New Game Minus: The Complete LitRPG Fantasy Trilogy

by Sarah Lin

  Before she could figure it out, their group recovered and they retraced their steps. After confirming that they had completely stripped the dead ends free of anything of value, they returned to the central chamber. This time, Meara guided them forward to the door that had stopped her earlier.

  As expected, there was an empty space in the center of the patterns that matched the shape of the metal plate exactly. When Bloodwraith placed it into the hole, the stone began to grind away... but strangely, the metal plate popped out and clattered to the ground. Meara ignored it for the time being to look at the room beyond.

  It was a large circular chamber with flowing patterns all across the floor that resembled flames. They were rather beautiful, but their group was instead looking for monsters. Fortunately, this room seemed completely empty. There were flame statues lining the walls and on the opposite side, another broad door. In the center of that door, there were three empty spaces shaped the same as the metal plate.

  "It's a puzzle." Bloodwraith moved forward to look at the next door, and the way he put his hand to his chin despite his helmet looked so serious that Meara had to laugh.

  "It's not much of a puzzle - a child could see that we need to find two more of these plates."

  "That is what passes for a puzzle among the box gods. But there may be another trick."

  While the others sat down and took a break, Bloodwraith moved about the chamber experimenting. Nothing happened when the metal plate was placed in the door onward. He discovered a second indentation near the original door, and when the plate was placed in it, the chamber closed again. This locked them inside until he used the plate again but seemed to accomplish nothing else.

  Meara wandered the room looking for any hidden slots for the plate to be used, but found none. There were just the flame statues, which were beautiful in an abstract way, and not much else. It seemed to her that this room was intended to be the culmination of this floor, not a puzzle in and of itself.

  Since the door proved a dead end, they headed back to the central chamber and went to investigate another of the complex branching passages. Meara had a strong feeling that one of the dead ends would contain a second key, but she had to wonder about where the third might be. There were a few other paths she hadn't explored, but she didn't think there were that many places left.

  Before they had ventured too far down the first corridor, they spotted another Fellcrab in the distance. It began moving toward them and so they all got into position, ready to eliminate it as usual. But before it could arrive, something crawling along the wall skittered into the light and everyone flinched in surprise.

  It appeared to be a dark red lizard, covered in spines and with bulging yellow eyes. Somehow its feet allowed it to cling to the wall, though it didn't seem to have claws or much in the way of teeth. That alone made Meara nervous, considering that she doubted that anything in this dungeon would be harmless. Worst of all, it was an unknown opponent.

  "Meara, ice." Bloodwraith snapped the command to her as they moved into position.

  On its own it wouldn't have made any sense, yet Meara found that her thoughts quickly followed his. She reached into her cloak and began to form a new potion, this one helping Gharavi use ice spells. It might be a logical leap, but since the monsters they had met so far had each been vulnerable to only one element... that sort of symmetry seemed like the kind of thing the box gods would create.

  Meanwhile, the others engaged in combat. Gharavi reasonably began with launching a fireball, since that would at least harm the Fellcrab. It screeched and pushed through the flames while the lizard simply continued crawling on the walls, unconcerned by the flame.

  Bloodwraith took a swing at it, but the lizard slithered up onto the ceiling with surprising agility. Once there, it latched on and opened its mouth.

  A glob of something green shot out, but Danniah moved to intercept it. Yet though she caught the projectile on her shield, she let out a cry and an audible hissing could be heard. The green substance was stuck to her shield and apparently eating through it. As Danniah panicked and retreated, both monsters pressed in.

  For a moment Meara's heart was in her throat, but Bloodwraith didn't let her down. He swung wildly at the crab with one hand, forcing it back, while his other hand thrust toward the lizard. The burst of force struck one of its legs, knocking it away from the ceiling, and the creature was forced to slither further away to maintain its grip without falling.

  Izzy jumped on top of the crab and began to jab at it, failing to deal much damage but dancing out of the way of its claws. That was a dangerous game, though, and the lizard was again launching a glob of acid toward their group. They managed to dodge it this time, but the substance hissed into the floor, rendering a large area hazardous.

  But then Meara finally finished putting her Ice Potion together. "Gharavi, here!" She tossed it to the sorcerer, who drank it without hesitating and then cast a spell.

  A large spike of ice tore through the lizard's back and sent it crashing to the ground. The monster still managed to get to its feet, but Gharavi followed up with more shards of ice. Bloodwraith kept the lizard pinned down with bursts of force, while Danniah had recovered her shield and went to help Izzy with the crab. Soon both monsters were dead.

  For a while they just stood there, panting for breath. Victory, but it had been a dangerously close thing compared to the battles where they had established strategies.

  "Oh, my poor shield..." Danniah turned it around and ran her fingers over the damaged metal where the acid had eaten into it. "If there are more of those, it isn't going to last."

  "Don't worry." Gharavi came up behind her and examined the shield. "The enchantments are still intact. At the rate we're finding new equipment in this place, we'll likely find you a better shield before this one wears out."

  "No, you don't understand... Bloodwraith gave me this shield as a gift. Gosh, it feels like a long time ago..." While Danniah ran her fingers over the shield in a mix of sorrow and affection, Gharavi watched her with an unreadable expression. Then she turned away, gathering herself and preparing for any other monsters.

  A wolf attacked them before they could fully recover, but fortunately it was alone and nothing went wrong. After that their party advanced further into the corridors, now prepared to face the creatures that the boxes called Felllizards - Meara was shattered by the shocking name.

  It seemed that the lizards infested a large portion of this set of tunnels, enough that Meara was surprised that she hadn't run into one before. However, unlike the wolves and crabs, they didn't seem to roam much, sticking to a small territory. That made it easy for the others to develop tactics against them, though some of their equipment took serious damage in the process.

  Since they had things under control, Meara focused on her potions again. After banging her head against the problem repeatedly, abruptly what she needed to do slid into place and she had developed her new potion. She looked through its false properties to discover the core of it with a bit of help from Bloodwraith, who nodded in approval when he saw the text:

  [Buff: Failed Potion

  Might, Vitality, and Quickness massively increased.

  This buff will last for 3 minutes.]

  "Everyone take one of these!" Meara produced several more and handed them out proudly. "They'll only last for three minutes, so you need to take them at the right time, but they should make a real difference."

  "Shame I can't take advantage," Gharavi said as she examined one. "Do you have an equivalent for me?"

  "I'm afraid not, but I'll work on it."

  With that, the group continued exploring. Meara wanted to test the potions, but it seemed a waste and she knew that this buff would erase the previous ones, so it was a bit risky as well. She assumed they would have time, but to her surprise they soon stumbled across the room they needed. It was guarded by only a pair of lizards, and they didn't prove much of a challenge.

  "That was easy." Bloodwraith blinked,
then stepped forward onto the dais. He pocketed the metal plate absentmindedly, his attention instead focused on the chest. Another box appeared and Meara focused on it curiously.

  [Congrats on finding Treasure Chest #1!

  Note to QA - See Chest #2 for more info on randomized loot, but money simplification is working. All that ridiculous complexity with different coins has gotten crunched down to copper, silver, and gold. Some inhabitants may have a problem with the change and it'll be weird getting outside the game zone, but I set up the metal values to be pretty close to logical so it should all work out.]

  The note was unusual and explained a few things, but it wasn't an immediate concern. Ignoring it, Meara watched as Bloodwraith opened the chest, only to recoil in disgust. Soon after, he pulled out...

  [Astral Lute

  Charisma +3, Song Efficacy +50%

  Durability: 25/25

  Rarity: Rare]

  "Am I the only one in the dark again?" Danniah turned to look at the others. "It's a... harp? Err, maybe a lyre? Like an instrument? Why is that here?"

  "I have no idea either." Bloodwraith stared at the lute, turning it over in his hands. "Do the box gods think there are people who fight with musical instruments? The text suggests there are magical songs, but I have never heard of anything like that."

  "Huh. That's really weird, then."

  "At the very least it does seem to contain some mana, so hopefully it can be used as a component." Bloodwraith left the dais and handed the lute to Gharavi. "That was disappointing, but let's cover the rest of these dead ends in case there are any more bodies."

  They headed to retrace their steps... and almost immediately stumbled across another monster.

  This one looked similar to a horse, but it had large crystal spikes growing from its head, nearly encasing its eyes. The creature's hooves were also made of the same green crystal, but Meara had no more time to look. It tossed its head and let out a whinny.

  In the distance, there was a responding howl of wolves.

  "Take it down immediately!" Bloodwraith shouted as he hurled a burst of force, yet it seemed to dissipate harmlessly off the crystal.

  Gharavi experimentally hurled fire, ice, and lightning... yet none of the spells connected as the horse danced smoothly on those crystal hooves. Danniah and Izzy began to move forward, but Meara was more afraid of the chittering she heard in the shadows. If it was calling them...

  "Bloodwraith..." She moved up to touch him on the shoulder and after a pause, he nodded. They couldn't afford this fight, not if it meant they would fight more than a small number of opponents.

  But just in that short time, the horse had cantered forward and lashed out with its hooves. Danniah managed to block the blows, yet they sent her staggering several steps backward. And worse than that, this was just delaying them until others could come...

  "Drink your potions and run!" Meara sprinted back toward the entrance without waiting, but she saw them obey. The horse seemed a bit surprised when they ran off, but it soon came after them, troublingly fast even in the narrow corridors.

  It would have caught up to them, but Bloodwraith hastily summoned more skeletons to stand in the way. The horse broke through them without injury, but the bones tangled in its front legs and it crashed to the ground. No doubt that would only slow it down for a brief while, but that might be enough for them to get back to the tavern.

  Yet in the central chamber, Meara could already see several glowing eyes. There were monsters coming from other directions... no, they were moving to cut them off.

  She saw Bloodwraith skid to a halt, eyeing the monsters and considering trying to break through. But there were at least five standing in the way and more corridors they couldn't properly see before they got back to the tavern. There was no way they could survive all those, so their only hope was to flee in a direction that the monsters hadn't yet blocked off.

  "Retreat to the door!" Bloodwraith rushed in that direction and the others followed. Most of their group seemed surprisingly fast, pushed on by her potions, except Gharavi, who struggled to keep up.

  Some wolves began to give chase, but their group managed to reach their goal first. They had left the door to the circular chamber open, but as Bloodwraith rushed in he slammed one of the key plates into place. The stone door began to rumble upward, forcing Danniah to take a leap to catch it before it went too high. Izzy hopped up onto the closing door and helped pull her over.

  Gharavi, however, was flagging, and the door was still rising. Holding back, Meara bent down and offered her a hand up, helping her grab the edge.

  Mere seconds after, a wolf struck from behind, claws tearing through the space where she should have been. Meara's heart hammered for a moment before she realized that she was still untouchable. She couldn't go through walls, however, so she quickly pulled herself up to the top of the stone door and rolled over to the other side.

  Not long after she landed on the other side, the door rumbled closed. Yet before it did, she heard the sounds of growling and chittering from the monsters behind, with a whinny sounding in the distance. They were safe on the other side of the stone door, but their path back was filled with more monsters than they could possibly deal with.

  "That was close!" Danniah breathed a huge sigh of relief and dropped onto her back with her arms sprawling. Izzy wasn't tired, but she dropped onto the floor nearby in imitation of her. Meanwhile, Gharavi just sat back against the wall and gasped for breath from the sprint.

  Bloodwraith didn't seem to be tired, instead examining the circular chamber around them. No doubt he was already thinking about the fact that they apparently needed three plates to serve as keys, yet they only possessed two. Meara came to stand beside him and he spoke to her without looking.

  "If the third key is back there..."

  "I'm not sure it is," Meara said. "We explored most of the tunnels, after all. If it was back there, it was probably hidden by some puzzle."

  "Or it's hidden here somewhere."

  "Maybe. But look how tired everyone is, Bloodwraith. Give it a rest."

  He glanced back at her, briefly irritated, but then accepted that she was right. Putting the metal plates away, he headed back to speak to the others. Meanwhile, Meara pulled one of their makeshift beds out of her cloak. She hadn't been certain that taking them along would pay off, but figured that there was no point in not doing so since she could hold so many items.

  Everyone just sat and recovered for a long while, since they had been fighting for some time even before the desperate sprint to escape. Meara moved near the doorway to listen, but still heard the sounds of monsters on the other side of the stone. Maybe they would leave in time, but she didn't like what she'd seen of that horse. This one might be more difficult.

  After they had spent long enough resting, Bloodwraith suddenly grunted in satisfaction. Meara moved over to him and read the new box that had appeared in front of him.

  [Victory! You received 181,072 EXP.

  Marathon Bonus x1.2

  Total EXP: 217,286

  Marathon Stat Bonus: +1 Unassigned Stat Point

  Deferred Stat Updates:

  Max Health +7

  Max Mana +1

  Max Stamina +2

  Might +1

  Vitality +1

  Quickness +1

  Intellect +1]

  "You're getting addicted to these marathons, huh?" Yet when Meara smirked over at Bloodwraith, he didn't smile back. Though his gaze lingered on the box for a time, eventually he dismissed it.

  "We made progress, but the risks were too large. Indeed, we might be seeing the consequences now. Unless we can find some way out of this chamber, we haven't truly made any progress at all."

  "You've said that multiple times and we just keep making progress. Let's keep our eyes and minds open."

  Bloodwraith nodded in acceptance of her point. He roamed around the chamber while everyone finished resting, examining the walls again. Since she was fairly certain there w
as nothing there, Meara instead just looked over the intricate flame patterns on the floor.

  And like that, she spotted them: two empty slots for metal plates.

  "Bloodwraith, come look at these." He came immediately, nodded sharply, and placed the metal plates into the indentations. They formed a central part of the flame symbols, glimmering slightly in the mana torches almost as if the kindling for the flames.

  Then they kindled in truth.

  Both of them retreated to safety on instinct, and as the flames roared higher, the others got to their feet to look. Meara considered trying to rush into the fire to grab the metal plates back, but wasn't sure if this was something that was meant to be happening.

  Then the flames coalesced into a humanoid shape of pure fire. Two bright blue flames lit up where a person would have had eyes and then it let out a roar that sounded like a forest burning down.

  As the fire elemental stomped toward them, Meara realized that due to how mad the box gods were, she still had no idea if this was what was supposed to happen.

  Chapter 15

  Nothing cleared the mind of secondary concerns like a massive entity composed of pure flame trying to kill you. As the fire elemental burned its way into being, Bloodwraith called a warning to the others, unhooked his greatsword, and prepared to fight.

  He had no idea whether they could win. Elementals were uncommon magical constructs because they tended to be so unstable, but when they were used, they were often dangerous. But that didn't really matter, because the way onward was locked and the way back would take them into a battle he saw no way of winning. They had no choice but to fight.

  As soon as it was fully formed, the elemental released bursts of flame in all directions. Bloodwraith dove behind one of the flame-shaped statues, which reduced the heat a bit, and saw that the others had done the same.