Dungeon Wars

by Jeffrey Logue

  “When you put it that way, it’s completely correct,” Doc agreed.

  Rowen slapped his body and groaned. “I was rather hoping I had misheard you, truth be told,” he said. “What was it I said back when we were hiding from that other beast invasion? That you and Claire were frighteningly used to bad things happening to you? Seriously, Doc, this is a huge problem!”

  “Rowen’s right,” Anadine said. “Doc, this is a situation that really calls for all hands on deck. Even though I understand why you trapped us in training, don’t you think that was rather reckless of you to deprive yourself of a fighting force, even if it wasn’t completely stable?”

  The four boss monsters sat patiently in Doc’s heart room, newly arrived and freshly aware of everything Doc had been worrying about in and out of the dungeon. The two slimes moved slowly under the heart crystal, undulating from stress, while the two worgs sat patiently under the pedestal.

  “Considering I only learned about the other dungeon recently, no” Doc said seriously. “Though even then, you both are stronger now than before. Even if the dungeon was in more immediate danger, I would not interrupt your training until absolutely necessary. Claire once explained to me the difference between immediate reward and delayed gratification, and I must say that line of thinking paid off here.”

  “Father, is it possible for you to extend yourself outwards to allow us to scout the enemy?” Ayla asked.

  Doc’s crystal dimmed in rejection. “Like me, this other dungeon would be alerted to your presence even if you stuck to the shadows. A dungeon is always well aware of every creature that lives inside it. Also, if it noticed you, that could incite it into action before we have suitable time to prepare.”

  “How would we prepare beyond what currently exists?” Anadine pressed. “You said it yourself in your summary: the dungeon is filled with slimes, Rowen and I can fight at peak tier 2 boss level, Ayla and Aisha both are tier 3 in strength, and those forest lions have some level of strength to survive a hostile dungeon and reach here. What else can you do?”

  “Well, putting aside Claire’s situation,” Doc began, “the third floor is still populated by the trap slimes and the mini slime traps. I could move them into the entrance tunnel and forest to serve as obstacles and thin the enemy’s ranks. The leaf muncher slimes and the bee slimes could perhaps be joined by another new insect type of slime. If I regained enough mana capacity, I could create a permanent lord slime body to inhabit and fight in. And then a few more things here and there.”

  “Given that every bit of that list requires dungeon mana, I assume, then, that the issue returns to Claire and the mystery drain on your dungeon,” Rowen pointed out.

  “Indeed. The drain needs to cease. However, I can’t get in there,” Doc said, indicating the door entrance to Claire’s home. “Our contract prevents me from bypassing the divide between dungeon and pixie home without express permission, and whatever is causing the drain seems to react hungrily towards my presence, trying to steal more mana from me. Otherwise I’d attempt an emergency entrance or something, though that isn’t in the contract.”

  “Father, perhaps Ayla and I, shadow step in?” Aisha ventured.

  “You’re both dungeon creatures, with your very bodies relying on mana to exist. I doubt you’d be any safer than me against whatever is in there.” Doc declined. “Rowen might have if he were still human, but now no one besides Claire has a normal body.”

  “Has Claire been completely silent, or have you managed to speak with her at all?” Anadine asked.

  Doc hesitated.

  “Once, I was able to speak directly to her,” he admitted. “However, it was not the Claire you all or I know who spoke back. Cynical, demeaning, hate filled—the words she cast were not from hallowed lips. Beyond that, however, I can still feel her getting up at the same time every morning and doing something before returning to... whatever it is she has been doing.”

  “Do you think she would respond to our voices?” Ayla asked.

  “Maybe,” Doc said, a metaphysical shrug behind his words. “The morning has passed, however, so it’ll have to be put off until tomorrow.”

  “Hey, Doc, a question,” Rowen said, speaking up from his thoughts. “You said a dungeon is fully aware of every being inside of it, correct?”

  “I did, and it is something I’ve learned from both Claire and experience.” Doc answered. “Why?”

  “Are you aware, then, of the little green-scaled things running around your dungeon?” Rowen asked. “Aisha and I spotted them during my training, and I can’t help but feel they were observing me with intelligent eyes.

  “Little green, scaled things?” Doc wondered out loud. “No, I can’t say I remember anything matching that description entering the dungeon. Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things? I mean, how do you know they were green?”

  “My eyes used,” Aisha spoke in confirmation. “Quick, beady-eyed, scaled, and green, little shadows darting in the trees. But not so tiny, perhaps small versions. Still, exist they do inside the dungeon.”

  “That shouldn’t be...” Doc trailed off. “I mean, I ejected everything in the dungeon when I underwent maintenance, and I’ve paid close attention to the dungeon entrance since then. They shouldn’t have been able to sneak in without being noticed.”

  “Doc, are you sure you ejected everything?” Anadine pressed.

  “Well, I mean, not the forest lion,” he admitted. “Claire told me that in order to prevent the forest lion from being ejected I had to... allow anything roughly its size to stay with permission. Oh, maybe your mystery monster as an adult is roughly the same height or width as the forest lion and was skipped.”

  “You know, Doc,” Ayla said. “I bet you don’t pay as much attention to the entrance when several things are occurring in the dungeon, say your pixie disappearing or your bosses going on a rampage. I can think of a number of times since we arrived here when you’ve become severely distracted by important events.”

  Doc sighed sheepishly. “Alright, so maybe my perception isn’t as good as I thought. That doesn’t mean the other dungeon isn’t keeping a vigilant eye on us. Anyway, let’s get back to those little green-scaled monsters. Do you know what kind of monster they are, or if they’re a type of animal?”

  “I didn’t recognize them,” Rowen admitted. “The fur was rather off-putting when I tried to—”

  “Fur? I thought you said scales?” Anadine interrupted.

  “Well, it was both,” Rowen admitted. The scales stood out visibly to Aisha when she pointed them out to me, but when I turned to look, they were long gone. However, I did find some fur where Aisha had seen them, so I think they have both.” Reaching inside himself, Rowen pulled out a bit of fur that had been floating around his body.

  “I might be a lesser kobold,” Anadine ventured as she examined Rowen’s fur finding. “While I have never seen one myself, I hear they are forest dwellers who are faintly descended from dragons. The lowest of dragon-kin, if memory serves.”

  “That’s right,” Doc cried out, suddenly remembering. “Back when I was choosing my monster race, kobold was one of the choices. It’s been so long, though, and I don’t believe they were called ‘lesser kobolds.’”

  “Lesser kobolds are descended from true kobolds,” Anadine explained. “They’ve begun to grow fur over their scales as they lose their cold blood in favor of warm blood. Something about their environment caused it—the almost year-round cold winds, I believe. They’re reproductive ability improved as well, allowing them to flourish once they found more temperate homes. However, this makes them quite the beast, on par with goblins in some cases, though the two are fierce rivals.”

  “So I have a small pack of lesser kobolds in my dungeon,” Doc reaffirmed. “How curious. Perhaps if Claire were here, I would have found them sooner. Anadine, can they fight and help defend the dungeon?”

  The blue slime shrugged. “Hard to say, Doc. They are intelligent, like goblins, but whatever d
raconic wisdom they once had is long lost. A few types can cast basic spells, but most favor homemade weapons. I think they can breathe fire, maybe? Still, if they have snuck in here, that must mean the dungeon is safer than the woods outside, which could mean that they are refugees like the new forest lions. It might be worth seeking them out and trying to start a dialogue before eating them.”

  “You jumped to eating them fairly quickly,” Rowen observed.

  The blue slime shrugged. “I haven’t had meat in forever, slime body or no slime body. If they’re going to be trouble, then might as well deal with them before Doc gets drained or the hostile dungeon comes calling.”

  Doc hummed to himself for a moment, a notably tasteless tune he had to have picked up from an adventurer. “Ayla, Aisha, you both stick to the shadows. Rowen, Anadine, you two see if you can track down our mystery guests. I doubt they understand adventurer, but see if you can communicate in some way. Otherwise, leave them be. Intruders or not, I doubt they’d sit still if the dungeon were to be invaded, which makes them fodder if not soldiers.”

  “On it,” Rowen said, and he and Anadine hopped on the backs of the worgs. Doc dimmed his light to allow for shadows, and the four vanished from sight, traveling quickly up the path of darkness to Rowen’s training ground. The two worgs leaped free of the shadows, sailing gracefully through the air as Rowen and Anadine were unceremoniously dropped to the ground before vanishing back into the shadows. Two puddles slowly collected themselves back together.

  “Hey, that’s part of me,” Rowen pointed out with a tentacle. Anadine, looking down to examine herself, peeled off a splotch of white slime and handed it back to Rowen, who reabsorbed it.

  “I don’t think shadow walk was meant for passengers,” Anadine observed. “If I still had a stomach, I bet it would be turning circles right now. Rowen, where was the creature Aisha saw?”

  “Over there to the right,” Rowen pointed. “I found the tuft of fur behind the fallen tree trunk.”

  The two slimes slid over to investigate the area.

  “No tracks,” Anadine noted.

  “I didn’t spot any the first time, but maybe we’re looking at it the wrong way?” Rowen wondered. “The forest lion specializes in using its tail to travel from tree to tree. Perhaps the lesser kobolds can do something similar.” He turned his body around, using all three senses to inspect the environment.

  Anadine reached out a tentacle and tapped him. “Rowen, how about you use that sniffer of yours instead? Smell, they certainly have it.”

  Sure enough, when Rowen used his body to smell the air, he picked up the scent of wet fur. Shrugging sheepishly, he led Anadine down the path following the scent trail. After dodging a grey slime patrol and moving around a plant slime garden, the two found themselves at a large tree with a hole in the bottom between the ground and the trunk.

  “Seems like this is their den,” Anadine noted, the tracks of many creatures having been through recently. “Think anyone is home?”

  A roar from behind them made the two slimes turn around.

  “That sounds like the forest lion... no wait, all of them,” Rowen said. He gave Anadine a curious look. “Hey, you don’t think these lesser kobolds would attempt to eat them, do you?”

  “If they were hungry enough. I can’t imagine slimes being good food,” Anadine said gravely.

  Another angry roar, and the two slimes shot forward towards the source of the noise. They slid under branches and leaped over stone until they broke into a clearing, where the resident forest lion was attempting to fight off what appeared to be a group of hairy scaled monsters. The other three forest lions were all trapped in nets, hanging off the ground and crying out angrily.

  The lesser kobolds were odd creatures to be sure. While appearing as a slightly smaller version of a normal bipedal scaled kobold, these had varying levels of tufts of fur over their scales. The fur was concentrated in shared areas between the group, otherwise they’d likely give off an aura of sickness. For instance, the leader was the largest, with a swath of fur all around its neck down to its chest, with some growing on the outer portions of his arms. He wore pants and a strap on his back clearly meant for his weapon, a long spear with a glowing rock on the end. On his head, the top half of a skull of some creature with large teeth rested like a crown. The leader barked orders at its kin, directing them to surround the forest lion. He then gestured to another lesser kobold, who brought forth what appeared to be a saddle.

  “I’ve heard of kobold riders, but they’re usually on draconian-type monsters,” Anadine muttered. “Perhaps this is another change to their culture.”

  “Well, the good news is that they aren’t going to eat them,” Rowen responded. “However, should we free the forest lions? These lesser kobolds are still an unknown force and adding to their war potential could come to bite us in the slime ass one day.”

  While they were discussing, the forest lion’s ears twitched in their direction. It narrowed its gaze and stared right at the two slimes, ignoring the approaching kobolds.

  “Anadine, I think it can hear us,” Rowen whispered.

  *

  Earlier that day, the forest lion had a headache. Once again, the lead female lion was starring him down and growling in an attempt to cease authority from him. It rubbed its head with its tail to illustrate its annoyance.

  Over the last few days, it had been challenged over being shown how to hunt, the best routes to search for prey, avoiding the nearby slime garden, and even what time to sleep. Currently, the lead female was angrily trying to pursue the scent of fresh meat, an oddity in the underground forest. Knowing the severe unlikelihood of fresh meat being in the forest, the forest lion had tried to warn her away, but here she was arguing in favor. The other two females stood behind her in support, they too unused to and weary of a weak male being in charge.

  The forest lion, tired of the fight, rolled its eyes and turned away, deciding to forgo this fight. It was too old to keep arguing with this young, admittedly attractive female. Her scars and mane were quite beautiful to behold, and the swish of her tail... With a leg twitch, the forest lion grudgingly recalled its lack of anatomy.

  As it suffered the painful realization, it was taken off guard by the sudden lunge of the lead female, who was roaring triumphantly at what it thought had been its victory it last. She went straight for his throat, eager to hold him down in a chokehold and properly establish herself the leader of the group.

  The forest lion, having been caught unawares, was knocked over, striking a nearby tree and making its headache worse. Feeling the blood slowly drip down from its forehead, the forest lion finally snapped.

  How dare this youngling strike it! So what if it was a female, the dominant sex? The forest lion reared back and slapped the lead female into the ground with enough force to crack the floor. The lead female, caught up in her victory, was suddenly in more pain than it had ever been in its life. It was so painful that the world began to spin and darken around her.

  Seeing blood leak out of the lead female, the forest lion suddenly came back to its senses and felt guilt flow through it. Turning quickly, it grabbed from a hidden sliver of the nest a chunk of slime honey, which it had pilfered from a group of bug slimes. It forced it into the lead female’s mouth, using its elongated tongue to ensure it reached the back of her throat. The magical food quickly dissolved and began its healing of the female forest lion. Within a few moments, she was fully healed.

  The lead female rose up, slowly, staring at the forest lion in fear. It had never been overpowered by a male. It was actually weaker than a male?

  Turning, she fled out of the nest in embarrassment, followed closely by its followers. They would turn to the hunt to forget this incident. In the hunt, no other thoughts mattered.

  The forest lion, realizing their intent, let out a worried growl and chased after them. However, it was still slower than them and was slowly left behind as the smell of fresh meat grew stronger and stronger. The for
est lion noticed that no slimes were following the smell, and given their powerful noses, it knew this was some sort of trap.

  When it broke into the clearing, the source of the smell, the sight of the three females in a net surrounded by little green things, kobolds by the smell, filled its eyes. The females whined and struggled but were unable to escape the net made of hardened slime. The kobolds, noticing the forest lion’s arrival, quickly took positions around the net, pointing their spears at their captives. A larger kobold stood in front, holding a thing.

  The forest lion roared in anger. Before it could attack, however, it and the lead kobold noticed they had an audience. It was two slimes, but these slimes radiated a sense of power and greatness no other slime could come close to. Instinctively, the two recognized and submitted to these tier 7 monsters, lords of the wild. Relaxing, the two residents of the underground forest decided that fighting would have to be saved for a different day.

  *

  Unexpectedly, the forest lion ceased its roars and sat back onto its butt complacently. It reached its paw up and began to lick it clean as it were some alley cat from the adventurer town. The kobolds, clearly taken aback, retreated and turned cautious. The leader narrowed his own eyes in thought before closing them. He lowered his staff and tapped it against the ground methodically.

  With a flourish, he pointed his spear at both slimes and let out a series of barks and orders. The lesser kobolds immediately abandoned the hunt and disappeared into the forest, leaving only the forest lion, the leader, and the trapped lions in the clearing. With a snort, the kobold leader waved his spear at the lion and let out a series of yips and snarls. The lion responded in kind, growling and waving its tail, intermixing a few snorts and grunts.