A Dungeon’s Survival

The King of the Forest

The entrance was tight, but I was certain she had gone this way; I could smell her, that human who destroyed everything in her path. The mere thought of it was enough to make my blood boil. How was I supposed to survive when all of my prey had been stolen from me?

After her rampage, all that remained were mere morsels that couldn't hope to sate my hunger. There simply wasn't enough left in the forest to fill my belly. Not even her fellow mortals had been spared her wrath. I'd passed through destroyed den after den of them as I pursued her on my way here. Everything was gone. Where she had set foot, nothing remained.

Suddenly, light hit my eyes, snapping my focus from the task at hand. I glared at the human holding the source of it. He was scrawny, malnourished by the looks of it. Perhaps he and his herd could sate my hunger, just this once, but after that, I would be right back to my current predicament. No, they weren't worth my time. I was going to kill that woman.

With effort, I squeezed my massive body into the cave. Then, I sniffed. The scent was easy to pick back up after all the time I'd spent tracking it over the past days. Once I had it, I began lumbering my way straight past the mortals before me, squishing the insignificant monsters that'd been fleeing from me for so long under my feet as I went.

Ordinarily, I would have taken greater care to spare them. In time, they could nourish the next generation of prey for me after all, but the damage that woman had done was too great, and it would take far too long for the forest to recover from it. Besides, the faint light coming from up ahead took priority. With a low, rumbling growl, I made my way toward it.

* * *

Cameron

I watched as shadowed flames burst forth from Vie's mouth. An instant later, a wall of System notifications filled my vision. Frantically, I skimmed through them.

[Achievement gained: Advanced Utility!]

[Achievement gained: Spell Modification!]

[Achievement gained: Ability Creation!]

[Vie (Level 10) has killed a Human Berserker (Level 29)! 208,800 experience gained.]

I stopped once I found the notification I'd been looking for.

Great job! You did it. I'm so proud of you! I cried out in happiness, trying to direct my thoughts toward her, but where I could normally feel Vie's presence, there was nothing there.

I paused for a moment, a sinking feeling settling in as the remaining notifications drew my attention once more.

[Vie and Pee (Level 10) have gained 174,000 experience!]

[Vie and Pee (Level 10) have gained 8 levels!]

[An advancement bonus is available for Vie and Pee (Level 15)!]

[Your familiar, Prism (Level 3), has killed a Human Berserker (Level 29)! 208,800 experience gained.]

[Your familiar, Prism (Level 3), has gained 9 levels!]

[An advancement bonus is available for your familiar, Prism (Level 5)!]

[An advancement bonus is available for your familiar, Prism (Level 10)!]

[You have gained 13 levels!]

[A new ability is available.]

[A new ability is available.]

[A new ability is available.]

[Achievement gained: Rarity Disparity!]

[Achievement gained: A Rare Death!]

I only stopped to gawk at the incredible bounty of experience and achievements her actions had earned us for a moment. It was far more than I could have expected, but it wasn't what I was searching for. Instead, that was at the bottom of this list–or near the bottom since I still seemed to have more notifications coming in.

[Vie (Level 18) has died!]

There it was. She had finished off the enemy, but her feat had come at the cost of her life. I sighed internally at that realization. With how many levels she'd just gained, it was going to be a while before I could bring her back. In the meantime, I turned my attention toward my living monster.

Prism, Adraugon, good work.

“Gurgle!” Prism cheered triumphantly.

“Humph! The snake's kill, not mine,” responded the miniature dragon in an annoyed tone.

Maybe, but you still played a role in it.

He averted his gaze from the spot where my vision emanated from. I gave him a mental shrug and turned back to the surprisingly long list of remaining notifications.

[A Carrier Rat (Level 2) has died in your Dungeon! No experience gained.]

[A Gummy Worm (Level 1) has died in your Dungeon! No experience gained.]

[A Carrier Rat (Level 3) has died in your Dungeon! No experience gained.]

There were more like those, but I had no clue why I was getting them. I was about to check on my entrance when the Crystal Puffers in the passageway between my bog and the room the battle had just taken place in started going off. A few moments later, golden flames shot into the burning room before flying around wildly and falling to the ground.

[A Dark Crow (Level 2) has died in your Dungeon! 2 experience gained.]

That was a monster, wasn't it?

The answer was obvious. Of course it had been a monster and, if I wasn't mistaken, the work of the light and fire Crystal Puffer I'd set up in the hall. I stared at the charred corpse for a long, few seconds. Then, I wasted no time in splitting my focus and casting my vision to the entrance. There, there were four out of five members of the scouting party. They were standing over a heap of scattered monster corpses.

What happened here? I wondered to myself as I took in the sight.

I wasn't entirely sure. Whatever it'd been, though, they seemed to have taken care of it, but just to make sure, I skimmed through the rest of my Dungeon. It was a mess, but I chalked most of that up to the rampaging Berserker who had just passed through.

There were a few Carrier Rats milling about in the tunnel from the entrance and a couple of Gummy Caterpillars eyeing the devastated trees in my second room. I didn't expect to see much in the bog at first glance, the terrain serving as the perfect hiding place for small monsters, but when I went to inspect the room, I froze. There was most definitely something in there. It was impossible to miss.

Slowly trudging its way through the muddy water was the form of a massive bear walking on its hind legs. Its fur was a matted brown, and its height was roughly double that of a person's, possibly a little less depending on whether it was a human or one of the larger races I'd seen being used as a reference. Either way, it was an imposing existence that I was surprised had managed to squeeze its way through the tight tunnel I had earlier on in the Dungeon.

Its snout was relatively short compared to the size of its enormous head, and its lips were pulled back to reveal ferocious teeth, the largest of which were the size of daggers. It passed by the corpse of a Plated Gator as it moved, and it kicked the large body out of its way with ease. It was terrifying.

Everyone, I projected my thoughts, my mental voice quivering slightly, we have more company.

At my words, Adraugon, bared his teeth and directed his attention toward the entrance of the room. Prism followed his gaze but didn't seem anywhere near as concerned. Archie began rummaging through the potions he had brought out, and I moved to make what preparations I could while there was still time to do so.

Fall back, I ordered the pair of elites that remained in the burning room along with the two normal, surviving Horned Dracos. Then, I made to start absorbing the flaming bodies for mana while there was still something left of them to absorb. It didn't work. My powers were being blocked by the presence of someone or something that wasn't under my control nearby. My gaze shot to Prism who was unable to fit through the tunnels with the Crystal Puffers they were still carrying in tow.

Never mind, I told them, Hide in the fire and wait.

They did as instructed as the hulking figure reached the stairs and, falling to all fours in order to fit, began descending them.

So, I began addressing my remaining defenders, it's a giant bear, and I'm not convinced it's much weaker than the Berserker was. Any ideas, anyone?

My question was met with silence. That wasn't a good sign. That meant I was on my own to find a solution to this mess.

I looked through the list of my available monsters, but even if I could still afford nearly anything within reason from it, nothing jumped out at me as being able to stand a reasonable chance against the enemy that was approaching. Still, anything was better than nothing, so in the end, I decided on summoning a Plated Gator into my core room and bulking it up as much as I could. Hopefully, it could buy us time.

By this point, the bear was already entering the flaming battlefield. Seeing this, I took a moment to check on my defenders. Archie was healing Adraugon back up with a Minor Health Potion, something I probably should have thought of myself, and Prism was in position. It was go time.

At my signal, the slime launched into action. They leaped toward the bear, and as they reached it, the Crystal Puffers on their head all began spewing fire. The monster, slow and calmly, brought its gaze down to look at my familiar. It was completely unharmed.

Get out of there! I shouted, but it was too late.

The bear lifted its leg and brought it down on the slime in a stomp that seemed to shake the whole room. I was instantly met with death notifications for twelve Crystal Puffers and Prism. The one for Prism was swiftly followed by an alert that was new to me.

[Your familiar, Prism (Level 12), was slain!]

[Your familiar, Prism (Level 12), has lost a level!]

I knew the slime wasn't the sturdiest monster around, but still, they had gained what was, in my opinion, a decent amount of health and endurance from leveling up so many times. That newly added bulk had meant nothing in the face of the bear's immense heft and might. Unsure of how I was going to handle this, I was forced to sit back and watch as the invading monster stomped its way through the flames to where the Berserker's charred remains laid. Then, it crouched down and sniffed her body.

Is she why this thing's here? I questioned as I watched the beast's ferocious expression fall away into something I couldn't parse, Don't tell me–was it was her pet or something?

After the seconds had ticked by for an unbearably long time, the massive creature rose back up to its hind legs. It then proceed to stomp on the corpse repeatedly until only an unrecognizable smear of it remained

Okay, not her pet.

I had no idea what to make of the scene I was witnessing. It brought its foot down more times than I could count. Then, it turned its head to face the shaft that led to the room above. My entire being shuddered at that. It was coming for me, and I wasn't sure there was much I could do about it.

Slowly, it walked underneath the hole, each step of the way resulting in a loud booming sound that served to feed my anxiety. As it reached its destination, I, for the briefest of moments, found myself hoping that it wouldn't be able to scale the shaft. Those hopes were dashed near instantly. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, it reached up with a massive arm and placed its paw against the slippery wall. Then, it repeated the action with its other one and began pulling itself up.

I stared in horror as it somehow dragged its immense body weight upward, but before it could make it far, it triggered my rolling boulder trap. From the top of the shaft, the massive rock moved. It shot out of its crevice, slammed into the opposing wall, and began to fall. Seconds later, it was taking up the the entire width of the shaft and colliding with the monster's head.

As the mass of stone connected with the beast, it halted in its momentum, stopping nearly completely, but still, it moved. Ever so slowly, it inched its way downward. Then, all at once, its momentum picked back up again as the bear lost its grip. Both the invader and the boulder crashed into the burning room below.

I stared through the flames at the unmoving monster intently, watching for any sign of it having taken a significant amount of damage. Any hopes I held of that being the case were quickly dashed as it opened its eyes and let out a deafening roar that echoed throughout my entire Dungeon. In the next moment, it was climbing back to its feet and lifting the large chunk of rock.

Then, the trap was sent hurling across the room, straight into the wall. It shattered. Where it landed there was an impact crater, and in the shaft where the beast had been climbing, there were fresh claw marks scratched deep into the stone.

Uh, weren't my walls supposed to be invincible? I found myself thinking as I stared at the damage and back to monster that had caused it.

Oh, no.