DTK 38.2

we're about to break into act 3

***

We stood outside the entrance to the last dungeon. The wind was still strong at night. Now it was sprinkling rain down on us. I rubbed my arms as I stood outside.

My mana was full, but I felt like my stomach would explode.

“Ready?” I asked.

Sandy was pensive this time, seemingly unwilling to enter the dungeon.

“No.” She replied.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“It’s — this dungeon has to have my mom in it. They all might’ve changed a bit, but there should be enough to… she couldn’t have been in any of the other dungeons.” Sandy replied.

“There’s nothing to do but move forward.” I said. Then I stepped past her and into the dungeon.

The world tilted. The discomfort of the Wild left. And the smell of the sea assaulted my nose.

Birds chirped above us. The dungeon felt alive.

It was beautiful.

A blue sea stretched over the horizon while sand gave way under my feet. Clouds decorated the sky in thin strips and the sun beat down on the beach.

A crab of monstrous proportions skittered along the shore. It was hot pink.

I heard the sucking noise of the dungeon behind me as Sandy stepped through and displaced the air. She didn’t say anything, just stopping behind me.

I was glad to have the spider-scale dress. For once, it was a fitting environment: hot, but not as hot as the lava fields. There was no fear of lava splashing on my exposed leg. Not that wolf fur was going to be much of a protection for that.

It took me a moment to realize Sandy wasn’t saying anything.

“Sandy?” I asked, turning around. She was staring out over the sea, her expression haunted.

I turned back and walked towards her.

“You good?” I asked, the sand giving way beneath my feet.

“Yeah. This is the place.” Sandy said.

“The place.” I replied, looking over the beach. It was nicer than the other dungeons. But that wasn’t what she meant. She meant this is the place her mom died. “How do you know?”

“Seafood.” Sandy replied.

“Seafood.” I replied aloud, thinking. Seafood. Her mom brought home seafood the last time she saw her? Thus, the dungeon she was clearing was one that could provide seafood. Her mom was a butcher like her — it made sense she would bring the bodies home to practice her skills. And why wouldn’t Henri make food out of them?

Sandy nodded.

“Do you need a second?” I asked, scanning the dungeon. Besides the gigantic crab, I didn’t see anything. A river broke the beach, washing away sand as it rolled into the sea. Farther inland, clumps of grass held the sand together, spares trees dotting the horizon.

Sandy shook her head.

“It’s ridiculous that we’re here.”

“Killing monsters with our classes?” I asked, pulling out my giant sewing needle.

“No. Clearing the dungeon ourselves. It’s Valjean’s job, and yet my mom is dead and he’s alive, letting the dungeon decay.” 

We approached the crab together. It spun around on its legs, staring at us before strafing back and forth on its legs. Each of it’s claws was half again as large as I was, and it snapped them together to create a clicking sound.

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 9/10] [Cancel]

[+4 XP]

The crab died instantly, my needle splitting apart its chitin with ease and piercing directly into its brain. It slumped, nearly ripping the needle out of my hand if not for the enhanced strength.

“I felt like that was worth more experience that it should’ve been.” I said, pulling my needle free. Blue blood spilled into the sand.

I bet I could make another version of the shell dress out of this. This was closer to what the dress was made for; something more for a beach party than hunting monsters. Though maybe the nobility needed to do both. 

Turning left and right, I couldn’t see another crab as far as the horizon stretched.

“Where are the rest?” Sandy asked, a near mirror of my thoughts.

“Buried under the sand?” I ventured.

The ocean’s water splashed at my ankles.

“Let’s get this crab out of here.” Sandy said.

We pulled the corpse up to the portal, dropping it off outside of it, before heading back down the beach to look for more. I looked for deformities in the sand or bubbles under the water but I couldn’t see anything of the sort.

Instead we found the monster as we walked over the river tearing apart the beach.

It leaped out at us.

By now, our paranoia in the dungeons was extremely high. As was our reaction times, even not counting the effect of Perception and Dexterity being raised to super human heights. We threw ourselves out of the way as a vicious flying fish shot out of the water.

Sunlight bounced off its iridescent scales, sending light scattering over the sand in a rainbow of colors. Its small, bat-like wings beat against the sand as it tried to right itself.

So many of these dungeon monsters were just… stupid.

“Is that a monster for this dungeon?” I asked, tense. I was looking between the fish and the water. Were there more of them hiding somewhere? Two separate types of monsters was completely unlike the dungeons we had before.

Then again, so was a swarm of crystalline earth elementals. It seemed the farther we delved into the dungeons the stranger they got. Luckily, I would be able to rely on my expanded [Wardrobe] to cover new skills and patch weaknesses in the set of abilities I had.

[Running Stitch I] [Mana: 8/10] [Cancel]

[+4 XP]

The fish went silent as the sewing needle sunk through its head and into the sand.

I waited for Sandy to make a quip about fish scale armor or how bad it would smell, but nothing of the sort came. My needle slid out of the fish with ease, and Sandy grabbed it by its tail, dragging it back to the gate.

Sandy looked back out over the dungeon, scanning for something. Then she walked back to where the fish had jumped out of the river, pulling out her knife. 

Her head shifted left and right as she searched the river.

“Not here.” She said suddenly, turning around.

“What isn’t?” I asked.

Sandy grunted, leading us forward down the beach towards a section of tide pools hidden in and around boulders set upon the beach.

“There it is.” She said, stopping suddenly and pulling out her knife.

I looked about the rocks… and saw nothing.

“Sandy?” I asked.

“It’s blending in.” She replied. Oh. A monster here. I squinted harder at the rocks, trying to see anything abnormal.

“Does it have a stealth skill?”

“I don’t think so.”

She swung the knife. There was a crack as it cut apart rock, sending a puff of dust out where the rock exploded.

Then part of the rock start bleeding.

An octopus had half crawled out of the water, its tentacles the color and shape of the rock around it, allowing it to blend in perfectly. Now it fell into the tide pool with a splash. The dungeon vibrated under our feet; it was a small signal that all of the monster’s had died.

Sandy stepped carefully over corals, tiny fish ducking out of her way as she splashed into the water to pull out the octopus corpse before raising it up with a hand.

“This is the dungeon.” She said. “We’re clearing this one.”