The Last Experience Point

Chapter 22: A Harsh Introduction

If not for the sudden outburst of screaming voices, Zach would have been well on his way towards discovering what devious machinations this creepy, yet morbidly exciting dungeon had in store for him.

Just a moment ago, he had been getting pumped up, ready to travel deeper into this unknown prison and kick the ass of whatever boss needed kicking so that he could ride the elevator up and leave this place—and come back right away, of course. After all, he wasn’t planning to “escape.” Not at all. He was going to leave, sure, but only so that he could resupply at the nearest town or village and come right back. In fact, depending on how much experience he could reasonably gain, he might just stay here for a good long time. Maybe even beyond level 10! At no point in his life had he felt so motivated and determined.

After a short, five-minute rest, Zach had gotten back onto his feet, approached the aggro range of Skelly Grunt A, and had been ready for it the moment it spawned. Curiously, “Skelly Grunt A” had spawned as “Skelly Grunt” and remained that way until the other one spawned a few seconds after it. Only then did the letter “A” become appended to the end of its name.

Determined to venture deeper, Zach wanted to make quick work of the two skeletons in this room so that he had a few minutes’ time to carefully inspect what might lay beyond before actually going any farther; the last thing he wanted was to find himself once again faced with an ambush from an area he couldn’t see.

Yet, only a moment after he’d felled Skelly Grunt A, multiple screaming voices from somewhere above and behind him caused Zach to pause just an instant before entering into aggro range of Skelly Grunt B. If he had taken even a step farther, he would have initiated combat with the fleshless creature. He stopped, however, as to both his confusion and alarm, the loud, echoing screams that resonated from somewhere in the distance sounded as though they were coming from the area with the swimming pool where Fluffles was currently napping.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, becoming anxious.

He turned around, and as fast as his body could move—which was faster now than before—he squeezed himself through the tight-fitting passageway, not even caring that he scraped his knees against the rocks, and he bolted across the area beyond and up the stairs, which led to the pool. Even as his feet were slamming down on the steps, he could hear a tremendous splash, followed by the sound of vicious, angry meowing.

“Who attack Fluffles?” the cat yelled, hissing. “Someone attacking Fluffles! Where Zach?”

“I’m coming!” Zach screamed, his heart hammering away in his chest. On the verge of panic, he dashed into the swimming area, his sword at the ready, and he darted his eyes around for any sign of a threat. Fluffles was okay, thank the Gods—but he was now soaking wet. It looked as though something had caused a giant enough splash that the water traveled all the way across the room to where he had been napping. His fur was absolutely drenched.

Darting his head around, alarmed, Zach finally spotted two figures making their way out of the pool. One was a boy who looked to be around Zach’s age; he had short, buzz-cut black hair, plump cheeks, and though not exactly “fat,” he was robust but in a way that almost looked intentional. He was wearing red, padded body armor that Zach took to be a leather brigandine, and he wore trousers that looked equally as bulky. On his back was a round, large shield and a silvery gem-encrusted sword, and around his neck was a pendant in the shape of a lion.

Exiting the pool next to him was a girl, who also looked roughly around Zach’s age. She was attractive, with long, blond-colored hair done into a ponytail that reached all the way down to below her shoulders and jutted out from behind a black, curved steeple hat. She had dark blue eyes, and she was slim in stature. Clutched in both her hands was a polished wooden staff, at the tip of which resided a bright red gemstone that looked like a ruby. She wore a thin, blueish-white vest on top of a white undershirt with a matching pair of blueish-white leggings. She also donned a necklace, and hers was in the shape of the sun—and it glowed a brilliant bright yellow color, too. Both she and the boy with her regarded Zach, then looked at one another as though perplexed.

“Who are you two?” Zach asked—or at least he intended to ask. He might have said some of the words or he might have said none at all. He wasn’t sure. He was pretty certain that he at least got as far as the word “who,” but whether he said one word, none, or all, it ultimately wouldn’t have mattered because Fluffles drowned out whatever he’d been about to say with a deafening shout.

“Zach!” the cat shouted. “This serious. Ready sword. Prepare for PVP!”

Up until this point, the two mysterious strangers had been standing with a more or less non-threatening posture and doing little more than regarding him and his cat with an understandable curiosity—the same curiosity that Zach was regarding them with. But that all changed the moment Fluffles spoke. Right away, the faces of both the boy and the girl tightened.

“D-did he just say ‘PVP’?” the boy asked, sounding shocked.

“Rian, did that kitty just talk?” the girl replied.

“Who the hell cares, Lienne?” He reached behind himself with both hands and drew his sword and shield. “He just said PVP! You heard him!”

Zach, becoming equally as uneasy as he was angry, growled and raised his own blade threateningly. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned the two of them.

“No, you don’t think about it. Drop your weapon, kid. Yield!”

Yield? he thought angrily to himself, repeating the word. I’m not Gods-damned yielding! I don’t know who these people are, but I’m not about to back down after everything I went through to get here.

“You fucking yield!” Zach snapped right back at him. From the way the boy gripped his sword, it wasn’t a stretch to assume he had no intention of complying, so to Fluffles, he said, “I’ll take the guy on the—” Zach’s mouth fell open—“are you seriously playing with your tail right now? What the hell are you doing?”

Fluffles was running around in circles as if trying to catch his own tail, which he often did from time to time, but…but why now? Why in the name of the Gods was he doing this now of all times? Did he expect Zach to deal with these two people all on his own? Clearly, he did, because he somehow managed to chase his own tail out of the swimming-pool room, through the next hall, and down the stairs.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” the girl said, following the cat with her eyes, “but we should end this quickly.”

Zach could sense from the shift in posture that the two were about to attack. Swearing loudly, he dashed forward, determined to strike before he was stricken. This seemed to surprise both of his bizarre visitors, as they flinched as if unready. But their surprise did not last long. The boy, Rian, snapped out of his stupor and raised his sword as if in challenge a moment before Zach was upon him.

Zach struck out, exploding into a furious, three-strike combination he hoped would put an end to this immediately. First, he cut horizontally, but the boy called Rian managed to raise his own, somewhat shorter sword in time to block. Zach followed it up with the same strike once more, as if to bludgeon him, but the robust boy’s guard held steady, managing to block; this time, the two blades crossing created a few sparks. Finally, Zach lifted his blade high and swung it downwards, and for a moment, he thought he might’ve had this “Rian” dude. Unfortunately, the kid managed to lift his shield just in time, and with a surprisingly loud, high-pitched thump, he endured the strike, even as it caused him to shift the weight to his back foot and nearly lose his balance.

Having failed to land a single hit, Zach dashed backwards to reset, and he was glad he’d done so, because less than an instant later, a dark blue, missile-shaped flame hurtled across the spot he’d only just been standing. It continued onwards until slamming into the side of a wall where it disappeared, luckily not starting a fire.

She’s the dangerous one, he realized. I need to go after her first.

Zach spun his body on his heels, then took off at a sprint towards the girl, his blade raised and ready to strike. He didn’t want to kill her. He would try his best just to wound. The last thing he needed on his conscience was to have killed two people his own age he knew nothing about. As it were, he already had enough crazy things on his mind to worry about.

“Rian!” she shouted, beginning to take several defensive steps backwards. “Taunt!”

“I know, I know!”

Zach, still charging in her direction, stopped immediately as a strange, overwhelming sense came over him. He turned his body to face the one she’d called Rian, and for a reason he couldn’t explain, he suddenly realized that, of all the living beings on the planet, there was no one—not a single person—he hated more than Rian. He hated Rian so much that he would trade his own life if it meant Rian died with him. That was the extent of the rage he now felt. Screaming, he rushed blindly towards him, and then with fury in his voice, he shouted, “I’ll kill you! I hate you!”

“That’s right, kid,” he replied, grinning. “Focus on me.”

Why am I behaving this way? Zach wondered.

By the time he realized something very strange had just happened, he was already striking out at the boy, who once more absorbed two of his sword attacks on his shield before countering with an overhand slash of his own. Zach bent backwards and evaded, though it came way too close. Then he raised his sword to block two fast strikes that came first from his left and then from his right side. Two loud clangs filled the otherwise silent swimming-pool area as Zach deflected both, then returned with yet another of his own, which was once again blocked by the shield.

Before long, the two of them settled into something of a rhythm—almost a dance of sorts, of traded strikes. Zach managed to evade anything the boy sent his way, while on the flipside, that damn shield, which was twice the size of his face, managed to be everywhere his sword went. Eventually, the constant sound of grunts accompanied the occasional thud of sword on shield or clang of steel on steel.

The boy, Rian, stepped forward and thrust his sword towards Zach’s face. Zach leaned to the left, watching as it passed harmlessly through the air where his head had just been, then countered with a downwards slash, which Rian blocked by simply raising his right, shield-bearing hand. Then the two both backed away.

“Why are you two trying to kill me?” Zach demanded as he rushed back in to reengage. He stopped short at the last moment, ducked beneath another blue missile of fire, and then tried to hammer away at the boy’s left side in an attempt to drop his guard.

“Why are you trying to kill us?” he fired back, taking a swipe at Zach’s throat, which he successfully blocked with the middle of his blade.

Zach dashed backwards. “Wait, say that again?”

“I said why are you trying to kill us?”

His mouth falling slightly, Zach began to slowly, cautiously, and calmly lower his sword, as he noticed the boy doing the same. “You…you tried to kill my cat…right?”

“Wh-what?” the girl said, her tone outraged. “I would never. I love cats.”

“Well…well I…he told me you two were…”

“We’re not here to hurt anything that’s not a mob,” the girl said.

Zach stared at the two of them a moment, searching their eyes for any trace of deception. Then he fully lowered his blade, sighed, and with heat in his voice, he shouted, “Fluffles!”

The cat came strutting in, wobbling with happiness and satisfaction. “Fluffles find all his tuna on the floor downstairs!” he announced.

Even knowing it was a risky thing to do, Zach turned his back on the two he’d just been fighting with, and he regarded Fluffles. “You told me those two were trying to kill you.”

“Fluffles not say!” the cat replied defensively. “Fluffles say they attack.”

“That’s the same thing! And what…what do you mean attack?”

“They splash water on Fluffles.”

“Are you…” Zach removed his left hand from his sword so that he could rub his face. The frustration was unbearable. “Are you telling me you just had the three of us almost kill each other because they accidentally splashed you?”

Fluffles meowed. He moved his head as if he were going to reply, but before he could speak a word, the girl answered in his stead. “I believe it,” she said. “I have three cats. That’s exactly something they’d do if they could talk. Also…” Zach turned around just in time to see her face turn red. “D-did you say his name is fwuffles!”

Fluffles walked over to her. “I am a good cat. And I love chin scratches.”

Here we fucking go, Zach thought, moaning. He couldn’t believe the girl Fluffles had asked him to fight to the death was now scratching his chin and telling him how good of a cat he was. Why could no one resist this? Was Fluffles using some kind of high-level ability or was it just his face? How did he have such power over human brains?

“Okay,” Zach said, his sword-carrying arm now dropped non-threateningly to his side. “Just…can we all agree that no one here actually wants to kill anyone else?”

“Yes,” the girl who he believed had been called Lienne replied immediately as she pet Fluffles.

“Of course not,” the other one, Rian, said. He had already returned his sword and shield to his back.

“Fluffles not kill adventurers,” he cat replied. “He only want Zach to get mean humans back for splashing.”

Zach pointed at him threateningly. “Bullshit!” he shouted. “One of us could’ve died.”

Fluffles hissed at him. “You not yell at Fluffles! I not let humans die. I watch.”

“You know what? Whatever. Seriously, I’m pissed.” Zach waved his hand at Fluffles. He couldn’t even be bothered to deal with this now. Instead, returning his attention to his strange new company, he said, “My name is Zachys Calador. This is sort of my cat, Fluffles.”

“I’m Rian,” the boy said, extending his hand. Zach took it, and the two shook. “Rian Astafort.” He gestured at the girl accompanying him. “And this is my sister, Lienne.”

Zach shook her hand, and she smiled at him. “Pleasure to meet you, Zachys.”

“Just Zach is fine. And same to you too. Uh, I have to be honest with you guys: it’s a bit of a shock meeting other people here.”

“Why’s that?” Lienne asked.

Zach blinked. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“This is a dungeon. As in, a literal, actual dungeon. With mobs.”

“Yeah, that’s why we’re here.”

Zach held up his pointer finger as if to reply, but the words got stuck somewhere in his throat, as he found himself dumbfounded by her reply. As if noting his confusion, the boy, Rian, let out a small, but non-malicious laugh and said, “This is your first time meeting adventurers on the road, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah. I didn’t think…”

With a brief glance at Fluffles, Rian said, “I’m sure we both have a lot of questions.” With that, he took a seat on the black-marble floor, and Lienne sat next to him. Confused, and still somewhat in shock, Zach joined them, and so too did Fluffles, jumping into Lienne’s lap.

“I guess we can take turns. You want to go first?”

Zach nodded. “Sure.”

And with that, he began his search for answers.