Corsair's Prize: A LitRPG Dungeon Core Adventure (Dungeon of Evolution Book 2)

by DB King

  The dog wandered back over to his bed and went back to sleep, but Ella came and sat on the edge of the table while Marcus flopped down into a chair in front of the fire.

  “You’re not going to bed?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Actually, I wanted to talk with you. There’s been something on my mind recently.”

  “Oh, yes?”

  “Yeah. I think that I’d like to create another cursed dungeon.”

  There was a long silence. The cursed dungeons were just that—cursed. While regular dungeons of evolution were created by placing benign ingredients in the crucible chambers, the cursed dungeons formed when a dungeon master placed evil ingredients in a dungeon chamber.

  Marcus had discovered this by accident—he had put the corpse of a rat monster in a crucible as a dungeon ingredient, along with some fairly evil weapons. The dungeon that had developed from these ingredients was a terrifying space, and it was way too dangerous for any regular adventurer to use. Hordes of burning ratmen filled the chamber in their hundreds, and there was no way to fight so many of them off by hand.

  The cursed dungeons had one major attraction, however. Because they were so difficult, they granted the dungeon master a special elemental power to help him defeat them. In the case of Marcus’s first dungeon—Cursed Pestilence—Marcus had received the Elemental Water power. Of all his magical abilities, Elemental Water had proved the most versatile, and even at low levels it was extremely useful and powerful.

  “The thought has been in my mind for a while,” Marcus said, “but if the Corsair brings an army of blood-thirsty monsters with him then we’ll have to have all the powers possible at our disposal. If I can gain another elemental power then we’ll have a big advantage when it comes to the battle.”

  “The Corsair’s monstrous crew,” Ella said. “There was something that troubled me about that. They fitted the description exactly of the turned hybrids—vampires with all the strength and appetites, but without any of the human-like sensibilities. I noticed Anja didn’t speak about that when it was mentioned, so I kept quiet, but do you think…?”

  Marcus nodded. “Almost certainly. The story of the Akhian traders fits almost exactly with the description of the hybrids, and it links up with what the vampires said—that the Corsair has some magical power that he can use to control the hybrids. What I want to know is where they came from? Where did he get them?”

  “If I understand it correctly,” Ella said thoughtfully, with a frown on her face, “the hybrids operate like sleepers—like Anja. Just normal people who might turn without warning. If Anja’s story is anything to go by, there might be many more people out there who are hybrids and do not know it. The Corsair might have a way of causing the transformation, as well as controlling them once they are transformed?”

  “I wonder if there’s any way to change them back?” Marcus said. “Anja said that once the change has happened, it’s permanent, but I wonder… Anyway, about this cursed dungeon. What do you think?”

  Ella shrugged. “It’s certainly a good idea to get some kind of new power for the coming battle. As you say, we’ll need all the help we can get if the Corsair comes with an army at his back. What are you thinking of using as your cursed element?”

  Marcus scratched his chin. “I don’t know yet, but I have a feeling something will come up without me looking for it. I wanted to hear your thoughts, that’s all. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

  For a day and a night Marcus rested. He awoke early to the sound of the clash of swords in the yard below. For a moment, he imagined that the stronghold might be under attack, but then he heard a familiar laugh.

  He walked to the window and pushed it open. Anja and Dirk were practicing their swordplay below. The curved katanas flashed in the early morning sun. Marcus stood and watched for a few minutes while they practiced.

  The style was so different from the fighting style of the Kraken City people. In Kraken City a swordsman generally held his blade in one hand, and often used his other with a small buckler or a larger shield. The katana blade, Marcus realized as he watched, was generally held two-handed, and where the Kraken style relied first on diving, thrusting strikes with the blade. His two friends below were keeping their swords upright as much as possible and using neat footwork to close distance instead of relying on leaning out to get reach.

  Marcus watched for a while, then left the window. He dressed quickly. There was some food on the table from yesterday’s evening meal, and he made a quick breakfast from it, washing it down with a mug of ale from a barrel that he’d had brought up the day before.

  Heading downstairs, he took the steps two at a time, feeling lively and energetic after his rest day. Magic swirled through him, and he felt the dungeons nudging him. Turning his attention there, it struck him that the dungeon system was keen for a fight. He smiled. The idea that the dungeons would enjoy being run and would actively prompt him to do so was a new one.

  Well, he thought, I’ll be able to satisfy that requirement, I think.

  “Morning, Marcus,” Dirk said to him as he emerged into the courtyard. “Feeling rested?”

  “Certainly,” Marcus replied, smiling. “I was watching your swordplay and I thought it looked pretty good. Fancy trying your skills out against some monsters?”

  Dirk chuckled. “That sounds good to me,” he said. “How about it, Anja?”

  Anja grinned. “I’m always up for a fight. It would be good to see how your training holds up in real combat, but you’ve come on fast, and I think you’re ready. Let’s do it!”

  “Good, good,” Marcus said. “I have a request, though. I need you to bring a couple of stone jugs with you—there are a few in the workshop near the smithy.”

  “Stone jugs?” Dirk said, baffled. “What on earth do you want to bring stone jugs into the dungeon for?”

  “You’ll see,” Marcus said with a smile. “Come on, follow me. Let’s go fight some monsters.”

  Chapter 17

  Shrugging and looking at each other curiously, Dirk and Anja followed Marcus and did as they were asked, lifting two of the heavy stone jugs that sat by the wall of the forge workshop. They had been used to carry the oil that was used for cooling freshly made blades, but they were now empty.

  Anja and Dirk hefted one of the big jars each and followed Marcus to the dungeon entrance. They walked downstairs to the lobby.

  “I hope you’re not expecting us to hit monsters around the head with these or something,” Dirk said, sounding like he was only half-joking. “They would make pretty rubbish weapons.”

  Marcus laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll be expecting you to use your sword, not a stone jar. But bring them along anyway. When we get in, you can leave them by the entrance.”

  He drew his mace from his belt and pointed it at the wall.

  “Crucible: Place Pirate’s Cove dungeon!” The spell blasted from the mace and struck the wall, revealing the familiar ivy-covered, brick lined doorway that led down to Marcus’s newest dungeon.

  “I’ve no idea what will have changed in this dungeon,” Marcus said, “but I expect there will have been some change or development since last time. This dungeon played its part in the battle of the Underway as well, and will have gained some evolutions from that. Come on, let’s go down and look!”

  The entrance was by a flight of spiral stairs that led downward.

  “Are there traps?” Anja said, awkwardly manhandling her big stone jar down the stairs.

  Marcus was in the lead. “No,” he said over his shoulder. “This dungeon approaches traps slightly differently from the others. The traps are triggered when you kill an enemy, they’re not in place by default. That makes them more challenging, because they appear during the fight, and can shift based on where you are. Remember that sinking pit I used against the tree-demon in our Arena dungeon run? That’s from the Pirate Cove dungeon. But there are others, too, and I have no doubt that there will be something new to challenge us when we g
et in.”

  They got to the bottom of the stairway and stepped out, blinking in the bright sun. They were on a wide, lazily curving beach of yellow sand, with the sea on their right and rising dunes off to their left. The sky was blue above, and off in the distance cliffs rose at the end of the beach, sticking out into the water to create a sheltered bay.

  As Dirk, who came up last, stepped out of the entrance, the door behind him snapped shut. They all looked around.

  “Well, that hasn’t changed, at least,” Marcus said. The entrance to the dungeon took the form of a dilapidated wooden beach hut, with a rickety door of driftwood planks. Experimentally, Marcus reached out and pushed the door. It didn’t budge.

  Anja and Dirk put down the stone jars where Marcus showed them, just by the door of the hut. “We’ll need those later,” he said. “For now, let’s see what this dungeon has in store for us.”

  They turned and surveyed the beach. Before, the dungeon chamber was an empty beach. After fighting the first waves of monsters, a ship had appeared around the headland and landed, disgorging a crew of monstrous lobster pirates and their terrible captain.

  Now, all that had changed. The ship was in the bay already, sitting sedately at anchor with her sails reefed. A flotilla of little boats were drawn up on the sand above the tideline. Further up the beach, rising out of the sand, there was a stockade built of raw-looking timber. Looking at it, Marcus could see a central building rising up, surrounded by a ring of wooden spikes. On this palisade, figures moved, too far away to see.

  “It looks like the pirates have taken up residence!” Marcus said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation of the fight.

  “Do we need to storm that stockade?” Anja asked, uncertain. “There’s only three of us, and those walls are twelve feet high!”

  “It’s true,” Marcus said. “But I have a feeling that the dungeon will show us how to make it happen. Come on, let’s start moving toward it, but keep an eye out for any movement on the beach! This dungeon is tricky, and monsters can come from anywhere!”

  They spread out, moving toward the stockade carefully. It was a quarter mile away, and there was a big gap of open ground to cover in front of the gate before they could reach it.

  Marcus kept an eye on the ship and the little boats as he walked, and he saw that Anja and Dirk were both scanning the ground for any sign of a threat.

  They had not gone far when the dungeon made its first move. There was a hissing, clattering noise. The sand in front of them shot up, like water from a fountain. Something was beneath, churning to get up out of the sand. A monstrous shape arose from the sand, spilling sand from its shell and claws as it rose.

  The creature was shaped like a crab, but it was as tall as Marcus and ten men could have stood together on the span of its shell. Its huge, jointed legs creaked as it moved diagonally across the sand toward them, and its two enormous pincers were made of gleaming silver. As it scurried at them, it made a chattering, bubbling noise. Greenish venom dripped from its moving mouth parts.

  “Spread out and attack from all sides!” Marcus shouted to his friends. “And take care to avoid the mouth! It may be able to spit venom!”

  The others did as he ordered. Marcus moved around to try and get behind the monster, but it turned and, ignoring Anja and Dirk for the moment, charged straight at Marcus.

  As he ducked a blow from a sweeping silver pincer, Marcus noted that this crab seemed to be able to move straight ahead as well as from side-to-side, unlike a regular crab. That made it all the more dangerous, as it would be less easy to predict its movements.

  “Take out the legs!” he shouted, and followed up the words with action. A savage blow from his mace smashed into the joint of one of the monster’s legs, and the leg crumpled, lifting from the ground as the crab lurched to the side.

  Dirk and Anja took their lead from Marcus, diving in and aiming rapid two-handed blows from their curved katanas at the creature’s legs. Anja’s first blow caught the creature on the straight part of its leg and rang back, but her second blow found a leg joint, severing the bottom section of the crab’s leg in a spray of green venomous blood.

  With a yell, Dirk rained blows on the creature’s legs, taking out a third one and leaping back when the gush of green poison flowed out from the wound. The crab swung a silver claw at him and he met it with his blade and danced back, trading blows with the giant pincer as the crab turned its attention to him.

  “Look out below!” Anja yelled.

  Marcus looked toward her and saw a pit opening in the sand near Dirk. Dirk had not seen it, and the crab was driving him toward the edge. With a gurgling sound, a mass of writhing, suckered tentacles like those of some monstrous squid blasted up out of the hole.

  They groped blindly across the sand until they felt Dirk’s ankle. They gripped, yanking him backward toward the pit. He fell on his face, and the crab dived in for the kill.

  “No!” Anja screamed, dashing toward him. She put herself between the striking crab and Dirk just in time. She drove the creature back, batting away the silver pincers and darting to slash at the crab’s face.

  As her blade cut a rent across the crab’s mouth, Marcus leaped to Dirk’s aid. He drew his sword and slashed at the tentacle that held Dirk’s leg, severing it with one sweep of his blade.

  Dirk, who had not lost his grip on his sword, rolled away from the hole and leaped to his feet even as more of the tentacles reached for him. His sword slashed up, down, left, and right, and with every blow a severed tentacle flopped twitching to the ground.

  Marcus could feel the sand slipping away under him, drawing him toward the pit. He leaped into the air, landing on firmer ground.

  Anja yelled behind him. She grabbed hold of one of the crab’s pincers. Like a monkey, she swarmed up the pincer and onto the crab’s wide shell. The monster bucked, trying to throw her off.

  Dirk and Marcus sprinted out of range of the groping tentacles. They ran together to the crab’s side and smashed the last remaining legs on its right. The monster tipped to the right like a sinking ship, and Dirk leaped onto its back, running over to join Anja. Together, they began cutting at the heavy shell that protected the crab’s head.

  A sucking sound caught Marcus’s attention. Three giant octopus monsters emerged from the sand and scooted toward him. They were translucent blue, like jellyfish, but their huge upright heads had black eyes on the front. Their bony beaks snapped hungrily as they approached.

  Leaving Anja and Dirk to finish the crab, Marcus dashed to meet these new enemies. He smashed the nearest one’s head in with his mace. It burst, sending a sticky, burning goo splattering all over him. Marcus cried out in disgust, but he didn’t pause in his onslaught. Tentacles grabbed at him and ducked left and right. He dove past the creeping tentacles to stab the creature through the face with his sword. The monster shuddered and flopped over with a wet sound.

  He whirled to face the third octopus monster. With a screech like an angry crow, the creature lunged at him. He swung his sword at it, but a tentacle whipped around his arm, twisting it so he could not use the blade. It jumped forward, beak snapping, but Marcus smashed the beak with his mace and the creature howled and pulled back.

  The grip on his arm didn’t loosen, but the monster reached another three tentacles out to grab him. He dropped his mace, drawing his silver dagger. He slashed off the tentacle that held his sword arm even as another two grabbed his legs. As his sword arm came free, he chopped off both tentacles, freeing his legs, then charged in to finish the creature with a sword stab through its eye.

  As he retrieved his mace, he heard a shout of victory from behind him and turned to see Anja and Dirk both pulling their swords out of the crab monster’s brain. The creature toppled toward the sinking pit, and the writing tentacles reached up and grabbed it, pulling it down.

  Dirk and Anja backed away from the monster as the crab disappeared down the pit. Once the last of the crab monster had been swallowed, sand closed over
the pit again.

  “Wow! What a fight!” Dirk said. “But Marcus, are you ok? You look burned!”

  The goo that had come out of the crab had stung Marcus’s skin where it had touched him, but he conjured a blast of Elemental Water and doused himself in it, washing the muck away and feeling the coolness on his skin as the healing power took effect and the wounds knitted together.

  “That’s better,” he said. “Though I wish Ella were here—I miss her ability to augment my magic casting ability. But we can’t relax yet—I expect a new trap any minute now, and there’s still the stockade to tackle.”

  In its previous iteration, the dungeon’s second trap after the sinking pit had been a ballista firing bolts at him, operated by a team of strange men made all of liquid silver. They had appeared by the tideline, and Marcus looked for them there, but as he did he heard shouting from out over the water.

  He looked at the ship that sat at anchor in the deeper water out in the bay. There were figures moving on deck. Six hatches in a line opened in the side of the ship. Something dark appeared from the hatches. Fire flashed from each hatch. A ferocious boom thundered.

  “Cannons!” Anja shouted, as the whistling projectiles sailed through the air toward them. The cannonballs thudded into the sand around them, one barely missing Anja’s head.

  Marcus had heard of cannons before, but he’d never seen them in action. The huge guns were equipped to the larger kinds of warship, and there were tales of ferocious battles in the olden days when fleets would hammer it out on the open water, pulverizing men and vessels alike with huge batteries of guns.

  But these days, cannons were a thing of the past. It was said that the great port in the Kingdom of Doran was equipped with cannon for defense, but the art of making the explosive powder that fired them had been lost to all but a few knowledgeable old alchemists. The cannon themselves were prohibitively expensive to cast, and impractical to move as well. Now that the days of open warfare on the high seas had passed, the idea of equipping warships with them was seen as both impractical and unnecessary.