Random Portals

Steven was stressing out. He had been staring at this map for some time and hadn’t found anyway to get around the Skeletal knight.

A few times, the knight had walked in their direction just to turn and walk in another direction. The map of the second floor was extremely small compared to the first, or at least that’s what it seemed like. The map only showed his surroundings and not an overview of the entire floor, so he didn’t see the actual boss room to the second floor anywhere, not that he had any plans of facing the boss of this floor. But he couldn’t complain. At least he had a map now.

From what the map showed, the second floor was mostly a huge circle. With a few paths leading to dead ends except for one that lead to the hidden path on the opposite side of the circle. That’s also where the other path lead off that he couldn’t see. Going to the first floor was an option if they went through the boss room, but it was still risky. According to the map, there were packs of skeletons in the twenties on both paths leading to the hidden path. That in its self would not be a problem, but the skeletons that followed the knight continued to make a half circle route. If he tried to take out the pack of twenty odd skeletons, the knight would attack from the back before he made it through. Which was his dilemma. Even if he was alone, he wasn’t sure he could make it through with stealth, even with the terrain being perfectly suited for it.

It was odd to be good at sneaking. He had never been much for it on earth, although he had never really tried. Now he got a feeling of where to step and which rocks were best to hide behind. It was all subconscious and not something he actively thought about. Until now, when he was actively trying to think how to sneak up on the skeleton knight. He wanted the armor and the spear it carried. But each time he thought about sneaking up to the knight and sending it to inventory, he had the sense he would fail. There were just too many skeletons and there was no way he could sneak past them all.

“I’m not sure what to do.” Steven eventually said, lowing his head.

“I have some potions we could try out. But if it doesn’t work, then we would have to make a run for it. Do you think we can outrun them?” Eve asked.

“Oh, yes for sure, although I’m unsure what that skeletal knight’s aggro range is. What we need is a good escape plan. We can’t really go backwards as it is a dead end and no way in hell can he go back in there with that mimic.” Steven pulled out the water pipe and took a couple of hits. He knew Eve was looking at him with concern.

“How about we take a break for a bit and try to think of something to deal with that armored skeleton?”

“I wouldn’t mind having some now. This is stressful. But I’m not as confident as you and will need to wait a bit before we continue. If that would be okay.” Eve said.

Steven Immediately agreed, and the pair made their way back where they entered, trying to get as far away from the knight as possible.

The next few hours were just Eve and Steven smoking and talking about nonsense while eating some food. They both smoked a bit more than they had expected. And Steven complained about not having his couch.

Eventually, the pair ended up taking a nap on some blankets Sirus had brought. To Steven, it was extremely uncomfortable, but Eve didn’t seem to mind so much. Waking up, they discussed the best way to deal with the knight. Their only plan was to use Eve’s ghost fire jars and run away if that didn’t work. Steven didn’t like the plan all that much, but the aggro range on all the undead wasn’t far, so it shouldn’t be an issue. It would also give him a good idea of what the knight was capable of.

Maybe the knight would charge without his minions, and Steven could simply send it to inventory. Pulling out zombies as a distraction wouldn’t work, as they were more likely to just turn and attack them less he could get a one of the skeletons to do damage to a zombie first.

It wasn’t long before they had decided on a plan of action. Steven threw the first and second jar from stealth. The skeletons burst into silvery flames, all except the knight. It didn’t seem to be affected in the slightest, even as the jar splattered directly on it. The knight, however, noticed Steven Immediately. It then turned and charged.

Steven shouted for Eve to run, who was currently throwing jars at the other skeletons. She then turned and ran, just as they planned. Steven noticed the health bar of all the skeletons slowly dropping. Well, all but the knight, it still didn’t have a health bar.

He then took off towards their next location, the plan was to hide between some boulders till the skeletons stopped aggroing them and then simply repeat this process till they ran out of throwable and needed to come up with a new plan or they killed all the skeletons.

The plan was quickly ruined when the knight let out a deep bellowing roar that snuffed out all the flames on the skeletons and then chased Steven at an insane speed. Steven heard the armored behemoth charging up behind him. They had thought of this scenario, except they didn’t expect the knight to extinguish the flames or that it could run so fast.

Steven quickly dropped out a root snare. He ran just a bit further before he turned to see vines crawling all over the knight. It ripped them apart as he watched, but there were more vines than it could deal with. Steven took the chance to move closer and throw another one that landed directly on the knight’s face. He wanted to get closer and send it to inventory, but the other skeletons were also giving chase however, they stopped when reaching the knight. Steven’s eyes widened in horror as they began chopping at the vines to set it free.

“Shit!” Steven chunked the last root snare he had followed by ghost fire and ran as quickly as he could. The knight bellowed out in rage, sending a chill down his spine.

Steven and Eve hid between some boulders. The knight continued to bellow in outrage as the other skeletons chopped at the vines. At least he assumed that’s what they were doing, as he couldn’t see anything from their location. Steven was starting to regret the plan.

This knight was obviously much more intelligent than he had expected. The spot they were hiding in was too small for the knight, but it wouldn’t stop the knight from sending the skeletons in after him or jabbing that spear in at them, though he should be out of reach for the spear. If the skeletons came in, he could just send them to inventory one at a time as long as he could avoid them trying to stab him. But the knight, he wasn’t sure what to do. If he could get it alone, then he could send it to inventory. But just the thought of getting that close to the armored behemoth made him shutter.

Less than a minute after hiding, they heard the knight charging down the Dungeon making some sort of battle cry. It was loud, not to mention the armor was making all kinds of racket as it charged right past them. The normal skeletons not far behind, but were almost silent in their charge. Steven seen the skeletons awkwardly running past through the crack.

They definitely weren’t built for running. It looked like they would topple over at any time. He even got a glimpse of a few of the health bars as they ran by and it seemed as their health had regenerated somewhat, and the ghost fire was no longer in effect. He wasn’t sure if that was an ability of the knight or the potions were just not working. Though he didn’t have time to think about it as he heard the knight charging back down the dungeon. It ran right past them and Steven let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding.

They were going to need to somehow go back to the first floor. He needed to level up as much as possible and come up with a plan. That knight was terrifying. He was fixing to say that very thing to Eve. When he heard the knight charging back down the tunnel. This time, its charge was slower, and it seemed to be looking around for them. Steven didn’t even realize he was trembling till Eve placed her hand on his shoulder. She mouthed something, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

The knight was now walking. With each step, the knight’s armor made a chinking sound. Suddenly, the noise stopped and a bellowing roar replaced it. Steven watched the knight come into view again, but this time, it turned to face him directly. There was no doubt in his mind that it had seen him, and they were trapped, with no way out except towards the knight. The space was so tight it would be slow to even get out. The knight didn’t waste any time and charged over, shoving its gauntleted arm into the crack.

“Shit, shit shit.” Steven muttered. The knight’s hand was only a few feet away from Steven’s face. Then he realized he could just send the knight to inventory. Steven forced his self to reach out and touch the back of the knight’s gauntleted hand as it tried to grab him. He willed it to inventory, only to receive a notification.

Steven froze at the sight of the notification for just a split second, which was just enough time for the knight to twist its arm and grab Steven’s wrist and jerk him out. Eve screamed in horror and tried to grab him, but it was no use. The knight was too strong and fast. No sooner than the knight pulled him out, it slammed him to the ground like a rag doll, knocking the air from his lungs. In the same motion, it stabbed Steven with its spear right in his gut. His body began to convulse as lightning sparked all over him.

The knight ripped its spear from Steven and went to stab him again but was blasted back by air. Which only caused it to step back before turning its head towards Eve. Steven was still slightly pulsating from the lightning spear, his body wouldn’t respond. Air blasted at the smaller skeletons that charged Eve as she stepped back in between the boulders.

She then started pulling out potions, but the skeletons were already crawling all over the entrance trying to get at her. The knight turned its attention back to Steven, who lay on the ground, twitching slightly. He tried to force his body to move, but it was no use. He could only twitch his finger slightly. As the knight moved towards Steven, Eve blasted it back again. Steven could move his fingers now, but just slightly.

Eve had retreated further in between the boulders, trying to fight off the smaller skeletons.

The knight then shoved its spear down towards Steven. He tried to roll away but his body just twitched slightly as a response and sent paralyzing pain through his entire body. Steven was sure his wound was pouring blood, but he could barely feel anything from the lightning shocking his body and everything was becoming hazy. Suddenly, time slowed to a crawl as his ability triggered. The spear vanished from the knight’s hands before reappearing behind the knight. As time resumed to normal, the spear fell to the ground behind the knight. However, the knight didn’t hesitate as it pulled a dagger from its sheath, ready to finish Steven off. Steven was able to force his arm to move, and he touched the knight’s armored boot. When he tried to send it to inventory, he just received another notification. But he quickly dismissed this one too. He could do noting but watch as the Skeletal Knight came in for the killing blow.

Out of no where white spikes slammed into the knight from the side, piercing the armor and causing the Skeletal Knight to stumble and nearly fall over. A second wave of spikes knocked the knight off its feet and a bone cage rose around the knight. It took all the strength he had to just turn his head. Then everything went black.

Steven opened his eyes to an angry-looking snake man staring down at him.

“You need to listen to me when I tell you something. You were lucky this time,” Sirus was absolutely pissed and Steven didn’t dare open his mouth, “what were you thinking trying to take on the second floor boss?”

“I didn’t know…” Steven started, but was cut off.

“You only have a single shard! And Eve is an Alchemist! If your plan was to get both yourselves killed, then you were very well about to succeed. If it wasn’t for all the noise the floor boss was making, it would have been the end for you both.”

After Steven was given a health potion, Sirus went on with his tirade for a solid five minutes. This was the longest Sirus had ever spoken to him at one time. Steven didn’t even try to explain himself when Sirus was done. There was only one thing on his mind.

“Eve! Is she okay?”

“Yes, no thanks to you!”

At that, Steven went to speak up, but Sirus cut him off again. “Eve explained what happened. She said it was her fault you two got trapped on the second floor. She will be punished accordingly, not for putting you in danger but for coming to the dungeon without permission.”

Again Steven tried to protest, but Sirus didn’t let him speak.

“She will not be killed, and I doubt the punishment will be too harsh. There are not many of her caliber left and the Elders will want her to eventually produce hatchlings for the clan. I would be more concerned about trying to survive in this place. I doubt you will see her again till you make it out of here. If you make it out of here, that is,” Sirus sighed, which was more of an annoyed hiss, “can you stand?”

Steven slowly stood. His stomach still hurt. And his body felt like it had been electrocuted. Which he supposed it actually was.

Looking over to where the knight had been, there was nothing left but a slightly gold glowing spear. The spear its self was much grander than he remembered, in fact now that he looked at it he didn’t even think it was the same one the knight was using. Before he could ask if it was a boss drop, Sirus spoke up.

“You mentioned wanting a spear. So there you go. If your inventory ability can hold, that is, if not, I will take it to the Elders. It seems to be a fine weapon.”

The way Sirus said that last part made Steven feel like he was up to something. But he wasn’t about to turn down a lightning enchanted spear. Walking over, Steven felt every muscle in his body protest, but he reached down and sent the spear to inventory. He wanted to check the requirements and ability, but he would have to wait till Sirus left.

“So that ability allows you to place enchanted weapons as well? What else can you place in there?”

“I think just about anything, though I’m not sure. Is that unusual?” Steven was unsure if Eve told him about the undead in his inventory, but he wasn’t going to just give the Elders that information. Or should he, Sirus had only been helpful, even if it was orders from those delusional Elders.

“That is incredible.” Sirus said, eyes widening, “having two talents is exceptionally rare. Having one talent is rare. I haven’t even gotten a talent yet.”

Steven noticed the way Sirus said yet. Meaning he was still trying to get one.

“My inventory is not a talent. I believe it was a blessing by a God.”

Sirus’s eyes bulged for a moment before resuming his stoic expression. “And what God gave you this blessing?”

“Chaos.” Steven thought he saw Sirus tremble slightly, but it was so quick he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination.

“That is a perfectly acceptable God to serve.” Steven was about to say he didn’t actually serve the God but thought better of it, he was already venturing out telling him about the God giving him this ability. But it would be only a matter of time before he seen the ability in action. Sirus did just save his life, after all.

“Did this God give you this domain as well?”

“No, that was from a winged cat and it was suppose to be temporary, but I’m not sure if that’s any longer the case.”

Sirus looked as if he wanted to ask more questions, but for some reason he didn’t and just changed the subject. “Okay let’s get to it, I have a team clearing this floor as we speak, however they are ordered to leave most, if not all, alive and wounded. You need as many levels as possible. Now as for this mimic would you like to show me where it is and I’ll deal with it for you. Those creatures can be quite difficult to handle. I was unaware there were any on this floor. May I ask how you knew in was a mimic?”

“It was mostly a hunch when it didn’t go into my inventory.”

Sirus’s eyes widened in shock, and it was obvious this time. “That could be very useful! We normally just avoid all the treasure chests so we don’t have to deal with mimics, although chests are extremely rare to find in the dungeon. Are you saying you can place an entire treasure chest into your inventory?”

After Steven told him he could indeed put a treasure chest into his inventory, Sirus began asking several questions regarding his ability, no doubt to inform the Elders. Once he was done, Steven asked Sirus a question.

“What is the boss on the next floor?”

“We can speak as we walk, lead the way to the mimic.”

“Actually, I would like to deal with it on my own when I grow stronger.”

A half grin formed over Sirus’s face. “I can respect that, however, I ask that I be present when you do. Mimics are not to be underestimated, and there is no point risking your life when there is no reason.”

“Understood.”

“As for the third floor, they are mostly ghouls with a few skeletons in the mix. All the skeletons you encounter from now on will be armed and possibly armored. I’m sure you are aware the higher the floor, the stronger the foe, they also become more intelligent. I have not passed the seventh floor myself. It just seemed like a risk that was better not taken.”

“What level are you? What sort of shards do you have and how many?”

Sirus instantly became guarded. “Do you honestly believe I would answer any of those questions?”

“Actually, yeah, but it’s fine. I understand I was mostly trying to figure out what level I needed to be to beat this dungeon. If I’m honest, I’m ready to get out of here.”

Sirus let out a half chuckle, “you have a long way to go. You were only a level one when you entered and are only level six and the lower levels are the easiest. I wouldn’t expect to get out of here for sometime.”

That had not been what Steven wanted to hear! He had wanted to explore this new world he found himself in, go to a human city. Maybe buy a house, after earning some money from adventuring. Eventually learn to use portals so he could check on his aunt. Not become trapped in this damned dungeon.

Sirus must have seen Steven’s face fall as he tried to cheer him up.

“I tell you what, make it to the fifth floor and I’ll tell you my level,” his face then became hostile, “but if you tell a single soul you will regret it,” Sirus’s face then turned back to his normally dower expression, “as for now, we are done here for the day. We will be back tomorrow to clear the third floor. Oh, and by the way, don’t kill the skeletons till all the Naga have left, otherwise you will be sharing essences with them.”

Sirus then left without another word. Steven didn’t even see any other Naga this time, and he wondered if they had a way to communicate remotely. It would be nice to talk with Eve. He would have to ask about that. The talk with Sirus also made Steven realize that he had been leveling quite slow. And he should put some more effort into it. His first priority should be finding a place to drop the skeletons and kill them. If not, he would need to get creative with how to kill them easier.