* * *
Baldwin Serain POV…
Man… this upstarts grip is tight! He's got me solid by the neck! Maybe Jerard could shoot him without shooting me! Eh, nah. He'd probably shoot me on purpose, honestly.
"Say it. You have a system too, don't you?" I ask the mass behind me.
Me and the others have been calling them Cravens, because they always try to run and a lot of people don't see them. Black swirling masses of mana in the shape of a person.
I'm not exactly sure how they work, but they seem evil. I mean, only the eight chosen ones can see them AND they look nefarious? Gotta be evil.
"…"
The craven doesn't say anything, it's beady black eyes darting from me to Jerard in a second. It seems hesitant to answer.
"… Maybe."
"It's a yes or no, Craven!" Jerard yells at it as if he isn't holding my windpipe right now.
"What even is that, man?!?"
"Dude, stop pretending to be stupid. You're literally a swirling and churning spiral of mana, there's no way you're not evil!" I remark, glancing at his face behind my shoulder.
He glances down at his arm before looking up at me, his ambiguous blackness of a face looking at me. A featureless amalgamation of mana in the shape of a man, sentience and all.
"What do you mean spiral of mana? I'm very clearly a dude!"
* * *
Vajra POV…
Arms crossed, psycho sass to the max, I look at the handprint in the wall. According to the system, it's a dungeon.
"And why should I go?"
[You just should.]
"That's not a proper answer."
[It wasn't a proper question.]
"Yes it was."
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Shut up and get in the dungeon.]
"Fuck you."
I flip off the system log that's currently open before putting my hand on the dungeon entrance, letting myself be transported. Sometimes the system acts more human than me... I don't like it.
I land on the ground, feet first in a successful landing. I survey the land before beginning to walk towards the city in the distance, a natural landmark and guide.
I pull the spear off my back as I walk, deciding to brandish it in case anyone is watching me.
Whilst my skillset in this life is heavily optimized for casting, I can't let go of the pre-existing mastery for polearms, spears and the like.
Besides, my spear is a rod of metal, which naturally helps store and conduct fire (but mainly it's subtype of electric) mana.
And so begins the trek to the epicenter of this unusual dungeon... why can't a dungeon ever drop me off in the center?
* * *
Jerard Lumin POV...
Watching the craven converse with Baldwin, my tongue is just absolutely itching to fire a spell at the both of them. There are two reasons for this: the 1st is that a craven is a craven, the 2nd is that Baldwin gets on my nerves.
"Baldwin, stop kissing the enemy and do something!" I kindly request at the top of my lungs, charging up a spell.
"Oh come on!" He seems disappointed that his enlightening chat got interrupted, but whatever.
Baldwin releases the craven's sword before grabbing his wrist and throwing him over his shoulder. For all the muscle he's lacking in the brain, he sure makes up for it in his arms.
I release the light beam I've charged up, only to find that I should really be wearing my glasses right now. I 'accidentally' shoot Baldwin in the foot before charging up and firing another beam. 'Fortunately', the beam flies straight this time.
Clang.
Great. Another craven stands before me and Baldwin, vaguely appearing smaller and more feminine than the first one judging from the silhouette. She wields an axe, yet the darkness of her mana appears slightly tinged in yellow. Weird.
The male craven looks up at her before tackling Baldwin. She charges me shortly thereafter, holding the axe behind her back. This went from good to poor rather quickly, huh? Anyways-
"Light orb, light barrier, blinding flash."
I just go ahead and hit her with the three most potent spells I have. Light orb consistently draws light mana into the environment, light barrier gives me a circular shield and blinding flash is just a flashbang.
Unfortunately, the mana just gets absorbed into her body. That means one thing: her preferred type of mana is light mana... that's bad. Welp, the barrier is the only spell that I was able to utilize just then. I've gotta use some niche stuff.
I point my staff to Baldwin before chanting some supportive magic, along with my special 'invocation phrase'.
"Do your job, you stupid DPS."
* * *
Arthur Ishviel POV...
Emerging from the sewers, I walk around towards the usual spot. Even if a player were here, they likely wouldn't see me because of my heavy cloak. I'm blending in until I can find out how to escape.
I snatch a piece of bread off the shelf, tucking it under my cloak as I walk. Today's just another day of walking around the city until I find something that I could use to either fight players or get out. Sometimes I spot the old sword grampa skulking around the city like a ghost, almost reminiscing.
Funnily enough, players seem to be just as aware of the abnormalities as I am.
Whilst doing some reconnaissance (stalking), I witnessed a player remarking about how a certain stall seemed to never run out of bread. Another time, a player said that it was weird how so few people could see the 'shadow people', which I believe to be referring to me.
But people implies multiple, so that was a good hint. Perhaps others have recently entered the dungeon.
Chewing on the bread, I find myself simply walking the streets. Everything besides the players is so boring in here... I wish I could just-
"I finally found you, you scoundrel," I hear the words come over my shoulder, undeniably belonging to the bane of my existence... a player named Patricia Exors.
Patricia Exors is a water caster with pink hair and vibrant blue eyes, clothing that indicates a wealthy background as always. A persistent pursuer, she is.
I hate her because she counters me really well. She's an excellent tracker as well, often trudging through the sewers as she chases me. Honestly the most terrifying woman I've ever met.
I hold the bread in my mouth before tossing off the cloak and dashing as fast as I can. No way in hell am I fighting this incredibly inconvenient woman again.
I can hear her footsteps behind me as I'm forced to run through the crowd. I swear, I can't escape her. If I thought that I was stalking, she takes it to the next level.
"Hey! Get back here, scoundrel!"
* * *