“Josh, where are you?” Adam was on the ground, holding on to the doorway as he fought against Steve’s pull. The dark strands were stretched taut, and even as Steve cut into Leeroy, the spikes ripped deeper into Adam and he lost his grip on the door.
Almost in slow motion, Ryan watched Adam’s body slam into Steve, knocking the skeleton to the ground with a clatter. Unlike the skeletal beasts, Steve’s body was held together by dark mana, so he didn’t shatter apart. That being said, Ryan could tell the combination of Adam’s previous attacks, along with the collision, had done a large amount of damage to Steve, weakening the boss. This fact was even more evident as the boss struggled to free itself of Adam’s tangled body.
“Josh, help me,” Adam groaned. If Steve was in bad shape, Adam was still the worse off of the two.
Josh appeared from the darkness, both daggers glowing with red flames. His eyes were crazed, and Ryan watched as they darted from Adam to Steve. When Adam had smashed into Steve, he had become entangled with Steve’s bones, essentially trapping him. Surprisingly enough, the rib cage actually acted as a good cage.
“Oh, I will.”
Josh’s hands became blurs as they flew towards his belt, and suddenly a string of six flaming daggers were launched towards Steve’s skull. The sixth dagger turned out to be the nail in the coffin for Steve, as the moment it impacted, the heavily damaged boss literally fell apart. As Steve died, a golden coin fell to the ground.
“Thank you—"
Another of Josh’s daggers flashed forward, ending Adam even as gratitude tumbled from his lips.
Shrugging, Josh stood, the lone survivor of the four adventurers that had attacked Steve the Bone Slinger.
“Sorry, Adam. I’ve decided you just didn’t make the cut.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Did he just—”
Ryan couldn’t even finish the sentence. Josh had just killed one of his own teammates, and for what? How could the adventurer think money was more important than his friend?
“How horrible.” Erin’s hand was covering her mouth. Ryan could feel her sorrow and disgust through their bond. The celestial fairy may have acted callous towards adventurers dying at the hands of Ryan’s boss, but cold-blooded murder was a different story. Or was it hot-blooded, given Josh’s fire affinity?
Ryan watched as Josh walked calmly to each of his fallen comrades, taking the time to check their pockets for anything valuable. After the thief pocketed what few coins they had, he picked up the gold coin and calmly left the room. He even had the audacity to whistle as he walked.
Ryan couldn’t think, couldn’t speak. A feeling, a deep-rooted rage, was growing within him. How could this human do such a horrible thing? All Ryan could think of was how terrible this man’s greed must be, and he realized Josh reminded him a lot of the mage that had almost killed Blake.
“We can’t.” Erin’s voice was quiet, defeated. Ryan knew she could sense his rage, and his murderous intent.
“It wouldn’t be proper etiquette,” she said lamely, even as Josh cleared the second room and made his way towards the first.
“Josh.”
A broken voice called out in the darkness below as the thief walked along the narrow path. Squeaker. How had Ryan forgotten about the poor adventurer trapped in the pit?
“Josh,” Squeaker called again as he struggled to stand. Judging from the way he winced, he was in pain.
“Where are the others? Did you beat the boss?”
The thief didn’t even pause to look at Squeaker, moving into the first room.
“Are you just going to leave me?” Squeaker’s voice grew frantic. “This is why everyone treats you like trash. You’re just a good-for-nothing, lowlife—"
Squeaker let out a high-pitched cry as a flaming dagger sprouted from his arm. Josh held up a second blazing blade as he stared at Squeaker from the entrance to the first room.
“Listen here, you filth—”
Squeaker’s mouth shut as fear filled his eyes. Josh took a deep breath, as if taking control of himself.
“Sorry, Todd,” Josh said, his voice taking on a strangely calm tone. “It’s just, you know how I feel about people talking down on thieves.”
“I’m… I’m sorry, Josh. I’m in a lot of pain, and I’m scared. Can you help me out?” Squeaker pleaded in a quivering voice.
The thief paused for a moment, glancing down at the trapped adventurer. Surely he isn’t going to just leave him down there?
“Sorry, man, it’s survival of the fittest. And if the others aren’t walking out of here with me, you sure as hell aren’t.” The thief flashed a smile and turned his back on Squeaker.
“So you’re just going to leave me?” Squeaker’s voice echoed from the pit. “That’s just like killing me.”
The thief’s hand twitched down to his waist as he paused, once again almost into the first room. “I didn’t kill anyone. The dungeon was just too dangerous, and you guys were too weak. That’s on you, not me.” His hand drifted back away from his dagger, and he continued on his way.
To hell with etiquette.
An uncontrollable rage filled Ryan as he watched the thief making his way cheerfully through his first room. Not only had Josh led his teammates to their deaths, now he was going to leave poor Squeaker? That was just too far. The very dungeon began to shake with Ryan’s anger.
“What the bloody—” Josh’s curse was cut short as a stalactite dropped from the ceiling. Such was its force that the thief’s skull caved in, killing him in an instant. The body toppled forward, thudding lifelessly to the ground. The human was much easier to hit with a stalactite than a skittish skuirrel.
“Ryan.“
Erin’s voice pulled him from his rage, and the satisfaction quickly faded. Erin had explained proper dungeon etiquette to him, and he had failed her. He really was a terrible dungeon. But he couldn’t let Josh go unpunished for his crimes. He just couldn’t.
“I’m sorry.”
He wasn’t sorry he killed Josh; he had no qualms about stopping evil people. But he was sorry he had let her down.
“It’s okay. You just surprised me is all.” Erin’s emotions were a jumbled mess, and Ryan couldn’t tell if she was happy or upset with him.
“But what about etiquette? I just killed him in exactly the way you told me I shouldn’t.”
“Yes, but you did it to save an innocent adventurer,” Erin said. “That is the very type of justice that my Goddess believes in. You did what was right, what was just. I will never fault you for stopping evil from harming an innocent life.”
“Your whole morale code confuses me at times.”
Ryan found himself suddenly very tired, and he realized he must have exerted an unexpectedly large amount of mana when he shook his entire dungeon. That, and the confusing morale code being thrown at him.
Seriously, one moment Erin is okay with adventurers dying in the dungeon to my mobs, but then she scolds me for even joking about dropping stalactites on adventurers’ heads. And now, when I do that very thing, she’s praising me for my action? Are all fairies this confusing?
“Hello?” came a quavering voice.
Ryan had completely forgotten about Squeaker, who was staring out of the pit in the direction of the first room.
“Josh?”
Ryan realized Squeaker couldn’t see what had happened to the thief.
“Welp, this is awkward,” Ryan muttered.
He fought the exhaustion clouding his mind as he tried to figure out what to do. It was obvious Squeaker would die in the dungeon if Ryan didn’t do anything. The poor adventurer could not escape the pit on his own, after all.
And Josh… well, Josh was just dead weight now. With an effort, Ryan pushed his influence into the wall nearest Squeaker, carving out indents to create a makeshift ladder for the adventurer. At the same time, he absorbed Josh’s body. Squeaker didn’t need to see what he had done.
“Oh, Ryan.” Erin wrapped her arms around his cryst
al form in a hug, a strong feeling rushing through their bond. “You are too kind for this world.”
Her emotions seemed a strange mixture of happiness and sorrow, but Ryan’s tired mind couldn’t be bothered to try and sort through them.
He watched as Squeaker climbed the ladder, his eyes seeking the thief. A flash of sorrow on his face told Ryan the adventurer had realized, to some degree, that Josh had fallen prey to the dungeon. The thief had literally just tried to kill him, yet the man still showed compassion for him.
“He is too kind for this world,” Ryan muttered.
The wounded adventurer, the only one who had been hesitant about entering the dungeon in the first place, walked slowly through the first room, and out of the dungeon.
The whole time, Ryan and Erin sat in silence. The night had been a long one, and Ryan knew Josh’s team was just the first of many that would be coming through very soon. However, he knew he needed to focus and recover his mana before he could deal with what was to come. He sighed mentally and turned his attention back on his dungeon, and Erin.
“So, shall we see what type of loot we got?” he said, half-jokingly.
But he felt little joy as he absorbed the other three adventurers that had fallen to his dungeon.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The loot from Josh and his gang was rather underwhelming, which wasn’t much of a surprise given their levels.
Josh had the best gear on him, which wasn’t saying much. Just like the mage, he had a fine iron dagger, which was uncommon. The rest of his gear, just like the others, was common, ranging from basic leather armor to common iron weapons.
Ryan sorted those away without a second glance, deciding he wasn’t going to change up his loot drops just yet. The skuirrels and skrats died too quickly, so copper coins still seemed appropriate.
“Anything good?” Erin broke the silence, and Ryan realized he had been lost in his thoughts for quite a while. A glance out of the entrance of his dungeon showed the sun was starting to rise. How long had he been brooding?
“All pretty basic. Nothing worth adding to the current loot drops.”
I could always make my skuirrels or skrats drop a single boot or glove, but that just seems wrong.
“How about experience-wise? Josh was a Silver-ranked adventurer; maybe he proved useful in the end?”
Ryan couldn’t believe he hadn’t considered that. He’d been so caught up in his thoughts. Did all dungeons have the same moral qualms he did? He wasn’t sure, but suspected his feelings were really going to make this whole dungeon business a pain.
“Let’s check.”
He tried to sound cheery, but he was still so drained. He summoned his triangles, and instantly a bit of his exhaustion fled. Sure enough, Josh’s group had filled up his experience triangle enough to grant him another level. His level triangle was now filled with darkness all the way to Bronze Six, and a white ‘75’ glowed.
I forgot to summon my mobs back after Squeaker left. Goddess, I’m such a mess right now.
“You know, Ryan, a dungeon isn’t any good without its mobs.” Erin poked him lightly and laughed. He could tell she was doing her best to cheer him up. “Unless you were planning on killing your adventurers with confusion and boredom?”
She let out her beautiful laugh, and Ryan couldn’t help but feel himself smile.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
He summoned his ten skuirrels in the first room, watching his point total instantly drop to sixty-five. Then he summoned Steve in the boss room, pushing the number down to forty.
“At least you don’t have a hundred-pound stone on your mind.”
Now she was cracking jokes about dropping stalactites on Josh? Funny, yet surprisingly dark for a celestial fairy. Then again, Josh deserved it.
“Hey, it was fifty pounds at most.”
Her joking was getting better. Maybe she was using comedy to desensitize him to killing adventurers.
“I’m sure your skuirrels appreciate you dropping a stone on something other than them for once.” She paused and looked at his triangle, noticing he hadn’t summoned his second room’s mobs yet. “Something the matter?”
“Trying to figure out if I summon the same mobs again or try some of these infested ratbies. The regular ratbies cost five points, but the infested ratbies cost eight.”
“Maybe you should save those for later,” Erin mused, tapping her chin. “You’ve grown a lot already, and you don’t want to make yourself too tough early on. You need the adventurers to want to feel comfortable enough to explore you, and not avoid you.”
She sat down on him, legs dangling over his field of vision.
“Yeah, but that group was pretty low level, and they managed to clear the dungeon,” Ryan said.
“Barely.”
“True.”
Ryan wasn’t sure why he was arguing with Erin on this point. He wasn’t a huge fan of brutally killing adventurers off en masse. He wasn’t sure he could handle that emotionally right now.
“Besides, while you do gain experience from killing adventurers, it is proportional to their level compared to yours,” Erin said, absently rubbing his surface. “Since you are Bronze Six, I bet you are higher level than a good amount of these new adventurers. Why not hold on to those extra points for now, and let the adventurers have some time to grow and get comfortable with you? Then you can increase the difficulty and catch a few unawares. That will net you more experience than just culling the weak.”
Wow, Rin really was brutal. Did his sweet, innocent, kind celestial fairy have a dark side, or was she just trying to help him get stronger?
“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Ryan joked. “You are rather scary, Rin.”
She slapped his crystal and gave him a hard stare.
“It’s my job to help you grow as powerful as possible. It may be against my celestial nature, but I will do my best to fulfill the Goddess’s wishes that you grow strong. She has plans for you.”
Well, that’s not cryptic at all.
“Great,” Ryan muttered. “I’m barely hanging on emotionally as it is, and you decide to let me know a Goddess has plans for me. Thanks a lot for that.”
Seriously, what could the Goddess of Justice possibly want from me?
For a moment, he recalled a feminine voice, a whisper in his mind. “Stay pure to your heart, young man, and I pray you continue to walk the path of righteousness.”
Was he walking the path of righteousness by being a dungeon? Had it been righteous to kill those adventurers?
Well, other than Josh. It was definitely righteous to kill Josh. And hey, Josh – not Ryan – had killed Adam.
“Hello? Ryan?”
Oops. He had gotten caught up in his thoughts again. Erin knocked on his core. “Are you in there?” she called.
“Sorry, all of this is just so much.”
When did he become such a depressed dungeon? His mood had definitely gotten rather… dark. Ha. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
“I know, hun,” Erin said.
Aww, she called me “hun” again. For some reason, that helped him feel a little better.
“Just remember, I will never lead you astray,” Erin said. “I don’t want to make you do anything that upsets you. We will get through this stage in your growth together. Just trust me.”
“I trust you, Rin.” As he spoke, he could feel warmth flowing through their bond, a feeling that almost seemed like love.
“I’ll keep the second room the same,” Ryan said, “save for one small detail.” He was going to decrease his ratbie number by one. It wasn’t a huge change, but one less mob meant one less danger for adventurers, and right now, his mind told him to make it a little easier. Maybe his depression was making him soft.
He summoned his ten skrats, ten skuirrels, and two ratbies. As his mobs scurried about, he regrew the foliage in the room. Hopefully adventurers wouldn’t keep torching his precious plants. It wasn’t ter
ribly hard to regrow them, but he felt it was a waste of mana that he would rather hold onto in the event he really needed it.
With those changes made, and his mob points sitting at ten unspent, Ryan unsummoned his triangles, and turned his focus to his dungeon’s entrance. In the distance, it looked like the dungeon town was slowly coming to life. He was certain they would have more visitors soon.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
After refilling his mobs in his second room, Erin decided to take a nap. Ryan figured she was just as emotionally drained as he was from the encounter with Josh and his gang. That was fine by Ryan, because the moment she went to sleep, he went to work. He had plans.
First, Ryan carved out three small holes under his boss room, spreading his influence down and then covering the incriminating spaces with rock. Erin would not know what he had done. These holes had no entrance or exit, and there was no way anyone would find them. They were roughly three feet in length, width and height. Nice little cubic expanses.
These three rooms were his evolution pits. Ryan had been fascinated by his ratbie’s sudden evolution, and while he wasn’t making use of these new mobs yet, he knew he would have need for new evolved mobs later on.
As such, Ryan decided he was going to be proactive with his extra points and secretly work to evolve some of his mobs. In particular, his basic, pathetically weak skeletal beasts.
How was he going to do this? It was simple, really, once the idea had come to him. He was going to have his skuirrels and skrats fight each other.
Ryan figured that while his ratbies had evolved naturally with the mushrooms growing on their rotted flesh, he could also try to force his mobs to evolve through experience gain. If humans and dungeons could get stronger from defeating enemies, it only made sense mobs could grow in the same way.
As such, in his first pit, he summoned two skrats. The mobs sprang to life, and quickly inspected their surroundings. Ryan watched them wander around aimlessly for a moment before mentally sending them each an order. They were to fight each other to the death. He did the same in the second pit, but with his skuirrels instead.
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 11