Dungeon Noble - Squire

Jake stepped out into what seemed to be very similar to the area they’d seen for the last Challenge. There were a few differences to match this new Dungeon, but functionally, it was the same.

“So, I know that it’s too late,” Karl said, clearing his throat awkwardly. “But are we definitely, absolutely certain that we don’t lose anything permanently?”

“I lost once, and I still have both hands,” Nepthys said with a shrug. “Don’t underestimate how bad it is, though. Soul damage is nothing to shrug off.”

“I can handle pain,” Karl said in a dark tone before looking over to the end of the area where the ramp had been last time. “Huh, this bit’s different.”

“Yeah, I hadn’t noticed that yet,” Jake said, looking over to where the previous ramp and battlements had been replaced by a wall of dark stone. In the centre of the wall was a raised section, which was about the right size and shape for a door.

“I’m guessing that’ll open once we start things off,” Karl said, glancing over to the hourglass that sat prominently in the centre of the space.

“Let’s all wait down there while someone turns it. That way, we can get straight to it,” Rhew said as she put action to words and started over to the far end.

“I’ll do it. You all get into position,” Jake said, moving over to the pedestal that held the hourglass. He waited for a few moments while the others got into position before reaching out and turning the hourglass over.

A slight rumble rocked the room as the raised section of wall lowered into the ground, revealing a poorly lit cavern awash with steam.

“Let’s find this snake!” Rhew called out excitedly as she dashed into the new area, the others fanning out behind her as Jake hurried over.

Alan and Rhew had gone left, while Nepthys and Karl had gone right, so Jake went straight down the centre of the cavern, looking for anything that was out of place.

Fortunately, there were no pools of water for a snake to hide in, so it seemed to simply be a case of locating whatever nook or cranny the monster had hidden itself in.

Despite the lack of water, the amount of steam in the air was surprisingly high, though that question was answered when Jake saw a crack in the wall up above them give out a gout of steam.

“Where is the damn thing,” Nepthys grumbled off to Jake’s right as she overturned a rock.

“How long do we even have?” Rhew called as they searched, getting only a tense silence in response.

Their search only grew more frantic as the snake continued to elude them, even with Alan using his Skill as often as he could.

Jake felt sweat dripping down his face as he dragged a rock to one side to look into a small hole it had been mostly blocking. There were just too many places to hide, and the oppressive heat was really starting to get to them all.

A feeling of pressure started to build in the air around them as they carried on searching. It almost reminded Jake of the feeling of a thunderstorm approaching but inverted.

“That’s the signal that we’re running out of time,” Nepthys called out in a breathy voice as she retraced her steps.

Jake grimaced and pushed himself to move faster, trying to think of the places they hadn’t looked yet. They just hadn’t been organised enough for that, though, and for all he knew, he was checking over something that had already been done.

The pressure steadily grew as their time ran out until it vanished altogether.

“There it is, got it!” Karl shouted, lunging forward to crush the skull of a snake that was emerging from a hole a few feet off the ground on the left side.

“Too late, we failed the Challenge,” Nepthys said, panting heavily as she tried to catch her breath. “Damn it!”

Silence fell across them all as they took in Nepthys’s words and realised what their failure entailed.

Jake closed his eyes as he felt cold nausea roil in his gut. He’d been riding high on their string of successes and hadn’t really considered what failure would mean.

Slowly, they all gathered at the door they’d entered through, which now had the symbol of a hand on it, with a circular opening below.

“I feel sick,” Rhew muttered, turning away from the door with a pale expression.

“It’s alright, I took on the wager. I’ll do it,” Karl said firmly as he walked up to the door and took a deep breath to steady himself before placing his left hand into the hole.

Jake’s respect and admiration for Karl went up at the unflinching way his fellow Classer stood up to the mark. For all the fear and worry in his eyes, Karl’s hand was steady as it went into the darkness.

Karl ended up with everything from his elbow down within the dark interior, the big man sharing a worried look with Jake before his eyes went wide, and he yanked his arm back out with a cry of pain.

Karl’s hand was gone, his arm ending in a stump of bloodied flesh just before his wrist. Blood was streaming from the wound, and Karl’s already pale expression turned strained as he staggered backwards.

“Hold him,” Nepthys snapped, already moving to Karl with a potion in hand, pouring part over the stump before giving the rest to Karl to drink. “There, that will numb the worst of it.”

“Gods damn it,” Karl gasped, his chest heaving as he grabbed his wrist with his hand and stared down at the stump. For all that the blood had been pouring out, the actual wound was quite clean and had already begun to heal, thanks to the potion. “It felt like something ripped it clean off. Thanks for the potion, Nepthys.”

“It’s possibly one of the worst experiences of my life,” Nepthys said with a shudder, giving Karl’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. “Thankfully, I don’t spend much time in Dungeons usually, so it’s only been the once.”

A deep grinding sound came from the door as it slowly lowered into the ground. Its payment received.

“Come on, let’s get out of here and take a rest,” Jake said, eyeing Karl’s missing hand. The Dungeon’s method of taking it had been both better and worse than Jake had expected.

Karl nodded absently with a glazed look in his eyes that worried Jake more than the blood had.

“Come on, Karl,” Rhew said softly, taking Karl by the elbow and leading him through the dark portal that had replaced the stone door.

Sharing a concerned look with Alan and Nepthys, Jake followed through after them, emerging back in the corridor with Felix.

Karl was already sitting against the far wall, staring down at his stump with a distant expression, while Rhew hovered over him uncertainly.

“Take a rest,” Felix said, motioning subtly towards Karl. “Losing a limb in combat is one thing, but losing it like this can often be worse mentally.”

“A rest would be good,” Alan said faintly, rubbing his temples as he took a seat against the warm rock. “I used my Skill too much there. I didn’t want to say anything, not with what Karl had to do, but a rest would be good.”

“Yeah, that was a lot,” Jake said, groaning slightly as he took a seat on the hard rock. He was pretty sure he’d pulled a muscle while shifting a heavy rock during their frenetic searching. “A few minutes will do us good.”

-**-

The few minutes turned into almost thirty in the end, but by that point, Karl had gotten himself back together. He still seemed somewhat disorientated by his missing hand, but he was in good enough shape to continue, which was what mattered right now.

Nepthys did make sure to reassure Karl that his hand would come back once he died in the Dungeon. While that was no doubt good for Karl to hear, it did make Jake wonder how many Classers deliberately died to heal any disfiguring wounds they took during their delve.

The more Jake knew about delving, the more he was shocked that any of the high-tier Classers were still sane.

Shaking off his musings, Jake focused on the Dungeon as they moved onto the fourth floor. Karl wasn’t going to be at his peak, so Jake needed to step up.

Thankfully, the fourth floor seemed to be a fairly straightforward mix of the second and third floors.

Dark obsidian spikes dominated each of the three areas within the floor, with pools of steaming water around the exterior. The lizards they’d already seen clustered around the obsidian, while snakes were hidden within the water.

Engaging any of them brought all the attackers to them, so invariably, they began with Alan and Rhew attacking the lizards to whittle down their numbers.

Jake did his best to shoulder the majority of the close-in fighting that happened on the floor, but Karl still had to step in to help once or twice.

Thankfully, a little bit of fighting seemed to help Karl come back to himself, and by the time they moved to the fifth floor, he was close to his normal self.

-**-

The uncomfortable heat of the first four floors was intensified on the fifth floor, making it truly oppressive. Unlike the last few floors, however, it was a dry heat coming from a series of burning rocks scattered throughout the cavern before them.

As they’d seen in the last Dungeon, the first Guardian floor was a single large space. Unlike the last one, however, the burning rocks illuminated everything with flickering lights.

“While I’m glad for the illumination, somehow this is worse,” Alan muttered, his eyes locked on the centre of the cavern.

A huge slab of dark-colour rock sat proudly on display, with a dozen or more chunks of obsidian scattered around it and several of the burning rocks.

As impressive as all that was, what was catching Alan’s eye was the creature sunning itself atop the rock.

The monster was clearly kin to the lizards they’d been fighting, but where they were bright red, it was a shade or two darker. The creature was also at least ten feet from nose to tail, with its tail being just a third of that. It was double the size of what they’d seen so far, and much of that increase went to thicker scales and a beefier body.

“There’s something about its claws. They look darker than the others,” Alan murmured, his eyes glinting with grey energy as he used his Skill. “There’s two more hidden within the burning rocks as well, though they are curled up tightly. Not quite as large as the first, but still much bigger than the others.”

“We’ll have to assume they’re on the same level of toughness as a murk hound,” Jake said slowly, his gaze not leaving the huge lizard that was sleeping soundly on the rock. “I can likely kill one with my dagger if I can get a hit somewhere sensitive, but otherwise, this will be tough.”

“I could land a shot at its eye while it sleeps. We’re a good distance away, but I’ve been practising,” Alan said, drawing an arrow from his quiver as he spoke.

Jake took a breath, part of him absently noticing how they all turned to him for the final verdict. “Do it.”