A Dungeon’s Survival

Flur

[You are now entering Cave of Absolution.]

It had been a while, and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but considering everything I'd witnessed the last time I was here, I was not going to lower my guard for even a moment. The need to be alert was further emphasized by my new position.

“Hey, Lance, you sure you don't want to take the lead?”

“Flur, come on. It doesn't matter how many times you ask. You're still far better suited to being the leader than I am. Besides, it's kind of fun to watch you squirm.”

I folded my arms and stuck my tongue out at him. I didn't agree with that, but no matter how unfit I felt to lead, I knew it was either him or me, and he hadn't been handling the loss of our friends well enough for me to try to push him into it. That was the only reason I had reluctantly agreed to this.

Maybe the alchemist boy could take over eventually, I found myself thinking idly.

I wasn't sure he had it in him, but given enough time, I wondered if he could pick up the skills. The answer was probably not since his mentor had failed to rub off on him after all of the time he spent learning under him, but either way, I was here in the now, so there wasn't much to be done except for to complain and reluctantly perform my job.

“Okay, okay, I got it,” I conceded to Lance.

One of these days, He'll give in.

As vocally as I had made myself against it, leading hadn't actually been too bad so far. That was primarily because we'd been letting the greenhorns handle as much as they could before stepping in ourselves. I didn't feel comfortable letting that trend continue in a Dungeon, especially this Dungeon, but if I didn't, not even in the early sections where I could afford to, they'd never grow. That would only ensure their deaths later on. I wanted to avoid that outcome if I could.

“Dan, take the lead. Autumn, keep an eye out for the Trenti, and Lawrence, you're our second set of eyes. Let us know if you notice anything different. With how long it's been, we're lucky the first room's still even mostly the same.”

That didn't mean giving orders was beyond me. I didn't like the weight behind them, but they were necessary and part of the job now. There was no escaping that, at least not yet.

With the instructions given and the rest of the group moving to follow them, I tightened the grip on one of my knives. I didn't say anything, but I was prepared to use it as soon as the others faltered. Whether or not they would, I couldn't say, but it was better to err on the side of caution. They'd been doing well, but I figured that the nerves of being back in the Dungeon could easily get to them. We would just have to wait and see.

Just then, the Shadow Viper I had been keeping an eye on ever since we passed through the entrance made its move. It lunged through the air with just a bit more speed than I remembered it having. I pulled back to throw my blade at it, but it wasn't necessary. In an instant, it had a spear through the skull. Dan had struck it down.

“Nice one!” I called out as I strode up to the coyote boy and plucked the monster's body from his weapon.

“Let's dump it off outside and keep going.”

Our goal was to reassess the danger of the place. That meant collecting samples of every monster type we could. It wasn't going to be a quick run, but with any luck, it would be an informative one. I just hoped that old alchemist wasn't so untrustworthy as to falsify the results of his tests to make the Dungeon seem less dangerous. I knew he had his agenda, but I didn't know how far he'd go to further it.

As I was weighing that possibility, an arrow struck out from Autumn's bow. It plunged straight into the Trenti who had been sneaking up on us from up above, piercing it through the eye and killing it instantly. I nodded in approval at the reliable hunter girl and moved to heft the body that fell over the edge.

As I lifted it, I couldn't help but to think, This is gonna take all day, isn't it?

* * *

Lawrence

My heart was beating out of my chest as we made our way down the tunnel to the second room. I'd been there before, but last time, I'd only watched as the others took care of things. This time, I was expected to contribute, and from what I'd previously observed in there, I wasn't looking forward to that. I couldn't let it show, though, so I held my jar of glowing liquid high as to illuminate the path forward. As I lifted it close to the low ceiling, something caught my eye.

“Hey, have you guys noticed that there are small tunnels in the ceiling?”

“Huh, that's odd,” Autumn said as she squeezed in beside me to get a better look.

If my heart wasn't racing before, in that moment, it began a marathon.

“Yeah, um, it looks like it would be big enough for Shadow Vipers to fit. Do you think they use these to get around?”

“They do,” our insectinoid leader broke in, “The first time we encountered the two-headed snake, it and some flying lizards we haven't seen since used them to mount a surprise attack. Never assume you're safe in here. More monsters could show up from anywhere at any time. Nice job spotting it, though!”

“Hold on a second,” I said as a flash of inspiration came to me.

Then, I absentmindedly shoved my jar of Light Magic Infused Water into Autumn's hands. Mine newly freed, I began to dig through the bag at my side until I found what I was after. Producing a quill and some paper, I sat myself down on the ground and began to scrawl lines onto the page.

“What are you doing?” Flur asked.

“Making a basic map of the Dungeon and plotting the locations of these tunnels. If we know where they are, we can reduce the risk of getting ambushed.”

“Not a bad idea, but they're liable to change. We'd need to confirm if they retain their locations or not before something like that would be useful.”

As I finished, I was met with a System message.

[You have gained a level in Cartography!]

“Oh, hey! I got skill level.”

Laughter followed my statement, and I looked up to see smirks on the faces of my group members. Most of them were at least holding back, but Lance, the other experienced adventurer, wasn't even making an attempt to. He was full on cackling. Dan, while at least holding himself back somewhat, wasn't faring much better in that regard. I quickly sneaked a peek at Autumn's reaction. She was shaking her head, at me and holding my light source.

Stupid!

I felt my face flush red at the realization.

What was I thinking?

“Look, I know you're used to spending most of your time in relative safety doing battle with paperwork,” Flur poked fun at me, “but this is a Dungeon. You might want to save that until we're out.”

“Uh, right. Sorry,” I sputtered, and quickly made to retrieve my jar from Autumn.

When did I even hand that to her? What did I do that for? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

In my haste to retrieve it, I stopped paying attention to my surroundings momentarily. That was all it took. The instant I stopped paying attention, I felt something land in my hair and jab into my scalp. I panicked, and the jar I had just grabbed slipped from my grip, crashing to the floor and shattering. That wasn't my biggest concern. I was far too preoccupied with whatever was on my head.

“Get it off, get it off, get it off!”

In the next moment, I felt a whoosh of air, and the pain on my head was replaced with the feeling of something wet. I crashed to the ground in the spilled pool of magical liquid as half of a lizard fell into my lap. Blood trickled down my face and my light source seeped into my clothes.

“Executive decision,” Flur called from directly behind me, lizard blood dripping from the tip of the blade in her hand, “the map is a top priority. Everyone, protect Lawrence, so he can work on it as we go.”

Her words were nearly drown out by the sound of Dan and Lance laughing at me once more.

Could this get any worse?

Ting! Whoosh! Ting!

I felt an immense force suddenly yank my arm so hard that I was sent skidding across the ground. When I came to a stop, I ignored the pain and began looking around. I had no clue what just happened. Behind me, I saw two identical bodies, both lizards, lying on the ground with knives piercing them. Then, in front of me, I saw light coming from the next room. It was faint, but it was just enough for me to make out the sight of something falling off the edge of the land bridge up ahead.

“My bag!” I called out as I extended my arm futilely in that direction.

Then, I just stared slack-jawed at the trail of papers and various supplies lining the path in that direction.

“Come on,” Flur's voice barely reached my ears through the sound of feminine laughter.

Wait …

That was a girl's barking laugh. Our group only had two females, and Flur was talking at the same time as it. The world seemed to freeze as a sinking realization dawned on me. Slowly, I turned my head to see Autumn hunched over laughing uncontrollably.

I want to die.

* * *

Autumn

I wiped a tear from my eye as we began walking once more. I really shouldn't have found that so funny, but I couldn't help it.

Talk about a series of unfortunate events.

I made my way to Lawrence's side and said, “Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find your bag.”

I saw his mouth move as he tried to get words out, but his efforts were futile. He had been left speechless. I patted his shoulder and squeezed my way through to put myself ahead of him once more. He'd be fine. He was resilient like that, almost as much as he was clumsy.

I came to a stop as my brother exited the tunnel ahead of me.

“Ooh, pretty,” I commented as I took in the sight of the ominous path ahead.

It was faintly illuminated by gently glowing gemstones embedded in the ground.

“Hmm, this is new,” Flur commented as she and the others filed out from the passage behind me.

“Yeah, those crystals are magic if I've ever seen it. What do you make of them, Lizard-Bait?” Lance asked.

“L-lizard-Bait?”

It seemed Lawrence's speechlessness had been cured.

“Yeah, that's your new name.”

“I can get on board with that,” my brother contributed unhelpfully.

A smirk began to reform on my face at their ribbing as I was torn between feeling sorry for the guy and succumbing to another fit of laughter. I remembered where we were and decided on the first option. I didn't want to get so distracted that something similar to what happened to him before happened to me.

“They're, uh, mana crystals?” came his surprised response.

Yep, he's fine again, I absentmindedly thought to myself as I watched his eyes begin to sparkle.

“These things are valuable alchemical ingredients! Normally, they have to be imported. A supply of them here could mean a major new source of income and trade for the town. This is huge!”

“Eh,” Flur chimed in, “These things are about as common as rocks in the Great Caverns. What I'm curious about are the new plants.”

“The plants?” Lawrence asked in daze before looking around.

I hadn't noticed them either, but I also hadn't been this far into the Dungeon before, so I didn't know what to look out for in the first place. Now that my attention had been called to them, however, I couldn't help but to notice that they did look odd. What I could make out of their colors weren't exactly common for plants, and their shapes were also unusual. I perked up an ear, ready to learn what I could from the bookworm of our group.

“Wait, is that Sunder Weed? And, Stoneroot? That's useful in defensive elixirs! Agila Formata? Dew Sprouts? This is a treasure trove of alchemical ingredients!”

As I listened, I scanned the room for threats. It was dark, but I could make out enough. It wasn't too different from the woods on a cloudy night, and I was more than familiar with navigating those. There was just more danger here, and what stood out to me most was the vague impression of an indent on the ceiling. I couldn't make it out, but it seemed off.

“Hey,” I called back, “Flur, you can see in the dark. What's that?”

I pointed as I asked my question.

“That, is a much more precariously placed trap than was here before! Everyone, be ready to retreat at any moment!”

I shrugged as I began to aim my bow and took a step forward. Traps or not, we would be progressing soon. I was going to make sure I got off the first shot.

* * *

Dan

As we advanced, I had to stay on guard for the known plant monsters, the boulder that was going to, at some point, fall from the ceiling, and any number of unknown dangers. It was exciting, but I also felt the hackles on the back of my neck rising.

Suddenly, a green tendril whipped in my direction. I dug my feet into the ground and moved my new buckler into position to intercept it. As it came in my direction, memories of the Rage Boar we had hunted while Lance and Flur were teaching us how to be proper adventurers came to mind. I put what they taught us into use on instinct and angled my shield to deflect as much of the force of the impact as I could. I crouched, and as the vine collided with my hunk of metal, I pushed it upward. I was sent stumbling back dangerously close to the edge, but I had done it. I deflected the attack.

In the next moment, a rush of wind passed me by as my sister darted forward. I smiled as I watched her jump over an incoming strike and maneuver to a rock jutting out from the side of the path. She fired her arrow, and the vines that were attacking us began to flail. Almost immediately, one struck in her direction, but it was redirected with the force of a fireball. A glance out of the corner of my eye revealed Lawrence, hand extended with the remains of the powdery concoction he had used to create the blast crumbling away.

Moments later, the vines fell limp as my sister unloaded a few more arrows into the monster's weak point. My grin grew. We had, on our first try, taken down a monster that had killed so many people before us and given even experienced adventurers trouble.

As bad as it was, that month of hellish training really was worth it.

* * *

Lance

“Just how did I go from senior adventurer to a mentor and a pack mule?” I grumbled as I heaved the plant monster out of the cave.

“Hey, Dungeon, any spare monster's want to give me a warm up?”

There, obviously, was no response. I shrugged.

“Well, someone has to do this, I guess,” I muttered as I dejectedly climbed the stairs out of the cave and dumped the copse off.

I turned around and began the trek back. Hopefully the others would have cleared out the second enemy in the room by now, and we could either check on the core or delve into whatever was new here. Whichever it would be, I didn't lower my guard on the way back. Splitting up in a Dungeon was dangerous at the best of times, I wasn't going to get careless just because I was running corpses while the others kept more monsters from forming further in.