[You have entered
[Dungeon Rank: B]
Immediately the scenery is different compared to the lizardfolk dungeon. Where that was a cave, here I was in a well-structured room lined with stone bricks. On the walls hang lit torches, illuminating the room I’m standing in. A couple of rge human-like bodies lie on the floor, their faces half melted off. Grey brain goop oozes out of the skulls and mixes with the blood to cover the floor.
Huddled in the corner of the room, as far from the corpses as possible, is a young woman with 3 little children–two boys and a girl, probably between 5 and 8 years old. The pungent smell of soiled underwear reaches my nose and I gag.
The woman with the children wears bright pink tex gloves and a brown-ish b coat. On the floor by her side is a small wooden crate, about the size of a shoe box, filled with gss vials. Some form of medic css, I presume. Judging on the two orc bodies beside them, the children were lucky she was with them.
“You lot were quick,” she says, pulling a strand of her red hair behind her ear. Her accent is very thickly European, likely German or Swiss or that area. “I’m Kataclysm, a B-Rank Alchemist. I’m only a support css, but I was sucked in here with–”
She pauses and frowns, her green eyes squinting. “Where are the others? Andrew should have contacted the Lightseeker Guild. Where is he?”
My heart hammers in my chest. Shit. An event even worse than a surprise boss encounter when you’re at 1HP and out of items; conversing with a human. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
I shuffle my feet uncomfortably. “Th-the guild is a f-few hours away. Is Andrew the guy… with the dagger? H-he’s… downstairs… dealing with an angry m-mob.”
She tilts her head in confusion. “A mob? What’s going on? Why did you come here without back-up? This pce is dangerous!|
I point to the children. “Mob of p-parents. I came be-because the arguing was annoying. I-I-I brought potions.”
“Sounds like parents alright. I was a teacher before I Awakened, and the parents were often worse than the children.” She gestures to the crate beside her. “I’m an Alchemist, the potion-making css.”
“O-oh…” There goes 300 I’m not gonna get back.
I point to the hallway beyond the room.
“Sh-shall we go f-find the… exit portal?”
Kataclysm gres at me. “Why? You’re by yourself and have even less confidence than Timmy here”. She nods her head towards pants-shitter #1, whose eyes are swollen red from crying.
I… have no argument for that. She’s completely correct.
The wall of golden light behind us crackles and the man from downstairs falls through. Fortunately, his fall was broken by the soft corpses.
“Andrew!” Kataclysm rushes to the man’s side. “What are you doing here? This dungeon is far too dangerous for you! Are the reinforcements here?”
He gets up, wiping brain goop off his face.
“I’m sorry. Another dungeon broke out in a school, and the Guild is prioritising that. The parents threw me in here when they found out.”
“Schei?e,” the woman mutters under her breath, turning a worried gnce back at the children. “I have maybe a day’s worth of supplies at best.”
Andrew finally notices me. “You’re the girl from the lobby! What are you doing here?”
I take a deep breath. Come on, Hana. Adults need to sound confident even when they aren’t. Otherwise those barely holding on will fall into hopelessness, like that one dungeon game where when one character reaches a stress threshold, they gain an affliction and often cause the entire party to gain stress levels, cascading out of control, and then you are wiped out.
“I-I’m the woman who’s gonna save all your shitty lives.”