Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Dungeon delving, part 1

Chapter 23: Dungeon delving, part 1

Karl walked next to Thomas, as Rina was leading them towards the dungeon. They had enough food to last them for about ten days, as there were ten levels.

Thomas had taken his scales with himself. He wondered how many kilograms he would lose until Sunday? The entrance of the cave was dark and foreboding. Red eyes were to be seen inside the dungeon.

"Karl, go for it. Burn them all," Thomas commanded, and the dragon took point before the cave. He breathed fire inside the cavern, yet, his flames hit a barrier.

"Well, this is not good," the red eyes came ever closer to the entrance, and Rina saw that they belonged to some sort of massive creature. It got out of the dungeon, and they could see it was a wolf with a rat's tail, malformed bat wings, and fangs that dripped green liquid.

The thing charged, and Karl was there to meet it. The two adventurers backed away, as the slime-dragon began to battle with the chimera. Karl managed to bite off one of the wings, but the chimera bit off a chunk of Karl's neck.

Karl roared, and breathed fire down at the creature. That seems to be the right thing to do, as the creature's eyes were blinded. Karl then dug his claws inside the eye sockets and pressed down. The creature gave one last whine, before falling down. Yet, there were still many red eyes inside the cave.

"This is not good," Rina said, as she watched Karl's wound regenerate slowly. "Just how many are there?"

"We have to get inside," Thomas said. He took a stick, and threw it through the barrier. It sailed over the invisible line and fell down. Thomas took off his harp, and began to play his battle tunes. A tree stood up, uprooting itself. Then, it lumbered through the barrier, and began to battle with the creatures.

Karl too charged inside, and Rina looked to Thomas.

"Now?" She took off her bow, and prepared to get in.

"Not yet, just wait," he was not going to send her off to her death. There were too many of the creatures inside the cave. More than one dead body was thrown out of the cave's opening, and Thomas kept on playing.

Then, something else happened. A still living chimera was thrown out. Its red eyes locked on Thomas, and it charged the summoner. He watched it approach in slow motion. Then, an arrow managed to stick itself in the chimera's left eye. It turned, and saw Rina holding up the bow.

"I am your opponent," she screamed, loosing another arrow. The chimera jumped to the side. Thomas backed as far away from the creature as he could, wishing that he could control the tree and get it to attack the chimera that was outside.

He watched with worried eyes, as Rina was forced to jog around, loosing arrows at the chimera all the while. Not once did she near Thomas. Keeping him safe.

Finally, Karl noticed the sounds of fighting from outside, and pocked his head through the entrance.

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"Karl, kill this thing," Thomas's voice was wavering. Full of panic.

Karl charged at the chimera, leaving the tree to face the swarm on itself, and tackled the chimera that was outside to the ground. The wrestling match that commenced was a brief one, as Karl extended and then wrapped around the chimera. He swallowed it whole, and then rose his acidity to the point that it was gone in seconds.

With that, Karl ran back to the cave. Huffing and out of stamina, Rina made her way to Thomas.

"We really need a teacher," she said, and the former receptionist could only nod.

"Yes, but we can't afford one," Thomas told her. They were paid just a silver coin and twenty copper ones per day. Most of the good battle instructors wanted a golden coin per hour of their time.

"What of Lucius?" she asked, as another chimera flew out of the cave. Rina let loose an arrow at its heart, just in case. The chimera did not get up, and the two went back to looking at the entrance.

"He is a rogue with a contract with the Orestria guild. You got denied, and Karl is something that they can't stand to just go around them. Our best hope will be someone who is not affiliated with a guild. That, or books," Thomas watched as another chimera flew out of the cave, this one smaller than all the rest. Then, Karl and the tree went out of the cave.

"Karl, are there any more inside?" he asked, and Karl shook his head. "We can't let the core make more. Come on, we need to get inside."

Without stopping to play, Thomas walked inside the cave, followed by Rina. The place was covered in slime, blood, and sawdust. Thomas looked back at his summon, then at the tree. They both looked to be regenerating, but it was a slow process.

There was a mosaic on the other corner of the cavern, and nothing else. They walked to it, and saw that it was made up, so it could show the picture of an elf with a spear. The spear pointed up.

Thomas looked up, and saw an opening in the cavern. It looked to have places for handholds in it.

"Karl, tree, destroy the mosaic," Thomas commanded.

"Wait, we can just climb," Rina said.

"That is obviously a trap. The dungeon had dug its levels into the ground. There is no sense for it to have a level above this one," the two adventurers moved out of the way, and watched as the summon and the animated tree took turns bashing into the mosaic. After an hour, the tunnel that was hiding behind the depiction of an elf became visible.

"See? There is a tunnel down there," Thomas made a motion to the tree to go down first. He could always animate another one. If something happened to Karl, Thomas would lose his best summon.

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