Gamer Guild’s Dungeon (6th Floor)

--- Jon ---

He frowned, staring at the oddly familiar decor of the floor they were on. “So, um, what exactly is all of this?”

“I believe this is supposed to be velvet.” Ying noted, running a hand over a nearby couch. “But the fact that everything is slightly charred, makes me wonder.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say this is a demon floor.” Roxanne answered more helpfully.

“Demon?” He frowned, wondering why the black and red furniture looked so familiar despite looking so out of place in their half-burned surroundings.

“Yeah, whenever the GM throws them into a dungeon plan she either goes full hellscape or what my brother calls ‘sinful decadence’.” The Gamer elaborated. “And well lavished wealth, burned out building, and chains on the wall sort of give that feeling you know.”

“Chains on the wall?” He repeated just now noticing those. (And they just make that familiar feeling worse.)

“Yeah, it’s all… I don’t know.” Roxanne admitted, coughing into her hand with a faint blush.

(Weird.)

“Still, are the demons here going to be like the ones we fought on the cultist floor or something new?”

---

“Why. Won’t. These. Little. Bastards. Stay still!” Ying cried, her lightning missing the various imps jumping around the room. (Again.)

“Truthfully this might be easier if you quit just zapping everything!” Roxanne told her, hitting one of the imps with her chain. “My pull let’s me catch them when they’re not jumping to dodge your attacks!”

He couldn’t help but sigh as he watched Wolf catch another imp between her teeth before shattering it. (This whole thing would be a lot easier if they weren’t competing for most kills.)

A small fireball thrown by a cackling imp hit him in the back, stinging but hurting significantly less than when (a corrupted leapt out of the pyre shaking and shivering as the flames danced and ate away at the dead thing’s flesh before turning two hate filled black eyes onto him.)

Shaking his head from the memory, he frowned before throwing his hand out and grabbing the cackling imp by its throat. (They’re right about them being annoying though.)

---

“So I’m guessing… these things are… this floor’s chain bonus?” He asked, having to dodge out of the way of a wolf. Something that was normally fairly easy for him but made notably more difficult by the fact that these wolves were all on fire.

“Yeah.” Roxanne coughed, from where she’d been thrown to the ground before Wolf had tackled a hellhound off of her.

“They’re resistant to electricity.” Ying growled, spending far longer than usual trying to vaporize a dungeon construct she’d actually managed to hit.

“They’re probably immune to fire, so be glad whatever weird dragon thing you’ve got on is lightning based.” The gamer teen told her sitting up.

(Wonder if they’d be acid resistant as well?) He mused before remembering one of the more frequent -if painful- ways of dealing with a Mad Wolf, he raised one of his arms as (the wolf clamped its fangs down on his arm, its teeth tearing into his jacket as it attempted to maul him.

Not wanting to let the beast do any more damage, he drew his knife before stabbing it into the Mad Wolf’s throat and twisting the blade.) Shattering the mad beast and leaving his arm with a faint ache that he was going to have to ask Pix to do something about.

---

“Crap, I just remembered something important!” Roxanne called, slowing their party to a pause.

“Yes?” Ying prodded the gamer teen.

“Okay, I just remembered this thing from the last dungeon me and my friends actually managed to beat; the GM likes to add mini-bosses to the last couple of floors.” Roxanne explained. “Meaning somewhere on this floor before we get to the actual boss there’s going to be another one we have to beat.”

“Is this boss going to be stronger or weaker than the other ones?”

“Uh, probably on par with the last boss.” Roxanne said after a couple minutes of thought, “Though it’ll be themed to this floor so there’s no telling what gimmicks it’s going to have.”

“Hmm, well… whatever it is we’re just going to have to deal with it when it shows up.” He shrugged.

---

He slammed into the ground as the massive fist slammed into him at an angle, leaving him to let out a gasping breath as the massive horned demon stared down at him.

“Pathetic.” The demon spat.

Glaring at the dungeon monster he raised a hand and flexed his wrist, recalling his axe to his hand. The axe currently on the other side of the demon in front of him.

The demon cried out as said axe embedded itself in their back, right as he forced himself to roll onto his feet and stabbed the madness construct in the thigh with one knife, before using that knife to help leverage himself into stabbing the monster in the heart. (With a blade that’s too short to actually pierce said heart.) He realized just a moment too late.

Roaring in rage, the demon wrapped one of their massive hands around him before lifting him into the air and pulling their arm back. He faintly heard the rattling of chains, and watched Roxanne’s wrap around the demon’s arm, though that did little to stop the dungeon construct from throwing him across the room.

Barely managing to twist himself in the air, he hit the wall in a painful -(but not as painful as it could’ve been)- crash, before (luckily) falling onto one of the floor’s soft velvet couches.

(Demons, velvet, and chains… what is that reminding me of?) It was on the tip of his tongue yet he just could not place it as he painfully sat up to watch Ying lunge for the demon while Wolf and her pack dealt with the room’s various hellhounds.

---

“Look a pair of chests!” Kenny called pointing across the otherwise empty room.

“Yeah,” he nodded, before frowning and grabbing the kobold’s shoulder. “Wait.”

“What’s wrong?” Ying asked as he crouched in front of the two chests.

“Hmm… hold on a second.” He told everyone before moving to the outer side of one of the chests and placing a hand on the lid. After a moment without anything happening, he slowly opened the chest, his eyes never leaving the other one. Once the chest was opened he carefully reached his hand inside and withdrew the two potion vials hidden within.

When nothing else happened he let out a sigh of relief and turned towards the exit, “Alright let’s get going.”

“But what about the other chest?” Ying frowned curiously as Roxanne considered the chest thoughtfully.

“It’s breathing.” He pointed out, causing the draconic teen to blink. “And it has teeth.”

“It’s a mimic.” Roxanne grimaced, immediately backing away from the chest.

“A mimic?” Ying repeated, eyeing the chest. “As in something pretending to be something else?”

“Uh, yeah.” The gamer teen nodded. “They’re this annoying monster that pretends to be a loot chest, and then when you go to open it it attacks you.”

“Ah.” Ying nodded with a grimace of her own. “That seems like a particularly nasty trick.”

“Which is why everyone hates them.”

---

Stepping into the room he couldn’t help but cough as they walked through a cloud of some kind of incense that gave him a headache more than anything else.

As they made their way through the cloud they eventually found themselves in a large circular room with what appeared to be a heart shaped bed with two scantily clad people in the middle.

“Oh, darling, it looks like we have guests.” The male of the pair noted as they both sat up.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing us new playthings.” The female laughed sultrily as she eyed them.

“Hmm, you know how I love to surprise you my dear.” The male told his lover, nuzzling into her neck.

“That you do.” The female nodded, running a hand through her partner’s hair before standing up. “Now let’s see what kind of surprise you have for me today.”

The female strode towards their party with a slight sway to her hips, “Hello dearies, tell me who might you be?”

“Um, uh, we’re just a bunch of dungeoneers on an adventure.” Roxanne told the female as the male rested his chin on his partner’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Oh, darling…” The male began, walking around his partner and up to Roxanne where he ran a finger along her jaw. “Don’t worry we’ll take you on an adventure you won’t ever forget.”

Feeling something odd rubbing against the back of his mind, he turned towards the rest of his party and noticed how they were all staring at the couple before them, with Roxanne and Wolf’s attention mostly focused on the male while Ying and Pix’s seemed to drift between the two, though with Ying seeming to favor the female to the point of almost ignoring the male. Glancing a little further astray he saw that this reaction wasn’t limited to those of his party from outside of the dungeon, with the various female kobolds being enraptured by the male’s figure and the male kobolds all staring at the female.

As for him, he stepped forward and grabbed the female from behind before wrapping a hand around her neck and squeezing with just enough pressure to make her know he could choke her out if he felt like it.

“Oh, someone likes it rough.” The female laughed, running a hand along his thigh.

“Do be careful with her, my beloved tends to enjoy being the rough one.” The male warned him with an amused look.

“Would you two kindly stop what you’re doing?” He asked them both, wary of attacking them directly in case they used their slaver effect to make everyone attack each other.

“Oh, and do tell me what should we be doing?” The female asked, going from stroking his leg to grabbing his thigh. Namely the part of his thigh where he kept his emergency inner-thigh knife under his clothes in case he was ever kidnapped again.

“Dropping the Slaver effect.” He told the female demon.

Both dungeon monsters blinked their glowing yellow eyes at him, before the female of the pair adjusted her grip on his leg with a thoughtful look. “You aren’t actually happy to see me are you?”

“Not at the moment, no.”

---

“Out of curiosity is it common for the GM to employ Slaver effects?” Ying asked, rubbing at her head as she continued to experience what she described as a ‘bad hangover’.

“Fear, Rage, Confusion, and Charm.” The female demon answered from where she and her mate had been bound. “And don’t worry, they're all temporary bouts of Madness, based on your actual emotions. Nothing truly artificial about it.”

“In our case it’s no different from being ‘distracted by the sexy.’” The male demon promised them. “Your reactions were exactly what they would be if you found yourself in the presence of a particularly attractive man or woman.”

“Or both.” The demon couple said shifting a little closer.

“Which is why it’s less an active Slaver effect and more a perception filter that forces you to focus on just how sexy you think we are and only that.” The male demon continued. “Truth be told there are plenty of people who are outright immune to our effect, such as your friend here. In which case we’re usually not what they consider ‘attractive’.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with you being Ace darling.” The female demon tried to reassure him.

“Uh, I’m not?” He frowned, tilting his head. It was extremely rare but he had been attracted to someone once or twice, (though admittedly that’s usually more of an emotional reaction than a physical one…)

“Oh.” The female demon blinked, tilting her own head. “Well… love is a spectrum, so you just do you darling. And let the haters hate and the lovers love.”

“Okay…” (This is going in a weird direction…)

“So, assuming you’re being truthful, what exactly was the goal here?” Ying asked, still a little testy about being manipulated by Madness. (Which honestly, I’m a little numb to at this point.) “You just… distract us with your ‘sexy’ as you put it and then what?”

“Well, most of the dungeon runners are teenagers or young adults who can’t handle us and usually end up fainting when we make it look like we’re going to kiss them.” The female demon explained.

“Of course, there’s also the occasional one who can push through that, and we’ll usually stop just short of actually kissing them. At which point they either -rarely- remember we’re dungeon monsters, or they’ll kiss us themselves.” The male demon elaborated with a smirk. “From there they’ll usually accept that kiss as a fair consolation prize for us one-shotting them out of the dungeon.”

“Though I am curious as to what they tell their friends when it gets out that that is how they lost.” The female demon laughed more sadistic and honest than her previous laughs.

(It says something about me that I prefer that laugh to her other one…)

---

“I’m going to guess that the large ornate doors are a sign that this is the actual boss room rather than another mid-boss.” Ying commented, as they all stopped in front of a set of doors featuring an motif of angels falling from the sky.

“That’s a fair bet.” Roxanne nodded in agreement. “So final enemy of the demon floor what you guys thinking it’ll be?”

“Given the hellhounds, I’d guess cerberus.” He offered. “Then again, with the angel motif, that’d suggest the devil?”

“Uh, yeah…” Roxanne blinked before frowning at the door. “Yeah, that seems kind of obvious now that you pointed it out…”

“Hmm, I wonder if this’ll count for your score?” Ying asked curiously.

“If what’ll count?” He frowned, not entirely sure what she was talking about.

“If you kill this dungeon’s devil will it count as killing an actual devil?” Ying elaborated in a way that explained next to nothing.

“Uh, maybe?” He shrugged, giving Roxanne an askance look to see if she knew what the draconic teen was talking about.

Roxanne just shrugged back in equal confusion.

“Then again, we’ll be helping you so that might invalidate it depending on how you score it.” Ying continued oblivious to said confusion.

“Um, I don’t think it really matters?” He confessed, since he didn’t usually care about scores and such. (Unless it’s beating Mom or Quartermaster Rogers.)

Ying gave him a huff of amusement. “Of course you wouldn’t care about that kind of thing.”

“Look as… riveting as all of this is, are we going to fight the boss or not?” Roxanne asked, trying to move things along.

“Right, sorry. Got lost in my musings.” Ying admitted. “Shall we?”

Shaking his head, he made his way to the boss room door and the moment he put his hands on the door they began opening on their own. Slowly swinging open, to reveal a large stone room with two rivers of blood and lava on the sides, a series of elaborate banners hanging above them. Across from the entrance stood a large metal gate leading to a set of stairs going into the light, and right in front of this gate was a large throne of skulls and stone upon which sat a dark figure in a three piece suit with a large three headed dog at their side.

“Huh, so the boss is Cerberus and the Devil.”

“Did you mortals really believe I’d just allow you to freely leave my domain?” The seated figure asked, his voice booming through the hall.

“Given how we had to fight the rest of the floor bosses to get through theirs? No.” He admitted with a shrug.

“Technically we didn’t have to fight the kobold boss.” Ying reminded him, patting said kobold on the head to the monster’s pride and satisfaction.

“True.” He nodded, before turning towards the current floor’s boss. “I don’t suppose we can talk you into just letting us through?”

“No, you cannot.” The figure scoffed, as if he was amused by the idea.

“So how do you want to do this then?” He asked the floor boss.

“Hmm? Whatever do you mean?” The figure asked.

“Do we fight both you and Cerberus? Or do we fight him then you? Or do you just want to skip straight to a one on one duel?” He elaborated.

“You would fight me one on one?” The figure laughed. “Despite clearly being outmatched in such a manner?”

“Why not?”

The figure eyed him for a moment before shaking its head with a smile. “You know I can appreciate the audacity of someone raging against those stronger than themselves, regardless of if it worsens their own situation. Very well, so long as you can keep up with me in a duel, then I shall not interfere in your friends’ duel with Cerberus and vice versa.”

“Sounds like fun.” He grinned.

“Uh, Jon, you sure this is a good idea?” Roxanne asked him as the figure sent Cerberus to the side of the room.

“Eh, even if I can’t beat him I can at the very least stall him out long enough for you guys to beat Cerberus.” He shrugged. (Not that I don’t intend to beat him first.) “Besides I’ve got like four health potions on me, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

Roxanne gave him a look that said she didn’t entirely agree with him, before Ying patted her shoulder. “Come now, Jon’s fought worse than this floor boss and come out on top. It does him a disservice to believe he’d lose to a dungeon construct like this.”

“If you’re sure.” Roxy frowned before following Ying towards Cerberus’s side of the room.

Rolling his shoulders he pulled out his axe and his knife before pulling his hood up and making his way over to where the figure from the throne was standing waiting on him.

“Before we begin, let me ask you, what is your name, boy?”

“Jon, Jon Whitaker.” He greeted with a tilt of his head.

“Well, Mr. Whitaker you can call me Lucious.” The figure told him, summoning a spear of light to his hand as he gave a half bow.

“Pleasure.” He nodded.

“Oh, the pleasure of victory shall be mine.” Lucious assured him as they assumed their starting stances, both waiting for the signal to begin their clash.

From the otherside of the room a roar of thunder, beast, and lightning gave them said signal.

He and Lucious rushed each other, and he immediately realized that despite being able to avoid the dungeon monster’s wide spear sweeps, he was in fact slower than his opponent. And, if the previous dungeon enemies were anything to go off of, Lucious was also likely the stronger physically of the two. (Just means I’ve got to fight dirty.)

Throwing a knife forward Lucious deflected it out of the air before he ran at the dungeon monster, causing Lucious to sweep his blade a little higher than his previous angled strikes, giving Jon just enough space to roll under the spear and sweep out with an axe blow, leaving a cut in the floor boss’s pant leg.

“And first blood goes to you.” Lucious smiled, leaping a few paces away as Jon began to circle him while flexing his free hand.

Eyes widening Lucious threw himself to the side and just barely avoided the knife on its return path, earning a thin cut through his jacket and nothing more.

“And you nearly had second blood as well.” The floor boss nodded in approval. “I suppose that means you really are worth taking seriously.”

With a grin on his face Lucious raised a hand into the air and formed two dozen light spears in the air above him. “Try not to die, I’m just starting to have some fun for a change.”

Dropping his hand the dungeon boss spent dozens of spears flying at him, and despite his best efforts more than one of them tore into him with deep burning pain that while drawing no blood did fill his limbs with a twisted mix of pain and numbness.

“Jon!” A voice cried from the otherside of the room.

“I’m fine!” I shouted back through grit teeth as the spears shattered.

“Are you sure, because it looks like you’re about to fall over.” Lucious told him, a mocking edge to the monster’s concern.

Reaching into his jacket he quickly pulled out a potion and downed it in a single go, just barely noting the taste of strawberries as he felt Madness creep and crawl through his body undoing whatever damage those spears had done to him.

“Like I said, I’m fine.” He glared at the floor boss and took another stance.

“So you are.” Lucious smiled. “Shall we continue then?”

“Let’s.” He nodded before throwing his knife and then his axe.

Lucious of course deflected both of these, despite doing so giving Jon the opportunity to side step around the floor boss and deliver a couple of quick jabs before flexing his wrists and recalling his blades to cut through Lucious as the dungeon boss struggled to turn towards his shifting steps.

“Not bad.” Grin widening, Lucious summoned a second spear and spun it through the air with one hand, while using the first spear to knock him back with a sweeping blow. “But not quite good either.”

Rolling across the ground he flexed his wrist where he knew Lucious could see them, recalling both of his weapons to his hands before reaching into his jacket and throwing out half a dozen knives at the floor boss. And as with the rest of the projectiles Lucious had thrown at him, the floor boss deflected all of these blades out of the air, even as Jon rushed him once more this time with axe and knife in hand.

After a short exchange, in which he both managed and received a number of glancing blows, he found himself on the opposite side of Lucious and all of the knives he’d thrown. Which is why like with all of his previous thrown weapons he flexed his wrists as if recalling them, despite the fact that none of these blades had those enchantments.

“Ah, ah, you’ve a tell.” Lucious warned him leaping out of the way of where a number of knives would’ve torn through him had they been enchanted.

“Or I’m just tricky.” He argued, having used his backpack’s storage enchantments to quickly draw his bow and an arrow while the floor boss evaded nothing.

An arrow that shot forward five times faster than he could throw, and apparently faster than Lucious could deflect given how it pierced his shoulder.

“Oh, you really are a tricky one.” The floor boss laughed, before ripping the arrow out in a spray of lights that quickly sealed the wound shut. “Let’s see if you're truly tricky enough to beat the devil, shall we?”

Lucious spread his arms and formed nearly a hundred spears in the air around them.

Eyeing the spears with a hand in his jacket, he eventually met the dungeon monster’s gaze and simply said, “Bring it.”

Lucious threw his head back to laugh, before clapping both hands together and having the spears fly into Jon, skewering him in a veritable iron maiden of light.

Shaking his head Lucious let out one final laugh as he turned towards the other side of the room where Cerberus was starting to look a little worse for wear from the constant fighting. “Suppose I should do something about that now that I’ve had my fun. Can’t do to fall behind on my work after all.”

As soon as the floor boss took his second step forward an arrow pierced into his neck, causing him to stagger a step.

“W-what?” Lucious blinked, before slowly turning towards him and where he was holding one of the special anti-corrupted molotov Rogers had shown him how to make over summer. At which point the dungeon boss also noticed the wire tying said molotov to the Trip Arrow he’d shot into the monster.

He tugged on the wire, pulling it taught, before letting go and allowing the reel to send the molotov flying straight for the dungeon boss’s face.

“Warned you…” He told the boss as the special acid based fire burned through whatever heat resistance the boss may’ve had. “I’m a tricky one.”

“So you are…” Lucious chuckled with a pained grimace, before looking at his now burning hand began to dissolve into bits of light. “Very tricky.”

With his opponent beaten he collapsed onto the ground, shakily reaching into his jacket at as the two vials he’d already consumed shattered under his weight. (Wasn’t sure if drinking them slow like that would work or not.)

While most potions could work in smaller doses, usually filling one’s mouth and slowly drinking it in a dozen or so sips wouldn’t do much to change the potion’s actual healing rate or process, but given how these potions worked instantly (and that they run on Madness) he’d been hoping he could pace out Lucious’s attack by doing the same to the two potions.

Downing a fourth potion for the room, and again feeling the overly invasive touch of the dungeon’s Madness, he eventually forced himself onto his feet as he picked up his bow before drawing an arrow and aiming it at one of Cerberus’s heads.

A moment later the floor’s second boss shattered into light as he turned to the rest of his party and told them, “You guys looked like you could use a hand.”