Heroes of Darkness: A Dark Dungeon Realm LitRPG Omnibus Collection

by Wolfe Locke

  "Enough of that. The kid is going to have to pay his dues later. I’m running behind as it is," barked Tatiana, holding up her hands to silence the group. "Normally we’d train you up with us, let you leach a bit of our experience to get stronger, but only after making sure you know how to fight and wield a weapon, but Dominic wants you out in the field with us today, and he’s the boss, so that’s what we’re doing.

  "So, quick introductions, everybody, this is Luca, but when we’re in the field and outside of this Guild Hall, it’s going to be Seraph. You know, ‘cause of the wings," explained Tatiana, pointing at each one of the members of the team, commanding them with just a pointed finger to identify themselves.

  "I’ll go first," said the scarred man with a grunt. "I’m 2Face, the team’s primary damage dealer. Take note, this face of mine is why you don’t min-max your stats. I tried to go all speed and tore off part of my face from whiplash. The dungeon heals most damage, but only enough so you can fight again, and to my left is Mother."

  "I can introduce myself. Thank you," interjected the man with the glasses, trying to appear as if he was equal on the team to 2Face. "I’m Santiago, but everyone around here calls me Mother."

  "It’s not because of his nurturing nature if you were wondering," interjected 2Face with a grin.

  "And I’m Steele," said the girl, holding out her hand to shake his. Luca wasn’t sure what to make of her with a name like that. "And yes, I’m a girl. I just liked how it sounded. I’m the team’s tank. I draw attention from the monsters and whatever else we might go up against so the rest of you can kill whatever wants to try and kill us."

  "Great. That was mostly painless," chimed in Tatiana as she clapped her hands together, ending the introductions. "Now that everyone has introduced themselves let me lay down the ground rules before we head out to the Phoenix Refuge. I don’t care what Dominic says about you being a heavy hitter. Mother is the only healer in the guild and one of the only healers in all of Hometown. He's more important to all of us than you are. If we need to abandon you to keep him alive, I will gladly do that. Aside from that, stay near me, and you should be fine."

  Chapter 17: Rendezvous at the Gate

  "So, what now?" Luca asked, looking towards his new teammates for guidance. The last thing Luca wanted to do was a repeat of the march through town to reach the gateways that led to the other dungeon floors. Yesterday's memory of the hostile elves pelting him and the group with rocks was fresh in his mind. He didn’t want a repeat.

  Tatiana looked at Luca without saying anything before she turned and looked at 2Face. With a slight nod of her head, 2Face stood up and reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out a heavy-looking, though basic steel maul. Cradling the weapon gently, almost reverently, 2Face walked over to Luca and handed it to the newest member of their party.

  Holding the maul in his hand, Luca could only look with shock on his face wondering how the impossible had happened. He really just pulled this massive thing out of his pocket. Where did he even keep it? Luca examined the maul, wondering what the trick behind the magic was.

  Seeing the look of shock on his face, the entire team started to laugh at Luca’s expense. The healer known as Mother took a little pity on Luca, turning to him when the laughing stopped in explanation. "It’s part of the magic of this place. Every pocket is a spatial pocket. Any pocket you have basically connects to as far as we can tell, an infinitely large personal inventory. All you have to do is think about what you want and reach in and grab it. The magic does the rest. It’s one of the few things I like about this place."

  "That makes sense to me, but what am I supposed to do with this?" asked Luca, holding the heavy maul with both his hands. He was surprised that even though it felt like solid steel, it was noticeably lighter than he had expected, carrying it would be easy.

  "You swing it obviously. What else would you do with it? It’s close enough to a bat or a club that you should be able to use it without hurting any of us seriously until we get a chance to train you up. This breaks our standard operating procedures, but it’s not my call," replied Mother to Luca as 2Face and Steele looked at each other, sharing a knowing smirk at the rookie's expense.

  "That’s enough, you guys. Leave the noobie alone," interrupted Tatiana, slamming her hands down on the table. "Listen, Luca, can you swing that? If you can, show me."

  Luca grabbed the maul with his hands, holding it like they had heavily hinted, holding it like a baseball bat. His dominant right hand positioned about a quarter of the way up the handle and his off-hand just above the base. Luca easily hefted it through the air, swinging it in a forward motion, sliding his dominant hand downwards to further propel the force. Too late, he realized he couldn’t stop it and smashed the maul into the floor.

  The maul’s head hit the floor with a loud noise, breaking through the wooden planks that held it together, leaving a small jagged hole of splintered wood on the floor and a small crater underneath that. Every single person in the room turned to look at him with varying degrees of annoyance, irritation, and malicious joy. 2Face began to do another slow clap, a mocking grin on his face as one by one every single other person in the room joined in. Embarrassed by the attention, Luca didn’t know how to respond, his fair skin turning a bright shade of red in embarrassment.

  "Jesus, kid, you sure love making trouble," said Tatiana, shaking her head in disbelief as she examined the hole. She turned to the crowd and motioned for them to settle down. "Just what exactly is your strength at anyways? That was almost impressive."

  Luca hesitated, wanting to check to make sure before answering. "Status," he said as the prompt flashed before his eyes.

  Name: Luca Fernandez

  Race: Nephilim

  Aliases: None

  Class: Angel of Death

  Passives Abilities

  Soul Persistence

  Additional Stats on Player Kill

  Abilities

  Summon Nightmare 1-1000

  Level:1 of 999

  Unassigned Stat Points: 0

  Current Experience: 3 - 10

  STR: 10 INT: 10 AGI: 10

  WIS: 10 LCK:10 PHY: 2*

  END: 10 PER:10

  SOL: $00000*

  With a motion of his hand, Luca dismissed the prompt and answered. "My strength’s at 10."

  Steele looked at him in disbelief as she narrowed her eyes in jealousy. "There's no way your strength is at 10 if you’re new. What's your level say? What about your PHY score, you know, physique?"

  Luca responded bashfully, uncomfortable with the sudden attention on him, not wanting to be examined or treated differently by those around him, but knowing there was no use fighting it. It was something he was used to. "It says my level is 1 of 999, and my PHY is at 2."

  "Jesus, man," said Mother, "Maybe you should be our tank then and replace Steele. That puts you at an effective strength of 20. That’s amazing. With your strength being boosted like it is, that makes you about as strong right now as a level ten. Might not seem like much, but not many here in the Dungeon live long enough to hit 10."

  His face heavy with envy and pettiness, 2Face interrupted them to ask, "What's your total stats at, noobie? I’m level 31, and my total stats are at 62."

  Luca realized that he had made a mistake in sharing his stats so freely. Whether he wanted to or not, he was going to be treated differently and like an anomaly. If his PHY score basically doubled his physical stats, then Luca realized he was about as strong as 2Face already was at level 31 and then had more after that. There would be repercussions. He needed to expect that. People didn’t like being challenged, and if they didn’t think they could fight him, the repercussions would come in different, harder to detect forms.

  There were times when Luca struggled to know what to do. This wasn’t the time for doubt. The response to the question was easy enough. With only one real answer, Luca lied. "Only my strength is at 10. Everything else is set to 1." Most of the team relaxed visibly when th
ey heard this, the budding resentment already fading, though 2Face remained agitated, something about the situation not sitting well with him.

  "That’s enough chit chat. Somebody will be by soon enough to fix this floor, but let me tell you, rookie, the cost of the repairs is coming out of your share today and that’s if you get any. They're not exactly free with the money around here and the Dungeon doesn’t pay well," chastised Tatiana as she made hand movements for the group to finish up. "At the least, it looks like you can swing the hammer well enough to kill something.

  "Mother, go ahead and head on downstairs and open the portal or save a spot if there is a weight," ordered Tatiana as she grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck and directed him towards the stairs. "As for the rest of you, once we get to the other side of the portal, be prepared for a fight as soon as we land."

  "Um… is Mother going to link back up with us?" asked Luca, bewildered, wondering why the man wasn’t headed out the door towards the central plaza.

  "Of course he is, don’t be stupid," replied Steele. "He’s just going downstairs to the guild gate. Belonging to a guild has its perks. One of those is having a gate right here in the building for us to use.”

  Tatiana cleared her throat, impatient, and getting irritated that her team hadn’t started moving already. "We are heading out. The order will be Steele, Luca, 2Face, me, and then Mother."

  With no further fanfare and without delay, they went down the flight of stairs, leading directly towards a sealed room where Mother was waiting, haggling with whoever the gatekeeper was. "We can go through at any time," he announced.

  Chapter 18: Into the Phoenix Refuge

  The entire team formed up in the order that Tatiana had established. The closer they got to the gate, the more hesitantly Luca followed as memories triggered by the suffering he had experienced the last time he went through one of the portals. The memory of the pain he had endured made his stomach churn in unease and residual fear. Still, Luca was different now than he had been then. He had no intention of running away or balking at moving forward. He had his own goals to reach, and judging by the sideways glances Tatiana kept throwing at him to make sure he didn’t run, Luca knew he had no real choice in the matter. His fate was sealed.

  Rather than one at a time, everyone in the team stepped through the gate at the same time, pushing through the portal Mother had activated in the basement of the shared Guild Hall of the Legends and Chaos guilds. Much of Luca’s anxiety passed away when sunlight hit his face rather than finding himself stumbling out of the other side of the portal into a dark cave.

  Luca was surprised to see the portal had led them to a floating island, suspended in the air above a vast abyss on the outskirts of a lush forest that extended in front of him for as far as the eye could see. It was an impressive sight, further complemented by the sounds of life he heard coming from the forest, the cawing of birds, and nestling of leaves.

  Steele interrupted his musings as she took the lead, grasping at the railing of the narrow bridge that led downwards to the forest floor. "Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Every time we come here, I’m always awestruck by it. It reminds me of a lot of the Redwoods full of Sequoias back home. Just don’t get too distracted once we get off the island. Things aren’t safe here."

  A barrage of notifications hit Luca, causing him to lose his balance as a sense of vertigo struck him. Falling to the ground, 2Face was able to catch him before Luca completely collapsed all the prompts before dismissing them and continuing on his journey.

  Notification: Now Entering "The Phoenix Refuge"

  Details: The Legendary Phoenix, the symbol of rebirth, is said to reside deep within these forests ruled by the Avian God Garuda.

  Notification: Quest Discovery - Clear Phoenix Refuge

  Details: The God of All Birds stands between those who would dare to ascend to higher planes. He is but the first of many gatekeepers.

  Condition: Defeat the Avian God Garuda

  Quest Reward: Gain 10,000 Sol and 3,000 experience.

  Conditional Reward: To whoever strikes the killing blow on Garuda will be granted (1) legendary accessory.

  Note: This only applies to the first clear per team.

  Notification: Quest Discovery - Phoenix Feather

  Details: It is said that the power inherent in the feather of a phoenix can revive the dead and restore to them their vitality.

  Condition: Recover (1) Phoenix Feather

  Reward: To whoever finds a Phoenix Feather, they shall be granted the ability to completely resurrect, without penalty, one person within the dungeon, regardless of time elapsed since death, so long as the target of the resurrection died within the dungeon.

  The group looked away from Luca, wanting to give their newest member space, having all experienced the same thing before.

  "Hey, Luca, what you’re feeling right now is a totally normal thing. It's all right. If you need to vomit, just vomit. We’ve all been there before. That unsteady wobbly feeling like you’ve been out on a bender? It happens to all of us when those notifications pop up, made much worse when it’s a bunch at a time on top of a floating island, " explained Mother, trying to comfort Luca, making sure that he was ok and trying to talk him through it.

  "He’s fine. Don’t baby him," interjected 2Face, annoyed that the party was already showing this much difference towards Luca. "He’s not a pet that you can keep. You heard him before. His strength stat is higher than mine. A big strong lad like him should be able to carry this whole team on his back."

  "That’s enough," ordered Tatiana, silencing the group while Steele shifted nervously on her right foot, not saying anything, waiting to finish descending on the bridge. "Never forget where we are. Complacency kills. If any of you can’t handle it, turn around now. You can handle grudges later in the Guild Arena if that’s what you really want."

  "Alright, Tatiana, you’re right. I’m being way out of line. This isn’t the place for it," admitted 2Face in embarrassment as he held out his arm and an outstretched hand towards Luca, helping him up. "When we’re done here, the arena it is. You and me are going to settle things there."

  "Ok, fine. Whatever you say, 2Face, and thanks for helping me up," Luca said, reluctantly tolerant of the man’s attitude. Luca agreed to go fight in the arena at a later time. He didn’t want the trouble but knew when guys like 2Face and their position were threatened, they always responded poorly. It was a case where the only way out was through.

  "Guys, it’s time to move out," shouted Tatiana as she followed behind Steele, walking along the bridge leading off the island. Luca followed, concerned that the bridge wouldn’t be able to support their combined weight before dismissing the idea. This bridge is attached to a floating island, and I’m worried about the bridge collapsing under our weight? Stupid.

  Once they reached the bottom of the bridge and had settled onto solid ground, the starting walking alongside the beaten paved that led through the treeline. Luca looked around at the high treetops all around him as they walked, and though it was light outside, the forest was dark and forbidding. The thick canopy of the leaves in the trees was woven so tightly that he couldn’t even see the sky and cast a permanent shade of dark.

  "I’m wondering, you guys, if you don’t mind me asking. Just how far do these trees go. How long is it going to take for us to get to where we are going, and do we need to be worried about stuff up in the trees?" Luca asked, pointing upwards at the green canopy.

  Steele responded, speaking to him in a far more friendly tone than she had since first meeting him. "No one has ever attempted it and come back, but pretty sure it goes on for hundreds if not thousands of miles. It might even just loop in on itself. No one knows, there's not a lot of point to try and find out. The thing you do need to know, though, is that it never gets dark here. Just stays in this perpetual state of dusk when you're in the forest. Completely turning your idea of night and day upside down."

  "I seem to be repeating myself. This talk i
s over. We need to move out before the next team arrives," said Tatiana. "The five of us will be traveling in a wedge formation. I’ll be upfront, while 2Face will be in the rear. Mother and Luca will be in the middle, and Steele, you’ll be a roaming guard between the front and back, peeling and tanking if needed. Luca, keep your eyes peeled on the treetops. Make sure you call out if you see anything, anything at all. We don’t need any surprises dropping on us."

  Tatiana stopped talking for a second, making sure everyone was paying attention. "So long as it's safe enough, if we come across any monsters, I’ll do what I can to injure it and pass it along to Luca. This way, we can go ahead and try to power level him to 10. It shouldn’t take us that long to get him to reach the level 10 threshold. Does everyone understand?" Tatiana asked, looking around the whole group, making sure she got an affirmative nod from everyone. "Any feedback, comments, concerns, or threats? What about you, 2Face? You’ve had a lot to say today."

  "Yeah, actually, I’ve got a few ideas," 2Face commented, clearing his throat nervously as he looked at Tatiana and the group. "I think we all should head over to the ability shop. I doubt Luca has any Sol to spend at it, but we never know. He might be lucky enough to pull a useful ability, and I’m willing to lend him at least 500 Sol if everyone else will match it to get him outfitted."