13 Down in the Dungeon Pt. 7 Burn em to the Ground

Derek ran to the nearest tree with a hut and began to climb up. Alice and Rose stood behind Ian while Markus and Zoe went on the attack. Derek was able to make his way to the hut where the archer that called out the attack was. He swung one of his smaller hand axes at the archer but was met with a sudden resistance. The archer had pulled out a longsword, which appeared to be made of bone, and stopped Derek's attack dead in its tracks. Some of the archers then pointed their bows at Derek and fired a few arrows each. Some of the arrows collided, but a few found a new home in Derek's exposed flesh.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Son of a bitch!"

Ian started shouting out orders.

"Rose, can you try to heal Derek from here? Alice, start trying to take out the archers."

'What should I do master?'

'Look for any animals that could knock the archers off the trees. We need something big and strong.'

'I'm big and strong, I can knock down the trees.'

'That's cute Rahska, but I think you need a couple years before you can knock down a tree like that.'

'Just watch me.'

The little pup, determined to prove himself to his new master, found a tree with about 8 archers on it and ran towards the base of the tree. When he collided with the tree, the unthinkable happened. Rahska had shattered a large part of the trunk of the massive tree. The combined weight of the hut and the archers caused the tree to tip towards the middle of the area. All the heroes watched as the tree came crashing down to the forest floor, not only crushing the hut but the archers as well. Another thing that was caused by the falling tree was that the huts were connected to each other by bridges. The bridges seemed to be strong because when the first hut came, it started to bring down the other huts and the archers that were standing next to them.

Everyone watched in shock as a tiny ass dog had just royally fucked up a squadron of undead archers.

*Ding*

Ian had heard the system notice and he saw something different in his status.

Ian

Familiars: Rahska Level: 1 Exp: 1,000/5,000

'Rahska!!! You beat all the archers in the area. You also got a lot of experience that would've really helped us out.'

'Sorry master but wouldn't the experience that I get also transfer to you as well.'

'What!!!!!!'

Ian looked at his status and sure enough Rahska was right.

Ian

Level: 2 Exp: 1840/ 2500

"Damn, that was insane."

"What happened Ian?"

"Because Rahska is my familiar, our experience is linked. I also got the experience that he gained for killing all the archers. 20 archers for 1000 experience points. It pushed me over and I leveled up. It seems like we need 2,500 total exp to level up."

"That's 50 experience points an archer. It seems to be a lot, but if you only kill a few then that could pose to be a problem."

"Yeah, I got 300 points for the knight so the next floor boss should be finished off by Rose."

"Definitely, you fucking points hog."

"Hey, don't blame me. There isn't a fucking guide on how many experience points we get every time we kill a fucking enemy."

"Fine, let's just keep going."

Ian turned to Rahska, "You can help but no more killing enemies unless it could mean the difference between life and death. Ok?"

'You got it master.'

'Can you take us to another hideout like this one?'

'I might need some time, but I could probably find another one.'

'Please get on it Rahska.'

'Will do, master.'

"Alright everyone, let's go back to our camp."

The group grabbed what they could of the enemies' gear and went back to the makeshift camp.

They cooked up some of the meat that had been in the huts as well as some of the plants that were ok to eat. They went to sleep and dreamt of home, pondering what could be going on there.

Back on Earth

"The 6 missing children from XX high school have been declared deceased by the police department and the governor of the state has prepared a substantial amount of financial aid to give to the families for emotional distress. The time for how long the children went missing is fast approaching 10 years and the families have been struggling to deal with that fact. We ask that if you see the families in public that you don't say anything as they no longer wish to be reminded about this terrible event that has happened in their lives."

So much time had passed since the heroes had been sent to the other world that the younger siblings have reached high school. The younger siblings faced some bullying for the first few years as many people believed that the heroes had committed some kind of suicide pact or something. However, as time passed those that bullied the kids would eventually become their friends in time of need. The parents constantly struggled with their depression and turned to each other for support.

Back to the kingdom of Leone

Gyrax was busy looking in the library for more about Ian's bizarre situation. He had been looking for over a week on anything that would help him find out more about what Ian's class could be. The only thing that was even remotely helpful was a book about the elven village in the Ring of the United.

The Ring of the United was a border between the other kingdoms and the humans that was filled with the other races that had lost their homes over the years and created many small, but mixed villages that welcomed all. The specific village wasn't mentioned, but rather the name of a person in one of the villages, Anerost. Anerost was one of the oldest beings in the world and was even said to have met the first heroes from Earth.

'He might be able to help Ian discover more about his missing class.'

"Irene!!!!! I need you to come here for a minute."

A young maid came rushing into the library and looked at Gyrax with an eagerness. Irene was a commoner who had been taken into the castle to help the maids, but she also had another job. She was born with a special ability that allowed her to convince people to do what she asked of them. The more attracted to her they were, the easier it was to convince them. This ability worked on anyone: men, women, children, animals, even monsters. She was a force to be reckoned with.

However, Gyrax found himself immune to these "charms" as he saw Irene as more of a daughter than anything else. He grabbed some paper and a quill which he then handed to Irene.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully. These items need to be procured to help Ian discover his true class. He will need rations of food that will last for at least 2 months. He will also need upgraded armor, a tent, a cooking set, and backpack. If you can acquire a carriage, then that will also be helpful. We should also give him a journal to write down anything he wants to keep track of. Hmmmm, could I be missing anything else?"

"Shouldn't I prepare all of this gear for all of the heroes?"

"No, I have a feeling Ian will want to do this on his own. He reminds me of my younger brother. He was so strong headed that he left home in search of adventure and went to some far-off lands. I haven't seen him since he left. I wonder how he is doing nowadays."

The heroes had finally made it to the door to the 4th level after facing some more archers they had to deal with. The group had been trying to get through the dense forest with Rahska's help and they avoided getting lost too much, but they still lost their way a few times. Everyone was getting through the dungeon and they might reach level 2 before the end.

Ian

Level: 2 Exp: 2040/2500

Markus

Level: 1 Exp: 890/1000

Rose

Level: 1 Exp: 930/1000

Alice

Level: 1 Exp: 750/1000

Derek

Level: 1 Exp: 970/1000

Zoe

Level: 1 Exp: 910/1000

Rose had an excited look on her face which was the most adorable thing you had ever seen.

"You guys, we're so close to leveling up."

Alice had a pouty face and looked angry.

"Speak for yourself, I've gotten screwed over at every turn with taking down these enemies. It's like some higher power is preventing me from getting all the kills."

[A/N Sorry Alice, but I do everything for a reason.]

Markus pulled all their attention back to the task at hand.

"We need to get through this fucking maze, we're tired, smelly, and we could all use a meal that wasn't made with random shit found down here. Even though Ian is level 2, there are still 5 of us that aren't. Alice will be focus firing mobs while we protect her so she can catch up. We can get through this and then we can get on with the main mission: get back home."

"Are we all in agreement?"

The others looked at each other and their looks made it clear.

"Hell Yeah!!!!"