After stepping out the door, Chuck noticed that the stars on his dungeon had changed. Before the stars he had seen on other dungeons were lined up in a row. But now, the ten stars were shaped together to for a single large star.
"Which direction do we need to go?"
Surprisingly, Crumb pointed to the northwest. That was the direction that Kyle was in. It wasn't a bad idea to clear a dungeon or two in that direction.
They set off through the grassy plain and jogged for over an hour. With the improvements to his constitution and dexterity, the running no longer wore Chuck out. The pair reached the edge of the grasslands and entered an area filled with several small hills.
Crumb led them to the top of the first hill and then pointed below.
"There a dungeon in that valley." He said. "It is 3 stars."
That sounded good to Chuck so they both went down the hill.
Nestled between a pair or rocks was a slope that led underground and had a set of double doors at the end of the path. But instead of being 3 stars, it was 4.
"Has it been a while since you have been here?" Asked Chuck.
Crumb nodded.
"Let's give it a try, if it is too hard, we can leave."
Crumb opened the door and led the way in. A long winding path stretched out before them. Small shining crystals were embedded into the ceiling. Each one gave off a faint light, allowing the pair to see in the dungeon.
The quietly traveled the path until the came to a small room that was twenty feet across.
Two stone statues stood at the exit of the room ahead. They were each 10 feet tall and looked humanoid, except for the goat head that rested on their shoulders. Although the room appeared empty, Chuck felt like the statues would spring to life once he entered.
This was a situation where his chef skills may not be much help. Even his special ability dealt with drawing blood. Would living statues even have blood.
'Let's give it a try.' Chuck thought to himself and then nodded to Crumb.
As they entered the room, both statues began to shift. It was as he expected. Chuck really needed to get something that could identify the strength of his opponents, but that was a thought for later.
Chuck and Crumb ran opposite directions, drawing the two living statues away from each other. Chuck drew his knife and spatula as the 10-foot statue walked his way. He wasn't sure if it would work, but Immortal chef's tools were supposed to be of the highest quality.
He ran towards the statue and rolled under a heavy handed punched that barely missed. He popped up near the leg of the statue and unleashed all his mana into his ability while swinging his knife.
*Clang*
A red flash came out the end of the knife right as it connected to the stone. A cut ran 10 inches deep into the statue's knee, but no blood came out and the leg wasn't severed.
Chuck jumped back as another fist drove into the ground right where had been standing. As he was struggling back to his feet, the statue raised a leg and prepared to stomp down on him.
All he could do was try and quickly roll out of the way.
*Crash*
He dodged the stomp, but before he could get back up, the statue was about to stomp again.
*Crash*
*Crash*
Chuck was in a real pickle. The statue was stomping so fast that he couldn't get up, he could only keep rolling on the ground to avoid it. He had to think of something quick.
*Crack*
…Or maybe not.
The leg that was stomping was the one that he attacked earlier. The repeated slams caused the weakened leg to give out and crack, and then shatter.
With only one leg, the living statue came tumbling down. Chuck rolled again and was able to spring back to his feet. But he still had no way to kill the thing. He had already used all his mana.
The statue was unable to get up and was reaching out towards Chuck, but the chef had already moved out of his range. He then looked towards Crumb.
The goblin was whacking the statue over and over with his club while nimbly dogging the attacks. Chuck noticed that small cracks were forming on the statue.
The weakened statue dropped to its knees. The goblins small arms began to bulge as his muscles swelled. His club was covered in a faint green light. He then jumped and smacked the statue on its head.
*Crunch*
The statue's head shattered and then the rest of its body started to fall apart.
[Congratulations, the goblin Crumb has advanced to level 10]
Chuck was surprised to see that he was notified of Crumbs advancement, but it made sense since the goblin now worked for him.
"Give me a hand after you assign your stats." Chuck said. "These stone bastards are too resilient to my knife." He said while cutting at his own statue. But without his magical attack it was barely doing any damage.
Crumb ran over and started bashing its head while Chuck kept trying to cut it.
A minute later the statue crumbled.
[Congratulations for killing a level 14 Stone statue.]
[Congratulations, you have advance to level 6.]
[Congratulations, the goblin Crumb has advanced to level 11]
It was no surprise that most the experience went to Crumb. He had done most of the work after all. Chuck may have gotten its leg off, but the damage to the statue's health was actually very minimal.
Chuck dumped all 20 points into his new Mana stat. Like constitution, it was a 2 for 1. His usable mana rose by 40.
They both sat down and caught their breaths. It was a big advancement for Crumb. He managed to get two levels and a new ability since he hit level 10.
After catching their breath, Chuck began to root around through the debris. He found a small blue crystal.
[Small Golem Core]
[Used to power and bring life to low level golems. Can grow over time to increase the golems level.]
Chuck put it away and quickly found the other one. Perhaps they would be of some use to him later.
The pair readied themselves again and set off down the next hallway. It bent around the corner and then opened into a much larger room.
Six coffins laid in a row, behind them sat a creature on a large stone throne. A figure with the head of goat was wearing a black robe and holding a staff.
"Since you have come this far, then there is no need for you to ever return." Said the goatman.
He then raised his staff and a surge of black mana permeated through the room.
*Crash*
Chuck spun around and saw that a large metal gate had fallen down to block off their retreat.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
At the same time, the six coffin lids were thrown aside as their inhabitants sat up.
"If you managed to impress me, I may consider letting you join my army of the dead."
"Ha, ha, ha, Bahhh!"