Return to Dungeon_A Monster MC LitRPG

by MJ Kaltenbrunner

  As if it had suddenly materialized out of thin air, there it was right in front of him. He had been so worried about spotting it in the dark that he overlooked it right up against the wall. Without being able to tell if it had seen him, he assumed that it had and dove straight at it. His knife came so close to that central sac, but the giant slime expanded itself and separated in the middle like a donut. It's organ sac moved to the side with the rest of its body, and the knife completely missed it. It quickly closed itself over again. And it wrapped around Kek's arm.

  This slime was so large that it probably would could have engulfed him had he been a bit closer to it. But he had only darted the knife forward with the front part of his arm. And now it was encased in the disgusting, viscous, and eerily warm gelatin of this creature. He had eaten dishes made with the gelatin of things like horses and larger game and found them delicious, but at that moment, Kek swore he would never eat gelatin again for the rest of his life.

  He tried to pull away, but his arm was stuck, and he couldn't pull the slime with him to try to swing it around. It had firmly suctioned itself to the wall. It was using the wall as an anchor point on purpose, rather than just being accidentally stuck. Kek’s first instinct was to kick the thing and try to pull his arm away, but he wasn't born yesterday and knew his leg would get stuck if he tried.

  Hendrik certainly was no fighter and naturally none of the mercenaries had ever trained Kek to defend himself, so Kek didn’t have any defense skills to fall back on.

  He still had the glowing mushroom in his left hand. He swung it around, trying to break free of the slime when he noticed what the slime had been consuming before it had been interrupted. It certainly looked like it had once been a goblin. That either meant there were goblins not far from them, or the slime like to travel deeper into the dungeon to find his food. Kek didn’t like either of those thoughts. If there were goblins nearby, all of this commotion might bring them running to investigate, and then Kek was done for. Otherwise, it meant that this slime was a lot more capable then he had given it credit for.

  Kek had jumped into an attack that was ill planned. While he was busy grasping for a way to get out of this situation, the kobold dropped his guard.

  The slime again opened and managed to get ahold of his left hand this time. Now he surely was done for because he couldn't even move or try to defend himself. How stupid! He tried to yank that hand away before it could be sucked in any farther, but had no luck. The slime started to gyrate and quiver, as though it was about the do something drastic and dangerous.

  Instead of attacking him in a new way, the whole area around Kek's hand suddenly felt like water instead of thick gel. He took the opportunity to yank the limb and return it to himself. He lost his mushroom though, which was still inside the creature. Then, the slime around his right hand became liquid and he was able to free it too. Kek stumbled back, falling on his butt. He was free of that thing. He knew he could outrun it if he had to.

  He grabbed another one of the mushrooms out of his backpack and held it aloft so that he could see if the thing rushed at him. His knife was still clenched in his right hand, which was no small stroke of luck. He supposed even people with low luck scores had some good luck occasionally. He watched the slime as it tried to envelop the mushroom, but it didn't seem to be able to. It quivered violently, as though a giant were holding it and shaking it. That's when he remembered what the fairy had said about being careful with those mushrooms.

  It must be poisonous to the slime, Kek thought. But the mushroom was slowly being pushed out of the large quivering slime, as it fought to excrete the thing that was causing it pain.

  Kek jumped upon the opportunity and threw the mushroom from his hand as hard as he could. It sunk part way into the slime, and that area began to quiver. It soon pushed that mushroom out though because it wasn't in very far. Kek ran around gathering up all the mushrooms in the area, building himself up to do something that went against every fiber of his nature. Then, he rushed the creature again, this time with an armful of mushrooms.

  Just as he was about to hit the giant slime and shove all those poisonous mushrooms into its form, something smashed into his chest, knocking him backward. He dropped most of the mushrooms and took some time to recover his balance and stand up. He looked around, trying to figure out what had hit him, expecting that maybe some goblins had finally come to get him, or maybe the muck fairies had used the slime as a decoy so they could launch an ambush. None of that made sense, but neither did the invisible thing in the dark that had hit him.

  But then he remembered what he had read about the slime. Of course! It was one of the slime’s extendable tendrils that it hit him. The thing knew what Kek was planning to do, and it had defended itself the only way it knew how. Now he would have to use that superior dexterity, which was just fine with him. Again, he gathered up an armful of mushrooms, but he kept his right arm free so he would wield his knife.

  This time he ran toward the most slime as quickly as he could, ready for one of those slimy tendrils. When the slime shot out its bizarre limb, he quickly sliced it off. It hit the ground as though it was water. The slime’s limb had turned to liquid as soon as it was severed from the larger body of the creature.

  This was all fascinating, but Kek certainly didn't wait around to study the thing. He charged forward and shoved all of the glowing mushrooms into the slime. Then, he jumped back in case it was going to burst or explode, or try to grab him with those tendrils as a last-ditch effort to take its killer down with it.

  And it did just that, flailing around with at least ten or twenty of those arms in all directions. And it looked quite impressive with those glowing mushrooms inside of it, reflecting through its semi-opaque surface. In any other circumstance, something like that would have been lovely to look at, but this thing was just sickening.

  He got himself a good twenty feet back in the direction he'd come and watched from a distance as the thing finally came to its final moments of quivering and shaking before exploding with a splash that covered the cave floor and the walls all around it. The mushrooms that had been inside of it stuck where they landed, kept in place by the liquid of the dead creature.

  Kek moved forward to make sure that the thing was dead, but also out of curiosity, to see if it would do anything else. Its sac was still pulsating and squirming, as though it had a life of its own. And as Kek moved closer, he felt something wriggling beneath his feet. It was the pool of liquid that had been the slime’s body, moving slowly toward the sac of organs. It was like the reverse of what a puddle should be doing, expanding outward after being spilled all over the rocks. He was certain that it would slowly reform if left to do so.

  Instead of allowing that to happen, he put his knife straight through the horrible organ sac. It let out a squelching sound that could have almost been mistaken for a muffled soft-mumbling mixed with screaming. Still, the intelligence behind the heinous sounds was almost too much for Kek's sensitive ears to bear. His stomach churned yet again, and he felt like he might vomit this time. But kobolds had particularly strong stomachs thanks to their cousinhood with dogs, and he managed to maintain his composure until the thing stopped writhing and fell flat like a partially inflated pancake. Kek stabbed the thing a few more times just to make sure it was completely dead.

  14

  These words flashed before his eyes in huge writing: LEVEL UP!

  That meant he was getting more powerful, but Kek didn’t really know what that entailed. It was hard to get excited about.

  In his mind, the bigger reward would be the fairy telling him what he wanted to know. But what if the muck fairies didn’t believe him when he told them the slime was dead? As much is it disgusted him to do so, he reached down and picked up the deflated organ sac with all the squishy horrible parts jiggling around inside of it and took it with him. He was careful to grab it by a part that was not punctured or covered with too much oily, slick blood. He went back to the muck fairies with thi
s.

  "What the hell do you have there?" asked the fairy who had showed itself in the light and spoken with him primarily.

  Kek was almost infuriated by this remark. "What do you mean, what do I have here?" He had been pushed around by people his entire life, so much that he had very little tolerance for letting people do it now. Being free was starting to give him a very nice backbone, indeed. "You asked me to kill this slime, and I brought you its organ sac to prove that I did it.”

  The fairy laughed and nodded. "Yes, I can see that. I just mean, why did you bring it? I know you've completed the quest, so you don't need to prove it. Did you forget about this whole magical power thing where things are somehow magically written down on view to see? I’m a magical fairy. Remember how I’m the one who told you about quests?" His laughter was quickly joined by a chorus of laughter from the other fairies around him. Kek felt like hundreds of the little blighters had joined in to create a symphony of mocking laughter. But it was hard to be angry at them, because the sound was so slight and pleasant to listen to.

  And none of the others had shown themselves yet, so there was nothing Kek could really do about it anyway, even if he did decide to go on a sudden fairy-murdering spree. Instead, he decided to join them in laughter as he tossed the thing to the ground and kicked it away. "All right then," said Kek. "I've done what you asked, so will you help me?" This was the moment of truth where he got to find out if he'd been played for a fool or if these fairies did know where the other kobolds had been taken.

  "Yes, of course. The muck fairy is called a lot of things, but I will not have us known as liars. I’ll mark the location for you as a side quest. Actually, I have a feeling it's your primary quest. We shall see."

  And surely enough, it popped up as a red arrow, and he was given some information about his quest that included where he would need to go to find his kobold people and a little bit of information about where they were. He didn't take the time to read over this just yet, because he really wanted to get away from the area, in case something more dangerous had heard all the commotion with the slime. He backtracked about fifty feet and found himself a nice dark place against the wall where he could sit, put his back against the wall, and maybe get something to eat while he caught his breath and regenerated his stretched nerves.

  Then he noticed that the numbers that had been displayed on the side of his vision had changed. Now there was new writing. Something showed bolder than the rest and was gently flashing on and off. It said “Level Up,” and he wasn't sure what this meant. Hendrik had said he would get experience and learn new skills that otherwise would not have been possible before he had this special power, so Kek assumed he was getting some sort of new level on one of those skills. But there was more writing.

  You have gained a level. You may choose one new skill from the provided options.

  Kek was excited. It'd been a long time since anyone had shown him any new skills, since he had learned all the basics about assisting Hendrik.

  Dash: Allows you to charge forward without any warning at a very rapid speed and collide with your target with extreme strength, which causes you little damage, if any at all.

  Dodge: It's all in the name. This might sound simple, but being able to quickly avoid attacks from enemies or daily objects that are coming your way can be a great boon to your very survival. Especially useful for those with high dexterity.

  Light: This spell allows you to form an orb of light that will follow you around and brighten up a small area around you. It will last until it is damaged, or until you tell it to go away. It uses very few magic points.

  Swim: Many people take it for granted but there are those who are not able to swim very well. But even the best swimmers can improve, and this will turn you into an expert. It also allows you to hold your breath for a little longer than usual while underwater.

  Burn: A basic magical attack spell that most magic users wouldn't be caught dead using past the apprenticeship stage. However, this spell can still be quite useful to those just starting to learn magic. When cast, it allows the user to transfer searing energy to an opponent by touching them with hands or fists.

  Fade to Black: This allows the user to hide in any shadows. They simply fade away, as though they are part of the shadows. This cannot be done where there are no shadows. Moving while using the spell is inadvisable, as it will often cause the spell to be broken.

  Kek wasn't quite sure what to make of these abilities. He had been hoping for some more combat-related skills, like being able to cut the head off an enemy with one swoop, or perhaps a spell that let him shoot fire out of his hands. He’d seen that kind of thing in books and knew that there were many magic users out there who could do that kind of thing. This was supposed to be a great power, but it was seemed kind of ineffectual with the kind of dangers he was up against.

  He was contemplating which to pick and leaning toward either Dodge, Dash, or Burn, but something else appeared in his vision. It was a very small, beautiful face.

  "Hello. I must admit that it took a lot of thinking and building myself up to come over and talk to you. It’s usually frowned upon for us to talk to any outsiders, but after what you did? Well, let's just say your act of bravery has made you quite well-liked." It was a muck fairy, but it didn't look the same as the one he had spoken to about his quest. This was a female, as her slender yet appealing curves attested. And her a voice was lovely.

  "Hi…" Was all Kek managed to say. He sounded like a complete coward, unfortunately. It was painfully clear to him how much he missed out on in his life. He had never been exposed to any females, apart from occasionally passing one of the whores in the mercenary camp. And they weren’t exactly the type of people he wanted to associate with, plus they were human. And humans didn’t appeal to him at all. While this was no kobold, he found it hard to look away from those perfect little eyes shining in the light of one of the mushrooms nearby.

  "I, uh, I mean, can I help you?" He assumed that she just wanted him to do something else for her.

  “To be honest, I'm still wondering whether I can really trust you. I know you killed that monster, but is killing all that you're interested in?”

  “I am honestly just here to help my people and fulfill a dying man's wish." That was the first time he had admitted to himself that it was possible Hendrik might die. He was glad he couldn’t shed a tear, because he didn't want to look like a complete loser in front of this beautiful little fairy.

  "So, you would never take advantage of me? I want to trust you because what I need requires me to trust you a lot. Would you be willing to let me come?"

  Kek wasn't sure what she meant and waited for her to finish her sentence. When she didn't, he said, “Come where?”

  “Oh… What I meant was, can I come with you, please?” It was difficult to tell on her red and brownish complexion mixed with other earthy colors, but it seemed that this delicate creature was blushing, and it was one of the most adorable things Kek had ever seen in his entire life.

  “Why would you want to come with me? You know that what I plan to do could be dangerous, right?”

  “I know. And that's one of the reasons I think you should let me come with you. I can offer you a lot of information, and I would wager that I know much more about your special new power than you do. I know I'm young, but I’m not that young." She did look quite young, but so had the other fairy, and he was obviously a fully grown male. It was possible this was just a young female, since all of the muck fairies had youthful features. Compared to the rest, her bust and hips were quite wide and womanly, relatively speaking. Kek realized that he was staring, and practically looking her up and down as he thought about this.

  With a little giggle and a shake of her head, but not seeming too upset, the muck fairy continued to speak, "We live in the outer area at the top of the dungeon because we are waiting to rendezvous one day with a large party of our people who went down into this dungeon. While we don't have any hope that they
still survive, they had a very special item of ours which we cannot leave this place without. This happened before I was even born, which shows you how long my people have been waiting for someone to come along who would help them, rather than hinder or assault them. It seems that you've already taken it upon yourself to be a hero in other ways…" The pretty fairy made a face at him that was as cute as anything he’d ever seen.

  And it worked to persuade him. Kek sighed and stood up. "Well, since I am going there anyway, and because you asked so nicely, yes. I would love if you came with me. I don't see how you could be too much trouble anyway, and you are very good at hiding. Can you really tell me more about this power of mine? I was just about to do something called a level up, but I'm not sure how to go about it.”

  “No way, awesome!” she shouted with genuine excitement. She fluttered about and did a little flip in the air, which was impressive to Kek … and very cute. Kek found it hard to take his eyes off her still, but he wasn't trying very hard since she did not seem to mind. The little fairy had a way about her that Kek liked. It was as though she knew a lot more than her youthful appearance let on, which he supposed was called wisdom, according to his new power.

  “What's your name?” he asked her.

  “Oh,” she said while ceasing her deft aerial acrobatics and hovering in front of him so they could speak face-to-face again. “I'm sorry, I should've told you. That was rude of me. My name is Faye.”

  Kek thought that was a beautiful name, but he didn't say so. He wished that he had more charisma and wondered what would happen if he tried to use his charisma to charm this young lady. The universe was forever working with hidden mechanics that people couldn’t see, and it was like when people played a game and rolled dice or drew cards to get a random result. He decided to tell her that she had a pretty name. "Faye is it the loveliest name I've heard," he said, unable to think of anything even slightly witty. Writing appeared right in front of him so that he couldn't miss it: Charm succeeds.