by Konrad Ryan
The aroma of cooked flesh and burnt hair filled the room. There was nothing left to do but wait. Tad prayed once more to whatever deity was listening.
A loud crack of thunder reverberated and then echoed back and forth through the entire boss arena. The remaining sphere of ice shattered into four sizeable chunks as a fireball shot into the air, landing next to Tad. A bald and burnt Bunta stood tall as he held Gruff’s limp body in his hands.
“Becca do you have another resurrection vial? Gruff passed out. But he still has a pulse!”
Bunta shivered where he stood. His skin and lips were a shade of blue that shouldn’t be possible. The health bar above Bunta’s head showed the smallest sliver of health, Gruff’s health bar was black.
Blondegirl popped off a crystalline cork from a small crystal bottle and shoved the opening into Gruff’s mouth. “This better work, it’s our last one!”
Tad caught a few of Blondegirl’s muttered words as she poured the golden concoction down Gruff’s throat. He heard a few choice curses and the word ‘expensive’ repeated more than a few times. Everyone held their breath for it to take effect. The longest minute of Tad’s life passed. Gruff’s condition didn’t change.
*Two minutes until dungeon collapse.*
“I’ll kill that potion merchant-”
Gruff gasped as he bolted up like a zombie from the grave. His health bar smoothly increased before it stopped at ten percent. The worst of his burns knit together in an oozy mess. His leather armor had burned away, his previously hairy back and chest were now hairless and charred. It was an odd sight, like seeing a hairless gorilla. White, third-degree burns covered his sides and the outside edges of his legs where the fire had been strongest. Tad knew one thing. Whoever made that potion was a lifesaver.
“Bunta! Did he make it?” Gruff grimaced in pain, covered in burns.
Bunta sat behind his friend, relief visible on his face. The image of the partially frozen man and the human torch sitting back to back was one Tad would never forget. For just a moment, they relaxed before Gruff took charge.
“Move it! We have little time left!” Everyone jumped into action.
Gruff scooped Tad’s weakened body from the ground and ran at a full sprint from the boss room. The gelatinous corridors rolled and swayed like a bridge in the wind as the party sped through at blistering speeds.
Slimes by the dozen appeared from nowhere, but the party ignored them as they ran past. Jets of fire, fists of ice and giant acid balls flew at the party, but Bunta flew between attacks and deflected them all. Why hadn’t he done that earlier in the dungeon as well?
*One minute until dungeon collapse.*
The natural luminescence of the slime walls flickered on and off like a strobe light. The dungeon was falling apart. What happened to a dungeon after it disappeared? Tad’s party ran. They didn’t want to find out. Faster and faster they went until the black mist of the dungeon exit met them.
Scar and Becca launched through the mist, followed by Bunta. Gruff and Tad were last into the mist, Gruff jumped into the opening. The raid siren alert screamed one last time inside Tad’s mind.
*Dungeon collapse initiated.*
Suddenly, Gruff was no longer holding Tad. Instead, Tad floated in the darkness. What happened? Had they not made it in time? Gruff was gone. Weightless, Tad’s weary body groaned in relief. He ached everywhere, but the null gravity released tension he hadn’t known he’d had.
Tad had been wrong. It wasn’t the dungeon that felt like home. It was this transitional space between the outside world and the dungeon that felt like home. Wherever this was. The black mist called to him as it pressed against his body. Welcomed him. Soothed him. Tad drifted closer to sleep. He didn’t want to fight it. A magical sound played through Tad’s head, jerking him awake.
*Congratulations on completing your first dungeon! Reward available!*
Before Tad could open the notification, he popped out the other side of the dungeon. Back to the actual world where he fell to the ground.
“-What do you mean he was still in your arms?” It was Bunta’s voice.
Tad’s legs no longer held his weight as he collapsed. Before he hit the earth, Bunta caught him and gently laid him down, his back against the soft earth beneath.
“What the… he just appeared out of thin air. The dungeon’s been closed for two minutes!” The voice belonged to Scar.
Tad’s weariness grew too great. He’d been pushing himself since he’d entered the dungeon. The tension had been almost unbearable. Like a twig bent too far, he’d threatened to snap.
Tad opened his eyes. The moon above shone bright in the night sky as titanspawn slowly crept from the horizon like black oil in murky waters, threatening once more to suffocate the sky. Stars twinkled at the secrets they held. The dungeon had disappeared, a smoking crater was all that was left. Gone was the brilliant red stone dungeon.
Tad drifted to sleep, no longer able to fight it. Bunta’s soft voice was the last thing Tad heard.
“Guys… I had a lot of time to look around while stuck in that ice and guess what? The boss dropped a treasure chest.”
Chapter 9
Tad woke to the musical chirp of crickets and the soft crackle of a healthy fire. The moon had jumped to a new spot in the night sky. Gruff and Bunta’s shadowed forms sat near the fire. They spoke in low tones with a laugh here, and a slap on the back there. The two shared companionship and conversation. Gruff had his feet kicked out, a beverage in hand, the intimidating man never seemed so human. Scar and Blondegirl were gone. Every muscle in Tad’s body ached. A glance at his health showed it was still at one, despite being at full mana. Did he not naturally regenerate health the same way?
Tad sat up to join the two at the fire. His head pounded with each step.
“Heal.”
Every inch of Tad’s body burst into pain as wounds knit together. Nerves felt like they caught fire. His insides twisted and his bones ached as lost blood replenished. It felt like Tad was a balloon being inflated. His headache pulsed, but the ache faded as his health filled.
“Nifty trick. Wish I could do that.” Gruff said with a grin. Bunta nodded his agreement. Bunta’s health bar still was a sliver, while Gruff’s sat at ten percent.
Tad touched Bunta’s arm and cast ‘heal other’. Bunta grunted in pain as his health bar slowly rose. Tad didn’t push his spell very hard. He stopped as the first tear of blood dropped from his eyes at half his health. Bunta’s health had only risen to about fifteen percent. Tad healed himself to full and repeated the process on Gruff. The man didn’t even grunt in pain from the healing, but looked relieved as his white burns fell away, revealing pink skin. The burns must have been painful.
“You’re a blood healer. That’s how you did it.” Gruff pointed toward Tad’s bloody tear. “Thats how you had enough to heal Bunta through the ice and still have enough magic left to cast your spells to free him.”
“Blood healer?” Tad had never heard the term.
“You heal using your own blood, rather than magic. The best healers I’ve come across are all blood healers. They can heal for absurd amounts and then use their magic to heal themselves, which allows them to heal again. You practically have two magic pools to pull from. It’s unusual. Most healers are like Becca, they can only heal using magic.”
“Speaking of… Becca,” Tad had almost said Blondegirl, “where did they go?”
“Took off. Not before we checked out the contents of the treasure chest, though.” Gruff pulled a small treasure chest from a pocket. It was no bigger than one of Tad’s shoes. Colorful drawings and carvings of slimes covered the outside of the chest. Atop the chest, was a depiction of a flying mosquito with gorilla arms. A huge jet of fire erupted from its needle nose. The only thing missing from the scene was five slayers weathering the storm behind a magically enhanced shield. Still, the art was exquisite.
Gruff opened the treasure chest to an explosion of golden light and sparks. He reached in
side of the small box and pulled out an impossibly large two-handed sword. It was bigger even than Scar’s two-handed sword. This sword stood ten feet tall. How it fit inside the chest, Tad could only guess. At a glance, he knew exactly what the blade was. The blade looked like a needle with a hollow opening, a thousand jagged black-iron edges of the blade gleamed dangerously in the firelight. It was the needle-nose of the boss they had just killed, in blade form. The blade turned smoothly into hilt, without a cross guard. The handle was the same chitinous material from the mosquito conqueror’s legs, segmented and rough textured. The pommel of the blade looked like a miniature slime, it glowed green in the dark of night.
Gruff pulled a second item from the treasure chest. A pair of gauntlets, large, thick and hairy. They looked creepily realistic, with large veins and fur that covered the back of the gauntlets. The fingers of the gauntlets had chipped yellow fingernails with plenty of dirt underneath. It was as if they cut off the hands of the gorilla-armed mosquito.
Tad looked at the items in wonderment. They were boss themed. It was almost as if a skilled crafter had taken the most useful parts of the boss they’d slain and turned them into powerful equipment. Either item would serve as a glorious reminder of the challenges of the dungeon, but his heart sank at the realization that he wouldn’t be getting one. The contract he’d agreed to had stated that all items belonged to Gruff’s party. Tad would only receive a cut of the money from selling the monster essence.
“The essence! Did we leave the boss’s essence behind?”
With a grin, Gruff pulled out the crystalline essence lantern. “Becca retrieved it as you were saving Bunta.” Along with almost a dozen slimes, the small golden essence of Meztlegoph, the Mosquito Conqueror flew in circles. It sucked up a slime and then sprayed it out in a wave of fire. The slime reformed shortly after.
Gruff pulled from the small treasure chest a third item and tossed it to Tad. Even rotating in the air, Tad’s enhanced vision captured the object with perfect clarity. A burnished copper ring. Atop the ring, in a fixture where a gem ought to be, a miniature mosquito head was mounted instead. As the ring came into contact with his skin, a chime rang throughout Tad’s head. Text appeared in front of his vision.
*You discovered the skill ‘Identify.’*
*Identify: Spend 5 mana to learn the properties of an item.*
A new spell! Tad checked his stats. After healing himself and his two friends, Tad had seventeen mana left over.
“Identify.” Tad whispered the word.
A soft glow surrounded the mosquito ring as it floated in the air in front of him. It spun in the air several revolutions until the glow faded and the item dropped once more into Tad’s hand. Gruff’s jaw dropped in surprise. Tad felt like he’d seen that same reaction a hundred times today.
“Kid, did you just identify that? What does it do!”
Tad studied the words that floated above the ring.
*Ring of the Conqueror: Obtained by defeating Meztlegoph the Mosquito Conqueror. Once per day consume 100 mana to cast the skill ‘Speed of the Conqueror.’*
That was the same spell the boss had activated when it grabbed Bunta out of the air. Tad could still see the green aura that had enveloped the impressive foe in a shroud. Tad continued to read.
*Speed of the Conqueror: Increase dexterity threefold for ten seconds.*
What? Tad couldn’t believe what he was reading. Wasn’t that skill completely broken? The boss had already been faster than comprehension. No wonder it could catch and surpass Bunta’s own speed when it used it. Tad shivered at the thought of Bunta at triple his current speed. It was too awesome. But how was he supposed to explain to Gruff what the item did? The explanation was technical. From their previous conversations, it didn’t seem like most people knew about how their powers worked. About mana, dexterity, stats, or even skills. They wielded these powers, but didn’t understand them.
“The ring can make you three times faster for ten seconds, but it uses magic.”
“That ring is perfect for Bunta. Kid, you are just full of surprises. Some people make entire careers by identifying items. It’s a rare spell. What about this one? What does this one do?” Gruff grabbed the ring from Tad’s hand and tossed it to Bunta. He grabbed the giant mosquito sword and thrust it to Tad. Tad had never seen the big man so excited.
Tad grabbed the hilt of the needle sword from Gruff’s outstretched hands. The tip of the blade smashed into the ground. The rest of the blade followed as the sheer weight of the weapon ripped itself from Tad’s hands and crashed to the ground with a dull thud. It must weigh several hundred pounds.
Gruff laughed at the display, but it wasn’t the same laugh of other kids being cruel to Tad. Once again, this laughter seemed to include him. It was a strange feeling. That someone could laugh at a mistake he made, but not laugh at him. Tad hadn’t thought that possible. He placed his hands on the hilt of the blade and cast his spell. “Identify.”
The sword glowed in a white light. Suddenly weightless, the blade floated off the ground and slowly rotated in the air before the light winked out and it crashed to the ground.
*Meztlegoph’s Greatsword: The severed proboscis of Meztlegoph the Mosquito Conqueror.
This greatsword can absorb a slime to enchant the weapon with elemental damage.
Damage is equal to the strength stat.
Current slime absorbed: Acid.
Strength required: 20*
Once again the explanation seemed too technical for his friends. He did his best to dumb it down. “The sword does magic damage. Technically acid. And the stronger you are, the more damage it does.”
Gruff looked incredulous. “That sword does magic damage?”
Tad nodded.
“Well, this would have been handy before we beat this dungeon.” Gruff chuckled, “Well, at least we’ll be prepared for the next slime dungeon.” Gruff picked up the gigantic sword and stowed it into the treasure chest. The chest swallowed the sword without a trace, despite being a fraction of the blade’s size.
Gruff handed Tad the last item. The gorilla gauntlets. The item glowed as it rotated midair, finally dropping into his hands.
*Hands of Meztlegoph: The severed hands of Meztlegoph the Mosquito Conqueror. Increases the strength of the wearer by twenty percent. Grants resistance to elemental and acid damage.*
Tad did his best to explain what the item did, without giving away too much. Gruff put the gloves back into the chest. An awkward silence filled the air for a moment before Gruff cleared his throat.
“It feels weird to introduce myself now, after everything we’ve been through but… I’m Brando Gordon, but you can keep calling me Gruff if you’d like.” Gruff said, a wry smile on his face. He then pointed in Bunta’s direction. His smile grew even wider. “And this is George Jefferson Lincoln Zhao.”
The pleasant smile on Bunta’s face disappeared.
“You know I hate that name! Why do you need to keep sharing it with everyone!”
Gruff let out a loud laugh at the flustered Bunta. The pleasant smile on Bunta’s face returned as he joined in the laughter. Tad introduced himself after the laughter died down. Once more, there was a slight pause before Gruff continued.
“Anyway, Kid, I talked it over with everyone while you were out. We want you to join our party. I don’t know how your license said you only had a power score of ten. You might not be as strong as a soldier rank slayer, but I’ve never seen a civilian as strong as you. It was almost like you were growing stronger the longer we were in that dungeon. I like your skills, I want you to join us. What do you think?”
Tad stiffened. He was taken aback by Gruff’s insight. The man hit the nail on the head. Tad had been getting stronger the entire time. But more than Gruff’s insight that unsettled him, Tad wasn’t sure what he wanted anymore. He still craved the strength to defend himself. To grow stronger. But the dungeon had been far more intense than anything he’d imagined. Even though they’d had Bunta as a ringer
to beat the boss, it hadn’t exactly gone smoothly. The danger was still real. Any misstep could cost Tad his life.
Gruff seemed to take Tad’s hesitation for something else. “Don’t mind Terrance and Becca. They’ll warm up to you. Thing is… it’s kind of complicated.” Gruff paused a moment, searching for the right words. “You’ll be filling in for the spot of Terrance’s brother, Tomas… We lost him in a nasty dungeon two months ago. Scar hasn’t let anyone else join our party, only temps. Tomas was also Becca’s fiancé.”
Well, that explained a lot.
Gruff continued, nodding his head toward the crater where the dungeon had been. “You were a big help in there. I’m not sure any of us would’ve walked out of that dungeon even if we had a solid mage along with us. Your skills, healing, and spell casting will help our party out immensely.”
Tad closed his eyes in thought. Even if he wanted to keep dungeon slaying, he wasn’t sure he could be what Gruff wanted him to be. Tad didn’t want to put all of his stats into magic or constitution. He’d done it in the slime dungeon to survive, but seeing Bunta single handedly dismantle the boss inspired him. That was the strength Tad craved. Strength enough to be a boss killer, just like Bunta. And yet, Tad yearned to be accepted. They needed him. They valued him and the skills he had. He wanted them to accept him so badly he doubted if it was strength he was after. Maybe he just didn’t want to be a target. He didn’t seek revenge upon his bullies, he just wanted to be free from their torment. Maybe he didn’t need strength for that. Just strength enough to belong. To help a party of slayers that accepted him. Was that worth risking his life for? Risking his life for strength made sense, eventually he could get strong enough to matter. To protect himself.