“Zundar, help me keep whatever is coming at bay,” said Akira.
“YAP!” said a worried Fluffball as he looked around and sniffed the moist fragrant air that was a completely different feeling to the dry air they had become used to ever since they had arrived on the new continent.
“What?” asked Akira as he whirled around looking for the others… but there was only him and Fluffball!
Akira’s brain was overheating as he tried to think of what to do while he took in his surroundings.
He was currently in what looked like the front entrance of a large mansion that had a huge set of white stairs rising up to several floors above while there were several hallways leading away to side rooms of the first floor.
When he looked over his shoulder he saw that the mansion’s doors were slightly ajar.
Akira turned and took a step towards the doors…
“FOUND YOU!” said the sickly sweet voice of a young girl whose small footsteps stopped only a short distance behind Akira.
Just her voice and the unnerving vibe that was being emitted by her made his skin crawl and the hair on his arms stand up.
Fluffball whirled around and growled at the little girl.
“Don’t worry, you’re cute so I will play with you as well,” said the small girly voice as she looked at Fluffball.
Akira braced himself and slowly turned around to look at the monstrous creature that was making him feel his life was in danger…
…only to see a small and cute redhead girl that had lightly tanned olive skin. Her height only reached his stomach at the most.
“Ah, so handsome…” said the young girl shyly as she blushed and fluttered her eyelashes at Akira. “If you look at me like that… I might get…”
“Look at you like what?” asked Akira as he looked out the corner of his eyes to try and estimate which door was the closest escape route.
“Alright! I have decided! You will be my husband when I grow up!”
“What?” “Yap?”
“We can play house right now! This is all so that when I am your wife I can fulfill my duties…” said the shy girl bashfully looking at Akira.
Akira only stood there silently not saying anything or moving as he tried to figure out what he should do with this odd situation.
Her bashful gestures stopped and her blushing face turned sharp as she looked at the silent Akira.
“Do you hate me? Is that why you do not want to play with me?” she asked with a sharp tone to her words that felt like they could cut metal.
“Yap!” said Fluffball, reminding him of something important.
‘Your right Fluffball! The old man said not to play around and to run! Was he talking about this situation? But how could he know?’ thought Akira. He had little time to make a decision, he just picked the easiest thing to do.
He silently reached into his pack with the young girl’s eyes watching his every move as he pulled out a small pouch.
“I have brought you a gift,” said Akira as he opened the pouch.
“A gift!?” asked the young girl, her mood becoming cheery once more as her eyes opened wide with excitement at receiving a gift.
“Here,” said Akira as he pulled the doll out and tossed it over her head a good distance behind her. She immediately turned around and chased after it.
Akira pounced towards the front entrance that was ajar and immediately activated his skill A.Q.R. and sped down the mansion’s front steps disappearing into an overgrown garden with Fluffball right beside him.
“Where did you go!? PLAY WITH ME!” shouted the angry little girl’s voice which now reverberated through the air coming from inside the mansion.
Akira continued to silently run for ten minutes with Fluffball by his side. He only slowed to a stop when he found a decent hiding spot underneath a fallen log that was covered by several wild-grown bushes.
“This is not a normal dungeon… there must be a way out of here… I just need to find it,” said Akira in a mutter.
“Yap,” said Fluffball in between sniffing the air for any traces of the dangerous small girl.
“You’re right we can’t do this alone we need more help to scout the area,” as he said this activated the [Call of the wolf-pack] skill summoning two shadow wolves from his crouching shadow.
‘Whose this guy?’ asked Nox 1.
‘I have no clue it’s been so long that I don’t remember anyone like him…’ said Nox 2.
Akira stayed silent as the two continued their conversation.
‘Hmm now that I think back there was this useless master that we served but he always forgets about us and spends most of his time with the big baby troublemaker,’ said Nox 1 as he looked over at Fluffball.
“Yap?” asked Fluffball.
‘Now that you mention it… I do remember such a useless master. I think I will go back to taking a nap!’
“Will you guys stop pouting every time? We’re seriously in a bad situation right now!” said Akira.
‘We? You mean you two are. Don’t try to suck us into your troubles again! We can just hide in your shadows!’ said Nox 1.
“Hey, if I die then you die as well!” said Akira.
‘Is that true?’ asked Nox 2.
‘Might be, I’m not sure though…’
‘Alright, we can help you… what is it that you need the great and powerful Nox duo to complete!?’
“Help me scout out the areas in this large garden for an exit out of here. With your speed and stealth, you should have no problems with such a task right?”
‘Of course, something like that is so simple!’ said Nox 1 and 2 at the same time.
With that said the two shot off in different directions to search the entire garden area for the exit that Akira was sure existed.
As he waited for the two to return Akira noticed something about the garden around him as time passed by. The leaves on the bushes had changed from a deep green to gold and then brown and fell to the ground. It was not just the bushes, the flowers around him wilted and the trees all lost their leaves.
The air became colder and snow started to fall and pile up. As more time passed the snow slowed and then started to melt leaving muddy rivers allowing fresh grass and flowers to bloom as the air warmed up once again.
As he waited for Nox 1 and 2 to return he was mesmerized by the four-season garden that was changing slowly but quickly.
‘There is no exit,’ said Nox 1
‘The only thing we could find is a large mansion.’ said Nox 2.
“Dang it…I knew it would be like this. The exit has to be inside that mansion but…”
“Yap?” asked Fluffball.
“Yes we have to try and sneak back in to find the exit… are you two up for another round of stealth scouting?”
‘We can… but…’
“Then let’s go! We have spent too much time here already, the others are probably worried now. We need to get out quickly!”
With the reluctant Nox 1 and 2 leading the way, they quickly made their way back to the mansion that still had its doors open allowing them to look inside.
Since there was no one in the foyer, Nox 1 and 2 darted in. After waiting a few tense seconds to see if it was a trap… they motioned Akira with their tails that the coast was clear allowing him to step inside.
“YOU’RE BACK! WAIT FOR ME!” shouted the voice of the young girl. The sound of running footsteps could be heard from the floor above.
Akira was not going to wait for her and shouted, “To the right hallway!”
They ran into the right hallway and pushed open all the unlocked doors as they ran past them looking for any sign of a secret exit or portal.
The sound of the small footsteps was constantly following them but were never able to catch up.
The right hallway looped around in a half U as they ran down it and returned back to the main foyer.
“Left!” said Akira as they ran into the left hallway in search of an exit. But it was just as empty as the right side.
“UP!”
They dashed up the stairs and down a random hallway only to find themselves in a large ballroom with no other exits. Before he could run out of the ballroom the small footsteps slowed down and stopped just inside the doorway.
‘I need to run but there is nowhere to run!’ thought Akira.
“That was fun. But I don’t like pranks!” said the young girl as she stared at Akira with a smile on her face while her eyes stared daggers at him.
As he tried to see her name and her strength he was horrified to only see [Name:?, Level: ?] pop up.
He turned his gaze to her hand where he saw that she was still holding onto the doll that he had thrown to her… but now it seemed to be glowing ever so slightly…
“You have been a bad boy! I need to punish you!” said the young girl.
“I can’t be married to you, I have a wife and kids!” shouted Akira, shocking the small girl into silence for a few seconds.
“Unacceptable! You gave me a gift. Now I will be your wife in a few hundred years!”
“No, no, no! You are a kid! And I will be dead before that happens!”
“Not if I capture you!” said the young girl with an eerie smile as her mouth opened wide for the first time. It was as if her lower and upper jaw were not connected, allowing it to open to an abnormally large size showing off several rows of sharp teeth!
“You left me behind… so I am afraid I have to get violent!”
Her long red hair started to flutter in the air as if it had a life of its own. As she closed her mouth she pounced forward dashing at an extreme speed she had not shown before.
She held no weapons instead her nails had grown out to each be sharp daggers ready to attack him.
“Adult attack!” she shouted as she attacked his groin area!
“What the heck! What type of attack is that supposed to be!? Who’s been teaching you such an odd and dirty fighting style!?” shouted Akira as he was knocked several feet back from the powerful blow to his groin!
Although the dagger-like nails did not pierce his armor he still felt pain from the impact of the attack.
“I read it in one of my grandpa’s secret books!”
Fluffball and Nox 1 and 2 tried to attack her to get her away from Akira but her wild hair smacked them away repeatedly or tangled them up for several seconds before they could struggle out of its stranglehold. Her hair was able to attack both solid forms and shadows with no problem!
She continued to rain ‘adult’ attacks at Akira’s legs, groins, and she even landed a few on his butt with her long hair as she chased him around the room as he was forced to block her heavy blows and traded attacks with her only to have them nullified by her flowing red hair. All the while the doll that was still in her hand was growing brighter and brighter.
The young girl finally took notice of this and stopped her attacks for a second as she looked at the burning hot doll in her hand.
“What have you done!” she shouted in anger. She tried to get rid of the doll but it stuck to her hand not leaving it.
Almost as if activated by the constant shaking, a bright flash blinded Akira as the light from the doll burst out!
Several minutes after regaining his sight still with bright spots floating around in his vision he looked around to see the doll lying on the ground and the little girl was nowhere to be seen…
Next to the doll a chest and key had appeared!
He picked up the doll and stuffed it back into its pouch and put it into his bag.
Ding!
-
You have completed Mell’s mansion dungeon!
You have leveled up to level 230!
-
New title: One who plays with dolls!
Akira walked over to the chest and looked inside and found Hardtack, A bracelet with several cute charms on it, a shopping list, A small cloth doll skewered with needles, and a blue Magic Cape that charged its energy at night from the moon and stars.
“Yap,” said Fluffball as he looked at the new cape that Arron tried on.
“Yeah I like it too. Thanks for the help you three,” said Akira patting Nox 1&2’s head first then Fluffball’s as he reached in the chest to pull out the last item, a small mirror.
As soon as his hand touched the mirror both he and Fluffball were sucked into it.
