Galahad had to take a sideways stance to fit in the crack of the boulder, the space was still a bit tight and his blue cotton jacket became a torn around the chest and back, upsetting him slightly. The jacket was barely a year old and now it looked like it had gone through years of dirt and hell.
It really didn't help that the Hawk on his shoulder was somewhat throwing off his balance when he moved.
After a few minutes of fidgeting, Galahad stepped into very familiar dirt tunnel that was dimly lit with raw light crystals. He was now standing once again in the dungeon; better yet, he was standing there with no gear, no magic, and an obnoxious bird that kept bringing its beak very close to his ear.
Galahad felt a knot growing in his stomach. He wasn't too sure if it was from entering the dungeon again, or if it was the dawning fact that a talking hawk was definitely in biting distance of his ear.
When Galahad turned around and looked back at the opening he just pushed himself through, he could see tiny little red veins grabbing at the split from inside. Hundreds of the tiny veins reached out from the depths of the tunnel walls and latched onto the surface, prying it open.
[ You've entered the Dungeon: First Floor ]
Galahad took a mental note on the fact that this weird skill leveling system was able to tell where he was located and that the dungeon had a first floor.
'Does that mean that the dungeon is actually a sequence of floors? Maybe its not just a random maze.' Galahad thought it best to leave that question for another time.
"Why exactly did you bring me here? You said something about my smell being a factor." Galahad asked as they began walking through the barren tunnels.
He figured he couldn't do too much damage with small talk and light probing about what Solteer was doing. The hawk seemed to be warming up to him after all the questions about the rifts and mentioning Apharine.
"Correct, you smell of the beasts that live down here. I can only hope that my own scent is negated by yours since both are so abnormally potent."
"Why would you need me to negate your smell?"
"The greater the power produced from a living being, it will give off a stronger sort of scent that drives dirt dwellers mad with hunger."
"Huh. Hold on, you said you 'can only hope' a second ago. Are you sure it's gonna work?"
"I cannot guarantee it will work, I only hypothesized the idea and now we are currently testing it."
"And what happens if I run into a demon?" Argued Galahad. He wasn't exactly thrilled being the test subject of the hawk's unsure theory.
As if on cue, a hairless and albino looking man came barreling around the corner of a connecting tunnel. He ran in on his hand and feet, crawling like spider. He was extremely pale and so thin, that his skin seemed to stretch tightly across his limbs like a bleached leather, that being the second creepiest thing about him. The creepiest by far was the jagged and bloody deer antlers growing out of it's eyesockets and wrapping around it's skull.
Galahad took a step back and nearly fell over after Solteer kicked off his shoulder like a launch pad. The miniature hawk dove forward at the monster, flying full speed ahead. Galahad could only watch the very one-sided battle begin.
The pale monster stood up on its hind legs, standing at least nine feet tall and its antlers were nearly a foot from touching the ceiling of dirt above them. When it's nostrils flared at the scent of Solteer, it grinned like a maniac while revealing a row of yellow teeth with chips missing from most of them.
It drew back one of its very long hands and swiped quickly at Solteer when he was in close enough range. After swinging one hand, it immediately follow with the other; giving two obstacles for Solteer to face.
Solteer saw the wide swings coming, dodging the first two, and dove between the monsters very long legs. Before it could turn around and swing again, a loud whistling noise ripped across the tunnel and the monster's head went crooked.
The beast quickly fell forward as black sludge came pouring out of the back of its neck, most of the flesh on its neck was torn cleanly in half.
Solteer had dived down and swooped straight up into the monster's neck and severed a majority of it, using his talons in a single move. All of this was done in an instant, leaving Galahad very little time to react. It wasn't until the monster was a partially melted glob that Galahad spoke.
"You seem capable enough to hold your own. Did you really need me to ward off you scent?"
"I cannot expand to my full size while beneath the ground, it limits my mobility. I also do not take chances when facing an unknown challenge such as this one. Monsters have lived in this corrupted earth for centuries, who is to say they won't ever suddenly learn how to use it for their advantage?
Galahad stopped as he knew exactly what Solteer meant.
"What is it small human? Did you witness an evolution among these wretched beings?"
"Yeah, I did. . . . would you care to see the result of the monsters learning to have faith in something bigger than their stomachs? It should help explain to you the kind of questions I wanna find the answers to."
Galahad took off his coat and shirt to unravel the bandages attached to his shoulder and upper arm. The bandages were still on the parts of his body that still hadn't fully healed. Solteer didn't say anything about his actions or the wounds, he only watched Galahad from the ground.
'He seems like he'd know enough to help if he can, best not to start lying to him.' Galahad picked up the grape sized mana orb and as soon as he touched it, a text window popped up.
[ Do you wish to devour the mana orbs? ] [ Yes ] [ No ]
[ Wendigo lvl. 19 ] [ Locked ]
[ Goblin lvl. 2 ] [ 30 XP ]
[ Goblin lvl. 2 ] [ 30 XP ]
[ Goblin lvl. 2 ] [ 30 XP ]
[ Goblin lvl. 2 ] [ 30 XP ]
. . . .
"I have never seen that type of monster before, but I can tell you its a level nineteen Wendigo, exactly nineteen. Now watch this." Galahad grabbed the little pouch of Goblin orbs from his jacket pocket. He turned it over and spilled the pea-sized orbs on the dirt.
In his head, he confirmed to have all the level two orbs consumed. They began to vibrate and Galahad took his eyes off them to watch the hawk on the ground, waiting see how he was about to react to what was going to unfold.
Solteer watched as each little orb began popping in a quick succession of soft explosions. He flapped his wings to take a step back because he knew exactly what would happen if the gas they released were to get near him. The mana orbs dropped from demons were not only poisonous to humans, but they had already condemned a handful of living creatures to die in his territory.
If an innocent beast began dining on the fresh carcass of a demon. They would sometimes consume a mana orb unknowingly, killing the mystical beasts and animals almost a few moments later. So the next thing Galahad did was making Solteer internally shiver in discomfort.
Galahad knelt down and the clouds of blue mana orb mist swirled into his burns and facial wounds. The wounds on his upper arm and shoulder began to scab over rapidly, like time jumped months ahead of healing and the wounds were nearly finished disappearing.
'Just what the hell did I let accompany me through my forest.' Thought the hawk in both curiosity and fear.
Galahad tried not to make any faces as he dug his nails into the scabs and tore it off to reveal perfectly health skin. All that remained now was the burns that ran down Galahad's face and stopped at his collarbone.
When Solteer was about to speak, Galahad held up a finger to stop him. Solteer felt a slight surge of energy coming from Galahad as he starting releasing a bunch of yellow sparks. His body didn't stop there, it let out another surge of sparks a second later, and then another. Solteer witnessed a human body leveling up three times in less than ten seconds, something no one ever thought possible.
[ Congratulations: You've leveled up to lvl. 3 ] All attributes +3
Mana orbs lvl. 3 or below can now be consumed.
Health Points +10
[ Congratulations: You've leveled up to lvl. 4 ] All attributes +3
Mana orbs lvl. 4 or below can now be consumed.
Health Points +10
[ Congratulations: You've leveled up to lvl. 5 ] All attributes +5
Mana orbs lvl. 5 or below can now be consumed.
Health Points +15
After all the [ +30 XP ] past through Galahad's vision, the level up notifications took up all of Galahad view. He read each one and noticed that he hadn't unlocked anything new like the first time; nothing like the armor or weapon slots. He looked up at the progress bar just before it disappeared again.
[ 20/500 ] lvl. 5
Galahad understood he won't be able to level up until he gets more level fives orbs, but he smiled at that last little boost of extra health and attribute points.
The first time he consumed the orbs to level up, he didn't really feel much change, but now he felt it. His body felt significantly lighter, faster, and more capable of taking a hit. Jumping from level two to five was a pleasant sensation to Galahad, or maybe it was from inhaling all of the remaining goblin orbs. He wasn't certain, but he felt the need to keep progressing.
Once Galahad stood up, Solteer finally spoke. "It appears I was mistaken. You're not human, you only appear to be and smell faintly like one. What exactly are you?"
"I am human, up until a month ago, I was a support mage that fought in the dungeons with my friends. Now they're trapped down there and I was nearly killed by some black mana orb that blew me up."
"Support mage? Black mana orb?"
"Yeah, the orb was in a massive cavern and right below that cavern was a bunch of humans encased in dark crystal below."
"I'm afraid you've lost me."
"Oh, let me start from the being; although some of this will be hard to explain since I was unconscious for most parts of story."
Galahad spent a good hour talking about how his friends came to trapped in the cavern and the effect the orb might have been having on him. He went into more detail than the night before, hoping Solteer could make heads or tails of the situation.
Additionally, Galahad needed to describe a few things that didn't sound right to Solteer. Some words and names were not the same for humans as they were for mystical creatures. Monsters or demons were dirt-dwellers, Caverns were considered dens, and the adventure classes were not something that exists for beings like Solteer.
Only certain species were blessed with adventure class abilities; humans, dwarves, and elf being the case. Mystic creatures, dryads, and other animals on the surface were capable of magic or growing, just not as quickly as humans.
Once Galahad caught him up on everything, the hawk didn't say anything, he only contemplated what was shared with him.
They walked around for a while, following the streaks of red veins that grew in and out of the dirt like a pathway. As they explored, the two of them ran into more monsters of various levels and sizes.
Solteer took care of them just as quickly as the Wendigo; he used his speed and razor sharp claws and beak to cut the most vital areas.
"Are you sure you have no use for these?" Galahad asked while going through the various orbs in his belt pouch.
Each time Solteer defeat a monster, Galahad would pick up and stash the mana orbs. When he looked in his pouch now, he could see a whole list of different monsters popping up.
[ Boulder Golem lvl. 10 ]
[ Cephalopodic Walker lvl. 16 ]
[ Silver Rat lvl. 7 ]
[ Silver Rat lvl. 8 ]
[ Silver Rat lvl. 7 ]
[ Wendigo lvl. 19 ]
And nearly a dozen more.
It was the equivalent of a two really decent hauls Galahad and his team would make in a long afternoon fighting together.
"My territory has no use for tainted mana energy. I concluded my tests on such troublesome objects many years ago. They are nothing but problems for me." Solteer said while attempting to get tentacle sinews out of his beak.
Fighting the Cephalopodic Walker was difficult due to its nasty ocean smell and the ink it released from it's three-eyed squid head. Solteer was currently more concerned with getting the taste out of his mouth than dealing with the orbs.
Galahad put the bag back in his jacket before resuming the path of red veins. He was internally overjoyed at the idea of consuming the orbs when he was high enough level. He pushed the idea of consuming them aside because he needed to focus on what was happening at the moment.
When two were nearly a mile into the dungeon, Galahad noticed the red veins started growing thicker in size, the farther they went in. The red hue of the tunnel grew more intense as the endless amount of veins went from thin string size to thicker than Galahad's thumb.
"Do you know what is forcing open the dungeon? I've never seen magic or monsters make something like this."
"Dirt-dwellers have always been capable of performing such ridiculous feats of disgusting magic or power. Their lack of intelligence in wielding such things is what prevents them from doing so."
Solteer flew back onto Galahad's shoulder, bringing the odor of squid guts with him.
"Sometimes a mutation or certain situation allows them mentally grow and figure out how to take charge. The results can produce vile things like wardens or dens filled with demon hybrids."
"A warden?" Asked Galahad. He pictured a little goblin walking by little prison cells with keys and handcuffs on a little belt. He pushed that thought of of his because he knew that was way too dumb to be reason for the name.
"It's what the other kings and I deemed the filth that gather a mass of weaker filth to work under their feet for food and safety. The enslaved monsters are forced in a form of imprisonment that requires them to find their leader better food and entertainment, otherwise they become entertainment."
"I figure you and I can be food, I don't wanna know what demons consider entertainment."
"Sadly the two tend to go hand in hand." Said Solteer before ending the conversation.
Just as they stopped speaking, the environment began to transform when they arrived at a bend in the tunnel. The red veins took over every surface of the pathway, leaving no dirt visible among the red. Galahad began to think they just walked into the inside of an enormous esophagus, especially as the humidity grew more intense than a summer evening.
"Do you smell that?" Solteer said while tilting beak to the side.
"I wasn't going to say anything, but you do still smell like fish."
"Not that." Solteer hissed. "Focus on the other smells."
Galahad leaned his nose as far away from the hawk before he finally had a whiffed of what he was talking about. 'I'm getting hints of Black Rose sap, just as sweet as I remember.'
It wouldn't have been a big deal to smell odd things in the dungeon, but never had Galahad smelled something so sweet or pleasant in the dungeon. The air reminded him of a nearly gone memory of when he wasn't in pain or suffering from loss.
It was so enticing, the Black Rose was practically tugging at Galahad to come closer and find it. He was daydreaming at the idea for so long, he didn't even notice his feet were moving him towards the tunnel.