BAM!
The Fallen dodged to the side, while cursing the giant skeleton and its ancestors. The impact fissured the ground, sending small pieces of stone flying. The Fallen gulped at the sight.
He ran towards the altar room at full speed, thinking the monster couldn't keep up. He was right but the giant skeleton threw its huge club in direction of the Fallen.
The weapon pierced the air like a huge boomerang. The Fallen barely had time to squat and dodge it. Behind him, he could hear the approaching footsteps of the colossi and... its laugh.
"Kakakakaka."
The bastard was laughing like the other skeletons he had met, but... with a much deeper voice. Frustration and anger overtook him. Dying wasn't the issue here. That enemy was threatening the pride the Fallen had built up after improving his basic stats and repeatedly killing skeletons.
"I'll turn you into bone powder!"
He let go of his improvised weapon and grabbed the monster's bone club nailed in the stone close to him. Logically, he shouldn’t have been able to wield the 1.8-meter heavy weapon, but his lvl 4 strength proved to be useful.
The Fallen ran towards the monster, bone club in hand, with what had become his usual battlecry after killing hundreds, if not a thousand skeletons.
"Kakakakaka."
"Kakakakaka."
The giant laughed back in response and intercepted his strike. Or at least he tried. Its hand shattered at the impact and was reduced to mere pieces of collagen and calcium.
The colossi roared out of pain or frustration. Who knew if this thing really felt anything?
It smashed its intact fist at its enemy. The Fallen stepped back. Continuously killing skeletons had taught him the basics of combat. Though it didn't take the form of a skill, it allowed him to make elementary fighting moves. Plus, the giant skeleton’s movement speed was slow.
As it was retracting its arm, the Fallen smashed it to oblivion. Empowered by confidence he stepped forward. Reached the perfect distance to maximize the power of his next strike. Assembled every iota of strength he could muster and launched a deadly side blow.
BAM!
The giant skeleton’s lower rib cage fissured under the power, and a part of it detached itself from the main body.
ROAR!
The Fallen stepped forward once again, and prepared another blow. However, his enemy went into a frenzy, smashing everything in its way. As if it wasn't difficult enough, it had gained speed matching the Fallen.
It was time for a tactical retreat. But the colossi rushed towards the Fallen. He could not hope to escape this attack. Even if he could, he had sworn to never resort to cowardice again. Only tactical withdrawals.
The Fallen darted toward the incoming attack. But since he had already fought the eleven skeletons before meeting this big guy, his endurance was running low.
He gathered his remaining strength into one desperate attack. Aimed for the giant's head. Jumped. And hammered down with a power fueled with pride and the will to survive, without forgetting his signature laugh.
"Kakakakaka!"
BAM!
The bone club smashed the skeleton's skull into pieces. But simultaneously, it had the time to land a punch on the Fallen's left side ribs, who was viciously thrown on the stony ground. His mind was dizzy. His vision was blurred. However, he could still move.
Despite all that, he stood up and got ready for more. The headless giant was still standing. Its body weaved side to side, then fell. Never to move again.
The Fallen smiled internally, satisfied with the outcome of this fight. He took a victory stance, lifting his newfound weapon above his head…
THUD
And collapsed from stamina loss.
***
It was night when the Fallen was awakened by the sound of a campfire. He felt... good, in top shape even. Injuries from the last fight? Gone.
"Hello there!"
A voice he didn't recognize came out from the side. A ginger man was comfortably sitting next to the fire. His fedora hat, pointing toward the Fallen, highlighted an arrow-shaped like face. The man's grey cape was fluttering in the meager winds passing by, revealing his feeble build, a traveling merchant attire, and a backpack.
Worry lashed at the Fallen like a whip and he stood up ready to fight.
"Hohoho, easy there, Fallen. You wouldn't want to hurt your benefactor, right?" the stranger said with his honeyed voice worthy of a swindler.
"Who are you?"
"Now, now, sit down so that we can talk between civilized people."
The stranger didn't hesitate before saying 'people'. He didn't loathe at the idea of chatting with a skeleton. After all, he had already done it multiple times.
The Fallen sat down but still kept his guard up. This dungeon had taken advantage of his carelessness before, and he wasn’t inclined on making the same mistake again.
"Good, good. My name is Roan. I'm a humble merchant at your service." he bowed, moving his fedora hat on his left chest before placing it back on his head, "I found you unconscious next to the graveyard's dead tree and like the proper merchant I am, rescued you. By the way, that club of yours is so darn heavy."
'So, I was in a graveyard... no wonder there were so many skeletons. Wait a minute...' the Fallen thought.
"You know who... what I am?"
"Of course! You're a business partner!" the merchant said, adding a wink as a bonus.
The Fallen disliked the smirk on Roan’s face. In fact, he wanted to punch him. But Roan seemed to have sensed it.
"Calm down, I'm not a shady merchant, my wares are 100% authentic! Hehehe..."
'Yeah... like I'd believe this obvious lie.' the Fallen thought.
"Do you know where we are?" The Fallen asked.
"Tutututut. If you want information, pay up. Everything has a price in this place, you should know that."
Sigh.
"How much?"
"How about 100 sp?" Roan retorted.
"10"
"Deal."
The more they talked, the shadier this merchant looked to the Fallen. He had 100sp left after he invested everything in his basic stats. This guy just wanted to strip him of his remaining sp!
"How do I transfer sp to you?"
"Take my hand."
The Fallen eyed the thin hand suspiciously before grabbing it. Some kind of energy traveled from his bosom to his arm, to finally be transferred to Roan.
"Done," Roan said while releasing the Fallen's hand, "Now ask away, what do you want to know? Nothing too personal mind you."
"..."
"Ah yeah, you already asked a question." He coughed, "We are in the kingdom of Talmera, or at least what's left of it. More precisely, we are in the Ula's graveyard's outskirt under a tree, sitting around a campfire in the dark. Another question?"
Roan noticed that this Fallen have arrived recently, as he knew nothing about the first floor. The merchant had lost hope years ago, of seeing another one again. After all, almost all of them were gone now.
"Why do you know who I am?"
"Ha! To the heart of the matter. Well, let's say I have a special contract with this dungeon, or more precisely Yggdrasil. I'm unaffected by the resets. My duty is to help the Fallens to clear this dungeon by selling you wares. Sort of."
A helper sent by the dungeon sounded like an absurd joke to the Fallen. It was weird considering this thing's goal was to kill him at any given opportunity. Nevertheless, he could not afford to refuse any help he could get his hands on. Also, Roan had mentioned other Fallens and that picked his interest.
"Are there others like me?" the skeleton asked.
"Were. But it's been a while since I saw one until you came along, that is."
"What happened?"
"They..."
The light emitted by the campfire seemed to fade slightly as a shadow of sadness glinted on Roan's face, erasing the easy-going attitude.
"They never made it to the end of this dungeon. In fact, most of them got stuck on the ten... first floor and went insane. Only one cleared this floor... only one." Roan explained.
Just now, Roan hesitated on the floor level. It did not escape the Fallen, but he interpreted it as a mistake.
"What happened?" the Fallen asked.
"Didn't you see some of them when you exited the cathedral?"
The Fallen didn't know how to feel about it. He had killed those skeletons so many times, but never wondered who they were.
"Don't," Roan interrupted his thoughts.
"What?"
"Don't feel responsible for what you did. You just tried to survive. After all, that's what this dungeon is about: survive to safeguard your sanity."
Silence hovered over them like a ghost, leaving only the burning sound of wood, resounding in the night.
Roan decided to break the silence by returning to his joyful-shady self.
"Anyway, I cannot tell you more than that! Unless you pay a 1000sp that is. Hahaha!" He coughed, "Anything else you want to know?"
"What should I do to clear this floor?"
"Aha! That's such a good question!" Roan said, looking sideways.
"And?" the Fallen asked, impatient to know the missing part.
"I don't know."
"What?"
"It is the Guardian’s duty to tell you, not mine."
"..."
"Looks like she didn't. She might have lost her touch after all this time, hahaha."
Tsk. The Fallen clicked his tongue because of irritation. He decided to have the Guardian explain herself the next time they meet.
"Well, the only thing I know is that for almost all the floors there is a... person, monster, or whatever. Usually, the way out of the floor is to kill it. You know, like the thing you just killed. By the way, I've never seen it before, and I've been around for quite a while! Maybe you did something that triggered it."
The shady merchant smirked, again.
Now that the Fallen thought about it, maybe it was because he spent too much time messing around with those skeletons. It was the only reason he could think of.
"Hey hey, don't be mad. You got an excellent club out of it! This
"How do you know how its name?"
Roan smirked for the third time.
"Every good merchant should have a 'third eye'. Simply put it allows me to see statues and some other useful stuff. For example, yours is the following."
__________
Name: ???
Titles: Fallen, Interrogator, Bone shatterer
Basic Stats:
- Strength Lv4 [Medium-L]
- Endurance Lv3 [Low-H]
- Mana Lv0 [Nonexistent] (your mana suck)
- Agility Lv2 [Low-M]
Skills:
- Alive but dead Lv14 [Divine]
- Reaper of souls Lv10 [Pinnacle-L]
- Will to survive Lv4 [Medium-L]
Cause of previous death:
- Caught unprepared (LOL)
__________
'Will to survive' had leveled up. Which meant that skills also level up, but the conditions weren't the same as basic stats. Thanks to the circumstances, the Fallen could deduce that skills may level up after tough fights. There might be other conditions, he still had to discover.
"I can see that you gained quite the profit too, Fallen. You had a 1100sp when I found you, minus the 10 I took from you, you have 1090sp now. Not bad. If you're interested, I can give you the appraisal of your weapon, for a price that is."
The Fallen had gained a whole 1000 sp! If he knew in advance, he would have farmed the giant skeleton instead of the normal ones. Though it might not appear again after their last fight.
Feeling rich like Cresus, he gave 10 more sp to Roan.
__________
Type: Club
Condition of use: Strength Lv4 [Medium-L]
Attack power: Lv4 [Medium-L]
Durability: Lv5 [Medium-M]
Weight: Lv4 [Medium-L]
Description: Weapon given by Drogar, the necromancer, to one of his lieutenants, the giant skeleton. Crushes everything in its way.
__________
The attack power was impressive for a starter weapon. The durability also seemed pretty good, though the Fallen still couldn't compare it to other weapons. But since this club could crush stones, it had to be decent. However, the "necromancer part" of the description worried him.
"Roan, do you know of any necromancer called Drogar on this floor?"
"But of course! He's probably the most famous guy here. Any still living human will be able to talk to you about him. I guess he's what you could call the... hum chief or boss of this floor. Probably your target."
"Right..."
"Good luck with that! He is the bane of this kingdom. It's been too long since a Fallen came and reset the place. The necromancer had time to grow even more powerful than he used to be. Because time, and that's a freebie from me, flows naturally when there are no Fallens here. Even if you reset it now, it's too late. You would just go back to the moment you arrived on this floor. Hehehe, good luck to you. Hahahaha."
'And I was just thinking this guy was decent despite his shady smirks,' the Fallen thought.
"Seriously tho, the probability that the other floors’ difficulty increased is high. But don't worry, I'll back you up with my wares. Let's celebrate this first meeting with a 2% discount!"
This guy was shameless! 2%? What can a measly 2% discount even do?
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