Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

“Tom.” Hans sputtered. “Your name is Tom. All that build up, and your name is Tom.”

Tom squinted at him meaningfully, “Is this an issue?”

“No, not at all… Tom.” Hans cheerfully denied.

Dale snapped his fingers, “You were the one who killed a teammate.” He remembered.

Tom’s face fell. He nodded. “To my great shame, it is true. Now, no others will allow me to join them in battle, as they fear I would turn on them as would a rabid dog.” He looked up, setting his features. “I swear to you, it was an accident, a moment of battle rage instilled in me over the loss of my comrades. I took out the fury of their deaths on the giant creature, Raile, with an untested weapon. His armor shattered, the shards impacting and killing my dear friend.”

Dale nodded, “That is what I had heard. Hans is correct though, you cannot join us without joining the Guild. Would you be opposed to that?”

Tom looked at him, as confused as if Dale had sprouted a breast on his forehead. “If they would have me. I know of none who would willingly turn down that chance.”

Dale glanced at Hans, “It is customary that a man is tested before joining, yes? Can we call this dungeon run a test and deal with the paperwork tonight? His Essence is very pure.”

Hans groaned. “Fiiiine. Ugh.” He looked at Rose, “Wait, you are in the Guild, right?”

“Yes.” Was her verbose response.

“Can I join you as well?” A small voice piped up. “I know you are good people, to believe in Tom and his innocence as I do. I can help.” A robed figure stepped into their midst. Dale looked at him, recognizing him as if from a long forgotten dream.

“You!” Dale exclaimed excitedly. “You’re the cleric who healed Josh when Raile crushed him!”

The cleric brightened, “You remember me?” He inquired hopefully.

“How could I not? You are in the Guild and,” Dale squinted for a second, “A D-rank four?”

“Five.” He responded proudly, “My name is Adam.”

Hans was less pleased. “Oh, sure, let’s just bring anyone who wants to go! We don’t need to test people, nahhh, let’s just grab a few ‘randos’ and charge on in!” He grumbled, moving off toward the dungeon entrance. “Thought I was going to be part of choosing the team, but noooo.”

“Works for me. Just remember that right now this is on a temporary basis, ok everyone? We don’t know you yet.” Dale shrugged. “Let’s go then! Unless anyone needs some time to prepare?” The shaking of heads announced their readiness. They moved as an excited group to begin their incursion to the dark and desolate depths of the dreary dungeon. They climbed down the unguarded stairs, ignoring the crowds of people milling around, no one seemed to mind that they were moving down anyway. Just before they entered, Hans pointed out that blood had poured out of the entrance. Beyond the drying blood was a perfectly straight line on the floor, after which the ground was perfectly clean.

“This is the line where the dungeon really begins.” They stepped across and began their descent.

Just after they entered, Guild Master Frank made an announcement to the gathered people, “We are going to build a wall around this entrance today. The entrance and exits to it will be guarded at all times to prevent this sort of tragedy in the future. Until then, the dungeon is closed! We will send a team to check on it after the wall is built, but until then no one goes in! The Guild will be providing food to anyone who wants it free of charge until this event is concluded.”

While that didn’t get any reaction, his next announcement that freshly imported beer and ale would also be free for the event certainly got a loud cheer.

“This is weird!” Dale shouted, smashing his Morningstar into a Basher. “They have never been so aggressive before!” The Bashers were absolutely throwing themselves at the group, heedless of their losses or injuries. Tom swung his hammer back and forth, crushing several with each swing. If the Rune on it had not allowed for it to be light enough to swing around like a small branch he would have been overwhelmed already.

“Stop whining and kill faster !” Rose shouted back. Arrows were leaving her bow at a prodigious rate, so many in a short time that Dale was wondering how she hadn’t run out.

“Anything for you, my sweet Rose!” Hans chimed in, suddenly vanishing from sight. Unleashing his true ability for the first time Dale had ever seen, nearly a dozen Bashers suddenly fountained blood and dropped to the ground.

The fight unexpectedly over, each of them sank to the ground to catch their breath. All except Hans who was watching Rose, hoping for a hint of approval. They were only in the second of the four main rooms and already nearly exhausted. The Bashers were far more numerous than they ever had been, a veritable swarm of life that tried to crush others beneath an onslaught of flesh and bone.

“What is going on here?” Adam panted as he held his knees.

Dale shook his head, “No idea, but we can afford to go slowly. I say we take our time, get to know each other, and cultivate. Then, we come up with a plan to deal with all of this.”

Rose got a very uncomfortable look on her face. Dale noticed and tried to guess at the reason behind it. “Rose, try to cultivate in here. I need to as well. The sooner my Essence is fixed from that shattering, the better. I think it would benefit you as well.”

All except Hans - who was on lookout duty - sat in the lotus position and began to draw in the power of the heavens and the earth. A shocked look passed Rose’s face, as if she had thought this chance would be too good to be true. Essence filled her, being drawn in twice as fast as anyone else, as Dale watched in shock.

“Do you have a really good cultivation technique?” He smiled at her, “That is amazing!”

Rose shook her head, her voice coming out dreamily as her main focus remained on her cultivation. “It’s because I have a dual affinity. I have two open paths for Essence to flow along, but they both have to be used in parallel; else it sticks in my meridians and I cannot get the Essence to my center.”

Dale realized his own focus had faded, so he quickly began drawing in more of the Essence. All of the people in the D-rankings drew in massive amounts of Essence, yet still Tom’s center was filling faster than all of them. He bragged for a moment to tease them, then realized that it simply meant he could hold much less Essence in his center than them. He was only in the F-rankings after all.

“Is the Essence…? Fading in here?” Rose curiously examined the surroundings, unused to the effects cultivating might have on the dungeon.

Dale nodded. “It usually takes, I don’t know, half an hour? This was ten minutes, at best!” He looked at Hans for confirmation.

“Look at this! The Essence in here is… moving?” Hans questioned, his eyes bright enough that Dale knew he was using Essence enhanced vision.

“It is going deeper inward!” Adam exclaimed in amazement.

Hans nodded gravely. “That’s what she said.”

“Rose did not utter a word.” Tom corrected him, confused by this turn of the conversation. “Where is the Essence going?”

“I guess we are going to have to find out!” Hans jauntily began strutting deeper into the deadly dungeon. They all stood up and resumed their journey, moving into the tunnel that connected the rooms. Dale had to pull Rose out of the path of traps several times.