Mary

The spell was magnificent in and of itself, but it was horrifying still to see it destroy an entire fort, which still had my team fighting inside it. It lit up the entire floor, almost blinding in its intensity. The force alone had almost sent me flying. It had sent most of Blueberries and Kingsfoil a few meters away from me. The only ones who had managed to not get blown back were Ivy and Jacob, who had both laid prone to avoid the bulk of the wind pressure.

I felt absolutely drained, both in regards to mana, and general exhaustion. Having fallen to my knees, it was all I could do to uncork one of the few mana potions I'd packed, and bring the ice cold liquid to my lips. It wouldn't help me stand up, but it would at least help to ease the pounding headache I now had. My hearing was mostly gone as well, blown out by the volume of [Solar Nova].

My vision had come back however, and I could see the devastation my spell had caused. It looked like one of the Gods came down and scooped out a massive chunk of the land, including the fort, which was nothing more than a smoking ruin at this point. My [Nightvision] skill was about all I could manage with how exhausted I felt, having fought for Gods knew how long, running away, and then using one of my most powerful spells.

Come on... Where are you? You can't have died just like that...

I stared intently at the smoking wreck, searching for some sign that the rest of Nightshade was alive.

I felt a hand pat me on my left shoulder. I turned as quickly as I could, under the circumstances, seeing Ivy offering me a healing potion, and pointing at her ear. I took it gratefully, and gulped it down, the bitter liquid hard to swallow, as usual. Soon I felt my hearing return, along with some of my lost energy. I stood shakily, nodding my thanks to Ivy before turning my gaze back to the fort itself.

It was at that moment, that I spotted Nick, David, and Johnathan digging themselves free of the rubble, and drinking both healing and mana potions. Every one of them had lost all their hair, and were singed from head to toe. I almost cried with joy at the sight of them, if not for them staggering away from the rubble. Forgetting my exhaustion, I started running toward them, telling Kingsfoil to keep an eye out for anything coming their way.

It took a little more than three minutes to finally reach them.

"Did you really have to use one of your strongest spells?" Nick coughed out, his arm draped over Johnathan's shoulders as he stumbled along. David tiredly nodded in agreement. I couildn't help but sputter a response. "W-well you said to b-blow it to Hell and back! You can't blame me for taking your orders to heart! Don't any of you dare give me a fright like that ever again!" After shouting at them for a moment, I grabbed the three of them altogether, and hugged them as tight as I could manage. "Don't you ever do something that crazy again. Any of you." I had to try hard to blink back the tears that were more than willing to fall like rain. Nick, Johnathan, and David all agreed, and we shared a group hug for a moment longer.

"So, think that spell was enough to bring the unique monster down?" Nick asked, feeling his bald head as he took a step back, turning to look back at the rubble.

"Definitely. I've used that spell against monsters at least three times as strong as him, and nothing was left except for ash." I nodded confidently. I was sure with all the buffs that had been put into it as well, that it was at least able to burn the skeleton beyond all point of recognition.

"Shame about the bounty, though. Would've been a nice payday." Nick said, with both Johnathan and David nodding along.

"If you want, one of you can go and look for a body, although I doubt you'll find much, if anything at all." I said, a small smile creeping onto my face.

Nick quickly shook his head. "No way, I'm not gonna-" He held up both hands, taking another step back, before he stopped, his movements almost locking in place. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he turned to look back at the rubble. I noticed the look in his eyes, as his pupils dilated rapidly. "Nick?" I asked carefully.

"Mary, we need to go. We need to go now. Everyone, get moving back to Kingsfoil and Blueberries. Mary, do you have any group teleports left?" It didn't take long to realize what he was getting at. "No way... I hit it with everything I had..." I felt like my heart was suddenly in my throat, as we all began moving as fast as we were able. "Mary, focus! Can you teleport us all out of here?" Nick shouted as we ran. I nodded hurriedly, as I noticed a section of the fort collapse in on itself. Soon I began to hear what Nick had.

Furious grunting echoed from the fort, as the debris began to shift and move. "You all... Just had to come in here... And fuck with the wrong person..." The words were roared out, echoing all across the fourth floor, as a piece of the wall the size of Johnathan's torso slammed into the ground on our right, sending up a spray of dust and dirt.

We made it back to Blueberries and Kingsfoil just as most of the other teams made it down the stairs, all of them rushing toward us. "What in the hell happened here?" One of the veteran team leaders asked quickly, surveying the area.

Nick just gathered up everyone from Blueberries and Kingsfoil. "Mary, get us the fuck out of here. Jacob, you hold Vance as tight as you can. All of you, if you've got teleport scrolls, use them. This raid is over." He spoke quickly, to which most of the other raid teams either scoffed, or tried to hold back their outrage.

"We just got down to this floor, and you're telling us that because you blew up the fort, that the raid was for nothing? Hell no, we're earning our pay." One of the less experienced teams responded, their expression grim, and somewhat failing to remain composed.

"Nick, Mary. It's here." David spoke, his voice shaking a little. I turned toward the direction David was looking, and I saw it.

A single skeleton, standing barely more than thirty meters from us, holding no weapon, its bones all cracked, and half of its skull missing. In its one remaining eye socket, I could see a bead of red light, bathing the inside of its skull with a blood red glow.

Broken Skull (Frenzied)

A unique monster, borne of bone and rage. Made to suffer at the hands of all, this skeleton has begun to walk the path of a conqueror.

Level: ???

Hp: ???

Mana: ???

Stamina: ???

"Dungeon Frenzy!" Someone screamed out, and I used every last scrap of mana I had, along with a health burning skill, [Quickened Spell], in order to instantly cast [Mass Teleport] for all of Kingsfoil, Nightshade, and Blueberries, just as that skeleton appeared in the middle of the rest of the raid team.

Suddenly, we were at the entrance to the first floor of the dungeon, most of us looking back into the darkness beyond.

A pain blossomed within my stomach, and before I knew it, I was on the ground, with a wet feeling pooling below me. I tried to look at it to see what had happened, but all I saw was several guild healers rushing forward from a nearby medical station. I heard something roaring in the distance. Then, my vision faded.

--------------

Broken Skull

I had never felt better in my entire life than I did right now. The fury that was screaming at me with the noise of a hurricane was ordering me to kill the dungeoneers. I hated the thought of something telling me what to do, but luckily, it aligned with my current goals. I didn't care about some stupid war right now. All that needed to happen, was for everyone invading the dungeon to die in the most painful way possible. That's why I was annoyed further when the mage who had hit me with the spell disappeared. Sadly, I'd only managed to rip open her stomach, missing her heart.

Not used to this... Fuck it. Kill 'em all.

Before any of the others could disappear, I was among them, ripping off heads, slamming them into what would likely be their burial craters, and tearing out organs. Their screams, the blood that showered me as I went, the sounds of bodies being torn apart, of bones snapping, was amazing. The whole thing may have sounded horrific to some, but to me it was a damn symphony.

Every time one of them managed to get out a scroll to disappear like the woman had, or grouped up with another caster in the same attempt, I was there, killing, slaughtering, murdering. No matter what any of them did, they couldn't stop me from ripping through them as a force of pure carnage. To add to the symphony, I added my own voice, which resounded throughout the dungeon in a thunderous roar without end.

I felt a blade slam into my spine, although the hit itself did little more than cause me some slight discomfort. I spun around, roaring in the face of a terrified swordswoman, before grabbing him by the throat, and throwing her at a dungeoneer who was running away, the force of which snapped her neck long before their bodies collided in a fountain of gore.

Finishing off the last of them was child's play. Looking around at all the corpses, I couldn't help but thirst for more.

I want more. This wasn't all of them. I want more.

Still feeling the blood haze in my head, I sprinted up to the third level, running through corridor after corridor, occasionally stumbling across stray groups of dungeoneers and shredding them into little more than a bloody paste, and other times finding newly spawned goblins, who ran at the sight of me, not that it saved them. While the rage inside me didn't command me to kill them, I didn't care what I fought, so long as I got to kill something.

Finally I came upon the last group of dungeoneers on the third floor, and turned them into mincemeat.

Task fulfilled. Dungeon Protocol Frenzy has succeeded in subjugating invaders. All gained experience has gone to Dungeon Master as compensation. Releasing temporary level boost. Returning host to condition before protocol.

Suddenly my body was wracked with pain.