New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
New Level Acquired!
The level up messages scroll by my vision as I bask in the final moments of this monster's life. I revel in its blood, in its death, for as long as I can until I feel the dungeon absorbing the blood back into the floor. A large mana crystal the size of a small melon remains, and what looks like the beast's skull. I holster my weapons and I pick up the skull and on examination see that it's actually a bull skull helmet complete with horns! I equip the helm that of course fits me perfectly and feel more power surge through me.
In my excitement of killing the Minotaur, finding its skull and adorning it like a morbid trophy; I failed to notice a chest appear along the back wall behind where the Minotaur was standing. I guess I better check this one out. I open the chest, not worried about it being a trap this time since it appeared with the boss kill, and inside are boots matching my current outfit, and a pie, a berry pie. What the fuck... why is a god damn pie in here?! Whatever, there was a whole cooked chicken in the last chest.
"Fuck it, its food!" I shout exhilarated at the thought of a nice, sweet pie.
I pull out the pie and the boots. I set the pie and boots on the floor next to the wall and I walk a few feet away and use my water spell to wash my blood covered feet, arms, and hands. I go back to the pie and boots and sit on the floor next to them. I put on the boots, glad to have shoes for the first time in 5 years. Now that I seem to be geared out a bit, I am curious to see what all this gear I just got is.
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"Fuck yeah! All geared up!" I exclaim as I examine my new gearz. Suddenly the treasure chest vanishes, and a large blue magic circle appears on the floor in the center of the room. The sudden appearance of the magical circle causes me to raise my guard. I draw my daggers and take an attack stance.
I eye it with caution, half expecting the Minotaur to respawn from it, but it doesn't. I'm guessing this will take me back to the dungeon entrance. That would be most convenient. I could probably move the stone blocking the cave entrance now too as I'm MUCH stronger now. I'm not quite ready to leave just yet as there is one thing I still must do...
"But first... PIE!" I yell eyeing the delicious berry treat.
I holster my daggers once again and I ignore the glowing circle as I sit down along the back wall and scarf down the delicious pie. The only thing that would make it better would be some vanilla ice cream. Got to love a good pie à la mode! I finish my pie, making a whole mess of things as I don't have a fork, and then wash off my hands with the ever-convenient water spell. I then get to healing the wounds I received during the fight. I have to ensure to get those priorities straight! Pie first, and then heal! As I thought my chest wound took 3 more heals to fully resolve. That was a bitch of a kick as its hoof was about the same size of my entire chest. My ribs were absolutely wrecked. I am surprised I was even able to continue fighting with just the one heal. Once all healed up, I stand back up and head toward the blue magic circle.
"Well, let's get going! There are some old friends of mine that I have to kill!"
I step onto the blue glowing circle and am immediately enveloped in a bright blue light. I shield my eyes from the light and as soon as I do, the light vanishes. I open my eyes.
"Wait... what the fuck is this!"
I'm not back at the entrance of the dungeon. Suddenly a message flashes in by vision.
Lesser Creshent Forest Labyrinth: 2nd Floor
This is the SECOND FLOOR?! This is the second floor of a fucking LABYRINTH?! Why didn't I ever see a message like that when I walked into the first floor?! Maybe I did and just never noticed it. I was rather preoccupied with running from a massive pissed off troll looking to make me into a meal. I could have just missed it. The message does give me some reassuring information. This says it's the Creshent Forest Labyrinth. That means it is somewhere in the dense forest that borders the northwestern side of the city. This forest is just north of the road my mother and I would take when we traveled to Creshent for supplies and food. In fact, that same forest is connected to the woods just out behind my home. At least I have an idea where I am now!
I look around. I'm in a room I think, but it's more like I'm out in the forest itself. if it is a room, then it's a massive room. I teleported here at the base of a massive cliff face. There are large trees here and the bluish-purple sky is present, but I don't see the sun anywhere. But aren't I supposed to be underground or in a cave somewhere?! I look around where I teleported in. I'm looking to see if I can get the magic circle to appear so I can go back. I look for switches, buttons, whatever I can find to maybe aid my escape. I even leave the area a bit, wait, and then head back to see if it needed to reset or something. Nothing happened.
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"Well, shit. I guess the only way out is to continue."
This is not looking good. If I can't go back, there is no telling how long I will be stuck here. How many floors are in this place? It did say this was a lesser labyrinth, but that still doesn't let me know how many floors are in a place like this. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that I won't ever be able to leave. I either finish the dungeon or I die trying, and even if I finish, there is no guarantee there will even be an exit! Since I never went to school, I never learned anything about dungeons or labyrinths. I never got the chance to learn about anything. It's quite possible I'm even more powerful than even my mother was in terms of level and stats, but because of my lacking education, I don't even have access to the spells that made her so powerful. I certainly don't have that explosive magic spell she used that night.
"I'm beginning to understand why those assholes dumped me down here."
How many people have come to challenge this dungeon, only to never be heard from or seen again? Given how strong that first troll was, probably quite a few people. I doubt even my captors wanted to face that thing. Over time people probably just avoided the place knowing that to enter means you won't ever come back.
I unsheathed my daggers and head into the dense woods. Who knows what is lurking in here. How massive is this place?! If this is a room in a dungeon, it sure is massive, as I feel like I'm going to get lost. No matter where I walk, I don't see any walls. Am I really inside the dungeon? I decide the best course is to just walk in a straight line from where I teleported in. This seemed like the correct answer as it was about 300 feet in when I came to a clearing. I immediately hide behind a tree as I see the clearing isn't empty.
Standing in the center of the clearing is a MASSIVE black wolf. This thing is the size of a mid-size to large SUV back on earth. I don't like the look of that thing, but I don't have any choice. I have to press on. I have to fight it. I am now geared and have leveled to the point where even those trolls were nothing to me, so I don't think this wolf would be much of a challenge. But something still bothers me about it.
I slowly enter the clearing and the wolf lets out an ear-piercing howl. I take up a fighting stance preparing for...
"SHIT!" I exclaim as in an instant the wolf is right in front of me, covering the 100-foot distance between us in a fraction of a second.
It's FAST!!! It lunges straight at my head. I barely dodge in time. I can feel it's hot breath on my face, a massive 8-inch canine tooth passing half an inch from my left eye. This thing is much faster than the Minotaur! Shit is this thing even stronger than that boss?! That's absurd!
The wolf passes me, and I immediately spin to face it. It's coming again. I drop down as it lunges. I kick with my right foot straight up toward the sky, my boot connecting with the hard lower jaw of the beast as it sails over me. A twang of pain actually shoots through my foot at the impact.
My kick didn't even faze the massive wolf. Not even so much as a grunt or a shake of its head to let me know it even had any effect. I get up into a low crouching stance as it turns back for another rush at me. Here it comes. I dodge to the right and.
"OOOFFF" air escaped my lungs as it read my dodge and swatted me with its massive paw, its claws digging into my side as it pulls me in. I try to escape as it tries to bite me, but I can't move quickly enough. The overgrown Chihuahua chomps down on my left leg as its massive teeth shred my muscles like finely honed razor blades. I let out a scream as blood pours from my wound as I struggle, trying to get the beast to release me, it's powerful jaws not letting me go.
I stab frantically at its face trying to hit its eye or something vital so it would let me go, but its head is thrashing so violently, shredding my leg into hamburger, that I can't hit anything vital and just end up putting slices into its face. This didn't bother the beast at all, and it continues to snack on my leg. I can hear my femur crunching as it noms on my leg. I'm starting to get exhausted; the blood loss is already taking its toll on me. I'm even starting to feel a bit woozy from the blood loss. This thing is WAY too strong!
I drop the dagger in my left hand and use my newly freed hand to grab a handful of fur on its head. I pull myself as hard as I can in an effort to reach past the wolf's massive head. I swing with the dagger in my right hand and sink the dagger into the wolf's neck. It's thick fur and tough hide preventing me from making fatal wounds, but I'm making wounds, nonetheless. I stab as fast and as hard as I can in my weakened state. The wolf fur starts to become matted with blood. I strike about 20 times, shredding the left side of the wolf's neck. Each strike able to penetrate further as the thick hide providing its defense is now shredded as well.
One last swing and the dagger gets buried to the hilt, the wolf letting out a howl and flings me hard to its right, releasing its grip on my leg and sending me flying. I tumble to a stop and immediately look at the wolf to see if it's coming back. It's not. It's thrashing around, blood splashing from its neck wound. I don't have time to stare! Drop my remaining dagger and I grab my shredded and mangled leg with both hands.
"Light Heal!"
It's not healing fast enough! There is too much damage! I directly grab the still broken exposed bone and pour another heal directly onto the bone.
"LIGHT HEAL!" I shout and pour more mana into the spell! The bone mends but my heals are not nearly strong enough!
I look at the wolf and it's starting to recover. A new feeling creeping up from the pit of my stomach, a feeling I thought I wouldn't feel again... Is this... fear?
"Shit, shit, SHIT!!"