I gritted my teeth, shoving myself Sern and the flashing notification all against a nearby pillar. The monster chirped, rustling leaves, before it went back to its work with the knife.
Sern shrank against the rock.
“Good idea,” I whispered, glancing up at the red screen. “What do you want?” I hissed.
It shimmered in response, from light only-a-little-danger-red to deeper oh-that's-a-lot-of-danger-red.
{1-Star Dungeon : Gauntlet of the Swamp}
[100 Hp 25 Str]
“That’s it?” I asked, frowning. “Then this’ll be a piece of cake.”
The Dungeon Core also had an Hp stat, which the other two hadn’t. I’d just have to find out what that meant when I saw it.
I stepped out from behind the ruins, waving my arms to signal attention.
The monster bristled with an angry click, snapping toward me.
For a moment the fog cleared and I saw it.
His body was woven from trees and vines, bunched up like veins, forming the general anatomy of a human. His hands and feet were loosely defined, more or less the splined ends of branches, but his face was another story. It first appeared bare, like the other single star dungeon core, but unlike that one, this Core had carved out a face into its smooth wood. The work was sloppy, but eyes and a nose were technically visible.
Currently, the Core was creating a mouth forst itself, cutting slits in the wood and fitting wooden spikes into it, finished with some sort of sappy glaze.
Above all else, the Core looked sad.
The fog began to churn, and he vanished from sight, seemingly melting into the ground.
Of course, he might’ve actually melted into the ground, but that’d be ridiculous—
A hand smashed into my ribs and I was flung.
[(-25) 187 Hp]
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned, wrenching Crapshovler in the mud. My side throbbed in pain, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t dealt with before. At the very least, I’d had my Hp pushed high. From what I’d been able to test, Hp impacts both weight and pain tolerance, the latter which could’ve knocked me out if I’d been dealt two and halves times my entire health bar in a single blow.
Couldn’t you die from pain? That was a thing, right?
Crapshovler moved ahead of my arm, cracking against a series of smaller rocks and brush, which the Core had started chucking in my direction.
I planted a foot onto a boulder, shifting to offense and cleaving into one of the Core’s wooden arms.
{Core : (-32) 68 Hp}
“Ha!” I laughed. Both my health and damage were higher than the Core, and the core was a big dumb punching bag.
It started clicking, tensing its stump of an arm. The vines shuddered, then bloated, sprouting a burst of new growth.
{Core : (+32) 100 Hp}
“What’s the point of having a Hp limit if you just grow it back?” I snapped, flicking my shovel.
The two of us traded blows back and forth, me much more than it, which would’ve been great if it didn’t just immediately heal any damage.
On the other hand, the damage it dealt me was relatively minor, since it was relatively slow and only landed glancing blows, for single-digit damage. But those blows were adding up, and I hadn't brought any sort of healing ability or potion.
[(-4) 116 Hp]
I staggered, managing to shove the Core a good distance back. It shuddered, then rushed again, and I parried, only to be caught by a blow to the ribs.
[(-7) 109 Hp]
Crapshovler twisted in the air, and flattened the Core against a stone pillar, followed by a series of sudden smashing attacks that splintered through the knobby vines and frail wood, until the Core was a couple inches sunk into the mud.
I hit it a couple extra times, just for good measure.
{Core : (-150) -50 Hp}
I got a couple seconds to myself, spitting blood into the mud, panting for breath.
This wasn’t the first time I’d forced its health into the negatives, and it doesn't look like it’d be the last.
“This fight is so stupid,” I hissed.
The Core flickered with green light, and a whiff of mana, before the broken growth stitched together, plumbing and blossoming what could be salvaged, and let the rest rot into a pool of dusty mana.
{Core : (+50) 0 Hp}
I took a deep breath, preparing for another round.
{Core : (+50) 50 Hp}
The wood jerked, catching onto the edge of a pillar. It heaved, lifting its crumpled body up to its feet, continuing to regenerate.
{Core : (+50) 100 Hp}
I spun Crapshovler, flicking mud off the blade. With any luck, the kind of regeneration it used would be burning through its energy, or mana, or whatever else it used. I just had to last longer than its regeneration.
The Core briefly hesitated.
“What is it this time?” I grumbled.
It turned toward a nearby pillar, tense. Sern was hiding behind the pillar.
I bolted.
The monster moved first and faster, shooting through the ground as a bump in the mud. It reached the rock and twisted, cracking the pillar to reveal the helpless elf crouched behind it.
Her eyes went wide and her body went numb in shock as the monster moved closer. And closer. Until it stared down at her, rearing back, gnarled arms twisting into a needle of wood.
Black blood stained the grass, and Sern screamed, suddenly cutting off, holding shaking hands to her mouth.
“Hey,” I said, forcing a smile “I’m fine aren’t I?”
[(-25) 81 Hp]
The monster groaned, clawing at its arm, and the needle retracted with a sudden burning odor of exposed mana, like sulfur.
I stumbled, embracing Sern.
.
[(-25) 81 Hp]
The monster pounded on my back, cracking bone and dotting my skin with splinters. It grabbed me by the neck and shoved, reaching for Sern.
[(-25) 56 Hp]
I grabbed it by the ankle, and the monster smashed its heel into my forehead, shooting another bolt of pain.
Funnily enough, it didn’t hurt much. I think I was starting to get used to sudden explosive pain. When I realized I wouldn’t let go, new arms sprouted from its back, beating my arm black.
In all our fighting, I still hadn’t seen its massive crystal weak point. There was some sort of trick to the fight—that was painfully obvious—but I didn’t have the time to figure it out.
Well, not in this life, anyway.
But I couldn’t die quietly yet. I had priorities, after all.
The Core finally snapped toward me, and I cracked its face with Crapshovler, pinning the bulk of its body into the mud.
Serenity looked down at her blackened hands, shivering.
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I took a deep breath, before speaking. “Serenity?”
She jolted.
“I’m going to die.” I said, with a smile. “But just for a little bit. When that happens, you won’t be my companion anymore, so if you’re still here, you’ll be able to leave the dungeon on your own, okay?”
Serenity shook her head.
The core bit into my leg, and I gave it another thwack.
[(-25) 31 Hp]
“Serenity, if you don’t leave now, you’re going to die,” I hissed. “I’ll be back. I promise. It’s a specialty of mine, actually. But I refuse to let you die too, okay?.”
She shook her head, more forcefully.
The Core screamed with the sound of crackling fire, writhing harder.
“Serenity!” I snapped. “That’s an order. Go. NOW!”
Her eyes flickered white and she froze, but refused to move.
The Core grew thorns and began to thrash. Evidently, it’d given up trying to get around me, intending to go through me instead. I struck the thorns I could, using glancing blows to buy more time.
[(-5) 26 Hp]
“SERENITY” I screamed, grabbing her with a bloody arm. “LEAVE!”
She quivered, taking a step back. All the spilled blood was starting to get to her, and her eyes went wide.
[(-5) 21 Hp]
My vision began blurring, and the continual pain pretty much numbed all senses, so hey, at least I didn't hurt so bad.
[(-5) 16 Hp]
“Sern—” I choked, black liquid now filling my mouth and lungs. “Sern, you’re very precious. You’re the most valuable thing in my possession.”
She dropped to her knees, eyes frosting a little more.
[(-5) 11 Hp]
How much blood had I lost? A lot, I think. My limbs felt distinct, and cold, but I kept myself in position, if only through a sheer force of will.
“Sern I promise I’ll be back,” I whispered. “This? This is nothing, okay? It’s okay.”
The Core clawed for her, howling again. But after another jab, it stopped attacking. With victory inevitable, let me bleed to death.
Could you bleed to death? FIrst time for everything, I guess.
[(-5) 6 Hp]
I took a deep breath. “Sern, I…I can’t let you die. It’s not fair. I dragged you into this. I’m going to get you out. So please, leave me.”
She moved her mouth, forcing out a word.
It was a quiet word, softer than a passing breeze, and arguably more fragile.
“No.”
Serenity went quiet, clenching her fist, resisting against the command I’d given, until her shaking grew violent, and tears ran down the sides of her cheek, down her ratty old dress, and down onto the blackened dirt.
The monster groaned, finally tearing from my pin as the last bit of strength faded. Vines slipped around my side, slowly increasing in pressure.
[(-1) 5 Hp]
It was enjoying this, wasn’t it?
Fine. I’d come back tomorrow. Or the day after. Time wasn’t so much of an issue.
[(-1) 4 Hp]
Serenity dropped, clutching her chest.
What happens if an Npc wouldn’t listen to an order?
Could they die? Would the system kill them?
I swallowed hard. “Sern I need you to keep living, okay?”
She sank deeper, pulling her hair.
[(-1) 3 Hp]
“Serenity…” I choked, pressing a hand to the constricting vines. “Sern…you…may do as you please.”
[(-1) 2 Hp]
My eyes drifted closed, and I began listening for the sounds of rushing wind and the open forest. Of the birds, and bugs, and the occasional three-headed bear, with which the forest seemed rather infested.
Insead, I heard splintering wood, and fell into the mud.
The Core screeched, staggering back.
Both of its arms had been torn from its body, and there was a smoking hole in its chest, which definitely wasn’t there before.
Sern stepped forward, in a sort of a daze. Her eyes had been inverted, black as blood with a single speck of twinkling white light in their center.
{Core : (-50) 50 Hp}
It tried to lunge, then there was a blur, and the Core’s head was reduced to an ashen stump.
{Core : (-350) -300 Hp}
I blinked hard, rereading the notification. “...Sern?”
She breathed out a puff of smoke, eyes darkening further, and the sky dulled in response.
{Serenity : Fire Elf}
[ 1000 Hp 1000 Str 1000 AtkSp 1000 Mana 1000 Dur ]
Flowers exploded in its chest, signaling a secondary, faster stage of growth, and the monster brust back to life.
Even just standing beside Sern was giving me a headache, as the energy around her steadily grew in intensity, shaking leaves and bark from the trees.
{Core (+400) 100 Hp}
The Core moved but Sern moved faster, plugging a hand through its chest, and smashing the Husk into a wall. Before it could regenerate, Sern started pounding, one hand on the monster and the other crushing the wood into smoking pulp.
When the wall broke she pinned it against the ground and went back to striking.
{Core (-1667) -1667 Hp}{Core (-1667) -3334 Hp}{Core (-1666) -5000 Hp}
{Core (-667) -5667 Hp}{Core (-667) -6334 Hp}{Core (-666) -7000 Hp}
{Core (-1667) -8667 Hp}{Core (-1667) -10334 Hp}{Core (-1666) -12000 Hp}
{Core (-3333) -15333 Hp}{Core (-3333) -18666 Hp}{Core (-3334) -22000 Hp}
{Core (-1667) -23667 Hp}{Core (-1667) -25334 Hp}{Core (-1666) -27000 Hp}
{Core (-1667) -28667 Hp}{Core (-1667) -30334 Hp}{Core (-1666) -32000 Hp}
Those numbers couldn’t possibly be real, right?
The monster screamed, ripping from her grasp, crawling away into the lake. Whenever the flowers bloomed, they placed into a burst of fire, preventing regenerating.
In the throes of death, it dug into the mud, ripping a large green crystal from the banks, and offered it to her.
Sern calmly took it into her hand and broke it.
{Sern : (+100) 1000 Hp}
“Sern!” I laughed, ignoring the spittle in my mouth. “The Core was in the mud the entire time. I didn’t even know that was possible—”
Serenity grabbed the monster and rammed it into the muddy shore then started pounding again, fists hissing with blue fire.
{Core (-5000) -36000 Hp}
{Core (-5000) -40000 Hp}
“Sern—SERN!” I shouted. “That’s enough! SERN!”
Conscious or not, she ignored me, flattening the Core.
The water had long since begun to boil, and whatever mud that’d been on had been pressed and packed, hard as brick.
“SERN!” I staggered to my feet and ran, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Sern—”
She jolted, raising a smoking hand to my face.
Then, slowly, she set the hand down, stopped, and her eyes reverted.
{Sern}
//10 Hp 0 Str//
She jerked away, grabbing her hands.
The Core had been pressed into the ground, thin as a sheet of paper.
Its wooden pulp started to rot, then dissipate, and it crumbled away. From its crumbled ashes, iron and bronze rings flowed outward in a heap, followed by a flood of exp and stat orbs, and a couple small weapons.
I knelt down, noticing the fresh burns across her skin. “What was that?”
Serenity glanced down at her hands. She started sobbing.
“Oh—hey—” I winced. “What—What do you need?”
Sern grabbed me by the waist, burying her head under my arm.
I whispered softly, hugging back. “Thank you, Sern. Thank you.”
Her hands were blistering, and they didn’t seem to be cooling down, so I led her down to a puddle, away from the boiling lake, and applied mud to her hands and body.
Soon, the heat tapered.
If I was being honest, I know remarkably little about first aid, but I knew bandages were generally a good idea, so I ripped off the sleeves of my shirt, tearing them into strips and wrapping them around her muddy blisters.
She clenched and unclenched her hands.
I took a deep breath. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. Then hesitated, and shook her head.
I frowned. “Are you in danger?”
Serenity looked down at her hands.
I bit my lip. “That thing…whatever it was that happened to you…it isn’t pleasant, is it?”
She shuddered.
“Okay, then we won’t do that ever again,” I said, with a smile. “Okay?”
Serenity tilted her head.
I blinked.
She blinked.
Dragging her into a dungeon. Forcing her to kill a Core—I’d made a real mess of things, hadn’t I?
I let out a deep sigh. “Well, we ought to get something nice to eat, shouldn’t we?”
Sern perked up.
“ll let you order anything on the menu—forget it—order the entire menu, if you want. Then we’ll get some clothes and a safe place to stay,” I laughed mentally counting the rings in the mud. “For tonight, the world is yours!”
Sern ran over to the water, scooping floating orbs out, and offered them to me. I pushed them back. “You beat the dungeon.”
She squinted.
I squinted back.
She sniffed in indignation, pointing to the flashing stats above my head.
{GRIND}
[ 2 Hp ]
Serenity proceeded to break the orbs in my hands, until the red tint disappeared from the corners of my vision, and feeling returned to the rest of my body.
[+10 Hp]
[+5 Hp]
[+2 Hp]
~
[+5 Str]
[+5 Str]
[+5 Str]
[+5 Str]
[+5 Str]
~
[+1 Mana]
~
{LEVEL UP!}
[+1 skill point]
~
{GRIND}
Level 6
Rank “Uncommon”
[ 229 Hp 57 Str]
[ 30% AtkSp 2 Mana 3 Dur]
When the notifications finally cleared up, I took a better look at my stats. “This is incredible, Sern. Maybe not as much as last time, but still, Stats are stats.”
Sern pulled the sides of her mouth up in some that wasn’t quite a smile.
“What are you doing?” I chuckled.
She reached for my face, then pushed it up, forcing me to smile too. Sern tilted her head.
“Am I happy?”
She nodded.
“Of course I’m happy,” I laughed, grinning for real. “We’re both safe and alive and stronger with a fair bit of money in our pockets and best of all, nobody died. That’s always a win.”
She moved closer and hugged, burying her face into my shirt. Her breathing was ragged. She’d been given a bad scare, and she needed some comfort.
I patted her on the head. “How about we leave the dungeon?”
Serenity squeezed tighter, with a little nod.
“Fair enough,” I smiled. “Now. Where are we?
