We reach floor twenty one quickly, now that we figured out the trick of the walls. I still don't understand what happened back at the dead end. Neither Thea or Shiva seem to want to talk about it. The few times I tried to ask either of them, they just said ‘now is not the time’.

"Which way now?" I lean against the wall as Jacob studies the map carefully.

"On the last floor, the unmoving walls ran front to back. Here, I think it's side to side. I can't be sure, though." He rolls up the map, stowing it in a pocket.

"Soooo which way?" Thea is bouncing on her heels as she stands beside me. She has been full of energy since we entered the dungeon, but now it's almost like she can't hold still.

"Let's try left." Jacob shrugs and starts heading left. We are all following close behind him as he moves, but I'm still a few steps behind. According to Jacob, the twentieth floor is where the dungeon started laying traps. He has to take the lead to either trigger or avoid them.

According to Shiva, Jacob is considered a rogue. As best as I can understand, it means he specializes in picking locks and avoiding traps. While his main weapons are short sword and various daggers. According to her, the guild uses roles like that to cover a multitude of jobs.

"Hold up." Jacob kneels down to examine the floor carefully. From where I am, there is no discernible difference, but something has him spooked. He pulls a pair of silver colored balls from a pocket somewhere and tosses them gently ahead of him.

With a loud crash, spikes slam into the floor from above. The metal cones driving themselves several feet into the hard stone floor. With a sigh, he stands and turns around.

"Can't be this way. There's no way through." We start back the way we came and Sarge moves closer to me.

"So, what now?" I scratch Sarge's ear as we walk, making him pant and smile up at me.

"Now, we try the right path, and try to clear these next few floors quickly." Jacob starts an easy jog, making me groan as we move to keep pace. I don't hate running. I despise the very act of it with a passion. In my family, we always joked, 'if you run, you just have to fight tired'. We reach the stairwell quickly, passing it by in a blink.

"At least it's brighter on this level." Shiva laughs at me, and bumps my hip with hers as she comes up beside me. Thea bounces up on the other side of me with her face in a wide smile.

"Dungeons adjust the lighting for the monsters on the level. Gray wolves are nocturnal so their level is darker than most." Shiva gives me a smile, then starts to blush before falling a little behind me.

"She is just nervous, give her a little time. She is right, though. The fact that this level is bright means the monsters on this level are most likely daytime hunters." I have to remind myself that we are still in a dungeon as I run. The effect Thea's bouncing gait has on her….assets is very distracting right now for some reason.

"What kind of monsters are on this level?" Jacob gives a short laugh ahead of us, slowing down to a gentle walk as he checks the floor.

"We don't know yet because we haven't ran into any of them." He stops and his back goes stiff.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" He spins and checks the ceiling above us. At this movement, I do the same by sweeping the corners of the hall quickly.

"Has the ceiling been this tall on every floor?" I can't remember, but it seems like the rooms are taller on this level. In the dim light, I can just make out what looks like spiderwebs around the ceiling.

"No! This is a Goddess damned boss level!" At Jacob's words, Shiva starts circling to my right, forcing Thea between her and me.

"Care to explain?" Was that movement at the far end of the hall? I can't be sure. Figuring that it's better to be safe than sorry, I fire off two rounds. A loud clicking sound lets me know something was indeed there.

"Boss floors have stronger monsters on them. Usually one big monster and whatever brood they would have in the wild." Jacob scans the area where I shot, eyes unblinking. "This level has some kind of arachnid beast. So it's fucking spiders. Fuck, why is the ceiling so dark!? I need more fucking light." I can see sweat forming on his forehead as he searches.

Beside me, I hear a familiar click and a bright white light shines up. I glance over at Shiva and she is shining the flashlight I gave her at the goblin cave up into the ceiling. I flick the one on the end of my rifle on as well. I mentally kick myself for not remembering it on the level above us.

"I forgot you had that. Where the fuck were you carrying it?" My eyes flick over her tight clothes trying to puzzle that out. The light isn't bulky, but it should have printed a little as she wears her clothes tight.

"The fuck are those things?" Jacob is staring in wonder at the flashlight.

"Things from his world. They don't use magic and are bright as fuck." Shiva smiles at Jacob then tosses him her light.

"I'll keep an eye ahead. Jim, you watch behind us. These things move quick, and if you see one, shoot. Don't hesitate and don't miss." I give him a nod and move to the back of the group. Shiva taking up my position behind Jacob.

We move through the floor slowly, each step careful. At one point, I could swear I heard something skittering on the walls behind us, but when I turned towards it, nothing was there. The more we walked without seeing anything, the more it wears on my nerves. We had almost reached what Jacob is sure is the area around the stairs when the clicking started.

It started out as a low clicking sound I could barely hear. The more we walked, the louder it became. Soon, I couldn't even hear the sound of my boots on the floor. Jacob holds up a hand, moving forward slowly by himself. As he stalks forward, I scan the ceiling behind us.

I see a flash of movement so I fire off a trio of rounds. There is a loud screech followed by a giant spider hitting the ground. Walking over to the still moving monster, I pour three more rounds into it. It burst into a silverish cloud, signifying that it is dead. It leaves a pair of silver coins and a small white ball behind. I scan the ceiling and not see anything else. I squat down, grabbing the coins and ball.

I slip the coins in my pocket as I continue to sweep the ceiling with my rifle in one hand. The ball confuses me for a second. I look it over quickly as I back up towards Thea and Shiva. It feels like a ball of yarn in my hands, but only about the size of a goose egg. As I look closer, I notice it's some kind of fine thread wrapped into a tight ball.

"What's this?" I toss the ball gently to Shiva. She looks at the ball over for a second before shrugging.

"Some kind of immature spider monster silk. It's used in a lot of armors. This ball is probably worth ten silver or so." She tosses the ball up in the air once, then stows it in Thea's backpack. While she is doing that, Jacob returns from scouting ahead.

"I have bad news, and worse news. Which do you want first?" I shrug my shoulders which makes him sigh. "No one appreciates humor anymore." He mumbles before straightening his shoulders.

"Bad news is it's an Arachne." Shiva and Thea curse at his words.

"Let me fucking guess, she's about to pop?" Shiva has an angry scowl on her face.

"Worse, her eggs are starting to shake." Once again, the women begin to curse.

"What's an Arachne?" Judging by their reactions, it can't be good.

"It's a spider monster that's human shaped from the waist up. Incredibly fast and able to stalk almost completely silently. They lay dozens of eggs at a time and when they hatch, the offspring follow her orders blindly. Killing one is a pain because you have to kill their young as well. Any you let escape can potentially evolve into an Arachne themselves and start the process over again."

"Yeah, that sounds bad." I swap my magazine for a full one, handing Thea the half full one to reload.

"Monsters aren't supposed to lay eggs in a dungeon." Shiva is pacing back and forth as she mutters to herself.

"I know, but if she bound herself to the dungeon, she could breed with anyone she captured down here. The only good thing is that her offspring will be considered dungeon born so they can’t breed." Jacob seems to be trying to calm Shiva down, but the words seem to fly over my head.

"Bound herself to the dungeon?" I turn to Thea for an explanation. She sighs as she finishes loading the magazine and secures it on my vest.

"Wild monsters can bind themselves to a dungeon somehow. When they do, they basically become servants for the dungeon. If they die in the dungeon, they can be resummoned inside the dungeon. However, they can't leave after they bind themselves." She pauses and tilts her head to the side.

"The Lamia you killed, it shouldn't have been this far north. It's possible it was coming here to bind itself to the dungeon. If that was the case, then you have saved a lot of lives."

"How's that? I mean, yeah, I killed it, but wouldn't adventurers have been able to handle it down here?" Shiva stops pacing and turns to face me.

"Lamia's are a gold ranked threat. It usually takes a gold ranked adventure, or a party of high silver ranked to take them down. You need special weapons or a strong fire mage just to hurt them. If she had made it in here, she could have killed for months before anyone escaped and told others. Dozens of adventurers, possibly hundreds would have died." I gulp at her words, picturing the Lamia I killed stalking a party of adventurers through these tunnels.

"Ok, I get that." I turn to Jacob and he is glancing back down the hall he just came from.

"We need a plan going in. We don't have a fire mage with us so this is bad." I lean against the wall as I think about what Jacob just said.

"How much of a problem is it not having a fire mage?" Jacob stares off into space for a moment, seeming to be thinking about what he saw.

"For the Arachne itself, it wouldn't be that bad. Your weapon can probably take her out in a few shots. Right now, she is surrounded by a horde of her fresh spawn. All covered in the goo from their eggs. If we had a fire mage, one fireball would probably set the whole group aflame." I can't help but smile at his words, a plan forming in my head.

"So it's not a fire attack itself, just setting them on fire? We don't need a special attack?" Jacob shakes his head, but Shiva is the one who answers.

"The goo is highly flammable when it lights, but it takes a hot flame to ignite it. Once it's lit, it goes up like lantern oil." I smile wider as I reach into Sarge's harness to pull out a pair of road flares.

"I think these could help." At their curious looks, I explain. "When you light these, they burn at almost four hundred degrees fahrenheit." I hand one to Jacob as I explain. "Is that hot enough?" Jacob looks over the flare in his hand. As he looks up at me, he starts to grin.

"I'm not sure of your measurements for temperature, but I'm assuming it's hotter than a torch."

"Much hotter. So will it work?"

"Oh, it should do fine. Now, how do you light it?" I quickly explain how to light the flare, showing him how to twist the cap and strike it. We make a quick plan, then with a quick gear check, we are off again.

At the entrance to the chamber, we pause for a second. Jacob and Shiva give me a small nod, then strike the flares in their hands. With a deep breath, I swing around the doorway, moving inside the room as Shiva and Jacob flank me. The Arachne is in the center of the room surrounded by what looks like hundreds of her spawn.

The Arachne is a frightening sight, long black hair and pale skin. Her eyes are all black and seem to focus in on me as the most dangerous. Her human half is thin and lithe, wrapped in what looks like layers of spiders web. The spider half of her body is huge. It reminds me of the centaurs of myth in my world, if centaurs had eight legs and black bodies with spider teeth coming from their waist.

With an inhuman screech, she starts to charge as her brood swarming towards us. I see one flarefly out, followed closely by the second, landing amongst the eggs the spawn just left. With a loud whoomp, the eggs go up. A wall of flames roars through the room. The Arachne screams as her brood burns, eyes once again focusing on me.

The webs around her body is burning, leaving soot covered skin behind. I try to remain calm as this nightmarish monster charges at me. I feel the rifle kick into my shoulder as I fire, burning through fifteen rounds in the blink of an eye.

The Arachne staggers with each shot, still moving forward. As she gets closer to me, she pulls a pale white scythe from her back. She swings it at me as she lunges forward. My final shots catch her in the throat and face, snapping her head backwards.

The body comes to a stop at my feet, bursting into dust. I look around the room and see a few of the brood that escaped the flames climbing the walls. I spin my rifle around and mow down the immature spiders where they stand. By the time the last of them has fallen, the fire is dying down. The room feels hot and a thick acrid smoke clings to the air.

"Fuck me!" I lean back against the wall behind me and try to settle my heart rate.

"Thea said not till we get out of here." Shiva gives me a grin as she starts to gather up the loot that dropped around the room. Thea walks into the room and moves to help Shiva gather the loot.

"Oh, now she has jokes, huh." I give Sarge a scratch behind his ears as I finally settle back down. With a sigh, I start to help the others gather up the loot. It wouldn't be right for me to just lay back while the others did the grunt work after all. In no time, the room is clear of loot, and all of it is in the center pile next to the stairs headed down.

"How much more do you think we will need?" I can't help but wonder out loud. In the last few floors, we have gathered a lot of loot in my opinion. Dozens and dozens of gold and silver coins, treated hides from gray wolves, balls of spider silk, and more monster cores than I want to count.

"If I was guessing, I would say we have about half as much as we need. With the guild taking their tax, it's better to overestimate than to underestimate. We can take a detailed inventory when we get to the thirtieth floor. Then decide if we start back or go farther." Shiva starts to shove everything into Jacob's void bag as she speaks.

Thea is nodding her head in agreement, so I figure she must be right. Of course, I have no frame of reference for how much any of this is worth. So I have to rely on the people around me to guide me until I figure it out. I start to smile as I think about it. At least I have good people around me, people I can trust with my life. They have proven it to me over and over the last few days.

We take a short break in the now cleared out chamber. We also take the opportunity to have a few bites of the travel rations we are carrying, and a few drinks of water. By the time we are ready to move out, the smoke has all but faded away. It leaves just a faint smell of burning spiders lingering in the air.

"How fast do the monsters spawn?" We are starting down the stairs which are thankfully wide enough for two people to walk down side by side.

"No one really knows. Sometimes it's fast, for others it's slow. Odds are, we will have to fight some of the same monsters on the way out." Thea is walking beside me, one arm wrapped around my waist.

"So we have to fight on the way in and out?" Thea nods her head and smiles up at me.

"Not that I've had to do much fighting this dive. None of you have even gotten hurt very bad. So my healing magic is basically going to waste." I let out a groan as she says that, causing the rest of the group to stop and look at me.

"What's that all about?" Shiva nudges me from behind while she asks.

"In my world, there is a thing that always seems to happen. Someone will say they are having good luck, everything going right for them. Then the next minute, everything goes to shit. When you said your healing magic is going to waste, it felt like you were jinxing it." Shiva shakes her head, then shoves me to get me moving again.

"No point worrying about it now, just keep moving."

When we reach the bottom of the stairs, Jacob stops. I walk up beside him and promptly try not to gag. The smell of rotten flesh and decomposition overwhelms me. I cough nearly retching as I suck in another lustful of the putrid air.

"The fuck is this shit!?" Jacob remains still, the color draining from his face.

"Undead." Shiva walks up beside us and pulls Jacob back into the stairwell. "Jacob has a thing about undead."

"What kind of a thing?" I finally manage to stop gagging, sucking lungful after lungful of air through my nose. Working on a farm taught me sometimes you have to force yourself to adjust to a rotten odor to keep going.

"Long story, we aren't getting into it here." She turns to Jacob and slaps him across the face. He reacts quickly, spinning Shiva and pinning her to the wall. His eyes are still unfocused, he looks like he is miles away from here.

"Jacob, pull yourself together." Shiva keeps talking to him and calms him down slowly. As Shiva works with Jacob, Thea and Sarge come into the passage. Thea gags for a moment, but she recovers faster than I did. I scan the passage and watch for any threats heading our way.

"How do you kill undead?" I'm wondering if this world undead die the same way they do in movies back home. Thea shrugs her shoulders, looking back at Shiva and Jacob in the stairwell.

"Sever the head or destroying the brain is the easiest. Healing magic has the opposite effect on them. So my healing spells are offensive on this level."

"Good to know some things are the same in this world." Thea turns her head my direction and tilts it.

"You had undead in your world?" I chuckle at her question, shaking my head gently.

"No, but we had movies and books about them. In almost all of them, destroying the brain was how you put them down."

"What's a movie?"

"Movies are kind of like plays…. but they show up on pictures that move." Thea seems to be deep in thought at my words. I think she is trying to picture what I said. As we stand there and watch the passage, Jacob and Shiva join us.

"You good?" Jacob shakes his head violently.

"No, but I can manage. Just don't expect me to be my usual self on this floor."

"He will still take the lead, but he won't fight. Trust me, you don't want him to either, he freezes up around undead." At Shiva's words, Jacob starts to ease down the passage. We walk in silence for a few minutes until the sound of low moans reach our ears. As soon as the sound hits Jacob, he freezes and moves back to hide behind Shiva.

"You're up." Jacob points down the passage where a group of five zombies are staggering towards us. They are exactly like they appeared in movies on my world with rotten flesh over bones, and limbs hanging loosely at their side.

Five shots later,they are all down and they turn into the same dust as the rest of the monsters in the dungeon. I can't help but grin as they down. What redneck doesn't want to hunt zombies? We walk over to where they fell and collect the loot from the ground. It's a mix of silver and gold coins, just one per zombie.

"They don't drop much, do they?" I kick at the loose piles of dust on the ground.

"Undead are fairly weak, so they don't have much loot attached to them. Their strength lays in overwhelming numbers. We are probably going to get a lot of coins on this floor. That also means we will have to deal with a lot of undead to do it." Thea creeps forward as she talks, peeking around the corner.

"Anything?" She shakes her head, her hair flowing in the dim light.

"Passage is clear up ahead. Come on, let's keep moving." We take off, carefully making our way down the curving passages.

We run into several small groups of zombies. My rifle makes quick work of all of them. Eventually, we reach the final chamber with the stairs leading down. Unfortunately for us, there is the largest group of zombies.

"How many do you figure?" My voice is low as we are trying not to attract their attention. Shiva studies the room, golden eyes peering into the dim light. Her tail wraps around my leg which makes me raise an eyebrow at her. When she realizes what her tail is doing, she blushes, nearly causing me to laugh. I'm not used to the shy Shiva in front of me right now.

"My guess is about fifty, maybe a few more." I nod as I swap the thirty round magazine for one of the sixty round ones.

"Alright, let's just do this the simplest way." I take Shiva's hand and make her grip the back of my plate carrier. "When I start shooting, you guide me back down the passage. We move in a fighting retreat. I'll shoot and you move me. Understand?" Shiva nods her head once.

"Good, Sarge you take point going back, Thea you're next, Jacob in the middle while Shiva and I bring up the rear. Is everyone ready?" They all nod, including Sarge. With nothing left to discuss, I step to the middle of the passage in clear view of the horde inside the chamber.

I manage to get off five rounds before the horde notices us. Then it's chaos as they all move to swarm us at once. My hands are steady as I squeeze the trigger over and over. At some point, Shiva starts to slowly guide me backwards, just faster than the undead. We are nearly to the first corner of the passage when the last zombie falls. For a moment, I freeze, still scanning the passage in front of me. Then I begin to laugh, quietly at first, then louder.

"Great, he's broke again." Shiva sounds agitated as I turn to face her. Biting back a laugh, I try and explain.

"No, I'm fine I promise. My cousin and I used to argue about zombies all the time. I always maintained that controlled shots and a steady retreat wouldn't let you get overwhelmed. He said they would move faster in a herd and would overtake you. I just proved that I was right." My hands work in practice movements to reload my rifle as I explain. We make our way back down the passage and gather up the coins as we go. When we reach the main chamber, a guest of foul air rushes up the stairs.

"Sorry Jacob, looks like the next level is full of undead too." Jacob looks like he is about to cry as Thea tries to comfort him. I'm about to try and comfort him too when a scream rises from the stairs.

"Someone is in trouble!" Shiva and I race towards the stairs, rushing to try and help whoever is down there.

"Stay with Jacob!" Thea nods to me as I disappear down the steps. Sarge is sitting at her side. Shiva and I take the steps three at a time, covering the distance between floors in seconds. I have just enough time to wonder why we are running to help someone we don't know. I push those thoughts down as we run towards the screams. I don't want to be the kind of person who could leave a stranger to die. I might be able to kill if something is threatening me, but I'm still me.

We reach the base of the stairs and are met by a single passage. Since we don't see anyone nearby, we start to run down the passage. The screams are getting louder and now I can tell that they are definitely female. Something else is yelling too, but I can't make out what it is. As we reach the end of the passage, it opens into a large empty room. Shiva throws out an arm to force me to stop. I start to ask her what the hell is going on when she motions me to listen.

"That's it you stupid bitch, go ahead and scream! You worthless lump of fuck! It's all your fucking fault! How am I supposed to get to the surface now you useless fucking whore?!" With each yell there is a sound like leather hitting flesh and blood. I feel a growl rumbling up from my throat as I force my way forward and into the room.

In the center of the room, a giant woman kneels. She is easily head and shoulders taller than Chloe. Dark brown hair hangs in greasy knots around her face. Beside her is a stack of armor and weapons neatly laid on the ground. Behind her is a man with a wild look in his eyes, and a cat-o-nine-tails in his right hand.

He is dressed in well made half plate mail, painted a deep red. His blonde hair is cropped short, and drenched in sweat. He is swinging the barbed whip down again and again onto the woman's back. With each lash, she screams out louder than before.

"You can't follow simple orders and now I'm going to die in this fucking hellhole!" Spittle flies from his lips as he screams at the sobbing woman. Before I can think, I shoulder my rifle and fire a round in the dirt beside them.

"That's fucking enough!" My yell echoes off the stone walls, causing a silence to fall on the room. After a moment, the woman begins to sob quietly again. "Are you trying to kill her, you stupid fuck!?"

For a moment, I think he is going to strike the woman again. Then all his anger seems to turn towards me. The anger in his eyes seems to multiply. He steps around the woman, stalking towards me. The end of the barbed whip is flicking out, dripping with gore and blood with each movement.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me what to do!? Do you know who I am!? My father is the captain of the knights brethren! One word from me and I can have you executed on the spot!" At the mention of the knights brethren, I stiffen. My face sets in a scowl. Before I can stop myself, I feel my scowl turn into a smile.

"Big motherfucker, long beard, and has an area affect spell to cure fatigue. That's your daddy?" He pauses at my words, confusion setting in on his face. After a moment, the confusion becomes an evil smile.

"Of course, my father sent you to find me. When we didn't return in time he hired you, yes!? Good, let's go. This trash can stay here and die." He turns to the woman that is kneeling on the ground and spits on her.

"You hear me, slut? You stay here and die, don't you fucking move. I don't care if you're surrounded, you stay here!" He turns back to me, hooking the whip onto his belt.

"Well, let's go! I've been stuck in this dungeon for far too long." He starts to reach for Shiva, an evil gleam in his eyes. "Of course, I will use your slave to keep me company when we make camp tonight and any other slave women you happen to have with you." Shiva rips her arm free and steps behind me as she does. He seems confused for a second, then he gets angry again. I let him rant, enjoying how clueless he actually is.

"Your slave needs training. Well, what are you going to do about it? You saw her, she just refused me, me!" I give him a grin. When he looks confused, I slam my head into his in a vicious headbutt. He collapses to the ground, clutching his face in his hands.

"Shiva, go get the others. I'll handle this!" Rolling my head, I feel my neck crack. Shiva pauses for just a second, then runs down the passage we just came from. The man at my feet is cursing me, blood flowing from his nose. I kick him onto his back and sling my rifle to my back.

"Ah, shut the fuck up." He starts to push himself up so I stomp down on his throat to shut him up as I hold him down.

"Now, you need to understand a few things. One, I don't like sadist or anyone who abuses others for sport. Two, I dont care who your daddy is. He ain't here and he can't help you. Three and this is the most important of the three by the way. Your daddy is dead." His eyes shoot out of his head as I tell him his dad is dead. He pushes my boot off his throat, coughing as he asks.

"How would you know my father is dead? You are just trash, you're a dead man. Do you know the penalty for striking a noble? Huh, do you?" I grin as I kick him again, feeling his ribs crack under my boots. Kneeling down, I strip his armor off him quickly and cut the straps holding it on.

"I can't imagine it's any worse than killing the knights brethren's captain." As he gapes at me, I rip the whip off his waist.

"What do you mean?" For the first time, I see fear in his eyes. I test the weight of the whip in my hand as I smile down at him. What I plan is brutal and it goes against what I was in my world. I don't let that stop me, the brutality he was showing the woman has raised my anger to a level I have never felt before. Add in his comments about using my slaves, of using Thea or Shiva and I'm beyond angry.

"I mean, I killed your daddy. Then I killed thirty four of the knights brethren. Now, I'm going to kill you, not because of who your dad was. Not because you pissed me off or because you seem to be a brutal heartless jackass. I'm going to kill you because as far as I'm concerned, you are just another monster."

I swing the barbed whip down on his unprotected body. The curved bits of metal buries themselves in his skin. He screams, his voice louder than the womans had been before. As I rip the whip free from his skin, blood sprays into my face. I feel the anger, the rage building inside me still. Part of me, my conscious screams at me to stop, to just kill him if I'm going to and not to keep going with the whip.

My eyes flick over to the woman on the ground. She has collapsed since I looked at her last, unable to even raise her head. I remember what he said about Shiva, how he threatened her. The rage in me lashes out, and I forget everything. I don't know how long I stood there, whip lashing into the man. It was long enough for Shiva to return with the others and long enough that Shiva and Jacob literally drug me away from the body. I'm still screaming, lashing out as they pull me away. Then the world goes dark and a sharp pain explodes in the back of my skull.

Shiva's point of view

"WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK WAS THAT!" I'm screaming, I know I am, but I can't stop myself. Jim has always seemed steady in a fight; calm and collected. Yeah, after a fight, he might start to shake, but not during. When we reached the chamber, he was screaming like a madman. He was swinging the nine tailed whip over and over into the corpse of the man. Well, what was left of the corpse anyway. The body has been pretty much torn to pieces by the violence of his strikes.

"I don't fucking know! What the fuck happened?" Thea is kneeling by the giant woman already working to heal her.

"I don't know! Yeah, he was pissed, but I mean, he's been mad before. This was some kind of shit I never seen before." I look back over where we have Jim laid out, even in unconsciousness, he looks pissed. I have to suppress a shiver at the memory of him swinging the whip when I walked in. Most of the shiver comes from fear, but not all of it. Not that I will admit that here, or ever unless I have to.

"Who was that?" Thea is helping the giant to her knees, urging her to remain seated for now.

"Son of the knights brethren captain. He was an ass and a half. He thought his dad had sent Jim to rescue him when he was overdue. When he tried to say I would be serving him when we made camp, that's when Jim snapped." At my words, Jacob and Thea exchange a weird look.

"Fucking what!?"

"I don't think Jim is the only one who is dense." At Jacob's words, Thea laughs. I shoot her a glare before walking over to the giant.

"He saved me?" Her brown eyes bore into mine as she points at Jim. I nod which causes the woman to fall back and sit on her rear. She would easily be nine and a half feet tall standing up, and better than five feet across at her shoulders. Her just sitting there, she just looks confused and hungry. Her cheeks are sunken in and her skin is hanging loose around her waist.

"She going to be ok?" Jacob walks up behind me, digging in his void bag. Thea gives a little nod, then quickly makes her way to Jim's side. I turn to watch Thea's movements, seeing Jacob giving the giant an entire loaf of bread and a bag of dried meat. As she takes the offered food with a small nod, Jacob sets three bottles of water on the ground beside her.

"Well, what now?" Jacob shrugs, looking over at Thea as she heals Jim.

"It's going to depend on what he does when he wakes up."

"Motherfuckers! Who the fuck hit me!?" Jim sits straight up, eyes darting around the chamber. Sarge runs over, practically tackling Jim to the ground.

"That was me." I wave to him, causing him to give me an evil glare in return.

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HIT ME!?" Oh shit, looks like he is still pissed.

"I was gone almost twenty minutes. When we got back, you were beating an eviscerated corpse with a fucking whip. We tried to yell and get your attention, but you couldn't hear us. When we dragged you off, you tried to swing at us. So I knocked you out to give you a chance to calm down." He continues to glare at me until I start to squirm under his gaze. Then seems to just deflate, letting out a loud sigh.

"I fucked up, didn't I." He pulls his knees up, scooting against the nearby wall. "Dad always said if I lost my temper, I'd kill someone." He gives a little laugh, then drops his head onto his knees.

"Is he ok?" Turning, I see the giant woman is standing right behind me. When the hell did she even stand up?

"He's just working through some stuff." I give her a smile, then turn back to look at him. Thea is on one side of him, whispering something I can't make out to him. Sarge is on the other side, nose buried in his face.

"Can I get dressed?" She motions to the pile of armor on the ground. I start to tell her sure when I realize, her tunic is hanging open on her back.

"Before that, let me see if I can fix your shirt. Or at least get it to hold together for now." She nods, then turns around and kneels on the ground. Even on her knees, she is still taller than I am. I borrow a length of thin cord off Jacob, then work on fixing her tunic. The back is shredded as the whip tore it beyond repair. I just concentrated on tying it together enough so that it holds together.

"That's the best I can do here. Sorry we don't have any clothes your size." She shrugs, quickly picking up her discarded equipment. A simple iron breastplate goes over her head cinched into place, followed by simple iron vambraces. After that, she puts on sandals with some kind of metal soles. A great sword as long as I am tall is fastened to her waist. Finally, she picks up a giant square shield and straps it to her back.

By the time she is finished, Jim is standing again with Thea still right beside him. He gives me a shaky nod so I give him one back before walking to Jacob's side. I can't help but wonder what Thea is saying to Jim that I can't hear. For once, my cat-like hearing isn't able to pick out her words, making me think she is concealing them.

Back to Jim

By the time I pull myself back together, the rest of the group is watching me closely. I try and smile at Shiva, but that doesn't help. The woman who had been in the room when I came in is standing closer than I would prefer right now. Honestly, Thea is too. Right now, all I want is to be alone, but I can't in a dungeon. I need some time to try and figure out what the hell happened.

"Is there just something in the water?" At Thea's questioning look, I try and get her to understand my joke. "Something that makes women grow? Seriously, my whole life I've been the tallest in the room. Recently, I've ran into two women taller than me." Shiva stomps my foot, making me yell out.

"Ass!" I blink as I follow her finger and see the giant woman staring at her feet.

"Sorry, I didn't mean any offense. I just try and make jokes when I don't know what to say." She looks up at me and gives me a small smile. When I smile at her in return, her face flushes and she goes back to staring at the ground. Her hands play over the buckle on her belt.

"She's a Goliath. She can't help her size." Thea rubs the back of my neck as she explains. "Goliath's are one of the smaller species of giants. She is actually on the smaller size for them." She leans in close, whispering in my ear. "No woman likes to be called big, you should know that by now."

"You're right, I really should." Shaking myself loose from her arms, I walk over to the Goliath. "I'm sorry for my insensitive joke. I meant no offense." I hold my hand out to her, she stares at it for a few seconds.

Before I can react, she has wrapped me up in a hug. She squeezes me to her chest plate so tight I'm sure my eyes are bugging out. Thea lets out a shocked cry as I'm lifted off the ground and gently shook back and forth. As surprised as I am at being lifted and squeezed, I can't help but be impressed. I'm not exactly light, between me, my armor, weapons, and ammo, I have to weigh close to three fifty. Yet, this woman is lifting me like I was no more than a small child.

"Thank you master for saving me!" Her voice is booming, making my ears ring where I'm so close to her yelling. "Vaunea will serve you well! You will see I am strong. Vaunea will serve you!" As she is yelling and waving me around, I start to realize air is becoming an issue. I slap my hand against her arm, trying to get her attention.

"HE CANT BREATH MUSCLE HEAD! DROP HIM!" I've never been more thankful for Shiva's temper and yelling in my life. As I collapse on the floor and gasping for breath, I stare up at the giant woman. Before I can say anything, she falls to the ground, head pressed to the dirt at my feet pleading at me.

"Vaunea is sorry master. I didn't mean to harm you. I was just so excited. Please do not beat me. I listen, I listen good. Vaunea swears she will listen." I scramble to my feet as the Goliath apologizes.

I look around to the rest of the group and see mixed reactions. Shiva is shaking her head, muttering under her breath where I can’t hear her. Thea is watching the display with a strange smile on her lips. Sarge is ignoring the whole scene, instead watching the passages for any threats. Jacob is watching me with a bored look on his face.

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on!?" My feet are still unsteady, but my voice is plenty loud again. Shiva starts to open her mouth, but is cut off by the Goliath jumping up and exclaiming.

"Vaunea can answer! Master saved me from death. Old master was going to beat me to death, but you saved me. So you are my master now." Her face is bright and full of happiness as she loudly explains. For a moment, all I can do is blink. Finally, I turn to Shiva and ask the question burning in my mind.

"Is that something to do with the collar, or…..?" I trail off, unable to grasp the words to explain my question better.

"Nope." Shiva shakes her head slowly back and forth. "It's a Goliath thing. They take life debts seriously, to the point where if she didn't have a collar on, she would still follow you." She pauses, looking at Vaunea. "I think there is more to it than that." The Goliath nods her head enthusiastically, drawing her sword from her waist.

Before I can stop myself, I take half a step back. When it was on the floor it seemed big, but unsheathed and in front of me, it's huge. The blade alone is at least six feet long, and polished to a near mirror shine. Vaunea ignores my movement, kneeling and placing the sword on the flat of her hand presenting it to me.

"I, Vaunea Anakalatha, pledge my life and services to you. You are my master from this day until the day I repay the debt, or breathe my last. I will shield your body with my own. My blade shall cut through your enemies as they are now my own. My arms, my worth, my body are all yours to do with as you wish. This I swear on my honor and my clan's honor."

As she finishes, she remains kneeling, her hands outstretched. I look around the room, confused as to what I'm supposed to do. I see Shiva giving me a scowl, so I figure she has some idea, even if she doesn't like it.

"What am I supposed to do?" I see Vaunea flinch at my words, but Shiva just sighs before replying.

"Lift her sword, you have to prove you are strong enough to handle being her master. Then tell her you accept her oath. If you don't, then she will probably stay right there till she dies. In a dungeon, that won't take too long." At Shiva's words, I think of a way out of this thing. A way to let her go and still stay on her good side. I would still get her to the border, but afterwards, she could go her own way.

"What if I can't lift her sword?"

"Then she will try and kill you. The theory being you were too weak to have saved her. So you must have tricked her to enslave her."

Gulping at Shiva's words, I wrap my hand around the handle of the sword. A small grunt escapes my lips as I lift the sword one handed. I shift to a two handed grip almost immediately. The pommel isn't the simple round steel ball like I had thought. Instead, it is some heavy material, making most of the swords weight sit below the hands.

I'm surprised at the feel of the blade, even to my untrained hands it feels amazing. Yes, it's heavy as fuck, my guess being somewhere upwards of forty pounds. It's also well balanced and beautifully worked, from the waving pattern to the steel, to the tightly wound leather of the grip. Realizing I can't delay much longer, I bring my focus back to the Goliath kneeling at my feet.

"I accept your oath." She starts to rise so I continue quickly, forcing her to drop back into a kneeling position. "I accept it until such time that you feel you have done enough. Till you save either my life, or the life of one of my companions. On that day, your debt is squared away, and you are free to go. Do you understand?" She looks up at me, and I notice for the first time that her skin has almost a grayish color to it. Her light brown eyes staring up into mine. For a moment, I think I pushed too far, that she is going to attack me for changing the terms of her oath. With a small nod, she rises, taking her sword back from me and sheathing it. Thea walks up to me and throws her arms around my neck to pull me in for a kiss.

"So now you have another woman following you around. You know if I didn't know better, I'd assume you were doing this on purpose." Thea bites my ear, pulling it with her teeth as she leans back. I have to bite back a groan as she continues to tease me.

"As much as I hate to interrupt you when you are having your fun, do you have a plan for what we do next? Or are you planning on having sex in a dungeon?" Jacob is still looking around, eyeing each passage as he speaks.

"A plan, fuck. Yeah, give me a minute." I take a second to pull myself together while I think over our options. I turn to Vaunea and realize there are several questions that need answered before we run off.

"How deep did you and dipshit go before you got here? Was it just to here or did you come back from deeper?" She seems confused by who I mean by dipshit. I motion to the corpse still in the room. Her face scrunched with concentration as she begins to speak.

"There was a full party plus two when we started. We went down to the next floor right after clearing this one. It's there that the rest of the party died. When we were forced to retreat, he was angry and he blamed me." Her voice goes quiet at the end, and I feel bad for making her remember the painful memories.

"What happened on the next floor?" Shiva comes to my rescue, interrupting her thoughts.

"Pit boss." Her voice is flat as she says those two words. Immediately after, Shiva and Jacob both start to curse. Not understanding what she means, I turn to Jacob who thankfully explains without being asked.

"A pit boss is a special floor on a dungeon. Once you enter, you can't leave or advance till the boss monster is defeated. If the boss has other monsters with it in some dungeons, you can retreat after you kill enough of them." Vaunea is nodding at his words, interrupting his explanation.

"Boss had a group of orc warriors with it. When I killed the last orc, we fled."

"What kind of monster was the boss?" Thea is the one asking now, her hands wrapping around my waist.

"A manticore." Now the cursing is back, louder than before.

"Alright!" Everyone calms down, staring at me.

"What is a manticore, and remember small words, please." Shiva sighs as Jacob hands her a leather bound book from his bag. She thumbs through the pages while she walks over to me.

"This is a manticore." She shoves the book into my hands, I fumble with it for a moment before peering down at the pages. On it is a crudely drawn picture of some kind of childhood monster. It has the face of a person, body of a lion with a hard carapace like a scorpion on top with a long scorpion tail. On the opposite page is a similar drawing, but this one with large leathery wings like a bat.

"Manticores are a gold rank threat, like the Lamia, super intelligent, and immune to most poisons. They have a hard carapace on their backs that can turn most blades as well as that scorpion tail. If they sting you, nothing is going to save you." Shiva looks at Thea a moment then continues. "Well, Thea might be able to if she got to you fast enough, but most of the time, there is no help."

"What are its weaknesses?" Shiva snorts, causing me to do a double take at her.

"They don't have any, at least none that I know of. You need heavily enchanted blades to pierce their hide, or a lot of muscles. Unless you happen to have some blessed weapons, it's advised to just run. I doubt anyone has made it past it yet."

"One party has." Shiva turns to Vaunea, clearly skeptical.

"How would you know that?"

"There is a board outside the pit. It tells if the party before you wins, loses, or retreats. We followed another party to the pit. They cleared it and continued on."

"Well good for them! I say we turn around and take our chances having enough loot now." Shiva turns to me and in her eyes, I can just make out a glint of fear.

"You said blessed weapons can kill it?" When she sees my face, she groans.

"Why do I think I'm not going to like this." I can't help but grin as she speaks.

"Probably because you won't, but I have an idea." Turning to Thea, I see her smiling up at me, already knowing what I'm thinking. Jacob watches us grinning like a couple fools for a second before letting out a long sigh.

"Care to let us in on what the plan is?" Turning to him, I smile and rest my hands on the butt of my rifle.

"Sure, it's simple really."