A squad of dwarven knights march up from the castle. One of the heavily armored dwarves moves up to Oathshield. “Greetings, Oathshield and members of ‘Dwarven Theorum’! The King wishes to see you and your Guild!”

An hour later, we’d made our way through the city and to the castle. It was truly an amazing sight to behold. The Dwarven City had somehow managed to either find, or carve out, an enormous cavern under the mountain for their clan. There were bearded faces everywhere, even the women had beards, as was traditional with the dwarven race.

“That’s an amazing display of detail the designers put into this place. And to think, for five years outside, nobody’s found it...” I stated.

“That’s how things go with these Hidden Gems, or were they called Easter Eggs?” Rockenroll replied.

“Quiet, both of ye! We’re about to have an audience with their king!” Oathshield growled at us, making us both blush and laugh.

“Sir! Yes, Sir!” Rockenroll and I both respond at the same time, which makes the other two burst out laughing.

We all stop and straighten our clothes before we are shown into the Throne Room, which is richly decorated with marble statues, golden and mythril armor, and other forms of expensive taste. My eyes were drawn to the King, who was sitting on a throne made of purified mythril! About a dozen yards from the throne, we lined up and went down on a knee, bowing our heads in respect.

“Welcome to my kingdom, members of the Dwarven Theorum. You Wanderers might be able to help us with an issue with are having. There is a monster in the deep tunnels of one of our mines, which is causing madness and making my subjects disappear. Since it is said that a Wanderer, when killed, will return to the last Church or Barracks they visited, I will grant access to both our Church and our Barracks for you. I request that you send ONE member of your team to investigate the source of these disappearances and eliminate it if possible. If a single Wanderer cannot eliminate it alone, the rest of you should go and assist,” the king stated as he watched them. “The one I would like you to send on this mission is him!” The king pointed directly at me.

“I will accept this mission,” I responded solemnly.

Attention! You have gained access to the Undermountain Barracks.

Attention! You have gained access to Undermountain Church.

Quest Accepted!

Explore the Depths of the Dwarven Mining Tunnels, locate and eliminate the Mindflayer.

Reward: Increased Reputation with the Dwarves.

Failure: Banishment from the Undermountain for the entire Guild.

Time Remaining: 00:23:59:59... 00:23:59:58...

I blinked in shock as I saw that I had less than twenty-four hours to locate and kill a Mindflayer, an Ilifiad. One of the Cthulu-esque races of the World! “I must leave immediately, Your Majesty. The Tunnels are vast, and I have little time apparently.”

“On your way then! I’ll continue to speak with the rest of your party!”

With that dismissal, I hurried out of the Throne Room, and ran towards the tunnel, trusting my minimap to guide me.

***

“Display quest timer!” I called out as I ran through the tunnels.

Time remaining: 00:20:01:01... 00:20:01:00... 00:20:00:59...

It’s been four hours, and I just barely have finished one of eight tunnels. Once I got to the tunnels, the Minimap just put a ? with a giant circle around the entire area. The guards and miners were no help, as they have not entered the tunnels in the last week. It doesn’t help that as I run through these empty mining tunnels I am being attacked by ‘Undermountain Mine Rat’ and ‘Undermountain Slime’, both of which, while easy to deal with slow me down when they show up in packs.

“I hope I don’t fail this quest... It would be highly embarrassing if the son of Luck and Death can’t find a Mindflayer in a Mine and kill it...” I muttered to myself.

“Why must you find and kill it?” a voice asked from right behind me.

“Because the Dwarven King issued me a quest to. That’s how we Wanderers work, you know. We get quests, we kill things, we get rewarded,” I answered without turning around, knowing its not actually there.

“What if I told you the Dwarves were the ones invading our lands?”

“Well, I’m sorry, but driving them out with madness and kidnapping isn’t going to work. One of you Squids will have to die, and if you want to send an envoy to the Dwarven King asking for them to back out of your area, that’s your choice. If you keep trying this Madness and Missing stuff, it isn’t going to end well. You could always show ‘remorse’ by allowing those who you have taken to return home. I’m sure a lot of them have family that misses them.”

“... An interesting proposal, but you are doomed to failure, madness, and slavery. I doubt your mind can hold up against our mental attacks, since it was so very easy to find you and enter your mind.”

I closed my eyes and focused on the connection, and smirked as I started down that tunnel. “Well, fine by me, if you think you can handle me... I am a full fledged Godling, after all.”

“A Godling? You are nothing. The mighty one will be summoned with the blood of these mountain midgets!”

I sighed and shook my head as I made my way deeper and deeper down the tunnels. Hours pass, and the tunnel I’m following just keeps going deeper! “Display Quest Timer!”

Time remaining: 00:08:05:00... 00:08:04:59... ??:??:??:??... 10:10:10:10... 09:09:09:09...

My eyes go wide and I pull out the scythe, snarling softly. Damn it, how did it sneak up on me, and how is it messing with my Timer? Or it is messing with my perception of the timer? I closed my eyes and listened, hearing fabric moving and brushing along the wall. I start to spin slowly, holding the scythe out. “Death Wave!” As I spin while emitting it, I hear a chime.

Congratulations! You have developed the Skill: Death Spiral!

Death Spiral - Skill Level MAX

Sends out Death Waves in all directions, any enemies hit have the following debuffs inflicted: Berserk, Fury, Hate, Despair.

Berserk: Cannot cast spells, Attack power +10%

Fury: Cannot use skills, Attack power +10%

Hate: Must attack the one who inflicted this status effect.

Despair: Has no hope of success, -50% Attack damage, -50% all stats.

The walls shake and rumble as the Spiral slices into them. The waves bounce further and further, and with each rediretected bounce pushes the ends further down the corridors. An army of rats, slimes, miniature elementals, and other creatures start rushing towards me from down the various side branches, meanwhile a Mindflayer over ten feet tall appears along the wall, and charges me with its fists raised.

It was very easy to dodge the Mindflayer’s exagerated movements, and take him apart. I made sure to use ‘Execution’ for the finishing blow so that I would have his giant head as a trophy to give to the King to turn in as completion of my quest. Suddenly, a second and third Mindflayer emerge from various tunnels along with the army of rats and slimes. I use ‘Death Spiral’ followed up by ‘Death Wave’. The majority of the rats killed by the wave rise up as zombies and turn on the others, killing them off. As soon as I finished off the other two squids, a Quest Notification popped up.

Quest Alert!

You have discovered that there is more than one Mindflayer in the tunnels, and the one you talked to informed you that they intend to summon a Mighty One. Prevent this summoning or destroy the Mighty One.

Reward: Alliance with the Dwarves, Dwarves unlocked as a Playable Race.

Failure: Banishment from the Dwarves (Solo).

Time remaining until Summoning: 00:05:00:00... 00:04:59:59... 00:04:59:58...

I swore loudly and blinked as I noticed my minimap able to guide me again. I charged off deeper into the mine.

Author's Note: This chapter is just under 1,500 words. Sorry it's short, but the next chapter is a BIG BOSS FIGHT, and the first real problem the Main Character has ever had. I plan on writing it out over the next week or so, and hope to have it ready by the end of the month. Thanks again for reading!