(B-rank Dungeon)
The entire team was deep into combat with giant spiders. Nicolas quickly thrusted his fist against one of the creature's bodys, tearing it apart. A sharp pair of fangs bit into his shoulder and caused a great sting as he angrily grunted, smashing his elbow into the spiders side.
Jill looked to her side and saw the 3 B-rankers and 1 C-ranker working effectively, leaving the spiders lifeless with their many attacks.
Jill couldn't fight with her fists very well, so she stayed low, waiting for an opportunity to cast a spell. Soon enough, an opening arrived and she saw a large crowd of the spiders gathering into a group. The ground began rumbling as the monster charged forward.
With haste, Jill pushed her palm out and aimed it at the crowd of bugs and let out a chant.
"Catch Fire!"
With the swing of her arm, a blazing flame thrusted forward, demolishing the spiders in front of her.
[Leveled up x7]
Not having the stress of watching his surroundings anymore, Nicolas killed the remaining monster around him with a simple spin and kick.
"Is that the last of them?" He asked.
"Ummm, I don't think so. I think the one up ahead is the last one." The C-ranker replied.
"What do you me-" When he turned around, he saw what the C-ranker had meant. There was a spider that was bigger than the rest. This one was many times the size of the others and it had glowing blue eyes and deadly sharp fangs.
"Be careful, that one might be poisonous." said Jill.
"It probably will be, and just by looking at its health, it's a mini boss. Luck definitely isn't on our side today." Nicolas replied.
{Spider Warrior:
Level: 11
Hp: 14,500 | Def: 500 | Intelligence: 11 | Mp: 891 | Atk: 963
Speed: 199 | Endurance: 422 }
"It doesn't look very strong but, it's enough to do great damage to any of us."
The spider's legs moved very fast, bringing it closer in little time.
"Damn! Here it comes!" By time Nicolas had finished, he felt the spider's sharp leg strike his stomach and pierce it. He couldn't help but fall on his back when it was removed. It didn't kill him, the only thing the attack had done was cause pain and an open wound.
Shink.
It didn't kill him, the only thing the attack had done was cause pain and an open wound.
"We got you!"
All 3 three of the B-rankers sprinted forward and delivered heavy strikes against the spider's head.
{Spider Warrior: Hp: 12,893/14,500}
Because of its defense, the attacks had done little to nearly no damage.
The spider lifted its leg and swiftly slashed it through the air, each of the B-rankers jumped back just enough that they dodged.
Nicolas regained his balance as he held one hand over the wound on his stomach.
"Here, let me repay you for stabbing me!"
His entire body jumped into the air, above everyone's heads and with one powerful movement, he stomped his hell down on the creature's head.
The spider let out a painful squeal when cracks appeared on its skull.
"And have one more blow."
Nicolas held his fist back then leaned his entire body forward, swinging a heavy punch at its body.
{Spider warrior: Hp: 4,993/14,500}
The creature roughly slid across the floor then came to a sudden stop.
It laid motionless, seeming like it was dead.
"Is that it?" The C-ranker asked.
Angrily staging at the giant spider's body, Nicolas replied "I'm a afraid not."
One great squeal and the creature jumped back to its feet. Its speed increased and it took a leap forward, landing on Nicolas.
He held its face away with all of his strength as fangs repeatedly snapped at him. Its weight was too much and the fangs slid into his shoulder.
Snap.
Gush.
His blood spurted out and he yelled in agony. Instead of giving up, he shouted with every ounce of his anger and slammed his fist into its face, again, again, again and again. Nicolas felt the creature's strength completely vanish, its body slumped onto him. He rolled over and continued punching at the creature….until its head was nothing more than blood and brain matter.
Smash. Smash. Smash. Smash.
One of the B-rankers ran over and stopped him from going on.
"Calm down, it's over."
Instead of replying, Nicolas breathed heavily, holding his neck wound.
The stress in the atmosphere was great as the entire team thought that the spider was going to be more than they could handle.
Even Jill was surprised Nicolas was still alive after taking 2 strikes.
She stared at him, sitting in pain when his health indicator showed.
{Hp: 661/7,890 }
Poison: Debuff, Physical stats have temporarily decreased by 50%}
His movements were going to be slower and his attacks were going to be weaker for the time being. Jill was capable of healing his wounds but there wasn't anything she could do to the amount of debuff he received.
She walked over to him and placed both of her hands on Nicolas's back.
"Stay still, I'm going to heal you."
A calm green light began glowing and made its way around his body.
Nicolas spoke in a relieved tone, he felt his pain slowly fade away.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Jill replied.
The light disappeared and she stood back up, looking at his heath indicator once more.
{Hp: 3,331/7,890 }
Her mana wouldn't allow her to completely heal him in one go but she did help him recover quite a bit. Later on when she had fully recovered her Mp, she would heal him some more.
"Are you okay enough to keep going?" She asked.
"...If I'm being honest, I think I might need a little break. My endurance is getting low."
Jill looked back at the rest of the team and spoke to them.
"Well, I guess we should take this chance to rest our bodies for a bit."
The 3 B-ranker and one C-rank did look like they took some damage when they fought the many spiders just a while ago. They all sat against the walls of the dungeon, relieved from the physical stress brought upon their legs.
It had been hours since they traveled inside the dungeon. The only things tired weren't their legs but also their minds.
Jill let her mind wonder as her eyelids felt heavy.
"I wonder if he ever saw the message." She thought to herself.
Her eyes shut and there was darkness; Jill had fallen asleep, right in the middle of the dungeon. It was a lousy thing to do but Nicolas allowed it.
"Alright, everyone, if you wish to take a quick nap, then do so. I'll keep watch for any monsters."
"I think I might do that." said the C-ranker. He slouched back and closed his eyes, letting out a breath."
Nicolas thought about his place among the ranking. Himself was an A-ranker, meaning that he was the highest ranking member here. If anything were to happen, he'd have no problem stepping up first and losing his life to save his comrades. The thing driving him deep to his core was the will to keep others alive.
His eyes looked at all the others who had already fallen asleep.
Under his breath, he muttered a sentence.
"I swear, we'll survive this. Even if I don't, at the very least I'll make sure you guys do."
___________________
4 hours later…
Jill opened her eyes, rubbing them. Everyone else was awake and talking. Nicolas was looking at the floor with something on his mind. Though Jill couldn't figure out what. Nicolas saw her in the corner of his then turned to face her.
"Oh, you're finally up."
"Yeah, how long was I asleep?" She asked.
"Not that long. Only about three or four hours. I know you just woke up but, are you ready to keep going?"
"Yes, let's go." said Jill as she stood up.
Everyone followed along and also stood up.
"Alright, let's get going."
And so, they walked and walked and walked and walked and walked.
For the 30 minutes that they've been walking, nothing new came into sight, it was just a seemingly endless path they took. No monsters, no anything, just the floor leading further and further ahead.
"Aha...I'm getting bored of just walking." said the C-ranker.
"Gosh, you didn't have to come, you know. Deal with it." Nicolas replied.
"I do sense the presence of a strong monster, possibly the boss room." said Jill.
"How far ahead is it?" Nicolas asked.
"It's still some distance away. Might take us around ten minutes to get there."
"I should've guessed."
Jill had a strange feeling in her spine. Not chills, not pain but something different. It was like one of those times where you can't shake the feeling that you're being watched or that someone else might be around. She tried to shake it off but trusted that it might be her [Sixth Sense] feeling the presence of a monster or such. The [Sixth Sense] skill was a rather strange one. It's effectiveness varies from person to person. It could sense the presence of life forms, entities or even invisible opponents. It could even give you a bad feeling as a warning that something in your future may go wrong. So the slight tingle in Jills spine could've meant a number of things but, the presence of a monster was most likely.
Trying not to show that she was somewhat shook, Jill would glance to her side and behind herself every once in a while. Still, there didn't seem to be any monsters around.
"What could be wrong?" She thought to herself.
Jill continued to think as all of the team's footsteps would echo.
In a blink of an eye, she was no longer in the same place she once stood.
Her conscience was filled with confusion but she felt a somewhat calm feeling. This was no longer the dungeon. As a matter of fact, it was nothing like it. The smell of roses filled the air, flowers were planted everywhere and there were other types of plants as well. Roses, lilies, dandelions ect.
One detail was off though, Nicolas and the other were nowhere to be seen.
"Where….am I?"
Jill looked side to side, up and down. She still couldn't make out where she was. In the distance was a great hill of flowers that gently tilted as the wind passed through. Jill felt her legs begin to move forward, towards the hill.
A thought crossed her mind "Could this be an Illusion."
Jill had every reason to think that as monsters did exist that were able to manipulate a person's thoughts or even cause hallucinations. The ones that would be affected the most going against monsters like that would be those who had the [Sixth Sense] skill.
And Jill had that skill so, putting the pieces together, she believed that she was hallucinating.
She now stood on the peak of the hill. Downhill, there was a small white house. Jill walked her way down and onto the doorstep. Nothing seemed off, so she knocked.
Knock. Knock.
A familiar male voice called out from inside.
"Come in!"
In fact,it sounded too familiar. Hearing the voice nearly brought tears to her eyes. It was the voice of her father, Genzo.
"Dad?"
Jill turned the doorknob and walked right in. The first thing she noticed was a man sitting on a couch who had brown hair and yellow colored eyes. The thing that caught her eye was his signature clothing, a long brown coat.
"Yeah, what is it?" Genzo
Jill couldn't help but give into this reality and believed every single thing and detail to be real.
"You're...actually alive."
"Ah, of course I am. There's no way I died. Come and have a seat, your favorite show on." said Genzo as he tapped his hand on the spot next to him.
Just as Jill began to walk forward, a hand firmly gripped her wrist. She turned in surprise and blinked. That instant, everything was back to normal. There was no grassland of flowers, no smell of roses in the air, and no father. This was still the dungeon and Nicolas tightly gripped her hand.
"What are you doing? That's an elite spirit, you can't fight it alone."
"Spirit?" Jill asked. She turned back around and saw what he had meant.
There was a creature with long and thin legs. It's face was white but its eye sockets were empty. It wore a frowning expression and its body was malnourished and hardened, long white spikes hung out of its back.
Known for toying with people's minds and being able to turn invisible, these creatures were called 'Spirits'