Chapter 13

Open House

The walk through the tunnels was uneventful until they arrived at the dungeon’s noted location. The group clustered around an engraved length of wood; the engravings were metal, and a small handle extended from them about halfway from the top.

“Is that… a door?” Asked Janus.

“Yeah. That’s a door.” Replied Dario.

Pella walked up to the door, fiddling with the iron handle. “Are you sure this is the dungeon?”

“Dungeons follow themes. Most of the dungeons down here are just caves and caverns, but I’ve seen a few like this.” Dario said, motioning for Pella to step aside. “Although most of those were on the surface.”

Janus jumped when Dario pulled the door open. The sound of the metal mechanism holding it shut echoed through the tunnel.

Inside was what appeared to be the interior of a wooden building. [Torchstones] revealed furniture scattered around the room, and an exit opposing the entrance.

“There’s enough wood here to make a fortune.” Said Pella, following behind Dario and Devon.

Janus swallowed his fear and stepped through the threshold.

[Your Bravery skill has gained 1 level]

[You have entered the Asgini Manor dungeon]

The group continued through the first room and entered a new one, eerily similar to the first. Both rooms were square, but the new room had more than one exit. The group could choose to go either left or right.

Dario was still in front and motioned towards the left door. It did not particularly surprise Janus when they emerged into another square room. Suddenly, Dario’s fist clenched. Flames crawled up his arm, and he slowly crept to a far corner of the room. He reached out his hand slowly and then all at once grabbed at the air.

Once his hand had closed, the others could suddenly see what he was grabbing. His hand was clasped tightly around the throat of a faintly glowing woman in ragged clothing. She appeared to be nearly translucent. The apparition struggled for a moment before suddenly combusting into flame.

[Your party has defeated a dangerous enemy: Ghost Witch]

Janus hadn’t thought to identify the thing before it had already been defeated.

“Something’s off.” Dario said, thrusting forward at another hidden enemy.

[Your party has defeated a dangerous enemy: Ghost Witch]

Dario was looking around the room when a light appeared above Janus’ outstretched palm. Devon shouted as the light reflected off of half a dozen more apparitions.

Janus dropped to the floor, seeing the arms of an apparition swing overhead. He was careful to maintain the revealing light spell he had copied from Tsula. Without looking back, he began constructing an array for his replica arrow point. He didn’t consider the mana cost as he launched projectile after projectile.

Dario was grabbing apparitions with the same technique he had used on the first. He seemed to be holding back.

He must be worried about hitting us or catching the dungeon on fire.

Devon was fighting three of the apparitions and Janus used [Strength Enhancement] on him. Pella was bouncing around the room, striking whatever apparition came within her reach.

He decided to gamble looking back and found the first apparition pinned to the wall by his mana arrows. The replica arrow point was still firing at it as it slowly evaporated from sight.

Janus felt like the fight had happened in slow motion. Adrenaline was still pumping through his body as the last apparition had been slain. After seeing that everything appeared safe, he let his replica arrow point disperse.

[Your party has defeated a dangerous enemy: Ghost Witch] x6

[You have gained a level]

[Your Strength Enhancement skill has gained 1 level]

[Your Mana Reinforcement skill has gained 3 levels]

Janus ignored the notification appearing his mind and focused his attention on the revealing light spell.

“Huh, that was unexpected. I have a skill that lets me know about threats, but it wasn’t registering properly on these guys.” Said Dario.

Pella did not look pleased about Dario’s apparent nonchalance. “One of those things grabbed me at the start. It didn’t hurt, but I lost almost a third of my HP. We were close to dying there.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen.” Dario stated. “The delver’s writ mentioned ghosts, but it didn’t say they could hide their presence. It was unexpected, but the highest level was only 30. Janus can reveal them. We continue forward.”

Dario pushed through to the next room. Pella hesitated before catching up.

The next room was larger than the ones before it, narrowly extending to another exit on the far side. It looked like a kitchen, with a counter top along one wall. Pots, pans, knives, and cutting boards were scattered haphazardly along every surface.

A few [Ghost Witches] lazily drifted through the air. They didn’t seem to register that Janus’ spell was revealing them.

“Right, Devon in front. You guys should be able to handle this.” Said Dario, shuffling back towards the entrance to the room.

Devon began moving forward, and it was like he had tripped an invisible alarm. The [Ghost Witches] all turned to look at him.

For a moment, nobody moved. Suddenly, the apparition rushed forward. Devon attempted to deflect them, but one still managed to latch onto his shoulder. Pella was already there chopping at its arms.

Janus had already empowered the both of them with [Strength Enhancement] and was slowly compressing mana to create an explosive marble.

“Back up!” Janus shouted.

Pella dashed backwards, and Devon reluctantly followed. There wasn’t much room to work with between the apparitions and the doorway behind them.

Seeing that they had backed up, Janus took his opportunity to toss the mana marble. The mana decompressed just behind the apparitions and the resulting explosion took Devon and Pella off their feet.

[Your party has defeated a dangerous enemy: Ghost Witch] x3

I didn’t expect that, but I’ve never used them in such an enclosed space before.

The others returned to their feet just in time to hear a roar resound from the exit ahead of them.

“That doesn’t sound good. What do you think, Dario?” Asked Janus, turning towards the doorway they entered from.

He froze in place. Dario was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go?” Pella shouted. “Dario! You bastard!”

“Prepare yourselves, I do not think we can outrun this.” Said Devon from the other direction.

The ground began to rumble and pulled Janus from his indecision. He turned towards the others and prepared himself. His earlier shock had broken his concentration, and he needed to reform the revealing light spell.

He didn’t get the opportunity as a giant horned serpent slid through the opposing doorway, breaking his concentration again. He quickly identified the monster.

[Uktena - Level 40]

Taking advantage of the narrow room they were in, Janus began constructing multiple replica arrow points. They fired at the serpent as it approached, but the serpent simply barreled through them, causing the arrays to dissipate.

Devon was already closing with the monster, and Janus began pumping mana into the swordsman’s blade. He followed that up with [Strength Enhancement] for both Pella and Devon.

The serpent was slowly driving Devon back. The redheaded swordsman was struggling to land a blow against the nimble monster. It was finally one of Pella’s throwing knives that drew first blood, piercing through the serpent’s left eye.

The monster reared back and another roar erupted from its maw. With feral speed, it lunged down on Devon, catching him in the shoulder with a vicious bite.

Janus improvised in the moment, forming compressing mana between Devon’s shoulder and the monster’s mouth. He freed the compressed mana and the monster’s mouth was forced open. Devon took the opportunity to step back, but he was clearly in a lot of pain.

Pella pushed past and took his place in the front. She drew the second sword from her waist and squared off against the massive serpent.

She used every surface in the room, launching off of walls and counter top alike. Her hair was like a golden streak as she avoided the monster’s savage attacks. Janus tried to keep his enhancement magic on her as much as possible, but it was beginning to be too much of a drain on his mana.

Surprisingly, Pella was driving the monster back. Inch by inch, she was gaining ground.

Devon had taken the reprieve to lash his wounded arm to his torso and began moving forward, blade at the ready. Pella dove back and Devon took her place, his blade emitting a green light this time.

He cut into the flesh of the serpent and broke through it’s scales. A wicked gash was left behind, shedding a purple fluid.

Janus had to use [Mana Burn] to form another marble, the effects of mana exhaustion immediately taking their toll. He snatched the marbles coalescing form from the air in front of him.

“Pella! Use this!” Janus shouted while dashing forward.

He handed off the marble to Pella who nodded at him. She was already moving back towards the serpent.

Devon was forced on the defensive after wounding the monster, it almost seemed enraged as it snapped at the swordsman. He was barely holding on when Pella leapt over his head, landing on the back of the serpent. She was holding on by one of the serpent’s horns as it slammed its own body into a wall, attempting to dislodge her. She managed to keep her grip, sliding to the right and shoving Janus’ mana marble into the open gash on the monster’s side.

She had just been thrown off when Janus activated the marble. The explosion messily separated the serpent into two pieces.

[Your party has defeated a dangerous enemy: Uktena]

[You have gained 4 levels]

[Your Strength Enhancement skill has gained 3 level]

[Your Mana Reinforcement skill has gained 4 levels]

[Your Mana Burn skill has gained 5 levels]

[Your Mana Manipulation skill can evolve into Spell Weaving]

[Your Str. Enhancement skill can evolve into Pow. Enhancement]

The notifications only seemed to worsen Janus’ growing headache. Pella was heading back towards him with Devon hanging on her shoulder.

“We need to get out of here.” She said. “We’re not far from the entrance.”

Janus was about to reply when the sound of clapping interrupted him.

Dario emerged from the doorway and said. “Now there we go. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“You absolute bastard!” Shouted Pella. “You did this on purpose!”

“Of course I did it on purpose. Look at you guys. Even Devon gained two levels from that. If I were here watching your every move, the System would have given you a fraction of the reward.” Stated Dario.

“What good do levels do us if we’re all dead?! You have no idea what you’re doing! We wail on each other for weeks and then nearly die in some hole, hours from civilization!” Pella fumed. “You’ve barely taught us anything!”

Pella pushed past Dario, taking care not to jostle Devon too much. Janus followed and after a minute they emerged in the tunnel.

I could have died back there. Like, really died.

The realization was only just now starting to hit Janus, and he felt nauseous. He slid down the tunnel wall until he was in a sitting position.

Dario’s face was blank as he tossed a small metal flask to Pella. “Pour this on his shoulder.”

She let the potion fall to the floor in front of her before slowly reaching towards it. She uncapped the top and let upended it over Devon’s wound. It was hard to tell if it was sealing up below the mangled armor.

“Woah, not too much, that stuff is expensive.” Said Dario as she continued to pour.

“Do you think I give a shit about your potion!” Pella threw the flask on the ground, the fluid draining out of the still open top.

Dario snatched the container and sealed it. After a few minutes he began walking back towards Crow station.

Janus wearily got to his feet and offered Pella his hand. She grasped it and used the leverage to help Devon to his feet.

The trip back was in silence.