263 Heh

Jason leaned against the dungeon wall. His sword clattered to the ground as he slumped to the ground in sheer exhaustion.

Perseus also leaned on his sword heavily as he took deep breathes. Rocky laid down in the center of the dungeon floor in and spread out in an eagle shape as lines of sweat dripped down his face.

None of them said a word, as the flood of blue flecks a few meters in front of them slowly circled around gently blowing around until they finally dissipated into nothingness.

After Perseus did his special skill. The rats retreated into the depths of the dungeon, and all three of them were suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion.

Jason reached into his inventory and took out a bottle of water. He took a big swig enjoying the refreshing coolness it gave to his parched throat and tossed it over to Perseus.

Perseus gently caught it and also quietly took a sip as he leaned against his sword.

Once he was done he tossed it to Rocky who's breathing still sounded like a boiling kettle. The water bottle flew into the air and bounced off his head and landed a few feet away from him Rocky rolled over and reached for the water bottle.

A smooth hand with dirt and grim covering it reached for the water bottle and placed it in Rocky's hand.

Jason smiled at Rocky as his chest heaved up and down.

"here, take the rest"

Rocky sat up and gratefully took a huge gulp of water.

Jason sat down next to Rocky while Perseus stood watching the surroundings carefully.

Jason spoke first,

"Perseus," he asked "how far away are we from the final room?"

Perseus gazed at the map and answered

"we're only a 8th of the way there"

Both Jason and Rocky sucked in a deep breath. They were happy that they got a lot of EXP from these monsters, but they could only handle so much. In fact Rocky had leveled up to 26 already. While Jason was getting close to another level up even though he took out a large amount of the giant rats. Perseus had also reached level 54, just slightly bellow Arjuna's level 56.

Jason shook his head as he remarked to himself

"We really should have brought some support classes with us huh?"

Rocky had to agree.

Their party was currently a under leveled tank and two damage dealers. If it was a swarm like just before, or a boss monster, if the tank fell then the damage dealers Jason and Perseus would have a higher chance of falling.

"i guess that means, we need to use our skills wisely"

Rocky looked up to see Perseus walking to them. He reached out with both hands and to help Jason and Rocky up.

"come on" he grinned "we still have a long ways to go"

Jason was the first to grasp Perseus's hand. He stood up and let out a small laugh

"yeah you're right, lets go through this dungeon quickly, I have to make dinner for the wolves today"

Perseus laughed with Jason and added

"yeah i got to take the kids to go fishing today also"

Rocky finally managed to calm his breathing and grasped Perseus's hand.

"yup" he said with a big wheeze "my sister will get mad if Im playing games all day"

All three of them stood up now more motivated then ever. Jason stretched his arms and Perseus gave his sword one last clean wipe down.

Rocky brandished his mace and shield. And they departed into the depths of the dungeon. The darkness enclosed around them as Jason held out the lantern. This time Rocky stood next to Jason ready to set down his shield and prepare to defend his comrades with his life. Perseus walked in the back, checking for any ambushes. While Jason walked next to Rocky watching his map carefully.

The map of the abandoned mine served extremely useful for the entire party, except for Rocky, since he didn't have access to the map. But the map detailed everything from the size of the rooms and the pathways completely down to scale.

While the dungeon was in the shape of a cross or dagger, their were many small tunnels that branched off of the main corridors.

While Boops kept a watch on if any dots were approaching them. Jason spotted on the map a small tunnel that would move into a smaller room.

It was coming up right in front of them it seemed to be just a small hole in the wall, possibly triggered by a lever or something.

So Jason brushed his hands across the dungeon walls. Moss and hard stone were the only things he felt, sometimes he felt some hard jagged stone but that was negligible.

His hand then brushed by a stone that seemed to be pushed out slightly. Curious he felt the stone again. Discovering that it was just a single stone in the wall that seemed to be slightly pushed out. When he held his lantern to it, it looked just like a regular one.

Curious Jason pushed the stone in. It was easily pushed and even the sound of a satisfying click resounded as he did so. The familiar sound of gears turning could be heard the moment the pushed in the stone. The reason why it was so familiar to Jason was because he heard that exact sound 2 times already in the dungeon. And Jason started to yell in his head

"OH COME ON, ANOTHER ONE? AM I THAT UNLUCKY?"

The twang of crossbows being shot and the thunk of arrows colliding could be heard as Jason attempted to dodge right.

After a few seconds of silence and Jason checking his body to make sure a poisonous arrow wasn't sticking out of it.

Rocky stood where Jason was a few seconds ago with his shield outstretched. 5 poisonous arrows fell to the floor harmlessly deflected by Rocky's shield.

Jason looked at the arrows and let out a relieved sigh. He ran over to check on Rocky who's arms were trembling from the force of the crossbow.

Jason made sure that Rocky's arms were alright while Perseus quickly went over to the crossbow and dismantled it. He was sure that some of the guild members could learn how to use them.

After that little incident, Jason snooped around and saw that a small tunnel opening had actually opened from the level being pressed.

He crawled in while Rocky and Perseus waited outside. As Jason crawled through the small cramped dungeon, he noticed a foul smell in the air, it was already disgusting enough to crawl through the dungeon tunnel that smelled like a sewer, but the smell made it much worse.

Jason pushed through and eventually reached the room at the end of the tunnel. He shook off the dirty water and other things that had gotten on him and looked around.

It was a normal-sized room, but it was completely enclosed with stone, with no exit or entrance except for the small tunnel that Jason had discovered.

A skeleton laid on the ground, holding a sword and pickaxe in its hands. It was shorter than most, and it leaned against the wall in a fetal position, with its boney fingers still grasped around the short sword and pickaxe in its hands.

An iron chain hanged from the corner of the room. And in an unknown rune language, somebody had scribbled across the walls.

A chest stood on the right of the skeleton, a simple wooden chest with iron strips around it. Jason approached the chest and gingerly opened it.

A soft golden glow emerged from it, and as Jason peeked into it, the slight slowly faded to reveal 2 items in the chest.

One was a booklet, bound together with a frail string that looked like it would break any second.

The second was a ring. A gaudy looking ring with a green gem on the top carved into the image of 2 twin battle axes, the ring itself seemed to be fashioned out of gold.

Jason analyzed both of the items.

[the tragic tale of Gondrun Metalmaster 1/5]

[description: a booklet telling of the tale of Gondrun, a master in the dwarven race]

[gather all 5 pieces to uncover a special prize!]

Then the ring.

[Gondrun's ring]

[rating: epic]

[defense: 100]

[options: poison damage is decreased by 50%]

[damage is increased by 20%]

[affinity with dwarves are raised if the ring is shown]

[the skill (mortal slash) is generated]

[+5% hp]

[+5 strength]

[+5 stamina]

[double cross: a quick slash that creates a cross that flies out and damages your opponents with 150% of your weapon damage]

[cooldown: 2 min]

[description: a masterpiece of the fallen dwarf Gondrun, the ring seeks the strength of a strong user to avenge its maker's death, if shown to any dwarf, their affinity will rise with you seeing the great work]

Jason let out a loud scream

"WOOO NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT BAYBEEEEE"