The next morning found us before the dungeon. Cheering crowds had surrounded us already as the roll call was underway. The guild leader called us out one by one.
Limier Group:
Symon Devillers (Commander): Spearman class.
Helloinus (Porter) : Archer.
Hermant : Tank
Almaurry: Sigil Caster.
Locals:
Roatta: Archer.
Erard: Murmillo.
Henry: Scout.
Runa Bertrada: Thief.
Mathias Bullion: Barbarian.
Greg Quagmire: Pugil.
The crowd roared in jubilation as the dungeon roared to life, the insignias on the surrounding magic circles lighting up a brilliant green as the portal materialized. I sighed. I checked my supplies. Eight vials of rudimentary crafted anti-venom, some simple equipment and about five kilos worth of pemmican. I clenched my supply bag tightly.
(Hope this as easy as they expect it.)
The moment we spawned in the dungeon, I could instantly tell something was off. We had spawned at a totally different location than my previous dive. First off, we were in a deeply forested area with a massive ruined wall overrun by vegetation before us with the occasional towers that spiraled into the sky.
Worse still, the air was thick with the scent of rot, distant shrieks echoing in the dungeon and slight trembles quaking through the ground.
A wave of melancholy and despair seemed to be washing through the raid team. The hardest hit being the recruited locals. Even Mathias and the Limier group were unnerved.
Abruptly, I felt something hurtling towards me. I swayed back. A chunk of wood whizzed past my face and slammed into the ground so hard the rocks started sizzling.
(Holy shit!)
A pair of red gleaming eyes stared down at us. Its bark thickened to rival that of the finest armor of the lands. One of its hands growing back to its original form as the other morphed, ready to fire another.
"Scatter!" Mathias commanded.
Too late. Another shot was fired blowing one adventurer's head off. Our scout.
Roatta immediately shot at it. It dodged them as it rushed towards us and leapt towards the Limier group. Helloinus smirked and revealed a hidden crossbow. It glowed a red hue before a fire arrow was shot straight from it. It struck the beast square in the head. It shrieked as it collapsed onto the floor.
"Is this all you were afrai-"
Instantly, jagged wooden spikes erupted from the ground and shot at them. Most of them managed to evade fatal injuries.
"Ugh! Damn bastard!" Hermant was pierced in the gut. Shallow but enough to cause a wound that could fester.
A sword decapitated the beast with a disgusting crunch. It's body vanished leaving behind some bark and its core as drops. Symon one shot it. His spear still on his back. Runa scowled.
More shrieks could be heard. The commotion had attracted more of them. We immediately dashed to the gate. Desperate to get in before we were shelled to the next realm.
"Stop!" Runa screamed.
Without warning, a ruthless onslaught of thorns assailed us. I hunched up, shielding my vitals yet my arms suffered the ruthless onslaught. The thorns already started causing inflammation. I could feel my arms slowly lose strength. I stared at the incredulous sight before me.
The vegetation that had criss-crossed all over the ruined wall had swelled up like poisoned lungs before erupting in a hail of thorns the moment we got close to it. The vines started gathering around the towers into massive thick pillars of nothing but thorns and pure malevolence.
"What kind of monstrosity is that?!" Mathias exclaimed.
"Hell if I know!" Hermant responded.
Another onslaught quickly ensued, the pillars having far better range and thicker thorns. With no other option we started falling back. Unfortunately, Erard and Roatta we caught in a skirmish with twig blights that were quickly starting to swarm them. Roatta couldn't even move, the onslaught had shredded through him and he was bleeding out. Erard faired slightly better.
The Limier Group had already steamed ahead in the retreat. What a useful bunch.
I turned and immediately dashed toward them. I slammed into one of the twig blights and hurled it at its group knocking most down.
[Axe Smash!]
[+127 Vitalis, +3 Experience, +1 Dexterity]
Mathias had slammed into them. The debuff immediately applied to the survivors as the remaining twig blights got significantly slower. Erard was momentarily stunned.
"Go!" My command jolted him back into action.
He immediately grabbed Roatta as me and Mathias delayed the wave of twig blights. The onslaught of thorns chipped away at our stamina, the twigs unrelenting in their assault.
"Master! Retreat I'll hold them off," Runa said, dropkicking one of the twig blights.
"It's dange-"
"You'll lose the group! I can find my way back!" Runa grunted weaving and slashing in that slog fest.
Me and Mathias' stamina was nearing our limit and we didn't have Runa's tracking capabilities. The group must've been far ahead at this point. Runa was at peak condition. We'd drag her down at this point. It was the logical move but somehow it left a disgusting taste in my mouth. Noting this, she looked at me. Her eyes lit aflame and hands tightly wound on her daggers. Mathias nodded and we immediately retreated, leaving Runa to delay them.
The sounds of a desperate clash filled the air. Daggers chipping at wood but not penetrating. Projectiles flying past. I could picture it all. Abruptly, we heard a disgustingly wet crunch followed by Runa's whimper. I stopped and turned. A hard liver blow nearly dropped her to her knees.
Mathias clenched his jaw, he knew the feeling all too well.
He grabbed my shoulder, "I understand how hard this is but you need to trust her!"
Another twig blight morphed its limbs into jagged swords and slashed at her. She managed to gather herself in time and weave under it. She had stopped countering them at this point. Conserving her energy.
My fists clenched tightly as I bit my tongue. I turned and continued with my retreat. Soon enough we had caught up with the rest of the group. It wasn't a safe zone but under a massive tree's hollow root. In fact there were multiple of them. A safe enough area, looked easily defensible too, the dense vegetation wouldn't allow for a bombardment.
The others were already drinking anti-venom and recuperating. However, I stood at the edge of our newly established base. I waited and waited for what seemed like hours yet no signs of her. The creeping sense of dread coupled with a hint of self-loathing for my inaction was driving me mad.
"Oh? Did someone's bubu die already?" Symon mocked as he cackled.
"What'd you expect from a savage?" Almaurry said, adjusting his monocle.
Mathias swung his axe, missing his head and making the whole tree reverberate. Almaurry shivered and squirmed under Mathias' intense gaze.
"Sorry, force of habit," he spat as he came and stood beside me.
Everyone was quiet after that. I noted it. Especially Symon. He was unexpectedly quiet after that bare threat.
Abruptly, Runa approached, groggy and unstable. I rushed in and caught her just as she fell.
"...Th-thanks," she whispered.
Her whole body was covered in deep gashes and thorns. Inflammation rampant all over her worn down body. The pain must've been unbearable but. She bit her lip bloody trying to suppress her pained whimpers.
"Porter, bring the anti-venom,"
"I'm not your mai-"
Mathias glared at him. He clicked his tongue and relented.
(Interesting.)
I quickly treated her and placed her down deeper into the base. I sat down next to her as Mathias collapsed next to me. I looked at my hand. The venom was slowly retreating and I could feel my strength slowly coming back to me startlingly enough. Perhaps I had acquired a half baked immunity due to the last poisoning I suffered or maybe it was the recovery skill. Either way, I was glad I didn't have to use my supplies yet. The Limier group was busy chatting away.
"How'd you even get injured?" Helloinus mocked Hermant
"Shut up! How's a tank supposed to move like you speed demons?!" Hermant retorted.
"Sounds like a skill issue," Symon laughed, Almaurra joining in.
My eyes shot up.
They continued chatting as if we didn't exist. Runa tugged at my cloak. She looked at me as if she had something urgent to say. She shot a glance at the Limier Group. Helloinus was observing her. Now was not the time and she knew that.
"Master, what's the plan?" a sly coverup.
"That's right Master! Tell us! What's the plan!" Symon mocked.
"Stop with the overblown confidence first off," I replied.
"Oh? Overblown? When I could one sh-"
"Your wrist's reddened," Runa noted.
She gestured at his right hand. His wrist was a deep shade of red, a telltale sign of overexertion. In fact it had been like that the whole retreat. It started when he killed the first twig blight. Even though it was one slash to its least armored area, piercing it must've overexerted his arm. This was after it was softened up by that fire arrow. All this she had noted. She turned to the porter.
"Wasting mana at the start of a dungeon is a rookie mistake, aren't you supposed to be professionals?"
Helloinus' face scowled. In fact the entire Limier group was infuriated. I agreed with her. Especially considering that we had an entire floor to clear and then two more. We didn't even know the location of a safe zone, it was far too risky expending our energy this soon.
I smirked. Literacy with a tactical mind to boot in medieval times was something to die for. I had unwittingly struck a gold mine. That earned her another three ticks. She was on a streak at this point.
"What would a beastkin like you know of an archer class?" Helloinus retorted.
Runa's ears perked up. She turned to me. She had gotten what she wanted apparently. I didn't know what it was but it was my time to step in.
"Whether you like it or not, it's true, we have days to sweep up this dungeon, it's foolish to rush it,"
Mathias and the other adventurers agreed. The commander clicked his tongue.
"Are you suggesting we crawl through this dungeon? We don't have infinite supplies you know," Symon mocked, cackling in perceived victory.
"Yes, that's the point. We had 30 anti-venom portions and we're already down 9, we need to find the floor boss quick not fight low level mobs,"
"So you're gonna play scout now? What a dependable pugil~" Hermant cooed.
"Yes, not just me though," I patted Runa's head, "she's proven herself the mvp here no?"
"Mvp?! Like she is," he scoffed, "I won't stop you if you have a death wish,"
I smirked. I already knew this bastard's game. After a few more pointless quarrels, we got to dinner. We had at maximum, three days worth of food in the porter's bag. Nine if we ate one meal a day.
The food was distributed and we started chowing it down.
"Mr. NOFACE," Erard called as he approached us together with Roatta.
"Thank you for saving us," Erard spoke as they bowed their heads.
Even in the darkness, I could see their eyes slowly lose their sheen. It must've been difficult.
I dismissed them, "Your deaths would've hampered our progress, don't worry about it."
Especially with those bastards around.
"Nonetheless, we should still thank you,"
I rolled my eyes, "Sit down and eat, we'll talk about all that later."
They quickly sat down beside us. We had started a small fire in the dark shade of the jungle canopy, careful not to let it spread. We roasted our dried meat over the fire. The soft crackle and glow of the flame raising the morale a bit.
"How'd you even hold 'em back?" Mathias inquired.
The attention shifted to Runa.
"Yeah, those darn pillars ripped through meh!" Roatta spoke.
"Well...I just fought up close with the twig blights, the pillars wouldn't attack if I was close to them..." her voice trailed off into a whisper, her head lowered. She grabbed my arm.
The others were stunned. That was an insane idea. Considering how easily Erard, a murmillo class specializing in close quarters combat, was easily swarmed on top with the twigs now having horrific weaponry, it was a miracle that she even made it out. Especially considering how thief classes usually took two blows to be incapacitated. Even the mediocre dexterity boost wasn't enough.
"I know I could've done better," she said, her cat ears trembling.
"Better?" Erard scoffed, "I must be a failure then."
Laughter crackled louder than the dancing fire before us. For a moment, the gloomy mood lifted.. Roatta in particular making fun of him. Erard exploded.
"Huh?! I don't want to hear anything from you, dead weight!"
"Yew wanna try meh!" Roatta said grabbing his bow in mock anger.
"Come at thy!" Erard said grabbing his sword and shield.
The fire grew slightly warmer. I laid back and smiled as I stared at the two. It was unfortunate we lost a scout but I was glad I was living a life I had dreamed of. A dungeon crawl with a half decent party anyways. Maybe that was selfish but I didn't mind it.
Though I'm sure I wasn't the only one who glazed over Henry's death. Perhaps in an effort to maintain morale or maybe it just hadn't settled in. Especially for Erard and Roatta. Mock fighting was a way to relieve stress in these times. Probably didn't want to show their anguish. Regardless it was good. It wasn't healthy but good enough. It could only get worse from here.
"We should get to sleep," Mathias interrupted Roatta's and Erard's arguing.
We all agreed. Erard and Hermant would the first shift on look out. Mathias, Runa and I were excluded as we had acted as rear guard.
Runa and I found a good tree to sleep under, gathered some foliage for a makeshift mattress and slept together. I wrapped my arms around her. For some reason, she was growing extremely cuddle worthy in the past few days. Her ears twitched as her tail wagged and snaked their way around my waist tightly.
"Master~ No-not today,"
"Pervert, I wasn't even thinking of that,"
"Hmph," she tried getting out of my embrace, her tail still wrapped around me.
"Stop being stubborn," I pulled her and nibbled at her ears.
Her ears trembled as her tail held onto me tighter but no words were spoken. Her cheeks pouted. I sighed and kissed her goodnight. She squirmed again but maintained that attitude of hers.
(How dishonest)
"Didn't you have something to tell me?" I asked.
Her ears perked up.
"I'll tell you tomorrow when we go scouting, this place isn't safe,"
I was intrigued but didn't push it. I just chuckled to myself as we fell asleep.