'After not seeing a single beast since we had entered, I was on edge. But my worries came to an end and a bigger problem arised after we unknowingly walked into the Lords room. It was a large, round room with pillars that didnt touch the ceiling scattered all around and the ground near them was cracked. The roof seems to be really high up but I can't see exactly how far.'
'Upon entering the room there was no beasts inside so we walked towards the centre of it.'
"Look, in the middle!" Casey said with an excited voice, pointing towards four metal crates "They have to have treasures."
'She ran towards the crate, me being a few steps behind, both of us still unaware of the fact we were in the Lord's room. We realised pretty quickly though because when Casey got within a few steps of the crates, a pillar fell from the roof and landed where she was running.'
'A loud 'boom' following its landing and dust and smoke being blown around from the impact, I couldn't see her, I didn't know if she was okay.'
"Casey!" I called out while sprinting to the pillar, sword in hand. I got there to thankfully see her standing still, mere centimetres in front of the pillar.'
'Eyes widened, she was frozen in place and I can't blame her. But this was definitely not the time to be standing idle. She mentally recovered quickly and we kept moving while watching the ceiling.'
'Monsters and beasts arent put into classes based on strength so there is no way to judge how strong the Lord is until we clash with it. Considering it is the Lord it has to be tough.'
'Another pillar fell from the ceiling a few feet away from us, now that we were aware of it, the pillars were not going to kill us. Probably knowing this it finally showed itself.'
'Its large claws digging into the walls allowed it to crawl down from the ceiling. Seeing it, I knew this fight was going to be tough for my first one ever. The beast was a mutant. It resembled a rat of sorts besides the fact it was about 3 metres long and 2 tall when on all four claws. A spiked tail and ugly ragged fur, it truly was some nightmare fuel. It stood across the room from us and I admit, I'm pretty hesitant to fight this thing. I still haven't even grasped enhancing after all.'
'But looking at Casey and seeing fire in her eyes she had a battle hardened gaze and showed no signs of backing down. I cant help but wonder about more of her past.'
"I have a plan" she said with confidence.
'I listened while amazed of her fast thinking to whip up a plan immediately.'
"Keep it busy for a minute or two and when I call to you, get it to stay at one of the walls."
'So the plan was to use me as bait. Shouldve known. But trusting she actually found a way to defeat it, I did what she said. I could definitely hold it off for one minute.'
'She unclipped and put her larger bow on the ground, pulled out one of her daggers and started stabbing the floor. I didnt look back and headed towards the creature because if I did look back, I would think she's definitely waiting for me to get killed.'
'The rat moved first and at speed, it caught me off guard and it slashed with its right claw. I ducked what would have been a fatal wound and got behind it. It turned and I ran away from where Casey was to lead it away. It followed and slashed again. I swung at the same time and while slicing through two claws and part of its arm, I was off balance. It swung with its other arm ignoring the injury it received. I deflected the attack with my sword and got to its side in an attempt to stab its blind spot. Aware of its weakness, in a flash it turned away from me whipping its tail with razor sharp spikes my direction. My lack of battle experience left me unsure of whether to block or dodge. My hesitation left me with only time to block. The sheer power from its tail sent me flying into the wall even with blocking.'
'Sharp pain covering my back and shoulders, I was very lucky to not break anything. My sword now a few metres to my left, the mutant leaped towards me jaw open and large pointed teeth on display. I pulled out my white dagger and barely managed to jump over its head in time. It crashed into the wall and I came down with all the force I could muster, bringing my dagger down into its right eye.
'An ear piercing screech filled the air and my white dagger was stained red.'
'The mutant now stunned, Casey finally called out to me'
"Markus, get away from it!"
'Kneeling on one knee, the other foot planted in the ground keeping her body firm, she enhanced both her hands, covering them with a red aura, she drew back the string of her bow and a large arrow drawn back with it. As she pulled on the string a hissing sound surrounded the room and then she released.'
'The arrow flew passed me and knocked me over from the unbelievable speed it travelled at. The arrow travelled through the rats large head obliterating it leaving nothing behind. The arrow hit the wall with a thundering sound leaving my ears ringing.'
'She jumped up in delight and ran towards me. "Good job keeping him still" she said with a thumbs up and patted the head of me, who was still on the ground in shock. As well as pain of course from slamming off the wall. "Don't pat my head ever again, its demoralising."
"Oh cheer up we just defeated a Dungeon Lord and have four juicy loot boxes awaiting us!"
'I stood up, grabbed my sword and we headed for the crates. There isn't anything worth scavenging off a mutant, and if there was it was on their head which is now nonexistent.'
'With the giddiness of Casey and the shine in her eyes from the thought of treasure, I couldn't help but also be excited.'
'We reached the crates again after making sure there were no other possible dangers and had a look. Inside the one I looked into there was clean light armour inside fitting for someone with a swift fighting style. It was white in colour but had some green here and there that complimented it well. Without a second thought I put it on and it was a perfect fit.'
"Nice armour, it matches your head." Casey said with a smile so I assumed it was a backhanded compliment but then remembered I had white hair and green eyes. Now it almost seems like I was aiming to match colours and made me feel a little uncomfortable.'
"Thanks, whats in your box."
'She pulled up two round containers and said with a large smile' "mystery artifacts."
Mystery artifacts were one thats effects were unkown until used. You could sell them before using them, guaranteed to get a good price and theres a chance you sold the person something useless for big money. Of course theres a chance for the opposite which you could get massive losses.
"Ah, what are we gonna do with them?" I asked leaving it up to her since I had already gotten armour.'
"Use one and sell one obviously." She said while putting one in her pocket and holding the other.
'With a glow the container transformed and fell into Casey's hands almost dragging her to the floor. It was a healing potion machine. Though a low grade one it was still an amazing find and real expensive too. The king has a grade 5 machine that makes potions with the ability to regenerate limbs and fatal wounds. He sells the potions in his shops for absurd prices since hes the only one with a grade 5. Casey's looked to be grade 2, lower number being less effective.'
'She was delighted with our rewards and we looked in the last two boxes which had the same stuff in it, monster materials with both boxes being half full. That explains the lack of monsters in this dungeon. The mutant had killed them and brought their parts here as bait for adventurers. The rat was pretty intelligent.'
'I dumped all the materials into one box and brought it with me. Both me and Casey hands full, headed for the exit, deciding not to explore the dungeon any further. Her machine was about the same size as my box and when we got back to the hole we had no idea how to get out.'
'I pitched the idea of scaling the walls by using our daggers as climbing claws like the rat did and we gave it a shot.'
'We thought up the plan of Casey going up first since she can enhance and make holes for me to put my dagger in and getting something to help us carry up the machine and materials from above.'
'She successfully got out the hole and disappeared. Wondering if she'd ever come back I waited for at least 30 minutes before she finally returned with a rope.'
'Making the baseless assumption that she beat up unfortunate adventurers for it, I tied the rope to the box and machine one at a time. After they went up, so did I and we headed back for the city to sell our winnings and at pace because night was coming.'