Ben leapt forward and swung in wide arcs, killing two or three monsters with every strike, but leaving himself exposed.
Pain shot through his leg—a spider had gotten him. It was debilitating. Somehow, he stayed standing. Another swing. Three more dead. His heart fluttered. His breath grew ragged. Another wide arc.
Then another spider leapt at him and bit deep into his shoulder, puncturing his armor.
He yelled in pain, vision blurring as he tore it off.
Then he heard a roar from behind that gave him goosebumps.
A figure leapt to his side. His mother. But she was more. A silvery outline shimmered around her—a bear, nearly two and a half meters tall, standing on its hind legs. Its claws tore through the remaining spiders like paper.
She kept the monsters off Ben, but despite the reprieve, he was close to collapsing. The axe in his hands felt impossibly heavy.
Then a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, and the pain lessened dramatically. His vision cleared. Strength returned.
He straightened up and saw Jamal behind him—now sagging to both knees.
Ben didn’t know what Jamal had done, but he had no time to ask.
The giant spider was meters away. The bear aura around his mother dimmed. Michael appeared beside her, helping finish the last younglings.
Anne ran past him at the monster. "I’ll get you an opening!"
Ben followed. Anne ran straight at the spider. As it focused on her with most of its eight eyes, she dodged left, narrowly avoiding a tipped leg.
Despite Anne’s distraction, Ben struggled to find a clear angle.
Behind him, Michael shouted, "Belly!"
Ben confirmed—he didn’t have the reach for a head strike. Instead, he dashed between two legs beneath the monstrosity. He dropped to one knee, axe raised behind his head. He sacrificed six points of his Body attribute into [Cleave] and struck the spider’s underbelly.
The beast reared in pain, disgusting fluids and organs spilling.
Agony wracked Ben again, and he collapsed. His weakened body had to fight off the remaining venom and wounds.
Anne and Michael attacked furiously, pushing the beast back from Ben, who could do nothing but try to remain conscious.
After another minute, the spider died.
Ben was in pain. Pain was all that he could think about. His heart was racing. His body wanted to shut down. He felt his mother by his side. Thoughts of the weeks that he had spent in the hospital with his mother rarely leaving his bedside surfaced.
The next two hours were hell for Ben, but he stayed conscious and he felt [Resilient Body] work overtime to keep him alive. In the end, it was hard to tell what had more impact—his perk or the returning Body attribute—but he did recover and slowly opened his eyes.
The team sat and stood around him. Michael, vigilant as always. His mother, worried. Jamal, not looking much better than Ben felt. Anne, sitting close by, looked relieved when she saw him stirring.
"Are we done?" Ben asked tiredly but with a slight smile.
"We are. There is a portal around the corner. How are you feeling?"
"I am alright. I think my high Body attribute protected me from the initial bites, but when I sacrificed points to [Cleave] it got dicey. But you all did amazing stuff. Jamal, what did you do to me?"
Jamal shrugged. "It’s called [Guardian’s Bond], boss. The evolution of [Guardian’s Sense]. I can temporarily sacrifice attribute points to share damage that my team members have suffered. I might have gone a bit overboard. If the fight had continued, I would have been useless."
"I don’t think I could have made my final attack without that. Turns out that even a Protector needs a shield sometimes," Ben said with a smirk. "Thank you, my friend! And you, mom, did you turn into a bear?"
"It’s called [Mother Bear], a rare perk that lets me attack with the strength of a Grizzly for just a handful of seconds. I can only use it when my friends and family are at risk. Do me a favor and give me less reason to use it, will you?"
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Ben nodded seriously. "I will definitely try."
Having recovered slightly, he could focus on the golden and blue blinking symbols in his vision. The first message gleamed golden.
Congratulations for clearing a Tier 1 dungeon with two levels. For this difficulty level, additional rewards are provided. Choose:
- 500 Credits
- Common or uncommon item in line with your perks or attributes
- Uncommon or rare raw materials or natural treasures in line with this dungeon’s theme
Ben looked at the others. "Did you also get the message on additional rewards? Is it an individual choice or for the team?"
Anne nodded. "Yes, we all got it as well. It seems like we can all choose different things, but we wanted to wait until you were with us before we decided."
"Cool. What were you thinking of taking?"
"It looks like credits are the most versatile but least valuable option. The item could help us now, and the raw materials are more like a long-term bet, as currently none of our crafters can create items in line with what the System Store has to offer. So I think most of us would go with the item. This dungeon has shown that we can certainly use more strength now," Allison said, to the agreement of the others.
Ben nodded as well. "I think if you all go with the items, that should provide quite the uplift for the team. If you agree, I would like to take the raw materials. That way we also can compare values and help our friends grow as well."
The others were fine with that, and Jamal was the first to confirm his choice. Within seconds, a golden shimmer appeared before him that turned into the three-dimensional blueprint of a shield, which quickly solidified into a steel shield with a spike in the middle.
Shield of Taunt. System-generated item. Tier 1. Uncommon. Increases effectiveness of [Taunt] perks.
Jamal nodded happily. "That should be quite useful."
Next was Michael, who got a clip that he could fasten on his shoes to improve his [Silent Step] perk. Anne got leather gloves that were supposed to improve her hand-to-hand combat abilities, and Allison got a staff that would allow her to cast nature-related spells as if her Magic attribute was one point higher.
Finally, Ben chose the third option and got his reward.
True Iron. Energy-infused refined metal. Tier 1. Uncommon.
Six bars of the slightly shimmering metal appeared before him. He guessed that this was more than what could be refined out of the ore they had collected earlier. He was happy with the reward and looked forward to what Marcus—or any other future smith—would create with it.
He then opened the second message, which was the cold blue he was used to from Meta. It allowed him to expose and collect the dungeon core, the reason they had undergone the challenge of this dungeon in the first place.
The portal in the cavern allowed them to exit the dungeon directly, and given their level of exhaustion, they decided to take that exit and forego the ore and coal they had stashed in the entrance rooms to level 1 and 2. Carrying dozens of kilos after not having slept properly for a full day and walking through a potentially dangerous forest encumbered by iron ore just wasn’t that attractive—especially given the rewards they had already gotten.
Stepping out of the dungeon portal, the mood was somber. While they were happy to have achieved their goal and thought that the dungeon would become a great asset for the settlement, the second level had also shown them that the system’s message to grow—and do so rapidly—had not been a joke. They would all need to improve along a number of dimensions if they wanted to carve out a safe place for themselves and their community.
As tired as they were, they managed to make good time on their way home and arrived at noon, a full day and a half after they had left.
Ben felt immediately that something was off when he stepped through the gate. He was greeted by Adam, who had dark rings under his eyes.
He walked to his best friend. "Is everything alright?"
Adam shook his head, opening his mouth to speak, then taking another breath. "Serge died."
"What?" Ben and Allison shouted simultaneously. "How?"
Serge had been with them for more than four years. He had also come from the Second Chance program and had been a loud but ultimately good-natured person. He had gotten into trouble with the law after a bar brawl had gone wrong. Since joining them, he had never caused any issues and, over the last week or so since the systems arrived, he had pulled more than his fair share of guard duty.
"The beast attacks continued at the increased level, but we had them well under control. I think we all got a bit careless, so when a couple of wolves attacked, the guys didn’t take it too seriously and Serge jumped over the wall to deal with them directly. Unfortunately, he messed up his ankle when he landed, and that was all it took for the wolves to lay into him. It was over in seconds." Adam’s voice faded toward the end.
Ben did not know what to say. He looked into the distance and tried to reconcile his memories of a laughing and joking Serge with the idea of him being gone.
He was no stranger to loss. Most recently, of course, his father’s death from the accident that had injured him as well. But what made this different in his mind was that he was responsible. Serge had gladly signed up to the Protectorate. Had not hesitated to stay with them. Had trusted Ben’s vision to keep them safe. Keep them alive. But clearly, he had failed.
"I need a moment," Ben said as he wandered aimlessly through the settlement. He had known that this new world was dangerous. He had felt it on his own body. Had seen the danger for his friends in the dungeon. He had heard that many people had died around the world since Energy had hit Earth. But it was one thing to hear about it in the abstract and a very different thing to have one of his friends—a citizen of the Protectorate—die.
He reflected on his own behavior so far. He had succeeded in setting up the Protectorate. He had successfully acquired three dungeons that could be sources of growth for his people. But his fighting abilities were too wild. He did not make enough use of a perk like [Party Coordination]. He had not supported his mother in any way in setting up the defenses of the settlement. He had not really thought about how to grow the settlement in line with his obligations.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His idea that he would be able to relax over the next couple of weeks had been na?ve. It was time to grow his personal strength, grow the Protectorate’s strength, and grow the Protectorate’s population. It was time to get to work.
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