"Newt, on second thought, I'll think of a punishment later." Heading towards the 2nd stage boss' room, Fritz and Newt reached the door.
"Okay, so, we're here at the boss'-- room?" The word Boss' Room was carved on the door, but there was something more to it. "I don't know if it's the boss himself crossed out the word stock and carved the word boss below it or some stupid dungeon creator!"
"Puwahahahaha! That's what you call an effort!" Newt couldn't suppress his laughter at his own joke.
"I'm free to assume that the boss this time is a stupid one."
Neither of the two kids knows what awaits them inside the room. Fritz and Newt wasted no time. They pushed the door forward.
As expected of a stock room, there were different kinds of vegetables and fruits that were nearly rotting. Fruit flies and bugs were flying around the rotting goods.
"What's this smell?!"
The smell of rotten flesh mixed itself in the air. Fritz could have thrown up if not for his earlier encounter with the foul smell in the middle of the forest. There, it reeks of different foul smells one could lose his appetite.
"Might be some dead bodies of the people who used to live here."
Maggots have almost devoured the flesh of the dead bodies, and Fritz and Newt couldn't identify if what race they were. The bodies were nothing but bones and maggots.
Scattered around the room and, surrounding what seems to be the boss, dead bodies were kept as a treasure. There was a dim light that was coming from the slight gap of the door, where Fritz came.
"Are all boss room this dark?"
The pair of eyes that were lit by the dim light turned red. And its teeth aligned in a perfect grin.
The boss spoke inaudibly. Fritz and Newt couldn't comprehend what the monster said. Newt could have understood him only if he had studied the monster's language.
There came to light after what the monster said. Fritz and Newt had adjusted to the dark, and the light went like a flash to their eyes. They covered their sight, and when they removed their hands from their eyes, they wished to erase what they had seen inside the boss room.
"This is what you'd call cruelty!"
Newt gritted his teeth furiously. He almost lost his cool if it weren't for Fritz stopping him.
"I hope that my guests like my decorations!" The boss of the room presented his decorations to Fritz and Newt. "They are elves. Man, I had a hard time killing all of them and placing them in that kind of position!"
The elves were skewered in a pole from their mouth to their bottom. It wasn't a sight to see for a kid like Newt. Even Fritz, who's mentally adult, threw up. It was really cruel and horrible.
"Ahh! You're disgracing my room with your disgusting puke!" The boss of the room surged from his seat.
Newt had adopted to the cruel life of an adventurer. He had seen countless lives of humans and other races being taken away.
"What a sight, really." Fritz wiped his mouth. His inside had turned upside-
down and, he could still feel himself throwing up.
"Right?! Ain't this beautiful?! You don't see this kind of sight every time!
But it's not a once-in-a-blue-moon encounter!" The boss of the room kept babbling how good his Obra Maestra was. "It seems that I have talked for too long. Pardon my rudeness." He bowed his head, "I am Gust, owner of this room."
Wearing a worn off the cloak, almost hiding his facial features, hands that were so thin skin's barely attached to it. Gust walked towards one of the skewered elves.
"May your soul rests in peace." Both Fritz and Newt were solely suppressing themselves from acting rashly. They don't know what traps Gust sets up for them or tricks he has hidden on his sleeves. "Anger, frustration, grief, I can feel all of them when I was slowly killing them. Ahh! I could still freshly remember their pain!"
'He's fucking crazy!'
"It is not I whom the two of you will be fighting. Proceed to the lower stage and obtain the key that will free me of my shackles. That way, you'll be able to fight me and kill me." There was a barrier surrounding Gust, disabling him to go outside and move freely.
"Who imprisoned you here?!" Asked Newt. "Why should we obtain the key for you when we can leave you here for the rest of your life!"
He burst into mocking laughter. "You're mistaken, boy. You will not be able to leave this dungeon unless you eliminate all the monsters here! The two of you can't defeat me as you are now, kids! Go make yourself stronger and become a plaything worth playing with!"
Fritz, who has been quietly put a halt to what Newt was going to reply. He calmed himself down and didn't let himself get provoked. He prompted Newt out of the room without saying anything. Neither of the two said anything as they went their way down to level three.
"You knew, right?" Newt broke the silence with a question.
Fritz nodded his head. "We are no match against him. It was by chance that I have sensed his true self. But when I did, it struck me of reality. The barrier put restrictions to his power, making him weak."
"Now, now, there's no need to be so down!" The two tried to cheer up even with all the events inside the second stage boss' room. "Let's focus on what's in front of us, for now."
At the fifth and last level of the dungeon, Newt and Fritz wondered what the interior would look like. One thing was for sure, inside the fifth level, there would be lots of dead dwarves scattered everywhere. The two kids cleared their minds off of the sinful thoughts they had.
"I've heard before," Newt suddenly began telling a story he had heard in the past. "The dwarves were once one of the most powerful races in the kingdom of Iloutopia. They stood at the top of the food chain. Their forces were superb and well-trained. We all know that most of the weapons we use to fight monsters came from the dwarves. They were the number one supplier of all four Kingdoms. They had the life they deserved and worked hard for until one day. A human betrayed them. This human sold out the dwarf king and had already made preparations to overthrow the dwarves' kingdom. After the betrayal, many people said that the dwarf's race was eliminated. I guess several dwarves managed to escape and isolated themselves away from humans."
After hearing the story from Newt, Fritz's questions were finally answered. He's been meaning to ask Newt ever since but, he chose not to.
"What happened to that human who betrayed the dwarf king?"
"Him? I heard all of the dwarves' wealth and treasures became his. Also, he became nobility."
'So, it was because of greed, for power and wealth. Out of all the seven deadly sins, I think greed's the worst of all. Anyone will do anything because of it. Is envy the same as greed? No, they are a totally different matter.'
"I also heard that the human was the dwarf king's best friend." Newt's eyes met Fritz's.
The latter knew what those looks meant. Will you betray me too? Do you think I'll betray you?
"Betrayal for power, love, or wealth. If you want something and you'll do bad things just to have it, what do you call that?"
Newt was confused about the sudden question and answer portion.
"Isn't that greed?"
"Correct. Then, what do you call it if you're jealous of something that the others have?"
"I think that's envy," Newt said confidently. "Wait, where is this conversation going?"
Newt, not knowing why Fritz was asking such questions, listened more.
"Just listen and answer my questions."
"Okay..." Newt said dryly.
Fritz cleared his throat before continuing. "So, do you think greed and envy are related to each other?"
Newt was thrown into deep thoughts. "Probably. Yes?" He shrugged his shoulders when he couldn't think of a better answer.
"They are somewhat related. At first, you might feel envious of the person who has everything. Your desire to have what you envy about others then turns into greed." Newt nodded as he stacked all of the stuff Fritz was saying.
"Fritz, you know, sometimes you act and talk like a grown-up."
Sooner or later, Fritz will tell what and who he really is. It's just a matter of time before he does so.
Fritz smiled. "We just grew up in a different environment."
Before the two kids knew it, they reached the final level of the dungeon. They thought of something like the other village of dwarves. But, the fifth level wasn't the same thing as the thirds.
"A colosseum?!"
It was just like one of that Roman colosseum. Where warriors fight among themselves, or they either fight animals for entertainment purposes.
In the middle of the colosseum, a dwarf fighting several monsters were having fun at the moment.
~