Gamer Guild’s Dungeon (5th Floor)

--- Jon ---

“Pardon but aren’t we supposed to be five storeys underground by this point?” Ying asked, staring at the moon above them.

“Eh, it’s a pocket dimension powered by Madness, honestly I’m just glad there aren’t pools of black blood and dead bodies.” He admitted, looking around the forest clearing and making note of the way that after three rows of bushes and trees the circular clearing was boxed in by an unbroken line of said trees, save for a mist filled trail to what he assumed was the next room of this floor.

“You know as someone who spends a regular amount of time in Madness based pocket dimensions, I am greatly concerned by that thing you just said.” Roxanne told him having apparently overheard them.

“It’s not something worth worrying about anymore.” He shrugged, any trauma towards those memories being suppressed by the fact that he’d violently murdered the entity responsible for those -possibly literal- hell holes.

“Right,” Roxanne nodded, before coughing into her hand. “Anyways, I just wanted to give you guys a quick heads up, but this is the floor where I usually start having trouble whenever I try to solo the dungeon.”

He couldn’t help but frown with some concern at that. “Is it because of that whole thing with the nature… coven?”

“You mean the werewolf nature cult?” Ying corrected with some amusement, grinning as he twitched at the word ‘cult’.

“Yeah, that.”

“That’s part of it.” The gamer teen admitted. “They do tend to pick up a lot of weird tricks with nature magic, but I’ve seen Pix do scarier today so I’m not worried about that. No, I was just letting you guys know that I’m not going to help much more as far as mapping the floors out and giving what hints I can.”

“I don’t suppose there’s anything you can tell us about this floor?” Ying asked, possibly a little too bluntly.

“I’m pretty sure there are three enemies on this floor, excluding the boss.” Roxanne told them before continuing to explain that, “the main enemies of this floor are the Lycans which are hit fast and hard, and can take a beating. Additionally because of the cult on the previous floor the Lycans here have this passive nature magic that'll try to snare you with vines and roots like the goblin Shamans a couple of floors ago. But those are floor elites though so I don’t think you’ll see more than three of those in a room, with most rooms being guaranteed one. The more numerous enemies on this floor are all of the…” Roxanne trailed off as her eyes fell on Wolf trotting along next to them. “Uh, that might be a problem…”

“What might be a problem?”

“Um, the most common enemy on this floor are uh, wolves?” Roxanne grimaced.

“Huh…” He turned to Wolf who stopped as she noticed the rest of them had paused a few paces behind her. “Uh, Wolf?”

His canine companion gave him a confused yip to show that she was listening.

“Um, you know how we’ve been talking about this being a um, werewolf floor, right?”

Wolf nodded.

“And you uh, you do know that means we’re going to be fighting a number of wolves on this floor, right?” He attempted to ask delicately.

Wolf gave him another nod, if a bit slower this time as if she was confused why he was bringing this up.

“And you’re okay with that, right?”

His canine companion rolled her eyes before giving him another -if more exasperated- nod.

“Cool, cool… just wanted to make sure, because if you’re uncomfortable fighting wolves I can always de-summon you and re-summon you once we finish the floor.”

“Uh, actually, no you can’t.” Roxanne cut in. “Downside of the dungeon being in a sort of Madness pocket dimension, it screws with most summoning spells so it’s suggested on the dungeon website that Arcane summon their contracts before entering. I actually thought that was why you had Pix and Wolf summoned this entire time.”

“Oh.” (There goes that idea.)

Shaking her head, Wolf walked behind him before gently nudging him with her head as if to say, ‘I don’t actually care, so hurry it up already.’

“Uh, okay then… So I guess we’re all fighting the wolves then.”

---

(You know, it just occurred to me that between Wolf and all the mad wolves back at camp I might be a little too good at fighting wolves.) He couldn’t help but note, as he sidestepped a wolf that had leapt out of the brush lining the walls of the forest ‘trail’ in what was probably meant to be a surprise attack.

This thought was further compounded by the fact that after sidestepping the wolf, he proceeded to grab it by the scruff of its neck, throw it onto the ground, and then stomp its head hard enough to shatter the dungeon construct.

Shrugging to himself he continued down the trail before eventually pausing and turning around to face everyone who’d stopped to stare at him.

They continued to stare at him for an uncomfortable minute, before he finally glanced towards Pix nibbling at a cookie on his shoulder as she had been since they started down the trail.

Seeing his look, the little fairy gave the crowd a once over before answering his unspoken question with a shrug, signifying that she didn’t know what their problem was either.

“See this is what I was talking about!”

---

“So I’m guessing werewolves are big on ambushes?” He asked, idly noting the four (maybe five) figures shifting through all of the foliage lining the ‘room’.

“Yeah.” Roxanne nodded as she and several kobolds stood in a circle, their backs to each other as they kept their eyes out for the lurking threats. “That’s a big part of what actually gave me trouble with this floor, if you focus on one for too long the rest will rush you and then in the rooms with the actual Lycans you have to deal with the wolves’ hit and run as well as those tanky bruisers.”

“Hmm, perhaps we should try thinking a bit outside of the box.” Ying suggested, lightning crackling along her fingertips.

“No.” He shot down both the draconic teen’s idea as well as one of the hidden wolves. “We are not burning down the forest, just because you’re bad at hide and seek.”

Ying’s eye twitched. “I’m not bad at hide and seek.”

“There is an entire camp of kids who will disagree.” He argued, before leaping to the side and shooting a wolf as he avoided its lunde. “And besides I’m actually kind of enjoying this.”

“Of course you are.” Ying commented dryly. “At this point I’m starting to think you enjoy life or death situations.”

“No, I hate those kinds of situations.” He frowned, legitimately offended.

---

Ducking under a clawed swipe, he stabbed his knife into where a human’s kidney would be eliciting a howl of pain from the dungeon construct.

Hearing shifting foliage and realizing he’d gotten too close to the treeline during his attack he threw himself to the side, avoiding the tree branches swinging at him but unfortunately not the roots latching onto his leg and fumbling his dodge as he hit the ground much harder than he’d intended.

Reacting quickly he recalled his knife before cutting through the roots and freeing his leg just in time to be swatted aside by the Lycan he stabbed and not have his ankle broken as he was sent flying into tumble.

Spitting out a bit of dungeon grass that had gotten into his mouth he forced himself onto his feet as he met the glare of the werewolf and felt a feral grin beginning to grow on his face as he finally fought something that got his heart really pumping in this dungeon.

Seeing the Lycan rushing him once more, he flexed his wrist and recalled his axe from where he’d chopped a dungeon wolf in half before riding the momentum and swinging the axe out to meet the Lycan’s feral lunge as he delivered a heavy strike to the Lycan’s growling maw.

Refusing to lose momentum again, he stabbed his knife into the Lycan’s shoulder to pull it down into place before bringing his axe down onto the dungeon construct’s neck with the entirety of his weight finally shattering the last of the beasts.

Taking a moment to let the battle high leave him he glanced around the clearing finding himself alone in the forest clearing with just a handful of his kobolds panting over the disolving corpses of the various wolves they’d been left to deal with.

---

“You know it would’ve been useful to know that the forest would split our party.” Ying commented, once the various teens and their surviving kobolds managed to reunite.

“That’s not something someone would pick up doing a solo run of this floor.” Roxanne pointed out just a little bitterly. “Besides, usually when the GM pulls this kind of stuff she reserves it for her ghost or fairy floors, since pulling it on the forest floor because of nature magic is really fucking cheap!”

“So how many kobolds are left?” He asked, looking at their notably smaller crowd.

“Only the ones that ended up with us or you.” The Gamer Guild member told him now that she was done yelling at her boss. “The wolves got the rest when we were scattered.”

“Meaning we’re down to the Boss Kobold and maybe a dozen more.” Ying sighed, before shaking her head. “Shame I was rather enjoying all of the attention.”

“I’m sure.” He rolled his eyes before turning towards what he assumed was the room exit. “I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that since all of the other paths led here that one is to the boss room?”

“That’s how this kind of thing usually goes.” Roxanne nodded.

“Any idea what the boss is going to be like?” He asked, eyeing the passage with an odd but familiar mix of trepidation and excitement that usually only got when sparring with his Ma or fighting Quartermaster Rogers.

“Well usually the boss of a floor either throws a spin on what you’ve seen before or takes the floor theme and dials it up to eleven.” Roxanne explained. “For werewolves that’d probably be an Alpha Lycan of some kind with a couple of regular Lycans and a small pack of wolves running through the brush.”

“Okay, then in that case, I’ll take the Alpha while you each take a Lycan, and the kobolds handle any wolves running around. Pix you handle support zapping or healing as needed. Wolf you hit and run the wolves to flush them out of the brush so the kobolds get a clean hit on them.” He told them, something inside him itching to fight the alpha and have (a proper hunt.)

He wasn’t entirely sure why everyone seemed to stand up a bit straighter as he talked, but saw no problem with it given how even Pix was nodding in agreement rather than simply causing mischief where so ever she pleased.

---

Stepping into the boss room he immediately noted how it was bigger than any of the previous clearings he’d encountered, not all too different from the previous boss rooms, but the fact that this larger space was filled with trees and bushes made this room into something resembling a proper forest with the moon shining high above.

(Almost feels like home.)

The only detail the GM seemed to have gotten wrong was the air which lacked the cool crisp feel of the midnight forest air he’d grown accustomed to over the last summer. (Though at least she tried to keep the smell of grass and trees.)

About half way into the room they heard a loud howling in the distance breaking the forest silence that had surrounded them and putting all of them on edge as all around them the foliage began to shake and shift as glowing eyes peered out from the darkness.

(Aw, the GM was kind enough to show us where the wolves are!) (The corrupted were never that kind.)

In front of them a large black Lycan with a scar over its eye landed on all four, before growling as it slowly stood to its full height.

“Filthy humans, stepping into our territory…” The Alpha Lycan growled as two more stepped out of the shadows to flank them.

He couldn’t help but frown at that. “Um, aren’t werewolves a human deviation?”

“Werewolves may’ve been born from humanity but we’ve become our own people far superior to anything you lot are capable of.” The Alpha Lycan assured him.

“Um, several flaws with that given how were-people are just magic users with an animal affinity of some kind.” He argued, Miss Edna having explained this given her own animal affinity which DeSade had then elaborated on during their research into the Corrupted. “I mean sure there are ways to artificially create that affinity and turn it into a genetic marker, as seen in the lycanthrope virus. A virus I should point out that can cause several mental and spiritual imbalances if-”

He was cut off as lunging faster than he could react the Alpha Lycan had grabbed him by his throat and picked him off of the ground. “You think our people a blight?!”

Rather than answering, he instinctively kicked up as he stabbed a knife into the Alpha’s forearm, before using the dungeon boss’s face to get enough leverage to pull the muscles and tendons in a way that caused the Lycan’s hand to spasm just enough for him to free himself.

“Honestly… it’s less of a virus… and more of an inheritable curse.” He told the Lycan, rubbing a hand at his sore throat.

“You dare you pathetic whelp!”

Coughing during the (fifth) ‘you dare’ of the day, he barely reacted in time to get up a halfway decent guard before being backhanded away from his party and into a (surprisingly soft) tree a fair bit away.

“Deal with these mongrels, the overgrown whelp is mine.” He heard the Alpha order as he forced himself back onto his feet.

Knowing he was about to be attacked again he pulled his axe into hand and shifted his grip on it to deliver a sweeping upwards slash with the axe, forcing the Alpha to pull their hand back or risk losing it.

“So you still have some bark to you ey whelp?”

Rather than answering he swung his axe once more, slashing the Alpha in a strike that they both knew was superficial at best, before spinning with his swing and delivering a roundhouse to the cut hoping to turn it into an actually notable level of damage.

“Ha-ha! Now you see just how inferior you humans are to a Lycan’s might!” The Alpha laughed, before trying to claw at him in a flurry of blows.

(Right, guess durability is supposed to be one of his ‘boss gimmicks’.) He noted, barely keeping up with the werewolf due to the fact that the boss needed to pull their blows back further to do meaningful damage at such a short distance. (Just got to keep an eye out for if he pulls the other one out before I kill him.)

And he had no doubt he could kill the Alpha Lycan regardless of their durability, because as that superficial cut showed he could make it bleed. (And if you can bleed it, you can kill it.) (Just a matter of how long it takes you.)

Unfortunately, as their battle drew out, he found that those superficial cuts were currently the best he could do. A sign that by the time he could finish the Alpha off himself, the others would’ve finished their own battles and joined him.

Frowning he ducked out of the way as once more despite breaking skin, his knife did little actual damage to the Lycan. (Note to self, enchant something more… offensive into my axe and knife later.)

Hearing shifting foliage behind him, he was forced to drop his axe to more easily avoid the wolf leaping out of the bushes lining the dungeon ‘walls’ before tackling it to the ground. A move he hoped would buy him distance and time from the boss for the lesser monster as he stabbed a knife into the wolf’s throat, shattering the dungeon construct just in time to be tackled himself by the Alpha Lycan.

Crashing into the ground painfully as he felt a too heavy weight on his chest, a claw clamped down around his throat pinning him to the ground as the dungeon boss looked down on him.

“I’ll admit your fangs were sharper than I was expecting whelp, but you’re still a pathetic human.” The Alpha Lycan told him pulling back just enough to ready a killing blow.

Fangs tore into flesh as he felt the Alpha’s grip loosen and watched Wolf tackle the Alpha off of him.

“You bitch!” The Alpha spat at the growling Wolf. “You choose a human over your own kind?!”

Wolf barked out a violent sound at the Alpha continuing to growl as they glared each other down, at least until an arrow shot into the Alpha’s throat, at which point the dungeon boss turned their glare onto him.

“Fine, you want to make this a pack battle then let’s.” The Alpha inhaled deeply before howling into the air, causing several of the nearby bushes to begin rustling until wolves that he was sure hadn’t been there before stepped out of them.

Seeing this Wolf herself inhaled before doing the same as the Alpha and summoning her own wolves if fewer and more identifiable due to their glow.

All around him wolves tore into each other before shattering into light as the winds of Wolf’s wild magic swirled all around them as she rushed the Alpha hard enough to tackle the dungeon boss through a tree.

Scowling at his own uselessness in that fight, he dove into the forest occasionally firing off a quick shot here and there to end one of the dungeon wolves attacking either Wolf’s pack or the kobolds, before eventually managing to circle around to behind the Alpha and Wolf’s fight.

Taking note of the way the fight was moving and shifting, he climbed up a nearby tree as silently as he could before steeling himself and waiting. Something that left him feeling deeply conflicted as despite giving as good as she got he was still leaving his canine companion to more or less fend for herself. A part of him wanted to use his Contractor bond to alert her to his presence but at the same time he knew doing so could distract her at the worst moment. (No best to stay silent, stay still, and stay vigilant. )

After far longer than he was comfortable with, Wolf hit the Alpha with a blast of wind strong enough that he could feel the drain on his amulet’s reserves, and sent the dungeon boss skidding across the ground towards his general direction.

The alpha shook their head as they glared at Wolf, both looking notably worse for wear than before. (Yeah, that’s long enough.)

Leaping off of the tree branch, he dove for the Alpha’s back where he drove a knife into the boss’s shoulder and another into the side of their neck.

“Go for the throat!” He called, just as the Alpha slammed him against one of the dungeon’s trees to try and force him off.

Not needing further prompting, Wolf lunged for the Alpha’s throat while using her wind to push herself faster and harder.

The next few moments were a blur of pain, violence, and brutality but by the time they were done the Alpha shattered into a swarm of lights leaving Wolf and him to collapse into a pile as they fell to the ground.

“You, uh, you good?” He asked, after catching his breath.

Wolf nodded, if a little tiredly.

“Right, um, here, take these.” He told her, pulling out a pair of dungeon potions from his backpack.

Not fighting him on the matter, Wolf opened her maw so that he could pour the potions into her mouth, and after a few minutes his canine companion gave a full body shiver before looking significantly better than she had prior.

“Huh, guess those really do work as advertised.” He joked, running a hand between her ears.

Wolf nodded, before bumping the vial in his hand and then him.

“Eh, I’m doing okay.” He assured her, earning a look from his canine companion. “If it makes you feel better I’ll let Pix give me a once over once we meet back up with everyone alright?”

Wolf didn’t look particularly pleased with this, but eventually gave him a reluctant nod.

“Alright, then let’s see where everyone else has ended up, shall we?”

Turning towards the floor exit, figuring that everyone would eventually make their way there, he couldn’t help but think, (five down, two to go.)