A Dungeon’s Survival

Cameron

You know, I'm starting to think she might have a screw loose, I thought as I watched the rogue shred my Crystal Puffers with a manic grin on her face and occasional, unsettling laughter.

“What's a screw?”

I paused at my assistant's question. I pictured a small metallic screw and grasped for a good way to explain the concept to him as my mind seemed to blank on me.

It's a–um–you know what? It doesn't matter. Let me put it like this: I'm starting to think she might have taken one too many blows to the head over the course of her adventuring career.

That got a chuckle from the fairy.

“I mean, most entirely sane individuals wouldn't choose to risk their lives getting pummeled by monsters for a living.”

Fair enough.

[Achievement gained: Exterminated!]

Uh, what?

[Achievement: Exterminated

Description: A population of uncontrolled monsters within your Dungeon has been culled.

Reward: You have gained 6,000 experience!]

Hey, Fabe, any chance you could try to keep me more informed about upcoming achievements I should be making an effort to get?

“Certainly, I'll be sure look into more obscure achievements for you the next time I head back to the council, right between me giving myself a crash course on alchemy and transporting monsters across continents, of course.”

Point taken.

“Oh, that's not good.”

What isn't–oh …

As I turned my attention back to the group of delvers, I immediately saw what my fairy was talking about.

You've got to be kidding me. Does a completely vertical shaft not scream, 'Go away,' enough for these people?

“I mean, maybe?” the alchemist said, “I'd need to prepare it ahead of time, though. That's not something an everyday potion would let us scale.”

“What about that powder of yours, the one that sends things flying,” the swordsman asked.

The boy's face paled at the suggestion, and he began waving his hands back and forth as if to shut the idea down on the spot.

“Absolutely not! The amount we'd need to launch ourselves that far up would tear us to bits!”

“Ugh, why you guys making this so complicated?” Flur butted in, “Dan, let me borrow that, and Lance, give me a boost. I'll at least see what's up there.”

This girl has no survival instincts at all!

I watched as she took her party member's spear and stood beneath the hole in the ceiling.

“I don't think that's a good idea.”

Thank you swordsman! At least one of you has your head screwed on straight!

“I'll come back down if it's too dangerous. Just give me a boost.”

With the way she acted, I had to wonder how the rogue had managed to survive up until this point. Luckily, her friend, unlike her, seemed concerned with her well being.

“Come on, you know you get reckless when you're angry. This isn't a good idea.”

“How else are we supposed to see what's up there?”

“We were just discussing that.”

“Then, we can use those ideas the next time we're here. For now, just give me a boost. The sooner we clear this place, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“How are you even going to get back down?”

“I'll manage.”

“You're not going to back down on this, are you?”

“Nope!”

“Fine. Just be careful, will you? Please? I don't want to lose you too.”

Her response was a smile I wouldn't call comforting.

Come on sword guy, don't just give in like that! You're supposed to be the voice of reason here! Then again, it's not as if she'll be able to get up no matter what she does, so I guess it doesn't matter.

The shaft leading to the heart of my Dungeon was twenty feet tall, completely vertical, and had perfectly smooth walls, after all. I didn't care how superhuman–er–superinsectinoid her agility was. Was that even a word? Either way, it didn't matter how insane she was at acrobatics. There was no chance she'd be able to make it up to me, so what did their attempts matter? That was my line of thinking.

“Stand here, start lifting after I cover half the distance, and make sure you throw me at an angle,” she ordered before moving to the edge of my room to get a running start.

As I watched, I was actually starting to get curious as to what she was planning. Whatever it was, I thought it was ridiculous and more likely to get her killed than anything, but I was intrigued and ready to laugh at her all the same. Then, my smug bemusement turned to bafflement and awe as she just had to go and shatter my perception of the world and every last bit my understanding of physics that I had still been clinging to.

She darted forward at full speed and, once she stepped into her friend's hands, was launched into the air. She shot up at an angle, twisting her body as she entered into the shaft. Then, she planted a foot into the wall, somehow transferring her forward momentum into upward momentum. From there, little bits of dark energy flaked off of her as she seemed to shoot up like a lightning bolt.

Since when can she do that!?

The speed at which she moved drastically outpaced that of the rolling boulder traps she was setting off. By the time the first began to roll out of the wall and into the hole where it was supposed to cut off her ascent, she was already long gone. Her momentum seemed to die down around the same time as she reached the second one but not until after she cleared it too. Somehow, she had not only reached the ceiling of the room below in that maneuver. She had cleared over half of the shaft.

She's supposed to be under level twenty-five, right?

I couldn't imaging it being possible to just pick up those kinds of moves overnight. That was the kind of mobility I imagined someone would need to dedicate their life to practicing to be able to pull off, not the kind of thing some fledgling adventurer with maybe a few years worth of experience should be able to manage. I didn't care how much stats could do for an individual's ability to control their body or what shiny new ability she had, that couldn't explain what I was seeing in my mind.

Just who is this woman?

I watched her quickly take note of the third boulder that began to move right above her. She shouted out a warning to those below, threw her body against the wall to kill her momentum, and dove into the hole left behind by my second trap. A memory came to mind as I observed this feat. The way she had fought someone at the second tier before had been beyond impressive, but I was beginning to look back on that fight in a new light.

I don't think she's what she seems, I commented.

I waited for a response from Fabian, but one didn't come. I spared him a glance and saw him with his jaw dropped and staring off into space as he watched the scene play out through our mental bond. Was he shaking?

Fabe, are you okay?

“Uh, what? Sorry, did you say something?

Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.

“What's wrong with ghosts? She's not a ghost. I'm not sure who she is, but she's definitely not a ghost.”

Expression, Fabe. What's wrong?

“Don't worry about that. Just watch her. Don't take your eye off of her, not even for a second.”

But–

“I said watch her!”

I was slightly taken aback by his uncharacteristically commanding tone, but I did as told. After the third boulder had dropped down past her, she had left the hole that she was in. That hole was an oversight on my part that I'd need rethink the implications of any possibly rework. Maybe dropping all three rocks from the ceiling itself would work better? Either way, now was not the time for that.

She jumped the distance of the shaft and planted her foot into the opposing wall. From there, she clambered her way up to the hole left behind by the third boulder. Grabbing the edge, she pulled herself up.

“Huh, guess I didn't need this after all,” she said as she looked to the spear she was still carrying.

I had no clue what she had been planning to do with it, but that seemed irrelevant as she preformed the same maneuver again to reach the top of the shaft. Slowly, she pulled her head up and peered into the room that awaited her. A tiny green dragon stared back as it snarled in defense of its hoard.

“Prey! I hunt, yes?” came a fierce mental voice in my mind.

Have at it buddy.

* * *

Fabian

I shook myself as I made my way to the fairy circle in the corner of the room. Bad memories flashed through my mind as I watched that girl advance, memories of a cloaked, four-armed invader slaughtering all that stood in their way.

No, it can't be her. Her fighting style's completely different.

I told myself that, but it did little to put my concerns at ease. The memories just kept flooding back. I shuddered involuntarily as I remembered the pain of losing a core.

No, that person used swords, not daggers.

Then, a different memory came to me, a more recent one. Cameron had run me through the various close calls she had had without me present afterward, and she had gone into as much detail as she could manage. She had mentioned that girl proficiently using the human man's sword, and just now, she had confidently picked up a spear. She was versatile.

I shook my head. That wouldn't make any sense. Four arms and that quick, efficient fighting style were all that linked them. This girl couldn't even use shadow magic. Except, was I sure that was the case? A dark energy had come from her as she climbed the shaft. I was pretty sure that was the Blurring Step ability rogues got, but could I be sure that it was?

Come on, I'm just overthinking things.

Still, I couldn't help but to have a bad feeling about this. I couldn't lose another core, not again.

* * *

Adraugon

I stared as I heard boulders drop down in front of me and people making a lot of noise. That was odd. The lifespring stone hadn't told me about any incoming danger. Then, things went silent save for the scuffing of something against stone. I cocked my head as I waited. Something was here.

The moments slowly passed, and I was beginning to wonder if nothing was going to come of this. Then, prey dared to stick to its head into my hoard. I knew this prey. It was the one that had bested me before, made me to retreat. I had a score to settle with this one.

“Prey! I hunt, yes?” I begrudgingly asked the lifespring stone.

I could hunt it only if allowed to or attacked first. Either way, I would hunt, but I wanted the first move.

Have at it buddy, came her response.

Annoyance flared as she patronized me, but I almost couldn't care. Instead, my eyes were assessing the bug that had intruded into my domain. She wasn't much to look at, hardly any shinies on her. That was unfortunate. It limited my options for a trophy.

I eyed her outer covering, loose and dark in color. It wasn't anywhere near as good as the hard and shiny coatings some of the prey from before had worn. She also had a miniature hoard of her own strapped to her side. Maybe something in there could be good.

Then, my eyes shot to the dagger she was raising as she pulled herself up. That would do. Her weapons would look nice atop my mound of treasures. I would take one of them as a trophy, more than one if I could convince the lifespring stone to let me.

With that decided, I slowly climbed to my feet. It had been far too long since I last got to hunt. This would be fun.