by Dakota Krout
Now, it was time to make a new Boss. Since my last was at G-rank nine, and I could create one up to F-rank seven, this room was about to get significantly more dangerous. On Dani’s recommendation, I tried to combine the pattern of Bane with the patterns of other things I knew how to make. Each attempt at combining Bane with other mushrooms failed for some reason. Casting about for a way to understand this, no easy answer came to mind. Almost ready to scream with frustration, I was just about to pour energy into it in an attempt to force a natural evolution when my mind skittered over a Mob I didn’t know. Looking closer, I saw that a patch of the moss had upgraded itself when it had tripped a person and eaten part of his foot.
The new monster ‘Blood Moss’ could still do everything it had been able to, grasping, holding, and scratching; but had a new passive ability! ‘Vampirism, Taste for Blood’. Dani was characteristically excited that my monsters were getting stronger, and told me that if they fought and won, the longer they stayed alive, the more powerful they would grow. Each eradication would flood me with energy, but a part of it would also go directly into the monster who helped with the kill. Since it wasn’t energy purified by me first, the Essence taken would alter the path of its growth. I decided to plant a few Bane Mobs on the ceiling, so they had less chance of dying during a fight.
“Vampirism, huh?” That is a really good ability, but you should be careful not to give it to too many creatures. Technically, it is an infernal alignment ability, and if you have too many demonic traits the church may become... Nervous, and call for your destruction.” Dani warned me in a tone that brooked no argument.
“At this level, if it gets blood on it, the damage will heal a little, automatically repairing its pattern, which will fix the Mob’s wound. If not damaged, it becomes a little stronger, and harder to hurt. The higher levels have different effects but you will need to reach them to know what they do, I’m not an expert on the infernal.” Dani recounted, thinking hard.
When I mentioned the numbers, Dani zipped over to congratulate me again. “Oh! You can use your viewing ability on abstract concepts now! Great, now you will know when you progress in rank, and can view the cultivation base, or ‘rank’, of other creatures. The word you see on that pattern is how strong the monster will be once created. If it is one level below you, you can create it but not upgrade it,” she paused for breath, “If it is lower, you can attempt to use your Essence to make it stronger, though it may not always work.”
I made an educated guess,
“Ok, but remember that if it is one rank below you it will be really hard to absorb it back if you don’t like how it turns out.” She unnecessarily warned me.
“I don’t nag you. I explain.” She huffed with a glare.
I focused hard on the pattern, for the first time infusing it with the refined version of Essence from my Chi spiral. This had an interesting effect, as the fine energy went exactly where I wanted it to, instead of filling the entire template with diffuse energy. It took about eighty-five percent of the power I thought it would, and Dani told me this was because I was being more efficient. I planted the ‘Seed’ onto the ground and watched as it sprouted into a scary mushroom.
It reached its full height around chest level for the men that died here, and was very similar to the bane except for a few minor details. A carpet of moss spread out from its base, and I saw it flexing into ropey groups that would be able to grab prey and pull it into an effective attack range. It also had the Vampirism effect, so attacking would greatly benefit the monster. Its name? ‘Dire Shroomish: Bloody Bane’. I could hardly wait to see it fight.
~Seven~
Dale had returned home with the sad news of the deaths of his comrades, citing a landslide which buried all of them. The recent events and his guileless, lightly bearded face meant he had no issues convincing the townsfolk of his sincerity. He shed tears from soulful brown eyes for the lost men… while at the same time selling everything he owned. With the money gained, he purchased the empty parcel of land containing the dungeon - claiming it would be good grazing for the sheep he was planning to buy. His claim to the land secure, he sent a letter to the Adventurers Guild, announcing that he had found a new dungeon and was willing to allow adventurers to come into it for a percentage of the yearly profit it brought in. Since this was the standard agreement, he had no trouble enticing a small party to travel from the Guild and appraise its value.
Within a few weeks, a group of four travel-worn individuals had arrived in the small village. Quite an event to have any travelers at all, this far into the mountains, people were shocked to see not only armored knights, but an Elf in the group! Every courtesy was extended, but they only accepted a bath and hot meal. After meeting with the elders, the group found Dale, and got the mostly unedited version of events that had transpired from him, without the murder coming up for some reason.
Not bothering to stay the night in the cramped village, Dale and the group started into the mountain, hurrying to the entrance but failing to make it by nightfall. Camping a few miles from the entrance, the men explained that sleeping in the vicinity of a dungeon with only a small group was tantamount to suicide, as monsters tended to be drawn to the energy emitted from even weak places of power.
“So what are you guys actually going to do when you get there?” Dale quizzed them.
“Well,” pronounced the large man with plate armor, looking uncomfortably at the men around him, “when we first came it was to assess the value, but after hearing that a brand-new area has already been able to kill four men, we decided to destroy it. If it is this strong, and was not here when the scout came through only a decade or so ago, it is likely that it has some kind of infernal origin. The reports of our scouts killing a coven of Necromancers in the area about that time give credit to this.”
“But, this was supposed to be my new source of income! I sold everything I own to make sure this land was ready for you!” Dale pronounced, face draining of color. “I’m ruined.” He sank to the ground, head in his hands.
“Ach,” an easy-going Guild member tisked at Dale, “Lad, take it easy. The Guild will pay you ten gold for your trouble, and five each year after that for the rest of your life. That is what it is worth to us to stop Demon wars.”
“Ten gold...?” Dale breathed. In the mountain, that was enough to live as a lord for a solid decade. For two gold and a small bribe he could likely buy the whole mountain, since there was so little worth to the land. It was harsh and nearly impassable, especially in winter.
“Ten gold... up front. Before we go into the lair. If we decide that the dungeon does not need to be destroyed, we’ll be wanting that back, but will leave you half as a down-payment.”
“O-of course! Not that I think a small place such as this would be able to hurt any of you, certainly.” Dale stammered.
Laughing, the other men agreed with him and started a watch rotation, settling in for the night. When dawn broke, they continued on their way to the crevasse.
“Oh yeah, look at this. Some old mountain lion tracks here, bear there, and even a few goats, lots of rabbit tracks too. Look a bit old though, we may have been alright sleeping here.” Guild man number three, as Dale thought of him, informed them, pointing out the tracks as he called them out.
“Should I know your names?” Blurted Dale suddenly. By the furtive glances and shaken heads, he assumed the answer was no.
“I’m guessing we are close to the entrance? I am feeling an uptick in ambient Essence.” The smooth vo
ice of the Elf broke the awkward silence.
“Very close, it is right over here. I left the rope ladders to help us and brought an extra just in case-” Stopping mid-sentence, his eyes nearly burst from his head as he saw that the crevasse was no longer a hole in the ground with sheer walls, but a solid looking spiral stone staircase leading to the depths.
“Well that makes it easy.” The Elf stepped forward, and after a brief look of concentration pronounced the stairs safe to use.
“It is like an invitation!” Dale declared nervously.
“That is exactly what it is.” The large man replied ominously. “Stay here Dale, keep all this money safe for us, ok?” He poured a small sack of clinking coins into Dale’s hand. “We will be right back.” The group started their incursion into the dungeon, weapons coming out and slowly beginning to shine with accumulated Essence.
Coming into the garden room, the group waited in formation studying everything in their path.
The cold, logical voice of the Elf began cataloging his surroundings as soon as they entered. “Mushrooms and moss, some good for making antidotes, one a needed ingredient in weak health restoration potions, a few monsters with unknown yet weak abilities. But that, men, is why we are here.” The Elf pointed at a reddish patch of moss growing innocently in the garden.
“What is it?”
“Bloodmoss.” The Elf grimly alerted them. “It is a known component in infernal potions, and enchantments. If purified, it makes some of the most high-grade non-magical bandages that can be produced. The issue is, it needs concentrated infernal Essence to gain the vampirism-style ability it almost certainly has.”
All sense of relaxation gone, the men set about systematically destroying every living thing in the room. Within just a few minutes, only a few charred scraps remained. A few copper coins suddenly rained to the ground.
“Bribery will not save you from your despicable ways.” A taciturn man with a glowing holy symbol on his chest announced in a ringing tone. “Onward!”
Quickly moving on, they expertly destroyed or evaded every trap in the tunnel, and gave the same treatment to the next rooms and tunnels until they were in the Boss room. As they stepped in, with the large man holding a tower shield in front of them for cover, the over-zealous cleric boldly stepped forward, proud of their easy travel to this point and ready to finish the mission. The smile left his face as he was pulled to the floor, a vine dragging him quickly to the center of the room.
“What? This is a G ranked dungeon, how did it sneak up on me?” He shrieked, fighting to secure a handhold on the too-smooth floor. The others sprang into motion, moving to his rescue as a large thorn pinged off the shield. Despite the sneak attack and the subsequent battle, the strength of the Boss was nowhere near enough to even dent their armor.
With only a few slashes of a sword and a quick flash of fire, the Boss crumbled to the ground and was mostly reabsorbed, all but a few coins and useful parts of the mushroom. Studying the body before it vanished, the Elf grimly noted the vampirism ability it had, before noticing its cultivation rank in shock.
“This was an F-rank seven Boss! Where did that come from? Did anyone else see monsters above G-rank nine?” A round of negatives followed his question as he kept an eye on the shroom. The large man maintained that he had found where the Core was hidden, but that there was a plant in the way. “Carefully get it out of your way, then-” Looking up, the Elf saw the plant in question as a sword was drawn back to cut it out of the way.
As the sword came down, a blast of wind knocked the burly man away.
“Oh-ho! Looks like it had another trick up its sleeve!” The big man said, brushing off dirt and springing upright.
“That was me.” The Elf was walking over unnervingly calmly, and quickly inspected the small tree. “Whew. Just in time! If I had let you cut that tree, I would have had to declare war on your Kingdom on behalf of my race.”
“You whaaa?”
“Look carefully. That is a Silverwood sapling.” The Elf stated, calm in a way that terrified the human men. This was the sort of calm shown only to enemies, directly before their annihilation.
“Y-you don’t say…” The large man nervously chuckled, “Forgive me, I have never seen one before. I will dig it up so that we can move it to a suitable location.”
“If you are able to find a way to do that, you will have to show me,” the oddly flat voice resounded from the Elf, “because untold generations of Elves have been unable to find a way to do it. Which is why we build cities where we find them, not the other way around. I think it is safe to say this is not an infernal dungeon. That kind of Essence would stunt its growth severely, and this one, though young, is vibrantly healthy. I’d say our mission is complete, though I need to put protections in place for this tree. After all,” His face jerked upward, staring hard at a point near the ceiling. “If anything were to happen to the tree, I am sure the Elven-kind would destroy everything nearby in an attempt to find what had happened.” He blandly stated to apparently no-one.
The others looked at each other in worry and confusion, but did nothing that may upset the powerful Mage. As per his instructions, they moved while he cast powerful protective magic on the tree and handed over a gold coin, a silver coin, and a small, high quality honed steel dagger. The large man was grumbling at this until he was smacked in the head and pointedly glared at by the final member of their party. These items were placed on the floor in the room, and the Elf moved to usher them out.
The cleric made a pointed, haughty noise in his throat. “I cannot in good faith leave this place until I have ascertained for myself that this is not a place of darkness.” He pulled his glowing holy symbol off his neck and held it by the chain. “I will be placing this near that dungeon Core. If it is evil, God's might will smite it, I will not allow even the specter of war stop me from doing this.”
A smirk appeared on the Elven face, “Go for it. Heh.”
Eying the Elf, the cleric slipped the pendant down into the hole, skillfully maneuvering around the many roots just visible. At the furthest effective range he could manage he chanted a prayer, and waited a moment. When nothing apparently happened to the gem, he apprehensively began to speak, “Well, it seems that you were correct my frie-” In horror, he looked at the small amount of chain remaining in his hand that he had pulled out of the hole. “My pendant!” Furiously whirling on the Elf, “You knew that would happen!”
With an innocent look on his face, the Elf defended himself, “Well, I thought my manner was sufficient warning, but, well…”
Three of the men started laughing loudly at the protestations of the cleric - until they stepped into the first room where a small mushroom was innocently awaiting them.
The large man spoke quietly, “I thought we had cleared this room.”
“We did,” grunted the cleric, the first non-complaint in several minutes.
An arrow *thunked* into the mushroom, rendering it into pulp in an instant.
*Clink* *Clink* *Clatter* *Thud*
Announcing the fall of a gold coin, a silver coin, a steel dagger, and a shining pendant on a chain, the noises were the only ones heard for several seconds.
“How the…?” A confused voice.
“My pendant!” A joyful voice.
“My money!” A greedy voice.
“Oh, dear. It is a fast learner.” A soft voice.
~Eight~
I was terrified when these people destroyed my first room in a blaze of fire. I should never have made it so easy to get down. I just really had a thing for the spiral staircase ever since Dani had suggested it. It was such a cool idea, and it would allow animals to get down here. Obviously I needed to start upgrading my monsters, these people were spooky.
“It’ll be ok Cal; can you tell what rank they are?” Dani replied soothingly.
“The gear makes sense; their aura would protect it unless it got too far away from them. Oh! I never told you about auras! You see, when an aura is present you can’t affect things in the same way. Their Essence flows in such a manner that it interrupts your control in the area. That’s why you need monsters and traps, else you could just eat them directly. Every living creature has an aura, just so you know. Even you! Your aura is the size of your dungeon, but is disparate in any given area, hence theirs will block your control.” She paused a moment, “But you can’t read their aura at all? Nothing? No information whatsoever? I’ll go look.” She zipped away, her light fading to invisibility.
I was suitably impressed. “Wow, where did you learn that?”
“I get stronger when you doooo.” Her sing-song voice echoed back to me. A few minutes later, she appeared in front of yours truly, obviously upset. “Cal, the humans are C-ranked, and the Elf is B-ranked. We might be in real trouble.”
Her voice was lowered to an almost-whisper, “Hope they get bored and go home?”
I growled at her,
“I... wish I were joking. They could kill us without any effort at all. Stay quiet, and maybe they will not look for you?” She pretended to be hopeful, though she was obviously overly optimistic.
They were just about to enter my final room, so I directed the Boss to attempt a sneak attack. It worked! Then... it didn’t. I heard them talking, but couldn’t focus past my terror. A face appeared in the hole over me! AHH! The man raised a sword… and fell over with an ‘oomph’! Finally, able to hear their conversation properly, I was amazed that the tree offered me so much protection. When the Elf looked directly at Dani, though she was invisible, I knew his veiled threat was actually for me.
