A Dungeon’s Survival

Hunt

Things happened fast. Out of nowhere the mortal woman had appeared and attacked our lord. Before I could even fully internalize what was going on, Rein had already acted, throwing the potion she had in hand at the assailant. An instant later, she'd followed up with another.

In a burst of shadows, the second bottle impacted the wall behind the girl at the same time as she knocked Rein to the ground. Then, the shadows ignited. Flames covered the wall, following the shadows' path as they raced toward the nearest source of light in the area, the woman's lantern. Barely a moment later, a gust of wind caught the rest of the embers and carried them in her direction.

At the same time, Adraugon squeaked out an order, “This way!”

I wasted no time in obeying. Grabbing and throwing my crumpled ally over my shoulder, I dove for the hole. As I did, the flames began to abate.

It didn't take me more than a handful of seconds to fall through the shaft and into the room below. As I did, I caught sight of a flash of brown speeding my way. Before I could even internalize what it was, a strong gust of wind encompassed me and something latched onto my back. Quickly, I found myself accelerating toward and soon past the mass of fur, directly toward an open maw filled with enormous, sharp teeth.

My body tensed, and I almost missed the words as they were carried to me on the wind, “Velocity Transference!”

I only paused for an instant. Then, recognizing the words for what they were, an order, I activated the ability in question. Immediately, I felt myself coming to a painful halt that was interrupted as soon as it had come. On my shoulder, Rein's full weight impacted me as though I hadn't just been supporting her, and the spot Adraugon had latched onto on my back shifter from an almost imperceptible touch to a searing jab that caused my body to jolt involuntarily.

I'd messed around with the ability somewhat before, and up until this moment, I'd considered it to be useless. It felt jarring to activate and didn't damage the things I used it on. Even when throwing something with it, it didn't seem to do much more than I could already manage through my own efforts. I'd yet to find an actual use for it.

Throughout what little I'd experimented with the ability, though, I'd never had it affect me in the way it was now. Then again, maybe that was because I'd never had all that much velocity to transfer in the first place. Truthfully, I still wasn't entirely sure what velocity even was.

Regardless of the immediate, painful effects the ability had on me, however, they were forgotten about almost instantly as my body was forced back into motion. A second or so later, I was crashing into the ground, Rein collapsing on top of me, or at least, I thought that was the top of me. My sense of direction was completely shot. For all I knew, up was down, and forward was actually my side.

All I was certain of was the intensity of the ear-piercing roar that sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once and shook me to my core. Somehow, it sounded different from before, more gurgly maybe? Whether that was because it was so much closer now or something else, I didn't know, nor did I had time to worry about it as the infuriated shriek of a dragon anchored me back to the present moment.

“I meant use it on the enemy!” Adraugon reprimanded me before continuing, “Move! Move or die!”

That got through to me. Shaking my head, I slowly wobbled to my feet. I felt horrible. That fall had hurt, and I wasn't fully sure yet if every part of me was functioning as it should be. What I saw in front of me, though, was enough to stop me from caring.

On its hind legs, there stood what I could only assume to be our enemy. It was the Onikuma I'd suggested we kill. Now, however, I could only gawk at its immense form in disbelief. How we were supposed to do anything other than die when faced with something like that, I wasn't sure. I just knew, whether my body hurt or not, Adraugon was right; we needed to move.

* * *

The King of the Forest

Once the girl had escaped my sight, I'd braced myself for whatever trickery the mortal had planned. I didn't approach the hole. That would've meant giving her exactly what she wanted, but I also refused to take this opportunity to flee outright. Doing so would've left me open to attack, so instead, I'd waited, eyes locked onto the hole. I didn't have to wait long.

Far sooner, than I would've expected, a shape dropped back down, accompanied by the scents of smoke and blood. If I had a moment to consider the situation, I might've found that to be odd, but I afforded myself no time for hesitation. Instead, I just swiped at the mass of bodies with my paw.

My claws closed in on the shape, but rather than ripping through it or crushing it, I felt only air brush across my fur. What looked at first glance and smelled to be a couple of reptiles moved in a manner that should've been impossible. They shot past my paw and toward my face. I could work with that.

With no hesitation, I widened my jaws as I began to ready my magic. I had no intention of actually using it unless I found myself with no other choice, but still, having it at the ready was a necessity in my current condition. Then, timing things perfectly to tear the figures apart, I snapped my teeth together. there was no crunch.

Yet again, their movement had defied what would've possible without the use of spells or abilities, and from the primary figure's scaled hand, a mortal weapon had shot forth, a spear. I only caught sight of it for a second, but the lack of an impact against my teeth did not bode well for me. Neither did the sharp pain I felt at the back of my throat.

In that moment, I found myself unable to contain my fury. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the work of this accursed den of power. It dared to defy me to the bitter end, sending everything it had at me in spite of its sheer weakness. How long had it last been since something had dared to look down on me so?

All of my anger and frustrations bubbled out in the form of a roar, even as I could feel blood trickling down my throat. Slowly, I rose to my hind legs. I'd been brought so low by prey this weak? Unthinkable.

This was no longer about my long-term well-being. I knew all too well this feeling of enhanced clarity that only came in moments when one's survival was on the line. It was either kill or be killed. The victor would be decided by one's skill and power, nothing else. I would give my all to crush these opponents here and now. What came after, I could worry about then. All that mattered was getting to that point.

* * *

Connie

Archie's hand rested on the pouch of magical powder that was dangerously unsealed. The instant I willed him to, he was prepared to toss it at the Hero. He was just awaiting the signal.

As for me, every fiber of my being was focused on the man. He looked from Prism's core in his hand to me, an unreadable expression on his face. After seeing how Prism resisted all of his attacks, I felt confident that the slime's invulnerability stemmed from having absorbed some of their opponent's power, the same power that my existence as a Summoned Hero ensured I also had. I knew he wouldn't be able to kill me directly. Still, I didn't let my guard down.

“I present to you the mistress of the stone,” Archie announced as he carried me to the man, “If you would, please place your hand on her so that she may converse with you.”

The Hero's eyes narrowed at that, suspicion evident. He made no move at first, but after a long, hesitant moment, he made to do as told, maintaining his grip on my familiar all the while. Cautiously, palm wrapped around the slime's core, he placed the back of his hand to my crystalline body. At once, I felt his mind connect to my own.

Caution, uncertainty, and a dozen other conflicted emotions flooded from him across the bond, unfiltered and unquestionably truthful. He had no practice hiding his thoughts, and from his reaction, I doubted he even realized the reality of what placing his hand on me had done. In contrast, I allowed only the emotions I wanted him to feel to flow from me: strength, confidence, resolve, my love for the family I had found in this world, and the small amount of reluctance I felt toward killing him. Then, after allowing him a moment to digest all of that, I brought up my status sheet and allowed him access once more.

Trace amounts of surprise and uncertainly made their way through our link; then, he asked, “Is this real?”

His clear lack of understanding of mental bonds had its benefits here. Unaware of the amount of access I had to his mind, I was able to look deeper than his surface-level thoughts. His intentions, motivations, and even a general idea of who he was at his core, it was all left vulnerable to me as his mind opened to me like a book flipping through paged rapidly as his mind went in different directions. I could feel his uncertainty as clearly as I could his fear that his was a trap. Just as I was, he was ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Yes, this is real, I answered plainly.

He jumped at suddenly having my voice speak directly to his mind, those having been the first words I'd spoken to him. Archie, in turn, jumped at that, and I actively had to hold my alchemist back. This was not the time to be hasty.

A few seconds passed in silence; then, he asked, “How?”

If you want to know the specifics of it, I'm not entirely sure myself. Some fairies ripped my soul from my body, pulled it across worlds, and stuck it in a lump of crystal. Is that a good enough for you?

“Fairies did this to you?” he spoke with only a fraction of the incredulity he was felt, “Why?”

To make a marginally stronger Dungeon core. Of course, they didn't care about the costs.

“But why?”

This time it wasn't suspicion at my words that I picked up from him. Instead, it was a sense of horror and disgust.

Because, I answered, there's some vague, world-ending disaster coming. The existence of Dungeons is all that's holding it off, but we're being destroyed too rapidly. At the rate things are going, it's only a matter of time.

Nothing. After my explanation, I felt nothing from him as his mind went blank. Then, like a dam bursting, a million questions ran through his head. Rather than ask any of them, though, he instead asked something completely unexpected.

“But, what about your methods? You're killing people, lots of people from what I hear. No matter the ends, how does that justify the means?”

In return I gave him a scoff and the mental equivalent of an eye roll. He flinched at that.

I'll have you know, I haven't killed a single person that hasn't deserved it. Tell me, how would you handle being stuffed into an immobile rock everyone wants to kill and harvest for their own gains? Do you just want me to roll over, die and let them kill the people I care about?

“What people?”

In response names and faces came to mind. Slowly, one by one, I allowed them to pass through our mental connection.

Vie. Pee. Adraugon. Archie. Prism. Noctis. Loot. Stein.

He flinched at the last one as his eyes shot to the corpse of my undead.

So long as I live, I can bring him back, I waved away his concerns, but rather than relief, it was incredulity he felt.

“How can you tell me you care about these monsters when you torture them in the name of progress?”

It was my turn to have my mind go blank.

Huh?

There was another moment of silence as I felt the man's confusion at my reaction. Then, that confusion gave way to indignation on behalf of someone I couldn't quite discern.

“Don't give me that, not after what you made me experience! You're literally dissolving your own monsters in failed alchemical goo in the name of progress.”

It took a couple of seconds to realize what he was talking about. Then, horror filled me as his words to Archie earlier came to mind.

Archie, I addressed my alchemist, even though the Hero could still hear me, you didn't have Stein consume the memories of your puppets, did you? Don't tell me you had him record the memories of their deaths.

A shudder ran through the Trenti in question.

“Uh, well, you see, um,” he fumbled for an answer, “I did send their brains off to him, but I did so under the assumption he'd be extracting memories of their how I coordinated them, not of their deaths.”

I heaved a mental sigh and winced at that. That meant my ghoul now had perfect recollections of those horrific deaths. That did much to explain why his touch had shaken the Hero to the degree it had. I didn't like the idea of those memories being seared into Stein's mind one bit.

I deflated slightly at that as I went back to my conversation with the Hero, I'll deal with that later. No, I don't torture my sapient monsters in the name of progress. Ugh, that would be sick. No, I have two–well, more than that now–types of monsters.

There's the intelligent ones like Stein and Archie. Then, there are mindless bundles of instincts that run on my commands. Archie's puppets or the latter. Also, if its any consolation, I'm sorry you had to experience that. I didn't actually know what Stein showed you until now.

A long moment passed before Sean sighed; then, he simply said, “Okay.”

Okay? I repeated after a small pause, unable to make sense of the mess of emotions the man was feeling in that moment.

“Okay,” he repeated, “I forgive you, and I think I believe you, so tell me, what is this about the end of the world?”