Akira, Varbu, and Nox were able to easily clear the next floor without much trouble.
Varbu was using his upgraded weapon with great success clobbering everything into mush.
Everything was going smoothly so they proceeded to the 5th floor.
The sweltering heat of the fifth floor made it hard to breathe for both Akira and Varbu and had no effect on Nox.
The sweat on Akira’s head and all over his body immediately evaporated as fast as it came out.
If he stayed down here for too long he would get dehydrated far too quickly. He chugged some water before checking the surroundings.
Judging from the number of passages this floor looked like it was going to be another maze. He could see no monsters in the current path in front of them. Nor could he hear anything moving or making any sounds.
The three of them cautiously walked away from the stairs and into the maze.
Ding!
-
Quest update!
Difficulty changed to Rank S.
Thud!
Something heavy fell to the ground behind them.
Akira looked to see what it was and saw a large knight with black full-plate armor covering its entire body. The only thing other than armor that could be seen were two yellow fireballs glowing in its helmet glaring at Akira.
It was now blocking the stairwell entrance with its large body. It stood like a statue while silently staring back at Akira.
[Fire spirit Knight Lvl ???]
This was the first time Akira was unable to see an enemy’s level and he was unsure what it meant.
“My gut is telling me that thing is dangerous. Let’s not fight it and find a way out of this floor,” said Varbu.
Both Varbu and Nox readily agreed.
“Well that’s a shock even Nox the hot head is agreeing to escape,” said Akira.
Nox ignored Akira’s words.
They ran further into the maze to get away from the large knight. As soon as they began to move they could hear loud thuds and metallic clangs as the knight tried to follow them. But it was far too heavy making it slower and was left behind.
After many twists and turns, they came upon another stairwell that was leading up. The three of them looked at each other before running towards the stairwell.
Thud!
A large [Fire spirit Knight] dropped from a ledge above the stairwell and fell right in front blocking the way forward.
They were forced to retreat and continued to run through the maze now with two dangerous [Fire spirit Knights] slowly following them.
This happened two more times making a total of four knights chasing after them from each direction slowly boxing them in.
“Were stuck. If we don’t don’t find a place and fight one of them and break through the noose they have created we’ll die,” said Akira.
“Let’s try and beat the closest one. It should give us enough time to try and handle it alone while the others slowly get here,” said Varbu.
“Good idea, we’ll do that.”
They turned around and ran back towards the Knight they had just escaped from just a few minutes ago.
The slow [Fire spirit Knight] appeared before them as they rounded a corner.
Akira quickly sent a [Cross attack] towards the Knight to initiate their attack. When the blue X slammed into the [Fire spirit Knight] and disappeared there was no visible mark left on the metallic armor.
Seeing this Varbu let out numerous curses. It would be harder to crack this nut than anything they had faced before.
“Looks like we’ll need your strength to bash it into metal scraps. I’ll try to block its attacks you just focus on damaging it,” said Akira quickly transforming into his werewolf form which was far stronger, sturdier, and agile than his normal human body.
The three of them ran forward each fulfilling their duties assigned to them.
When Akira came into contact with the [Fire spirit Knight] he was able to dodge and block most of the attacks.
He even had time to send a few attacks towards the [Fire spirit Knight].
Clang! Snap!
Akira looked at his sword with an unexpected pain in his heart. The [Fire spirit Knight] had used its own sword and clashed it Akira’s snapping his old sword into little fragments that flew everywhere.
With his sword now destroyed he was forced to stay on the defense. As the minutes passed the attacks from the [Fire spirit Knight] became faster and started to hit even harder.
More and more of the attacks were to fast to be able to be dodged and required him to use his shield to block them.
Varbu and Nox were not in any great position either their attacks were doing little to no damage at all. If it was they couldn’t tell.
The [Fire spirit Knight] launched an extremely fast and deadly attack with its fist burning bright with fire as it shot out towards Akira and Varbu who had stepped behind him to allow him to block the dangerous looking attack.
Sensing the danger of the attack Nox jumped in front of them taking almost all of the damage.
His body disappearing into thin air as he was unsummoned due to a large amount of damage he had just received.
This was the first time Akira had seen Nox being unsummoned due to battle and he felt another sharp pain in his heart.
The fist which had its speed lessened slammed into Akira’s shield flinging both him and Varbu through a stone wall behind them.
Gasping for breath through the pain he felt in his chest Akira tried to quickly stand up and get his bearings.
Looking around they were now in a small room that had been blocked off by the wall. On the far side of the room, there was a stairwell leading up with no [Fire spirit Knight] guarding it.
The sound of the [Fire spirit Knight] attacking the wall that they crashed through brought him out of his pain and muddled thoughts.
It was trying to push its way into the small room through the small hole in the wall created by Akira and Varbu’s bodies.
Akira looked over at Varbu who had taken the full force of the crash into the wall. As expected he was a study person so there were no broken bones but Akira could see blood dripping onto the ground showing that Varbu had been hurt.
Akira helped him stand up and together the two helped each other limp towards the stairs to escape this hellhole.
When they had reached the stairs and began to climb, the sound of the [Fire spirit Knight] smashing its fist into the wall stopped as if it had given up.
Not wanting to test their luck they continued to struggle up the stairs through the pain until they could no longer ignore their wounds and stopped to do a quick first aid.
They rested only for a few minutes to drink some water to replenish the water that had poured out of them while running and fighting.
Akira took a quick look at the messages he had been unable to read while fighting and running.
-
Heavy Armor Mastery level up! (Beginner Lv: 5 | 25%)
Shield mastery level up! (Beginner lvl 8 | 32.00%)
Toughness +5
It took them over an hour and a half to reach the top of the stairs that was blocked by a stone wall. On the nearby wall, a metallic lever could be seen. Akira guessed it was used to open the stone wall in front of them.
Varbu grabbed onto the switch with Akira and pulled down on it with all their strength. The rusty lever didn’t want to move for a few seconds but after it let out a cry of protest it slowly began to move.
Akira made sure that he was back in his human form before exiting the stairway into the familiar medium-sized room the was right at the entrance of the dungeon.
The stone door slammed back into place after they exited the stairwell making the wall look like it was pure stone with no cracks to be found.
Walking out of the dungeon they were assaulted by the sudden change in temperature. For almost a full day they had been fighting in sweltering heat and now the cold night wind played with their faces as it gently blew past them causing them to shiver. All thoughts of the extreme heat of the dungeon left their minds.
There were a few tents set up by the adventures near the entrance to dungeon all off to the side of the cramped trail leading up the volcano.
“What took you guys so long to exit?” asked the self-appointed leader of the group.
“We ran into a few troublesome things on the 5th floor,” said Akira.
“Yeah, whatever. If your going to lie make it more believable. We have been waiting out here after a few deaths on the second floor due to the massed monsters blocking the path. Now that you are here we can go back and report that the first floor was successfully cleared.”
***
While walking through the streets of Vania Akira turned to Varbu.
“You go and get everything ready to go. I should be back within an hour or two after I inform her of the results to her request,” said Akira.
“I was beginning to worry that you were planning to stay here longer,” said Varbu with a smile.
Akira playfully punched him in the arm and said, “You wish.”
***
Ding!
-
Quest failed.
You have failed to fully clear the dungeon. You have received half of the XP reward due to quest givers generosity.
(Lvl 25: 91%)
“And that is how it is your majesty. Here is the map I have hand drawn with details on the monsters of each floor up to the 5th floor. Along with the safest paths to use,” said Akira ending his report to Jezebel who was lazily slouched on a couch in one of the guest receiving rooms.
“This information is very important. I’m glad you were able to gather it. You weren’t hurt were you?” asked Jezebel earnestly.
“Not much, only a few bangs and bruises,” said Akira downplaying the multiple life and death battles he had experienced inside the dungeon.
“Will you please stay for a meal?” asked Jezebel in a cute voice.
“Oh alright, but I can’t stay too long since I have other things to do.”
“Hmph!” said Jezebel not happy with his reply. She called a maid into the room and privately whispered a few orders to her before sending her out the room.
The food arrived shortly after what was brought to the room was everything he had taken a liking to during the recent banquet.
He happily began to eat bits and pieces from all the flavorful food trying to replenish his exhausted store of energy.
Akira was to busy eating to notice Jezebel was not eating anything and was only unhappily playing with the food on her plate.
“So what’s your big plan you have that is so important?” asked Jezebel in a neutral voice.
“I’ll be leaving Vussia for a personal matter. I was going to inform you before we left but didn’t want to sour your mood for the last bit of time we have to spend together,” said Akira between bites of food.
Jezebel didn’t say anything else for some time.
“Yo… ca…” mumbled Jezebel.
“What?” asked Akira his voice slurred as his tongue went numb.
Ding!
-
-A heavy dosage of Waking leep drug has been detected.
-The drug is affecting the host.
-Effects lessened due to lesser poison resistance.
‘What’s going on,’ Akira tried to say out loud but failed as the words were stuck in his throat.
His body was no longer responding to him. His stared at Jezebel whose face had changed from her normal smile to something frightening to behold.
“I said, you can’t go! You must have hit your head while you were in the dungeon and gotten confused but you are going to stay here with me forever!” shouted Jezebel with a crazy look in her eyes. “You are mine, no one else can have you!”
Akira’s consciousness was slipping the last things he saw before blacking out was Jezebel fiercely stabbing at a large slab of meat on her plate with her sharp knife. She did this over and over again while laughing maniacally causing the grease and juices to fly everywhere.
***
Akira woke up from the effects of the drug to find he was in a dimly lit jail cell with the only light coming through a small slit in the thick metal door.
His head was pounding as if he had drunk too much alcohol the night before. His mind was still a little hazy and sluggish but he could still slowly piece together the events that happened.
He had no idea what time it was nor how many hours had passed, or was it days?
Just because he could piece everything together did not make it so he understood why it had happened.
Jezebel, such a shy and kind girl, had acted like what he imagined a psychotic killer to be like. She was completely different from his childhood friend.
He knew people could change but he thought this was too far of a stretch something had to be really wrong with her to result in what he had seen.
A few unread messages caught his eye he quickly read them.
-
Exotic cooking level up! (Beginner Lv: 6 | 40%)
Lesser poison resistance +5%
Akira felt a panic after realizing he was not wearing his armor nor did he have his shield or sword.
After a brief search, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw his weightless small bag still with him and remembered he had stored everything inside before meeting with the queen.
To the guards who had placed him into the cell, the bag was empty so there was no point of them removing it.
A small slot at the bottom of the metal door was opened and a wooden tray was pushed into the room containing a bland looking soup, hard black bread, and a glass of water. The slot closed again and a click was heard as a lock was put into place.
Akira could barely reach the tray because of the chain attached to his arm was holding him back.
A thought dawned on him that the food might be drugged again so placed it into a container he had in his bag and ate some of the snacks he had previously taken from the banquet.
With some food and fresh water in him, he was feeling better.
After an unknown amount of time, the numerous locks of the metal door started to unlock. The door swung open letting the bright light shine into the room blinding Akira.
When his eyes adjusted he could see the person standing in the doorway was Jezebel holding a lamp with the magical green fire inside.
“Good you’re awake!” said Jezebel walking towards Akira. She looked at the empty bowl and glass and a smile appeared on her face.
“Guards strip him!” said Jezebel.
“What are you doing?” asked Akira. Trying to stop the guards from undressing him.
The guards used scissors to cut off his clothes that he had only paid a few silver for.
“You can leave now,” said Jezebel.
Jezebel walked up right next to him and whispered seductively, “Let’s make a baby.”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re not acting like the person I know,” said Akira deeply disturbed by her words.
She ignored him and tried to make her move but Akira who had regained his strength stiff-armed her with his free arm pushing against her head not allowing her to get any closer.
Jezebel grew angry and grabbed onto his arm and bit it leaving behind bite marks and drawing blood.
“Ah!!” Akira cried out but still held her back.
“Why are you resisting me!” Jezebel angrily shouted.
“Have you lost your mind! No sane person would be doing something like this!” Akira shouted back just as angry.
Jezebel had an angry but troubled look on her face she could tell she was not going to be able to get what she wanted right now so she angrily kicked Akira in the shin and stormed out of the cell.
Slamming the door shut behind her.
He could just barely hear her say something about increasing the dosage.
Ding!
-
New title received!
One who attracts crazy killer women:
It seems there’s something about you that attracts all the crazy ladies.
+5 fame
Nothing else interesting happened for a long time. He could only measure the time by the irregular meals that he was given.
After two more meals had been pushed into the cell he guessed a full day had passed since he had been awake.
He was about to test his theory and see if he could transform and break out when he heard the sound of battle in the hallways not far from his cell door.
Crack!
“Ah!…” the cries of the wounded guard were cut short as the sound of a body was flung into the wall near the metal door.
“Akira are you in there,” a familiar voice asked through the metal door.
“Yes!”
Bam!Bam! Bam!
With three hits to the hinges on the door, Varbu was able to knock it onto the ground.
“What’s up?” asked the naked Akira.
Upon seeing Akira naked and chained to the wall the first words that came out of Varbu’s mouth were, “How unmanly.”
“I was drugged!” Akira tried to defend his current nakedness.
“How did you know where to find me?” he asked trying change the subject.
“Not now, we can talk later. Why are you still chained to the wall? It’s night already, so hurry up and transform so we can leave and so I don’t have to look at you naked.” said Varbu.
Akira did as Varbu suggested transforming into his larger muscular black-furred werewolf form and was able to easily snap the chain restraining him.
“I tried to get here as quietly as I could but unfortunately there is no place to hide in the prison hallways. I’m sure that the other guards were alerted by the fight just now we might have to fight our way out.”
“Let them try stopping me,” snarled Akira in his gravelly voice.
***
Bam!
The door to the library where Jezebel was quietly reading slammed open.
“Your majesty! A werewolf and an Orc were sighted killing guards near the prison cells! They escaped before reinforcements could contain them!” a bloody knight shouted his message, winded from running so quickly to report the news.
Bam!
The door slammed open again as another knight ran in.
“Your majesty! Your prisoner Akira has escaped while we were fighting the werewolf and Orc!”
Hearing this Jezebel flew into an uncontrollable rage throwing books everywhere and knocking the bookshelves over killing the guard who had reported about Akira’s escape.
Ding!
-
Innate skill unlock: 100%
Innate skill Majestic decree (Sub skill of bewitching eyes) unlocked!
Jezebel was unable to see the message window but she immediately became aware of the skills existence. She knew exactly how to use it as if it had been a part of her for her entire life.
Using the skill a red light shot out of her eyes and into the eyes of the kneeling knight in front of her.
“Go bring back Akira don’t stop until you have captured him!” she ordered. The red light stopped after she finished speaking. She felt as if she had just run for many miles.
The guard stood up and gave her a salute staring at the queen with his now deep red eyes, his voice came out in a monotone, “As you command your majesty!”
The knight walked out of the room as if he were a simple machine.
Jezebel bit on her nail thinking hard about the newfound skill she needed to get better at using it so that when Akira was caught he could not refuse her demands.
“I’ll kill them! I’ll kill anyone who steals my possessions!” said Jezebel as she bit onto her handkerchief in anger while holding both ends and pulling on it.
