A Dungeon’s Survival

Flur

What have I gotten myself into?

I could tell just from looking at the man that he was no pushover. It was in the confidence that he moved with, the damage to his armor that didn't translate to his body, and the overall presence that he exuded. He reminded me of things I preferred not to think about.

Once I was sure his men were listening to his orders to leave me for him to deal with, I struck. I rushed forward, Dash still on cooldown, and swung my two right daggers noncommittally. I knew he was strong, but I didn't how strong. I needed to feel him out before anything else.

As I approached, he swiftly brought his spiked club up to block my attack. By the time he had it raised, I was circling around him. That gave me a good idea of his AGI and DEX. They weren't bad by any measure. I'd have wagered they were on par with, if not better than, Chris's. That was a bad sign since his appearance screamed warrior and not rogue. He had to be at a high level for his nonessential stats to be that good.

I rushed toward him again. This time, I narrowly brushed past his counter swing. I used the opportunity to stab at his exposed hand with a dagger. It cut him, sure, but the resulting damage was closer in appearance to a paper cut than a battle wound. His FORT and END had to be well above my STR, and considering I received a point in it every level and allocated an extra into it just as regularly, that was saying something. It was clear that I was going to need to rely on my passive ability if I were to do any real damage. Aiming for weak points it was.

I jumped back as he brought his weapon down. I could feel the vibrations run through the Dungeon's reinforced terrain and into my legs. I gulped. Lance was the member of my party with the highest strength stat, and from the display I had just witnessed, my opponent had to have dwarfed him in terms of raw power. I would not be surviving a hit like that.

Just what level is this guy?

Even if he didn't put a single point into any magical or mental stats, his level had to be far higher than my own for him to excel in so many areas. My mind went back to the giant who had attacked town. I didn't think the man in front of me was as powerful as him, but he didn't seem too far behind either. A sinking feeling set in as I came to a realization. It was entirely possible that the man in front of me had reached level twenty-five, the next tier of power. Winning against someone like that was a laughable notion. It also meant he likely had an an extremely potent ability up his sleeve.

Strategy and logical thinking fled me as the reality of the situation sunk in. If he was so much stronger than me, I couldn't afford to waste mental resources on such things. What I needed was for every last bit of my mind and awareness to be on the fight itself. That was my only chance of survival, just as it always had been back when I had faced off against raging beasts stronger than myself so regularly. Faces came to mind along with the images of my closest calls, but I didn't stop to acknowledge them. Not only would the emotions get in the way, I couldn't spare my attention on the memories. I moved forward.

* * *

Cameron

Back when I was rotting away in my room, I had seen videos of people playing games at the highest skill level. The scene that was unfolding before me reminded me of those videos. I watched intently as the bug girl dodged attack after attack. More often than not, she dodged by only a hair's breadth before countering with a slash or a stab that did little more than draw blood. It would have been a stretch to call what she was doing damage, but it wasn't as though the pug-faced man was doing any better. Whenever he swung his club, it was a moment too late.

There wasn't much I could do. I had all of five living monsters left. One was immobile, two were poorly attempting to take on more than ten times their numbers through ambushes in a bog, and one was Adraugon. I could inform the miniature dragon of what was going on in my second room, but I couldn't force him to intervene. Even if I could, I wasn't sure he would have been able to do anything. The only monster I had that I could physically spare was my guard Trenti, and that would mean cutting the defenses of my own core.

I watched as the rogue narrowly ducked a swing and turned her movements into a twirl of blades. They failed to pierce the man's skin due to an awkward angle. She then had to fall into a roll in order to evade a kick to her gut. I turned my vision to the forest goblin and opened up its stats. If it was going to intervene, I was going to give it whatever advantages I could, the banked Trenti experience included. I leveled him up to six and put his three free points into SOUL.

Then, before giving him the order to move out, I gave my resources a cursory check to make sure I wasn't missing anything that could help. I froze. Apparently, I had been missing something.

* * *

Flur

Dodge. Slash. Roll. Don't even think about parrying. Just duck.

My comparison between the man before me and a wild beast didn't feel apt anymore. Taking him on in a fight felt more akin to attempting to cross blades with a natural disaster than a mindless creature running on instincts. It didn't work.

Running didn't cross my mind. Simply put, I knew better than to turn my back to someone like him. It would have been a surefire way to get myself killed, especially if one of the bandits I hadn't finished off were to grab my leg as I passed by or something. No, I wouldn't be escaping.

After a while passed with no changes in the fight, the man sneered and raised his weapon. A darkness began to emanate from it, and my mind immediately connected the dots. That was the second-tier ability I had been wary of. Every last fiber of my being screamed at me to not get hit. Without any hesitation, I activated Dash.

I didn't try to run from him. I ran toward him. His club smashed through the air, and I leaped past it. I grabbed his shoulder and used his back to spring off of. As I took to the air, I heard a dull thump from behind me. In the same instant, pain tore through my body. I let out a yelp, but even as my body crashed and rolled across the ground, my eyes were shifting back and forth, trying to ascertain the situation.

I caught sight of my foe. He was barreling toward me at a speed that belied his agility. It had to be another ability. That meant I could, under absolutely no circumstances, let myself be in the way of the impact.

I dug all four of my knives into the ground and used them to pull myself forward in a rapid motion. Still making the most of the fleeting seconds I had of Dash, I threw myself from the path. I decided that I would rather deal with giant stone spikes of doom rather than the charging maniac. Fully disarmed, I grabbed hold of the stalagmite. I whipped my head back around to check on his position even as I brought up a screen.

[Health: 64/80]

That explained why every muscle in my body was screaming at me, and that was just from being near his attack. Not for the first time, I envied warriors the Pain Resistance ability they got upon choosing the class, not that I'd take it even if it was offered to me. Pain was necessary, especially in a fight. Without it, someone could make a mistake that would cost them their life far too easily. Pain was essential, but I did not enjoy the sensation.

I puffed my cheek and glared at the bandit as he slowly turned toward me. This was a mess, but I wouldn't go down so easily. I dropped to the pit below. There, I grabbed a shoddy sword lying forlorn on the ground. I was not a swordsman, but I also wasn't picky.

I fell into a roll as the man jumped into the pit next to where I had been standing. I rushed him. He raised his club and swung. I ducked it, and his weapon collided with a stalagmite beside me. I saw as the unexpected impact seemed to stun the man, and I used the opportunity it provided. I leveraged the blade with my full body into the underside of his head.

I scratched his neck, but more importantly, I managed to plunge the sword through his jaw. It was the first solid hit I'd landed and I had my Critical Strike ability to thank for it. Being able to do increased damage to weak points was my only hope of making it through this fight, but I wasn't going to let myself get cocky just because I landed a single good strike. As soon as it was done, I made a hasty escape via sliding between his legs as he roared in pain.

So much for that pain tolerance, huh?

I spun back around to face him. He was livid. The corner of my mouth quirked into a smile. It seemed that the terrain down here suited me better.

He charged at me, not using an ability this time. I put a stone spike between us, and he was forced to break his momentum to go around it. I closed in at the same time. He made to kick me, but I dove overtop his extended leg. Our game of cat and mouse had resumed.

I found a rusty dagger in the death grip of a woman. I was not about to try to pry it away from her. Instead, I stood near and waited. A second later, a spiked lump of metal was whooshing through the air. I jumped back, and the weapon turned the woman's body to a paste where it impacted.

Sorry, but you were a criminal, so it's kind of on you, I rationalized the guilt away as I slid across the ground and plucked the newly freed dagger away from the desecrated corpse.

Instead of standing up as my slide reached its conclusion, I leaped into another roll, a boom coming from the spot I had just been in not even a second later. As I managed to get to my feet, I turned to see the man closing in again. I had thought I would have had a little more breathing room, but apparently, that was too much to ask for.

He raised his club over his head, and before he could try to bring it down on me, a wave of red mist obscured him from my sight. I still dove out of the way, but the impact did not sound from the spot I had been. Instead, it came from a stalagmite near the bandit.

As the cloud of red cleared, I could see him angrily stumbling around and a Trenti with an oversized head mushroom standing near him. The man tried to bring his club down on the creature, but before he could, another blast of magic came from its staff, shielding it from view. The bandit let out a growl, and I saw my chance. I darted forward, and taking advantage of his momentary blindness, I threw the dagger. It collided with and shattered the lantern he had hanging at his waist, plunging us into darkness. The difference was that I could still see, perks of being from a subterranean race.

“Not so scary now, are you? Let's see out how well you can fight in the dark.”