by Konrad Ryan
Fury like Tad had never known raged through his mind, and yet he was calm. He plucked Raekast’s Fang from his toes, and sank it into his thigh. It drank hungrily. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred health disappeared. That should be more than enough. He pulled the dagger from his thigh, though it wriggled to drink more, and held it in his left hand.
After all this death, it still wasn’t enough for the man. He wanted more.
Tad steeled himself.
He walked toward Syphon, and the man turned to meet him, likely to get a better view of the woman who was directly behind Tad. “Syphon, superb job today, let me heal you.”
The man smiled amicably, but his eyes shone with need. Tad rested his hand on the man’s chest.
Mentally, without banishing Raekast’s Fang to his void, he switched which equipment slot it was equipped in, from his left hand, to his right, at the same time he angled his hand upward.
“Raekast’s Bite.”
“Excuse me?-”
The fang appeared in Tad’s hand. He drove it through Syphon’s jaw, through his tongue and into his brain. The panther bit Syphon’s head off entirely, his corpse fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Simultaneously, the mana beneath Kali exploded, but it was uncontrolled. It broke both her legs, and she fell to the ground in a cry of pain.
The two other slayers looked at Tad in shock, one pointed his wand, as if to cast a spell. He managed to sputter out a single word. “Why?”
“He was going to kill her. Even after she saved all our lives.”
They looked at each other in confusion, but Tad walked to and healed the woman once more, helping her to her feet.
“The dungeon leader died in battle. I became the replacement dungeon leader. Any problems with that?” His voice sounded hard, even to his own ears. Hard and filled with the rage of the senseless deaths he had witnessed.
Relief filled Kali’s face, followed by the other two slayers, both men. They nodded their agreement to Tad’s terms.
Tad glanced back once more at Syphon’s body, the health bar above his head completely black, and then finally, it disappeared.
Unexpectedly, a sinister laugh filled Tad’s ears.
*You have leveled up!*
*Max level reached. Warrior trial available!*
Chapter 15
Tad lay on his bed. It would start soon. Midnight had long passed, and with it, both his cape charges had replenished. He had made it home just past ten, to both the dancing, inquisitive eyes of his brother, and the great relief of his mother. She reheated a plate of dinner for Tad, while Liam grilled him about his dungeon exploits that night, focusing on the more gruesome details. Tad left Syphon out of the story. He had gone to bed shortly after, but any attempts to sleep fled before the task that loomed in front of him.
He was fully healed, fully equipped, frog boots back on his feet. It had been a long day. Two dungeons cleared successfully, but how many people did he see die? None in the first, but almost twenty in the second. Good thing he hadn’t tried to clear the banshee dungeon by himself, or he would have died. The banshee had been a formidable foe.
It was incredible how such a little change had made the dungeon so difficult and deadly. Almost unfairly so. Even without symbols on the door, sometimes the boss could just be an unsuitable match for you, or for your party, almost threatening a party wipe. Syphon killing three members before the boss fight had even started had probably weakened both their morale and their capabilities.
As the impromptu dungeon leader, Tad had collected all the gear from the fallen, Syphon included, and returned it to the dungeon hall. Even though most of it was from non-guild members, he didn’t know what else to do with it. Keeping it seemed wrong, and he didn’t even look over Syphon’s gear. Didn’t want a reminder of his first culling. Plus, he had promised Blaze that he would keep no treasure from the two dungeons. Fangshredder was exempt in his mind from that rule. No one would have harvested the boss’s body besides himself.
Blaze had been furious that they had lost Syphon, ‘one of our best dungeon leaders,’ he had mindscreamed. Only Kali had come back with him to join the guild. Tad gave her a solid recommendation, especially since she said nothing about the specifics that lead to Syphon’s death. She had given Tad her number, unprompted, and told him to call her. An awkward silence filled the space between them until she said ‘to raid more dungeons.’ If Tad didn’t know any better, he would have said she was interested in him.
But that couldn’t be. Kali was just impressed with his strength, like Sara had been, no matter what Blaze had said.
Tad tried to let himself be lulled to sleep, but his thoughts were restless. He pulled out his soul lantern and placed it on the desk next to his bed. Music filled the room as the tiny golden banshee played her mini violin. The tendrils on her head pulled frantically at the golden plate at her mouth. Tad did his best not to look at the creature. The music was soothing, unlike the frenetic boss music she had played. Tad bought her back from the guild. $80,000. He hadn’t had the money, but his cut of the toothblender dungeon, plus all the African vine creature’s essence split just four ways, had been enough to pay the balance.
But it had been worth it. He wished he still had the mosquito boss and especially the lizard boss. No matter how much it would hurt to look at them.
A treasure chest had dropped, but as he had promised, he had given it to the guild. Not before opening it of course. The banshee’s violin bow had been inside. It was a one-handed sword that gave the wielder the ability to play the violin at beyond an expert level. It had been a hard item to let go, but now his debt was paid. The harpy tongue was worth far more than the sword, at least to Tad.
He rehearsed the same strategy that he had gone over a hundred times. He had his stat boost potions ready to maximize his power. He would be cold and hard, like Zero had been in his rank up trial. Defeat the monsters quickly, minimize the damage taken. Push for all the elective rewards. Easier said than done, but Tad was already behind. The missed two-times stats still burned in his mind. Would Zero forever be twice as strong as him? Tad shook the thought from his head. The logic was circular and he always ended in the same place.
First, he needed to allocate his stat points. He had forty points waiting for him, and he didn’t know where to put them. Increasing his strength hadn’t given him any abilities, same with dexterity, not since stealth. Charisma and courage seemed like treasure troves of special abilities, but increasing them wasn’t very rewarding. He hadn’t raised his magic for a long time.
His mana had begun to feel constrictive. Last fight, he only cast two thunderstorms, and a few minor spells. Plus, more mana meant faster mana regeneration. If he wanted to bring Fangshredder to life, then he could only do it four times. Compared to the rest of his stats, especially the ones doubled by his class, his magic seemed pitifully low. At one point, it had been his highest stat. It seemed so long ago.
‘Heal’ had become less useful now too, since his health dwarfed his mana pool. Healing himself was hardly worth it. A higher mana pool would be more forgiving. Allow him to use his spells more often and even let him play more with Fangshredder. Finally decided, Tad increased his mana, point by point, dejected that each following point hadn’t taught him any new spells. 19 stat points disappeared in a flash.
Still no alert.
He had to be close to new spells. 50 magic would do something, he was sure of it. Tad added ten more points to his magic.
Two musical chimes played in Tad’s mind.
*Magic has reached 50! You have learned the following skills:
Quake: Consume 80 mana. For 10 seconds, you can control spikes of rock and earth at will.
Magic has reached 50! You have learned the following skills:
You have learned the passive skill ‘Lifeblood of the Wizard.’
Lifeblood of the Wizard: You now receive 3 mana per magic.*
Yes! Going to 50 paid off, and paid off big! Quake seemed co
ol, but going from 2 mana to 3 mana per point had increased his mana pool by fifty percent! Now he could cast his ice vortex seven times before he would run out of mana and even heal more than his entire life pool.
After this, he would enter warrior dungeons. What stats would he need for that? Now that his magic was high enough, strength, dexterity, constitution and courage were the most important. But with only 11 points remaining, he put one into dexterity to bring it up to 60, then held onto the rest, saving toward his 20 point emergency buffer.
Tad opened his stats.
*Tad Harrington
Rank: Soldier
Class: Fighter
Level: 50 (Max level! Rank-up quest available!)
Health: 700/700
Mana: 150/150
Str: 100
Dex: 60
Con: 60
Mag: 50
Cou: 30
Cha: 10
Points to allocate: 10*
Nice. Tad’s stats were really coming along. He navigated through the menu and opened up the message he read about raising his maximum level.
*You have reached the level limit of the soldier rank. Complete a rank up challenge at the class tower to advance to the rank of Warrior.*
Interesting. His rank up trial was at the class tower too. Come to think of it, that first room in his soldier trial had been nearly identical to the rooms in the class tower. Odd that he hadn’t noticed before.
Tad shook his head. He couldn’t get distracted. He summoned the class tower key and clenched it in his fist, the class symbols dug into his flesh the harder he squeezed. It was hard to plan for something when you didn’t know what it entailed. Tad’s stomach wouldn’t settle. Is this what the plaguebearer had meant when he said that Zero had reached a ceiling? That he met a rank-up challenge he couldn’t beat? What if Tad couldn’t beat this one? He’d be stuck as a soldier forever. Stuck with the likes of Blaze and Ironfang, left behind by Bunta.
Tad laughed at the thought. Death would halt his progress too. It was worth risking his life in a dangerous trial, better than retreating from cowardice and regretting it for the rest of his life. That missed 2x stat bonus was a constant thorn in his side. These last three dungeons would have been a piece of cake with it.
After a while, his thoughts melted away. The soothing music of the banshee, who never screamed, lulled him to restful dreams.
* * *
“Teleport.”
Tad stood in front of the class tower, surrounded by the mountainous cloud covered landscape that stretched further than his eyes could see. But this time something was different. The tower gleamed and sparkled, brilliant trails of blue light encircled the tower as if fairies were flying up toward the heavens. The key in his hand had miniature lights that encircled it too, mirroring the tower. The tower knew it was time.
Time to leave his soldier ways behind and become a true warrior.
With a deep breath, Tad strode through the open door of the tower. The circular room had changed since he had last left it. The spiral staircase was gone, same with the table that had his earned classes, replaced by the open mouth of a giant statue. Huge horns twisted from the top of its skull, piercing the ceiling high above. Its face, half-cow, half-man, fangs replaced with those of some carnivorous creature, a lion perhaps. Blue sapphires gleamed where its eyes should have been, a golden ring pierced between its nostrils. On its back, a scorpion tail dripped with a bead of stone fluid, poised and ready to strike. Besides the scorpion tail, the creature looked identical to what could only be a minotaur, but its features were warped and twisted. Shadow seemed to linger in places where the light of the open door should illuminate. It was fiercer, and more ferocious, than any minotaur Tad had ever seen. It radiated with distilled violence. But it was the golden ring through its nose that drew Tad’s attention, it looked too much like the handles of a dungeon. Instead of dull iron, the golden ring shone, illuminated by light of its own creation.
*Welcome to the ground floor of the class tower! You have five consecutive battles ahead of you! You will receive additional rewards for each victory! Potential rewards are:
Rank up to warrior.
???
???
???
Skip warrior rank. Rank up to champion!*
*The battles will get progressively more difficult. You will not receive any experience or essence for defeating monsters in these trials. If you decline at any step, further rewards will be forfeit and your rank-up trial will then end. Rewards will be dispensed.
Recommended level: 80.
Do you wish to continue to the first fight?*
Tad took a deep breath, then stepped forward. He had come for this. He couldn’t hesitate now, but that recommended level was worrisome. It had always been astronomically higher than Tad thought fair, but this was something else. He grasped the cool metal ring in his fist. The entire statue lurched, Tad hopped backward, dagger summoned in hand, ready to fight. The maw of the minotaur opened slowly, wider and wider, until a staircase descended past its teeth and into its throat. Black mist swept across the second step down. The third step was not visible.
Here he went, voluntarily descending into the mouth of a hungry minotaur. Maybe a bloody steak from the fridge would appease it instead.
Somehow, that didn’t seem like it would help.
Tad gingerly stepped onto the first misty stair. A warning blared through his mind, but he didn’t retreat.
*You cannot enter the Maze of the Void Minotaur while wearing any items. Please remove all equipment before entering.*
Tad read and reread the alert. He had to go into the first trial completely unarmed. Wait, no. That isn’t what it said. It said he couldn’t enter without removing all his equipment, but it said nothing of his void slots. That meant he could take four items. Unless…
A warning blared through his skull.
*Warning! You cannot store dimension pouches into your void equipment slots.*
Okay, so that’s exactly what it meant, he would be restricted to bringing only four items. The unspoken implication burned in his mind.
The level up system was punishing those who hadn’t earned the equipment system.
This was a ‘ceiling’ if he ever saw one. One that would be difficult to break through without the equipment system.
What were his four most important items? Raekast’s Fang would make the cut. Fangshredder, too. His resizable gaseous breastplate would be his third item. And the fourth had to be his shadow cloak.
The harpy tongue was an addon item… would it count it as a fifth item and force him to remove it? He hoped not, otherwise he’d have to leave his fart armor behind.
Tad removed all of his equipment, dressed only in his clothes, which were now far too tight against his bulk and muscles for his liking, but he hadn’t thought to visit a clothier shop when he had gone to Grimoire’s. Once more he stepped inside the minotaur’s mouth, ready with his four items.
Another warning blared in his mind.
*You cannot enter the Maze of the Minotaur with any items. Please remove all equipment before entering.*
He was only wearing his clothing. “You have got to be kidding me! I have to go in there naked?”
Slowly, Tad looked around the empty tower before disrobing. He half expected someone to jump out and laugh at his state of undress, like some big joke. But no one did.
Tad stood in front of the step and prepared to descend once more. His foot froze. Wait. It said I had to remove all equipment; it said nothing about buffs. Did it? Tad turned and looked at the equipment pouch, sat neatly atop folded clothes where he had left all his elixirs. Tad reached into his bag and pulled them out, one by one and chugged them.
The strength potion was orange flavored; the dexterity, banana. Constitution was his favorite, though, a dark and fruity grape. His body responded to each in kind, bulking up, slimming down and fattening up.
With his buff timers ticking, Tad stepped onto the first of the thr
ee steps.
No alarm blared in his head.
Chapter 16
The black misty steps were cool and rough, a chilled sandstone beneath bare feet. Tad descended into the darkness below. His stomach lurched, but he stepped through the black mist. He had been expecting to be teleported, like he so often did. Instead, step by step, the mist climbed higher on his body. Until the last step engulfed his head completely.
Tad took one more step, blind to his surroundings. Stealth vision was no help here, neither was sending out his perception. Finally, Tad stood in a different place, a tiny stone cell, bare of furnishings except for a lone stone bench. The cell was so small he could reach out and touch any two of the four walls simultaneously, but at least the ceiling was tall enough that he could stand and breathe comfortably. Ever since the coffin battle, Tad wasn’t particularly fond of tight spaces, his sleep had been riddled with claustrophobic nightmares.
The four walls of the cell were smooth stone and identical. There was no entrance, nor exit that Tad could see. Tad brought up his hands to opposite walls and pushed as hard as he could, even though his enhanced muscles bulged with effort, the walls didn’t budge. He tried the other set of walls to the same result. Frustrated, Tad plopped down on the bench, the rough texture sharp on his naked backside.
*Three out of four voids are ready.*
The message floated in front of his eyes. Four voids? Was this a deathmatch with the strongest void walking out alive? Then what was the minotaur for? It didn’t have to be a bloodbath necessarily, maybe it was a race, or a minigame perhaps. Like ‘put as many coconuts in the barrel as you can in sixty seconds…’ It didn’t have to be all doom and gloom.
Right, like this tower has had anything within it but death and destruction.
Tad summoned Raekast’s Fang and fidgeted with the thin, hiltless handle. Tad wasn’t going anywhere until the fourth player showed up. He only had an hour with the enhanced stats from the elixirs, and with each second that ticked by, Tad lost his advantage. Well, if he was going to be here a while, he might as well see what all the fuss with his armor was, since the salesman had been pretty adamant that he wouldn’t want to buy it. With a thought, he equipped the breastplate. Immediately, noisy flatulent sounds escaped out his backside, more furious and turbulent than he had thought possible. Tad unequipped the breastplate, his cheeks filling with heat. It had been so much worse than his imagination. The item description and its terrible poem hadn’t done it justice. Unexpected fart? More like nuclear fart. Tad was very glad he hadn’t tried that on in a public place. It sounded like a horn section, all playing with no regard to each other, trying to drown out each other’s sound. He doubted he could fight like that, let alone take himself seriously.
