Masters of Strata (Deepest Dungeon #2) - A LitRPG series

by G. D. Penman

  Martin staggered back now that Lindsay was out of harm’s way, working out his next move and throwing a desultory Javelin of Faith into the maw of the monster as he disengaged.

  [ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]

  [Night Ravager has suffered 42 light damage]

  Why do you struggle against your fate? Why do you serve false masters who would see you dead? Live. Live for me. Live eternal.

  It hit deep in the gaping black pit of a mouth with no shiny teeth to disperse it. Jericho was barreling in at full pelt now that Julia was back on her feet and casting. He was going to make exactly the same mistake as last time, trying to tackle the Ravager head on.

  Martin raised his hand and cast Rebuke. Jericho was blasted off course, rebounding off the wall instead of crashing straight into the monster, and then tripping over the dropped torch that had been guiding the girl’s way and clearly marking them out as a target. “Grab the torch!”

  “I am not here to hold up light.” Murderous rage in his eyes, Jericho roared. “I am here to kill!”

  Lindsay cawed, “It is vulnerable to fire, you moron.”

  “Ah.” A sheepish wolfman was quite a sight to see, but Martin couldn’t afford to get distracted.

  He darted back in with Celestial Strike flowing into his sword. He had to hold the Ravager’s attention, even if it meant taking a hit or two. He could tank just as well as Jericho. He might not have the big man’s rough-and-tumble attitude, but that didn’t mean he lacked the skillset.

  The Ravager tried to pull away from Martin as he came in, less of a dodge and more of a flinch. It didn’t help. His Creedblade snapped out and took one clawed hand off cleanly at the wrist.

  [ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]

  [Night Ravager has suffered 22 light damage]

  [Night Ravager has suffered 5 slashing damage]

  The Ravager showed no fear. It didn’t even cry out in pain. Martin still counted it as a victory. One less set of claws to deal with. All that he had to do now was…

  The Ravager body-checked him. He’d been so focused on the claws and the teeth that Martin had entirely forgotten about the colossal ape-like body that carried them.

  [Skaife has suffered 18 bludgeoning damage]

  It knocked him from its feet with pure bulk, and then carried on over him. Clawed feet pounding him down into the stone.

  [Skaife has suffered 9 piercing damage]

  He was scrambling to his feet when he realized that it was at the far side of the chamber already, heading back into the darkness. “Don’t let it get away!”

  Lindsay, dangling from its back, managed to give him an incredulous look. “Uh…”

  “Right, yes.” Martin stumbled after her.

  If Jericho and the all-important torch were following then Martin didn’t have time to look back and confirm it. These tunnels were the Ravager’s home turf. It knew every twist and turn of them. Where they crossed and doubled back on themselves. Everything. If Martin lost sight of it for even a moment then Lindsay would be alone in the dark with it for the rest of her life. Which was not likely to be very long.

  Javelin of Faith was still on cooldown, but even if it wasn’t, Martin couldn’t risk the shot when Lindsay was taking up so much of the beast’s back. He’d forgotten all about Speckles until he spotted him bounding along in the periphery of his vision. Martin’s voice came out rough between his panting puffs of breath. “If we get Lindsay clear, take a shot at it.”

  “Me not sure me hit. Me not know how use…”

  Martin cut Speckles off before he could talk himself out of it. “Then we won’t be any worse off than we are now.”

  They burst through into the gate room and the Ravager skidded to a halt amidst the rubble of the snake-woman statue. It had been coming here for reinforcements and now it was at a dead end. It spun on them and Speckles took the shot.

  [MISS]

  Martin was surprised that the little guy had the strength to pull the bow back so easily, but it seemed like second nature to the Anurvan. It gave Martin pause. Had he been a knave, focusing on archery, before the degeneration of too many resurrections within Strata had robbed him of his mind? It was insanity to even contemplate that Klimpt had been telling the truth, but if he wasn’t then how could the weird behavior of the NPCs in this game be explained away? It had to be some sort of weird plot point in the game’s story that just wasn’t clear yet.

  [Skaife has suffered 7 bludgeoning damage]

  His lack of focus cost him. Jericho smashed him aside as he came charging into the room, the bleeding Julia limping along behind. She paused to offer Martin a hand up, and he used Healing Touch on that hand as he accepted it.

  [Adriel has recovered 19 health]

  Her tail sprouted back from the stump the Ravager had left behind, and she was so startled by the sudden shift in weight that Martin had to hold tight to her hand to stop her bowling over.

  Jericho roared as he beat at the Ravager haphazardly with the torch. The pummeling that he was dealing out was so furious that the torch guttered with every sweep, little more than a hot stick thumping into the Ravager’s oily coating.

  “Why won’t you burn?”

  Martin had to bite back his reply or risk another of Jericho’s meltdowns. He pulled his hand out of Julia’s and ran to Jericho’s side. “Hold it still!”

  Jericho misunderstood. He dropped the torch and tried to grapple with the Ravager, holding it in place until Martin could arrive. It wasn’t the stupidest assumption that he could have made given his usual role in proceedings, but it was yet another nail in the guild’s coffin. While Jericho managed to catch the stump and wrist of the two lower arms and keep the Ravager from jerking away, he could not handle the other arms.

  They rose up like twin scorpion tails above the Ravager then slammed down into the Heretic’s shoulders, driving him to his knees.

  Bowed by the grip of Jericho and the force of its own strike, the Ravager’s head snapped up as Martin sprinted in, Creedblade blazing with a Trinity Strike.

  He ran up the slope of Jericho’s back, launched himself forward and hammered it home.

  [CRITICAL HIT]

  [ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS: DOUBLE DAMAGE]

  [Night Ravager has suffered 42 light damage]

  [Night Ravager has suffered 20 piercing damage]

  Night Ravager has died.

  Skaife gains 3080 experience.

  LEVEL UP!

  Martin, the Ravager, Jericho and Lindsay all collapsed into a heap together. A tangled mess of blood and limbs that took more time than it should have to untangle. First, Martin had to climb free and help Lindsay slither out from beneath the beast, then it took Lindsay and Martin working together to haul the claws up out of Jericho and cut him loose.

  All the oil that had covered the surface of the Ravager had slopped off its body to stain the floor, spreading out until the whole silvery ring of the gate beneath their feet was filled with black. If it had any blood, Martin never saw it.

  The corpse that was left behind when the Ravager died was less imposing than it was slightly sad. Raw red musculature. Exposed nubs of bone. It was as if someone had taken a creature and skinned it alive, and none too gently judging by the jagged cuts into the joints. More like the skin and a fair bit of flesh had been torn away rather than surgically removed. Martin’s hand shook as he reached out to touch it. The moist surface of the monster was still inexplicably tough. What should have had give felt as firm as dry resin. On contact the menu’s blossomed out.

  Some silver pieces that he added to the guild’s stockpile. A war-pick that looked to be forged from the ravager’s jagged teeth. Bits and pieces for various trade skills that none of them had paused on long enough to develop. An oil-stained sash that he passed off to the party hierophant. Nothing of material value to him. He was contented all the same. He hadn’t expected to go up a level before they encountered the next Archduke.

  He glanced over to where Julia was fussing at thei
r Heretic’s wounds. “Jericho? Did you level?”

  “Yes. Do you want to tell me how I should be spending my skill points now?”

  Martin sighed. “Just wanted to remind you that the ability will flip when we get you back to being a Martyr. Even if something sounds awesome now, it might not be as good on the other side of that.”

  “You worry about your own power, little man. I will worry about mine.”

  Martin closed his eye and the Level Up message was there blazing bright in the darkness. He was already reaching for it with a hunger when he stopped himself. The deeper they went into the dungeon, the more chaotic things became. The deeper he dug into his skill tree, the more specialized and specific the abilities being offered up to him were. If he had known before they came into this deep that there would be statues that could cripple their stats with curses, he would almost certainly have taken Purify when it had last been offered to him. Hindsight wasn’t going to cut it anymore. He needed to start cultivating solutions ahead of time. Which meant that, as much as it pained him, he was not going to level up right now.

  Lindsay nudged him out of his reverie. “Did you see me kicking that thing right in its big greasy ass. Did you?”

  “Nobody kicks greasy ass like you do.”

  “I’m like a detergent and a ninja rolled into one. A Detergeninja.” She paused in the middle of shadow boxing with another imaginary ravager. “No, wait, that sounds like a venereal disease.”

  “As does greasy ass.” Julia added, without looking up.

  Lindsay took a run up and kicked the Ravager. “Ugh, this thing smells like that job I had in a fast-food joint when I was a teenager. A fryer fire just waiting to happen.”

  “Shame we didn’t get the opportunity to ignite it.” Martin cast a meaningful glance at Jericho and the torch guttering beside him.

  “And burn all of the awesome new gear that you just got from it?” Lindsay was determined to be positive. “All the gear. You got. For me. New gear.”

  Martin shrugged. “No such luck, I’m afraid. Belt for Julia, axe for a knight. Nothing for us.”

  “No! Totally unacceptable. It has been ten whole minutes since I got a new shiny thing. You made me walk around being bored all day yesterday. Is this the new plan? Is Strata going to get more and more boring until we just can’t stand it anymore and we give up and stop playing? Do we get to Deep Forty and the only way to go to the next level is to read a newspaper, eat your vegetables and have boring sex for procreation only?”

  Martin cocked his head, trying to picture it. “The children would be odd-looking.”

  “Just wait until Deep Fifty, where you have to play solitaire for three days straight.” She rambled on. “Then you shall know true fear and suffering. Oh yes!”

  Martin rubbed at his temples, discovering that he was still coated in wax and worse.

  With a squeal, Lindsay scooped Speckles up in her arms and spun around. “You’re back! Oh yes, you’re back, my precious little squishy froggy boy. I love you so much. I missed you, yes I did, you are so cute.”

  Speckles looked queasy, but let out an undulating, “Yay!” as he spun.

  Rounding on Martin, Lindsay dropped the Anurvan and rubbed her hands on her trousers. “So, now what?”

  “Now we find the Skip Gate.”

  “Another day.” Jericho growled. “Wandering around tunnels.”

  Lindsay let out a falsetto sob. “No no no no no no. Come on! We just got to do a tiny little bit of monster ass-kicking. Don’t make me go back to solitaire! I hate solitaire, Martin. I hate it so bad.”

  Martin pressed his eye closed, mapping out the deep in his mind and ignoring the concerning blank space where most of his stamina bar was meant to be. “I’ve got an idea of where we are headed this time. There is a whole other wing of the deep that we haven’t touched yet.”

  “But, but, the gate is right here. And monsters. And… fun!”

  Martin smiled at her. “Progress is fun.”

  “You are the most boring man alive. Your soul is beige. Beige!”

  His buckteeth popped out as he smirked. “Love you too.”

  The hours were swallowed up in the raw stone caverns of the other half of the deep. Far from the engravings that Martin had taken as a sign they were growing closer to their goal. As they walked, they restored themselves to health and a state of readiness. Cooldowns ticked off their timers. Healing spells and the potions they bought back in Deephaven were handed out like candy.

  Soon, the dense tunnels gave way to sprawling caverns, now dry but showing clear signs of water in their history. Pillars of stone joined ceiling and floor. Stalagmites, stalactites and all manner of dribbling arches filled the space. A delight for a geologist but a nightmare for Martin, as he tried to spot anything anywhere that might be either a gate or an enemy.

  He almost hoped for an enemy at this point. Anything to slow the constant jabbering of Lindsay and the snark of Jericho. It wasn’t as if he’d designed this game. He was not responsible for the situation.

  At the furthest point into the cave complex, they ran out of places to go and the recriminations began.

  “Are we sure they even have your cheat gate on this deep?” Jericho kicked off the bitch-fest.

  Julia was quick to reply. “They’ve been on the second deep down from every Archduke so far.”

  “Twice. Two can be coincidence.” Jericho was so much softer when he spoke to her. It was almost enough to make Martin forget that the man was a walking bag of misdirected rage. “Maybe it is in the next deep. Maybe it was in the last deep.”

  Lindsay nudged Martin. “What do you say, buddy? Move on now that this has come up empty?”

  Martin shook his head. “It’s here. From a design perspective, there is no good reason to put it anywhere else.”

  “Open your eyes. It is not here.” Jericho practically roared, before catching himself and lowering his voice to the usual menacing growl. “The world does not shape itself to your little theories of how it should be. We must not keep lingering. Dante could be two deeps ahead by now.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Lindsay laughed. “Oh, dude. Nobody is buying that. You care so hard.”

  “Let Dante have his extra deep,” Martin scoffed. “We’ve got a direct route to the next Archduke.”

  Even Julia cocked her head at that. “Where?”

  Martin paced back and forth through the cavern as they spoke. Stopping and starting as thoughts occurred to him then faded. Everywhere that he looked, looked the same. Stone. Pillars. Shadows. It had to be somewhere. It had to be…

  He stopped and snapped his fingers.

  “Got you.”

  Lindsay was by his side. In an instant, all of her doubts had been washed away in excitement. “Where is it? Where is it?”

  He pointed at the pillar behind her, and she spun on the spot to face it. “Uh. That is a rock.”

  “A round column of rock exactly the same diameter as a gate.”

  “This is all you have for us? Round rock is same size? Why do we listen to a word that comes out of this…”

  Martin pointed up. “A round column of rock, exactly the same diameter as a gate that has a smooth plane on top of it, instead of connecting to the ceiling.”

  All three of them strained up to look, but according to their limited vision there was nothing there but deep shadows. Julia started to ask, “How can you…”

  “Low-light vision. Rat perk.”

  Lindsay cackled, then jogged away, cawing back over her shoulder, “Give me a boost!”

  She ran at Martin and, just like they’d practiced a dozen times, he launched her up with Rebuke.

  Even with that boost she had to scrabble and struggle to get a hold on the column’s top, but she made it and called down. “Hey, guys, did anyone drop a big silver ring?”

  Martin grinned, even as Jericho let out a huff of annoyance. Even Julia looked surprised at him now. “That is a good thing. We can press on.”r />
  “I just want to play the game. I am tired of all this.”

  Martin dipped into his inventory and sent rope up to Lindsay while doing his best to ignore the squabbling going on behind him. Julia was quiet, almost introverted, when she wasn’t offering others kindness. What she was doing with Jericho to start with mystified Martin, but now he found that his lack of insight into their interpersonal issues was liable to start interfering with their work.

  Once Martin was up on top of the pillar he lowered Lindsay carefully back down to the ground. There was nowhere to stand that would not become part of the portal, and he didn’t want anyone else tumbling into it by accident. He looped the rope around his waist and waited until he felt the confirmatory tug on the other end before beginning the Rite of Passage.

  Purple lightning crawled around the outer edge of the gate, then started leaping back and forth around his feet. Snapping and crackling at his intrusion, but doing what they had to do regardless. With a sudden shudder like thunder without a sound, the gate opened beneath him. Blazing purple and bright. Martin fell into what had been solid stone beneath his feet a moment before with a yelp. Then darkness surrounded him once more.

  Down and down through the dark he went, tumbling end over end until abruptly the rope around his middle went taut. There were forces at work more powerful than gravity here in the darkness. The green eye down in the darkness was burning, pulling him down. Reaching out to him.

  Yes. Yes. Come to me. Be mine. Become what you are meant to be.

  Martin felt like the rope was going to cut him in half, before finally, with the whole thread thrumming like a guitar string, something gave and his fall resumed at redoubled speed. He was going too fast. When he hit the ground, every bone in his ratty little body was going to turn to dust. Except he wouldn’t. He had to remind himself that the laws of physics didn’t apply out here in the void beyond the dungeon.

  Beneath him he could see another silver circle floating out in the void, purple lightning crackling all around it, just waiting for him to slip through.