《Support Main - LITRPG》Chapter 7 ~ Trust
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They entered the dungeon. An opaque, blue barrier rose up behind them, stopping them from leaving and telling other players someone was inside. Entering was still possible, but leaving could only be done after the dungeon had been beaten.
“Hihi-hihi,” A fairy few over, “welcome to my abode. I wish you the best of luck.”
Dungeons grew in power for each player they managed to end, and since fairies were a part of the dungeon, they’d also grow in power. If a fairy managed to kill over one hundred players, they’d evolve, growing into a real beast. But in their current state, they were unkillable in every way but destroying the dungeon core.
“Shut the fuck up,” Frost sneered, whilst the others walked past the fairy without acknowledging it. The fairy stopped for a moment, shocked at what had just happened, and flew back after them.
“Hey, don’t ignore me!” She said, her spiky high tone made it a screech. Nobody answered this time, instead opting to continue walking forward, deeper into the dungeon.
The dungeon had bright lanterns on the walls, lighting up the steps. It was large and spacious, a true massive dungeon. The challenge ahead of them was much larger than usual. Generally massive dungeons had a low level, but many weak enemies, preferring swarm type tactics, this one had a high level, and many enemies. For now those enemies were hidden, but they’d come out soon enough.
Lucian wondered if this would be the type of dungeon with many paths, or one direct path that they’d have to travel down. Both existed; massive dungeons tended to lean towards being more free, labyrinthic in a way.
A yellow liquid trickled down beside the stairs. The stairs were stone tainted slightly green with intricate patterns carved into them. The steps were small, but long, and they continued down for a long time.
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On the walls and roof, different paintings of different stories were shown. It was paintings of men and women, that were highly disfigured and cut into pieces and blood was everywhere, and children cried, and the clouds fell. The story grew grimmer the further down they went, detailing how it would look if the gods descended.
Dungeons have different themes to them. It was something they came with. This one was filled with the colours yellow, orange and green and very old types of paintings.
Lucian felt a bit more clumsy and disorganized than he’d usually feel. He was tired, and sleep deprivation was a possibility in this game. They had to clear out an area in the dungeon and get rest, but that would be after a few hours. He could push on for that long, even longer if need be.
They reached the bottom, and the stairs stopped descending. It flattened out into a platform surrounded by a yellow lake. Large leviathans swimmed through the waters, their distorted images on the top gliding around. These shouldn’t be here. On the very opposite end of the sea there was a crystal.
“That’s the dungeon core right there,” Coco said.
“No shit,” Frost spat.
“I guess we’ll just go swimming then,” Coco said and tried walking up to the edge, but Scarface tripped him before he had the chance.
“We’ll die if we swim, those leviathans are over level 100.”
“What?” Coco said, “but they shouldn’t be in this dungeon right?”
“No,” Cupid said, “they shouldn’t, but I wager they’re made as a trap rather than enemies. Look.”
She shot an arrow into the lake, and instantly the two leviathans jerked for the arrow. The liquid splashed open, and the two monsters rose up into the air. Their skin was black like a panther, and their eyes shone yellow, sharp teeth filling their jaws. They fell and waves spread, gradually calming down.
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The dungeon core had a hallway behind it. There was another path to getting there. They had to go around. There was two different paths. Right, and left.
“Fairy,” Scarface asked, “what path should we take?” ‘
“Right!” She said, happy that someone finally asked her a question, “go right.”
They all walked left. The fairy's face turned dark for a moment, and then that disappeared. This trick would only work once. Fairies were quite intelligent, when they realized that their answers weren’t trusted they threw in a bit of honesty to mess with you.
They entered the hallway again. The paintings on the walls completely disappeared, replaced by rough stone. The tunnel shrunk in size, and they soon spotted holes covering the stone. Scarface stopped everyone.
“This is a classic trap,” he said. “See that button over there. I wager if I click it, then it will deactivate.”
“Be careful,” Cupid said, and Lucian scoffed.
“I’ve told him that a million times.”
The arrows were a blur, and easily missed with a blink of the eye. Somehow, though, Scarface managed to duck, jump, evade, jerk, away from every single one. It was as if he had a sixth sense for the arrows. He pressed the button, or rather, held it down.
“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be cleared,” the fairy cried. “Not at all.”
They walked over and turned the corner. There was a white wall there, a dead end with nothing on it except for hieroglyphics that fed into the system, creating a riddle.
I move, but I have no life. I am, but I do not think. I can recover, but I feel no pain. What am I?
Before Lucian had time to process the riddle, Cupid had already answered.
“A Golem.”
“I was about to say that,” Coco said.
“Suurreee,” Frost said, and Coco clicked his tongue.
“But, I really was.”
They continued forward, and the tunnel spread out. The paintings on the wall reappeared. This time it showed the famous god Palpatus, shown by the white shadows surrounding him. He was eating a human child.
There was three stone statues in front of them. One wielding a spear, one a sword and shield, and one the form of a large dog.
“Well then, who’s ready for a fight,” Lucian said.
“W-where?” Coco said, “I don’t see any enemies.”
“The statues you moron,” Frost spat, “they’re golems.”
Magi
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Old Riding Author Lunatic Asylum
Just off the A19, in the dark, incomprehensible lands known as Yorkshire, there lies a town. A town where shadow-silent alleys glint with the secret hunger of knives. Where blood soaks the chipboard window shutters of forsaken terraces stretching off into the night. Where the smog-choked air rattles with the depraved laughter echoing out from clubs that can only generously be described as post-apocalyptic. Well, that’s Middlesbrough. But down the A19 a bit (an impossibly long way down, actually) there lies another town: Raughnen, in the ancient, forgotten Old Riding. It is an equal match in muggery and thuggery alike. It also has magic spells and pointy wizard hats. And now, across the miles and across all sensibilities, a pretty nasty power (a magic one) calls out for its pretty nasty counterpart (a decidedly unmagic one): a proper sound Boro lad. Nothing good can come of it. This is a collection of one novella and four connected short stories: I. A Yorkshire Summoning II. Old Riding Day Trip (the novella) III. Heaven is a Parmo IV. Death on the 66 V. Death on the 257 In total, this comprises 34 chapters totalling around 35,000 words, so try not to worry. It will be over relatively quickly. There are three more short stories with more tenuous links to the core collection: Rush, Paper Round and Scenario 79: Sausage Fingers, all of which can be found in my collection Short Records of Misadventure. Reading these may allow you to make more sense of certain parts of the story, if any sense is to be made at all. NOTE: There are instances of prejudice and discrimination within these stories, including elements of sexism and ageism, which are purely the thoughts and actions of the characters involved and which certainly do not reflect my own views on these matters. ANOTHER NOTE; A WARNING, PERHAPS: This can get a bit weird. In less than 150 pages, we have four viewpoints, first and third person narratives, and a completely disjointed plot with lots of gaps, dead ends and no real resolution. Also ZERO lunatic asylums. It's all a bit odd. If that sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, which it most likely isn't, it might be best to move on now.
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