Seeds of Discordia

Liam walked out of the portal and was amazed by what he saw.

The room the portal sat in was huge. It had the same design as the room they had entered when they arrived on the fourth floor. The walls, floors, and pillars that ran up to the ceiling were all made out of tanned stone.

Hieroglyphic pictures were etched around the smooth walls while small Yooperlite stones were scattered across the walls and ceiling.

The portal rested on a walkway that circled around the room. In front of him were stairs that led down to the two floors below them.

At least he thought there was two floors. The area after the floor below was filled with water and the stairs dove right into it.

On the other side of the large room, Liam saw another set of stairs that led up. He noticed another set that went to the top floor as he looked around.

As he scanned the room he noticed each floor had a closed door. Above each door was a clear crystal sticking out from the wall.

He assumed that each door would lead them to an Elite Floor Monster and the final boss but was stumped on how they would open them.

After taking the room in he turned around and saw his team standing upright. No one looked like Upchuck Roulette had won against them and that made him frown. However, they did look a bit squeamish.

“What is this place?” Ariyana asked with awed curiosity.

“It looks like a temple of some sort,” Mercer replied as he took in the sight of the room.

“It does look like one doesn’t it?” Liam agreed.

It’s a fallen temple from a forgotten realm. Eri suddenly stated in Liam’s mind.

Her sudden proclamation made Liam slightly jump.

“What’s wrong?” Blair asked as she looked at Liam.

“Nothing,” Liam stated before mentally saying to Eri, Jesus Eri, you scared the crap out of me.

Eri laughed in his mind. That’s what you get for taking so long to come back into the dungeon.

Liam frowned as he heard her say this. What are you talking about? I went to the first floor a few times and tried to speak with you there, but you never answered me back?

Eri was silent making Liam think she was thinking about what he had said.

Did you really go to the first floor? She asked after a moment had passed.

Yeah, I thought maybe you were ignoring me or something. Liam mentally frowned.

Aw did you miss me that much? Eri asked with a teasing tone.

Not even in the slightest. Liam said with an even tone.

Rude! Eri said with mock hurt. I’m not sure why I wasn’t able to hear you or feel you enter the dungeon if you went to the first floor. I should have been able to sense you…I wonder why I didn’t.

“What do you think Liam?” Mercer asked as they looked at him.

“Hm?” Liam muttered as he looked back at him with a confused look. “I’m sorry I was lost in thought. What’s going on?”

Mercer eyed him. “I was saying I don’t know which door we’re supposed to go through or how to open them. We were planning on looking around the room to see if we could find a switch or button of sorts.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Liam agreed as he looked around the room once more. “I’ll take the top floor. Maybe I can spot something up there.”

Everyone nodded.

“Sounds good to me,” Mercer agreed as they started moving.

Before they left he activated his Perception of the Control Tower, making sure to get everyone in his sight.

As he started walking he asked Eri, Since you know what this place is, can you tell me anything I’ll need to know? What monsters reside here? How to get the doors open?

I could, but why should I when you’re not my champion? Eri asked with a bemused tone.

Liam grew a deadpan expression as he said mentally, Really?

Yes really. Eri stated seriously. However, I will say even I don’t know what you’ll face here because of how screwed up this dungeon has become. The monsters will be different than the ones that should be here. So, I can confidently tell you that even if I told you what would be here, it will be different.

“Some help you are,” Liam whispered.

I heard that. Eri commented.

Liam shook his head as he approached the top floor. As he walked the walkway along the wall, he looked down at the floors below him.

Peering down from the ledge of the top floor, Liam was able to see a clear picture of the room. He started noticing some differences on each floor as well.

One example was the placement of the doors. They were located in different areas of the floors.

Another was the pictures of the walls on each level. Each floor looked to have a theme of some sorts with certain pictures standing out more than others.

The one that caught his attention the most was the bottom floor where the water flooded.

He could see the bottom floor through the clear water better from this angle. The bottom floor was a bit farther than the floor above it making the water deeper than he originally thought it was.

As he stared into the water he noticed something strange.

“Is that a…,” Liam muttered as he trailed off. He saw Mercer two floors down from him and called out, “Hey Mercer, come up here really quick.”

Mercer looked up at him before making his way up.

“What’s up?” Mercer asked as he approached Liam.

“How is your eyesight?” Liam asked.

“Better than before, but probably not as good as yours,” Mercer answered with a puzzled look. “Why do you ask?”

Liam pointed down into the water at something and asked, “Tell me…Can you see that object in the water against the wall?”

Mercer looked in the direction of where Liam was pointing.

He squinted his eyes trying to get a better look. After a few moments had passed he said, “I see something, but can’t make it out that well. What does it look like to you?”

“It looks like a lever,” Liam stated.

Mercer looked at Liam with a puzzled expression. “It does?”

Liam nodded.

“Hm,” Mercer muttered before shouting, “Artem!”

Artem looked up from the second to last floor.

“Yeah?” He called back.

“Look into the water and tell me if you see a lever on the wall to the left?” Mercer yelled.

Artem gave him a confused look before peering into the water. After a few seconds he replied back, “Yeah there is one!”

“Can you jump in there and see if you can flip it?” Mercer requested.

“Sure!” Artem answered before changing his armor set into a plain shirt and shorts.

After changing he dove right in.

“Keep an eye out in case something happens everyone!” Liam called out.

Ariyana, Avery, Blair, and Roman grew alert and eyed the floor they were on as they waited.

After half a minute had passed, Artem reemerged from the water and made his way up the stairs. He looked up as he pulled out a towel, dried himself off, and shouted, “I pulled it! Did anything happen?”

Mercer was about to reply back, but stopped as a rumbling shook the room a bit. The sound of stone scraping against stone echoed making everyone look around to see where it was coming from.

Ariyana let out a shriek making everyone turn their attention to her.

Liam saw Ariyana running away from the door that had opened by her on the 3^rd floor. The one where the portal was once on.

He was confused why she was running away until he saw four familiar grey skinned zombies chasing after her.

They were running on all fours. Their arms were lankier than normal zombies. They had nail-like claws that protruded from their lanky fingers. Their eye sockets were empty and had no bottom jaws.

“What the hell are those!” Roman shouted as he sprinted to the stairs to help Ariyana out.

One of the zombies had closed the distance to Ariyana and leaped at her. As its clawed hand swung down, Avery parried it with a swing of her rapier.

Mercer pulled out his bow and notched an arrow. He then released it and watched it sail towards the zombie’s head. The arrow flew pass Avery’s ear and was swatted away by the zombie.

“What the hell!?” Mercer shouted in complete shock.

“Those are Shredding Zombies!” Liam shouted. “Any attacks coming at them from the front will be deflected or blocked. You have to attack them from the sides or from behind to land a blow!”

Mercer looked at him. “How do you know that?”

“I had to go against a bunch of them on the last floor,” Liam explained as he ran to the left while keeping the zombies in sight.

When he got into a position he felt was good, Liam pulled out two throwing daggers and threw them.

Mercer watched as the daggers soared at the Zombie’s side and struck it in the head.

The creature let out a loud shriek before crumpling to the ground.

Two more Shredding Zombies lunged forward at Avery.

Before they could land their attacks, Artem deflected both with his shield, his armor back on.

Four daggers flew and sank into their skulls causing them to drop dead just like the last one.

The last Shredding Zombie appeared on Artem’s right and was about to strike, until a flurry of strikes from Avery’s sword struck it.

The creature turned its head to change its target but then dropped down as Artem struck his mace down as hard as he could on the top of its skull.

“What the hell happened?” Blair questioned as she approached the three. “Where did they come from?”

“They came running out from the door when it opened,” Ariyana said, slightly panting.

“We’ve got more coming out!” Mercer shouted from the top floor.

Liam pulled his daggers back to him using Mana Manipulation and watched as several Skeletons with rusty swords, Rotted Zombies, and Shredding Zombies emerged from the door.

“What the hell are those creatures?” Liam questioned as he assessed the skeletons dragging a rusty sword.

 

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“Skeleton Warriors. 75/75 HP. 0/0 MP.”

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“Well this is one way to start off a floor,” Liam muttered before he yelled out. “Mercer! You and I will focus on the Shredding Zombies. They are our first priority!”

“Got it!” Mercer replied as he moved to position himself better against the ones he saw.

“Artem and Blair, one of you stay where you are while the other tries to pincer attack from the other side. Don’t go too far in case you need to retreat,” Liam ordered. “Try to make sure they do not overwhelm you and make sure they do not make it to the stairs.”

Artem grunted his acknowledgement of the plan as he stood his ground where he was not taking his eyes off the swarm of Undead creatures.

Blair hefted her Great Axe over her shoulder, turned and started for the group coming around from the other side.

“Ariyana, Avery, and Roman,” Liam started up again as he threw two daggers at a Shredding Zombie. “Two of you stay with Artem and help him out. One of you go with Blair and back her up.”

“Sure thing,” Ariyana stated as she pulled out two ring like blades.

Both of them were circular in shape with a small handle big enough for her hands to grip them. The rest was nothing but blade.

“So her new weapons are Chakrams,” Liam muttered to himself as he appreciated the craftsmanship of his mentor.

 Avery turned to face the swarm since she was already right by Artem and readied her sword.

“On it!” Roman shouted as he bolted down the stairs and caught up to Blair who readied herself for the oncoming wave.

“If it gets too much to handle then make your way to the stairs,” Liam ordered. “If that happens then Artem will take point as defender Blair right behind him. The rest will support them with long ranged attacks. That’s only if you start to get overwhelmed though. Got it?”

Everyone shouted their approval of the plan as they prepared for the battle heading their way.

Luckily the Skeletons and Rotted Zombies were slow enough for Liam to shout out the plan. As he was doing that, both he and Mercer attacked the Shredding Zombies that appeared within the group of Undead.

When a Shredding Zombie wasn’t in sight, they picked off as many of the Rotted Zombies as they could.

Before they knew it the Skeleton Warriors and the Rotted Zombies not picked off by Mercer and Liam arrived to the two groups.

Artem swung his shield against two rusty swords that struck down at him. This made the two Skeletons off balanced. Before they could right themselves, he swung his mace horizontally against their heads causing them to collide against the wall.

Avery gracefully spun around the two Skeletons Artem attacked and struck the Rotted Zombie that was right behind them. Her rapier struck both shoulders, chest and head with swift and precise motions.

Ariyana followed her and attacked the Rotted Zombie who was right next to the one Avery attacked. Unlike Avery’s precision, Ariyana’s weapons attacks landed randomly across the creature’s chest and arms.

After Avery finished the Rotted Zombie she was on, she turned and helped Ariyana finish off hers.

After they took it down Artem stepped in from of them to block a strike from a Skeleton Warrior’s rusty sword.

On Blair’s end, she swung her Great Axe against the side of a Skeleton Warrior making it collide into two more, crashing all three into the wall.

Roman ran up and leaped into the air, over the group of skeletons Blair attacked. As his feet landed, his momentum made him slid right up into a group of three Rotted Zombies. Roman readied his gauntleted fists and did a three strike punch against the first one.

After striking the first Rotted Zombie, Roman spun around and attacked the Rotted Zombie behind him. He then switched over to the third and attacked it as well. He switched between the three monsters, punching and kicking them.

When one of the Rotted Zombies got too close to him from behind, Roman swept his tail out, making it fall over. He kept this up until all three dropped dead.

After the last Rotted Zombie fell, Blair spun around Roman, bringing her Great Axe with her as her body turned, slamming it into three more Skeleton Warriors.

Liam watched as his team fought against the wave of Undead.

Even though he was far away, he was able to tell how much they had practiced with their weapons.

Blair’s strategy to swing her great axe in towards the wall was smart on her part to make sure none of the monsters fell off the walkway and get behind them.

Artem did the same but not to the same extent as Blair’s Great Axe. His mace swings were timed perfectly with his shield’s parry.

Both of them generated enough aggro that the monsters completely ignored the others as they focused on the Rotted Zombies.

Mercer was caught off guard at first when the Shredding Zombies appeared, but now he was able to perfectly sink an arrow into their heads quickly before they could get to the others.

That wasn’t the only thing he noticed. He caught on that they weren’t using any magical abilities.

This was a wise choice on their part. The amount of space they had on the walkway wasn’t wide enough for their magic to be unleashed without colliding into each other.

As the group kept up their attack, the number of Undead monsters started to decrease. It wasn’t too long before they had completely defeated the wave of Undead monsters.

“Great job guys!” Mercer stated as he and Liam walked up to them.

“You guys have definitely changed and started adapting to your new racial gains,” Liam said as he looked at them all. “I’m going to have to observe you all during our next few fights so I can make better strategies.”

Avery, Blair, and Roman shook their heads as a grin appeared on their faces.

“We’re not the only ones whose racial gains were made apparent,” Mercer commented. “Your sight is amazing. I don’t think any of us would have seen that lever so quickly. Especially in the water.”

Liam shrugged as he looked at the open door. “Are you guys ready to see what’s waiting for us in there?”

The others looked at the door and stared at it with cautious expressions on their faces.

“It would be good if we had a way to see what was in there before going through that door,” Ariyana said. “I just hope it’s not another bat.”

“Or a spider,” Artem chimed in with a shiver running down his spine.

The others laughed at them as Liam thought of something.

“I think I might have a way for us to scout ahead before we jump straight in,” Liam said with a serious look.

“Oh?” the others said.

“What way do you have in store for us?” Mercer asked with a curious look.

Liam grinned as he looked at them. “It’s actually one of my new magical abilities I had gotten. It’s called Veil of Shadows.”

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