AN: Chapter 13, Horrifying enemies... Nice chapter number for the enemy

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“Huf, huf, gasp... Tarbes... Special Dungeon? Huf, huf, huf... You mean, this ruined town is Tarbes?” asked Diane.

“Huf, ha... Tarbes shouldn't be around here.” said David.

“Many things have changed in the world, gasp! Huf, huf, huf, Damn, my throat hurt... But that's not important. What matters first is that... Huf, ha... we have escaped from the flying terrors.”

“Ah, you're right, huf. We were so surprised by the sudden, huf, huf... Change of environment, we completely forgot about them.” said Greg.

“WHA? That was dangerous!!” replied Diane.

“You're damn right. I can't believe we were that distracted either...” added David.

“... Actually, it may be due to the fact that the noise they made disappeared, as it was what we mostly relied on to locate them. We uncnsciously knew they were gone, or something like that.” said Greg.

“... You can say some weird things that make sense. Enough about that. The second important thing is that we can't leave this place without a fight.”

“That's right, it said we couldn't leave without capturing the core.” added David.

“In games, dungeons are full of monsters and there is a boss to defeat. You think they drop loot?” asked Diane.

“If the monsters outside didn't, I doubt they would. And with the rotten smell in the air, I doubt anything left by the monster would be good...”

“And look at the surroundings. It's creepy, and it feels like I'm stuck in another dimension, or another realm, like in Silent Hill. That really scare me...” added Greg.

As if on cue, Ras started to growl again. The group started to hear some steps coming from a small road to their right. Soon, humanoid figures appeared, and with them, the stench increased as well, making Ras sneeze several times and Sadira shake her head.

The things were skinless humans, with the surface of their flesh melting as if it was corroded by acide. The flesh had started to rot as well. The irises of their eyes glowed red, and their teeth and the tip of their fingers were pointy and sharp. As they advanced, they leaked some rotting body fluids as well, from their eyes, nose, ear, mouth, breasts for the women, and between their legs.

Diane turned away, got down on one knee and threw up. Erwin, Greg and David barely kept control of their stomach. David's breathing had become ragged again. All 4 of them had gone pale. The peace lasted for a couple of seconds, then the monsters charged toward them. There were 3 men and 4 women.

They weren't fast, probably slower than when they were living, but it greatly startled the group. Most likely because of their disgusting appearance. With each steps they sprayed a little of their horrible body fluids around, and even Ras and Sadira recoilled.

“No way we are going to touch those things. RUN.”

He didn't wait for the other to respond and suddenly pulled Diane, who still had a knee on the ground.Because of that, she lost her balance and had to put a hand in her vomit to avoid falling. She scowled in anger and disgust, but seeing the things that went after them she quickly forgot about it.

“Ras, take us where the smell is weak!”

“““Good idea!”””

After a few minutes of running away and avoiding some areas following Ras lead, they ended in a run down video game shop. They swiftly blocaded the entrance and windows with the shelves, and hid behind the counter, breathing heavily. It took them a few minutes to calm down. After dropping her fist on top of Erwin's head, Diane went to the storage room to clean her hand. She came back a little later, with both an annoyed and grateful expression on her face.

“Guys, I think we're quite screwed this time.”

“Explain.” said Diane.

“Those horrible things are walking nests for diseases, and we are all close combat fighters. I can't even make Sadira and Ras participate in the battle. My detox magic is only level 7. I don't think that is enough to protect anyone from all the toxins those things are carrying. They project body fluids everywhere when they moves, so even if you block or dodge an attack, you can still be infected.”

“It isn't a big problem. I bet we can find some raincoats or something, and do shit like in the first season of The Walking Dead. They used waterproof gear to coat themselves in zombie blood and guts. Don't look at me like that! I'm just saying that there is a way to protect ourselves from the shitty liquids... Wait, you paded the interior of the armors with protective clothings! Ah! But we still need to do something about the little areas of exposed skin.” said Greg.

“... Yeah, you're right... The second problem is supplies, water and food. I don't think we'll find anything safe for consumption in this rotten dungeon. Had a look around? Everything is aged and corroded. I'm wondering if we can even use the canned food that lies here, though I'm not optimistic. Same with water, I don't know if the plastic bottles handled the unnatural aging well.”

“... We only have 3 days worth of food and water. Your pets have nothing, not even water. If we share with them, that will leave us with 2 days of food and water. If we don't clear this dungeon in 3 days, we will be as good as dead since we will get weaker from lack of nutrition.” said David.

“You're right. Also, about those monsters, they may be slower than us, but with those wicked, clawed fingers and pointy teeth, I bet they also have abnormal strenght to make up for their lack of speed. I don't know how well the armors I made can fare against them. And there will be no repairs. We didn't meet many of them, but considerng all the changes of direction Ras made when looking for a safe place, I'm assuming there are a shitload of them. And they probably are the weakest monsters here.”

“Any other bad news?” asked Diane with a defeated face.

“Not really... I think we should focus on constitution and agility for the next few levels, to be ready for an eventual shortage of food and water, and to avoid getting hit and then be infected by something nasty. Or even to run away from a crowd before we get trapped. 2 in constitution, 2 in agility, 1 in strenght... Oh!!!”

“What?” asked Diane.

“I can use Sadira's threads to make small traps and trip them, or restrain their movements! Wait, the thread is produced by the body, so all her nutrition will go there and she will starve faster! And here I though I got a nice idea to deal with the monsters of this dungeon.”

“... Sadira is a monster, or a magical beast? So maybe it doesn't use nutrition, but mana or stamina?” asked Greg.

“I don't know, I never checked that. I just assumed it would be like normal spiders. Let's check it out now.”

He ordered Sadira to make some thread, and sure enough it consumed something. But it was both mana and stamina, around 1 point of each per meter of thread. She could make up to 130m of thread in one instance. It was decided that they would use her thread to hinder them.

They decided to look for a small group of zombies, as they decided to call them, and lured them in an alley, with thread put around knee level between the walls. The zombies effectively fell, unable to maintain their balance or rip the thread. They became easy targets for their spears as they directly aimed at the heads, piercing their brains and killing them.

Unfortunately for them, the defeated zombies started to rot at a faster rate, releasing an even more foul odor. All 4 of them couldn't stand it and threw up. Even the 2 pets hastly and painfully fled away from the melting corpses. Except for Sadira, all of them had tear in their eyes. The smell was so terrible Erwin was scared the air would be contaminated, so he used a lot of detox magic as they ran away.

Because it was still early and their time in the dungeon was limited, they continued to hunt. Some zombies were a dreadful sight for the group. They came across a man who lost his 2 balls as it ran toward them, petrifying the guys and making Diane laugh at them. Yet, later, they came across a bimbo who lost her breasts while attacking them. They made a disgusting sound as they burst into rotten pieces of fat and liquids upon touching the grounds. The nipple rolled away.This time it was Diane who got stunned. Though the other were stunned as well, they did make fun of her in revenge, but their faces were deathly pale.

By noon, they had cleared a large area and gained 2 levels. They were exhausted, mostly due to the horrifying sights and impossible smell.

“Guys, I think that we will have terrifying nightmares involving them for quite some time... Just thinking about it makes me want to cry... Usually, after watching a horror movie I would watch or read some porn before going to bed, but I have the feeling that watching naked women won't help... It will make things worse I think.”

“... You're ruining things for me you know?” said Greg in a dejected tone.

“Hahaha!! No, I'm sparring you the bad surprise!”

They all laughed a little, but it was a hollow laugh. They had to resume their hunt to gain levels and capture the dungeon.

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AN: Next time in The Walki-I mean, in WF, a new enemy!

And no, I'm not dropping my other fictions