With a long yawn escaping Akira’s mouth, he sat up straight while scratching his head. His mind felt a little sluggish but he felt fine enough to continue with the day’s activities that were planned, clearing the land of even more escaped dungeon monsters to help protect the villages and towns that made up the majority of the Ancient Alliance.
As he rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, scratched his stomach, and thought of what he wanted to eat for breakfast… his hands stopped when he realized something.
He opened his eyes completely and looked down at his body to see that he was wearing his normal clothes and not the armor that he had fallen asleep in!
“I’ve been robbed!” said an astonished Akira. He looked down at Fluffball who was still snoozing next to him. He reached out his hand and shook Fluffball.
“Yap…?” asked a sleepy Fluffball while letting out a large yawn as his head rose from his resting place and looked over to Akira.
“Fluffball, were you really that tired that you didn’t notice the thieves!?” asked Akira.
Fluffball’s sleepy head jerked awake at this accusation and he began sniffing the air and looking around cautiously, “YAP.”
“What? I’m not talking about myself, they got past you first…” said Akira pausing for a second as looked around. “You’re right, somethings not right here.”
A thin cloud of gray mist that was not thick enough to block their vision covered the area around them causing everything to be obscured.
Akira stood up and found that the glowing gray fog was only covering the ground and up to his waist. Everything else was clear enough for him to see that they were not in the same place that they had been when they had fallen asleep!
“Dolph! Vilkas!”
“Yeah chief?” asked Vilkas.
“He’s not a chief anymore, he’s the king!” said Dolph.
“Stop bickering with each other, we have a major problem right now,” said Akira.
“Have the demigods found us?” asked Dolph as he jumped to his feet and reached for his sword… or where it should have been.
“My armor and weapons!” “Mine too!” shouted several Werewolf warriors who had also woken up from the commotion.
“That’s not the worst of it!” said Akira.
“What could be worse than this situation?” asked Vilkas.
“That,” was all Akira said as he pointed to the sky.
Or what should have been the sky.
“Oh crap,” said Dolph as he looked at the black stone ceiling that was lit up by the glowing fog around their legs.
“Why are you guys making such a racket some people actually want to sleep…” grumbled Zundar as he sat up and looked over at the noisy bunch.
Those that had not been woken up by the previous commotion were now woken up by Zundar’s loud voice making it so that everyone was either sitting up or standing as they took in their surroundings.
“We’re in a bad situation right now… somehow we ended up robbed of our armor and weapons and then we were thrown into this dungeon!” said Akira.
As the rest of the werewolves and volunteers from the Ancient Alliance heard his words and started to process what he said in their groggy minds, a panic started to sweep through many of them.
This group of volunteers that had joined them for this training rotation had some experienced warriors who had already gone through Zundar’s manly training but they were in the minority. For most of the volunteers, this was their first experience with their new allies, and were still learning while they hunted alongside each other.
A few of the new volunteers started to cry or mutter to themselves upon hearing what Akira had said. The more experienced volunteers did not say much but they all moved to huddle around Zundar to hear his wisdom on what they should do in a situation like this.
“We’re going to die here without armor or weapons!” shouted one of the distraught Minos volunteers.
“Quit your bellyaching!” roared Zundar quieting the panicking volunteers.
“It’s been a while since I felt this exposed…” said Akira as he gave up trying to find his bag that had all his spare armor and weapons.
“It’s the perfect time to show off our true manliness and the virtue of large muscles!” said Zundar as he walked over to Akira dragging the large crowd of lemming Minos warriors that followed behind him.
“I guess we’ll just have to hunt like the ancient earth clan tribes did in the past…” said Akira.
Zundar slapped Akira on the back not at all concerned, in fact, he seemed rather pumped up and excited at the situation they found themselves in. “Don’t worry about it too much. I’ll lead the volunteers and keep them alive. You can focus on leading the werewolves and handle anything that is too much for us.”
Akira looked over the gathered Minos warriors for a few seconds before saying. “There really is no other choice. To survive this dungeon you need to follow the orders given to you immediately and you must stick together.”
Zundar turned around to look at the allied volunteers behind him, “Those of you under my command need not despair at the lack of weapons! You have two fists that can punch, strangle, and snap the enemies’ necks and bones! Along with two feet to kick and pummel the enemy into submission! This will be a fine way to hone your skills in the manly way of combat!”
The two groups now led by Akira and Zundar, formed up and began cautiously walking down the hallway that was filled with the glowing gray mist which lit up their path.
When ten minutes of walking in silence passed… They were forced to stop as they saw a black swirling misty portal that was blocking the door in front of them.
“You don’t have to say anything,” said Akira, stopping Zundar. “I know it looks dangerous, but if we don’t do something then we will die here from thirst and starvation.”
Zundar only shrugged and looked over his shoulder at those behind him.
“To get past this roadblock you need to touch that black portal and join the rest of the group on the other side,” said Zundar as he pointed to the swirling black portal.
“I, along with the other werewolves under my command, will go in first to clear any monster on the other side,” said Akira. He motioned for the other werewolf warriors to follow him as he walked toward the black portal and touched it.
He was instantly swallowed by the black mist along with Dolph, Vilkas, and Fluffball who were right beside him.
When the black mist disappeared around him, Akira frowned as he looked around and saw… no one.
“Of course… if one thing has to go wrong everything has to go wrong,” muttered Akira.
He stood where he was for a minute hoping someone else would appear but after seeing no sign of change, he grew impatient and started walking down the fog cover hallway only to stop when he heard a voice behind him.
“What? Where is everyone?” asked a familiar Minos voice that Akira could barely understand.
Behind him a handful of Minos warriors appeared where he had been waiting, all but one of them were green new trainees.
The one who had spoken was Mehart, who Akira was now well aware of being a prankster often getting in trouble. Although a troublemaker, he had taken a great liking to Zundar’s teachings and had been volunteering every chance he got.
“Everyone. Gather. Here!” said Akira, gathering their attention on him even if they did not understand his broken and poor attempt at speaking in the ancient language.
Seeing that this was going to be a problem he just pointed at them and then pointed at the fog-covered ground in front of him. The Minos warriors all understood this and walked over to him.
They silently stood where they were for several minutes just waiting to see if anyone else would appear. In this silence, a hesitant Minos warrior volunteer raised his hand to draw Akira’s attention.
“Me. Last. None. More,” said the bookish teen Minos warrior.
“You could have said that before…,” muttered Akira.
“Alright follow me!” shouted Akira waving for them to follow him as he turned and walked down the fog-covered hall.
A short distance down the hallway they found another black portal on the left wall. Although he was still wary of the portal, it seemed to be the only way to travel deeper into the dungeon.
Akira touched the black portal but found that it was rock-hard to the touch and did not activate…
All along the foggy hallway, there were several of these black portals that were inactive forcing them to walk down the long hallway searching for an exit.
The sound of snarls and clattering of claws on the stone floor ahead of them caught Akira’s attention as he raised his hand to stop the Minos warriors behind him.
Without saying a word he activated his werewolf transformation startled the Minos warriors as a black mist covered his body.
The eerie sounds of ripping and moving muscles were heard coming from inside the mist before it faded away revealing a tall and extremely fierce-looking werewolf that was covered in thick black fur and had a bloody killing aura emitting from his body that stunned a few of the younger warriors.
He had transformed just in time to greet two black hell dogs who charged out of the gray fog. Their sharp eyes were full of yellow fire while their open maws leaked out large puffs of smoke with each breath they took.
“AWOOOOOO!” Akira let out a feral howl aimed at the [HellHounds] who skidded to a halt shaking their heads to clear their confused minds.
Akira did not allow them the time needed to regain their composure as he used the skill [Pounce] launching himself through the air and tackling one of the [HellHounds]. He wrapped his large muscular arms around the [Hellhound] and wrestled it to the ground where he fought with it for a few moments before strangling it and breaking its neck to end its life.
The second [HellHound] recovered its wits enough to launch a vicious bite attack aimed at Akira’s exposed neck…
…only for the attack to miss his neck as Akira rolled to the side and felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder which the [HellHound] latched onto with its sharp teeth.
Akira did not hesitate to reach back with his clawed hand and grab onto the [HellHound’s] neck, tearing it off of his shoulder and slamming it into the stone floor repeatedly until it stopped moving.
Akira shrugged his left shoulder to try and relieve the pain from the slow-bleeding bite wounds.
“Let’s go!” growled Akira waving his claw forward for the stunned Minos to follow him.
They broke out of their stunned gazes and quickly chased after him not wanting to be left behind. As they passed the corpses of the two [HellHounds] they let out gasps of admiration.
The [Hellhounds] were not small mutt dogs that they saw in the villages. The [HellHounds] looked like they could eat several Minos and still not be full. Yet Akira had not used any weapons or armor and was still able to kill them showcasing the manly way of fighting that Zundar always talked about!
As they walked through the winding fog-covered hallways they encountered several more pairs of fierce [HellHounds]. Each new pair they came across was larger and more vicious than the last pair.
Akira’s body was now covered with fresh and scabbed-over wounds from the many attacks he had blocked with his own body. Luckily for him, his body’s healing was fast enough to close the wounds before he bled out.
Elsewhere in the maze-like foggy tunnels…
“Halt! Trespassers!” roared a sentient monster with four arms and a body covered in mist. “If you want to pass this point you must beat me in the ancient battle known as… ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS! I will decide your fate based on how well you do in this sacred battle! Each of you will battle me three times! If you all lose I will eat you!”
The first Minos warrior won his battle. The Second Minos barely managed to win. While the third in line lost.
“You lost! So I will eat you all!” shouted the four-armed sentient monster.
The four Minos warriors all huddled together to support each other as they readied themselves to fight the monster using only their manly muscles.
They nodded to each other and at the same time jumped at the four-armed monster…
…but were knocked out of the air and thrown to the ground where they were stomped on, punched, and kicked many times leaving them with several broken bones.
“You weaklings are not worth eating. I’ll go find something that will fill my belly,” shouted the four-armed monster dismissively as he turned his back on the bloodied Minos warriors who lay on the ground.
The four armed monsters met two other groups who were similarly beaten down.
When the fourth group it had met failed the ancient battle. They also prepared to fight the monster and were about to launch their attack when they were halted by a voice from behind them.
“I’ll take care of him. You just step aside,” said Akira waving for them to get behind him.
The Minos that had been following him quickly chattered with the new group explaining what Akira wanted them to do. Since the other Minos warriors did not relish fighting such a monster and Akira seemed to be strong enough seemed to think he was strong enough the Minos did not hesitate and escaped behind Akira joining the rest of the Green Minos warriors who were staring at the four-armed monster with fear on their faces.
[Fuororm, Level: ???]
With its body covered in mist Akira could not see what type of monster the [Fuororm] was, all he could see was that it was a tall bipedal monster with four massive muscular arms and two thick legs.
The [Fuororm] monster stopped its preparations for an attack as it looked at Akira.
“If you wish to pass…You must defeat me in the ancient battle of ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!”
Akira only stared at the [Fuororm] monster for a few seconds before raising his fist in front of him ready to battle.
One, two, three matches were completed 0-3 with Akira being the winner.
“…your power is strong… I will admit defeat this one time…” said the [Fuororm] monster.
Fwoomp!
Akira braced himself and blocked his chest with his muscular arms crossed as he received the powerful sneak attack from the [Fuororm] monster.
Three more fist attacks slammed into Akira’s guard, numbing his arms slightly from the repeated bombardment as the four arms continued to smash into his own arms. Seeing its attacks were not doing much of anything the [Fuororm] monster jumped back trying to retreat.
Akira immediately used his skill [Pounce] to chase after the escaping monster. His left hand that was reaching out to grab onto the monster’s body only flew through empty misty air while his right hand managed to grab onto one of the large arms.
With all his power Akira yanked on the arm as he fell to the ground and rolled forward pulling the large monster off its feet and into a tumble with Akira.
As they rolled around on the ground Akira was able to get a better understanding of the [Fuororm] monster that he was now fighting. He was greatly surprised to find that the [Fuororm’s] large body which was covered in large amounts of mist was like a twig. It was even skinnier than each of its large muscular arms and legs which were far too large for its body.
They continued to struggle for several minutes. Akira’s body was being pummeled with fists and elbows making him feel that several of his bones were ready to break.
In their struggle, Akira managed to get a stranglehold on the [Fuororm] monster and wrapped his legs around its thin waist restricting its body movements as he applied more pressure to both its body and waist.
The body blows Akira received slowed down and then came to a stop as the monster lost consciousness.
With a loud crack! Akira used his muscular arms to break the neck of the [Fuororm] monster popping its head off and as well as snapping its thin waists in half.
The fog that had been covering the monster’s weak point, Its core body, disappeared and revealed the ugly [Fuororm] monster’s disproportionate body.
Looking at it now made Akira wonder how such a monster was so strong or even able to support such muscular legs and arms with its thin body. If the mist had not been covering its body blocking their vision Akira was sure that even the Minos warriors would have had a chance to fight it if they ganged up on it and aimed for its thin body.
Ding!
-
You have defeated the wandering [Fuororm] monster!
You are rewarded with a magical necklace that will help ward off sleep and protect your mind.
The necklace lying on the ground was made of a blue-silver chain connected to a black gem. Akira picked it up and placed it around his neck since he had no pockets and could not hold it since it would hinder his fighting.
When he did this… his vision blurred and his mind became hazy as he felt like his body was being torn away from the dungeon.
When he opened his eyes once again Akira found himself lying on the ground in a gray fog.
With a short glance, he could tell he was no longer in the dungeon but back at the camp where they had set up for the night.
He felt something wiggle on his forehead causing his hand to shoot up and grab it. Something was attached to his face!
He tried to pull it off but it was attached by a strong suction force. Akira reached for his sword and in one swift motion unsheathed it and sliced through the tentacle that was attached to his forehead. He tore the limp tentacle off and sat up to look at his attacker.
The ugly [Dream Eater] monster with its several suction cup tentacles [Dream Eater] was flailing around in pain floating above Akira dripping its blood all over the ground and on Akira.
Using his skill [Cross attack] Akira sent a blue X skill attack out and severed the floating [Dream Eater] body into four parts.
The sound of a fierce fight going on at the perimeter of the camp drew Akira’s attention. Hurpme, the lone night watch werewolf warrior was in a one-sided battle trying to hold off a swarm of the [Dream eaters] but several of them had managed to slip past him.
Those that had escaped past him had attached themselves to the sleeping Minos and werewolf warriors. He could not do anything about it right now as he was being swarmed by several dozens of attacks from the floating monsters.
“Wake up everyone!” shouted Hurpme trying to wake up someone, anyone, so that he could have help defending the camp and those still in their deep sleep.
When Akira stood up to try and help Hurpme fight off the [Dream eaters] he sucked in a deep breath of the foggy air as pain racked his entire body.
He looked down at his body and saw that it was covered in the many wounds that he had received from his battles in the dream dungeon. It seemed that whatever happened in the dream dungeon would also show up on their actual bodies!
When Hurpme saw Akira standing up he shouted over happily to finally have help, “Commander! Please help me take care of those that escaped! I will do my best to hold these guys back for as long as I can!”
“I was just about to do that…” said Akira as he gritted his teeth and ignored the pain wracking his body.
With a roar Akira started slashing through all the tentacles attached to the foreheads of the sleeping Minos and werewolf warriors, freeing them from the Dream dungeon and waking them up.
There were many pained moans from those who had been severely wounded in the dungeon by the various monsters that they had run into. There was nothing Akira could do right now as he was focused on taking care of the rest of the floating dream monsters.
Those that were still in one piece joined the fight with Akira and Hurpme. With everyone fighting they were able to cut down the [Dream eaters] large numbers and drive off the few remaining monsters.
