3-11: Something Is Wrong With The Dungeon I

With all the girls awake and refreshed, they continued through the second floor, though there was more silence amongst them than normal.

Veronica thought about what Tisha said, on the fact that the women she loved were dead. It was surprising. What could she say? There wasn't much. An apology would just be met with "don't apologize", so she kept her mouth shut.

The tense atmosphere took a while to wond down, but the girls eventually got back to talking about things. Though, namely stuff like food.

"What do they serve in the castle, Elly? I hear it was something that even Dukes and Duchesses would die for." Cassidy asked, drooling over the thought of food so good that you would literally die from.

"It's nothing that special. It just so happens that we can get the best quality ingredients and skilled chefs to cook for us."

"So, what you're saying is that the food is good because you're rich?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that we can afford the better quality... oh, you're right..."

The girls laughed and continued, though they found it odd that they were only finding weaker monsters. At least, until they stepped into a slight trap.

A trap where they weren't able to leave. Or really move around much. And were separated from Tisha. And whatever Tisha was yelling, it just came out as muffled gibberish.

It wasn't exactly dark, but the light was blocked by the walls surrounding the girls, who huddled close together, back-to-back.

"What do we do? Nothings happening..." Aviris said cautiously.

"No idea. Keep your eyes open for anything." Veronica responded, keeping her axe at the ready.

They were quiet, trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary. But, they heard nothing other than the beat of their own hearts.

At least, until they heard many high pitched roars that sounds like they had way too much saliva. Jumping down all around the girls were surrounded by short, mouse-like creatures.

"Goddess... Kobolds!" Veronica informed her team loudly.

Kobold are odd creatures that have great tactical intelligence, but the general intelligence is no greater than early humans. One Kobold isn't an issue. If you're lucky to only get one Kobold.

But the girls... there were at least twenty. All armed.

"Anyone have a plan?" Cassidy asked.

"Only thing I can think of is fight and hope to live." Aviris responded with snark.

"Better than nothing."

The girls initiated an attack, trying to do whatever they could to fight as little Kobolds as possible at any given time. The difficult thing was that Kobolds aren't that stupid.

Eleanora was able to kill one quickly, but the Kobolds got to her even quicker. She tried to keep her cool, not to panic. Another thrust, another Kobold dead. As she turned to slash at another, an arrow just barely missed her head, causing her to fumble and miss.

"Watch out for projectiles!" She yelled, attempting to Slash at her target once more, finally being successful, but not killing it.

Aviris had her own troubles, due to her close ranged combat style, Kobolds her able to overpower her and knock her to the ground. Luckily, she's agile and quickly got back up and lunged herself at a Kobold, her swords piercing straight through it. She disengaged and tried to find any of the archers. They should be her first priority to protect her comrades.

Finding one, she locked on to her target and used her abilities and and natural skills to reach the archer and kill it.

"I'll try to kill the archers and work my way in!"

Cassidy was lucky, being able to keep her distance. Her magic caused the Kobolds to keep their own distance, leading to a stalemate. Until an arrow broke her concentration, and caused her spell to fail. The Kobolds leapt at her, and in a last resort, she casted a fireball. Good thing she didn't miss, as the Kobolds were hit, and the blast radius caught most of the Kobolds attacking her.

"That was too damn close!"

And Veronica was fighting somewhat decently against her share of the Kobolds. Though, her lack of proper combat experience and hyper focus on one enemy caused her to get hit by a Kobold's blade, leaving a large cut on her arm. It wasn't very deep, but it hurt like Hell.

The pain broke her from her hyper fixation and she focused more on the defensive. Only attacking when there's a clear and safe opening.

A slash, disemboweling a Kobold. A chop, cleaving an arm of another, it died within seconds due to blood loss. Another got frightened and ran, but got caught by Aviris.

And the fourth, the fourth attacked, another cut onto Veronica, deeper and on her thigh, narrowly missing the femoral artery. It tried to slash again, but Veronica blocked it and pushed it back. She took a step forward and wound her arm back, and, with as much force as she could muster, delivered a heavy blow to the Kobold's head, her axe cleaving the head in twain, stopping just shy of the Kobold's mouth.

And then, the walls dropped. Veronica looked around, all the Kobolds were dead. The girls sighed and looked at the carnage, which finally sunk in. The blood, gore and viscera all over the ground, the mutilated bodies of the Kobold's. It made them sick, but this is the life they chose. Something that they'll have to get used to.

"Veronica! You're bleeding! Hold on!" Eleanora yelled, running over to Veronica, who tried to make her way to the others, blood dripping from her wounds, trailing behind her.

"Yeah... it hurts... thanks Elly..." Veronica said exhausted and wincing in pain, finally taking a rest on a log, facing away from the chaos.

Eleanora used her healing magic, which was slow, but was certainly working. Veronica's wounds closed little by little. While Eleanora was healing her, Cassidy ran over and started to wipe off whatever blood she could from Veronica's skin. Her clothes were going to be stained though.

Cassidy didn't speak a word. She tried, but she could get anything out. The shock taking her words away, and the adrenaline finally passing.

Aviris came by to check on them, and signing in relief that they were all okay.

"Girls! Good, you made it out! Are you okay!? I'm sorry I couldn't help. There was something keeping me out, I tried to find a way in, but had no luck." Tisha yelled out, rushing over to the girls, and inspecting the damage to them.

"It's fine, Tisha. We just got a bit unlucky is all." Veronica said as the pain left her body.

"Unlucky doesn't even begin to describe it... but you did well. That's what... twenty Kobolds you killed at your level and experience? That's an impressive feat." Tisha said as she gazed at the battlefield.

"I guess. But it was terrifying. And took a bit too much energy out of us, I think." Cassidy stated, still shaking from shock.

"I agree. Which is why we're leaving. I think you got enough experience for now. Let's go before anything else happens." Tisha suggested, taking a few steps towards the exit.

"Sounds good to me. A real bed, some good food, and best of all, NO KOBOLDS." Cassidy smiled, helping Veronica stand up.

"Yeah, some sleep sounds nice about now." Veronica agreed, leaning in Cassidy for support.

As the girls started to make their way to the exit of the second floor, Veronica, once again, heard that sultry voice in the back of her head.

"Veronica, did you use magic?"

'No, why?'

"I sensed Hakano magic. Strong magic. Something isn't right."

'Hakano magic? It didn't come from me, so where did it come from?'

"I have no idea. Stay on your toes and get out of there."

'Right.'

Veronica looked back, and noticed something strange. The Kobold bodies were turning to ash, as dungeon monsters always do, but the odd thing was that the blood she lost had disappeared. The Dungeon floors hadn't changed yet, but her blood was just gone. As if she were never cut.

As if the dungeon absorbed her blood quicker than it absorbed the monsters it creates.