Enigmatic Crusade

Valen didn’t pass out as he was sucked into the portal. The colors slowly subsided and he was standing somewhere dark, cold, and damp. Trying to understand what had just happened, he had heard of a few Events from the other adventurers. Only a couple of them had seen them. Some dungeons that lay hidden for a long time could be released out, if they were left for too long. Sometimes when an adventurer worshiped a certain god they could run into a hidden boss. Others had stated they heard from a friend of a friend that Events could be triggered by certain classes or having city lords involved in raids. 

He hadn’t heard of one where a minimum amount of people were required, but from Julian and Dave’s reaction it seemed rare. His clothes still wet from swimming, Valen looked around himself. In a stone alcove he didn’t see anyone or any monster around him, but he knew it was only a matter of time. 

For so long he had dreamed of going into a dungeon. There weren’t too many low leveled ones so he knew it would be a long time. He hadn’t expected he would be forced into one. Especially when even people far above his level said that the dungeon was one of the strongest they had found. 

“O-” He stopped himself, about to say okay. The last thing he wanted to do was make any noise. Valen heard a scream from somewhere. A tunnel attached to the alcove he was in practically vibrated with the blood curdling scream. 

Valen’s heart leapt into his chest as his fear began to increase. He had heard of situations like this. Aunt Fiona had called it a horror movie. Where people were put up against crazy strong monsters and were expected to survive somehow. Another name for it was a massacre. There were far too many stories of low-leveled adventurers trying their hand at dungeons they weren’t ready for. They would often never be seen again. 

A tear trickled down his cheek. “Keep it together,” he said as he heard the rasping voice of someone or something coming his way. 

Valen pushed himself against the rock wall as hard as he could. Praying that he could somehow disappear into it. The noise of the breathing became louder and Valen was shocked to see it was a person running. One of the many high leveled mages was running past as fast as they could.

About to chase after him the tunnel around him began to rumble, drowning out his voice. The noise pushed back any thought of following someone else as a great 12-legged spider-like monster stampeded past. Instead of running on the ground the monster took up the whole tunnel. It’s hairy legs stomping hard into the rock as it was propelled after the mage. It wasn’t long until Valen heard another scream and then nothing.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” he whispered. Each repeat of the words a higher pitch as he tried to catch his breath. His mouth dry, the only thing he could do was stare at the opposite end of the tunnel. The legs of the spider had almost landed on him, but the monster moved too fast for him to even react. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he wheezed. Mind a complete blank the image of the mage running kept replaying in his mind. That man had been far stronger than Valen ever hoped to be. Able to stand toe to toe with the strongest in the guild, and yet he died with one attack by a single beast in this hell hole. 

Eyes wide, Valen blinked a few times. His thoughts frozen in place for far longer than he cared to admit. Another more distant scream rang out down the tunnels, but it wasn’t like the others. This time the scream cut-off midway through, hinting that they had died before they could finish their last words. 

“I…need…to escape,” he mumbled. Eyes still staring at the rocks on the opposite side of the tunnel. Words were wishes though. At that moment he needed action, but he couldn’t bring himself to even move. 

“I…need to…walk,” he said. That was at least an achievable goal. Just walk, one foot in front of the other and he could be out of there. But where to go? “Right,” he mumbled. A part of his mind terrified, the majority of his brain felt like it was locked in fear. For some reason saying his thoughts aloud, helped his brain understand what needed to happen. “I need to know where to go…” 

He sucked in a breath. The only noise was his heart pounding in his chest. Chewing his lip he licked them again, they were far too dry. Taking in quick successive breaths he risked it and peeked out of the alcove he was in. A quick scan showed him that the tunnel the mage and spider had come from moved upward, and the tunnel they ran to moved down. 

“Up?” He asked as his mind locked onto that. “Up…” He mumbled again. That meant something. “Exit…” He wondered. The dungeon entrance had been down inside a cave. Wherever the dungeon was, they were underground, he needed to go up to get out.  

His canine tooth drawing blood on his lip, he stopped himself from chewing so hard. The slight pain gave him more courage as he slowly looked outside the alcove again. The tunnel was quiet now. He hadn’t heard any more screams for a bit which was a good sign…unless they were all dead at least. 

“God, I hope not,” he mumbled. At that time Valen really wished he had a god to pray to. Maybe they could have helped him in this den of horrors. 

“Can’t think on that,” he said. There were far too many regrets for his life to focus on that. He had to help himself. No one else could save him. Not that they would go out of their way for him anyway. Inside the dungeon it was every man for themselves. 

“Fucking go,” he mumbled. His head twisting back and forth as he looked at each end of the tunnel. Hands shaking, he held onto the wet rock around him. It was cool to the touch. Holding onto it for dear life his arms began to shake in fear again. 

“An alcove,” he said. “Just find another…” He said. Finally something to latch onto he looked down the upward sloping tunnel. There it was. A slight darkening in the sidewall of the tunnel. He could go there to the next one. The last spider hadn’t seen him. Maybe he was too low level for them to even care about. He simply had to make it out of there. If that meant jumping from one hiding spot to the next, then so be it. 

His eyes focused on the next alcove. The tunnel was about twenty feet across, and the alcove was nearly fifty feet further in. Such a short distance, all he had to do was run to it. “Go!” He said a little louder than his previous words. But his legs didn’t move. They felt like jelly as his entire body continued to quake. 

“Fucking useless-” Valen mumbled, tears in his eyes. “I am so fucking useless.” For so long he had tried to join a guild. Wanted and dreaded his own class. He had heard so many stories of the frontrunners of the new world. Men and women that had defied the odds, gained extreme strength and levels, and still continued to push those limits. Valen had wanted to be like them so badly. 

But that hadn’t been in the cards. He was an orphan. A nobody. No advantages. No resources. He had nothing. He was nothing. Tears streamed down his face. A mix of frustration and loathing washing over him as the cold from the rocks around him seeped into his bones. Valen felt like any moment a spider would find him and swallow him whole. 

Claire and Peter would live on without him. Hopefully living lives that were luckier than his own. Would they even care that he died? He hadn’t seen Claire for weeks. He had forgotten them completely as he did what he thought he had to. All to get strong. But what did he have to show for it? Dead in a dungeon like so many other adventurers. 

“Fuck!” He rasped. His voice echoing down each side of the tunnel. He didn’t care anymore if he was heard. If he couldn’t move then they might as well kill him. He might as well be dead as it was. His life was worth less than the clothes on his back and weapon at his side. 

“No,” he said. Veins popping out of his neck. “I’m not worthless.” His eyes focused on the opposite wall of the tunnel. His chest moving up and down as he took in deep breaths as if he was preparing to run a marathon. “I’m going to live,” he rasped, taking in one more deep lungful as he took a step out of the alcove. 

As he did a notification popped up in his field of vision. 

“Holy shit,” he said. Catching his breath. The minor effort took almost all he had out of him. He had received quite a few of these notices over the last few weeks. They usually appeared in the mornings after he was fully rested. Those all said ‘Your perseverance has allowed you to push past your previous limits” then a +1 to strength or something. This was the first time he received a notification outright. 

Standing there in the tunnel he hadn’t realized he was under the effect of something inside the dungeon, but it wasn’t surprising. Like the miasma in the Swamp, many locations had an effect on people in some way. The Dread of Iscaren must have attacked his Anima/Soul somehow. A jump of 2 was a huge increase. Worth nearly a whole level of free stats. 

“I’m fucking doing this,” he said, his eyes locking on the other alcove. He still felt that cold shiver along his spine, but for some reason it didn’t feel as strong as before. Eyes darting behind him he slowly moved down the tunnel. He didn’t run, but didn’t walk either. Trying not to make too much noise he got to the alcove and noticed another. 

Allowing himself to be stuck in the alcove wasn’t an option this time. He needed to keep moving, keep his momentum. He began to jog to the next alcove. Legs shaking he felt like they had just taken him miles, but was really only a few yards. Either way, they moved. Each step feeling more sure than the last. 

As he reached the next alcove he heard a noise. But this one was different from the others. Instead of a scream, it was a rage filled yell. 

“Rahh!” Echoed down the tunnel that sloped upward. Valen heard a distinct hissing sound and what sounded like loud thuds. Then there was the noise of what resembled metal against metal. 

Hope blooming in his mind he forgot the alcoves and kept on up the tunnel. A very dim light at the end of it, he ran upward, the sound of battle growing more and more loud as he drew closer. 

The tunnel abruptly ended a few paces away from him. It appeared to let out into a wider cavern where the dim light was coming from. With a rush of adrenaline he ran to the opening to see an epic battle going on. A lone man was fighting one of the giant spiders. 

The giant spider was about forty feet tall. This one too had twelve legs, but instead of hairy like the last one, the legs were bone thin. At the end of each leg was a sharp spike that stabbed at the man’s armor. In front of Valen, Hank the Tank was soloing the spider and had it on the ropes. His massive shield blocking the spikes of the front legs he swiped at the legs with his large two-handed sword that he somehow swung easily with only one hand. 

“Fuck you!” Hank yelled. His body glowing a deep red as he jumped at the spider. The monster hardly had time to react as its center of mass was stabbed through by the massive weapon. With a screech it tried to stab at Hank but he left the blade embedded in the beast and jumped away.

The spider rolled to it’s back, kicking hard at the ceiling of the cavern. Rocks fell from the cavern roof, but all hit the spider. Within a matter of moments it’s legs curled up and it died.

“Fucking right!” Hank roared from his helmet. He stomped to the corpse of the beast and pulled out the sword. “Piece of shit spider. Come back when you’re radioactive.” Hank lifted the mask of his helmet and spit on the beast. Then grabbing one of its limbs he chopped it off easily. Stuffing each leg in a very small pouch at his side, before Valen knew it the man was running off. 

“Crap,” Valen said, coming out of the tunnel. The cavern was huge and had over a dozen tunnels leading out of it. Hank simply ran down one of them, roaring loudly as if calling for his next target. “Fucking badass,” Valen couldn’t help but say. He wanted to inspect the corpse of the spider, but more accurately Valen wanted to live so he followed in the wake of destruction the man wrought. 

There was already a smaller eight foot tall spider curled up and dead. Hank hadn’t bothered to loot anything from this corpse, proving why he was one of the best tanks Valen had ever heard of. Soloing these monsters easily, Valen was thankful he finally had a lifeline. There was still a ray of hope for him yet. 

“Nice,” he said. The Dread must still be affecting him, and since he was so low level his soul was actually strengthening quite nicely in the far too strong dungeon. 

Valen heard another yell, and a squelch from a monster. A smile on his face he felt better than ever as he did his best to catch up to the impossibly strong man. There was a light at the end of the tunnel now, and all he had to do was follow behind his savior. 

“Shit,” he gasped as his boot stepped on something. Moving to the side his hands landed on something moving. Almost too dim for him to notice it appeared that the wall and ground was moving. A part of him wanted to turn back, but he could only move forward. Continuing to step on something alive he felt a crunch which caused him to run even faster. 

When he got closer to the end of the tunnel the less dim light showed that tiny spiders were running along the cave walls. All running in the same direction he was. These twelve legged monsters were only about two inches in diameter as they stampeded after Hank. Valen wondered if they had a level. He began stomping harder as he ran, the spider hatchlings brethren uncaring about the misfortune of one another. 

He stepped on over a dozen. Their hard bodies crunching under nearly every stomp. There was no level up announcement though. Like himself before age 16, these monsters must have been at level 0 as well. Annoyed that he still wasn’t gaining any essence to level up he continued on only to come to a much larger cavern. 

The massive dome-like cavern was almost a half-mile across and high. Below was a deep pit that fed into a black abyss, but at the center of the large opening was a platform. A bridge of stone from where he stood, led to the platform. Atop it stood Hank the Tank as he fought the largest spider Valen had seen thus far. 

It’s dozen legs were at least 100 yards long each. The legs stood on thick rope-like spiderweb strands as it continuously tried to bite at Hank. The big man looked tiny compared to the spindly legs of the spider. The beast reminded Valen of daddy long leg spiders, but instead of a ball for a body, it was more like a scorpion. Spikes protruded from it as two giant pincers gnashed at Hank. 

The big man didn’t seem to notice or care how big it was. Slashing away at the beast his sword rang out loudly in the cavern as the blade bounced off the hard carapace of the beast. 

“Fucking die!” Hank yelled and the beast hissed loudly in response. 

“Goddamn,” Valen said, his eyes wide as he watched the fight. Hank jumped up as a leg tried to swipe him off the platform. Landing on the back of the beast they both began to glow. The beast emitted an eerie green light as Hank glowed red.

Valen had caught tidbits now and then about Hank’s ability during the week of their trek. He mainly reflected power back, but he could also accumulate damage and send it into his foes. One of his trump cards, Valen was excited to see the man work, but the red glow shot into the spider and it only dipped a little as if struck hard, but not too hard. 

Hank cursed and jumped off the back as the spikes around the monster's body grew and was back to attacking the beast. An ant versus a huge tarantula as the foes met once more. 

Valen began to sweat as he watched. Hank didn’t appear to slow, but the pincers and leg swipes were doing damage to him. He grunted, cursed but kept on. His sword a blur as he used all he had to fend it off. But this had to be a boss monster. A level far above those he had fought before. Meant for a whole team of people to take on. 

“I have to help,” Valen realized slowly. He only had Heal. A move he hadn’t been able to use as of yet, but it was there. Though he couldn’t do much, he could at least provide some minor extra health to the man fighting for their lives. Valen chewed his lip slowly, watching the fight down below and with some effort he took a step.