by Dakota Krout
“What?!” Her eyes scanned him, noting again the lack of armor and lingering on his hand. “You seem fine, so they failed. Did they rob you?”
Dale shook his head, “No, they broke all of my bones and my jaw so I couldn’t tell them to leave. Then they dragged me into the dungeon and threw me into the first-floor Boss room, after tossing away my armor and weapon.”
Fury colored her cheeks, “They will not survive the morning, but… how did you?”
Dale had agreed not to reveal that the dungeon was sentient, “I forced my Essence to flow and constrict quickly, allowing me to move myself like a puppet. I killed the monsters and found a healing fountain. I drank… almost the whole thing, re-aligning my bones with twists of Essence as they started to heal. There is no way I could do that again; I’m not really sure how I did it in the first place.”
The words shock-and-awe did not adequately describe the look on Brianna’s face as she paled. “Dale…” She began to question him.
“How about those guards?” Dale demanded loudly, ignoring protocol. Brianna nodded and called in some guards, and personally joined them as they exited, intent on finding the failed assassins. As they left, a soft robe was wrapped around Dale, who nodded his thanks. He ignored the fact that it was bright pink.
They walked stealthily toward the clerk barracks, a large tent pitched between the Guild tent and the dungeon. There were rotating shifts for the clerks, so they usually had plenty of free space when off duty. As luck would have it, the majority of the men that attacked Dale were standing near the tent, softly chuckling at the sounds coming from inside. Looks like their leader was in the process of getting his ‘extra bonus’. Dale pointed at the men and nodded; the guards around him blurred and there were suddenly several unconscious forms on the ground.
Without the noise, the sounds from inside were louder. A moan drifted out, making Dale blush a bit. The Guards lined up outside the tent flap and charged inside to a roar and a scream. In moments, the man and woman were led out with only a thin blanket covering them. The man blustered while the clerk cried, both of them pretending innocence. They saw Dale standing in front of them and went nearly silent.
“Oh shi-” The man spoke before being knocked unconscious.
“Wait! Wait, wait, wait!” The hysterical woman screamed, “How are you here? If you are alive, we did nothing-” She was placed on the ground as well, after a light clubbing to the head.
“I assume they are why I was woken up so rudely?” A wry voice spoke. Dale turned and noticed Protectorate Cole — his appointed magistrate — walking toward him, escorted by guards and shivering. “It is starting to get pretty cold up here.”
“Your honor.” Dale nodded at the man, “These people attacked me with no provocation, removed all of my Inscribed armor and weapons, broke my bones, and left me for dead in the dungeon.”
The Judge studied his face, nodding after a moment. “I see no lies in your aura, and yet here you stand, seemingly unharmed. Explain?” He politely demanded.
“I made my way out of the dungeon without dying after the ordeal.” Dale hedged, refusing to say more.
Cole stared at him and nodded slowly, “Fair enough, though we will talk more on this later. Wake them up, I will question them and give my sentence.” Soon there was a groaning, pleading, or self-righteous mass of people on their knees. One by one, Cole asked them questions and seemed unsatisfied with their answers. Grimly, he walked back to Dale.
“Well. Before I make an unalterable decision, what was the total worth of your armor and weapons?” Cole quizzed Dale.
“I purchased the armor for several hundred gold at a Guild discount, but never had the weapon appraised. I would place its worth around three thousand gold, as it had two powerful Inscriptions on it.” Dale morosely informed him, trying to be professional.
Cole winced and patted him on the back, “Ouch. Well, that certainly decides it. They do not have enough money combined to repay that amount, but everything in their Guild account is yours, as well as all personal items — which will be sold off. The attempted murder and placing of bounties against a Noble is enough for them to be skinned, salted, drawn and quartered, then burned.”
The group started wailing, all but the woman. Cole looked at her and shuddered, “There was more wrong in her than just this would account for. I think being caught has broken her mind.”
She looked up and gave a twisted grin, “Cole! Judgey! Let me speak!”
He stared at her and slowly nodded, “If you have something to say, out with it.”
“Well your judgey-ness, all I have to say is this,” She started laughing very creepily, “If you are what you eat, I am an innocent man! Haahah!”
Cole froze and looked coolly at the guard behind her, “She is not lying. Silence her, she will die first. Though I’d keep my hands away from her mouth if at all possible if I were you.” The guard being spoken to jerked his hands back. Cole turned to Dale, “Is there a specific way you want this carried out, or should we use the standard I described?”
All eyes suddenly on him, Dale looked over the group with hard eyes. “We will give them the same chance they gave to me. Bring them to the dungeon.”
~Eleven~
Before she could respond, I noticed Dale walk inside wearing a fluffy pink robe. Dani started laughing for some reason.
Dale gave a subtle nod and loosened the robe as more people walked in behind him. There were a few men and a woman, after a moment I recognized them as the people that had dragged Dale in here this morning.
The men and the woman were stripped of all gear, and pushed into the mouth of the tunnel. They started pleading, and a few tried to run, but sharp swords blocked their paths. The leader of the men went red in the face and charged at Dale, who used this excuse to toss his robe to the side and take up a fighting stance. I quickly ate the fluttering robe of course.
The man swung his beefy arms in an attempt to batter Dale to the floor, but gasped in surprise as Dale easily blocked his arms. Dale reached back, then swung a wild yet powerful blow into the man’s chest, activating his — I’ll call it a battle gauntlet — for the first time.
The spikes on the knuckles penetrated the unprotected flesh, while the force enhancement helped drive them in powerfully. As soon as the spikes had broken the skin and driven in a bit, the liquid repulsion Rune activated perfectly as I knew it would! The fluid in the man — water, fatty tissue, blood — was driven away from the impact site. Suddenly there was no blood for the heart to pump, and the organ went into shock and quickly died. The pain must have been terrible. His muscles were no longer hydrated, which would have felt like a muscle cramp in every affected portion. Luckily for the man, the pain was as short lived as he was.
The dying man had broken blood vessels and arteries along his entire body as the liquid was forced back against its normal flow. He slumped in Dale's arms and fell to the floor unmoving. A rush of Essence assured me he had died. Seeing their leader mutilated so, the remaining men stopped trying to get past the ring of guards and slowly walked down the tunnel. The woman skipped.
A small groan startled both Dale and I as a form stood up a few feet to the side, hidden by shadows. “Ugh. Dale? Izzat you? You’re alive? You ‘scaped?”
“Evan!” Dale cried, grabbing the Dwork and pulling him into a hug, “You survived?!”
“Obviously.” The blushing armored man muttered. “They sure knocked me out good though, I am so surprised I woke up. May as well not have though, I’m thousands of gold in debt now… and my pick is gone. Should just throw myself to the Bashers.”
Dale laughed and
slapped him on the back, unfortunately using his right hand. The Dwork was thrown forward while releasing a startled shout. He stood up and glared, brushing off his dented armor. Stupid aura protecting his fluids.
“Oops.” Dale muttered, deactivating his battle gauntlet. “I have your pick outside! You will be just fine, my friend.”
The Dwork broke into a sunny, toothy grin, “Oh yeah? Well thank you. Friend, huh?”
“Of course. Someone who tries to save my life while not standing a snowflake's chance could be nothing less.” Dale assured him.
“In that case,” Evan grinned, “I hear your friends eat at that fancy-shmancy restaurant out there. Got room for one more?”
“Any time you’d like, my treat! Forever.” Dale led them out, leaving a few guards to watch for the convicts. They needn’t have worried.
The unarmored group had stopped in Dani’s garden, forming a few crude weapons out of some wood they tore off of small saplings.
They sat in a half ring, their backs to the wall. The woman ignored them, dancing around and gathering flowers while humming and singing nonsensically. Forgetting that they had no way to start one, they built a small fire pit and gathered plants to burn.
“Ohh! Pretty!” The woman reached out and plucked a heavy rose.
“What?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’? Can’t you sense the room? Something just changed.”
“La-la-la.”
“Someone shut that crazy broad up!”
“Ahh! Something got my leg!” Yup. A tentacle, good sir. The man was yanked from his feet and dragged into the underbrush as his friends yelled and leapt to his aid. They crashed through the plants, only to stop in terror as a human size Shroomish with waving tentacles opened a massive maw in its stalk and bit the struggling man in half. Intestines and gore splashed to the ground. The remaining tentacles were petting the Shroomish like a human praising a small animal with a treat.
“What in the abyss?” One of the men gasped. The tentacles suddenly stiffened, orienting themselves toward the new sound and lunging forward. One of the men was skewered by an undulating tentacle and pulled in, but the other dodged and began to run. The maw on the tentacle that had missed roared and stabbed the ground, uprooting the main body and throwing the entire plant at the fleeing man. The combined weight of the Shroomish and two dead bodies crashed into the man, driving him to the floor where he died quickly from thorns and poison.
The woman had ignored all of the commotion, continuing to gather flowers and singing broken melodies. A tentacle reached out, and almost gently drew her toward the main body. An infernal maw crooned, and the Shroomish paused in its feast and appeared to consider the woman. It shook itself suddenly, releasing a cloud of spores which settled on her before the tentacle pushed her away — deeper into the dungeon.
“Obviously, it is more effective in combat than we thought it would be.” Dani murmured. “Keep an eye on the woman, see what happens.”
Dani looked at me like I was crazy, “Now? That is what you are thinking about?”
<…Yes?>
“Fine. How about… Glade?” She suggested after a moment's hesitation.
“Well,” she blushed a bit, “my other suggestions have been cute or pretty, but this one is more to do with its… existence. A glade is an open space in a forest, and these spawn when a space is opened due to chopping plants down. An ‘open space’ or ‘glade’ as it were.”
I radiated approval,
“Now back to business?” Dani prodded me firmly.
“Tell me right away if she does anything. I’ll want to take action…?”
~Dale~
Dale got to know Evan a bit better over breakfast, and made plans to meet up again soon. Unfortunately, they didn’t have too much in common. While they enjoyed their conversation and parted friends, there was no real impetus to prolong their meal. Evan had his Inscribed pick back and wanted to get some sleep before re-entering the mining area of the dungeon, while Dale had several people to talk to about the events of the evening. Talking to the Guild and telling the Elves the full story took until lunch, when he had planned to meet his group.
“Oh look! The emperor deigns to speak to the little people!” Hans called as Dale walked into the room. They were at the Pleasure House of course.
“Oh, whine more. Pff. At least you entertain us by varying what you complain about.” Rose chastised him.
Tom nodded seriously, “Verily, I have heard that the events of this early morning provide sufficient cause for Dale to receive lenient treatment from us.”
“You doing alright, Dale?” Adam looked at his unarmored friend. That Dale was out of his armor was strange enough, but coupled with his fiercely burning blue eyes and emaciated form, Dale looked downright frightening.
Trying not to scowl, Dale sat down and angrily cut into his steak. “Yeah, this morning sucked. Let’s hurry up and get to the dungeon, I feel the need to kill something.”
“About that…” Hans had all eyes locked on him as soon as he finished these words.
“Yes?” Dale drew the word out warningly.
Hans raised his eyebrow at the tone, “We can go in and fight, but I think that the third floor is going to have to wait a good long time. The team that we rescued had all D-ranked members, and three were killed while one was severely injured.”
“How is he, by the way?” Adam interjected. Once a patient, always a patient.
Hans tossed his hands in the air and made a noncommittal gesture. “He is stable, but they took too long to figure out how to fix the damage, I don’t think he will ever get full use of that arm back.”
“I thought they were just unprepared?” Rose contritely confessed.
“Just let me finish!” Hans ordered. “The Spotter report on the new Mobs was released this morning, and they were found to be D-rank two. They also obviously have some nasty abilities, and… they have Beast cores.” The final comment made everyone wince.
“What? So what?” Dale looked at the faces around him.
Rose took pity on him, “It means that they are intelligent. We are talking at least near-human levels of intelligence. They have accumulated enough Esse
nce that it began to crystalize, and formed a central area for their Essence to accumulate. They are now Magical Beasts, and far more dangerous than simple animals.”
“There is that much of a difference?” Dale was unconvinced.
Hans took over the conversation, “Let me offer an example. You got ambushed this morning, yes? I read the report, when they were caught and sentenced, one of the men attacked you, and you easily stopped him although he was much larger than you… correct?” Dale nodded, unsure of where this was going.
“Well, that man was in the upper F-ranks and had only one of his meridians open. The Boss on the second floor, Raile? That big bunny is F-rank nine and is already hard for us to beat unless I were to take it out and didn’t bother to let you fight at all. Those men were weaker than Raile, and were still able to beat you. Yes, it was because they snuck up on you, but, well, they did. Not a criticism, but you really need to learn to control your Essence so you can better protect yourself. As it stands, I — that is, just me — could go to the third floor and likely be okay, but you would all probably die if you tried it.” Hans finished his ominous speech by eating a scoop of iced cream.
Dale considered his options, but finally agreed that Hans was correct. “Fine, what do we need to do?”
“There are several things to do, thanks for asking!” Hans exclaimed joyously, obviously uncaring of the somber mood. “Firstly, we need to get Tom into the D-ranks. Second, you should go collect the Essence techniques you were promised by the Elves. Third, you all need to learn to control your Essence. Finally, we need to get into the dungeon and cultivate until we go mad with boredom.”
Dale’s eyes bulged a bit as he remembered the memory stones the Dark Elves had promised him. “Dang it. Right, I’ll go get them. How do we learn to use our Essence better?”
“You have a tutor show you. You have Craig, Adam has Father Richard,” Adam shuddered at those words, “Rose has Chandra, and Tom… I’ll teach Tom.” Hans sighed at the thought of long hours with the overly formal young barbarian.
