Chilly made a cursory inspection of the room. He did not find anything besides the silver strongbox and the two ghouls. No additional secrets to uncover or passageways that would lead him closer to the dreaded Bone mage.

He would have to cross back into the firing lines of the Bone Turrets in order to progress.

Chilly considered the long walkway that led to the other side of the Undead Parish. It would take him twice as long to run that gap than it had to get from the entrance to where he was currently standing. Theoretically doable. However he would have even less health to deal with whatever undead resided in the other room.

His upgraded helmet had increased his stats somewhat but not nearly enough to give him confidence in reaching the other side with a combat ready amount of health.

The obvious solution was to run back to the Mausoleum, wait until his health recovered, then run to the right side of the room. Reasonable. If a little boring.

A penguin materialized at his side with a pop.

Quaesitor Mortem

???

“Look Chilly,” the penguin said, laying its ephemeral flipper on Chilly’s hip.

“Uh, hi Mr. Mortem.” Chilly sidled out of the penguins reach, slightly uncomfortable with the penguins tone.

“Although NickXenix likes to troll there is a reason he is in the Group.” The penguin said consolingly. “We are here to help after all.”

“Okay,” Chilly said uncertainly. “Uhm...how can you help? I mean...You’re a ghost aren’t you?”

The penguin’s eyes lit up as if that was precisely the question he had been waiting for. “By keeping you sane of course!” It said with a trill. The crest on its head wobbled daintily.

“Thanks for the chapter!” It cried, dropping Realm Walker and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Thanks for the chapter.” Chilly responded belatedly, then more quietly to himself. “I suppose the company is nice.”

With nothing further to do in the looted room, Chilly approached the entranceway and studied the main chamber. He occasionally absorbed a bone flechette that managed to ricochet through the gap. Though his healing was more than sufficient to tank such minor damage.

There was a third option. Rather than move to the other side of the room, which was obviously the intended pathway, and therefore the pathway that he should avoid. Chilly could leap over the void close to the left side and effectively skip a good chunk of the undead. The gap between the first and second walkways was generally wide. Too wide to jump across except in certain areas. Especially near the walls and with a running start to boost his range.

The really scary part would be doing the jump while tanking the projectiles of the various skeleton constructs in the room. The Bone Mage’s large bone spike that could knock him back significantly didn’t bear mentioning.

Chilly poked his head out and confirmed that the gap was reasonable right next to the left hand side room, just as a flechette rammed into his forehead. He retreated expeditiously and pulled the bloody dart out of his face.

“Let’s call that plan B, hmm?” Chilly said to one of the everpresent quiet penguins. The risk of falling seemed too great to risk.

“Thanks for the chapter!” cried a cheery voice.

kreksyte

???

Chilly smiled at the penguin and waved, “Thanks for the chapter yourself.”

The penguin waved happily, and smiled at him before dropping its sword and disappearing.

“Hmm, the company’s pretty great actually,” Chilly ruminated happily, as he prepared to sprint out. The penguin’s joy was infectious.

He took a deep breath, then raced out into the hail of flechettes.

Chilly grunted and nearly tripped as a larger than normal projectile slammed into his hip.

Chilly crashed through the partially opened wooden doors of the Mausoleum.

You have entered the Mausoleum.

“Gah, that seemed worse than before...” He muttered. He methodically pulled out the various bolts stuck to his body and threw them to the side. The bolts clattered to the floor and dissolved, leaving behind spots of bright red blood amidst the dusty grey stone.

It took longer for Chilly to catch his breath than it did for his life to recover to full, but eventually he was ready for round two. He oriented himself to the side of the heavy wooden door. Took a deep breath. Then he was off.

Chilly raced into the Undead Parish. Almost immediately he ran into a wave of bone flechettes.

He dodged to the right, hunching low as several flechettes flew over his head.

He jumped over a particularly nasty hole in the floor only to get impaled by the Bone Mage’s bone spear.

He landed poorly, destabilized from the mid air collision. He rolled to his feet, scrambling to get out of the rain of splinters.

Chilly jumped past the threshold of the side room and into relative safety from the targeted projectiles. He immediately scanned the small square room and noticed a single other exit on the left-

Putrid Ghoul

Level: 3

Life: 199

Armor

Fire Resistance

Cold Resistance

Lightning Resistance

Chaos Resistance

37

6

9

8

2

Putrid Ghoul (x3)

Level: 2

Life: 137, 161, 172

Armor

Fire Resistance

Cold Resistance

Lightning Resistance

Chaos Resistance

31

2

3

2

1

-then balked at the four Putrid Ghouls turning their attention towards him.

He dashed to the side. Standing still and channeling was a non option. Just as returning to the withering fire that the Bone Turrets unleashed back in the main room.

He collided with the wall on the side of the room, and pushed off to the side. The ghouls approached rapidly, their jaws distending as they transitioned from shamble to sprint.

Chilly rushed through the exit on the left and breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted no further undead. Instead what greeted him was an entirely ruined room with broken walls and shattered cobblestones. A wide gap in the floor opened a hole to the dark abyss that extended far beyond his ability to jump. He skidded to a halt just as a bone flechette whizzed through the air and slammed directly into his face.

“Gah!” Chilly screamed, and rushed blindly to the left where he saw a small area where the wall to the main chamber was still intact. He fell into the corner and immediately started channeling Incinerate at the ghouls who were hot on his heels.

The ghouls seemed to have trouble navigating through the tight doorway - constantly getting in each other’s way - but still they managed, and barely a second after Chilly landed in the corner, the first ghoul leapt at him, jaws first.

Chilly huddled underneath his shield, as the flechette in his eye popped out with a sickening squelch. His regeneration struggling mightily to outpace his wounds. Incinerate roared out of his free hand, flashing hungrily as it consumed the minimal apparel of the long dead. Its hunger unsated, it began to feast upon the ghouls flesh.

The ghouls screeched in tandem.

You have been Hindered

They pushed and shoved each other aside, trying desperately to reach Chilly. The result was that they all dogpiled on top of Chilly’s prone form nearly simultaneously.

Chilly screamed in primal rage as teeth flashed, and claws glinted red as they tore through his armor with abandon. Pain flared, but was greatly muted by his impressive regeneration combined with his abundant life pool.

The ghouls slashed in earnest. Their four writhing bodies twisting and turning in order to best inflict the maximum amount of damage upon him. Chilly grinned with bloodied teeth as he saw his life regeneration bob up and down as each blow landed.

The first of the ghouls collapsed, a burst of purple miasma erupting from its corpse. As if that was the signal, the other two level two ghouls sagged, releasing their own payload of desecrated ground right into Chilly’s exposed face.

Chilly shuddered as the level three ghoul dragged its claws over his stomach.

Bloody rends dripped red hot blood onto the dusty cobbles. The vermillion droplets reflected the harsh light of Incinerate as the hungry flames consumed the level three ghoul.

A final burst of desecrated ground erupted and merged with the existing purple miasma. Intensifying the fog, and making it slightly difficult to breath the dense air.

Despite that, Chilly breathed a sigh of relief only for a deep alien chanting to chill him to the bone.

The Bone Mage was reviving the four ghouls.

Chilly levered his bruised and battered body out from the pile of ashes. For a fraction of a second he considered pushing the ghouls ashes into the pit. There was nothing he wanted more, however he could not do it. The edge of the pit was exposed to the Bone Turrets and their vile master. Right now, he did not have the life to survive their onslaught.

Chilly crawled out of the rapidly reanimating ghouls, until all four rising ghouls were roughly arrayed in a line before him. Then he channeled Incinerate right through all four with a passion as his life regeneration steadily outpaced the degeneration from the desecrated ground.

Fire licked through the purple miasma, blackening the recovering ashes and returning the undead chaff back to its rightful state. The Bone Mage’s spell however, was too far along.

In three additional bursts of desecrated ground the level two ghouls died once more. The level three ghoul however, stood proudly among its fallen brethren. Burnt to the point of being more cinder than undead, it stood then turned its attention on Chilly.

It screeched horrifically-

You have been Hindered

-and lunged at Chilly’s throat. Its claws shredding the unprotected flesh with ease.

Chilly gagged as blood flooded into his mouth and he suddenly was unable to breath. Further exasperated by the heavy pile of burnt, dead flesh that landed on him a second later.

Another wave of desecrated ground flooded the space, so dense, that it was damn near impossible to see.

Basically blind, and choking, Chilly weakly struggled to get the corpse off of him as he coughed up dollops of clotting blood.

You are Asphyxiating

Debuff

Lose 1% of max life per second as Chaos damage per stack of Asphyxiation.

Gain 1 stack of Asphyxiation every 9 seconds up to a maximum of 21.

You gain Rock Solid at 1 stack of Asphyxiation

You are Hindered at 3 stack of Asphyxiation

You gain Inner Peace at 5 stacks of Asphyxiation

You are Weakened at 6 stack of Asphyxiation

Lose an additional 0.5% of max life per second as Chaos damage per stack of Asphyxiation at 7 stacks of Asphyxiation

You are Brittle at 9 stack of Asphyxiation

You gain Pain Attunement at 10 stacks of Asphyxiation

You are Blind at 12 stack of Asphyxiation

Lose an additional 0.5% of max life per second as Chaos damage per stack of Asphyxiation at 14 stacks of Asphyxiation

You are Silenced at 15 stack of Asphyxiation

You Hear the Whispers at 15 stacks of Asphyxiation

You are Sapped at 17 stacks of Asphyxiation

You are Drained at 20 stacks of Asphyxiation

You gain Visions of Madness at 20 stacks of Asphyxiation

Lose an additional 0.5% of max life per second as Chaos damage per stack of Asphyxiation at 21 stacks of Asphyxiation

Chilly’s eyes bulged at the new message. Most of it he skimmed over. However the first line stood out to him. He was taking even more chaos damage per second.

Barely comprehending the wall of text, and panicking, he slapped the area around himself until he felt a wall. He latched onto the guiding light, dragging himself closer.

Chilly delved deep into his memories. Trying desperately to remember if he needed to go left along the wall or right. The lack of air combined with the nauseating sensation of chaos damage over time drained his faculties. The pain from his injuries overwhelmed his every notion, making it utterly impossible for him to form a cohesive thought.

Chilly curled up against the wall. Unable to think past the pain. He tried to gasp. To do something to get air into his lungs. But...nothing worked.

He had never been good at dealing with pain. The first time he had fallen from his bike, he had cried and cried. He had calmed down briefly only for the pain to get worse as his mom had applied the iodine.

Why couldn’t he breathe?

Drunkenly, Chilly knew that he needed to move. He couldn’t remember which direction led out of the horrid desecrated ground. Vaguely, he remembered that the floor had fallen away to a dark void...somewhere. That...didn’t make sense...did it?

He chose a random direction, and with trembling hands began dragging himself along the wall to the right.

You are Asphyxiating

Chilly brokenly sobbed as he skimmed the second message. Almost instinctively, he pulled up his remaining life regeneration.

“I’m going to die...” Chilly whispered hoarsely, as he dragged himself along the wall that seemed utterly endless. He had been close to death before. In the dungeon there had been plenty of encounters that had reduced his health to mere slivers. But it had never fallen below the fated threshold. And perhaps more importantly, it had never felt like it would happen.

But now. Blind and choking. Alone in a senseless dungeon. What hope was there?

“Tickets! Tickets! Fifty...NO! Seventy percent off!” a penguin's voice filtered hazily through the gloom. The sound came from directly behind him.

“NickXenix...” Chilly breathed. A ray of hope shining brightly and dismissing his despair.

He turned around, putting the wall squarely on his right. With tortured steps he stumbled through the pervasive gloom. The exuberant penguin’s voice, getting louder and louder. Suddenly another penguin’s voice joined its mad fellow.

“Fool, you are doing it wrong, and by it I mean almost everything!”

Chilly laugh-sobbed, as he hurried his pace. He had never heard such beautiful voices in his life.

“...Honestly, how come the moment I accidentally got stuck in the...”

“...TiCkEts!...Ah, the tickets are sold out...”

“That said, if you...what was his name again? Chilly? Right.”

The wall suddenly fell away causing Chilly to stumble to the right. He tried to catch himself, but his surprise was too great. He fell in a rush, rolling to the right and blessedly out of the desecrated ground.

A wave of relief flooded through him as his regeneration spiked. A shiver ran over his body as he felt his damaged body visibly begin to mend itself.

But...he still couldn’t breathe!

“Sorry, but you missed the greatest event of eternity, literally.” NickXenix said empathetically. The penguin was leaning against the wall in a cool-boy slouch as it tapped Realm Walker lightly against the floor.

Beside NickXenix stood another unfamiliar penguin.

Sure Ruse User

???

“Wait,” The penguin said, holding up both flippers in a pause motion. It strode over to Chilly and pointed Realm Walker directly at his throat. “you’re using fire? Hasn’t Nobody given you the Talk yet? Nobody! That slacker...”

Sure Ruse User gave an exasperated sigh.

Chilly looked down but went slightly cross eyed as he focused on the wooden sword. Not entirely comprehending, he reached up and touched his throat, only to feel a sharp jagged thing sticking out of his larynx.

Recoiling in horror, Chilly grabbed the sharp thing and yanked. It squelched horribly as inch by inch it was removed from his throat. Fresh blood bubbled out and dribbled darkly down his chest. Horrified, Chilly renewed his grip and pulled even harder.

Pop!

Chilly jerked as a ghoul claw flew out of his hand and landed with a clatter near NickXenix. The penguin grimaced in distaste and took several steps to the side. The claw looked as if it had been dipped in acid. Pits and grooves marred the surface, damaging the already old object to the point of unrecognizability.

In an instant, Chilly’s throat sealed back together. Bits of blood and ghoul matter ejecting from the wound at high velocities until everything was whole once more.

Chilly sucked in a deep breath.

Euphoria filled him.

You are Asphyxiating

“What was I saying?” Sure Ruse User smiled proudly, the penguin twirled realm walker idly, then shrugged its diminutive shoulders. “It was probably important...Well anyway try to stay alive and thanks for the chapter!”

“Thanks...for the chapter.” Chilly replied hoarsely. This time he truly meant it.

Sure Ruse User tipped an imaginary top hat at him, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

“Luckily!” NickXenix said loudly, drawing Chilly’s attention. The other penguin pushed off of the wall and rolled his eyes at the cloud of rapidly dissipating smoke. “You may enter a consolation prize draw pool by killing 100,000 Undead or a Greater Lich. Not available in dungeons and time-dilated zones.” He said the last part softly and as fast as possible.

Chilly smiled at the royal penguin fondly. He scooted into a more comfortable position and took another deep breath.

You are no longer Asphyxiating

“Consolation prizes include chasing after The Messenger, fleeing for your life from The Viper, or...” NickXenix paused, drawing out the silence with a mischievous grin. “a free teleportation service to your home planet. Kekekekek!”

NickXenix laughed madly holding his flippers before him like a mad scientist after a breakthrough.

Chilly chuckled hoarsely along. It was kinda funny in a way. Even if he didn’t believe the penguin in the slightest.

Breath in...breath out.

Breath in...breath out.

(AN: My goodness peoplepenguins. I really tried to make your words make sense. Literally took a walk and everything. This is the best I got.)