Ryan focused his attention, looking over the skeletal remains he had absorbed, and pushed his mana into imagining a skeletal squirrel in his first room. He felt the dark mana respond, and suddenly a pile of bones appeared out of the ground in his first room. Ryan repeated the process four more times.
“Now what?” The bones weren’t moving; they were just piled up.
“Now, push your mana into them, imagine them as alive. Your darkness affinity will do the rest.”
“Easy enough.”
He did as she said, and suddenly, a dark mist swirled around the bones. Then, the bones began to clatter, and suddenly Ryan had five very animated skeletal squirrels scampering around. Neat.
“Those little guys will follow orders you give them and will instinctually attack anything that enters the dungeon.”
They clattered around, the sound of bones on stones echoing throughout the room. It was a rather creepy sound.
“Next, your zombie rats.” Right, he wasn’t done. “By absorbing the rat’s bones, you understand the creature as a whole, correct?”
“Yes.” He knew everything about rats.
“Good, so imagine a decayed rat, and summon that body.”
“How decayed? Does it matter?” He was curious whether the amount of decay would affect its strength.
“Your dark energy won’t let you make a living creature, and part of a zombie’s strength is its potential to spread diseases. So perhaps give it enough decay that the flesh has begun to rot, but not enough that it’s falling apart.”
Oh yeah, really clear instructions. Thanks, Erin.
Ryan focused on the task, imagining it as Erin said. In his mind, he could see the rat, fur falling off, flesh exposed and beginning to decay. He knew that would enable it to carry disease and make it dangerous to whoever it attacked. As before, he pushed his mana into the image, and when the rat’s body appeared, Ryan sent his dark mana into it.
With a squeak, his zombie came to life, its decayed eyes glancing around the darkness cautiously as it seemed to sniff the air. Ryan quickly created the second rat and then spread a mix of five squirrel and five rat skeletons to the room. He was left with twenty-five points, just like they had planned.
Next up: his boss mob.
Chapter Eight
“So, the first thing you need to do is summon your human skeleton.”
Before Erin finished speaking, Ryan already had his skeleton formed and walking around. It was getting much easier to call forth his mobs now that he had some practice.
They both watched the monster amble about, and Ryan couldn’t help but feel annoyed that it was missing an arm. Where were those blasted bones?
“All right. Now you have your skeleton, you can begin to make him your boss mob.”
Oh, more instructions. Time to listen.
“What do I do?”
“Well, if you’ll look, you have twenty points left on your triangle.” Ryan quickly called forth his level triangle, confirming the number was down to twenty. “Yup, at least we can both do math.”
Erin ignored his comment and continued. “Now, focus on the mob and push your mana into him, willing his point value to increase.”
He did so slowly, and dark tendrils crept up the skeleton, the monster looking down blankly at them. For a long moment, nothing else happened.
“Need a hand?” Erin started giggling.
Is now really the time for puns? Ryan pushed his attention back towards his mob, watching his triangle at the same time. The dark tendrils began to snake across the entire skeleton, and suddenly Ryan’s triangle dropped to nineteen. Then eighteen, more darkness; seventeen, it started to swirl through the air. Sixteen, it was filling the gaps around the bones.
This is taking too long. Ryan slammed all his mana into the mob.
The tendrils turned into a wave, and suddenly the skeleton was covered in a dark blob that completely hid its appearance. At the same time, Ryan saw the remaining numbers of his point total tick rapidly down until they hit zero.
“Is it finished?” His mana stopped flowing, but the cocoon of dark energy remained.
“I’m not sure. Let me go check.” Erin flew from the room, and Ryan watched the fairy go. Hopefully she would be okay.
A moment later, she appeared in the boss room, her golden light a stark contrast to the black mana that permeated from where his skeleton had stood. Cautiously, she flew up to it, inspecting it.
“Well, to be honest, Ryan, I don’t know what to do from here.” She continued inspecting it. “You’re my first dungeon. I’ve only been instructed as to what you should do, not what happens afterwar–”
She screamed and flew towards the ceiling as the dark energy started to crack.
“Oh, something’s happening.” Ryan ignored her panic, excitement filling him. His boss mob was hatching.
The dark energy continued to crack, and Ryan was able to make out a slight white glow coming from inside. All of his skeletons – everything he touched with his influence, in fact – held that slight glow. More and more cracks splintered across the cocoon, until finally, it shattered.
“What is that?” Erin’s voice was filled with a strange mixture of excitement and disgust as she stared at Ryan’s creation.
The skeleton had grown close to eight feet in height. His bones had thickened, and dark tendrils wrapped lazily around his body. The bones along his left arm had also developed sharp, blade-like edges, which Ryan imagined would make decent weapons. What was really unique, though, was the skeleton’s right arm.
Where before there had been an annoying lack of bones, now there floated a random assortment of them, pulled from throughout the skeleton’s body and suspended by dark mana. It looked disturbing to say the least, but Ryan wasn’t quite sure what they were for.
“Well, if I had to guess, I would say that’s our boss mob.” Ryan could barely hold in his excitement. His mind was racing as he wondered how his other mobs would react to the boss mob’s transformation.
“You don’t say.” Erin’s voice was filled with sarcasm as she flew above the skeleton, watching it warily.
“So, what now?” Ryan had definitely noticed his attention span decreasing since his awakening as a dungeon. He wanted to constantly be doing something, and now that his task of creating a dungeon filled with mobs was complete, he was already looking for something new and exciting to do.
“Well, now you’ve completed the basics of your dungeon, I would say it’s time we created an entrance for adventurers.”
Oh, yup, that sounds like the next new and exciting thing to do.
“Okay, one entrance, coming right up.” He turned his focus to his first room and, before Erin could protest, extended the full might of his influence towards the end of the room. The walls glowed a bright white as he focused on what he was doing.
In his mind, he saw a straight tunnel leading from the room at a slight incline until it reached the surface. His mana responded, and a beam of energy and influence ripped through dirt and rock. His dungeon shook from the violence of the blast, but Ryan didn’t care. He felt his influence hit the surface, blasting rock, soil, grass and trees aside as his dungeon created its opening.
“Ryan.” Judging from her tone, Ryan guessed he had ignored her as he worked on his opening.
“Ye-es?” He was only half listening as he devoured everything that touched his influence. He learned what oak trees were, and grass, and a strange set of various other plants he would investigate later. What he was really focused on was the fact that his influence wouldn’t spread past his new opening.
Even still, he found if he focused on his entrance, he could ‘see’ everything around him. Vast trees loomed, casting shadows even as sunlight filtered through their leaves. The force of his excavation had blasted a clearing of about ten feet around the entrance, though it was clean of debris thanks to Ryan’s quick absorption.
“You’re supposed to do that slowly. Now you’ve gone and just created a giant
hole in the ground, haven’t you?” Erin was in lecture mode.
“Well, not quite.” Something had caught his attention. “Say, Erin…”
There was movement outside of his dungeon. Figures – humans – standing and dusting themselves off.
“What?” The fairy was annoyed at him, which he was used to by now. But her emotions suddenly leveled out as she registered his tone.
“What is it, Ryan?” She was worried because he was worried.
“I think we’re about to get our first adventurers.”
The group of four had regrouped and were eyeing his opening. If he had to guess, he had blasted them away. There was violent motioning, an argument of sorts, and then the largest man in the group, clad in a mass of armor, started walking towards his entrance. As the man drew closer, he pulled out a large silver sword, and motioned for the others to follow.
“Already?” Erin was resting on top of Ryan, looking down into his dungeon core, which allowed her to see everything he could.
“Oh, they don’t look happy.” She looked down at him accusingly. “What did you do?”
“I, uh, I think I blew them up.”
Chapter Nine
A few moments earlier
“How much longer are we going to just sit around?”
Blake was sitting with the others around a campfire, staring lazily into it. He had been excited when the Adventurers’ Guild had been alerted to a new dungeon awakening. A new dungeon meant an opportunity for him to finally get started as an adventurer.
He had been even more excited when his father, a Platinum-level paladin, had announced Blake could come along as they went to check out the dungeon. His father never allowed him to accompany him on missions, as they were far too dangerous for him. Blake was, after all, a brand-new adventurer, while his father, at Platinum level, was one of the strongest.
Whenever a dungeon awoke, the Adventurers’ Guild would send out an expeditionary group to determine whether the dungeon would prove a good training ground. The group usually consisted of three high-level members, to ensure no accidents occurred. The foursome Blake was a part of consisted of his paladin father, a Gold-level cleric from the church, and a newly appointed Gold-level mage from the Mages’ Guild.
The team had assembled and departed the day the guild was alerted to the dungeon’s presence, and had arrived about a week later. That had been nearly a month ago, though, and there still wasn’t a sign of the blasted dungeon.
“Patience, Blake.” His father’s voice was strong, yet kind. “It usually takes up to a month before a dungeon is ready to create an opening.”
“Say, Sean, why did you even bring the boy?” The cleric glanced up from his book, looking between father and son.
Blake’s father, Sean, looked every bit the high-level adventurer he was. He was clad in heavily enchanted plate armor, said to have been blessed by the Goddess of Justice herself. His divine sword was even crafted from a rare celestial ore, known as orichalcum, that could only be found within the Goddess’s personal dungeon. Blake, on the other hand, had just reached the first level of adventurer, Bronze Eleven, and his gear betrayed that fact. He was armed with a simple iron sword and light leather armor. Being Bronze meant Blake wasn’t even strong enough to choose a class to specialize in, so he was just a generic fighter.
“Yeah, why’d you bring the noob?” The mage looked with disgust at Blake. Noob was a derogatory term used to describe brand new adventurers.
“First,” Sean’s voice was deep and powerful, and it almost seemed like the earth around them was rumbling with his growl, “insult my son again, mage, and you will regret it.”
The ground rumbled again, and the mage’s eyes grew wide. Was Blake’s father causing that rumbling? He did have the mana reserves required to affect the very earth around him, after all.
“Second…” More rumbling as Sean looked at the cleric. Blake’s father seemed unconcerned with the rumbling, so Blake decided it must be his father flaunting his power. The mage had done nothing but complain the entire trip, after all. It was likely Sean had finally had enough. “I brought him because if we deem this dungeon safe enough, I want my son to train here.”
The cleric sighed and nodded, turning back to his book. Blake could tell the cleric was just as done with the mage as his father was.
“Third—” The rumbling intensified, and before Sean could finish, the ground immediately behind him exploded. As the earth tore open with a tremendous roar, Blake saw the air around the group shimmer with a golden light. The divine shield, created by his father, kept the debris from smashing into the group, though the force of the eruption still sent the four of them tumbling into the woods.
“What the hell?” The mage cursed as he stood, brushing himself off.
Blake slowly rose to his feet as well, inspecting his body. The speed at which his father responded to the eruption told of the skill a Platinum-level paladin had, and Blake couldn’t help feeling a little proud of his father.
Someday, Blake wanted to be a paladin surpassing even his father’s level, but he still had a long way to go. He groaned as he stood, having slammed into a tree from the blast.
“I would say our wait is over.” Sean was already back in the clearing, looking at the ominous hole that had suddenly erupted into existence.
It looked like a gaping mouth, leading down into a sinister void. Blake couldn’t help but shiver. What power did a dungeon have, to rip the ground apart like that? What awaited him in that dungeon? He took a moment to calm his nerves, reminding himself he was with his father. Sean was one of the top adventurers in the land; it was highly unlikely anything within that dungeon would be able to even scratch him. Blake had nothing to fear.
“Leave the noob out here and let’s get going.” The mage was still grumbling as he neared Sean.
“How about I sacrifice you to the dungeon? I’m sure it wouldn’t mind a low Gold mage as its first meal. Might even help it level up a bit.” Sean’s voice blasted over the mage as Blake and the cleric approached the two.
“Sean, let us get this over with, and then you can teach the mage a lesson. He needs to be alive to provide his report to the guild.” The cleric’s voice was calm and soothing, and Sean seemed to let his anger fade by a small degree.
“Fine. Let’s get this over with.” He started towards the dungeon entrance, drawing his sword as he did. “Stay close, Blake.”
They began their descent into the dungeon. Blake was shaking, and he wasn’t sure if it was from fear or excitement.
The time for his first dungeon dive had finally arrived.
Chapter Ten
Sean led the group through the first tunnel, unworried about potential attacks. It was nearly impossible for a Platinum-level adventurer to take damage in a brand-new dungeon.
“What type of dungeon do you think it is?” Blake whispered to the cleric as they walked, examining the walls, noting how they seemed to glow with a faint white light.
“We won’t know till we come across some mobs.” The cleric’s own body was glowing with golden light. “I would love to see a celestial dungeon, other than the Goddess’s, at least once in my lifetime.”
The mage snorted.
“No one likes those. Adventurers can’t get around the idea of killing off fluffy animals and unicorns.”
His hand burst into flame.
“I’m hoping it is a fire dungeon. Rumor is, you can occasionally capture a baby dragon from one of those and train it as a pet.”
Oh, a pet dragon would be cool, thought Blake.
“As long as it isn’t chaos or dark, it’ll do,” Sean called back to the group.
Blake shivered at the thought. Chaos dungeons summoned demons and were to be destroyed on discovery. Dark dungeons were nearly as bad, using dead bodies as monsters.
“Place your bets now.” Sean’s voice had taken on a lighter tone as they neared the first room. Blake knew his dad, just like all adventurers, loved the excitement of e
xploring a brand-new dungeon.
The group called out their choices, and Blake decided to bet on an earth dungeon. Given his lack of gear, he figured he could at least take on the small beasts that normally existed in new earth dungeons.
They stepped into the first room, a large rocky cavern. The faintly glowing walls didn’t offer much in the way of light, and shadows seemed to dance across them. Blake wondered if his guess had been correct. A strange clicking sound began to echo across the room, as though something hard was scurrying across the rocks.
“Be on your guard.” Sean took a step forward, and suddenly a white streak leapt from the ground towards him.
His sword flashed with inhuman speed, and the creature attacking him simply fell apart. White bones clattered to the ground.
“Darkness,” the cleric hissed, clutching at his holy symbol. His golden light brightened, and Blake was able to make out a few other skeletal creatures scurrying across the floor towards them. They almost looked like—
“Squirrels?” he asked out loud as the next one leapt at his father, and again the creature was struck down.
As they walked past the piles of bones, Blake confirmed they did appear to be squirrels, though their tails seemed a lot more sinister as bones, rather than as cute and fluffy and covered in fur.
“Aye, a darkness dungeon can create mobs using any creature it finds.” The cleric was inspecting one of the small piles as they moved by, his face deep in thought.
“Guess this dungeon is going to be a bust.” The mage laughed as he sent a fireball into the group of three skeletal squirrels that remained.
The blast sent them flying into pieces, turning the white bones black as it charred them. The mage brought another fireball to life on his hand.
“Hopefully there’s a zombie for me to roast before we destroy this dungeon.” The flickering flames made his face look terrifying.
“We haven’t decided if this dungeon will be destroyed yet,” the paladin called back as he neared another tunnel, likely leading to the next room. “Looks like this room only had five skeletal squirrels.”
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 4