by Reed James
She gasped at the surge of revitalizing energy in her. She could feel herself gain that next level. Beside her, Marcus groaned, too. They hit it together. This rush of delight shot through her, full of the heat of last night's passion. She groaned as her thoughts expanded.
Shield Bash unlocked in her mind. It was all so clear to her to know how she could swing her shield into an enemy, disrupting their stance and ensuring that her next attack had an even greater chance of hitting a slippery foe.
“Damn, level four on the first battle after camping,” said Marcus. He grinned at me. “Maybe we should have pushed it yesterday?”
“It was smarter to camp,” she said.
“And definitely more fun,” he said, glancing up and down her body.
Heat rose in her cheeks. Maria du Marne shuddered. She couldn't let that happen again no matter how much she enjoyed it. Last night had been a mistake she could not afford to repeat. It was just the slime, she reminded herself. That wasn't you last night. You were afflicted with an aphrodisiac. Marcus just... gave you the antidote that you needed.
She tried to believe that lie. It soothed her conscience.
After the level up, she had more energy, able to take more damage and it unreleased more of her fighter skills. She was eager for more. Together, the pair pressed on into the depths of the dungeon. They flushed out another ambush of cultists and dispatched them with ease. Now Level 4 and working together with Marcus, she had the confidence to finish clearing the floor.
At the end of a corridor, they found a ladder in a hole cut into the floor. The temple was all jumbled up by the cataclysm that befell it after the Shattering. Marcus went down it first, the wood creaking beneath his muscled form. But it held. He stepped off and she heard the splash of water.
“A river's flowing through here now,” he said. “It's coming from a small cave and flowing down the hallway.”
“Can you get into the cave?” she asked as she descended.
“Iris could,” he answered.
As she reached him, she saw the small hole in the wall. A child could crawl through it, but not even an adult elf with their slender hips and shoulders could fit. Or so Maria believed. No one in her village had seen an elf, or another of the races, in a hundred years.
The water had eroded a culvert into the hallway. Muck and grime lined the banks. The walls gleamed wet. The water flowed to the hallway's end where it vanished into several cracks in the floor. They burst in a rotten door and found a bedroom. A rotten rug covered the floor, worn through in places and sagging in the middle. A bed lay to the right, its wooden frame cracked in places, the mattress a pile of moldering black. Her eyes swept across the room. On the far wall, she spotted a false wall.
“Secret!” she gasped and charged forward.
“Wait, Maria!” Marcus shouted as she rushed onto the carpet.
She stepped on the sagging middle while turning around to question his warning. Her foot hit the carpet and it kept going. She gasped. No floor lay beneath the middle of it. The rug whooshed as her weight plunged it and her into an exposed hole.
Maria screamed.
Marcus caught her about the waist and yanked her back. Below, the rug fluttered down to a deep pit whose bottom was lined with jagged rocks. Her heart pounded in her chest. She could have died from a fall that deep. She quivered in his arms, blood soaring.
She turned in his embrace and kissed him before she realized it.
Her lips melted on his. She trembled in his embrace, his arms around her, holding her. She felt his strength. That ache in her swelled again. The itch from last night returned. She wanted to sink to the floor, to revel in being alive in the most primal way possible.
Flesh uniting with flesh. His flesh.
She jerked back from him, panting, her cheeks burning.
“Maria?” he asked in amusement.
“Sorry, sorry,” she said, turning away from him. Her nipples poked hard against her chainmail bikini. It rattled as her breasts rose and fell from her hard breaths. “I didn't mean... I was just... Thank you for saving me.”
“We're a party,” he said. “And you never need to apologize for kissing me. Sharing... gratitude is always welcomed.”
I wanted to do so much more than that.
“What did you spot?”
She blinked. “What?”
“You charged out shouting 'secret.' You spotted something.”
“Oh, right.” A nervous giggle burst from her. “There's something hidden in the wall. I was just hoping it was the Shard I was looking for.”
“So you could get out of the temple and leave me all alone?” he asked as he strolled around the pit to the wall.
“I didn't say I'd abandon you,” she gasped. “I mean, I just need to complete my quest, too. I'll help you rescue those girls no matter what. You saved my life.”
“Just teasing,” he said, examining the wall. “Huh, I can just see it. You're perception's a smidge better than mine.”
* * / *
Maria's flustered behavior was cute. I couldn't help teasing her a bit.
I pried at the wall as she came closer. The stones were thin, only an inch thick, hiding a small compartment. A chest, the lock still intact and the wood bound in iron, lurked inside. I gave it a good smack with my ax, breaking open the top, and peered inside.
“There's an ax,” I said in surprise. “And some gold.”
I reached in and picked up an ax; the metal had a reddish gleam to it, the haft looking to be made of a finer wood. I frowned at how ungainly it felt in my hand. Heavy and unwieldy. I tried to swing it, but I almost fell over.
“Damn, what's wrong with it?” I asked, feeling foolish at almost falling on my face.
“You're under-leveled for it,” Iris said. “It's a Blood Bronze Ax. Need to be Level 5 to wield it. It has an increased chance to score critical hits. See, there's blood imbued in the bronze.”
“Strange thing to find in a temple,” muttered Maria.
“Yeah,” I said, eyeing the chest. I bet the loot was randomized. “Well, I got something to look forward to.”
Maria smiled at me.
This section of the temple appeared to be the dormitories for the priests. We crept into the hallway together. Bodies lay on the beds, covered in cobwebs, reduced to skeletons. Dust coated the floor and walls in thick coatings. The cultist probably hadn't come down the ladder like we had but found another way through the temple.
I hoped we weren't on a dead end.
We passed room after room down a long hallway. The wooden doors had rotted off their hinges, lying on the ground, the boards devoured in spots by mold or wormed through by hungry termites or other burrowing bugs. Almost every room had a body, like the clerics who lived here had lain down, given up, and then surrendered to death.
Maria shivered. “I don't like this part of the dungeon. It feels sad, doesn't it? They must have been trapped when it first happened, growing weaker and weaker, until they just laid down on their beds and died. Can't you feel it? The negative energy. Rūzem's touch.”
“Maybe his cultists are stirring up mischief,” I said. “And that's what your feeling?”
“It feels older than that, doesn't it?” She gazed at him, her eyes gleaming.
“I guess it does.” I smiled at her. “They're just bones. They can't hurt us.”
Normally, that would be true. In my world, at least, but a shiver ran across her face. She glanced into the nearest room and bit her lip. I could see the latent fear starting to form. She must have grown up on tales of the undead. Of walking corpses and shambling skeletons and blighted spirits.
“If they were going to come alive and attack us, wouldn't they have by now?”
She nodded, a relieved look flitting across her face. Then, almost like she wanted to prove my point, she stepped into the room, using her shield to bat away the cobwebs that had choked over it. She moved to the bed and looked at the figure lying amid rotting silk and moldering linens. She
made a peculiar gesture, hooking the air with the fingers of her right hand and bringing them to her left palm. She bowed.
“May Shuwëmeri welcome your soul into her loving bosom and Pushijer guard your immortal rest from the machinations of the Gods of Darkness and Chaos.”
“Pushijer?” I muttered to Iris.
She flitted up to me and whispered. “The God of Protection. One of the nine Gods of Light and Order.”
“And there are nine evil ones?”
“Shattered reflections of them. Rūzem, Lord of Decay, is a perversion of Shuwëmeri's Fertility. Aphounga, Goddess of War, makes a mockery of Pushijer's desire to protect.”
Maria rose from her bow then she turned around and gasped. She darted to the wall. He peered into the room to see her pulling a bronze short sword off of it. She blew dust from the blade and gave a clumsy swing. The blade looked nearly identical to her current copper one save the metal had a different hue, a more silvery color, though still possessing copper's near-golden sheen. Bronze, I guessed. Must be the next level of material in this game.
In games, crafting materials, like metals, were based on levels. Copper seemed to be the weakest, then bronze. Maybe iron would be next or silver. It wouldn't use real-world logic and, eventually, more fantastic materials would be used, things not found in the real world.
“I'm almost strong enough to wield it,” she said, slipping it into her pouch. It vanished into a space too small for it to fit. Maria didn't even seem to question it or find that at all remarkable.
As we moved up the hallway, we found more bits of gear. I almost commented on how strange it was that we only found fighter gear. A new coat of chain for me to wear made of the superior bronze. It was level five, like her sword. Then she found a bronze loincloth, the strip a little wider than her current one. That, too, vanished into her pouch. Last, a pair of bronze greaves for me to replace the leather pants I wore. They were polished to a shine and would cover my shins and knees, held on by two stout straps.
Looting was fun. I wanted to search every inch, but we only found some coin and nothing more. The corridor ended at a small shrine with an altar. It rose out of the center of the room, a statue to Shuwëmeri on it. She stood tall and lush, her hands cupping her large, soft breasts together, raising them up in offer, her nipples hard.
When she must have thought I wasn't looking, Maria cupped her breasts as she stared in envy at the busty goddess. I searched the edges, the room as large as three bedrooms. There were rotten pillows scattered around it and incense holders stained with green verdigris. The remains of the carpet looked soft and shaggy.
“Like a seventies den,” I muttered, sudden images of swinging parties shooting through his mind. “I bet the priests and priestesses had orgies here around their goddess's statue.”
“Oh, my,” said Maria. “I suppose so. Well, you can't procreate without that, right?” Her chainmail loincloth jingled as she shifted.
“Yeah,” I said, poking and shifting the lid on one of the incense braziers. It held a mass of sodden ash almost cemented solid. A faint, spicy aroma rose out of it, a memory of better times.
“Ooh, look,” said Maria. “There's a hidden compartment in the statue's base.”
The looting urge surged through me. “Open it!”
* * / *
“Sorry,” Maria said to the statue of Shuwëmeri as she knelt before it.
She felt a little guilty looting a goddess's statue, but Marcus had given her the order. His suggestions and commands had served them well so far, and she was curious. She wanted to know what was in there, too. It could be useful to them.
She pried at the small gap in the stone with her fingertips. The false covering ground against the rest of the base and came free with a hiss. A small, glittering bikini lay inside. Not much light was spilling on it, and yet the two metal cups, connected together by links of bronze chains, had little motes of light playing on them. Almost like it glowed itself.
“It's magical,” she said, pulling it out and feeling this innate sense of awe. On each cup, centered over the nipple, was a downward chevron, a chalice. The most basic and simple symbol of Shuwëmeri. She could feel it could glow even brighter, be a distraction against those trying to hit her.
“A Dazzling Bronze Bikini,” said Iris, hovering over her. “Ooh, when you gain a level, you're going to look sexy in that.”
Maria blushed. Flashes of wearing it and seeing the hunger in Marcus's eyes strobed through her mind. She shifted, her pussy growing hotter between her thighs. Cheeks blazing with temptation she couldn't ever indulge in again, she thrust the bikini top into her pouch.
“Did you hear that?” Marcus asked as she rose. He turned and looked at the hallway they just came down.
A skeleton burst in the room dressed in rotting rags.
Chapter Nine: Skeletal Dangers
“Angry Skeletons!” gasped Iris as a second and third skeleton lurched into the room. I could hear more marching down the hallway.
“We aggroed the entire hallway!” I groaned, my stomach dropping.
“We must have passed twenty of them,” Maria gasped, scooping up her shield and drawing her coppery short sword.
I nodded, drawing my ax as the lead skeleton rushed at me. Bits of rotting flesh and scraps of its old priestly vestments hung on the frame. It rattled with every step. Without fluids to cushion around joints, the bones ground directly together, the sound jabbing into my ears.
Finger bones raked across the front of my shield, scraping across the wood. I grunted and Yelled. The buff animated my body with vigor. I swung my ax, landing a normal blow. The rib cage burst into shards that peppered my arm and face.
“Fuck,” I groaned, taking no damage from the annoyance, but my arm didn't feel as coordinated. “They have an attack debuff when they die!”
“Oh, no!” Maria moaned. She hacked with her sword, a Hard Strike that cut through the skeleton. The burst of shards peppered her nearly naked body in little fragments of white. She hissed. “Ooh, that's frustrating.”
The skeletons poured into the room now. Three of them shambled at me, another two at Maria. I backed up, not wanting to get surrounded by them. A malevolent black stirred in their eye sockets, almost flickering with a dark rage.
They weren't happy that we'd desecrated the statue.
I hacked my ax into the first, but the throbbing pain in my arm made it into a poorly aimed blow. The ax's blade skipped off the collar bone, leaving a chip that didn't mean much damage. They were easy to kill. We just had to land the hits.
I swung again, irritation burning up my right arm. I landed a better blow despite the thorny pain and chopped into the collar bone deep. Its swinging arm collapsed, hitting my chest as it broke free from its shoulder socket.
The malevolent gleam of its eyes intensified on me.
The body burst into shards. The fragments pinged off my shield. Ricocheted off my chainmail armor. They scratched across my greeves. One struck above my eye. A hot trickle of blood ran down and stung. I shook my head, growling.
Finger bones stabbed past my shield and plunged into my side. They dug deep, chipping away at my Hit Points. I jerked back and blocked another raking blow. I had two skeletons on me with a third stumbling at us, kicking loose bones across the floor to reach me.
I swung at a skull and clipped the side of it, but the angle skipped my ax over the crown. The skeleton stumbled into its mate, but I did no damage to it. My arm throbbed from the bone shards in it. I had no way to remove them.
The three skeletons thrust their finger bones into my sides.
“Goddamn it!” I howled, the pain throbbing through me. I had to get a better chance to hit. They didn't do much damage, but they were whittling away at my Hit Points.
I set my shield and slammed it forward. Technical Points flowed out of me I bashed the wooden circle into the skeleton's head. It reeled back, leaving itself open for my ax slamming in after it. The crippling pain in my arm didn't matter
. I had such a clear shot.
I crashed into the ribs, ripping through the sternum, and cut into the spine. The skeleton split in half and burst into shards.
I had enough TP to use Shield Bash four more times. Two skeletons faced me and more pushed forward into the room.
* * / *
Minor irritation throbbed across Maria's arms, slowing down her swings.
She didn't like that. She didn't feel as graceful as she had since joining Marcus's party. Her attacks weren't hitting as with the skill they should. Her sword slashed at the next skeleton and glanced off a raised ulna and skipping down to the elbow. Her blade swiped harmlessly past the skeleton, only managing to shave off only a sliver of bone.
“This is vexing!” she said.
Marcus fought the Angry Skeletons on the other side of the room, Iris dancing over his head. He looked as clumsy as she felt. Finger bones raked across her exposed thigh, her copper chainmail loincloth swinging. The pain throbbed, blood welling, taking off more of her Hit Points.
Then another skeleton reached past to scratch at her shoulders They dug deep furrows in her. She hissed and swung hard. Her sword cut through the first skeleton's neck. Severing vertebrae. The skull spilled off its back while the body tottered towards the statue of the goddess.
I never should have desecrated you, she thought.
The skeleton burst into shards. She gasped as more buried into her arm. Little slivers and shards of irritation. They dug into her muscles. They made every movement feel stiffer. She raised her shield, blocking the next attack.
“That's so annoying!” she groaned. “Stop doing that.”
Wood thunked bone. A skeleton died on Marcus's ax, but more were pressing into the room. She stared over her shield, two more clattering at her. She swung two hard strokes at the one she was fighting, needing to dispatch it before reinforcements arrived. Two blows and two bad slashes, a scrape across a shoulder blade that nicked the vertebrae and a graze on the rib cage.
Then she had finger bones slashing at her from three different sources.
