by Brent Tyman
What a strange place…
Setting aside the gossip, the main thing I noted was that she planned on meeting me that afternoon for more grinding. I spent the morning selling the pelts we had collected the previous day to the guild and then burned a few hours shopping in the city.
I ended up snagging some new clothes to replace the ones I had brought into this world. The leather armor I had purchased frequently snagged on the cotton, and my t-shirt was pretty much one of a kind here. It wouldn’t do to rip it apart for no reason.
The replacement, a simple black tunic and bottom, was significantly less comfortable in comparison. Not unbearably so, but I could feel the difference in quality. A marginal positive, was that it helped me fit in more in this world and stand out less.
By the time I was finished with my errands and shopping, afternoon had rolled around. I let Clarissa know I was heading towards the Dungeon.
When I saw the woman, she had obviously changed out of her Academy uniform into a vibrant green, extremely form fitting dress. It raised her breasts up proudly and exposed a generous amount of cleavage.
If I’d thought she was beautiful before, she was breathtaking now.
“Hmm, you like this one, do you Alex? I picked it out especially for you,” Clarissa hummed as I approached.
“Yeah, you look… uhh, great today. How did it go with your family?” I asked, trying not to ogle her amazing cleavage too much.
Clarissa tsked and crossed her arms, under her breasts. Which only propped them up further on display.
“Father was furious. Perhaps even that isn’t a strong enough word.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “He was mostly claiming how unprecedented it was for a daughter of the Hoganna bloodline to even fathom leaving the Clan. Based on yesterday’s results, my decision has borne fruit already, so it matters little what he thinks.”
“Huh, well if you say so. You kept me up late last night with all that gossip, so we will just have to see if I can last as long as yesterday.”
“Oh, I think a man such as you can last… a long time.” She bounced her eyebrows at me and gave me a positively wicked grin. “Especially with me by your side.”
I let out a full bellied laugh at that. Maybe she was right.
It took us only a few hours to raise my Defense stat up over ten, and after my many complaints about the pain, Clarissa finally decided that I was sturdy enough to advance to the second level.
“About time!” I cheered as I whacked the dead corpse of the last Rat that had chewed on me.
“Have you noticed a difference in the pain compared to yesterday?” Clarissa asked me with a hint of curiosity on her face.
“Difference?” I paused, puzzled. “Pain is pain, right? Still hurts.”
“I imagine it would hurt less so, by now. Before, you were practically ready to fall over, and now you stand firm even as they attack you. Sometimes increases in Defense take place overnight.”
Now that I thought about it, she was right.
The dizziness of taking damage and losing blood was nigh unbearable yesterday, but it felt more like a dull ache today. Sure, it hurt, but without Clarissa providing her heals, I reckon I would still have plenty of time to react before losing consciousness.
“Maybe you’re right,” I acknowledged. “Let’s head to the second floor and see how well I can hold my own down there.”
Clarissa led me through the Dungeon to the first set of stairs I had seen, other than the stairs that led from the entrance into the first floor. There were actually quite a few adventurers milling about here.
“Don’t be bloody chickens, we can take dem Ravens on.”
“Dunno, heard they go straight for the eyes and I don’t want to end up with serious damage here.”
“I can’t stomach any more training on these damn Rats.”
Clarissa visibly rolled her eyes at the whining and grabbed my arm to maneuver me around the adventurers.
“Hey, it’s dangerous down there,” one adventurer suddenly said to us, mostly eying Clarissa. “Those Ravens will peck your eyes out, if you aren’t careful. You should stick with us.”
The adventurers ended up blocking our way to the stairs, and I opened my mouth to retort, but Clarissa beat me to it.
“Out of our way boys, we wish to enter the second level,” Clarissa said, a playful smirk on her face.
“Boys? We’ve been training for months to get our core stats to nine between us. We’re the Zontra Clan and don’t ya forget it. Not boys here, but proper men.”
The others cheered at that, and I wanted to cringe. This reminded me of the attitude of the Clans I had tried to get into. Would I have ended up like these guys if one of them had accepted me?
Clarissa made a show of looking the one who stood directly in front of her up and down, the leader who they’d all rallied behind.
“A brute like you is most certainly not my type,” she sniffed. “I doubt I would find anything manly on your person. Now, please, kindly get lost.”
The leader boiled at that remark and moved a step closer, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “What did you say to me, you little…”
Slap!
Clarissa backhanded the leader of these adventurers with a smooth motion. I could practically feel the crunch that echoed across the chamber as his head snapped to the side.
Just as Daiver had done with my punch, this guy’s body flew across the cave to smash into the far wall with tremendous force. The ground vibrated beneath my feet as he slid towards the ground beside us.
“Holy!”
“Jensor!”
“Is he dead?”
“Run for it!”
The rest of the man’s party hurried away in fear, stopping only long enough to pick up their leader and drag him after them. I watched with wide eyes as they disappeared around a corner and out of sight before turning back to Clarissa, who smiled sweetly at me.
“That was… Does that happen a lot in here?” I asked. That was one heck of a light novel encounter if ever I saw one…
She shrugged. “Many adventurers dream of glory, only to be crushed by either monsters or each other’s egos. Such dreams often bring more… unsavory characters here than you might expect.”
“That backhand had a lot of force behind it,” I commented. She laughed at that and took hold of my arm again.
“Not as powerful as when you punched Daiver, but their supposed nine Defense is paltry compared to my thirty-one strength.”
“Well, remind me never to get you angry. Wild to imagine you could slam my ass to the wall right now, with my measly ten Defense stat.”
I meant it as a joke, but Clarissa seemed to take me seriously for a moment.
“I would never strike you, Alex,” she said before her face softened. “But maybe you might appreciate the aggressive side of me in… other activities.”
I filed a note away to always stay on her good side, as I heard the rubble from the adventurer’s collision with the wall slowly crumble down behind me. Her quick transition to innuendo and that sultry attitude continued to impress me.
She led the way down the stairs to the second floor. Clarissa had some serious power in that backhand. I vaguely wondered if she would use that Strength on the Ravens we would fight next.
Only one way to find out.
12
The second level of the Dungeon was significantly different than what I’d seen so far, and at first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me.
The drab cave and low light had turned into vaulted ceilings, with wooden walls.
Walls might have been a bit of a stretch, as it was more like someone had chopped down trees and stacked them one on top of the other. There were multiple gaps that showed even more wood behind them, with branches pointing in every direction.
The worst part was that it felt quite a bit more humid here than I was used to.
“I miss the cool air of the first level already,” I grumbled as I examined my surroundings.
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br /> “You could always take off your armor and shirt. I wouldn’t mind seeing what’s underneath,” Clarissa winked.
“Haha, the last thing I would want is to have less armor here. Although I wished I had brought a helmet if those guys were telling the truth.”
“Pay them no mind. Yes, they attack your head, but also the rest of your body as you might expect. Come handsome, let’s find the first group of Ravens and you can work that magic of yours.”
I let her know it wasn’t magic, just observations of a monster’s behavior, but she simply giggled and prodded me forward.
Unlike the entrance to the Dungeon itself, there was only one route that led through these lower floors. The blonde told me it would continue like this, from now on.
We passed by many adventurers as we pressed forward, but unlike that group of clowns earlier, these paid us no mind. The sole exception to that being any Academy students we passed. Most of the ones we saw immediately recognized Clarissa and gossiped to each other in hushed whispers.
Hoganna was represented by green, if I remembered correctly, so I wasn’t surprised to see the green uniformed students try to approach us. Clarissa simply stared them down, though, and they backed off.
“Don’t mind my peers, Alex. They no doubt have come here to train as instructed by the Academy. Most have split off into small groups to focus on their own core stats. None shall bother us if I can help it.”
“Are all Hoganna students part of your retinue?” I asked, and she shook her head.
“No, there are many students in the Academy, separated by nation. Only the best are recruited by my former Clan and only the best of those selected to serve in my retinue. The rest are either part of common Clans or noble Clans who didn’t impress my father.”
“I heard that this year is special for the Academy. Something about the heirs from each nation being in attendance,” I said, thinking back to Vencia’s words in the carriage.
Clarissa gave me an impressed look and patted my arm gently. “I see a handsome man like you keeps himself well informed.”
I shrugged.
“It is true, having myself and the heirs to the other nations in the same class is noteworthy… but not surprising. We all happened to be born in the same year, so anyone could have foreseen this.”
She drew her head closer to mine and spoke the next words in a bare whisper. “Many wish the three of us would simply get along and permit peace to flourish when we take the reins of our nations.”
“Is that what you plan to do?” I asked, and she gave me the blankest look I had seen on her pretty face.
“Ambition is a powerful thing, Alex. It drives our hearts to greatness… or ruin.” Clarissa drew back a step and smiled, returning to her normally sultry self. She stroked my arm as we walked, as if the conversation we’d just had didn’t even happen.
Okay… that was weird.
Then again, what Clarissa decided regarding her nation’s affairs was her own business. My own goals were currently focused on getting stronger and grinding as hard as I could.
What these nations thought of each other shouldn’t matter to me, right?
I half wondered if I would see Juliana and her retinue in here, but as Clarissa had noted, most of the red uniformed students were faces I had never seen before. They were in a different year or a different class, I supposed.
It wasn’t long until we found ourselves alone in the Dungeon’s second level. After navigating a long stretch of tree trunk corridors, we faced our first group of Ravens.
They really were big, oversized Ravens, with red feathers instead of the normal black. No wonder they were called Red Ravens. They flapped their wings in quick succession as they dived in and out of the various gaps in the tree trunk walls.
“Alright, any suggestions for this fight before I go in?” I asked Clarissa as I drew my sword.
“Hmm,” Clarissa said in thought. “My homeland’s Dungeon have similar Ravens, but they typically were dispatched by covering your head and hoping you landed a strike on their body. They are just as weak as the Rats but have killed many adventurers who couldn’t land a hit on them.”
“Good to know, let’s see how this goes.”
Taking a few steps from my own guide for facing the Rats, I approached a pack of three Ravens slowly, watching closely to see how they would react. All three of them bleated out raspy ‘kraa!’ calls when they noticed my presence.
As one, they flapped their wings hard and dived for me together. I yelped in surprise before flicking my sword up to take down the first as it dove at me.
I was frustrated to find I’d been a tad bit slow and missed my strike. The first Raven slammed into my shoulder and then his two wingmen did the same to my chest and head.
“Alex!” Clarissa shouted behind me as I fell backwards onto my back.
“Ow, crap!” I shouted.
The ‘kraa’ sounds they made sounded more like cackles as the Ravens circled above me and dived down once more, no doubt to try and peck my eyes out. Any normal guy would have immediately rolled over to get back up or crawled away to safety, but I figured that if they did go for my face, then there was no way I would miss them with my sword.
Thankfully, I still held the blade tight in my hand.
The first Raven did indeed dive at my face and I managed to strike it with my sword this time. Its body split in two with the force of my blow. The second followed soon after and I winced as its guts spilled onto my neck and chest.
That only left the third Raven, which I decided to examine for any behavioral anomalies.
“Shall I heal you, Alex?” Clarissa called, but I shook my head, before realizing that she might not be able to see me clearly, with split Raven remains covering the upper half of my body.
“Not yet… I’m trying to examine this last Raven!” I shouted back before the third Raven dove at me, just as its buddies had done before.
This time I intentionally didn’t strike with my blade as it swooped down. I instinctively covered one of my eyes, though, just in case. I was surprised when the raven stopped a few inches above me, cackling and bleating out its raucous call full force into my face before flapping its wings hard to return to its circling pattern above.
It did this again and again, diving down and stopping inches away from my face. It didn’t bother trying to attack until I lifted my arm slightly above where it usually stopped. That is when it began pecking at me.
It stabbed its beak into my fist and I winced as my hand flared in pain. The Raven even stopped flying to land on my fist as it stabbed through the meaty palm of my hand, its claws digging deep into my wrist.
It didn’t stop its attack when I lowered my hand and seemed content to use me as a convenient roost as it pecked away at my fist. I had to resort to shaking the oversized raven off me by flailing my hand around with enough force to toss it to the side.
It sailed awkwardly through the air for a moment before using its wings to flip around and regain its balance. Once it had, it returned to its original behavior of circling above me, occasionally diving down to a few inches over my nose and flapping its wings wildly.
“This makes no sense!” Clarissa shouted, and she walked over within Raven’s range. That caused it to direct its attention to her instead.
“Quick, lie down on the floor and see what happens!” I called to her, and she did so as fast as she could, though protesting all the while about getting her dress dirty.
The Raven did the exact same thing, though, coming just shy of her face before circling back upwards again.
I believed I had seen all I needed to here and slowly made my way to Clarissa on my knees until the Raven decided I should be its target again. As soon as it dove for me, I finished it off with a quick flick of my sword and let out a sigh of relief.
“Man, those damn Ravens sure are loud,” I groused, staring at the tree trunk ceilings above before Clarissa entered my vision. Her shining locks tickled my face for a moment b
efore she helped me back up.
“To think that lying down would be the safest way to avoid the Ravens’ attacks,” Clarissa muttered to herself. “Incredible.”
“Not that harmless,” I said, thinking about what I had observed. “I think there’s a certain height above the ground that they are hesitant to cross, for whatever reason. I got lucky there since my body was a mere few inches below that point. Anyone with thick armor or who raised their head, even a little, would likely be attacked.”
“Curious that no one else has noticed this,” Clarissa murmured. “A death at the hands—or beaks rather—of these monsters would most certainly mean that an adventurer ends up lying down, as the Ravens peck out their eyes.”
“Notice how it stayed on my hand? Even though that would have brought it below the point it was reluctant to go below? I think there’s a clear switch in its behavior where it’s happy to continue attacking, if it successfully lands on you. If I had raised my legs and allowed it to land on my knee, then no doubt it would have pecked at me until I perished.”
“Ahh, I see,” Clarissa said, her eyes twinkling. “That would partly explain why no one else has noticed this before. Even lying on your side would allow it to land and then it’s over, if they overwhelm you. This is perfect, Alex. With this strategy, there is almost no danger, as long as we do it right.”
“Glad you agree. Shall we continue on?” I asked and Clarissa smirked.
“I think we need to get that Defense Stat of yours up to a much more manly level, don’t you agree?”
I groaned as Clarissa took my hand and dragged me deeper into the Dungeon. I knew what was coming, and knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. First my ankles, and now my poor hands…
On the positive side, I convinced her to at least let me collect the drops from the Ravens while she healed me. These turned out to be bundles of the bright red feathers.
I could only hope they fetched a decent price at the guild.
God knows I needed some kind of reward for all this pain…