Chapter 4 : No good deed goes unpunished
Oz couldn't leave the cart but dragging it like this would be too annoying. The bastards loaded it without care of sorting it properly.
Eyeing the heaviest thing in the cart, she opened her bag. She would just carry the more expensive things on her back. If one got damaged they would just yell at her. Diamond ore was rare enough, so she stuffed the heavy pile of hand sized rocks into the back of her bag. She loaded up what she could handle, then pulled it back over her back. The rest of the cart was full of monster parts, teeth, bones, jars of ...fluids. Those were added as well. She groaned from the weight on her back, but everything was far safer here.
'Weirdos. I have no idea why such things are popular these days. Guild Alchemists, lucky jerks.' She thought with a snort. As much as she wanted to leave the newbie behind, she still was too kind hearted.
With throbbing feet, she started down the tunnel with lighter cart. The soft squeak of metal grinding on the rocky ground oddly muted to her ears.
"Hello?" She called out, the chill of the darkness of the tunnel was different than before. She shivered in her light tracksuit, the hoodie long since tied around her waist.
"Hello! Is someone down there?" She called out again, having to squint past the wall of darkness. How long had she been walking? By the ache in her back, it felt like hours. Oz peered over her shoulder, the tunnel seemed endless behind her. Only the flickering light of the lanterns showed it was less than 100 feet away.
"Weird." She shivered and turned around. Suddenly beside her was a massive...door? A simple metal door barred shut with a simple padlock of all things. Her fingertips brushed the surface of the door, a horrid sensation ran through her body. Enough she ripped her hand away, breathing hard.
Something evil was behind that door. And she was instinctively terrified of it. Her mouth went dry, she couldn't stop shaking. Something horrible was locked behind that door.
She shouldn't be here. She took a step back to see a spark in the darkness, the crack of a rock under foot. Her heart jumped to her chest as a pair of eyes looked back at her.
"Oh what's this?" A hunter's voice slurred at her. "A little pack mule away from the caravan? Are you out to steal my treasures like those other bastards?"
'Great it's him.' Oz thought miserably. Mr. Smith's insufferable right hand man, Chad.
Another hunter who thought he was the second coming of god or something, but he was barely more than a Rank C+. Her eyes leveled on the sparkling blade in his hand, trembling from the terror of the door as he stepped towards her. There was a stink about him, his body twitching unnaturally.
Then she blinked, remembering the orders from before.
"You haven't been in the dungeon this entire time have you?" She asked, stepping away.
"Stealing. Stealing. Everyone's stealing from me." Chad scratched at his face, eyes wide. "Stealing my fame, stealing my experience, stealing my treasures. Mine. Mine. MINE"
'Damnit! He's fogged.' Oz thought in a panic. Fogged was what people called it when the dungeon's air polluted the mind so thoroughly the mania set in. He was blocking the other way out. At least the cart was between them, did he hurt someone? She still hadn't found the lost newbie in the dark.
All she had was the door and whatever was down that path into the darkness.
"Starting with you, nothing but dead weight." Chad snarled, his sword scratching at the walls.
Oz flinched at the sound, like nails on a chalkboard. Stumbling back against the cold metal door, reaching out in the darkness to balance herself. The heavy weight of her back kept her uneven, falling back against the cold metal. The sickening aura overcame her again. Enough she felt queasy and ready to vomit her small lunch of jerky, chips and overly sweet oranges.
Doors in dungeons lead to lower levels. The dungeon they were in currently had six levels, the boss fast asleep deep within the lowest level. The guild didn't want to awaken the boss until the very end, since that would lead to the dungeon despawning. And there were profits to make after all. They were still on floor three, there was no reason for there to be a door here. The door downstairs was already cleared weeks ago, surrounded by purifying crystals and guards. The longer she touched it, the more it burned her skin. But not with heat, but with ice. Her fingers felt stiff and raw, as if she were out in a blizzard for hours unprotected. The warmth of her blood chilled and slushed, making her feel slow and listless. She wanted to fall asleep and never wake up.
"I should just kill you." He whispered, more the darkness than himself. "Even a lowly bitch line you have exp...if I kill you...kill you..."
Then with the swiftness of a cat he lunged.
[MOVE]
The voice in her head screamed. Her sluggish, stumbling movements ended with the cart unlatching and rolling at him, the hundreds of pounds of low tier monster by-products and heavy metal hitting his side hard. Hard enough he let out a guttural cry, the weight knocking him into the wall. Leaving him trapped momentarily. A murderous glare turned manic as he started laughing. Muscles strained as he pushed against the locked cart, his eyes locked entirely on her.
She ran down the dark tunnel before she realized she was moving.
Oz liked to think she was a smart woman.
She graduated high school and college with a 4.0 GPA. Mostly due to lack of a social life, it was easy to study when one didn't have the distractions of friendship. She tried to be the friendly, happy go lucky girl that would go to parties. She honestly tried. But the forced sunshine personality just wasn't her. Oz was a quiet hermit of a woman, expensive clothes and trinkets didn't mean anything for her. She preferred to spend her free time reading or playing on her consoles. Sitting under a kotatsu, a heated low table, with a thick quilt keeping her legs toasty warm as she read.
She lived a quiet life away from the greed of her relatives. Her parents weren't the best, but her mother tried to fight against all of the snakes of her new marriage. Dad tried as well but he refused to remain lonely, his family was just too toxic. That's why they were pulled into the mess. She was the adopted daughter from Mom's previous marriage everyone expected to take care of the kids and be thankful she was even included. Thankful for the scraps thrown her way.
'Is my life flashing past my eyes?' Oz thought, wondering why she was thinking of the past as she ran down the tunnel. Darkness surrounded her, lungs burning against the cold.
Chad's heavy boots thundered behind her, the scrape of his sword flashed sparks of light against the ores in the wall. Soon it was too dark to see any further, the endless tunnel seemed to drop off under her feet. She reached out feeling a nothingness beyond her grasp.
Was the dungeon despawning? No, no they were still inside. Someone defeated the boss?
She slid to a stop and squished her soft body into the wall. With the darkness she prayed she was mostly invisible. The heavy footsteps loud enough to echo off the walls. Silently slapping a hand over her mouth, she tried to stop breathing as he walked by. Dragging the sword on the ground, sparks and flares of magic coming off the sword's ragged tip. Whispering madness as he chuckled to himself. As he walked, the scent of blood followed after.
Her heart flipped, eyes watered as she forced herself to remain still. Terror made it hard to walk silently, creeping her way away from him. All she could do was pray he kept chasing down the tunnel.
She refused to die here.