Part Four

Where, where am I? Wasn’t I just in a Dungeon?

My mind felt hazy, like I’d just woke up from a deep sleep. For some reason, I couldn’t really remember what I’d just been doing. The last thing I remembered was fighting the Wendigo, then nothing.

I’m…in a meadow? No, this is a yard? A backyard. Oh fuck, I’m in the backyard of my parent's house! What the fuck?

It had taken me a bit to get my bearings, but I’d finally recognized where I was. How wouldn’t I? I’d grown up here, and had spent many a day out here playing with my sister. But that raised one giant question. How was I here?

Am I dreaming? But I’ve never dreamed of home. Why would I be doing so now? Because I went back? No, that doesn’t seem right. I’m never this lucid when I dream, and this feels too real to be a dream. It’s like I’m here. What the hell’s going on?

I’d never experienced something like this. And things were about to get much, much weirder.

“Bubby! Bubby, where are you!?” No. No, it can’t be!

An adorable high-pitched voice called out across the yard, sending a shiver down my spine. I knew that voice. It was one I’d heard every day for well over ten years, a voice I’d never forget. But, why was I hearing it now?

Feeling like the muscles in my neck had rusted over, I slowly turned to look where the voice came from, and saw a familiar little girl standing in front of a copse of trees.

“Bubby, come out! I give up, you win! Mommy said it’s almost time for suppa, so stop bein’ so mean!”

“Nu-uh, Rina! You can’t fool me! You didn’t go inside! You just hid in the bushes!”

“Yes I did! I did so go inside! Now stop bein' mean to me!”

Oh my god, I remember this. We were playing hide-and-seek, and I got way too competitive about it. If I’m remembering right, I should be up in one of those pine trees. God, I could be such a little brat when I was young. Rina's not the type to try tricking someone to win something, so she likely did go talk to mom. Of course, I wouldn’t have come out even if I did believe that.

“Hmph, then admit that I win!”

“Fine! You win, okay!”

“Heheheh, yaaaay!”

I watched as my younger self slid down the tree he’d climbed up, before going over to Rina to gloat about winning. Fortunately for him, Rina wasn’t the type to get caught up in something like that, so things didn’t escalate into a fight, and the two children joyfully headed back towards the house.

The whole sequence left me stunned. This wasn’t one of my earliest memories, nor was it particularly important. All it was to me was just another memory of my sister, yet some part of my subconscious had forced me to relive it. I couldn’t understand why.

*shiver*

Before I could begin to try to puzzle out an explanation for this, I felt a gaze on me. It felt odd. There was no hostility to it, nor any contempt, but I couldn’t get past the feeling that whoever or whatever was on the other end wasn’t just watching me. They were observing me, like I was some kind of specimen or subject, not a person. It was highly unpleasant.

But before I could try to locate the source of the gaze, the world around me went white again.

***

“Gaaah! Huh? Oh, it was a dream. Of course it was.”

When I woke back up, the memories that had escaped me came rushing back. After killing the Wendigo, I’d kept exploring the sewers until I’d come upon a waystation of sorts. It looked to be some sort of break room for any sewer workers that would’ve been here, and it even had furniture. I decided to take advantage of this and took a break here. It was a lot better than sleeping on the ground.

Okay, but what about that odd dream? Especially the gaze I felt at the end. That wasn’t normal. None of it was. Haaah, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Hopefully this was just an outlying episode brought on by stress and being in a familiar environment. Even though I’d only been there for a few minutes, that had been the first time I’d seen my childhood home since before World Decay began. Perhaps the nostalgia had hit me harder than I thought?

Honestly, I was a little weirded out by that dream, but considering that I still had a Dungeon to clear, I couldn’t let it get to me right now. I needed to keep my head in the game.

***

Feeling rested and refreshed by my nap, I set back out into the sewers. It took awhile, but I eventually found another way back to the surface, which emptied into a different section of the city than where I’d started. So that of course meant I was back to fighting Undead, though they were far easier than any other monsters in here

For about an hour after that, I alternated between fighting the Undead and exploring the city. As I was now, groups of a hundred Zombies and Skeletons were just cannon fodder, they didn’t even pose a challenge to me any more. Granted, the Bloated Zombies and Skeleton Knights were more dangerous, but their numbers were always so thin that I could easily deal with them before wiping out the other Undead. I was actually starting to get bored.

Thankfully, I finally found another building to explore, giving me a break in the monotony. While this one was only ten stories, it was filled with far more monsters than the one I’d killed before, though maybe they were just packed in more tightly to compensate.

Like before, the monsters inside were all Fiend-types, though they were a different variety. Though honestly, I would’ve preferred the Festering monsters. While they were disgusting, they were a sight better than these things.

Covetous Flayer

Rank: C

Description: A Fiend-Type monster born from feelings of greed. Flayers exhibit this by literally flaying their kills, and then wearing the skin. Interestingly enough, they also use any skin they collect to create enchanted robes, further boosting their abilities.

***

Wrathful Claw

Rank: C

Description: Fiend-Type monsters born from feelings of hate and obsession. Once one has locked onto a target, they’ll do anything in their power to hunt them down and kill them. They are well-known for their tendency to pursue new targets after the first one’s death with no further input from their creator.

Honestly, these two monsters made me hate any and all Fiends, even though I’d only encountered one. The Flayers were bone-thin humanoids wrapped in layers of loose skin (somewhat reminding me of what I’d imagine a stereotypical Lich would look like), while the Wrathful Claws were large, bulky lizard-like creatures, though their scales seemed to be made of flesh. Don’t ask me how that was possible, it just was.

Both monsters were troublesome, though the Flayers were the stronger of the two. With how their hands were basically a series of bone knives joined together, each of their attacks had the potential to shred my flesh apart. It was honestly nerve-wracking to fight them, especially when there was more than one.

After several floors, and many, many, many fights, I finally wound up on the roof of the building, though I wasn’t alone. A large creature stood on the other side of the roof from where I was. Based on its silhouette, it looked like another Fiend-Type monster, though it wasn’t one I’d encountered in here before.

The creature was massive, about as big as the Cyclops I’d fought, though it possessed four arms, each of which held onto a large club. Aside from that, it didn’t really have any distinguishing features, which alone set it apart from the other Fiend-Type monsters in here. Unfortunately, it did have one other thing that set it apart.

I couldn’t Analyze it.

Sh-shit! If I can’t Analyze it, then it’s likely a B-Rank. I need to get out of-. Fuck, too late!

I couldn’t tell whether it had noticed me or just decided to turn around on a whim, but the beast was clearly facing me now. I immediately thought to turn and run, but the way back in had unfortunately sealed itself shut, signaling that there would be no running away from this fight. With that in mind, I decided to take the fight to this monster, even if it killed me.

“MROOAAAAAARRRRRRR!”

I rushed forward, dodging under the wide sweep of two of its clubs. Each of the weapons would likely kill me with a single hit, though it was possible I’d get off with just some broken bones if the monster itself punched me.

Hm, I should probably deal with its arms first. I’m much faster than it, and any attacks with those clubs will be pretty exaggerated and obvious, so dodging them should be easy, but the same can’t be said for its fists. It’ll likely be harder to avoid its fists than the clubs.

With an avenue of attack decided on, I began hacking at the monster. One thing I’d noticed about Fiend-Type monsters was that their flesh was rather soft. While this thing may have looked like a Cyclops, it was no where near as tough as one, and I soon managed to sever one of its arms. Unfortunately, it seemed that it made up for in regeneration what it lacked in defense. The flesh near the severed stump soon began bubbling, and a brand-new arm sprouted from there. It then picked up the club it dropped and continued on like nothing had happened.

Fortunately for me, I’d already experienced regeneration like that, so I knew how to deal with it. Even better was that I’d developed a technique to more easily make use of this convenient attack, though calling it a technique might have been a misnomer. All I did was stab the black sword into an enemy and cast [Rot] while it was still embedded. Anyone would think of doing such a thing, so it wasn’t all that special. It was effective though. The damage caused by the spell kept the monster from regrowing its arms, so the creature was soon dead, though it cost me much of my mana to do so. I’d had to not only cast [Rot] several times, but also keep my other Skills active, consuming mana the entire time.

That, that was exhausting. Ugh, I’m just lucky that thing was so mindless. If it was anywhere near as intelligent as the Baculth Warlord, I would’ve been crushed by it for sure. Honestly, I was just kind of a perfect counter for what it could do. I’m fast enough that it can’t hit me, and I can seal its regeneration away. Hm, maybe that’s why it was here?

Now, where the hell do I go next?