Heroes of Darkness: A Dark Dungeon Realm LitRPG Omnibus Collection

by Wolfe Locke

  As the last Kobold died, a series of prompts flashed before each of them, awarding individual experience for their participation, and prompting level-ups and quest updates. Seraph ignored the level up prompts; he would have to allot his points later when he had a free moment to better map out a build path.

  Notification: The Event has successfully concluded. All party members may now freely leave the gymnasium to explore the rest of the school.

  Party Member - JACK - has earned the conditional award of +1 to all stats.

  They all looked at him, angrily wondering how he had managed to cheat his way to the reward when he had just sat back and let the rest of them do the work. He smiled back, knowing the reason behind their anger. "Sorry. Sorry, guys. It's just that I wanted to make sure those monsters were dead, and so I went around when you were all busy and made sure that they wouldn't be getting out. Basically, double-tap, right? Just doing my job. I’m sorry it worked out like this."

  They were all angry with him, and Alexander stepped toward him, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer, yelling, "You didn't deserve to win that; you didn't do anything. You cheated."

  With his newly changed strength, Jack easily removed Alexander's hands, his smile replaced by a look of cruel disregard. "Oh, I did plenty. I used the resources I had, and already I’m the strongest person here. But I feel bad for this I really do; I am sorry, for what it’s worth."

  "You sure don’t seem sorry," Paul accused as he stepped toward Jack, his fists clenched ready to attack the man. "Otherwise you wouldn't be gloating about how you cheated me and Alexander out of that reward."

  "Oh, you’re right," responded Jack fearfully as he backed away from Paul. "I'm not sorry about that. I'm sorry about this," he said as he held up a handful of tokens, and as quick as Seraph was able to realize there were ten tokens in his hands, he was gone.

  Notification: With the loss of a party member, you currently have 3 tokens. You require 37 more tokens for the entire party to advance.

  Chapter 9: Discovery

  * * *

  Seraph felt a blind fury he hadn't felt in an age, and from the looks of anger on the faces of the rest of the group, he knew he wasn't alone. It was one thing to be a freeloader and get carried by the group—a freeloader at least wants to grow stronger. It was another thing entirely to steal the drops.

  If there was anything Seraph hated more than the weak it was a thief, and a thief had stolen something precious to him—a ticket out of the second phase of the tutorial. Seraph clenched his hand into a fist, imagining tearing the man's soul from his body, malleable like crimson clay in his hands, destroying piece by piece his immortal being as a consequence for the theft. Seraph made a solemn promise to himself and to the dungeon that Jack would be a victim of his wrath.

  Notification: An ability of the Black Seraph has been unsealed. Condition met - Make a binding oath while influenced by an emotional impulse.

  Notification: Passive Unlocked - The Dark Heart - Aspect of Wrath - When enacting vengeance or retribution, the user’s strength and agility are doubled.

  Dark magic began to flow through his veins, showing through his skin like black spiderwebs, and an ominous tense aura began to pulse out from his core in waves. While the others might not have known what was happening to him, they all knew that something had changed, and that Jack’s betrayal was the likely catalyst.

  A hand clapped down on his shoulder, calming him. Having calmed down, his new passive buff deactivated, and with it the forbidding aura that had been circulating around him dissipated.

  "Alright, so that sucked. Like that was completely terrible," Paul lamented, trying to salvage the mood as he saw the dark expressions of anger on their faces. "But I think we've all learned a valuable lesson here about leaving our valuables out." He was trying to make a joke to lighten the mood, but it wasn't well-received as neither Alexander nor Seraph smiled at it. He still counted it as a win though, because the dark tense air around them suddenly dispersed, and Erin gave him a small smile from beneath her hiding place.

  At least, he had their attention. As a leader, and as a father, it fell on him to try to keep the group morale up, and even if they were obviously unhappy, so long as he had their attention, he could work on that. "See, you guys, I actually learned a very valuable lesson. Did you know you heal after a battle? I was pretty sure I had at least one stab wound and a few pretty big cuts, scrapes, and bruises, and it's only been a few minutes since the fighting stopped, but it's all gone now. That's pretty amazing. Which is a good thing too since that big thing over there looks like he’s going to be a handful," Paul explained.

  "I'll have to take your word on it, I wouldn't know," Alexander said, slyly perking up and joining the conversation. "But you know, Paul, unlike you with your stab-stab action with that oversized knife, the whole point of a spear is to keep a little distance so as to not have to worry about having something you need to recover from after."

  It was a good point, thought Seraph, and some good-natured ribbing did help people to bond. In the dungeon, having those kinds of bonds with others could be the difference between life and death.

  Even he had, in his other life, counted on those bonds. He had counted on his comrades. He dismissed the thoughts from his head. He didn't need to indulge in memories of friends from his other life. The present was what mattered, and if he did things right, he would see them again. At least it was good that the others were seeing the miraculous healing of the dungeon for themselves. Some things were just easier when seen rather than explained.

  "Oh my god. I'm so sorry." They all turned and looked at the woman who had formerly been sobbing underneath the sink. "I just don't know what came over me. It's like I lost my mind for a minute; I just couldn't control myself," Erin explained as she tried to smooth out the track marks of bleeding mascara on her face. Paul and Alexander looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

  "It's alright," replied Seraph. "This is a learning point too. What you experienced was a status effect called fear. It has a small chance of afflicting a person anytime their hidden courage stat falls below a certain threshold. It does happen, and just like people's bodies heal after a battle, so too does the mind. Just try to do better in the future." Seraph didn't care if she lived or died long-term, he just needed her to stay alive long enough to use her ability—and harvest that same ability from her if she proved in the future to continue to be incapable.

  Seraph turned to look at his father. "Alright, so what's the plan, Dad? We still need to find more of these tokens, and from the look of it, we’re going to have to kill more monsters for that to happen."

  Paul let the question linger for a minute, going over it in his head before looking back at Seraph with an eyebrow raised. "Oh, you want to ask me what the plan is? Why ask me anything when it's clear that you’re the one with all the answers. Why don't you just be the leader? It's not like you listened to me anyway."

  This was something Seraph had been afraid of happening. There was an edge to Paul's voice. Things were changing between them at a rapid rate, both from the exposure to the dungeon and their shared experience so far in it. Seraph had revealed too much, and it was more than the man's processing could handle. "It's not like that, I told you. I have a restart ability, and for that reason, I had some foreknowledge because of my ability that you didn't have. I didn't want anyone to die. This wasn't my first time fighting this battle." Seraph lied with ease, hoping to not have to continue the subject before holes in his arguments were discovered.

  This was not something he wanted to be debating. This was the problem with humans, and regular humans at that. They insisted on wasting time at the wrong moments, debating the obvious when it was neither the time nor place to do so. Reckless. His plan, while not perfect, had ended up okay. No one was hurt, and no one died.

  Paul gave him a harsh glare, his eyes narrowed in hostility, and his body tensed with frustration. "Oh, still going on about that restart ability I see. Don�
�t you think it's getting a little tired? We all know you didn’t restart or respawn or whatever you want to call it. Well, I'm on to you since you don't want to come clean.”

  “Here’s one,” Paul explained, pointing toward the exit. “You said that thing over there, the Gigas, it’s something we can't kill. You said we need to get out of here before it comes after and kills us. That's what you said, right? Well, it hasn't moved a bit—except to stay near the door. That’s one lie I've caught you in already. Besides, if my decades of gaming experience have taught me anything, it's that either it’s on a proxy defend of the entry point and will only attack if we get close, or its optional content."

  It was decent thinking Seraph mused, and it wasn't wrong. At least, about Seraph lying. The verdict was still out regarding the Gigas, but Paul was likely right, though it had been an educated guess when he had made his claims. The fact that Paul wasn't wrong didn't make it easier on him to defuse the situation, though he suspected that anything he said at this point would be the wrong thing to say. Having no options, he chose to say nothing in response.

  Alexander pushed forward, wanting in on the conversation, interested, and demanding to be more involved in the discussion. Meanwhile, Erin moved farther away, staying in the back, and thankful that the spotlight wasn’t on her. “What are you getting at, Paul? I thought this was your kid.”

  Paul shrugged. "I did too. But a lot is changing pretty quickly, and things aren't adding up to me. But here's what I’m going to do. I’m going to kill that thing. Maybe we can sneak past it, and maybe it won’t even attack us if we try to just walk by it, but I don’t think so. What I do know from all of my gaming experience, is that these tutorials never introduce a boss too difficult to beat. That would ruin the fun. From my work experience, I know no company wants the onboarding to be too difficult. Otherwise, they lose too much if somebody can’t hack it. So that thing over there might be terrible, but I don’t believe we can’t manage to take it down. We just need to figure out the best way to approach it. But if I'm going to kill it, I’m going to need you guys to help and back me up.”

  Seraph looked at him. He kept his face stoic and unresponsive, not wanting to influence the man’s decision, or the decision of the group. If they made the decision to try to kill it, he wouldn’t get in the way of that. This was how people got stronger, by challenging the impossible and pushing their limits. As it used to be said: impossible is nothing.

  In the end, Seraph decided to speak up. “If you’re serious about this, I’ll help as much as I can, but I can’t promise I’ll be able to save anyone if that thing ends up being too strong for our group. I know you three don’t know what you're getting yourself into, but try to be careful here. We don’t know what lies ahead beyond the Gigas.”

  Paul's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he hardened his heart and made a decision. “It’s not your place to second guess me. I don’t need you to save me, and I don’t need you to look out for me. I don’t know you, not really. It’s been bothering me, but you’re not my son, and I'm going to figure out a way to get him back. Back from you. Whoever you are.”

  For all of his anger and accusation, Seraph knew that Paul wasn’t wrong, though it was complicated. It was not something Seraph took personally. When he looked at Paul, he didn't see an angry man, he saw a defeated man venting frustration, and his main frustration wasn't wrong. His world had changed in fundamental ways, and Seraph wasn't his son—at least, the same son he had this morning. "Do what you need to do," Seraph said. "But, as for me, my eyes are on the door. I’ll help if I can, but I won’t die for this."

  Paul ran his fingers through his hair, showing his increasing anxiety, anger, and embarrassment. Unsure of what to say.

  It was Erin who intervened. "Look, let’s all take a step back and just wait a minute, alright, before anyone does anything they might regret. Things are a little heated right now, so instead of antagonizing each other, let’s let things simmer down and settle before re-engaging. I’m sure everyone needs to adjust themselves and work around with their stats?”

  Paul nodded his head in agreement. “You’re right. I need to assign my stats. I'm level 5 now, and it looks like I get two points per level, so I've ten stat points to spend. I'm thinking of going all-in on strength."

  "So, what are you leaning toward?" asked Alexander. "I leveled up too. I'm level 3 now, and I’m extremely unfamiliar with how to build. I’m open to ideas, though."

  They both looked at Seraph. "Well, Luca, do you have any insight into this level up business?" asked Alexander with a grin. "You know, on account of you being an expert? I mean, you’ve done this before right…"

  Erin shifted uncomfortably as Alexander and Paul both looked at Seraph with questioning eyes.

  "Yeah, I do. I have some insight into the matter," replied Seraph, coldly looking Alexander right in the eye, and thinking that he had chosen the wrong person to target with his wrath. "Whatever you do, don't try to min-max your stat selections. These aren’t arbitrary numbers. It’s your body. You need to understand that you have to upgrade your stats relative to each other. If you upgrade your strength too much, but not your endurance, you'll break your own bones every time you move. If you forget to upgrade your perception, you'll find yourself easily breaking doors, drinking glasses, the floor, you name it, all because you’ll be lacking the ability to regulate yourself."

  "Wow, seriously? I didn't know that could happen," replied Alexander, his mind blown as he realized what he was going to do with his stats would have completely backfired. "Thanks for telling me that. It’s a real lifesaver."

  "I wasn't finished," chided Seraph. "It works the same way with agility and perception. Have you ever waved your hand in front of your face and seen only a blur? Well, if you upgrade your agility without keeping pace with your perception, all your senses do that same thing, and then it doesn't matter how fast you are because your perception of your own speed can't keep up with your ability to process it."

  All three of them were fixated on what he had to say. "What about luck and intelligence? What do those do?"

  Seraph sighed. He hated having to bluntly interpret data for those who couldn't infer the answers from the existing pool of knowledge they had. "Intelligence governs how many skills you can hold and how fast some of the skills progress. But likewise, you don't want to ignore it either. There are going to be times that you need to be quick on your feet and think of solutions to problems—quicker than anything you've experienced. As for luck. Well, luck just affects your loot pulls from the loot table, nothing else."

  Paul looked at him in embarrassment and asked the question on his mind. "Are you really my son? Are you my Luca?"

  Seraph looked at him, contemplating how best to answer. There was no other way around the truth, so Seraph would give him a version of it that the man could tolerate. "Yes, I am your son. But I’m not Luca, not really. I haven’t gone by that name in a long time. I spent over thirty years in this dungeon before dying and triggering my restart ability. When I died, I bled to death at the end of a massive battle. I was a little older than you are now.”

  "Holy…wow, just wow," Alexander said as Erin looked on with something like pity. She touched Paul’s shoulder to comfort him as the man’s eyes looked to the ground as he processed the admission. For a brief moment, a few tears dropped from his face, but as quickly as they came, they were gone.

  With his eyes red but having regained his composure, he looked toward Seraph and asked, “So, what do we do now?”

  Seraph replied, "We continue what we’re doing. We survive, we grow, and I do what I can to keep you guys alive. Oh, and you stay the team leader."

  Paul scoffed. "Why? Why should I stay the team leader when you can clearly do this so much better than me?”

  Seraph smiled a rare smile as he tried to fix the situation. "No, I can't. I basically ran solo. I had teams I worked with, but I wasn't on a team myself. This is something you can do, and something you can teach me. We
can work with that. From now on, call me Seraph. It’s been my name a long time now."

  "Because of those wings on the emblem you got? The wings I made fun of you for?" asked Paul.

  "Yeah," answered Seraph. "I was given back my legendary class when I restarted. I didn’t think it would be the case. I thought I’d have to work my way up again. In one sense, you could think of it as a new game plus mode. It just hasn't been unlocked yet for me to use it."

  "Well, I guess I can see why Paul might be ready to believe you—or at least not doubt you since you’re related and all. But why should me and Erin believe anything you say?" asked Alexander.

  "Because my dad isn't wrong. The Gigas can be killed, and since I don't need to hide what I know anymore, I'm going to tell you how we can kill it. All of us are going to take it out. But first, we are going to fix up your stats. Dad put 5 points into strength, 3 points into agility, and 2 points into perception. Alexander, your call what you do, but until you can learn some finesse and find some training, you should focus on your endurance. Erin, I'm not sure if you got any points, but if you get any, put them all into intelligence. It'll also help to prevent you from suffering from mental-based status effects.

  "What about you?" asked Paul. “What are you building toward?”

  Seraph thought for a second. He hadn’t actually considered what he was building toward.

  “Honestly, I haven’t thought about it,” he admitted. “It’s been full-on, ever since I woke up in this body, and before committing to any plan of action, I’d like to do some analysis on what I could have done differently build-wise. But for now, I only hit level 3, so I don’t feel bad assigning the stats I'm working with. With these 6 points, I’ll be splitting them evenly between agility and perception for now. Erin, I know I told you to spend all your points on intelligence, but it might be better if you split them between intelligence and endurance. It will help keep the fear effect from triggering again, and if it does trigger, it won’t last as long, that will at least offer some resistance to it. We need to be prepared for what is to come. Now, who's ready to kill a Gigas?"