Miasma leaks are the most dangerous natural phenomenon in the world. Just the cracks in the earth caused by them can swallow entire cities sometimes, and then there's of course the monsters, that slaughter anything in sight. Not only that, every miasma leak creates one special monster called Dungeon Keeper, which has above-average intelligence and great strength, which allows it to easily protect the leak, along with the ability to distort the surroundings into a dungeon. As such, if a miasma leak is spotted, it must be immediately reported to the authorities or the Guild.

Adventurer's Guide, chapter 18

"How could this happen?!?"

Lorn had just finished preparing himself for battle, and what he saw outside the mansion was pure hell: dozens of monsters were spawning from a giant crack in the ground, which was releasing a dreadful purple smoke of miasma. His men were holding them off along with the adventurers, but the more time it passed, the more the crack got bigger and the more monsters came out, slowly crushing the defense.

"[HOLY ARROW]!"

Lorn casted a magic light arrow that pierced six feral orcs, before stopping at the seventh and exploding, killing another four in the process.

"LORD WHITESTEEL! WE'RE SAVED!"

The man at the lead of the defense line shouted in relief, thinking that with the help of his commander they couldn't possible lose.

"It's too soon to rejoice, brother. The ferals are not stopping coming anytime soon. We must close the leak or else we'll just face an endless swarm"

"Y-yes, my lord, you're right"

"Still, how to do it?"

Lorn had never dealt with miasma leaks, as such he had no idea if there even was a way to actually close it.

"If we don't do something soon this place will become a den of ferals..."

"SKELETONS FROM THE RIGHT!"

One of the templars shouted and Lorn quickly turned to direction indicated by his him, and saw more than ten armed skeletons coming towards them.

"PUT YOURSELVES IN POSITION! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEM JUST BECAUSE WE OUTNUMBER THEM"(Lorn)

"YESSIR!"

The templars put themselves in three lines, the first consisting of greatshield-wielders, the second of lancers and the last of archers. The skeleton attack was weakened by a rain of arrows ,which damaged the bones of most of the undead, then their attack was stopped by the line of shields, then the lancers finished them off by piercing their skulls. A peerless performance of coordination.

Having finished dealing with the skeletons, they began advancing towards the leak,to slow the onslaught of the monsters by placing a few seals on it. Five armored zombies came out of the crack and began running at the templars, but their armor was far too heavy for the arrows to pierce so Lorn casted a few holy arrows to break it, which succeeded but caused them to go berserk and augment their speed, but the archers immediately shot the weak points, making them fall on the ground, giving an easy chance to the lancers to slaughter them.

"COME ON! WE'RE CLOSE! PREPARE THE SEALS! WE CAN'T LET THEM COME OUT ANYMORE!"(Lorn)

They managed to get to the crack, killing every monster that tried to climb out.

"ARE THE SEALS READY YET?"(Lorn)

"YES, COMMANDER, THEY'RE READY!"

"PERFECT! PREPARE TO PLACE THEM!"

Lorn gave the order and prepared himself for any possible ambush by the ferals. And then, out of curiosity, he looked into the leak, and all he saw was the strange smoke, and a black void beyond it, a void which he felt was calling him, luring him, to corrupt his very soul. He could hear a voice in his head.

"Come Lorn...... come to us........ let us consume you"

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

He fell on his back, startled by that strange voice, which he couldn't even understand if it was a voice at all.

"Commander! What's the problem?!?"

"N-n-nothing... Just, JUST SEAL IT!"

All the templars began placing the seals, when they heard the roar of a beast coming from the crack.

"WHAT IS THAT!?!"

"DON'T PANIC! PREPARE THE FORMATION! WE CAN DEFEAT ANYTHING IF WE STAND TOGETHER!"(Lorn)

"YESSIR!"

"Oh, just look at you, full of hopes and camaraderie. I'm sorry, but i'll have to destroy such foolish things"

A deep, calm voice was heard from the pit and a gigantic black hand suddenly came out of it, grabbing the edge and slowly pulling itself out. The templars could only stare in shock at the spectacle in front of them: a figure of ten meters spawning from hell itself,f ur as black as the night, the legs and head of a bull, the torso of a man, completely red eyes, white horns so long they could pierce three men and an axe as tall as itself.

"A, A MINOTAAAAAUUUR!"

"HOW THE HELL IS IT SO BIG?!?"

"THAT'S NO MONSTER, THAT'S A DEMON!"

"Oh, come on, i'm an handsome gentleman, why do you have to treat me like that? Well, i guess i shouldn't have let you hear my shameful roar before."

"I-IT TALKS!"

"IT REALLY IS A DEMON!"

"That's no demon.. that's... THAT'S A DUNGEON KEEPER!"(Lorn)

"So you noticed. Well, that makes things easier to explain. My name is Nero, and i've been created by this leak to destroy any offender. Especially holy-blinded fools like you"

One of the templars overcame his fear and pointed at the beast.

"Y-YOU THINK WE'RE SCARED OF YOU DAMN MONSTER!WE'RE SERVANTS OF THE GO-"

Suddenly an enormous shadow could be seen swinging trough the air, and the upper half of the man disappeared.

"I'm sorry, but i'm a busy man and i can't waste my time with your desperate wailings. Now please kneel and let me kill you"

"HOW DARE YOU! ATTACK HIM!"

"NO! STOP! WE CAN'T WIN!"

The templars launched themselves to assault the terrible monster, but a single swing of his gigantic axe was enough to kill half of the men in front of him. Lorn could only tremble in fear in front of this unbeatable enemy.

"I-i told you...." He uttered, without being heard by anyone but himself.

"Still, a-as a man of Whitesteel family, i cannot run from this monster... I MUST FIGHT!"

He brought his hand to the hilt of his sword, ready to die in battle... but his hand suddenly froze. He couldn't fight. He couldn't sacrifice his life in vain. He was a proud and noble templar, he had to live, he had to warn the Church. His trembling intensified.

"I-I'm sorry brothers..."

He began running away from that beast of nightmares,while his comrades screamed and begged him for help.

"COMMANDER, HELP! AAAARGH!"

"I'm so sorry.."

"LORD WHITESTEEL, PLEASE! UUUUURGH!

"I'M SORRY!"

"COME BACK HERE, SAVE US!"

"IMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRY"

Lorn kept running and running, till he was out of the city, and when he looked back he could only see the flames of the already destroyed ruins. He sat down ,resting for a minute before continuing his escape.

"I'm saved... i'm saved"

He put his head between his arms ,trying to process the fact that he had just abandoned the people he called brothers out of fear.

"Their death won't be in vain... If i manage to inform the Church of this, then we'll be able to stop all of this before it gets out of hand"

He tried to motivate himself to run and got up, cleaned himself a little bit of the dirt, then he resumed walking towards the closest Templar base. But suddenly the earth started trembling and he could hear roars that seemed to express fury.

"No, he couldn't have.."

"COME HERE BOY!"

A giant minotaur was running at him full speed, with the resolve and rage of vengeance itself. Lorn tried to run away, but Nero easily jumped in front of him, making a small crater in the ground. Lorn once again began trembling in fear.

"Why, why did you follow me?!?"

"Why, boy?Because you're an utter coward"

"Eh?"

"As a gentleman, i simply cannot bear to see someone so shameless to abandon his own men, who had the courage of facing death. You must die, at least that may cleanse your shame"

"Wait,i-"

"No excuses boy, prepare for judgement"

"NO, PLEASE, I CAN TELL YOU IMPORTANT INFORMATION!"

"....What kind of information?"

"About the black mage that created the leak!"

"Don't try to fool me, boy, i may be born from miasma, but i have enough awareness of the world to know that no normal mage, be it a dark one or a priest, can do something like that"

"HE CAN! HE EVEN TURNED THE WHOLE CITY INTO ZOMBIES BEFORE!"

"I see... i'll have to check this black mage.... well, that is for another day, as i have to adapt this town-"

Nero looked at the flaming ruins of the Gorwyn for a moment.

"This thing resembling a town to my subordinates daily needs.Now, boy, any last words?"

Lorn was shocked for a moment, then he realized he could not escape, this was his fate. If he remained with his men it would have been the same. Death had come for him that day and could not avoid it. He had to accept it. At least in this way he would have recovered a bit of his lost honor. He sit on his knees, putting his sword next to him and lowering his head.

"I pray so that someone may destroy you and the evil that taints this town"

"So you decided to die like a man... without begging for mercy. As a gentleman, i must respect that"

Nero lifted his axe to the sky.

"Don't worry, it will be over quick"

His axe then quickly slashed vertically and something was uttered by Lorn's mouth:

"I'm coming, brothers"

Hello, guys! Enjoyed the chapter? I hope you did, because it was strangely tiring for some reason. Also, how do you like our new gentleman, Nero? The idea for him popped out very randomly, like "Ok, then a minotaur comes out and he...... is a fucking gentleman!" Just like that. But regrettably, there's some bad news: I FINISHED GRAVITY FALLS! WHYYYYYYYYY?!? I NEED MOOOOOOOREEEEEEE! BIIIIILLL, I'M GONNA MISS YOU, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD! YOU TOO STAN !OH AND SOOOOOS! SOOOOOS! DAMMIT ALEX HIRSCH, MAKE MORRREEEE!

P.S.(POSSIBLE SPOILERS, DON'T READ)

If the story about the statue in the forest is true and after discovering it he makes a new season i will squeal like a girl.

AND YOU WILL HEAR ME. I ASSURE YOU.