Chapter 3 Part 2

"I guess there is no time like the present. If he wants to give us this greeting, we should welcome it with open arms." Christopher says, mildly frustrated by the sudden increase in the difficulty in this mission.

"I don't know what's going on. He was so forgiving when we got lost." Heather says.

"Maybe it was because we were here involuntarily?" Haider says.

"Anything could be possible at this point. We don't know anything about this guy. All we know is he's a reincarnation." Christopher says.

"If that's the case, this Dungeon Master should be more lenient than other people that have been encountered." Beau comments.

The group enter the Dungeon, the smell of piss and shit radiates from the walls, goblin blood coats the walls, presumably from Simon slaughtering them in cold blood. A sudden invasive sensation fills everyone's heads as a smoky voice reverberates in their brains.

"I am sorry for the unwelcoming visit to my Dungeon. Circumstances have changed." Crearwy says.

"How so?" Heather asks.

"You outsiders have made it very clear I cannot co-exist peacefully with you. In order to defend myself and this dungeon, I must treat everyone as if they intend to destroy my home and kill my people." Crearwy answers.

"We are sorry about the goblins, but you attacked us first, we were just sitting there." Haider says.

"I'm not talking about that. Someone has been running a muck in my domain for months. They've been on the warpath, killing my soldiers with a vengeance and I don't understand why. It doesn't change the fact that I need to keep my home on high alert from all intruders. Including you." The second the fog clears their minds, five stone golems phase in front of them, emerging from the walls.

"I guess we won't be able to talk to him about it then." Jasyn says.

"I guess we can call this a partial failure. Let's get out of here." Christopher says, turning to exit the dungeon. But it's too late, the entrance sealed itself shut before they could escape. "Or not."

"That means we gotta find another way out. And the only other direction is through those golems." Beau says.

"You're up, Hayle. Crush em to pebbles." Haider exclaims, dramatically pointing at the golems.

The hulking mass of ice slowly stomps forward as the stone golems make their slow approach. Now within arm's reach, Hayle lifts up his arm, holding his fist in one of their faces. He slowly outstretches a finger and pokes one of them in the head. I won't lie, when I saw this bitches head explode I almost soiled myself, a chunk came flying at me. Anyway, he dispatches the other four with similar moves, a light swish of his wrist, a swift flick of his middle finger, and for the last two he gets all fancy with a sweet bitch slap.

"Well that was way too easy." Haider says with a groan.

"He knows we ain't pushovers, right?" Heather says.

"He can certainly hear us, he's probably observing us right now." Christopher says.

"I hope we get a better challenge at least, I mean we only wanted to talk, but since he closed our only way out we have to defend ourselves." Haider says.

"If he's truly observing us I would like to at least know how this place works. That's the whole reason we came here after all." Beau complains.

"Let's just keep going. Hopefully we'll get a chance to talk at some point. If not, we can just have Heather obliterate us a way out using that spell." Christopher says.

"Ah yes. That spell." Heather repeats.

The five take off down the tight passageway leading deeper into the Dungeon. It didn't take long for the next wave of Dungeon Monsters to appear. This time it's a small army of Ogre's. Fifteen to be precise.

"I guess it's our turn. Jasyn, how are you with Ogre's?" Christopher asks.

"I shouldn't have any problems as long as I have some support." Jasyn answers.

"Perfect, I'll support you from the rear. Take the frontline." Christopher commands.

"You got it." Jasyn says, unsheathing his blade.

Christopher begins by boosting Jasyn's strength, speed, and defence with buff magic. He then holds his staff forward weaving the runes for Ice Spear at the tip of the magical conduit.

Jasyn charges forward, slicing the gut of the closet ogre. Its insides come pouring out onto the floor, blood and viscera splatter everywhere as it impacts the ground. The first ogre falls onto its knees and it melts back into the Dungeon floor, its bloody puddle boiling as it sinks into the ground.

"What the fuck. That has to be one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen." Haider comments, covering his nose.

"If the information we gathered is correct, the Dungeons consume the flesh and soul of anything that dies within it. That's the reason why exploring a Dungeon is too dangerous for most people to venture into." Beau says.

(Narrator) Thank you for ruining a badass moment by saying something factual, fucking nobleman.

While Beau was talking, three more Ogre's died, two by Jasyn's blade, and one from Christopher's spear of ice. As Christopher is preparing to make a new icicle, one of the Ogre's catches Jasyn with his guard wide open.

"Watch out!" Heather screams.

An inch from taking Jasyn's head clean off, the Ogre's weapon disintegrates into dust in a flash of green light. The weapon reconstructs at double its size and strikes the offending Ogre by splitting its head in two. Blood splatter going everywhere.

"Not a single soul shall hurt him. I won't allow it." Christopher exclaims.

"I don't think I can keep going. For much longer. My fucking arms are tired." Jasyn screams through ragged breaths.

"Take out two more and I'll take over from there" Christopher commands.

"On it." Jasyn says with renewed vigour.

Jasyn pulls himself up with his blade. Dodging out of the way of an incoming attack, he casts an enchantment on his blade, giving it a red shine. He strikes wide with his sword, the Ogre defending with the wooden club he was using. Jasyn's blade gets stuck in the blunt weapon, splintering the top most layer.

"Ignite." Jasyn bellows. The club as well as the hand of the Ogre touching it burst into flame, sending searing agony rippling through the beast as it roars in pain.

Jasyn pulls his sword out of the burning blunt object, the red glow on his blade no longer there. Whilst the Ogre screams in pain, Jasyn takes the opportunity to cut its left leg clean off, following through with a slash to the air.

"Now, Mimic and Windblade, go!" Jasyn shouts. A sharp blade of wind, along where he struck appears. Radiating outwards, killing three more Ogres.

"Ok, retreat. I can take six Ogres." Christopher commands. Jasyn complies with haste, retreating back to the rest of the group.

"You did great. You have good experience with the sword." Heather complements.

"You need to work on your stamina though. If you get tired this fast, you'll quickly become a liability." Haider says constructively.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Being a guard does not exactly give you many opportunities to fight something." Jasyn retorts.

"Alright then, time to watch Cristopher do some cleanup. Finally, It's been a while." Heather says, a wide smile on her face.

Christopher puts his staff away and grabs a smaller but much more precise handheld magical conduit.

(Narrator) In other words. A wand. However I don't like that word, it seems tainted somehow.

He points the focusing device forward. Runes and circles appear at its tip. He drafts up his Physical Spatial Attack and activates it. Six, large perfect black spheres grow just in front of him. With his spare hand, he pushes forward and one of the orbs slowly drifts towards them.

The Ogre's, unfamiliar with this kind of attack, inherently try to avoid it. However, with all of their focus being on this slowly drifting black void, five of them get completely obliterated as the other orbs swiftly collide with them. Christopher opens a rift spitting out their mangled and dismembered corpses back onto the floor.

The final Ogre tries to retreat, but falls dead with no clear injuries. This has some unforeseen consequences on Christopher as his mind haunts him with the visions of his mistake. Sending him back to relive the horrors of killing the High Priest of Stocaea's head religion.

Christopher collapses, not able to catch his breath. He screams as he looks at his hands, seeing hallucinations of blood in his palms. Heather kneels in front of him, trying to console his mind but is met with more screams as he sees her as the rotting corpse of the High Priest.

Haider tries to do the same but is met with more screams, tears run down his face, seeing Haider as Heddwyn back when he tore his arm off after hearing the news of Hilda's passing.

"Back away you two! You're smothering him." Jasyn screeches, pushing them back. He gave no time for Christopher's broken mind to see him in a negative light. Instead, as he gently embraces Christopher, he is met with a vision of Hilda with a golden halo, singing him a lullaby as he cries in her lap.

"Please don't leave me." Christopher sobs.

"Shh, It's ok. I won't let anything hurt you. Take your time. I'll be here with you until you wake up." Hilda says.

(Narrator) Wait what? Jasyn said that. Nebulon you bastard. Can you hear what's going on inside his head?

(Nebulon) You don't know this but I'm nodding.

(Narrator) You're a prick. I almost cried when I noticed that.