"Hahaha. That was a good haul lads. "A large green skinned man roared. "We'll be eating good for a week." He smiled. Two tusks jutted up from his lower lip, one was missing the tip,which gave his smile a sinister look that was enough to make most people he met want to drop their coin purse and run.

"Man, that fat merchant was too cocky." A small red skinned lizard headed man laughed as he leaned up against a tree truck. "He only had two guards with him."

"Or he was cheap." Replied a black haired elf. "You know how rich folk are. The more money they have the less they are willing to part with it."

"Hahaha. Too right Vander." The big orc said. "Let's see what we got from that bit of exercise. What do you say Flint?" He turned to the lizard man.

"We should be far enough away from the spot we...acquired our goods, Graul." He responded. "Put down the bag and let's see what we have."

"I'll join you guys in a bit, nature calls." Vander said as he started walking through the brush that surrounded them.

"Just go far enough away that we don't have to smell it this time." Flint jokingly retorted.

"Haha, very funny Flint." Vander sarcastically replied as he walked away.

Graul quickly set down the large bag and undid the rope holding it closed. "Let's see here." He rummaged around a bit. "We got some dried meat, some hard cheeses, nice bit of bread as well. Just need some lettuce and we can enjoy some sandwiches. Haha."

"You and your love of food." Flint chuckled. "What about anything we can sell?"

Graul rummaged through the bag for a bit more. "Looks like there are some fancy clothes, some silver forks and spoons, and a few gems. "Ohh, there are even a few health and mana potions in here. I don't know what this potion is." Graul held up a small jar full of a green, viscous goo with a small gem that looked like two pyramids stuck together floating in it. "Think we could get something for this?"

Graul and Flint heard a grunt come from where Vander had gone. "Sounds like you need more fiber in your diet Vander!" Flint yelled to him. Graul laughed loudly at Flints words.

A few moments passed by without a comment from Vander. "Do you think he is okay?" Graul asked.

"Probably just pouting since he didn't really do anything in that last fight of ours." Flint commented."It was just a joke Vander. You need to learn to be less sensitive." Vander didn't reply. "Ugh, elves."

"I'm going to check on him." Graul said and headed off.

Flint continued rooting around looking for more items to sell when he heard Graul call out. "Flint, watch out. There's a...agh."

"Graul!" Flint dropped the bag and grabbed the two daggers off his belt, crouched down,and slowly crept through the brush. After about thirty feet Flint found the bodies of his two companions. He was no field cleric but it looked like Vander had been stabbed through the heart from behind without warning. His bow still slung across his back. Graul had put up more of a fight, his large axe gripped in his hands stained with dark, almost black, blood. Graul had several gashes across his arms and legs. A long red slash across Grauls neck indicating how he had finally died.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Flint heard a soft sound from behind him. He spun around to see what had managed to sneak up on him. He saw a wolf starting back at him, its head held at an unnatural angle due to the sword clamped in its mouth. "What in Balthiores name?" He quickly jumped backwards and threw his daggers at the beast. Both daggers sunk hilt deep into the wolf's chest. He grinned. One of those daggers certainly hit its heart. He thought.

Flints grin turned into a grimace as the wolf twisted its head to look at the daggers lodged into it then turned to look it him. They both stared into the others eyes and Flint realized that the wolf's eyes were cloudy and lifeless. He gulped and took a step back praying to Balthiore the dragon god of protection.

The wolf spun its head to the side and Flint felt a thud in his chest. He looked down and saw the drool covered hilt of the sword that protruded from his chest. He looked at the wolf and he swore he saw it smirk as his vision faded to nothingness and he slumped into the dirt.

***********************************************

"Great job Garrett!" Blixie shouted as she flew out of the grass and went to inspect the three bandits they had just killed. "That was a lot better than your fight against the wolves."

The wolf padded over to the kobold and used its jaws to tear out the sword in its chest. "Well, it's a lot easier when I don't have to worry about my feet falling off." He wiggled the wolfs front paw.

"Haha so true." Blixie flew around and inspected the bandits bodies and gauged how much they could get if they sold everything. "So tell me again why you were fine killing these bandits when you were so adamant about not killing anybody in your dungeon?"

"Back in the dungeon I didn't have my memories, or common sense really, so I didn't know how dangerous this world is. We saw these bandits kill that merchant and one of his guards in cold blood and I felt outraged that they would do that. I guess becoming a dungeon core and knowing I could be killed at any time has removed some of my reservations about killing." Garrett walked around and collected every piece of usable equipment the bandits had into his inventory.

"Well, I'm glad you were able to come to terms with the realities of this world." Blixie stated. "Otherwise who knows how long you would have lasted because it is only going to get more dangerous as we travel and get stronger."

"I just hope I don't have to kill often." They wandered over to where the bandits had left their bag of loot. "Since the merchant is dead I don't think he would mind if we took his merchandise. We can try to sell it when we get to a town." The bag and its contents disappeared into Garrett's inventory but a small thump caught his attention. He looked down where the bag had been and saw a bottle of green liquid laying there.

"I thought you were going to grab everything Garrett. Why didn't you grab the bottle?" Blixie asked as she flew around to see what he was looking at.

"I put the whole bag into my inventory." Garrett replied perplexed. "I don't know why the bottle didn't go in."

"Is your inventory skill full?"

"Not that I can tell." Garrett sent out a mana thread to pick up the bottle but it slid off. He tried a couple of times to pick up the bottle but couldn't seem to grab it.

"Well?" Blixie said impatiently after watching Garretts wolf head just stare at the bottle.

"I've been trying to grab it but my threads keep slipping off of it." Garrett had a sudden realization. "Just like when I try to grab my dungeon core." He turned to Blixie. "Hey Blixie, can you pull the cork out and dump the bottle."

Blixie was curious where his thoughts were going so she obliged. She flew down to the bottle and started to pull at the cork. It was really stuck in there but after a few moments and a few grumbled words later the cork popped out and flew from her hands. She tumbled about in the air for a moment until she managed to catch her balance. Blixie flew back down to the bottle and dumped out the contents of the bottle. The green ooze inside poured out slowly like molasses. When the gem inside the ooze was free of the bottle the rest quickly rushed out of the bottle and all the ooze quickly flowed together and formed a squishy almost round blob.

"It's a slime." Blixie squealed in excitement.