Entering the dungeon, the party was immediately met by a foul stench of rotting vegetation assaulting their senses.
“That is horrid,” Talia pinched her nose.
“Yeah, horrid,” Aaron mimicked her, earning himself a sideways glance.
They were standing on a dirt ledge that rose a couple of meters above what was otherwise nothing but reedy swamp, with a few ruined buildings and skeletal trees sinking into it.
“I’m going to need a long bath after this.”
“I dunno. Seems like a pleasant place,” Aaron grinned.
“I know you’re taking the piss, but you know, a part of me thinks you actually believe that.”
“Hey! I’m not a swamp dweller!” Aaron defended himself, but Talia was barely listening, already scoping their surroundings.
“Hey, look at this,” she waved him over, pointing at the ground.
There were huge bear-like prints pressed into the soggy earth, and they were heading away from them.
“Good job. I guess that’s the big guy. Shall we, then?”
Talia nodded, and they got walking.
Zero was busy sniffing about, but the moment Aaron started walking, he was quick to his side, only to bound away a second later as he searched for things to sniff and occasionally raised his head to listen with twitchy ears.
The trail quickly descended into the swamp water, but they trudged forward through the ankle-deep water unbothered. The water had hidden the tracks from the naked eye, but Aaron’s [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] could keep track of the residual energy left behind by the beast.
And it didn’t take long for them to notice other signs of the beast’s trail.
“Look at that,” Aaron pointed.
Scattered around the place were multiple corpses of giant mosquitoes, and walking a little further, they also found giant, mutated frogs that were covered in spikes.
“So, that confirms it. The beast lord really is coming down here to grind.”
“Do you think it’s intelligent, then? Like a human?” Talia asked.
“Hmm, well, it is a D-grade. I suppose it probably is pretty intelligent. It clearly has a plan, at least.”
Aaron was already well aware that beasts hunted each other not just for food, but to grow stronger. However, this was the first example that he knew of a monster using a dungeon to grind, but then again, it wasn’t too surprising. Intelligent species followed a different path during the integration, what with Tutorials and trials. But he was aware that there were plenty of worlds that ended up ruled by evolved beasts.
“Let’s keep moving.”
The trail kept going for some distance, passing by many more corpses. Soon, they reached an unusual spot. There were stone markers lined in a circle, and another stone door just like the one they had used to enter the dungeon.
“That looks familiar," Aaron said, walking over to it.
“There weren’t many, but I did a few dungeons in the Tutorial that had multiple levels. That’s probably the entrance to the second floor,” Talia said.
“Really? Cool,” Aaron said and pressed his hand against it.
Conditions to descend to the second floor of the Dungeon of the Sunken Chapel not yet met!
“Conditions?” He murmured, but just as he pulled his hand away, buzzing and croaking started to sound around them.
“Ah, Aaron, what did you just do?” Talia said, summoning her avatar.
“Nothing, I swear,” he shrugged, and Zero growled low. “I just tried to enter the second floor.”
The swamp around them started to bubble, and weeds and vegetation began to part, creating little whirlpools as the swamp drained into them. And within seconds, dozens of huge mosquitoes and mutated frogs started to slither their way out of the weedy holes.
Buzzsucker [ Level 95 ]
Murdecker Acid Spitter [ Level 97 ]
“Okay. Looks like we’ve got company,” Aaron cracked his knuckles with a grin.
“Let’s do this then,” Talia sighed.
A second later, acidic spit flew at them from all directions. Talia blocked it with her avatar’s defenses that flashed with light as the acid hit them, while Aaron and Zero dodged and flew into melee range without pause.
The number of beasts attacking them was considerable, but Talia, Zero, and Aaron must have been one of the strongest parties on the entire planet at that moment, and they crashed into their enemies with devastating consequences.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Beams of light, huge, blinding sword swipes, and pinpoint, precise punches rained down, and with every passing second, a beast was utterly crushed and annihilated.
Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!
[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!
71 → 72
Within several seconds, they were standing amongst many corpses, and Aaron immediately got to stuffing them into his scabbard for later.
“I’m thinking stew,” he mumbled to himself with a smile he didn’t realize was on his face.
“Y-you’re… thinking about food at this moment?” Talia’s nose scrunched up. “In a place like this? It stinks like shit in here!”
The decaying swamp wasn’t exactly appetite-inducing for most, but Aaron wasn’t most. Not anymore, at least.
“Oh… I ah, yeah, no. I’m just joking, haha.”
Talia frowned. “Right. Sure you are.”
Mental note, don’t let Talia see the stew. She won’t understand.
“Alrighty, I’m ready. Shall we keep moving?” Aaron said as he got done.
“Yeah, let’s go. You’ve been marching us forward non-stop. I don’t suppose you’ve got a plan?”
“Nah, not quite,” Aaron said, walking back over to the stone door and pressing his hand against it.
Conditions met!
Descend into the second floor of the Dungeon of the Sunken Chapel?
“Huh, would you look at that? It’s working now. Accepted!”
In an instant, they were on the second floor. Since they were at a party and within range of one another, neither Talia nor Zero had to confirm anything and were whisked away, whether they liked it or not, when Aaron confirmed the prompt.
The second floor was much like the first, but darker and with a thick layer of mist that made it so they could only see a couple of meters ahead of themselves.
“I sense it went this way,” Aaron said and started walking.
“Wait, Aaron, hold on,” said Talia.
“Yeah?” said Aaron, turning around.
“I think we should slow down a bit.”
“How come?”
“Well, think about it,” she said. “This is a Beast Lord, a monster on the same level as the Countess. But unlike the Countess, this one has been grinding levels out down here and pushing itself to get stronger. It’s not going to be an easy fight. Plus, look around. We’re in a Dungeon. Plenty of levels to go around.”
“So you’re saying we should take our time and go hunting a bit on the way?”
“Yeah, basically.”
“Huh. Yeah, y’know, that’s a good idea.”
“And it’s not like we’re in an extreme time crunch,” said Talia. “I want to be back sooner than later to keep the others from worrying, but we can afford to take things a little easy.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. And it’ll let me replenish my ingredient stores too.”
“Ah, yes… That too…”
Oh, right… She doesn’t like swamp food…
The two stood in awkward silence for a moment until Aaron sensed something moving at the edge of the range of [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ].
“Oh, hey, enemies!”
The two made quick work of another pack of the monstrous frogs, and once Aaron had taken all the corpses, they kept going. They only vaguely followed the bear’s trail, taking frequent detours to kill more beasts and gain more levels, until they both stopped as the bear’s trail took them near an old shack. It didn’t look like anything special, and they were just about to keep going, ignoring it as they followed the beast deeper into the swamp. But Aaron sensed some energy within it and raised a halting hand.
“Hold on a minute, I sense something in there.”
“What is it?” Talia asked.
He walked inside with a curious bent to his brow. It was a strange sensation, and it led him straight to an ordinary, weathered note nailed to a wooden table.
The strange part about it was that the note was filled with a peculiar energy. One he had only felt in a select few circumstances.
“Wait, I’ve felt this before… when buildings were building themselves in the camp. This… this is System energy, isn’t it?”
Aaron pulled the nail free and unfolded the note, and his eyes went wide.
Side Quest: Rescue the Sacrifices
The Cult of the Sunken Chapel is known for the sacrifices they make to their swamp-residing deity. Rescue the living sacrifices on the second floor for additional rewards.
Accept: Y/N?
“Hey, Talia.”
“What is it?” She said, squeezing her nose as she entered the decrepit house.
“Take a look at this.”
“A Quest?”
“Yeah. You done something like this in the Tutorial dungeons?”
“No,” she shook her head. “I’ve learned about Side Quests, though. Their rewards are usually comparable to their difficulty.”
“I see… so, do you think we should do it?”
“Umm, maybe? It’ll either be easy and not very rewarding, or—”
“I get it,” Aaron said. “We’re here to get stronger. It might be a detour, but it sounds like it could be worth it.”
“Hmm, you’re right. We should do it. After those last few beast kills, I can feel the experience bubbling up within me. I’m close to hitting D-grade,” Talia said. “There might be enough beasts between the beast lord and us for me to evolve, but there might not be.”
“Good point. We don’t know how strong it is. It’d be silly not to help you evolve first. Besides, even if there are enough beasts, it’s probably worthwhile that you have a few fights before the beast lord after evolving, even if they’re easy ones.”
“So, we’re doing the Quest?” Talia said.
“Yep, looks like we are,” Aaron said, turning toward where the new marker appeared the moment he accepted the Quest.
There were three markers, and they didn’t appear to be too far away and were within close proximity to one another.
Aaron led the way, passing through the swamp and swatting a few more beasts as they marched.
Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!
[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!
72 → 73
And soon, the mist began to clear away, and they found themselves standing before a crude fortress of rusted metal, rotting wood, and spikes jutting out in every direction.
Flaming torches could soon be atop the wallwalk in the distance, moving back and forth as if guards were making their rounds, though it was hard to make out details from their distance.
“Looks like that’s where the prisoners are.”
“A cult, and they have a base? You think these could be humans?” Talia asked as they took a step toward the fortress.
“Dunno, let’s go and find out.”
There was an interesting thought playing on Aaron’s mind, though. How did dungeons work? In the trials, the creatures within were either the likeness borrowed from a creature within the multiverse or creatures transported into the trials. Did something similar happen within the dungeons, or did the denizens of this place simply live within the dungeon?
The place wasn’t small, could be entered and left at will, and seemed to have plenty of resources, so it was possible that these cultists simply lived within the dungeon.
“You ready?”
Talia nodded.
“Great. Then let’s go get you a level up.”
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