CH24

Our first stop was a clock half buried in the filament with red veins stretching through the wood. The clock face was on at 9:45. We poked around, opening the case and checking for any hidden keys, and moved the hands to listen for clicks. Once nothing obvious was forthcoming, we searched for anything that could link to the clock.

That was the thing about this floor; we needed to solve 3 puzzles to move on to the next floor. Each puzzle would release a boss that held a key and dropped.

As for mobs, they are mainly undead velociraptors filled with worms. My spear was put up, and I used my fists to care for them. My armor was great against their sharp teeth, and I was sure some plate would drop soon. We exchanged items with Azizi's bag of holding to ensure we carried the best gear possible to sell, and the raptors dropped common shards.

I had already increased my endurance by 25 and needed some uncommon shards to raise it even further. More endurance helped me deal with the weird environment. The slight discomfort I felt from the ground tentacles slightly impeding my path had died down. It felt good not to be tired.

"How long until we turn back?" Zeff asked.

"It's barely been an hour on the outside. Why should we go back?" I asked.

"What did you invest your points in cockiness? Weren't you ready to bolt four hours ago?" Zeff said.

"Nothing like 25 stat points to change a man's mind, right. What did you spend them on? I don't think it was charisma?" Hati said.

"I would have chosen strength; it's the only real choice that matters," Azizi said.

"Intelligence would benefit everyone more than something easily gained on the second floor. Did you notice the increased gravity?" Zeff asked.

"That is a rumor to get some rich researchers from the capital to invest money into the town," Hati said.

"So it's only the terrain," Zeff said.

The zebra lifted a foot and stomped it down before lifting it and watching the tendril stand up, gripping his foot.

"The strength gains are real," Zeff said.

"Resistance training can be very effective with every step," Azizi said.

I was feeling the burn from walking until my endurance increased. My undead stumbled into a raptor ambush, and I rushed in to help. One of the raptors I flanked turned on me, and I cracked its jaw.

The monster rolled, scratching the air with its claws. While it was down, I stomped it, breaking the monster's neck. For such a squat-looking reptile, they had weak joints. It bit down on my boot, and I stomped down instead of pulling away.

The lizard's jaw split apart from the impact.

The others joined in, and we finished off the ambush and collected what loot we could.

We were still only pulling the weakest mobs; the second floor was much larger than we thought. The keys we needed were to the elevator, not another mysterious gate. Once we used the keys for the first time, the dungeon would give us each a card to move onto different floors. Normally we would look for quests for the second floor, like collecting specific drops for customers or rare items that only grow or can be mined in dungeons. Unfortunately, Hati and Azizi made a deal with the dungeon, and the only way to remove the penalty was to kill the banshee queen on the 3rd floor.

Hey, look, I think I see something shiny.

A clock gear rested on the breastplate of an adventurer half devoured by the red tentacles. The man had no scratch, which wasn't a good sign.

"Where is the rest of his party?" Azizi asked.

"They wouldn't have left a puzzle piece here. Hati forgot to see if the clock's internal mechanisms were damaged or missing." Zeff said.

I nodded; that made a lot of sense. Then an arrow hit me in the chest. Thanks to my armor, I felt it prick my skin, but not much else. A robed man erupted from the red grass and thrust his hands out. My undead threw himself in between us as purple gas billowed around it. That was something I had no defense against. The next second, the man was choking. Hati put an arrow through the man's neck. I felt another arrow hit me in the back, but it was still too weak to seal the deal.

My undead moved to become living cover as I closed the distance with the choking man. I bashed his head in with my gauntleted fist without meaning to. The next arrow hit my undead instead of me. That gave me the chance to find the shooter. Another arrow hit my back. There were two snipers.

Hati shot again, and I heard the archer scream. I charged the other one. From the red grass, an armored warrior emerged with a sword in hand. He should have brought a shield. Azizi came up to his flank with her new mace. His nice-looking armor crumpled in like an empty can of coke. The wolf choked on his collapsed lung.

I ran into the red grass when the archer ran for it. They became tired well before me, and I punched them off their feet. A knife twirled and bounced off my armor. The sniper wore light leather armor and some cloth, a mistake in the monster-rich environment. No wonder it was more profitable to lay ambushes.

When I punched this one in the face, it didn't break so easily. I dragged them with me back to the others for questioning.

After the ambush, it was decided that staying was a bad idea, so we left for the elevator and planned to question the sniper on the far less dangerous 1st floor. They made the elevator more cramped, but that wasn't too big of a problem.

Azizi removed the bandit's hood and mask on the first floor to reveal a silently seething ostrich girl. Black and white feathers fell out of the hood. She had a beak instead of lips and an orange phoenix tattoo on her neck.

"Shit, she's one of the councilman's daughters, and by her tattoo, she is a member of the terrorist group burning phoenix," Azizi said.

Hati lunged and started choking her.