The Dungeon Destroyer: A LitRPG Level-Up Adventure (The Dungeon Slayer Series Book 2)

by Konrad Ryan

  “Thunderbolt!”

  Electricity rolled through the pruney king, but it didn’t stop its advance. Its mouth opened wide, about to swallow Tad and the throne whole.

  Tad eyed his mana. It was exactly twenty. Just enough to let him cast one of his big spells.

  “Lets see how you like the taste of this!”

  Tad hopped back to create enough room, then summoned his last boulder, just as the mouth of the king stretched to consume him. The boulder burst from black mist, a line of green fire danced across its surface.

  “Firewall!”

  Red-hot flames roared into existence at the exact moment that the spinning vortex turned the rock to dust.

  But the flames did not extinguish.

  Firewall raged inside Acapacio’s spinning maw. It roared in pain, slamming its mouth closed to asphyxiate the fire. But magic fire apparently didn’t need oxygen. Smoke spilled from its mouth and eyes, vortex no longer spinning. The rock had been consumed and fire now ate at its life force.

  Tad smiled at his victory. For ten minutes straight, the firewall would eat the king alive. Its health bar dropped rapidly, a percent every second. He didn’t even need ten minutes. Tad slumped back onto the throne, kicked a foot up on the armrest, and sat to enjoy the show. He returned the victorious smile that Acapacio had flashed him.

  Acapacio panicked. Fear filled its far-too-human eyes. Tad met them, met its hatred and fear filled gaze, and smiled wider.

  Rage exploded in those eyes at the mockery. At the figure who sat in its throne, sure of his victory. In a move that Tad hadn’t expected, it reached both of its hands deep into its maw, and as before, pulled miniature clones of itself, both wreathed in fire. They screamed in pain, screamed from their fiery birth, consumed by the armor of fire that encircled them. Tad stood, summoning Raekast’s Fang from the misty void with alarm. Acapacio pulled out two more. Tad dashed, he had to end this now. Two more pitiful creatures were pulled from the boss’s mouth, each covered in flames that quickly snuffed out their lives.

  Finally, the firewall extinguished, the health bar of the boss stopped just under ten percent. The only fire that danced, did so on the corpse of Acapacio’s children. The boss started its vortex up once more.

  Tad had nowhere left to hide, nowhere left to run. Why hadn’t he thought of that! The first clones had been covered in rock armor after it had swallowed Tad’s boulder! Tad leapt at the creature, at the angry, vortex-toothed prune of a warrior who even in its death throes found a way to survive.

  The realization hit Tad. He should have finished it while it was panicking. What use was gloating? What use was provoking the boss?

  The vortex pulled at him, Tad could only think of one way to survive, the same way he had killed the first clone toothblender. If he could somehow get around the boss, he could fight holding onto his back, but there was no ground on which to pivot, no more boulders to make mid-aerial maneuvers. Not to mention the boss could open its mouth impossibly wide. There would be no tight movements around the boss. It had all its weaknesses covered.

  There was one path to survival.

  One.

  He had to use Raekast’s Bite. But there was no time to allow it to sip blood from his leg. Careful not to pierce his heart, he stabbed the fang into his own chest. Three hundred health disappeared instantly. The dagger fought to stay in his chest, struggled to drink more of his blood, but Tad yanked it out with all his force. The obsidian dagger glowed red with ruby veins, fangs etched on the blade were ready to bite.

  “Raekast’s Bite!”

  Glass teeth ripped him to shreds. Blood dripped down every inch of exposed skin, but Tad thrust his arm into the deepest part of the vortex, into the core of the monster. Pain blossomed, then disappeared as nerves and flesh ripped from his bones. Tad screamed in fear, anger, pain, and desperation. He had been too foolhardy. His vision went dark, but he felt it. Felt his fang finally reach its mark. Black mist exploded violently. The mouth of a panther ripped the toothblender to shreds.

  But would it be enough?

  A white notification appeared above the bosses head, *-600 Health,* its healthbar disappeared completely.

  Congratulatory sounds exploded through his head.

  *You have leveled up!*

  *You have leveled up!*

  *You have leveled up!*

  *Congratulations! The dungeon boss has been slain!*

  *Warning! Boss defeated. Dungeon destabilized. Ten minutes until dungeon collapse.*

  How close had it been? Too close. Tad’s health bar already showed 100% even as a wash of pure healing energy poured through his shredded flesh. His right hand’s flesh had been all but consumed. He watched, in half disbelief, as flesh from his wrist regrew up the frame of his exposed and damaged skeleton. The deafening roar of vortexes stopped.

  Tad’s regrown hands trembled. It had been close. Had Raekast’s Fang ripped any more health from him, he would have died. He had been too arrogant. Too sure of his skills. Yes, he was strong. Yes, he was fast. But even Bunta had needed backup. Even Bunta had needed someone to pull him from the dungeon, irregular or not, and Tad had had nobody. His only backup had a surefire way to survive, some checkpoint skill to cowardly flee the boss fight. But he couldn’t blame Elsie.

  She had warned him every step of the way.

  From the vortexes across the room, hundreds of toothblenders wriggled their way out of the dirt and mud.

  Tad’s shock at almost dying disappeared at the sight. He wildly examined the room, but no treasure chest appeared. In a puff of mist, Tad summoned his soul lantern and absorbed the boss’s essence. Then he turned to where water now poured in from the now-open boss door. He had to escape before the rest of the toothblenders extracted themselves completely.

  Fangblender.

  The thought hit him like a lizard’s hammer smashing his face. Tad turned and looked at the boss corpse. Could he banish something that had been alive into his equipment slots? He had done it with rocks. A corpse shouldn’t be any different. Tad pressed his hand onto the too-soft wrinkled skin of Acapacio and banished it to the void. In a puff of mist, the giant deflated boss disappeared. Tad’s spirits soared. He could make a new Fangblender, a better one! Tad leapt toward the open door and swam against the current, away from the hundreds of toothblenders bent on revenge.

  He swam desperately away from the impending chase. Elsie was already several hundred feet above him, pressing for the surface. She looked down, and even from this distance, Tad could see the disbelief in her eyes, but the look quickly changed to desperation. Tad glanced backward. A horde of toothblenders gave chase, they sucked in water endlessly, propelling the fluid out their backsides, flying through the water at an incredible speed. They were gaining on him. He had no choice; he had wanted to save his second charge for the next dungeon, but at this rate they would catch him, and tear him into a bloody mess. He couldn’t maneuver as fast in the water where they seemed more capable.

  “Brilliant Burst!” His voice was muffled in the water, but the skill activated.

  The symbols and golden lines on Tad’s cloak shifted, twisted, until they all turned into golden gleaming tongues. His speed doubled, he shot through the water. He was a dolphin in its element. He caught up to Elsie in a heartbeat and scooped her up in an arm, pressing for the surface. The toothblenders swarmed behind, fury and hate burned in their eyes as they chased the king killer. Tad and Elsie burst from the water. They climbed onto the ice float. Elsie wasted no time and leapt through the open dungeon portal. Tad was right behind her.

  The dungeon disappeared behind them as they pulled in deep breaths from exertion. Soaking wet like rats on the floor, they both broke into laughter. Brian looked at the two with a mix of surprise and inquiry.

  ‘I thought you dead,” Elsie’s laughter redoubled.

  Tad laughed back. “I practically was.”

  “Then the entire swarm of them appeared, chasing you like a jackal after beef jerky. And your face!”
She paused again, her body shook with laughter. “You looked so young, like my grandson caught with his hand in the cookie jar.”

  Tad laughed with the elderly woman. He couldn’t even find the anger at her for abandoning him. Despite her being a terrible dungeon leader, they had survived this ordeal together. There was something intensely funny from the sudden shift from severe danger to complete safety. His panic that had been wholly warranted now felt overly dramatic.

  He laughed harder than he had in a long time.

  It was the laughter of life.

  Chapter 12

  Tad had three hours to kill before the next dungeon. It was nice to kill something that didn’t bleed for once. After a long search, Tad had found the perfect tree to make his new weapon. Cutting it down had been no problem, Raekast’s Fang sliced through the wood like it was cheese. Sometimes using the blade was unnerving, things didn’t feel right under it. Everything cut the same, always in smooth slices, no matter if it was flesh, wood, bone, metal, or any other material. Tad had cut off all the branches until he had a tree-trunk pole left, that he could barely grip with both hands. He almost went with a thicker tree, but it seemed too unwieldy. The weight wasn’t the concern, but the proportions. His hands were only so big.

  With a thought Tad summoned the boneless corpse of Acapacio, king toothblender. It sagged and spread onto the earthen ground, eyes dead and glossed over. Tad grabbed the king by its lips and tried to emulate the motion he had seen the little toothblender do in his rank up trial. Like filling a garbage bag with air, Tad flipped the giant toothblender inside out. Razor sharp glass glistened in the sunlight. These teeth weren’t anything like the small ones that had been on Fangblender. These were huge, each bigger than his hand, some as long as his arm. Most spiraled into ram horns, their deadly cutting blade curved and twisted. The inside of the king toothblender was so dense with teeth, it looked like a glass rug.

  With little pomp or ceremony, Tad thrust the wooden pole into the gaping inside-out mouth of the king of all toothblenders. Once sufficiently deep, the entire corpse twisted and tightened. Thick roped muscle contracted around the wood, clear liquid splashed and dripped from its skin. The fangs spread evenly across the haft and almost grew around the wood until finally, the weapon was complete.

  *Would you like to name this weapon?*

  Tad had given it some thought. It seemed wrong to name a weapon the same thing twice. It was like naming your new pet bird the same name as your lifelong hound. It devalued the name of its predecessor, the sacrifice and memories you had together. Plus, Fangblender wasn’t a strong enough name for this weapon. It needed something sharper, something harsher. This was the king of all toothblenders, for Acapacio’s sake. Out of the dozens of names, only one had stuck. He spoke the word aloud.

  “Fangshredder.” Tad didn’t even wait for a confirmation window before he cast the identify spell. The weapon glowed, even in the sunlight of high noon, white light enveloped the weapon’s exterior until it rotated softly.

  *Fangshredder: Crafted by Tad Harrington. Two-handed weapon. The skin of Acapacio strengthens and reinforces the wood to an almost unbreakable state.

  Requires 50 Strength, 100 while activated.

  Can be activated for 10 seconds with 10 mana.

  Deals 24 Damage.

  Deals 240 Damage while activated.

  Active skills: Cyclone, Vortex*

  Tad’s jaw dropped. This was so much better than Fangblender had been, and it even had two active skills. Tad pressed on one after the other.

  *Vortex: Fangs reorient to pull air toward you. Zero mana cost while activated.

  Cyclone: Fangs reorient to push air away from you. Zero mana cost while activated.*

  He looked over the weapon information again. Tad only had the required strength to use it while inactive. But he could fix that. He opened his stats and added fifteen to strength, but each point added increased the stat by two, bringing it up to one hundred even. Once again, a deep appreciation for his fighter class washed through him. The double strength bonus made every point he put into strength incredibly satisfying. He would hold on to his last ten points. He had already overspent past his 20 stat safety buffer, but it had been worth it.

  With a satisfied nod, he looked over his stats.

  *Tad Harrington

  Rank: Soldier

  Class: Fighter

  Level: 44

  Health: 700/700

  Mana: 42/42

  Str: 100

  Dex: 59

  Con: 60

  Mag: 21

  Cou: 30

  Cha: 10

  Points to allocate:10*

  Tad could hardly believe he was already level 44. Just six more levels until his next rank up trial and he would become a warrior rank slayer. The same rank as Bunta. He hoped this next dungeon could get him there. But the last one had leveled him up five times, and it would suck to have to run another dungeon for just one level.

  A bigger question loomed in his mind. How should he prepare for the warrior trial? The level-up program hadn’t given him much time to accept or reject the soldier trial. It had wakened him from the dead of sleep to make the choice. If he wanted to prepare, now was the time. He could make it to Grimoire’s in about twenty minutes of hard running. As far as money went, Tad was pretty sure he had a lot. He had transferred Acapacio’s essence to Elsie’s soul lantern before they had parted ways. She had promised to send both him and Brian their cuts after giving the guild their split. But Tad still had all of the roach essence from the lizard dungeon just sitting in his soul lantern, including the queen. Surely they had to be worth something.

  Bunta hadn’t even contacted him about payment for the lizard dungeon, or anything else for that matter. He had been eerily silent. Tad hadn’t felt it right to contact Bunta himself. Maybe Bunta had cut ties with Tad, like Gruff had wanted them to.

  Anger surged at the thought that Bunta might still be taking cues from Gruff, his invisible puppet master, even from the grave. Having been slaying with two other dungeon leaders only made Tad’s anger worse. Gruff hadn’t been a worse dungeon leader than either Ironfang or Elsie. In fact, he had been heroic, friendly, and most of all reasonable.

  Tad cut the thoughts off, his tongue slicking to his missing teeth, exploring his smooth gums. Thinking about Gruff was too painful. Yes, he had lost more party members since. Dolly, and Squeak, and Tristran… or had it been Tristan? Guilt crept up his chest at not remembering the man’s name. He had only cleared four dungeons, and already he had seen more death in that short period than in his entire life before.

  And it was only going to get worse from here.

  Tad gripped Fangshredder in both hands and pooled the mana down his arm and into the weapon. It filled to the brim until the teeth glowed.

  Fangshredder roared to life. The huge fangs spun and twisted until the entire weapon flashed with color and wind. The wind pulled at his cloak, grass and leaves of nearby foliage. Tad swung the weapon into a second tree, the brother to the one that become Fangshredder. The two collided and bark and splinters exploded. The fifteen-foot tall tree shot into the air, severed from its trunk. Tad’s anger dimmed at the sight, but it wasn’t enough.

  “Vortex.”

  Tad almost flew from the ground as the wind pulled him upward. The previously uncontrolled energy shifted as every glass tooth on the weapon turned upward. The tree that had flown into the sky shot toward Tad, like a guided missile, sucked by the vortex. Fangshredder shook with great vibrations but easily turned the entire trunk of the tree into mulch. Before it could finish shredding the treetop, Tad changed the direction of the wind.

  “Cyclone.”

  Tad grunted as the extreme force of wind crushed him into the ground. He was a grape about to be pressed into wine under dirty feet. The treetop soared a hundred feet into the air, a concentrated and visible cyclone of wind then carried it even higher.

  What the hell was this weapon! It might even be strong enough to hav
e pulled those harpy bosses from the air. In vortex mode it pulled Tad with so much force that he could almost fly in the direction he was pointing it. His face twisted into a smile at the thought.

  “Vortex!” Tad took off at a run. His enhanced strength pressed off the earth below and he took off, a hundred feet into the air, Fangshredder pulled him even higher. He had to be at least two hundred feet in the air! Not only that, but the weapon slowed his descent. He glided downward, unsteady at first, but his sharp reflexes angled the weapon just right. Fangshredder sputtered, Tad fed it ten more mana. It roared to full strength once more.

  Tad pointed the weapon downward, and in that instant it sucked him toward the ground. “Cyclone!” He spun in the air, muscles clenched as he struggled to gain control. He spun faster and faster. Midair cyclone was an untamable beast. He had envisioned blasting off like a rocket and soaring in the direction he wanted, but maybe his strength wasn’t high enough yet for such a feat. Finally Tad relented and switched the weapon back to vortex mode to slow his fall. He didn’t want to crash full speed into the ground from a two-hundred foot leap. He got the spinning under control and slammed into the ground with more force than he would’ve liked, but only took ten points of fall damage.

  Tad looked at the weapon in his hand with renewed wonder. What a weapon! His anger was completely forgotten. With a thought, he banished the weapon into his too-empty equipment slots. He had lost his boulders in the last fight, but at least he had a second weapon, and one that synergized well with his recent strength gains. Fangshredder could be supremely useful in his warrior trial, if he learned to use it well.

  What other preparations could he make? Without another thought, Tad sprinted off toward Grimiore’s Gear and Goods.

  * * *

  Tad entered the purple chasm filled with equipment and glittering treasure known as Grimoire’s. His visit to the essence exchange had been incredibly profitable. The 436 roach essence, he had collected, sold for a whopping $200 a piece, for $87,200 total. The queen roach had gone for 20,500 just by herself! In one dungeon, Tad had earned over $100,000! Blaze had told him that payments for the guild dungeon took a week for processing, but his roach money should go far. Half of it was Bunta’s, technically, but Tad had heard nothing from the man, and he promised himself he would pay every cent back. Now that he was in a guild, he could run more dungeons and earn more money than ever before. And he needed the money more than Bunta did. If the man had needed it, he would have contacted him. Right? Bunta would understand.