Just felt like I should let you guys know: I wrote all of chapter 13 while on the can. Also the past 2 chapters were to build up tension for this chapter. That's right action chapter quite dark too. I'm aiming for a dark/light feeling in this FF. This is one of the dark parts.

Emperor and the others entered the caverns and were shocked to see the walls glowing red. Emperor and Stagola already knew about it from the window but seeing it theirselves shocked them. The red was a very vivid blood red while the non-glowing parts of the wall was brown like dried blood. The ground on the cavern was a mix of black, brown, white, and red. It made a distinctive crunching noise every time they took a step.

Kyle turned pale and threw up. Keith started shaking. Katy remained emotionless as usual.

This was because the entire cavern was filled with death. Very old death mixed with new death creating a vivid scene like that of an abandoned slaughterhouse. The smell was dreadful and almost made Emperor gag. Stagola just plugged his nose and continued happily with a look of awe. Stagola then stopped and picked up a glowing rock.

"Identify" said Stagola and he then stared at a window invisible to Emperor

'When did he learn Identify?!'

-Parasite let me take a look these glowing rocks pique my interest.

Stagola passed the rock over already used to his nickname.

Item: Sangre Stone

Rarity: Rare

A stone made of the blood of the victims of Sangre Caverns. Glows an eerie red caused by the dark magicks flowing throughout the cavern. Not very valuable due to lack of demand and limited buyers. Mainly dark magick users and alchemists buy these. There's other variations of bloodstones.

'So the only thing making it rare is its location.'

Emperor dropped the rock since it wasn't valuable and they were everywhere so he could just grab some on the way out. Stagola didn't really care either and started identifying other things. Since he dropped everything he picked up without disappointment it was obvious he was just trying to level the skill. The buzzing in the caverns echoed throughout getting louder and louder. Eventually they walked into an opening to a huge chamber.

'So that's what the monsters were.'

Scattered throughout the chamber mainly high up were mosquito like creatures that were the size of cars. In the center of the chamber was a large pool of stagnant water with a reddish tint to it. Whether the tint was from the lighting or the pool was contaminated with blood was unknown.

Since the mosquitos were too far away to fight they approached the pool. It was creepy and dark shadows swum in its murky depths. One of the creatures in the pool launched itself out of the water and latched itself to Emperor. Thanks to his armour, Emperor took no damage and Stagola casually cut down the creature and collected its loot.

'Was that the larvae of the mosquitos? That thing was more like a leech than a mosquito larvae.'

Stagola said "Even the weak monsters are creepy here, I love the ambiance." joyfully

The 3 kids remained silent because they were in shock from the monster. Afterwards they kept their distance from the pool as the group went around it. Stagola forced Emperor to keep close to the edge and several more larvaes attacked him. In return Stagola identified and passed off some of the loot.

Along the way Emperor leveled up twice, despite the larvae being weak and not attacking that often they gave decent experience especially with the bonus. After a few hours they reached the other side of the chamber. The 3 kids cheered for being away from the creepy pool and larvaes within. Then in the new path a buzzing noise was heard as one of the mosquitos appeared before them. This one was smaller than the other ones only being a little bigger than a person.

Emperor reacted first while thinking 'Launching into the air won't do as much against a flying enemy since even these pathways are decently large.'

-Heavy Punch

Emperor charged and hit the mosquito easily as it tried to stab Emperor with its straw like mouth but didn't attack quickly enough. The punch caused the mosquito to get launched backwards but it didn't kill it. Stagola who moved to try and avoid this battle but still get good footage of the fight was right where Emperor launched the oversized bug. Stagola was forced to finish off the bug with his makeshift sword. He killed the bug but before it dissipated from the wound a blood fountain squirted out coating Stagola's upper half.

For the first time since entering the dungeon Stagola was in a bad mood trying to wipe the blood off himself while Emperor laughed at him. You survive enemy attacks, end up in unexpected places, and do something useful once in a while. You're more like a cockroach than a parasite.

Stagola's title got changed from parasitic sponge to cockroach unbeknownst to Emperor.The new title wasn't as bad as parasitic sponge but still had plenty of debuffs annoying Stagola.

The 3 kids began to keep their distance from Stagola since he wasn't able to remove the blood. Emperor was covered with blood too but thanks to his reputation, titles, and friendship with the kids they didn't mind. Plus he was wearing full body sh*tty armour made from all sorts of materials so the blood sorta blended in.

The group continued through the passageway encountering mosquitos once in awhile which they killed on sight though it always took a few hits to kill them. Emperor and Stagola both leveled up a few times but it was a mystery with the kids since determining the levels of NPCs was hard.

Eventually they stumbled upon another chamber but this time it was a lot more labyrinth-like with spikes jutting out of the ground like reverse-stalagmites and a lower roof than the previous chamber. The mosquitos tended to venture much closer to the ground too and sometimes went into the maze of spikes. Not wanting to go back, the party went into the maze.

Every once in awhile a mosquito the size of a car ventured down, spotted them, and then attacked them. Usually they didn't spot them until they went down due to diagonal and horizontal branch offs from the spikes leaving limited sight below. They easily killed the mosquitos as they were vulnerable in the cramped space.

Eventually their group came upon a strange scene. There was horizontal branches around a bunch of spikes in a way that makes walking into it impossible. The only way to get in was from above so the group decided to investigate this suspicious structure. Inside to their shock they found some of the villagers looking pale but still alive and in one piece. They began to hack away at the branches but couldn't break them.

Ending it here at a Cliffhanger but I won't be able to continue until Friday, sorry. I'll use the week thinking of what to do after this arc so I can post 10 chapters next weekend too.

http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3873