A Dungeon’s Survival

Vie

I felt frustration. Not only were my fangs unable to pierce the scales of my queen's new experiment, but even if she wasn't calling any attention to herself, I could feel her now watching my failings herself. My display of helplessness was unacceptable, yet what could I do?

My queen had graciously invested a significant amount of resources into my sister and I after our absence during the raid that had nearly killed her. As far as I was concerned, the reward was unwarranted. We didn't deserve it, yet how could we turn it down? Even protesting would have been doing our queen a disservice. All I could do was make sure I put the boon she granted us to good use.

Jaws encircled my head. I pulled away, avoiding the certain death of having my skull ripped from my body. Teeth clacked together before my very eyes. I could feel the large reptile's breath on my face. I ignored all of that and struck.

Pain is what I felt next. My teeth clacked harmlessly off of the beast, failing to pierce its thick scales. Even if I came out of the exchange intact, trying to bite into its protective armor was like trying to bite into a rock, except I would have had a reasonable chance of being able to bite through that. No, the feeling of pain from the backlash in my mouth was more akin to trying to tear a metal weapon apart with my teeth; it didn't work.

The Plated Gator in front of me began moving its head. It wasn't trying to bite me. It was trying to swat me away. The impact alone would certainly have been enough to kill me if it landed its blow. I couldn't let that happen.

Shadow Surge, I thought as I activated the spell.

My body sank into darkness. It was a sensation that felt natural to me, comforting even. Enveloped in the safety of the shadows all around me, I let my opponent's head pass through the spot where I had been only a moment before. I briefly considered re-emerging underneath the beast and attacking its underside, but I already knew from experience that would have been a mistake.

My queen had reinforced it where it would have normally been vulnerable. Attacking there wouldn't have gotten me any better results. Worse, it would have put me in a position where my opponent could easily crush me with its weight. That wasn't an option, so I retreated a short distance away instead.

My irritation grew as I fled. I shouldn't have needed to use Shadow Surge in order to dodge the attack. I had more than enough agility to throw my body out of the way, and my reaction speed was good enough to do so, but even still, trying to dodge wouldn't have done me any good. I was far too large of a target to casually evade the massive alligator's wild strikes. I wasn't the same slippery little snake I had once been. While my queen hadn't increased my size any more with her last set of upgrades, I was already far larger than any normal member of my species, and it was playing to my disadvantage.

Then, there was the fact that I couldn't hurt it. I was sure my mixture of venoms would have been enough to bring it down, but that didn't matter if I couldn't inject them. Any time I tried, I only ended up with toothaches. I deeply appreciated my queen and the gifts she granted us, but the last set of enhancements she gave were not helpful.

As those thoughts ran through my mind, the scaled mountain of a monster I faced glared at me, a deep rumbling growl coming from the depths of its throat. Then, it charged. As it began running in my direction, it opened its mouth, preparing to bite down on me. Then, a blast of shadows shot forth from beside me. Instinctively, I opened my own mouth and used the same spell my sister was casting, Shadow Blast.

The pair of spells collided with our adversary. Entering its body through its open mouth, the attacks easily ripped it apart form the inside, killing it nearly instantly and tossing its body aside. It was a victory, but I couldn't feel proud of it. That was not how I wanted the fight to go.

My physical stats, the ones that I relied on, they were not sufficient. My queen had empowered my sister and I again, yes, but she only enhanced our magical stats. While that did double my mana pool and magic power, it wasn't meaningful growth to me. I would have far preferred physical stats to magical ones. Magic was my sister's specialty, not mine, and without it, there would have been no winning that fight. Victory wasn't truly mine.

* * *

Pee

Mother! I cheered.

“Our queen,” my sister acknowledged.

As soon as our enemy fell, I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. I felt a surge of surprise flow from our mother as we turned our attention toward her. She hadn't said anything to avoid distracting us, but we knew she was there. I couldn't mistake the warmth I felt flowing from the seemingly empty spot in the Dungeon for anything else.

“Well done, you two. It never stood a chance.”

Yeah!

The praise from mother felt good. Despite how big and ferocious it was, we blasted that monster from the inside out. If we had to fight the bug girl again, I felt like we'd actually stand a chance.

“Vie, you okay?”

I tilted my head as I looked toward my sister at my mother's words. We shared a body, but I couldn't feel her emotions or sense her thoughts in the same way I could with mother. I hadn't even noticed anything wrong.

“Yes, our queen. I am merely disappointed in myself.”

Huh?

We had won, though.

“But, you killed it,” our mother responded, sharing my own sentiment, “You did amazing. What could you possibly be disappointed about?”

“My sister killed it. I couldn't harm it without magic. My magic is far weaker than hers.”

No! I interjected as I pushed through my shock at her words, You got me into a position where I could kill it! This is just as much your win as it is mine!

“Mm.”

Her noncommittal answer left me speechless. Mother only paused for a moment before continuing, though.

“Do you want me to raise your soul stat? I thought you preferred physical attributes.”

“No, I do. I just couldn't scratch it.”

“You do realize I designed that thing to be as physically defensive as I could, right? It wasn't even what I'm considering for the standard version; it was above that.”

“It still means I'm too weak.”

“It had seventy-five points in endurance, over two hundred and fifty health, and a level five bonus that increased its physical resistance from twenty percent to thirty. I had to practically empty the Dungeon just to summon it. I'd be concerned if you could hurt it with physical attacks. No, you did great, amazing even.”

“The bulk of my power comes from venoms. What if it was an invader, and what if it had magic resistance? Maybe my sister could have hurt it still, but I'd have been useless.”

No! I'm no good at controlling the body, I argued, Your the only reason that thing didn't crush us!

She didn't respond. I didn't like when she got all pouty like this. It made me feel sad too. It was better when she was happy. I liked when she and mother were happy. That made me happy.

“If you really want,” mother offered, “I could use one of my two unchosen monsters to get you an aspect with a piercing attack.”

“No!” my sister shouted, horrified, “My queen, you are saving those. I couldn't possibly take it.”

“I mean, it would be useful to have in general, and if it would make you feel better, I really wouldn't–“

“No!”

I looked back and forth between them. Then, I nuzzled Vie. I knew she already felt bad for being given so much, and mother was saving her unchosen monsters for something special. I didn't fully understand her plans, but I knew the significance of the gesture.

“Then, would you like an aspect from the Shade Lurkers? I'm still not sure whether or not I want to keep them.”

Vie shook her head violently, knocking me away in the process.

“My queen! Please, do not do something so drastic on my behalf!”

I took a moment to look at my sister. Then, I looked toward where I felt my mother. This wasn't working.

There was no way that my sister would willingly accept another gift of such value, and I knew mother wasn't likely to let the matter go. She was kind in that way. If things were left to play out like they were, I could only see things going poorly. Mother would likely give us something she needed in order to make my sister happy, and if that happened, my sister would only feel more guilty. There had to be a compromise.

Mother? I thought to her.

“Pee, what is it?”

Could I ask for something?

“Sister!” Vie gasped at me.

“Of course. What is it?”

Could you please increase our strength? I think my magic is plenty strong, so you don't need to increase our nonphysical ones anymore for a while.

The expression of horror on my sister's face was only comparable to when we first found out about what had happened while we were waiting to respawn a couple of weeks ago. She was staring at me like I had lost my mind. Then, a few moments later, a message popped up in my field of vision. I felt my body shift and change as I watched the horror on her face intensify.

[You have been enhanced through Monster Customization.]

[Cost: 33 → 41 DP]

[Stats: FORT 5 (13), VIT 42 (56), STR 20 → 40 (52), END 6 (14), SOUL 26 (35), SOUL 44 (55), MIND 39 (50), MIND 18 (27), WILL 32 (44), WILL 32 (44), COM 15 (24), COM 20 (29), DEX 21 (31), AGI 30 → 46 (58)]

“No!” my sister exclaimed, “That's too much. I didn't earn it. You shouldn't have wasted so many resources on me!”

In response, a warm feeling washed over us. It was mother.

“It's okay. I've gotten sixty extra DP for the past two levels anyway. If I can afford to pour points into Adraugon like he's a bottomless pit, I can afford to spoil you two a bit, too. Besides, it was the first time you two asked me for something, I want you to be happy, and you have earned it. You've put in a lot of hard work, even if you don't don't see it. You don't give yourself enough credit.”

“My queen,” my sister spoke again, mental voice trembling, “thank you.”

“Don't worry about it. Now, give me a few hours for my mana to refill, and you want to have another go at that gator? Unless Archie blows himself up again, it will have to be a few points lower on the defense since I just spent some on you, but I really think you could take it now.”

“My queen, I won't disappoint you!”

My sister's worries and apprehension had melted away, turning to determination and excitement. I bobbed my head back and forth in satisfaction at the shift. I knew mother would do that for her. She was our loving mother after all, and I couldn't let her waste anything more valuable that she needed on us.

“Oh, and Pee?”

Yes, mother?

“Would you mind not using Shadow Blast when you fight it again? I want to let Vie have a go at handling it her way.”

You've got it!