Chương 69: Chapter 68 - Ssssss.

Level Acquired! x 11 Artillery-Command (lvl 12>15) Giant-Slayer (lvl 10>12) Cannon Arm (lvl 1>8) Heat Resistance (lvl 5>6) Class Level Threshold Reached: 1 Upgrade Token Acquired 1 Augment Token Acquired WOW, 11 levels despite the leech ring? It was the second guardian of a strata two dungeon and I'm only strata one so I guess I understand why but still. I'd only have to kill about ten more… Ten more of these? Nope. Welp, at least I got some tokens for my trouble. Ripping it out of the wall she shoved it into Boxy.

A chest sat near the end of the tunnel. Nythera hobbled over, but every twitch of her right arm sent pain lancing up to her shoulder. She coughed. Blood. Her legs gave out under her, her back hit the chest, leaning on it for support. Fuck. Dominic hobbled in, his left leg seemed to be having problems, He collapsed onto the floor. Kennick ran over, striding with confidence and health. He fed a tonic to Dominic then came to Nythera.

"Take this, it's anti-poison" the vial had a clear liquid with faint sparkles. With his help she managed to down the bottle. What did it even taste like? I don't remember.

"We are done here, it is time to leave" Dominic said, facing straight up at the ceiling from where he lay. She coughed "I think the mushrooms could work for shells, let's grab them and go". More blood. Rowen hobbled over, his legs having healed partway. He placed one foot on the chest and kicked open the lid.

"Well I suppose that this was a strata two dungeon" The avarice in his eyes was blinding. Turning her head, she could peer into the box from where she lay out of the corner of her eye. A baggy of glowing embers, a mace with thorns for spikes, a dusty dark-green tome, and a circlet with feathers. Rowen began unceremoniously pulling things out of the chest and examining them.

"Half those embers are mine" Nythera called out in protest. A moment later a scattering of coins landed on her lap "Here you go and Dominic can take the rest" Rowen said "Alright who wants the mace?" One hand shot up from floor-Dominic "I know some delvers who would pay triple for a thing like that. It probably has poison on those thorns" Rowen made a motion as if to toss the mace, but then thought better of that and set it down beside him, gently, with the thorns covered in cloth.

He chuckled "Who wants the circlet? Its got some feathers on it and thats about all I can tell". Nythera raised her hand, a moment later the circlet landed on it.

"Do you want the tome, Nythera? It's very valuable, but its almost certainly a life-based skill." Dominic called out. I do but I've already got so many skills, I am beginning to lose track of what I can even do.

"It's fine, give it to someone else, but let me know what skill it gives when someone uses it" She answered. The party breathed a collective sigh of relief. Kennick had amassed a great pile of the mushrooms in one corner of the room, while the rest of them sat slumped on the ground in disarray.

"Kennick, can you dump as many intact mushrooms as you can find into here?" Nythera asked, holding Boxy's lid open in her cloak, she had one eye glued to the lid looking for ring-sign. He nodded. No use in keeping it secret any longer, everyone already seems to know I have a spatial artifact anyways. I wonder why? Two hours later, the intrepid group made its way up the tunnel, pulling on the roots on the walls as support.

"If we stay down there much longer the dungeon will start sending shit at us, lets move people!" Dominic broke out into a coughing fit. The light of the first cavern glimmered ahead. Ah this is going to be Hel, how do we get through there with a bunch of bashed up legs? Kennick popped by and handed everyone a small squishy red cube.

"These are stimulants, and the last I have" They all swallowed it down. Nythera could feel a burst of energy spreading from her core.

"GO GO GO" Dominic chanted, Kennick led the way through the jungle floor, ready to pounce on any root cluster. By the time they crossed half the floor there was a small army of root clusters behind Rowen. Kennick killed one after another but they just kept coming. Dominic kept pushing her forward.

"Don't stop, don't look back, Rowen will be fine" his voice cracked betraying concern.

"Wait Dominic, we should help them" she tried to turn around. Dominic's far superior Strength and Dexterity made that all but impossible.

"Nope, we are getting the Queen straight out of here, Lance will have my head if you come back with anything less than all your limbs. The mayors would use the other parts for kraken bait" He gave her another shove.

"But what about Kennick? He must be poisoned too?" she tried again.

"Nope, he has a scout class and a boatload of resistances, including poison, he's fine." He gave her one last shove. Out the dungeon door. Nythera tumbled into the bushes around the door. Shortly followed by Rowen, then Kennick, and finally Dominic, who slammed the door shut and held it closed. Pulling seeds out of her hair "So how are we getting home?" she asked. Dominic sighed. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I have no fucking clue, we aren't going anywhere till Rowen's legs are better and you've got less poison in your system. We will hunker down here, the entrance of the dungeon should be relatively safe and we have decent cover." Everyone tried to get comfortable and no one succeeded. The dirt path was full of roots and branches sticking out at odd angles and any attempt to remove the prior got silenced by Dominic.

"Make the bushes shake too much and you'll be screaming "come eat me" to anything within spitting distance of the dungeon" … At least my head is clearer. Nythera stretched in place, feeling significantly better except for the one nasty root that had been jammed in her spine all night long. Popping a few sad sand rations into her mouth, the rest of the party stirred. Salted fish was all they had, the group ate fast and pulled themselves together faster.

"No fires here, the last thing we need to do is set our shelter ablaze." Dominic chided Rowen as he was preparing to cook a root cluster. They set out into the jungle, headed back in the approximate direction of The Mirrorwake. Kennick walked with Nythera in the vanguard this time, keeping watch for anything alive with her Flux-sight. This is not the route we took to get here, which is probably better… or worse? Would the way back be cleared of enemies or swarming with things eating what we killed? Is that? No way.

"We need to change our direction" Nythera whispered to Kennick. He nodded, made a signal to wait, and bounded off into the woods to find Dominic. Kennick tapped her on the shoulder. What the? When did he come back? Dominic pushed out from behind a push, Rowen in tow, looking extremely haggard, a bandage on his leg was red with fresh blood.

"What is it? Found something?" Dominic asked.

"I think I can get us to safety, but you'll need to trust me" Nythera said. After a moment he nodded "Lead on, Queen" Nythera followed the dimly twinkling silver thread of flux as it led them back deeper into the woods. Several times they had to take a wide berth around what appeared to be mere plants or trees but had more flux than strata one guardians.

"Are you kidding? That tulip? You're telling me that thing is packed with more flux than the strangling tree?" Dominic had an incredulous look on his face. She nodded "Maybe more than the mushrooms". He sighed "Fucking Hel, just how long has that dungeon been leaking?" The cord of energy brought them deep to the west through the woods, as the ground climbed it grew thicker. CRRRRRRRRAAAACK Everyone's heads snapped back.

Behind them, weaving through the deciduous trees and pines, were emerald-green scales attached to a great, winding serpent. Two tusks jutted from its maw, stained with blood. It's head was as big as a full grown man. Nythera held eye contact, the great elliptical pupils never breaking contact as the snake froze in place"We need to run, now" Dominic hissed. Nythera wrenched her vision away and sprinted for the top of the hill, where the thread of flux led.

Rowen, Kennick and Dominic bolted with her, the sound of scales over bark grew as the snake winded between narrow trees. Trees thinned as they climbed the hill, and before them, on top of a clearing of pine-needle covered dirt, sat a familiar sight. Nythera pushed past the others and got to the depot first"Myrraval Supply Depot #4" It'll do, with a chance to recover we can probably make it through these woods.

"What is this supposed to do? You brought us here just for one of those weird stone monuments? Men take defensive positions! We have a snake to kill" Dominic shouted, turning on a dime to face the enemy before them. Nythera threw her hand on the blood, the door sliding open to her whim.

"Jump inside, now. Ask questions later" Kennick shot Dominic a questioning look.

"Get in, now!" Dominic said. Rowen was practically thrown down the tube, followed by Kennick.

"I need to close the door, you go" Nythera said in a rush. The snake was crashing through the trees, ripping through them in an attempt to reach its quarry. The snake tore straight through an old pine, Nythera jumped, screaming the word for close as she fell down the tube. A weird sense of Deja-vu took her. This is the second time I have been chased to near death into one of these. Thank Kronan for whoever had the foresight to build them. Nythera crashed down and landed on the hard floor, pain jolting up her leg.

"Where in the blazes are we? I can't see anything" Rowen's frantic whispers came out, as if afraid speaking too loudly would call a monster of the dark.

"Don't worry about it, give me a second" Nythera pushed past two people and found the door bloodlock. A familiar dull red light illuminated the terrified face of Rowen.

"Let's go, we can rest here for a night and be on our way in the morning" Nythera began unceremoniously ripping open cabinet after cabinet. Finally, hopefully I can get something useful this time. She was already on her third cabinet of sand rations.

"So this is what's in these things, who knew, a whole structure underground." Dominic poked around with a look of bafflement.

"I suppose this explains why Lance had the town plaza walled off last year" Rowen said, trying to contain his excitement, but he too peered into the cabinets as she ripped them out.

"What are these?" Kennick picked up one of the hundreds of sand rations.

"Food, rations, they taste awful and have the worst texture, feel free to help yourself" she said.

"I trust you all with discretion on the matter of these depots" Nythera said with a testing edge to her voice. Dominic and Rowen nodded "Aye, I'll keep my mouth shut" Dominic said. Kennick popped the third sand marble into ration. And then another. And another.

"If I might inquire, how are you able to open these ruins?" Rowen attempted to regain some amount of decorum.

"You might not inquire, keep it secret please. Edric has no business knowing about these" Nythera shot back. And a huge grin broke out on her face. Finally the good shit. A whole stack of black little metal tubes came out, along with another communication array. She jammed every tube straight into Boxy. It's best to ask Talvik, besides if it is for communications, there is no point in me having all of the arrays.

Dominic and Rowen hovered over her shoulder with baited breath at every pull of cabinet, after they tried and failed to open any themselves, all they could do was vicariously open them through her Kennick sat on the table, kicking his legs back and forth as he consumed sand rations.

"Come on, no time to dally" Rowen said from right over her shoulder. Nythera pulled out yet another box of sand rations, handing it to Dominc, who then arranged it on the giant stacks forming on the table. Wait, did Kennick have so much stuff in his coat pockets before? The next cabinet had three glistening hammers, the metal shiny and untouched. Rowen gasped.

"Three frack hammers, that's quite a haul" Dominic whistled.

"How much can I get for these? I don't have any cursed gear to be removed" Nythera asked, shoving the cabinet into his hands.

"A fine sum, more than one lad has put on a piece of gear before getting it appraised, a common rookie mistake that most pay for their entire lives" Dominic said.

"I could sell them for you, several men at the Stormbridge estate have such conditions and would be willing to pay a fine sum for the services of bequeathed by a frack hammer" Rowen said. Nythera pivoted and shoved the box into his hands.

"Fine, take it and sell it, but you better bring it all back to me."

"Of course, Milady" Rowen bowed slightly. Something feels off about this… where is Talvik? What is he up to? Why is he gone? He's been with me since the first depot and now he's disappeared off somewhere. He'll probably come back with some bearded all man to dangle me off cliffs again. I'll have to tell him about what we found as soon as he's back… The night in the depot was the first real sleep they had gotten since setting foot in the interior.

The hard stone floor proved to be exceedingly comfortable compared to the rocky and rooty outdoors. More importantly, Rowen's injuries had largely healed and no one had poison left in their system. On the next morning, Nythera led the group up the ladder, whispering the opening phrase. Emerald green scales sat above them, coiled in a small tower on top of the depot, the snake's head sitting on top.

"Shit"