"What did I even do to deserve this!"
Lauri an F-Rank Hunter barely stronger than your average man, moved his legs as fast as they could manage. The creature chasing him looked similar to a crustacean, a lobster specifically, a lobster made out of reflective crystals. It barrelled after Lauri, its six legs slowly closing the distance between them.
"Leave me alon-"
The ground gave way under Lauri as he wasn't looking where he was going, Lauri tumbled down a rocky slope. Cuts and scratches cut up his clothes and exposed skin. Reaching the end of the slope, Lauri was stunned for a moment as his mind reeled from the impact of his body hitting the floor.
The sound of glass scraping together brought Lauri back to his senses. Jerking his head to look back up the slope, Lauri's eyes widened. The creature was still hot on his tale, unlike Lauri who got distracted, the beast on all fours was gaining speed.
Lauri scrabbled to pick himself up before the creature crushed him. Running a few feet, Lauri saw the path turn right, throwing himself out of the way, the creature, unable to stop its momentum, its body shattered as it crashed into the cave wall.
Light shone from within the new path as the wall gave way.
Blinking, Lauri shakily rose to his feet, stepping towards the hole the creature made. Stepping inside, Lauri was immediately entranced by the pretty colours reflecting around the room. The tight tunnel of the cave opened up into a large cavern, the walls and ceiling lined with the same crystals the creature was made from.
'That creature-' Lauri quickly turned his head.
The creature lay in pieces, Lauri took a hesitant step toward the shards of the creature, as nothing happened, Lauri took another step, and then another, and another, and another. Reaching the creature, Lauri reached out, touching a shard of the crystal behemoth's body.
No reaction, 'Is it dead?' Looking around, Lauri breathed a sigh of relief. 'It's dead right?' Careful not to step on the outcropping of crystals, Lauri stepped back, looking at his surroundings. 'I could really do with a life detection skill right about now.' Stepping around the creature, Lauri moved deeper into the cave.
There was not much within the cave, aside from the countless crystals, a large mound rose out of the ground with steps leading to the top.
Drawn to this mound, Lauri meandered through the crystal patches. Reaching the steps, Lauri noticed that they were made from the same material. Where the crystals dotting the cave seemed natural in appearance, these steps were very artificial, almost man-made.
Lauri's thoughts were interrupted as a shiver ran up his spine. The presence of something, inhuman, leaked into the room, growing closer every second. Lauri stared at the hole he had just stepped through. 'More crystal monsters... No, no that was different. There's nothing left in this dungeon except, oh.' Running up the steps, Lauri lost his footing halfway up the mound, slipping on the smooth steps. Scrabbling to regain his footing, Lauri slipped again, giving up, hebegan to speedily crawl up on all fours.
As he reached the top of the mound, Lauri saw that atop the mound stood a single pedestal, just like the rest of the room, the pedestal was made from the same crystal. Held by the pedestal, a mirror reflected Lauri's image back to him.
'That mirror, it must be some kind of artefact, what other reason could it be hidden behind a wall in this dungeon? If I can reach it, I might be able to fight back-'
In the reflection, Lauri saw an orange blur rapidly moving towards him.
Ducking out of the way, a ball of fire flew past Lauri's head, slamming into the mound, Lauri was left with no time to react as the fireball immediately exploded, sending Lauri flying away from the mound he had just climbed.
Crashing into the sharp crystals below him, Lauri cried out as he felt the crystals digging into his back.
"Aah!" Trying to carefully lift himself free from the crystals, Lauri's eyes caught on the mirror. It had landed a few feet from him. Standing up, Lauri winced from the pain in his back.
A howl coming from the entrance caused Lauri to freeze. His eyes slowly turned to see what had attacked him.
Standing taller than any average man, a skeleton wearing both knight's armour and a mage's cloak covered the skeleton's skull as it stared Lauri down. It was unlike any boss monster Lauri had ever heard of. A knight and a mage in one. Some kind of, Undead Magic Knight. Holding out the book in its left hand, the pages began to turn on their own. Suddenly stopping, the page's text glowed white.
Half a dozen spears of white light formed above the knight's head.
The first spear shot towards Lauri, ducking it, he raced towards the mirror.
Again another spear flew Lauri's way, throwing himself to the ground, he avoided the second spear.
Scrambling to get to his feet, Lauri reached the mirror. Trying to reach for the mirror, Lauri had lost his focus. The fourth spear landed in Lauri's leg, sending him sprawling away.
Again crying out from the pain, Lauri looked at his leg, reaching for the spear. It shattered as Lauri's fingers made contact with it, leaving a large gaping hole in his leg.
Gagging from the pain, Lauri began to hyperventilate.
This was becoming too much.
"I'm just a supporter, I have no offensive skills, I have no defensive skills, I barely have any skills, I was only supposed to follow behind the main party, I wasn't even going to get a good reward but at least it was something, all I had to do was put the drops into my inventory. What a useless fucking skil-" A thought crossed Lauri's mind, "Wait."
Seeing Lauri was out of the fight, the Undead Magic Knight approached him, easily crushing the small crystals under its boot. Stopping in front of Lauri, it looked down at him.
Its jaw opened as it reached for one of the spears above its head. "Pathetic."
'Did it just, speak, m-m-monsters can't- monsters can't speak.'
"You would never survive climbing the Tower, call this a mercy, for if you cannot defeat me, then the Tower of Tribulations will devour you whole." The Undead Magic Knight struck down.
Holding his hands up, Lauri forced his eyes open. The moment the spear made contact with his hands, Lauri activated his skill.
'NOW!'
Blue mana flowed around Lauri's hands.
[F-Tier Skill: Forced Inventory
About: Any item the user touches can be added directly to their inventory. 24 hours cooldown]
Spreading from his hands, the mana covered the Undead Magic Knight's spear. As the spear disappeared. The skeleton looked at its hand.
"Is that all?" It reached for its last remaining spear, "Still pathetic."
'If I can just do this,' Holding his right arm by his wrist, Lauri aimed at the Undead Magic Knight. 'I might be able to live!' Lauri charged all of his remaining mana into this next attack.
[F-Tier Skill: Expel From Inventory
About: The user can expel any item from their inventory, the speed at which this item is expelled relies on how much mana is put into the skill.]
The spear Lauri had just stolen formed in front of him.
The Undead Magic Knight had left itself open, having underestimated Lauri.
Firing the spear forward, Lauri's arm was thrown back from the force.
As the spear slammed into the skeleton's shoulder, Lauri scrabbled to his feet. Running back to the mirror, the skeleton slightly laughed. "I guess even a rat can bite its exterminator." The book's pages rapidly began to turn, setting another set of pages. As the writing began to glow green, the skeleton's body was wrapped in a cloak of wind.
Finally reaching the mirror, Lauri grabbed it, turning around he fell on his back holding the mirror up. Lauri hardly felt the crystals in the heat of the moment as they dug into his back.
The Undead Magic Knight reached Lauri within seconds, carried by its magical wind. With its last spear, the skeleton stabbed towards Lauri's chest. Lauri moved the mirror to intercept the attack.
'This is it, finally, I can fight back-'
The mirror shattered as the spear effortlessly passed through it, stabbing Lauri in the gut.
Lauri's eyes widened as he took in everything that happened.
Blood ran down Lauri's lip as he coughed up blood, "Oh."
The Undead Magic Knight withdrew its spear, letting go of it, the spear shattered. "Rest, your time is done here. Call it mercy, Call it a mercy, for the Tower of Tribulation appearance is soon, you weak will be devoured by it." Walking away, the skeleton left Lauri to bleed out.
Looking up at the ceiling, Lauri began to cry. 'I feel, I feel so cold… So, so cold… Is this how I'm supposed to die, all alone... Please forgive me Elza, a brother isn't supposed to break his promises..."
"Well, what did you expect," A new voice came to Lauri's ears. "How are you going to expect to use a prison in a fight. That's like trying to use a fork to eat soup."
Looking for the voice, Lauri saw a black cat sitting next to him.
"What… Oh, I'm hallucinating. I have lost a lot of blood…"
The cat rolled his eyes. "No, idiot, you freed me from the mirror. I was in the mirror, and you freed me when you had that idiot break it. Tell me, Hunter, unless you really want to die here." The cat held out its paw.
"Would you like to change your fate?"