A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

I watched as the new, larger group interrogated the remains of the first in order to figure out what they knew. I quickly decided that I needed to put an end to that, so I ordered Adraugon and the other two Horned Dracos to attack. The mindless lizards did so without a second thought. Adraugon, on the other hand, didn't budge.

What's wrong? I asked, trying to keep my concern from seeping into my words.

“I wait to strike. They no know what hits them.”

I gave a mental shrug and chose to ignore him. As far as I was concerned, him waiting wouldn't throw my plans off much, so I focused my attention on the two flying lizards that had done as I instructed. The first one impacted with the man who was interrogating the two surviving members of the first group. As the reptile collided with him, the man shot off and even landed on a stalagmite. Then, he bounced off of it, landing alive in the pit below.

That's not good.

The man surviving was one thing, but he wasn't even impaled. That heavily implied his level was higher than anything I wanted to deal with. Adding the fact that his gear was of a much higher quality than I was used to seeing into the equation, it was enough to make me feel a cold sense of creeping dread. I could only hope that the rest of the small army was weaker, but their similarly high-quality equipment implied otherwise. The person my other Horned Draco attacked not dying didn't do much for my nerves either. The two tiny lizards getting killed seconds after was the icing on the cake. They hadn't even traded their lives. It was a waste.

Taking stock of my mana reserves, I kicked myself for not having absorbed the bodies from the room while it was empty. If the conflict were to drag on, that potential DP would have been invaluable for summoning additional forces. It was too late for that, but there were still options.

Even if the corpses in the room were out of reach, I had access to four that weren't. I started the process of breaking down those that had died in my bog. It was enough to fill my mana pool, but even with it topped off, I didn't like my chances. More Horned Dracos were unlikely to help any more than the initial two had. I needed something different.

I gave my Dungeon a once-over. I had a couple of ideas, and I jumped on putting one of them into practice in the next room over. At the same time, I opened up the status of the Bloodthorn Vines that were left. I took the pooled experience points the species had amassed and dumped them into the monster. With that done, I selected an advancement bonus for it that enhanced its strength and allocated all of its unassigned stat points into the same stat. It was an improvement, but even with it having reached level eight, it didn't feel like enough.

I considered my remaining options. I didn't have much left that I could do on the fly. I had an extra monster unlock I could select, but I wasn't convinced it would help in the moment. Instead, I continued pouring my points into the environment in the next room over where I had begun my preparations.

While I had been doing all of that, the people in my second room had thrust themselves into action. They charged forward, and my vines made their move. They came crashing down on all sides, scooping up what appeared to be the most frail of the invaders with each tendril. They held onto two that they managed to restrain well enough. The blood draining wouldn't be instant, but having them in hand meant that any damage they took would be recovered in time.

They threw the other pair at the horde. The invaders crashed into their allies like bowling balls into pins. People were sent flying in all directions and scattered throughout the pits. Then, an arrow shot toward my monster. If it collided, the room's last line of defense was likely to fall. That was something I couldn't afford to let happen, but there was little I could do about it. Luckily, I didn't need to do anything. Before the worst could come to be, a green blur streaked toward the arrow, landing on it. Adraugon, made use of his new sails to divert the projectile off course without wasting his ability to do so.

That bought the vines enough time to grab another pair of invaders. Once again, they threw them into the crowd, but this time, I directed their aim toward the archers in the group. That in turn stalled them enough for Adraugon to circle back around and dive at them. Unlike the pair of his unawakend brethren before him, he didn't attempt to knock the people from the path through the room. Instead, he aimed for for the largest and most intimidating individual in their ranks, a hulking male orc in a mismatched set of piecemeal armor.

Adraugon collided with the man's weapon, and his ability activated. The sword the bandit had been carrying shot back at the perfect angle to impale its wielder through the throat. The enemy dropped dead.

Momentum arrested, the miniature menace repositioned himself in a way that let him land quicker. Those around him that saw what happened aimed their weapons and abilities at him, but his sixty-two points in agility, sixty-five after the level his status screen told me he gained from killing his target, and his bug-like stature assured that he was nowhere near the spot they were aiming by the time their attacks landed.

Then, he ripped through their ranks. His strength wasn't anything exceptional, but after all the points I had added to it a few days prior, it was more than enough to disorient his foes, if nothing else, and most of them were none the wiser as to what was attacking them. His diminutive size allowed him to slip through their ranks unseen. It was unnerving to watch, an insect sized dragon overflowing with enough rage, fury, and power to warrant his arrogance.

In the midst of the onslaught, the group struggled to orient themselves. The archers once again took aim, but I continued to pinpoint the priority targets for the Bloodthorn Vines. Despite the continued people being thrown, no one went down. It was a testament to their power, but they weren't impervious. The group was still taking damage, yet as I looked upon the room, all I saw was crimson and a situation that was unwinnable regardless of whether or not I could survive it.

I don't get it! I angrily complained, Why are they so determined? Am I really so valuable that they don't mind dying to get to me? Does anything I do even matter? No one ever backs off. I don't want to kill them, but what choice do I have? Do these people just have a screw loose or something? I don't get it.

I glared at blood-soaked room. There were an untold number of bodies, both living and dead. I couldn't understand it. I had come to this world not wanting to take anyone's life, even if it meant my own destruction, yet this was the result. These people were forcing me to commit mass murder in self-defense, and I was doing it.

What was even the point anymore? I didn't know, but I was angry. I was angry at them for putting me in this situation, I was mad at the world in which I found myself in for being so warped and twisted, and, most of all, I was furious with myself for how little I could be bothered to care about the bloodshed anymore. That was the worst part. My morals and principals, I had been forced to betray them time and time again, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't just bring myself to care anymore, not about the death, not about my survival, not about anything.

Just go away!

“Cameron,” I barely registered Fabian's voice, “I don't know what's going on. This isn't normal, none of this is, but we can't worry about that right now. Please, pull yourself together. I've lost too many cores, I don't want to lose you too, not now, not like this. We can figure all of this out later, but for now, please, you have to keep up the momentum.

“You've already proven to me that your unconventional methods work, sometimes too well. Make this one of those times. There are a lot of them, too many of them. They can't coordinate, and they're getting in each other's way. Use that. Use it to your advantage, and please, don't give up.”

I could feel the pain in his words, his worry and fear. It was enough to pull me from my spiraling state, if just barely, and as I looked at him, I remembered why it was that I was doing all of this. It was for the people I cared about. Even if I was beginning to feel numb to the situation, that was something I could still feel. I didn't want to lose my new friends, my new family. That was why I forced myself to concentrate on the situation at hand. It wasn't for my own sake, or even for the world's. It was for the small handful of people I cared about.

Okay, I've got this.

My mind raced as I took in the sight before me. Things were looking grim, but I told myself that it was still doable. What did it matter if it was a few dozen invaders or a whole army that wanted me dead? Their levels just meant more experience and resources for me. That, in turn, gave me more ammunition to fight them with. None of them seemed to be so strong that they were outright untouchable, so I just had to soften them up.

I finished absorbing the final invader in the last room. Then, I did something I had yet to do: spend mana and DP on leveling up my monsters. I targeted the Bloodthorn Vines and sunk all of the resources I could into them. Nine levels is what I could afford. I did it, and once again, I put the free points into strength. Then, I chose the extra stats for both of its bonuses. I didn't have time to sift through options while relying on luck. That would have taken too long, so I just picked whatever gave the monster the strength to make a difference.

At a newly reached level seventeen, the Bloodthorn Vines were stronger than ever, their stats exceeding what they should have been for their level thanks to the boost from Blood Drinker. It would be enough, it had to be. After all, It was all I could do.

I paused. Was that true? I still had a few DP left. Monster Customization didn't work when people were in such close proximity to my monsters, but that wasn't the only thing I had that I could spend those few loose points on. With one option left to me, I granted the plant the Velocity Transference ability. A moment later, someone went flying, plowing their way through the crowd and disrupting their assault before skewering themselves on another person's spear.

Then came the people. Everyone it hurled, it chucked with far greater force than before. It was enough for a couple more unlucky souls to drop dead from unfortunate landings, but more importantly, the group as a whole were looking far worse for wear.

[Achievement gained: Exsanguination!]

The notification caught me off guard. Tentatively, I opened at it while continuing to direct my blind plant's attacks.

[Achievement: Exsanguination

Description: One of your monsters has killed an individual through inflicted blood loss.

Reward: The monster species and its evolutions have gained one basic ability native to Vampiric type monsters that suit them!]

My focus lapsed for a moment as I read that, causing my plant monster to throw one of its captive projectiles at a random target. Ignoring that, scrambled to pull up the new ability.

[Ability: Blood Thinner

Description: You coat a body part in a deathly aura, causing damage done by it to prevent the coagulation of blood.

Effect: You coat a body part in a deathly aura. Attacks with that body part prevent the coagulation of blood, increasing blood loss by an amount dependent on your (VIT). This ability costs 1 mana and 1 stamina for every second it is active. You can coat additional body parts for increased costs.]

Haha. Hey, Adraugon, you might want to move.

Somewhere in the chaos, the miniature dragon stopped what he was doing to look in the general direction of my disembodied perspective. Then, he scampered through the crowd and jumped off the path, leaving a beastkin rogue with his face gouged out in his wake. With him sailing his way through the air toward the auxiliary tunnels, I didn't have to worry about collateral.

Blood Thinner was amazing. The synergy it had with the monster's other abilities was exceptional. It had its downsides too, of course. The Vines didn't have great stamina or mana reserves, so it couldn't be used indefinitely. Also, in situations like the one I currently found myself in, the increased blood intake caused by the excessive bleeding the ability inflicted was limited in usefulness. It wasn't as helpful as it would have been if Blood Drinker wasn't already running on maximum capacity, but that was nitpicking.

What I needed from it wasn't a quicker activation of the monster's self buffs. It was the blood loss itself. That was why I sent Adraugon away. Without him there, it was safe for me to order the monster to switch tactics.

It discarded the one–no–two corpses it was holding by throwing them into the crowd. They weren't doing much for it anymore besides providing a small amount of healing anyway, so it wasn't major loss. More importantly, I wanted all the vines free. As it was, the monster might have been able to get another kill or two, but that would have been it, and when I was up against more enemies than I reasonably had the time to count, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. No, what I needed was to weaken the group as a whole.

To those ends, I had it surge its vines forth and start grabbing hold of and puncturing any bare skin they could fine. Having switched to melee combat from ranged, the monster quickly began amassing wounds, but that was okay. By the time it went down, it had done more than enough.

As an arrow finally impacted the flower that served as its weak point, my invaders let out a round of cheers. The plant went limp above them, vines dangling into the pits. They had no clue that, even if they killed their enemy, they had just lost the battle. Coldly, I watched as they pressed on. It was time to see if my preparations would pay off, and with so many of them being injured already, it was time to send them off from my second room with a bang.

“Wait, I feel wind!” one of the bandits in the lead called out, but it was too late.

There were too many people behind him for them to stop quickly enough. As they entered into the fake core room, the torch ignited the bog gasses. I had dumped roughly two hundred points of mana into it, and I'd been making sure that it stayed in place with my new wind environments. The resulting explosion was enormous.

[Achievement gained: Kill Zone!]

[Achievement gained: Mass Grave!]

[Achievement gained: Deadly Alchemy!]

In the chaos, Adraugon set upon them once more.