I picked up one of the shards and smelled it. Right, I no longer had that sense.

I shrugged and put the shard of cobalt in my mouth. Tasted good. Very good.

Ignoring the connotations of the shattered remains of my since healed arm tasting this great and the thought of Talossi cannibalism in general, I gathered the other pieces and swallowed them as well. They were almost pure cobalt, and you didn’t find that stuff just lying around if you didn’t know where to look. Which I didn’t. I had to filter it out of none too pure iron instead, and I wasn’t accustomed to the sour taste yet.

I looked at the remains of the guard when Tatiana stood up straight, and walked towards it. The armour was still mostly intact, the tears ripped the plate into Swiss cheese rather than a great many pieces.

“Yeah, I cannot lift that.” Tatiana said.

“You got everything else? Everything you can take?” I asked.

Tatiana nodded, and I studied the armour. The insides seemed to be lined with gold and gems, almost resembling the chips of a graphics card. Not that it was of any use now with how torn up it was. The great many tears the guard took when they were at death’s door seemed to follow the general shape of some of these chips. Probably the ones keeping the ghosts inside, torn asunder as they struggled to break free.

I lifted up the armour and put it in my inventory.

“So… That was. Intense.” Tatiana said, carefully weighing every word.

“It sure was.” I agreed. “Even the achievements agree.”

New Achievement! Experience-hungry Monster!

You just killed something that didn’t attack you. That wouldn’t attack you! That couldn’t attack you! It might’ve had a family! A family! You madman!

Reward: The soothing balm on your conscience of knowing that the support pillar did not actually have a family. You’re still a monster, but at least your actions haven’t left any orphans in your wake. Today.

New Achievement! M-M-M-MEGAKILL!!!

You just killed over a hundred mobs (that aren’t a swarm or hive mind) with a single attack. I’m taking the definition of ‘attack’ very loosely here. Still, quite an achievement depending on the weapon. Colour me impressed if you managed to get it with an arrow. With explosives? Not so much.

Reward: You got a Silver Weapon Box!

New Achievement! Landscape Redecorator!

You just decided to completely change the appearance of an area at least 0.5km3 large! What? Not pleased with how I made things look? Think you can do things better? How about I redecorate your face?! Nah, just kidding! These floors are meant to be fucked up and broken! Besides, you crawlers are my stupid little pets! I just smile and nod whenever you create these ugly little wastelands, and pretend I like them as I put them on the fridge for the whole kitchen to see!

Reward: You got a Silver Demolition Box!

New Achievement! Committing Suicide in Style!

B-B-B-Boss Battle! I’ve just locked you in with a Province Boss or something! Yeah, you’re very dead! Or maybe you were just stupid enough to attack an Elite! Whatever the case, this achievement shows that you at least had the balls to try fighting something 50 levels higher than you instead of pissing your pants and giving up! That’s a nice consolation prize, all things considered! And hey, now you can show this to all the other dead crawlers in your afterlife! Lord it over them that you weren’t killed by a couple of rats!

Reward: You’re still alive after 30 seconds? Impressive! As a show of your persistence, or maybe the ability to get out of dodge after poking the sleeping bear, you received a Silver Lucky Bastard Box instead of just a snarky comment!

New Achievement! That’s just like… a number, man! You’ve got to look at the bigger picture!

You killed a creature that was more than 50 levels higher than you. I repeat: You’ve killed a creature MORE THAN FIFTY FUCKING LEVELS stronger than you, before you even reached lvl30! Even if you found that creature near-death and decided to be opportunistic, that’s still fucking impressive, crawler!

Reward: You received a Gold Lucky Bastard Box!

New Achievement! Yo! Yo! Fight da powah!

You’ve managed to fight a guard! More impressively, MUCH more impressively I should add, you managed to win! There’s always a whole boatload of crawlers that try to take these guys down every season, but there’s never more than a small handful that actually succeeds! Just another dozen or so surprise berserker ghost-armours to go, and the soul crystal is all yours!

Reward: You get a slightly increased chance for a special drop from mobs with the Haunted status caused by this guard’s death! Yes, that’s it! Either you’ve just got two boxes for this kill already, or killing a guard isn’t the most exciting and impressive thing you’ve done thus far! Don’t be greedy!

“Indeed.” Tatiana said. “It’s crazy how I’ve went straight from level 13 to level 19 in less than half an hour! And you! Level 22! Not to mention these boxes I’ve gotten!”

I nodded mutely.

“So… I was wondering…” Tatiana said, nervously fiddling her feathers. “I know you don’t really know me, and that your party has probably been through thick and thin from the very getgo, probably even knowing each other for years before you even came in here, but…”

“Yeah, you can join.” I interrupted her when she weighed her next words. “Most of our party’s members are new, in fact only Ben and I came into the dungeon together. The closest thing to an original group were Ben, Elise, Thomas and me. And Thomas just…”

“I’m sorry.” Tatiana said.

“Not your fault. Besides, you just lost two people dear to you. Did you know them before all of this?” I asked.

Tatiana nodded. “Sergei and I were close friends. Never lovers, I already had a boyfriend, but… He died during the Collapse, and Sergei was there for me. And Bors. He was a quiet person, but I’ve known him for years as an acquaintance. The kind of man you never knew what he was thinking, so all conversations were curt and awkward. But not unwanted. He was sort of a friend, kinda.”

“They weren’t the people closest to me, but they’re probably the only ones that survived.” Tatiana said, before trailing off in thought. Those memories were clearly still painful for her.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t really have any of that. I had a family and friends, but those memories were muted and blurry ever since I transformed. I could barely even remember my dog, and I was pretty sure I remembered that because I lost him so soon after the Collapse. Those that were from my previous life without any ties to the Dungeon? There was one night I got black-out drunk and tossed bottles of alcohol at the walls ranting angrily and annoying the Bopca. I remembered that night better than the family that I had been angrily mourning that night.

I frowned. When was that again? I still vaguely remembered the early moments of that night, and the hangover afterwards, but even those memories were starting to fade. Just like the memories of my family, remembered but not missed or lamented. And now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember missing them while I was still human, either. I knew I missed them dearly, I remembered that I mourned them and vaguely remembered talking about them with the others. But it was as if their role in my thoughts and actions of the first two floors had been edited out since then.

That was… No, it was more than disconcerting. I didn’t feel it, but I knew that this was fucked up. That I had to remember these things, care for these things. Would Thomas fade from my memory the same way?

I took out my spear and held it like a dagger, making a small incision on my shield where I could see it whenever I raised it in defence. Another one, and another one. Six crosses, one for each of my family members and one for Thomas.

“So, I take it that one of the others was the party leader?” Tatiana asked. “I’m not sure how many there are and what they do, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough.”

“Yeah, Ben is…” I said. “Oh wait. Right. One moment.”

Darryl: Raphael, can you make me party leader for a moment?

Mr. Geruet: I will. And my condolences.

Darryl: Thank you.

Darryl D is now party leader!

Tatiana Ivanov has joined the party!

Frederic K. Geruet is now party leader!

“Oh wow. So you guys are like… one of many groups? Some kind of organised alliance of some sort?” Tatiana asked.

“Not at all.” I said. “Most of these people are either from a large group we only met on the second floor, or new additions from the third. Some people are inviting every crawler they see, and I’ve got no idea where most of these people are. They could be on the other side of the floor, for all I know.

“This party is more a collective of groups, with some communication and trade amongst them. We’ve got two dedicated crafters and a long-range healer, but otherwise this is just a network for sharing knowledge, helping each other gather stuff and some remnants of the strong helping the weak.

“There’s apparently going to be some advantages to a party like this in the floors to come, but I wouldn’t know what exactly. The managers have been rather conflicting about that.”

“I see. I can see that being useful, though I think I’ll mute the party chat.” Tatiana said.

“We all do.” I nodded.

“So… Now what?”

“We have to wait for a bit.” I said. “At least I will. You can go to a Safe Zone if you want, or scout out the place some more. There might be some loot around here now. But the others are on a show and will likely pop in back here again, so I can’t leave yet.”

“I see. Guess I’ll stay and have something to eat, then.” Tatiana said.

When I saw her take out a Crawler Biscuit, I took out one of the salads and a bowl of rice. “If you want something with more taste to it, here you go. I got several meals on the first floor when it was still free, but I can’t exactly eat them anymore. Not sure what your species eats, though.”

“Thanks!” She says, gladly accepting the salad. “How about you?”

“I have to eat cobalt now, though that’s hard to find if you don’t know where to look. I can smell it, but that’s about it.” I shrugged. “And it’s not like I can eat those Crawler Biscuits.”

I wondered about the validity of my statement as I said it, and took out a biscuit. I plopped it into my mouth. It tasted like dry crackers, but I could eat it and I could somehow taste the nutrients in it.

“Scrap that, apparently I can still eat these things. Convenient.” I said.

Tatiana didn’t react, as she instead glanced at the horizon. “I think something is approaching us.”

I looked in the direction she was studying, and saw nothing. I got up anyway, and took out my shield and spear. I wasn’t exactly the most perceptive species any more.

A few moments later I heard it. Growling, panting, scratching. One of those wolves with the exposed jawbones. The worg’s mobs. And this one had a light green hue to it, as well as shining eyes.

Skulljaw wolf, lvl11

This creature is Haunted!

There are wolves out there far more fearsome than the average grey wolf, howling in the night to frighten all those who hear their hunting call! Powerful, cunning, or even magical! This guy isn’t one of those dreaded monsters! It’s just a wolf with a poor dental plan and a bit more superstition tied to their appearance than the regular mutt!

Skulljaw wolves are always black with some stark white to contrast it, and their strange appearance has led to many a belief that they reap the souls of the death, or hunt those that escaped their fated demise! This is complete nonsense! At most, they are more vindictive towards those that trespass their territory than the average wolf, remembering your ugly mug for years!

This creature is haunted! Their behaviour, stats and abilities have been buffed and altered based upon the soul that now shares their body! This increases their level and randomises their behaviour! Also, they almost certainly want you dead now, even if that wasn’t already the case!

The wolf howled madly, foam flying from their lips as they did so. Then they charged at me, and jumped headfirst into my shield. They dropped dazed, and I stabbed them through the neck.

A spectre flew out of their body as they died, and ignored me as they flew off. I saw no name tag.

“Right. I guess that slightly stronger grinding mobs are still just grinding mobs.” I said. “Let’s just hope that they’re not going to show up in greater numbers.”

“I’m only sensing a few right now.” Tatiana said. “About three.”

A goblin popped out from behind a pile of rubble and aimed her crossbow. She glowed green as the ghost did something, and then the bolt caught fire. She aimed it at me, and released it.

Tatiana fired an arrow straight through the goblin’s left eye, and she went down. The spectre flew off. The burning bolt plinked against my shoulder, leaving a dent but not strong enough to get stuck in there. The fire dealt some damage, but not enough for me to bother taking a health potion. Natural regeneration would take care of that one.

Tatiana made one of her arrows glow green, and shot a gliding squirrel that just popped their head out from the rubble trying to creep up on us. This time the spectre didn’t escape.

I looted the wolf, taking a low-quality wolf pelt and then putting the wolf itself in my inventory. Tatiana kept an eye on our surroundings as I looted the goblin and the squirrel. None of them had this special drop that the achievement mentioned, but that made sense. It was probably a rare drop, and I didn’t have any looter, scavenger or hunter skills to get more and better loot from corpses.

Two haunted tanarruk showed up as I was done, and I took out my shield again. As I raised it to intercept the two boar demons, I noticed that there were six crosses scratched on the rim. I briefly wondered what that was about, but then the boars were upon me and I focused my attention back on them.