The Dungeon Slayer: A LitRPG Level-Up Adventure (The Dungeon Slayer Series Book 1)

by Konrad Ryan

  To Tad’s horror, the fingerteeth raced across the sand at an alarming speed. They contracted and extended like inchworms. Tad readied his sword by his cheek, prepared to battle with the terrible critters. Wraithford yawned dramatically. It was clear he had no plan to get involved. The crowd loved it.

  Alarm spiked in Tad’s chest as the fingers wriggled closer. They were huge! Summer sausages of death. He could feel his heart beating in his chest as he steeled himself to slay these terrifying creatures. How could he kill Wraithford if he couldn’t even kill two of his teeth? The panic in Tad’s chest grew too much to bear as he turned and ran from the wriggling abominations. The crowd roared with laughter.

  Cold sweat poured down Tad’s sides as he ran. He’d thought he’d been ready to fight anything. But these things were worse than anything he’d imagined. Like nightmares actualized. Just looking at the fingerteeth made Tad’s whole body crawl. Somehow he would rather fight Wraithford than fight his living teeth. The worst part was their unknown capabilities. It terrified him as his imagination ran wild. What were they even going to do to him? They were fingers! Were they bombs about to explode? Were they going to jump down his throat and suffocate him? Were they going to scratch him with those disgusting nails?

  Arcane words chanted from Wraithford snapped Tad out of his terror. Wraithford sneered in annoyance, his upper lip curled to reveal wiggling fingerteeth. Tad was wasting his time. The contempt on his face was human. Too human. Wraithford’s chanting stopped as Skeletal hands burst from the sand beneath and gripped onto Tad’s ankles. Tad fell flat onto his face as the bony fists held him in place. Tad got to his knees, then stood as fast as he could. Desperation filled his chest as he chopped wildly at the bony hands holding him in place. The chirping of the fingerteeth grew ever closer.

  At the last moment Tad chopped through the bony hand holding his right leg and he spun to meet his attacker, his left leg still trapped by Wraithford’s spell.

  One fingertooth was in front of Tad, squished more than half of its usual length. Tad could tell it was about to pounce, but that was the last thing on his mind. Where had the other one gone!

  Like a spring, the fingertooth jumped at Tad. He twisted the sword in his grip. The blade met the air-born fingertooth. Green blood exploded as he sliced the fingertooth in half. Pain blossomed in Tad’s backside and he yelped in surprise. The audience roared with laughter as Tad twisted his neck to look at the finger attacker. The fingertooth’s nail opened revealing sharp jagged fangs that sunk deep into his butt cheek, drinking hungrily.

  Tad had been wrong. It wasn’t a fingertooth at all! It was a buttsucker! Red blood swirled beneath the fingertooth’s translucent skin as it mixed with its green blood. Tad stabbed downward at the fingertooth, but it detached and dodged the blow with a screech. The grating sound was far worse than a finger should be capable of making. It hastily retreated, leaving a green slime trail behind.

  A third fingertooth wriggled from the sand below Tad’s feet. When had Wraithford done that! Tad flung himself backward on the sand, barely avoiding the fingertooth’s teeth as it sprang into the air past him. Scrambling to his feet, he broke the skeletal hand that still held his foot in three hacks. His legs were free! Tad spun to meet the fingertooth as it leapt at his throat. Tad brought his blade up to meet it, he sliced the creature in half. A mist of green blood splattered across his face and neck as each half of the creature flew to either side of him. The fingertooth halves wriggled for a second before they became still.

  Tad turned his gaze back to the fingertooth that escaped with his blood. The green slime trail led back to where Wraithford now stood. His fiery green eyes intensified as he reattached the fingertooth to the inside of his mouth. Pleasure washed across his face as the fingertooth delivered the first taste of Tad’s blood.

  No, no, no, no, no! Tad’s skin crawled. He was the worst creature ever! How many opponents died to this monster? Three-hundred-something? Slowly bled to death as he sent his fingerteeth to eat them alive. Anger at the thought pushed through Tad’s fear. This was how he would die unless he grew a spine and figured out a way to kill that monster. There was no Gruff to save him. No Bunta who would dissect the monster at supersonic speed. He was alone. He had to face this awful creature by himself.

  A deep breath brought some level of calm back to him. He’d never been this scared before. It wasn’t even the sheer strength of the opponent which scared him. It was how unnatural and gross and disgusting Wraithford was. How gruesome Tad imagined the impending death to be. He had never known that the threat of a messy and disturbing death could be even more effective than a threat of pure strength.

  A second deep breath. Tad let the calm wash over him. He could do it. He could face his fears. It had been his choice to fight this monstrosity. No, he had wanted to fight again. To use his hard-earned mana and health.

  Tad focused. He hadn’t even used any spells yet. In his panic, he’d just run. Forgotten all and any abilities he possessed. But no longer. Tad was calm.

  But Wraithford was the opposite. Tad saw the difference the instant their eyes met. Wraithford’s eyes were back on him once more, his face twisted in hunger and desire. Tad no longer faced a showman, a gladiator. Instead Wraithford’s glowing eyes glistened with primal hunger, with a need for Tad’s blood. Wraithford would come, like a beast hunting his prey. Wraithford wouldn’t hold back anymore. No… he couldn’t hold back anymore after getting a taste.

  King Wraithford sprung forward, his motion a blur. His colossal fist slammed down toward Tad’s face. Tad threw himself to the side, out of the path of the blow. A graceless flop to the ground, the air whooshed overhead in warning. That punch wouldn’t just hurt, it would’ve outright killed him. He was sure of it. Wraithford raised a foot to stomp him. Tad rolled out from under the crushing step and back to his feet. He sprang backward and tried to make some distance, but Wraithford pursued.

  Tad had been wrong. Wraithford was fast, but not as fast as Tad first thought. His own fear slowed his movements. Tad focused on the series of kicks as he slipped past the attacks. He was just a step below the speed of the undead behemoth. But he was smaller. There was an advantage to that, like a man trying to trap a skittering mouse. The mouse had more options. Tad ducked under two more lightning fast swings before he jumped out of the way of a kick from the giant.

  Tad darted away from another punch. And rolled past another. He grasped the timing of the giant’s attacks. In a smooth motion, he plunged his chipped blade deep into the abdomen of Wraithford. A giant hand swatted Tad away, ripping the embedded sword from his hand. Tad tumbled from the force of the swat, almost twice as far as he had from the first punch.

  A notification swam before Tad’s eyes.

  *-13 Health.*

  Tad had been right about Wraithford’s strength. He was strong, and he had been holding back. A reactionary swat cost Tad 13 health. Tad glanced at his health bar. A full punch would likely do over fifty damage. Tad couldn’t afford to get hit by a full strength blow.

  *Health: 43/110

  Mana: 42/42*

  How could he turn the tables? What spell could help him here? What about his third tier two spell? Ice vortex. With a thought, Tad brought up the details as Wraithford charged him.

  *Ice Vortex: Consumes 20 mana upon use. A magical pool of ice appears under one creature, decreasing their speed by 20%. Duration: 60 seconds.*

  Tad would have a minute. An entire minute where he might be faster than the creature. Would it be enough?

  “Ice vortex!”

  A pool of liquid ice swirled underneath Wraithford’s feet as he charged. His muscles stiffened, his grace disappeared. Suddenly, the foe which had been just at the edge of Tad’s ability to handle, speed wise, looked sluggish. Twenty percent speed didn’t sound like much. In fact, he had first thought this spell would be borderline useless. But Tad grinned at the look of worry that appeared on Wraithford’s face for the first time. It was time to make Wraithford afr
aid.

  Pleasure rippled across Tad’s skin. He couldn’t believe how much he enjoyed the look of worry on this gruesome creature’s face. Tad might be a chubby little fat kid, half this monstrosity’s size, but he could become Wraithford’s worst nightmare. This feeling of pleasure. Was it what his bullies felt when they had seen Tad’s own fear? Is that why they did it? Was the look of worry on Wraithford’s face the same look that would appear on Brad’s face if Tad were ever stronger than him? Wouldn’t that make Tad the bully?

  Maybe. If Wraithford was weak and couldn’t defend himself. But this battle with Wraithford was different. There was no bully in this situation. This was a fight for survival. A fight for the right to continue living. Neither could back down. Tad could enjoy his power over Wraithford in this instant. It was the strength he desired, wasn’t it?

  In a flash Tad spun past a punch, and dashed forward, closing the distance between the two. Scooping a dagger from the ground, Tad slammed it into Wraithford’s upper thigh three times before he spun out of reach of Wraithford’s gigantic hands. Each attack did a surprising amount of damage to the health bar above Wraithford’s head. This monster wasn’t like the mosquito boss who had a tremendous life pool. Wraithford was fast, and absurdly strong, but he had a low constitution. A small health pool! Tad could do it. He prepared a spell.

  “Thunderstorm!”

  He wouldn’t save anything. He needed to end this fight within a minute. Storm clouds formed overhead instantly as lightning struck Wraithford again and again. Tad slipped past another punch and stabbed repeatedly along the entire length of Wraithford’s extended arm in rapid succession.

  Sweat dripped down his back, but this time it was from exertion, not fear. Tad felt stretched to his limit from dodging Wraithford’s attacks. Despite his speed advantage, the danger was still real. It was like dodging tree trunks in a tornado. Each blow had enough force in it to crush a car like a soda can. But Tad was in control. He had to do as much damage as he could before his spell wore off. But before that, there was something even more important Tad had to do.

  Lightning struck again and again as Tad sped inward, another slash to Wraithford’s legs. Tad hopped backward, then turned and sprinted away, toward Wraithford’s unattended axes. Tad couldn’t let Wraithford use those. Tad dropped his dagger and gripped one of the giant weapons in both hands. Just to sate his curiosity, he tried to lift the weapon. It didn’t even budge in the sand.

  Wraithford chased Tad, a look of pure rage across his face that someone dared to mess with his axes. But it didn’t matter. He was too slow. With a puff of black mist, the weapon disappeared from existence. Tad smiled, showing off his pearly whites to Wraithford as he made the second axe disappear into his third misted equipment slot.

  Wraithford’s look of pure shock at his weapon’s disappearance caused Tad’s smile to grow. This creature wasn’t a monster. It was essentially human. It felt emotion. And the emotion across Wraithford’s face was clear. Without his weapons, he was in trouble.

  Wraithford threw back his head and let out a furious roar. The audience thundered with excitement. They didn’t seem to mind who won the fight. They just wanted it to be an entertaining one. Freaks. Wraithford brought both his hands to his mouth and ripped out all of his fingerteeth in a practiced motion. Hundreds. Hundreds of fingerteeth flew in Tad’s direction.

  Lightning from his thunderstorm zapped targets at random. Wraithford had countered his spell. They acted like a shield, absorbing the damage for their host. Each zap left a fingertooth dead and smoking in the colosseum’s sand. Like Wraithford himself, the fingerteeth had low health. Armed with that knowledge, Tad retreated from the attacks. His eyes scoured the sand until he found what he wanted, a pair of daggers that gleamed in the green torchlight of the arena. He dodged past several fingerteeth to retrieve the two daggers from the sand. Fingerteeth coiled and sprang on all sides, their own teeth bared, but Tad spun and swayed out of the range of their attacks. His arms were a blur as he stabbed fingertooth after fingertooth.

  But something was wrong. What was Wraithford doing while Tad fought the countless fingerteeth? Panic flared as Tad realized exactly what he was doing. Tad listened past the cheer of the crowd, past the grunts, growls and squeals of the fingerteeth. Until he heard it, the arcane mumbling of Wraithford casting a spell. If skeletal hands reached from the ground and stopped his movement like before, the fingerteeth would eat him alive.

  Pain exploded in his leg as a fingertooth wriggled from beneath the sand and bit deep into Tad’s thigh. Panic flared as red blood poured from the wound into the revolting creature. A quick stab through its fingernail dispatched it quickly before Tad flew toward Wraithford. His daggers sliced through jumping fingerteeth along the way. He rolled under another fingertooth’s launched attack before he aimed his finger like a gun, right at Wraithford’s face. Tad imagined the spell to be small and compact.

  “Firebolt!”

  Mana disappeared as the tiny firebolt found its mark. The firebolt slipped through Wraithford’s raw and bleeding gums and exploded deep in his throat. Smoke erupted from the ghoul’s eyes, ears and mouth as he fell to his knees choking and coughing. There would be no spell to stop Tad’s movements.

  Fingerteeth assaulted on all sides as Tad spun, dodged, ducked. His thunderstorm raged, killing tooth after tooth. They seemed endless! And Tad didn’t have much time left on his ice vortex. A glance at Wraithford’s health bar showed 35%. If ice vortex ended, Tad knew he couldn’t fight Wraithford and the fingerteeth simultaneously.

  It was now or never. Tad charged past the mass of fingerteeth. Before Wraithford could recover from a firebolt to the throat. While he was on his knees. While he was within range of Tad’s attack. A mass of fingerteeth wriggled together, forming a wall in front of him. Tad pulled. A giant obsidian axe appeared and slammed down on top of the fingerteeth wall. He ran up the haft of the axe and across the huge obsidian axe head. He leapt off the edge into the air, just past the hands of Wraithford reaching out to grab him, and shoved both his hands inside of Wraithford’s toothless maw.

  Once again Tad pulled. He would summon the second axe inside its owner’s own mouth. An error sound blared through Tad’s head.

  *Not enough space to summon weapon!*

  Uh oh.

  Wraithford’s fingertoothless jaws slammed downward, pinning Tad’s arms insides his mouth as Wraithford’s hands caught up and gripped the sides of Tad’s torso and squeezed.

  Tad screamed as all of his ribs broke simultaneously. His broken ribs punctured organs. Blood splurted from Tad’s mouth, his vision going dark before his eyes. With hands trapped inside Wraithford’s mouth, this was the end. Tad glanced at his health bar as warnings screamed in his head.

  *Warning! Health critically low!*

  *Health: 2/110

  Mana: 2/42*

  Tad was barely alive. His thoughts sluggish. It was like time was moving in slow motion. He had two mana left… with his hands stuck in the maw of a beast.

  “Firebolt!”

  Tad screamed out the spell as a firebolt exploded inside of Wraithford’s mouth. Wraithford opened his mouth in a surprised scream of pain. Tad pulled, this time his smaller weapon, Fangblender. The weapon appeared in his hands, already halfway down the behemoth’s throat. With his last mana, Tad activated the weapon. Fangblender roared to life as Tad drove it the rest of the way down Wraithford’s throat.

  Tad didn’t even have time to check how much damage it did as Wraithford dropped him, his giant mouth open in a gurgle of blood and pain. Tad tried to heal himself.

  *Out of mana.*

  Pain wracked his insides as he fell and smashed into the sand of the colosseum below. The impact of his fall onto his broken bones consumed the rest of Tad’s health.

  Everything went black.

  * * *

  *Do you wish to quit?*

  The words floated before Tad’s bleary eyes, even closed. His entire body hurt. It was difficult to breathe; h
is lungs were full of fluid. Thoughts thick and muddled floated through his mind. He should be worried, but it felt better if he just didn’t think about it. A crowd roared somewhere.

  *Do you wish to quit?*

  Would he like to quit? Quit what? Tad opened his eyes. A huge ghoulish face met his gaze. Tad recoiled back from the face of King Wraithford the third. The motion caused him to roll into a new coughing fit. Blood streamed from his mouth. Tad blinked rapidly to focus on Wraithford.

  Wraithford’s eyes no longer blazed green, instead a look of glass replaced the fire. Gingerly, Tad turned his head to look behind, worried that the motion might puncture some internal organ anew. Dozens of squirming fingerteeth wriggled aimlessly, spasming as if in death.

  Had… had he won?

  *Health: 1/110

  Mana: 3/42*

  Tad looked over his health bar. He hadn’t been unconscious for long. His mana had regenerated only a little. It must have been roughly over three minutes. For three minutes he’d been helpless, but nothing attacked him. Wraithford and his horrible teeth were dead.

  He won.

  Zero knowledge was his prize. It still seemed like a terrible reward. But he won a battle that utterly terrified him, even though he’d almost died. Somehow that seemed the greater reward. He conquered his own fears. Faced with something that truly frightened him and still came out the victor.

  *Congratulations! Your reward ‘Zero knowledge’ will be delivered shortly.

  You have 10 minutes. You will be teleported to a new arena.

  Warning! Recommended level: 32. The next fight is a miniboss.

  Your next reward is: Permanent 2x stat multiplier.

  Do you wish to quit?*

  Shortly? They weren’t even going to give him his explanation now? Tad tried to sit up, but the pain was too great. His chest sagged strangely, as if it were boneless.

  “Heal.”

  Three mana worth of the spell surged through Tad’s body as his insides exploded in pain. Ribs were pulled from organs as it repaired the most crucial damage. Blood burst from his mouth as his lungs forced out the liquid.