Azure: Gunner

Chapter 8-3

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a stable dungeon is always the exact same Level. In fact, just like any other dungeon, its Level will drop when it’s looted or the main Quest is completed. And if the Level goes down too much, it will still fucking collapse, squandering millions of eagles in potential profits.

Assuming you don’t fuck things up however, it will begin to absorb mana as soon as it’s unoccupied, and its Level will start to increase. The difference between a stable and rising dungeon is simply that the stable dungeon’s Level will plateau without rupturing.

It is widely accepted that a stable dungeon will eventually whither and fail, though no one understands how or why this happens. Dungeoneers claim that it's essential for a dungeon to be entered regularly. Since this aligns nicely with what the owners want – maximum profit – no one has ever tested this claim, to my knowledge anyway.

- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 10.3 – “Basics of Dungeon Management”

I resolutely stuck to the left-hand path at every turn. There were more than a few of those, along with occasional rooms containing more slithering horrors. I never faced more than two at once, and didn’t have much trouble dispatching them with my cutlass. Being twice their Level no doubt helped.

Along the way I encountered several stairs, all leading down, which I tested carefully with my trap-finder before descending. As I reached the bottom of the third set of stairs, I stored the big stick back into my Inventory and quietly drew my cutlass. The bottom of these stairs intersected a corridor running perpendicular to the steps. I couldn’t see anything except the blank wall in front of me, though it did seem a bit less dim than the tunnels above had been.

I led with my armored left forearm, my heavy curved blade held back in my right, like I’d been taught. If something grabbed ahold of me, I wanted to have my sword arm free to… encourage it to let go. The preparation did me absolutely no good when something flashed out from behind the corner, latching onto my forearm with an iron grip.

Before I could react I was yanked out and around, then my back slammed hard against the wall. My barrier flared as it absorbed the impact, and then my eyes widened as I found a spear tip at my throat and a huge figure looming over me in the dark.

“Hey!” I tried to protest, but it came out more like a squeak. I glared up at G’hala, opening my mouth to tell her to let me go. Her spear vanished and her other huge hand clamped over my mouth.

“Prove you’re really Az,” she whispered, voice full of menace.

Incoming Squad Invite:

Do you wish to join G’hala’s Squad?

What? It’s not her Squad! I rejected her invitation instinctively.

“PAST, invite G’hala to join my Squad!”

Squad Update:

G’hala has joined Ashley's Squad

The orc finally released me with a fanged grin, and I gulped in air as she chuckled deeply over the Comms.

she asked hopefully, and I shook my head.

I replied.

She led me down the corridor and into a room with a large door on the far wall. It was set into the wall, obviously a separate piece, but without handles or anything to open it. That is, except for the two raised plates on the floor, one on each side of the room. They were clearly visible and I was confident it was much brighter down here.

she said.

I gave her a mock glare as I crossed my arms. Definitely mock.

she retorted, and I stuck my tongue out at her in response.

I moved to the other plate and inspected it carefully, looking for any signs of a trap. Finally satisfied, I glanced over at the orc only to see her standing on her plate, which had sunk to match the level of the floor. She gave me a toothy grin and I sighed and reached out tentatively with one foot.

Pressing down on the plate accomplished nothing. I had to shift the majority of my weight onto it before it suddenly and smoothly descended into the floor. There was a rumbling, and I jumped back off the plate into a guard position as the door shivered and then slowly started to slide down into the floor.

Before it was halfway down, a pair of clawed hands appeared from the darkness on the far side. They gripped onto the top of the descending door and the monster flung itself over the obstacle, crashing into the floor. I quickly Identified it even as G’hala struck with her totem.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Monster: Clawed Horror

Level: 4

G’hala’s blow was deflected by the monster’s barrier. As it rose to face her I realized it was a larger version of the snake-like creatures I’d already fought, only this one had a pair of spindly arms attached to its body a couple feet behind the head, each ending in a massive clawed hand. The horror reared up on its scaled tail, then slashed wildly at G’hala with first one hand, then the other.

She deflected the first strike with the shaft of her totem, then stepped back out of range of the second as I charged in from the monster’s flank. I used the weight of my cutlass to hack down from above on the scaly body, shattering its barrier. The thick tail hissed through the air as it cut sideways, sweeping my legs out from under me before I could react.

I crashed down hard onto my left arm and shoulder, armor clanking on the ground. Yanking my knees to my chest and tucking my head, I rolled over my shoulder, coming to a stop on my hands and knees, the basket hilt of my cutlass pressed into the stone. I snarled as I saw that the monster had seized G’hala’s totem with both hands, and the two of them were wrestling for control.

My friend’s massive muscles bulged with power, but the monster had her pushed back against the wall. It had to be at least fifteen or twenty feet long, giving it a lot of mass. I sprang to my feet and charged, raising my cutlass in front of me point-first.

I braced my grip with my left hand as I activated Quick Step, flashing forwards in a blur that ended with my cutlass buried to the hilt in the monster’s body just behind the arms. The horror hissed in agony and twisted, flinging me off and sending G’hala stumbling to the side. My cutlass remained firmly embedded in the creature, and my eyes widened as I realized I’d been disarmed.

I briefly considered summoning my shotgun and ending the fight, but didn’t want to trigger the dungeon to release more of these much stronger creatures. With a silent groan, I yanked my Adjudicator from its holster and triggered the bayonet mod. Six inches of blade wasn’t much, but it was all I had.

I moved in again, the creature’s attention still focused on G’hala. It swayed from side to side, avoiding her thrusts with sinuous grace despite the blade embedded in its body. This time I was ready when the tail struck for my legs, and jumped over the sweep. G’hala managed a glancing blow that scored a shallow gash along its neck, and suddenly the creature whipped around, fleeing through the open doorway in a flash of motion.

I screamed into the Comms, knowing full well only G’hala could hear me.

the Shaman asked me, then snickered.

There was something vaguely disturbing about the sight of a seven foot tall, three hundred-plus pound orc trying not to giggle. I flipped her the bird and retracted the blade on my gun with a thunk.

Finally she contained her mirth and stepped forward, leading the way with her totem in a two-handed grip.

Unfortunately for my tall friend, no real skill – or Skill – was required to follow the blood trail left by the injured creature. We found it a half-dozen turns later, its body barely twitching, claws scrabbling weakly at the hilt of my sword. It couldn’t seem to figure out why it wasn’t coming out. We approached cautiously, wary of a trap – it certainly hadn’t bled enough relative to its size to explain why it seemed to be dying.

With a shrug, G’hala sprang forward and drove the blade of her totem deep into the creature’s skull, putting it out of its misery. As it shuddered and stilled, she crouched down. She could barely fit three thick fingers into the opening of the basket hilt on my cutlass, though it had plenty of room for me to grip it comfortably. With a soft grunt, she ripped the blade back out of the dead horror’s body, dark blood dripping from it.

As she tried to wipe the worst of the gore off on the monster’s flank, PAST’s voice boomed into my head.

[YOU HAVE NOW GAINED THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE TO BE PROMOTED TO LEVEL 7! CONGRATULATIONS, CITIZEN ZIMMERMAN! WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PROCEED, SIMPLY SAY ‘LEVEL UP’!]

I barely managed to keep my yell of triumph on the Comms instead of out loud. G’hala gave me a wide grin of understanding and didn’t object when I asked her to return to the room with the door so I could Level up there. I sat down while she kept watch, then gave PAST the command.

“Level up and put my free point in Absorption.”

Once I’d endured the flush of pleasure, I Inspected myself eagerly.

I smiled in satisfaction at seeing my improvements. I’d never been this far into a dungeon with nearly full mana, but my stamina was suffering. I spared a moment to cast Conjure Jet Soda, twisting off the cap and tossing it aside. I took a long, delicious drink from my soda, feeling the slight tingle of energy running through me. It was basically a weak stamina potion, just much tastier.

While I savored the sugary taste, I asked PAST to show me my Skill options.

[BY REACHING LEVEL 7, YOU HAVE EARNED A NEW SKILL!]

Class Skill Selection:

Run and Gun: For the next 10 seconds, your accuracy is unaffected by movement.

Type: Active

Cost: 10 mana

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Pierce: Empower your weapon or projectiles to pierce anything in their path more easily.

Type: Active

Cost: 2 mana

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Ricochet: Your projectiles ricochet off the first non-enemy surface they hit. Slightly increased chance for projectiles to deflect towards an enemy.

Type: Passive

Cooldown: 1 minute

My eyes flickered from side to side as I read and re-read my options several times.

WASTED FUCK! I want ALL of them!