After the End: Serenity

The teleporting dog suddenly disappeared and reappeared next to Serenity. It snapped at him, and he shield bashed it in the side of the head.

It shook its head, disappeared, and reappeared behind Lancaster.

“BEHIND YOU!” At least three people shouted.

Lancaster fell to the floor and swept his sword upwards at the giant dog. The sword missed, but the skill didn’t and the dog was knocked up and backwards, losing its footing.

The dog disappeared again, and this time everyone was watching as it reappeared - and Rissa immediately stabbed it.

The dog yelped and disappeared again. It reappeared back where it had first appeared, but with an injury from Rissa’s attack.

It repeated exactly the same sequence, but faster. This time, Lancaster was prepared for it, and stabbed it before it snapped at him.

It stood there, panting and bleeding from several spots, when Moira finally regained enough mana to throw a levin bolt at it. It disappeared right before the bolt would have hit, and appeared, lunging at Rissa.

Rissa already had her spear ready and aimed at the dog, and its lunge drove the blade deep into its flesh. It tried to tear the spear out of Rissa’s hands, but she wouldn’t let it.

As long as Rissa held the spear, the dog didn’t vanish. Serenity and Lancaster converged on the dog and stabbed it in the spine and the neck.

The fight was over.

“Bets the exit is inside the house?” Lancaster stood over the dog, winded.

“I hope so,” Moira said with a grimace. “I have a terrible headache.” Her hands were rubbing her temples.

They waited until Echo and Moira had some mana back and the headaches diminished before heading into the house’s entrance. Serenity used some of the time to recover the few monster cores that had been present.

The door led into a short entry hall; once they were past that, it opened into a large room that held the pedestal, crystal, and two more chests. Serenity forced himself to step to one side to let the others past him, into the room. He kept his eyes open, but they didn’t leave the crystal.

Serenity was trying to control the impulse towards the crystal, not just avoid it. “Let’s open the chests first.”

Rissa gave Serenity a concerned look, but walked up and opened the two chests. One held a small crossbow while the other held a waterskin.

Rissa held up the crossbow. “Serenity? You don’t have a ranged attack?” She held it out to him.

Serenity shook his head. “Neither do you, and I’m supposed to be in the front.” He looked around. Moira and Echo had magic, of course, and Lancaster still had his pistol. Serenity wasn’t terribly impressed with pre-integration guns, but he suspected it was as good as the crossbow. “I’d rather you not be in front, it’ll give you something to attack with when no one’s hurt.”

The waterskin seemed full. Moira reached into the chest, picked it up, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip. “Tastes like water.” She turned it upside down and emptied it into one of the chests. “Looks like water, too. I don’t see any magic in it.” She put the cap back on and turned it upright. “Huh. It’s getting heavier.” She unscrewed the cap and it stopped getting heavier, but when she turned it over more water came out. “I think we’ve found an endless waterskin. Mind if I carry it?”

Once they were done, Serenity walked up to the crystal, picked it up, sat down, and ate it.

[Tutorial Great Dungeon Level 2 Complete]

[200 XP awarded]

[200 Ev awarded]

[Ev diverted to Core progression]

[Exit Dungeon]

[Proceed to Level 3]

[Wait]

[Compatible Crystal Core material detected]

[Reinforce Core?]

Yes.

[Pleasure resistance increased]

The level had taken most of the day. They’d just have to settle for one level a day. That didn’t seem too bad, really, but it was a lot slower than the Trial Dungeons, for worse rewards. On the other hand, the rewards had doubled for the second level - maybe they’d get even better as they went deeper. It also hurt that this was in a group instead of solo; the rewards for the Trial Dungeons were a lot better when he soloed them.

The XP and Ev weren’t the real reward, anyway; the gear in the chests was. Now that he’d used the shield, Serenity was confident that it was sturdy enough to hold up well into Tier 1, which was better than anything else he’d seen in the Tutorial. It didn’t have any special features, but being sturdy was all he needed the shield to be.

Crossbow of Bolt Generation

This crossbow is enchanted to create its own crossbow bolts and does not require loading or winding.

Eternal Waterskin

This waterskin will refill itself with water when capped and held upright.

Like most magic items, they would both require monster cores periodically to stay charged - but even so, they were both useful.