Rexus: Side Quest (The Completionist Chronicles Book 3)

by Dakota Krout

  “That’s exactly what the skill is used for,” Jess informed him with a concerned glance.

  “Right, that’s why I said it.”

  “What?”

  “What, what?” They had a tiny staring contest, but Jaxon’s constant shifting and wiggling made him win easily. “So, gonna scout this one out as well? Seriously, I could just call you Scout and people would eventually know who I was talking about.”

  “No comments from the peanut gallery, please.” Jess crept into the room, coming back moments later. “Big room, one opponent, looks like a lady. She has a harp but no other discernible weapons. I’m guessing she’s a Boss of some sort. There is a treasure chest on the other side of the room, but since we are trying to clear this place, I say we sneak attack the witch.”

  Jess entered the room well ahead of Jaxon so that she could get into position for a sneak attack. Jaxon waited until three minutes had passed, then stepped boldly into the room. He didn’t expect the Boss to speak or for it to have such a beautiful voice. “Finally, a visitor!”

  Jaxon shook off his surprise and slowly closed his fists. “I’m sorry, but I am not here to visit. I’m here to clear this dungeon.”

  “Ah. How tragic.” The lady clasped her hands over her heart and looked like she was about to burst into tears. She grabbed her harp and strummed a few notes. “Why do you want to kill your own people so badly? No, don’t answer. Before you kill them, before you try to kill me, you must defeat… yourself!”

  She played a powerful chord, and a pale imitation of Jaxon began to appear. “Most people can’t understand what it truly means to win against your best self, to become your best self–ack!”

  Jess had arrived behind the woman and was stabbing her repeatedly. “No! That is such an overused concept. I refuse to be subjected to such a crappy, stupid, overdone, repetitive, trope!”

  The woman struggled and made a few wet noises, but the knives slamming into her made it impossible for her to say anything or cast other spells. She fell to the ground, and the misty Jaxon vanished. Jess kicked the woman once more for good measure and looked over at Jaxon. “We did it!”

  “Ah… yeah!” Jaxon lightly laughed. He was barely nervous at all.

  Exp: 500 (500 * Self-Obsessed Siren x1).

  You have cleared a layer of the Dungeon of Occidendum. Layers cleared 4/4. You have cleared the Dungeon of Occidendum! As the first people to ever clear the dungeon, you will be given the standard dagger reward, a reward based on your class, and gain the ability to select a new goal for the dungeon. You have been granted a title!

  Title gained: Stand Defiant. You have overcome an area meant to destroy you and have gained the tools needed to destroy others. Whether you intend to stand for humanity… or against it… you will be prepared. +20% damage done to humans. -10% damage taken from humans.

  They popped open the treasure chest and grabbed the multiple items that appeared in it.

  Item Gained: Graverobber’s Kris (Rare). Killing a member of your race with this weapon will allow you to loot their body. More benefits may be found over time.

  Item Gained: Dino Treat (Unique) (Class Item). This is the favored treat of carnivorous dinosaurs everywhere! Useful for taming the majestic creatures. Using this item on any form of dinosaur will permanently increase their disposition toward you by a full rank! Only use it once per day for the effect to take hold! Uses: 2/2.

  You have taken control of a Perma-death dungeon! As the new dungeon keepers, you may choose a new option for the dungeon’s growth. Leaving it ‘as is’ will grant you 10% of all experience lost by those who die in the dungeon. Changing the goal will reset the dungeon and remove your roles as the dungeon keepers.

  “This… this might be the single greatest reward I’ve ever gotten from a quest or test.” Jess was staring at the screen longingly. “Can we just leave it as is? No one else knows that you can capture it, and we could gain experience from this for years!”

  “At the cost of a person losing their character every single time we get a reward,” Jaxon reminded her instantly.

  She grimaced and groaned. “Oh, come on! The people that come in here are all going to be bad people anyway!”

  “We are in here right now.” Jaxon’s words made her sigh. “How about we just look at the options?”

  “Fine,” she replied shortly, and a window appeared in front of them.

  Options for the dungeon:

  As Is (Player Vs Player): Allow the dungeon to continue giving rewards specialized in hunting people of the same race as the user. (You will gain 10% of the experience lost by any person who falls in the dungeon).

  Player Vs Environment: Allow the dungeon to give rewards specialized in hunting non-sentient creatures.

  Environmental Bully: Allow the dungeon to give rewards specialized in hunting non-sentient creatures weaker than the user.

  Player Defense: Allow the dungeon to give rewards specialized in protecting members of the user’s race.

  Player Growth: Allow the dungeon to give rewards specialized in boosting the stats of the user to the maximum, including scaling weapons.

  “Well, I’d say player growth for sure.” Jess’s eyes were shining at the thought of super-powered weapons helping her travel through the game with ease.

  “One small thing you’re forgetting.” Jaxon grimaced and poked her in the forehead. “We. Don’t. Get. To. Come. Back. Whatever we choose now is only going to benefit the killers out there.”

  Wisdom +1.

  “Ah, dang.” Jess rubbed her head and glared at the options. “Let’s go total opposite again. Player defense looks like it would either force this guild out of a job, or it would make them shift their focus to something actually productive.”

  “I think that’d be the best option,” Jaxon agreed solemnly. “Let’s do it! I want to give my Dino’s a treat! Let’s do it, go, go, go!”

  Player ‘Jessamyn’ has selected the option ‘Player Defense’. Do you agree to convert the dungeon’s mission to this option? Yes / No.

  “Yes!” Jaxon cheerfully stated. The window vanished, only to be replaced by another.

  Once you leave the dungeon, it will be locked for 24 hours as needed changes are made.

  “Oh, good. That’ll give us some time to escape.” Jaxon tapped his fingers along his arm, thinking about their next move. “We both have the dagger? Alright, let me feed my hands real quick.”

  He opened this box of Dino Treats and pulled out what looked like a brick of bloody meat and fat that had been compressed to become as solid as possible. Activating Living Weapons, he made sure to start with the T-Rex heads pointing at him.

  “Craw?”

  “Nyah?”

  “Lefty, Terror, you’ve been very good in here. Good T-Rex Head Hands. Good!” After speaking, he turned his arms and let them see the thick brick of… stuff. As soon as they saw the treat, both of them let out a triumphant roar and fought to get closer to it. Jaxon didn’t fight back, and soon, his hands were fighting over the scraps. The treat had luckily refilled his Mana as they ate, or they wouldn’t even have gotten halfway through the dense rectangle.

  When they had finished, the hands turned back toward Jaxon with interest. “Cra~a~aw?”

  “That’s all for now, Terror.”

  “Nyah!”

  “You too, Lefty. Good work today!” As he finished speaking, his Mana petered out, and his hands returned to normal.

  Your Living Weapons’ disposition has shifted from ‘Confused’ to ‘Timid’. They are now 30% less likely to attack you if they come in range! Dino Treat can be used again in 23:59.

  “So, I need to know…” Jess looked over at the shimmering portal that had appeared in midair. “How are you planning to deal with the people that are almost assuredly waiting for us out there?”

  “I do have a plan. Are you ready for this?”

  “From the look you’re giving me… probably not.”

  Chapter Thirty

  “You
made it.” BackAttack stared at the duo as they walked out of the dungeon and into a large, stone warehouse.

  “No need to sound so happy about it,” Jess spat back bitterly. She had to pretend that she was upset about the outcome of their deal, or everything would be for naught.

  BackAttack shrugged. “It was a giant waste of my time, but so long as you have my daggers, it might have been worth it. Hand them over, and we’ll send you on your way.”

  “The way you phrase that sure sounds like it’ll end well for us.” Jess narrowed her eyes at the Guild Leader.

  “Well, Jess, I can’t have you learning the location of our secret headquarters, now can I?” The Assassin actually cracked a smile at that. “Hand over the daggers.”

  Jaxon cleared his throat and took a confident step forward. “Ah, actually, the deal was that we would give you a dagger, if you recall correctly.”

  “No, the deal was for two daggers.” BackAttack gripped his daggers and seemed to be on the verge of using them.

  “Nope. We had just talked about two daggers. Then for the deal, I only said a dagger.” Jaxon put his newly acquired dagger on the ground and slid it over. “Go ahead and pick that up.”

  BackAttack slowly bent over and grabbed the dagger. As he did, a notification appeared in front of the two of them.

  Obligation fulfilled! ‘Jaxon’ has honored his end of the deal made between him and ‘BackAttack’. So long as he does not discuss the daggers with others after this point, this deal is intact.

  “You conniving little…” BackAttack snarled, having to physically hold himself back from slaying the two of them. Then, abruptly, his expression changed. “Fine then, fair enough. I suppose my part of the deal only says that I won’t hunt or kill you, doesn’t it? I’ll just have to have my guild take you out whenever I want.”

  “And that is why we would like to give you this other dagger in return for a small addendum to our deal.” Jaxon blithely smiled. “We hand this over, you don’t send people after us either intentionally or by negligence. I realized that we had both made a small error when setting up the deal, you see.”

  “As soon as you are off my territory, agreed,” BackAttack quickly stated, walking over and grabbing the Kris after a small notification told them the details of their new deal. “I hope to never see you again, freak.”

  “The feeling is mutual, but I’m sure we’ll cross paths eventually.”

  BackAttack turned and walked to the exit, pausing just before he stepped through. “I’m not hunting you right now; you are just in my territory. Boys, send them to respawn and loot the bodies.”

  “Booo!” Jaxon called after the shadowy figure, his hands cupped around his mouth. BackAttack looked back only once with a smirk on his face before vanishing entirely.

  Jess shifted so that she was standing back-to-back with Jaxon, and a shimmering dagger appeared in her main hand. In the other, she still held the bone dagger given by the Wolfmen. “Are you sure about this?”

  “It’s working out exactly as we predicted, isn’t it?” Jaxon smiled at the figures around them winningly, even though they were beginning to fade from sight. “Before we fight, how about a bet?”

  Only one person was still visible, the man who had found them at the bar and drugged them. He smiled right back at Jaxon, his head cocked to the side. “Oh? What would we want from you that we can’t just… take?”

  “Well now, let me see.” Jaxon pretended to be thinking deeply. He snapped his fingers and met the eyes of the man in front of him. “Ah! I know! One of the functions of those nasty daggers is that only one item can be looted, and it is seemingly random, yes? Well, you see that extra shiny dagger Jess is carrying? See how beyond that she has only basic gear and is only carrying basic gear? I’ll wager that shiny dagger.”

  “What if we just want to take our chances?” The man’s eyes were dancing in amusement, no doubt because the others were closing in around the duo.

  “Your potential loss.” Jaxon shrugged nonchalantly. “In return, all I’m asking for if we win is a five-minute head start. No attacking us for five minutes! If we escape the territory you own, all the better. I’m pretty sure you will be killing us either way if you win.”

  “I suppose I can agree to that, but what is it that we are wagering on?” The happy Assassin motioned for his people to wait.

  “I want you to pick your strongest person, and we will determine the winner on a single match.” Jaxon smiled darkly, even though his teeth glimmered in the light. “An arm-wrestling match. I win, we don’t get attacked for five minutes by anyone who knows about the deal. My opponent wins, we hand over the dagger.”

  “Arm wrestling. How very ‘high-school’ of you.” The Assassin shook his head and looked at the others. “You’re a strange one, alright. Guys, you all good with this? …Looks like we have a deal.”

  A notification appeared and was waved away. There must have been some kind of signal because one of the men appeared in front of Jaxon while others brought over a small table and two chairs. Jaxon looked over the brute of a man that sat down, wincing as the Assassin who was oddly and obviously disposed toward the strength stat got ready. Jaxon sat down and glanced at Jess. “Get ready to run. As soon as I win this, we go straight through the door and don’t stop until we find a safe location.”

  Jess nodded even as the ogre of a man sitting across from him scoffed and placed his elbow on the table. “Let’s do this, tiny.”

  Jaxon placed his hand in the other man’s palm and waited for the happy Assassin to start the countdown. “Alright, boys! Three… two… one… go!”

  Jaxon activated Living Weapons just before the man said ‘go’, his hands shifting into T-Rex Heads that tore into the meaty hand holding them. Jaxon made sure to slam the Brute’s hand into the table, ensuring his victory. In fact, a notification appeared to that effect. As the huge man screamed, Jaxon looked around at the shocked faces of the Assassins. “Looks like I get five minutes of you not fighting me.”

  He slammed Lefty into his opponent’s neck and tore it out with a wet splash of blood. Then he twisted to the side and cartwheeled over the previously-happy Assassin and sunk his hand’s teeth into his thigh as he tried to get some distance. On the other side of the room, Jess was stabbing everyone around her. They drew their weapons and tried to join combat, but the view of anyone attempting to do so was blocked for a crucial second by a notification warning them that they would gain the Warlock title if they did so.

  During that moment of hesitation, Jess slew the people around her in an acrobatic display of violence. Jaxon had torn large chunks of meat out of his target’s legs and moved on to anyone else he could find that wasn’t already incapacitated. He left all of his targets alive, though they would need to go to respawn or find a powerful healer if they wanted to walk again.

  Jaxon was standing near a crate, and let his hands drift around the corner. He stage whispered, “Don’t move! My hands can’t see you if you don’t move!”

  “Wha?” The confused voice attracted Lefty’s attention, and the T-Rex head clamped onto the Assassin that had accidentally broken stealth. Jaxon tore off a chunk of meat and looked back at the room.

  “That’s enough. Let’s go!” Jaxon demanded, cartwheeling over to the door and pulling it open. Jess ran through, and they started running down the hallways looking for the exits. Jaxon looked at Jess, noticing that she had a deep red color suffusing her name, as well as a visibly red aura around her. Drat, she had gained the player killer’s aura for attacking first. Jaxon had a lighter red aura, but the only man he had killed had technically been in combat and grappling him at the time; his aura came from attacking other players.

  Either way, they would need to do their best to avoid others for a few days while the auras faded away. Luckily, they had a couple days of travel ahead of them if they wanted to get back to the Wanderer’s Guild base. On the third try, the two of them found an exit and got outside, running into the woods as the alarm
was raised behind them.

  They would be chased to the edge of what this guild considered their territory, and they were fine with that. The hunt was on, but luckily Jess and Jaxon had become quite experienced in remaining awake for long periods of time while running through a forest.

  Epilogue

  Two people appeared in Jay’s view. Once again, he had been assigned punishment guard duty and was guarding the only wall around the scoured village. He tightened his grip on his spear as he saw that one of the people coming toward him had a player killer aura, but it winked out in moments, making him doubt what he had just been seeing. Then he looked at the other person and went pale.

  “Is that Jay?” Jaxon ran over to the guard, who was holding his spear level albeit shakily. A moment later, Jess had caught up to the skipping Jaxon, but Jay was already laying on the ground groaning from a sudden, brutal adjustment. “You’re welcome, Jay! See you next time, good buddy!”

  “What did you just do to him?” Jess asked as they walked through the small gate.

  “Standing adjustment.” Jaxon looked over happily. “He asked me for a recurring treatment plan and started a tab. Nothing like being well-known enough that people become returning customers!”

  “You!” Jess turned toward the shout, noticing a pompous looking young man surrounded by guards walking toward them. “You were banished you filthy–”

  “Jaxon! There you are!” another voice cut into the mix, and Jess looked over to see a bald man wearing robes striding toward them with a happy smile. He also had people with him, but these seemed more… varied. There was a stout man with a pair of axes, a raven-haired lady with pale skin and deep bags under her eyes, and a colorfully dressed man wearing a ridiculous hat. “Everyone just got back a short while ago. I was hoping that we could get up to date on our adventures. What do you think?”

  “Excuse me. Get out of the way.” The pompous man seemed to be nearly hyperventilating over the interruption, his fists clenched and pale. “We told you what would happen if you came back, and you are–”