A Dungeon’s Survival

Fable

I couldn't care less about most of the junk around me. Calling the piles of copper coins and low-quality weapons that littered the room treasure would've been generous. Still, I recognized what I was seeing. Even if it felt ridiculous knowing just which creature likely owned it all, there was no denying it. This was a dragon's hoard.

Collecting things was something that came naturally to many draconic monsters. Be it coins, weapons, bones, or, in this case, even a wooden eye, many different species made a habit of storing whatever they considered to be valuable en masse. Some even got abilities related to their hoards.

In general, surrounded by their wealth and in the heart of their territory was where many draconic beings found themselves at their strongest. Leaving that wealth behind, on the other hand, was not something dragons so did so simply. That was doubly true for overlords, which made the current situation all the stranger.

Somewhat put off by the situation, my eyes traced the room around me. Briefly, I considered destroying it all before the lizard could return, but quickly, I dismissed the thought. Though I'd stolen a peek at the thing's status, I hadn't had the time to study it in detail. Because of that, I wasn't sure what abilities it had, and by extension, I couldn't be sure how interacting with its hoard would effect it. Between that and the fact that I had no easy way of destroying the mostly metal objects that didn't involve me wasting the last of my mana, I decided it wasn't worth it and moved on.

From the sounds below me, the bear seemed to be going on a rampage. That, too, felt odd to me. The only individuals I could sense down there were the Onikuma and the dragon who'd fled its hoard. Them fighting each other made even less sense to me than anything else I'd witnessed today, and that was saying something. I'd been under the impression they were supposed to be on the same side, but I had no better guess as to what was going on.

I supposed it was possible the Onikuma was too strong for whoever sent it after us to control fully, but going by that same logic, I also couldn't dismiss the possibility that the Horned Draco was the anomaly here. Overlords were absurdly rare and powerful beings that were rarely encountered under level seventy-five and almost unheard below fifty. As strange as seeing one in the first tier was, anything that could get that designation wasn't to be underestimated.

Regardless of what was actually going on down there, though, I didn't have time to worry about it. I'd found an unexpected reprieve. I needed to make the most of it.

“If only they were mana,” I muttered under my breath as I picked up the pair of potions that had been abandoned by the Lizard Man I'd punched upon my arrival.

[Item: Minor Health Potion

Description: A magical liquid that causes the drinker's injuries to heal.

Effect: When consumed, the drinker heals 1.1 x (VIT) + 11 health over the course of 2 minutes.]

I raised an eyebrow at that. It was above average quality. Again, it was something that showed signs of having been made by an individual rather than produced by the Dungeon itself. It was possible that was because the monster who's hoard it was in had stolen it from someone, but still, I couldn't dismiss its potential as another sign of an alchemist's involvement, the baron's apprentice, perhaps, assuming that Sir Archibald's claims about being an alchemist had been a lie. I still couldn't make sense of that entire interaction.

Regardless, as soon as I was sure it was what I'd thought it to be and not some manner of poison, I wasted no time in opening and downing a bottle. Craftsmanship aside, it was a weak potion, but with my injuries, I'd take what I could get. Healing potions heavily relied on the drinker's vitality stat anyway, so it wasn't as though the two combined couldn't patch me up most of the way.

With the one concoction beginning to take effect, I, against my better judgment, stashed the second bottle in my bag. No glass within it seemed to remain intact for too long in this place. Still, I had no better place to store it, so it was going to have to do.

With that done, I turned back to face the hole I'd entered this room through. I may not have been sure of what was going on between the monsters down below, but if they really were fighting each other, I doubted I'd get a much better opportunity than this. I just needed to make sure that, whatever move I made, I made it count.

* * *

The King of the Forest

There was a time when I was a young cub who couldn't just destroy anything that dared to bother me with a roar. Back then, there were times insects would swarm me. This reminded me of those times. I'd seen this reptile before. It had even dared to attack me, somehow hurling me into a wall. I now regretted not hunting it down and squashing it like the insect it was back then.

As it drew near I snapped my fangs at it, but by the time my teeth ground together, it was already gone. I swatted at it with my claws, but each time I did, it weaved past me as though I were remaining motionless. I tried crushing it with my body whenever it dared to land on me, but each time I threw myself against the ground, it just popped back up again from a different angle.

The situation was only made more difficult by its size. It was so small that, once I lost sight of it, I struggled to spot it again, let alone catch it. It was just like those swarms of flies from my youth, except those were merely an annoyance. This thing, in spite of its weakness, actually had the power to harm me, if only barely.

Its attacks reminded me of a rat that had once dared to sink its teeth into my leg a long time ago. Needless to say, it didn't survive for long after that, it's vain attack only having managed to pierce my skin and not much more. Its futile efforts had stung a bit, but that was all.

The difference between then and now was that this thing refused to die after landing a single strike against me, that and I was one step away from meeting my end to begin with. Independently, the scratches it was inflicting upon me could be overlooked. They were adding up quickly, though, and I feared things could take a turn for the worst if I allowed this to go on for much longer. I knew it to have strange and powerful abilities it had yet to call on from the last time I'd seen it, after all. I needed to put an end to it before it could bring those out, even if it cost me. For that reason, I resolved myself for what I was about to do.

Slowly lumbering, I spun on my hind legs. As the thing was coming in for another strike, I made to bite it, or so I led it to believe. Already having gone through this motion with the pest once made my deception easy.

It had already been made clear to me that I wouldn't be able to catch this foe. The mortal I'd been fighting prior to this had been bad enough, evading my attacks no matter what I tried, and this thing was several times faster than her. What I could do, however, was hit it with something else, something it couldn't avoid, so long as it was in front of me, that is.

Heh, I thought as my vision blurred and I felt the energy begin to build up from deep within me, it always comes down to this, doesn't it?

I was confident I could survive one more use of the spell, though it would leave me clinging to life by only a thread. It couldn't be helped, though. Between the persistent trickle of blood down the back of my throat and the countless tiny cuts marring my body, I instinctively knew this to be my last chance to use Roar of Destruction. I was just going to need to crawl my way out of here after I did.

This wasn't the first time I'd come so close to death, nor was it the first I'd allowed myself this near to it just for the sake of landing an attack. No, this was a familiar position I now found myself in, and as I did, again, the familiar, rotting corpse of an enormous wolf came to mind, my old rival. Things had wound up similar to this back then, too.

Back then, I didn't have Blood Magic, Vital Magic, Dark Rend, or Roar of Destruction. I hadn't even evolved into an Onikuma yet. I'd been at the peak of the first tier, my adversary freshly ascended to the second prior to being turned into that abomination. I hadn't had any spells or abilities that cost me my life force to use. What I did have, though, was a magical bite.

Back then, I'd allowed what was left of the Queen of the Forest to carve up my flank, tear my shoulder to shreds, and spill more of my blood than I'd thought I had to give, all for the sake of a single opening. Perhaps that final, desperate move had been what allowed me to evolve into an Onikuma in the aftermath. I couldn't say, but it was certainly the only thing that allowed me to rip the head from the body of her corpse and claim the status of strongest in this forest, The King of the Forest.

Now, rather than allowing my opponent to land such a devastating blow against me to finish them off, I instead inflicted that damage to myself. I could feel my life drain from my body as I charged my attack. I was going to collapse after this, but still, it was worth it. The lizard was in my line of sight, directly ahead of me. There was no way it could avoid my attack.

Then, the world went white. A burning sensation and the tingling of electricity coursed through my body. In the light that encompassed my vision, I thought I could just barely make out the figure of a beautiful white wolf. Then, that momentary light gave way to darkness. It seemed my rein as king was over.

* * *

Fable

Between the shock to my legs from the landing, the wave of painful exhaustion that hit me as I bottomed out my mana pool, and slight tremor caused by the Onikuma's charging spell being interrupted and left to run amok, I found myself unable to keep my balance. I fell to my knees, relying on my staff to keep myself somewhat upright. I couldn't even make out the words that appeared in my field of vision as the world blurred around me.

I'd felt the bear begin to charge up another roar and had taken the opportunity to strike while it was unable to react. That seemed to have done it, but the situation wasn't resolved yet. There was still the Horned Draco overlord, Adraugon, to worry about.

I recovered fast but not fast enough. Rather than through the use of my Mana Sense, I noticed the overlord approaching out of the corner of my eye. Somehow, I managed to raise my staff to meet its approach. I braced myself, thinking I should be able to survive a hit from the thing. If I was to claim victory, though, I was going to need to recover and take a defensive stance immediately after.

Then came the impact. I expected it to aim for me directly, but instead, it was my staff that was wrenched from my grip. I stumbled from the force of the impact but managed to make it to my feet in the process. As for my weapon, it clattered to the ground behind me a moment later.

Spinning on the spot, my eyes shot to it, but I made no move to retrieve it. Instead, I locked eyes with the tiny creature standing, glaring back at me, from the other side it. There was a long, tense moment where neither of us moved. Then, the Horned Draco burst into forward.

I braced myself, falling into the best unarmed fighting stance I could manage, but again, rather than targeting me, the tiny lizard set its aim on my weapon. Darting forward, it sunk its teeth into the the tool's shaft, which compared to it, might as well have been the size of a towering pine. Then, my prized weapon secured firmly between its jaws in a sight that was frankly ridiculous, it lifted its head and began running off with it.

My eyes widened at that, and my jaw fell slack for a precious few seconds that it used to get a lead on me. I recovered quickly, however, and wasted no further time in giving chase. The problem was, I couldn't even begin to keep up with it in terms of speed. Even encumbered as it was by its load, it was easily able to run circles around me. Without mana, there was little I could do other than follow it around in a fruitless attempt to corner it.

That didn't last long, a few laps around the room at most. Once it had pulled far enough ahead, it repositioned its grip on its stolen goods and pulled them lengthwise into a small crevice. Desperately, I dove for it, sticking my arm in after it, but it was too late. My staff was gone.

Rising back to my feet, I kicked the wall in frustration before forcing myself to take a few deep, calming breaths. There was nothing I could do about it, and like it or not, this was probably for the best. In my state, if all it cost me to avoid a fight with an overlord was a tool that was no better in my hands than a mundane stick, whether I liked it or not, it was a worthwhile trade. That didn't mean I was happy about it, but I also wasn't blind to reality.

A few moments spent calming myself later, I began making my way back to the next room. I'd wasted enough time here. Sean was still ahead, presumably fighting for his life. Staff, magic, or not, I needed to lend him what assistance I could, so reluctantly, I wrote my weapon off as a lost cause and began my sprint back. As I did, I finally reviewed my System messages.

[Onikuma (Level 43) slain! You have gained 121,353 experience.]

[You have gained a level!]

[A new ability is available!]

[Achievement gained: Dungeon Defender!]

[Title gained: Regional Lord Slayer!]