fail. The containment on the vault level worked – but it filled with the waters, and they began to flood the other levels.”
“Why isn’t there any water up here?” Tinuriel asked, “Like Felix said – the level above was water-logged.”
“Magic. I used the deaths of several servants to divert the waters from the level below to that upper level.”
Please let me kill him.
Fine. Anathema?
Anathema Beam.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/WzW5pWxM/Anathema-Beam.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/pX4V8hbR/53-5-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 125 / 140
Vigor 234 / 260
The glimmering, sky-blue and star-infused beam cascaded from just above Felix’s shoulder. It struck the skull which immediately disintegrated as whatever Magic was sustaining it faded.
Thank you. That felt good.
Felix glanced at Tinuriel, “Thoughts?”
She shrugged, “You do what you need to. I’m surprised that a Lich-Lord is that easily defeated-”
“Oh you are assholes,” The voice of the Lich-Lord echoed around them. “Really? Destroying my body? That’s not enough.”
Right. If it’s like the fiction from my world, then he has a phylactery somewhere we have to smash. Detect Object.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/Pqs2q8VF/Detect-Object.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/BnFSCS4D/53-6-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 75 / 140
Yikes, 50 Anima? This thing is well-hidden. The golden beam led a line to another set of double doors opposite them, and Felix began walking that way.
“Oh, no you don’t! Take this!” The Lich-Lord’s voice was upset but not angry. Like a manager who was upset with an employee but kept a professional demeanor. The acidic pool bubbled, and several goop-covered figures rose from the surface. Skeletons covered with the acidic slime that shambled towards the two.
Tinuriel grinned, activating Skills in rapid succession.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/PfBRtyMV/Execution-Watery-Death.webp]
Execution
image [https://i.postimg.cc/XY02gz9Y/Bastion-WEBP.webp]
Bastion
image [https://i.postimg.cc/3wHKSsxq/53-7-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Vigor 300 / 330
Temporary Health 20 / 999
She charged forward and unleashed a savage blow against one of the four goopy skeletons. The blade carved into it with blue sparks, and a fraction of a second later, a blade of water followed the same arc and slammed down into the creature. The skeleton shattered into a pile, as the goop exploded and sizzled against Tinuriel’s armor – not doing any damage but leaving no doubt that it could bite through non-magical metal with ease as the floor melted and bubbled.
Felix switched to his bow, “Anathema Blade.”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/x8sKh7mN/Anathema-Blade-V2.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/wBc9Swtj/53-8-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 65 / 140
He pulled back and the white hardlight arrow melded with a deep blue and speckled with starlight. A cascade of whitish-blue mist dripped from the projectile as his new gloves imbued the attack. He released the shot, and it impacted one of the skeletons; the green ooze vanishing instantly.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” The Lich’s voice shouted.
“Suck it,” Lucifer replied as Felix loosed another arrow at the still-standing skeleton. As soon as the projectile impacted, the Magic holding the creature together vanished and it collapsed into a pile of bones. He rapidly shot the last two, removing the acid coating as Tinuriel came in with a cleaving swipe to carve them in half. As a finishing move, she stomped on their skulls. Felix shot the bone piles a few times to ensure they were down.
Tinuriel shook her head, “Easy.”
“What type of weapon is that?” The Lich’s voice asked.
Felix ignored it and went to the next set of double doors, pushing them open. It was an enormous, cross-shaped chamber with four sarcophagi. The golden line continued to the one closest to him, and as he peeled back the lid, he saw a ladder going down.
“Lucky guess,” The Lich’s voice stated.
“Will you shut up? We’re coming to kill you.”
“Oh? Is that a promise?”
I hate this guy.
Felix climbed down the ladder and entered a circular chamber. His feet crunched and looking down he saw hundreds of beetles. “Ewww,” He tried to shake them off, but they started to climb up and over him. He panicked and screamed. Bugs were one of the things he was not the best at handling, having been pushed into an ant hill as a child. The flashback hit him instantly, as he vividly recalled the fear and pain as he was bitten.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/FsYZgx2B/Hellfire-Burst.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/Kz0xY4DX/53-9-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 15 / 140
The entire room was enveloped in crimson and black flames – thousands of the beetles incinerated in an instant. Felix wiped the ash off of his gear in a frenzy before catching his breath, the panic at the insects subsiding. Wait…that was…automatic? I thought I had to state or think a Skill or Magic/Power effect.
Updating from System…in certain situations that tap into a primal emotion, Skills or Magic/Power effects may be activated instinctively. In this case, your memory of bugs crawling all over you was powerful enough that it triggered the response.
Does that mean, say, if I had 100 Vigor available, and I went to 0 Health, with (P) Final Stand already being activated…that Rebel Against All Odds would auto-activate?
I don’t know, the System isn’t responding because it doesn’t know what hasn’t been tried yet. You’re my first Versewalker that has lived longer than a few days. And, the only one to max out the Fallen Angel Class.
Felix moved out of the way as Tinuriel descended the ladder. He continued to follow the golden line and disabled another trap, picked the lock to another door, and saw a long hallway extend outward. How many Versewalkers have you had? How old are you?
In your Earth years, I’m over fourteen-billion years old. You’re my tenth Versewalker.
Felix shook his head, why did the other Versewalkers who had you before die so soon?
I…ahem. I… Lucifer faded off and became silent.
Felix could sense there was some apprehension hidden under the surface. But he didn’t push the issue and continued down the hallway. Just tell me when you feel up to it.
Tinuriel grabbed him by the shoulder, “Hold. Something is not right.” She sniffed the air and took a step forward, stabbing her sword down into the floor. There was an ear-piercing screech as the walls flexed and wobbled. “Mimic,” she muttered. Where she had stabbed, a pool of viscous, blue blood gushed out and spread across the floor, forming tiny hands, and crawling towards the two.
The Lich-Lord’s voice cackled, “Now you’re in for it!”