:: Phoebe ::

The start of the dungeon was rather boring. I was expecting something a lot more exciting for my first dungeon experience.

We entered a small cavern that lead down into a narrow tunnel…if it wasn’t for Shiro than we would have wandered around in the tunnel for a few hours.

I always enjoyed watching her cast magic. You could see a smile start to form on her face.

Shiro and I went way back…all the way to primary school. She was a cute kid with silky black hair and warm brown eyes. She was the first girl to accept me for who I am.

I was quiet and awkward…kind of like how I am now, but for some reason people really seem to like to be around me now that I’m in high school. Its weird…especially guys.

Anyway, people used to treat me differently because of my eyes but Shiro made me forget all of that and even helped me makes friends with Hilda when we entered secondary school.

Hilda is a lot more like me when we are out in public, but behind closed doors she becomes wild and free. She’s the type of person who opens up to you once you get to know her.

The three of us have been friends ever since and we do pretty much everything together.

My mind wanders a lot when I’m bored, but now we are at some kind of clearing…a tall withered tree stands in the center of the dome and the grove is littered with dead bodies.

Shiroe and Hilda are chatting, while Kai takes the lead. Kai was…well is someone I don’t know to well. I only know bits and pieces about him from my cousin Nate.

I think he might have a thing for Shiroe or maybe Hilda…I should watch him for a bit in order to protect my friends. He may be my cousin’s best friend, but boys are shifty.

Grunting noises and moans immediately pulled me out of my thoughts...not the good kind either. The bodies that we thought were dead adventurers were actually 1st Order Mindless Zombies. Grrr….how frustrating.

We took the normal formation that we used while hunting, but instead of just me being in front I was joined by Kai.

I pulled back for a bit and watched how he fought the first zombie. I could tell from his first attack that he had no experience fighting the undead.

I ran right for him as he was about to be mauled by the zombie that was currently stuck on his sword. Jumping up and over him I stabbed both of my daggers out. Left…right…left.

“Savage Ripper.” I muttered as I activated my skill and aimed for the vital points on the zombies face. The lone zombie turned grey soon after and was reduced to ash.

“Aim for the head.” I called out in a fairly even voice. I figured a small tip would make this fight a little easier for him.

“Thanks for the tip.” He muttered from behind me.

I nodded my head when he responded and than went back to killing zombies. The two of us made a fairly decent team.

We both fought using dexterous weapons and techniques. We were quick and efficient and were able to stay out of each other’s way for the most part. It was nice.

After a while I had to pull back again closer to Hilda’s healing circle. The closer to her you were the more the buffs and healings spells would affect you.

But Kai kept fighting…it was weird. His equipment was absolutely terrible and he used a quick dexterity based weapon. At first glance I wouldn’t even consider him a tank, but the longer he fought the more I realized how strange his class was.

The zombies started to surround him when I backed off. I wanted to help him, but my health and stamina weren’t high enough to go back into the fray yet. I would have died fairly quickly.

“Oh crap crap crap…Valkyria help him.” Hilda started to splurt out words.

“Theres no way in.” I mouthed as I tried to find a way to help Kai and keep him from dying.

“Hilda help him.” Shiroe screamed.

“Valkyria’s bodacious bosom…there’s no way to lock on when he’s surrounded.” Hilda yelled back frantically as she felt the pressure.

We were all scrambling to try and find a way to help him when the oddest thing happened….He started to sing.

“Thriller, thriller night…killing zombies left and right…fucking dead things out of spite. Thriller, thriller night. I just punched a zombie…da da da da…punched a zombie.”

It was so out of place and so unexpected that I froze. I knew the song from real, because it was fairly popular but the way her sang it was different.

Buff Activated: Song of Renewal - +10 Strength and Vitality

I got a buff? Why does he have such a great voice? Why is he singing in the first place? Should I film this? Why is my heart beating so fast?

My thoughts were running out of control as question after question popped up. My face was mask of stoicism as I watched Kai tare the zombies apart with his bare hands…but my mind was a typhoon.

When the fight ended he turned towards me…well us. I opened my mouth to speak, but Hilda cut me off.

“What the hell was that.” Hilda looked pissed.

“That was…” I couldn’t even finish my sentence, before Shiroe chimed in.

“That was beautiful.” Shiroe was flushed red like a tomato.

Hilda started to blurt out things in response to Shiroe’s answer, but I on the other hand was more preoccupied with Kai.

“Why did you sing?” I said quickly.

Kai seemed to look down for a second. His eyes glancing back and forth. I knew he was avoiding the question, but he was checking something on his status so I decided to wait until he was done before I pushed any further.

He looked after he was done, but only muttered something briefly before his pants fell apart…his pants fell apart?

My eyes seemed to be drawn toward the elephant trunk between his legs. I had my account set on mature mode…so the mosaics were not there.

I couldn’t stop staring at it. It was like a man in the desert seeing water for the first time. I unconsciously licked my lips as he covered himself with his hands.

“Umm…is this a bad time to tell you I’m a bard.” He smiled sheepishly with a face so red you might think he was sunburnt.

:: Kai ::

I decided to check out my new skill during the silence…it was like the shadow of the death had loomed over the room.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:Bare-Handed MasteryNovice21%Bare-Handed Mastery is a widely known skill that is used by those who train in the arts of hand to hand combat. Bare-Handed Mastery provides a 5% increase in damage when wielding ones own body as a weapon and 5% boost in natural defenses.

It was a few moments before any of the girls worked up the courage to say anything. Hilda screamed for a little while, while Shiroe feinted, but the oddest thing was that Phoebe kept staring at me.

“Put some pants on already!” Hilda screamed again as she covered her eyes.

I scrambled around and searched through the loot for a pair of pants. The only one that was dropped was a pair of torn shorts. So I grabbed them quickly and equipped them.

Rotten Shorts of the IdiotType:ClothDurability:5 / 7Quality:CommonA pair of shorts that were worn by a disgusting and mistreated zombie. +2 Defense and +5% foul odor.

I wasn’t particularly happy about the foul odor, but I was content with anything as long as I was no longer naked. They were an ugly beige color that complete contrasted with my black and grey leather vest.

“Alright…aright. I got some pants now.” I sighed.

The three girls had managed to overcome the shock of the situation and they were all conversing secretly about ten feet away from me.

“We decided to do this civilly and take turns to ask you questions.” Hilda eyed me cautiously. I think she was a little hurt that I lied to her, but for the mos part I think she was embarrassed from seeing me half naked.

“Why did you lie about your class?” Hilda went straight to the point.

“I never actually lied. I said I was a level 21 tank…I never mentioned my class.” I exclaimed briefly.

“Then why didn’t you tell us you were a bard earlier?” Phoebe chimed in.

I didn’t want to say that I chose not to say anything out of embarrassment so I decided to throw Shiroe under the bus.

“Shiroe knew…I thought she was going to tell you.” I looked away as I spoke. I could feel the intense and hate-filled glare from the blue-haired mage.

“What!?” Hilda turned her attention to Shiroe. “How come you didn’t tell us?”

Phoebe didn’t say anything she just looked at Shiroe with dead eyes.

“He told me not to say anything. He hypnotized me with his voice and forced me to do all kinds of things.” Shiroe lied to the best of her ability.

I could tell that Hilda was the type of person to yell and scream for a while, but she would get over it quicker…Phoebe was the type of person to hold a grudge…it was written on her face.

“YOU CRETIN….WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY LITTLE ANGEL!” Hilda screamed as she came after me with her giant war hammer.

“I didn’t do any of that…she’s lying.” I tried to explain.

“He never took responsibility.” Shiroe faked a sad voice as she added fuel to the fire and Phoebe on the other hand started to grow more distant.

Let just say it took about an hour to get everything under control. To sum things up…I was hit with a very large war hammer…many times. Hilda slapped Shiroe when she found out she was lying. Phoebe became sarcastic and witty for some strange reason and after about an hour…we had a group hug.

I don’t know how the situation was resolved and I probably won’t talk about this event for the rest of my life, but the one thing I know now is that I fear these three woman…each for a different reason.

We had wasted enough time and decided to continue on with the dungeon, but with a little more caution this time.

The next part of the dungeon was a long tunnel, but unlike the last one we would get attacked my shapeless ghouls about every ten feet or so.

I examined the first ghoul we came across to get a better feel of my enemy.

Shapeless Ghoul (F) Lvl 24

The ghouls were slightly stronger than the zombies and they were heavily resistant to physical attacks.

We had to rely purely on Shiroe and Hilda to kill most of the ghouls, while Phoebe and I tanked the damage.

It wasn’t the most fun fight…we basically played the role of punching bags, while Hilda swung her holy hammer and Shiroe spammed fire spells.

The four of us finally made it to the edge of another grove.

“What do you think is waiting for us here.” I asked.

“The monster are gradually increasing in strength. I think we might encounter some 2nd Order Skeletons or Dullahans here.” Shiroe stated between breaths. She had been using a lot of magic, while was a heavy drain on her mentally and physically.

Frankly if it wasn’t for my absurd ability to tank damage I doubt we would have made it as far as we did today.

Shiroe and I managed to grab two more levels, while Hilda and Phoebe only got one.

“We could turn back and go find a Guardian for Shiroe?” I suggested. I knew that if we had a 2nd Order Pyromancer that this dungeon would become a lot easier.

“We continue.” Phoebe muttered. It seems she was still a little bit resentful about how the events played out earlier…at least that’s what I thought.

Hilda didn’t say anything. Her voice was a little worn out from all the yelling and screaming she did.

I shrugged. I could continue on, but looking at the three of them I didn’t know how much longer this group would last. I knew that we couldn’t take on the boss quite yet.

So we stalked out into the open dome/field area. This time the area was free of corpses. The only things that remained were small decrepit gravestones.

I had a sense that something was going to pop out of the ground, but nothing happened until we got to the middle of the room.

This dungeon had to have been built by a masochist, because no one in their right mind would want to be scared shitless this much.

A bony hand reached out of the ground below and wrapped its fingers around my leg. I am a man…definitely a man, but at this moment I screamed like a little girl.

Shiroe turned to help me, but she was tripped by another bony skeleton hand. She fell to the ground and multiple arms sprouted at the same time. Not a moment later and she was gone…the hands of the dead had pulled her below the surface.

I shook off the hand that was grabbing my legs and smashed the bones under my foot over and over.

Hilda grew frantic when Shiroe had disappeared. She started to spam basic holy spells in order to ward off the undead.

Phoebe tried to stave off the encroaching limbs with her daggers, but the Skeletons had an incredibly high resistance to slashing and piercing attacks.

I knew that Hilda could hold her own because of her class, but I could see that it was only a matter of time before Phoebe was captured just like Shiroe was.

Running to help…I noticed that the Skeletons were starting to move more of their bodies above ground. They kept multiplying and surrounding us slowly.

“Stay behind me.” I yelled as I pulled Phoebe around me.

I kicked back an approaching Skeleton before I yelled to Hilda. “Do you have some sort of barrier?”

My question was answered with silence though…Phoebe grabbed the back of my vest.

“She’s gone…she disappeared like Shiro.” I had never seen Phoebe like this in my life. She was always the stoic and emotionless beauty, but now she looked like a young and fragile girl with tears in her eyes.

Her two friends had been kidnapped…maybe even killed and she was unable to mask her emotion. It may have been a game, but it felt real. The horror of the images around us.

One Beauty…Two Beauties…soon to be Three….how much more can I take until you’ll bow to me.

I heard the same voice from earlier when I touched my hand to the withering tree, but this time the voice was happier…and it sounded psychotic.

Chapter 21: Status

Status WindowName:KaiAlignment:NeutralLevel:23Class:BardRace:CherubGender:MaleTitlesSongscryerFame:120Infamy:950-Health:500 / 500Health Regen:4.5 / SecMana:650 / 650Mana Regen:6.0 / SecStamina:750 / 750Stamina Regen:6.0 / Sec-Strength:60 (+51)Agility:60Vitality:58Intelligence:60 (+5)Wisdom:70 (+5)Endurance:78Luck:39 (+51)-Attack:10-15Defense:32 (+75)Physical ResistancesSlashing:25 (+45)Piercing:25 (+45)Crushing:30 (+45)Elemental ResistancesFire:10%Water:10%Wind:10%Earth:10%Light:10%Darkness:10%

Skills/Abilities:

Spoiler : Iron Skin: Intermediate Lvl 5 (41%)

Willpower III: Intermediate Lvl 4 (13%)

Seven Pathways Meditation: Novice Lvl 9 (88%)

Mana Manipulation: Intermediate Lvl 2 (7%)

Voice Manipulation: Novice Lvl 7 (13%)

Music Mastery: Novice Lvl 7 (72%)

-Song of Renewal: Intermediate Lvl 2 (54%)

-Song of the Slumbering: Novice Lvl 6 (45%)

-Song of Sorrow: Novice Lvl 3 (26%)

Bare-Handed Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (11%)

Sword Mastery: Novice Lvl 7 (5%)

-Rapier Mastery: Intermediate Lvl 3 (32%)

+Rapid Thrust: Novice Lvl 7 (21%)

Illusion Magic Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (57%)

-Disguise: Novice Lvl 5 (54%)

-Glamour: Novice Lvl 3 (17%)

-Clone: Novice Lvl 1 (0%)

Equipment:

Spoiler : Swift Iron Rapier (10-15) Atk – (13/30) Durability

Torn Leather Vest (+10) Defense (-2) Luck – (6/15) Durability

Rotten Shorts of the Idiot (+2) Defense (+5%) Odor - (5/7) Durability

Rugged Leather Boots (+7) Defense (+3) Agility – (4/12) Durability

Necklace of the Black King (+10%) Magic Resistance – (24/25) Durability