[Amelia PoV]
Myra had finally reached her limit and couldn't fight anymore. Now, on her knees, she was about to get munched by a bunch of ghouls. As for the other six they were at a safe distance and had to face a few ghouls only from the front. Myra might not have noticed that while in the heat of battle she was abandoned by them on purpose. These cockroaches may be weak but they are battled hardened adventurers and know when to take advantage of the opportunity. Without speaking, only with eye and hand signals, they retreated safely with coordination leaving Myra as a bait.
I had never restrained my anger so much in my life. For those low lives to plot against, to have the harmful intention for my Master's woman, for whom I consider my little sister. This was an unforgivable act that should be punished with the most painful death. But I can't harm those whom Master has entrusted me to protect. I want to deliver them safe and sound in perfect condition. It's about the honor of my Master, he had made a deal with that little bitch and offered his protection to those who don't deserve his goodwill.
As for Myra, before she got overrun by ghouls, I made my move. Using <Instant Steps> I dashed forward while unsheathing my sword. In a straight line, I cut down everything except six cockroaches and arrived beside Myra.
"Sis... you are here," Myra said with ragged breathing as beads of sweat trickled down her face.
"Yes, rest easy. Leave everything to me."
Twirling my sword in a circular motion, I activated my skill <Sharp Whirlwind> that created a cyclone with winds as sharp as a blade. With I and Myra as a center, it extended outward, covering every ghoul in four sides and cleaved every undead. As much as I wanted to envelop those four insects too, I still had to hold back.
When the winds died down, I sheathed my sword and helped Myra up and gave her a stamina potion. "Thank You, sis Amelia." As she was gulping down the potion, those six insects start walking towards me, with the bug with mace in lead.
"Haha, you saved us again," Mace insect said as he moved his hand to put on my shoulder.
"Don't ever try to put your hands on me or Myra for that matter unless you don't want to use them ever," I swatted his hand away with the scabbard of my sword.
"Come on, you don't have to be so cold," he rubbed his nose with the other hand.
"You should count your lucky stars that I am letting you off the hook after the move you just pulled with Myra"
"T-That wasn't intentional. You know desperate situations need drastic steps"
"You, say this to my face again," I glared at him on verge of losing my temper as my hands unconsciously started to remove the sword from the sheath.
"It-It's alright sis, see I am alright. No harm done," Myra said with a pure smile that brought me back from my anger and filled me with a little guilt that I might have damaged the goods that I was supposed to deliver under the order of Master.
"I don't know what to do with you," I ruffled the hair of this silly innocent girl as she giggled.
The following two days went with these annoying leeches sucking off my blood. Taking either mine or Myra's advantage wherever the opportunity arises. They willingly or unwillingly followed little bitch to the depth of this dangerous dungeon, now like cockroaches they are set to survive any dangerous situation at any cost.
Now, we were at the end of Floor 29 in a small chamber. The door from where we entered disappeared into thin air and there were tens of big and thick shutter doors opened in front of us with the last one and the thickest among them being closed. These doors most likely led to the Safe Room.
The whole chamber was made of stone, with candles on walls illuminating the surrounding. In the middle, there were two statues made of cement in front of each other with a space for a person in the center. One was of a vampire wearing a robe with its fangs out that looked like it was ready to sink his teeth into someone and the other was a ghoul that seemed like he was struggling to restrain someone and had a gap in the middle of his claw like hands like gripping something.
"Well, the way to open the last door is apparent. It's something to do with these two statues," the cockroach with mace said.
"We can't be too sure, it could be a trap. First, let's look around and see if there's another way," Myra proposed.
"Can't hurt to take a look. And you idiots don't activate any trap. These thick doors seem like they are waiting to be shut down," I said.
Except for me, everyone got to work and even after an hour, nobody found any way out of there.
"Phew! Like I said the key outta here lies somewhere in the statue. You see, there's a place for one person in the center of both statues. Someone has to play a victim of a vampire. So, any volunteers?" the maced cockroach said.
"Since you've proposed then why don't you go yourself," I said.
"Who, me? No, No I am the guy with the brawns, if things go south I'll have to smash down these statues with my mace. What about you, Dickinson, you have the perfect slender body that can fit in there" he pointed out the skinny insect in the group.
"O-Okay, as long as you got my back," he replied.
"Don't you worry, y'all can count on me"
The skinny insect went towards the statue, after observing and touching to reassure himself, he placed himself in the center. Nothing happened then under the direction of maced cockroach he got himself restrained in the hands of ghoul statue and still, nothing happened.
"Eh, let's try with someone else," the maced cockroach said and then made other adventurers go without and it still proved useless.
"We are missing something or someone that plays the role of victim perfectly" Myra offered her opinion.
"Yes, this might be it. Mainly, vampires attack virgin maidens to drink their blood and turn them. So, you two might be the one to solve the puzzle, unless you two are not...ehm," maced cockroach said with a creepy smile on his face with which I would love to wipe the bottom of the sewer.
"Then, I-I'll go," Myra said in an embarrassed tone.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes, think of this part of my training. In a worst case scenario, I know who to depend on"
She went and got her hands restricted as others one before. This time the lifeless eyes of the vampire became red and his face with opened mouth started going straight towards Myra's neck.
"Umm, this isn't looking good. I can't free my haaa..." she blanked out while speaking. Her face became empty without any expression, her eyes weren't even blinking.
At this time some kind of toxic gas began to fill the chamber that was taking away the HP slowly. The thick shutter doors started to close at the fast pace with the last one being opening.
"Shit! Everybody, make a run for it," the maced cockroach said and everyone ran through the doors as their lives depend on it, leaving dazed Myra and me behind.
'These low lives have now done it, a minute ago they were promising to have each other's back'
I hurriedly dashed towards Myra and cut down both of the statues as the fangs of the vampire was an inch away from Myra's neck. The doors were closing very rapidly and spreading of poisonous gas was even faster than it.
"Hey, wake up," I shook her but she was out cold.
I didn't know what was wrong with her but my best option at that time was the valuable Recovery Potion that restores Health, Mana, Stamina, low level curses, sickness, or debuffs.
"Hmmm, mom, where am I? Let me sleep a little more," Myra muttered with half closed eyes after I fed her potion.
"Hey, wake up, we are still in the dungeon" I flicked the forehead of the silly girl.
"Ha! Sis Amelia, di-did we successfully solved the puzzle?" she asked with cocked head.
"No, there was no way to solve a puzzle. The dungeon itself required a sacrifice to continue. Now get up we have to get to the Safe Room"
"But all the doors are closed now, how do we get out?"
"Leave it to me"
Arriving in front of the door, I took out my sword. Slashing my sword I made a big X on the thick door and kicked and it crumbled down with dust rising in the air. It was like an insult to the dungeon that with enough strength, you can break any rules.
"Wow! That's so cool," Myra muttered.
Like this, I took down other doors. After a few seconds of destroying the door, the dungeon itself started to repair the damage but it was enough time for me and Myra to pass.
"Please Help," there were two low lives between twelfth and thirteenth door gasping for air with a blue face. This poisonous gas was spread till the last door but it was ineffective against me and Myra who was still under the effects of Recovery Potion, so these insects had it hard.
First I had to them out of here alive, then decide their punishment later. Giving them Minor Health Potions, I made them follow me. While helping another two of the pests along the way I finally arrived the last thickest door that closed again after opening and I still easily tore it open.
"HA!HA!HA! This is it. I am not continuing this cursed dungeon any longer. Thanks to those two virgin bitches, we managed to escape," the maced cockroach said as he was out of breath.
"Yeah! But what a pity we lost the other four," the second survived skinny cockroach said.
"Hey, no sacrifice too great, as long as we survive"
I knew Master won't mind even if I killed them and that made me wanted to deliver the goods in perfect condition but these monkeys were out of line for days, the tested my patience. I had enough of them, I just had to vent my anger.
'Sorry, Master for what I am about to do.'
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The only thing saving this chapter from being a waste was the last line. The girls need to think for them selves and not let trash abuse them...sigh.
It's not good when author make everyone who not with mc brain dead.
For some reason, this chapter kind of reminds me of the short stories "The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen and "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" by Clark Ashton Smith. They're both supernatural horror / dark fantasy short stories and the former has a part that involves Roman ruins and statues and the latter has vampires in a castle with cressets and tapers.
Spoilers about the stories in case you want to read it:
Basically, in "The Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen, a mad scientist at the beginning was obsessed with the occult and the supernatural so he experimented on his adopted daughter so that she could see the god Pan, who's invisible to human eyes. She sees him, goes insane and is presumed dead. She gives birth to a daughter and unlike other stories with demigods, which portray them as solemn, stately and beautiful, she's portrayed as beautiful but incongruous with something unsettling about her. She actually causes some people to either go insane, commit suicide or both. The main characters stumble upon this mystery and are resolved to solve it and one of the places explored in the story were some Roman ruins and statues of Pan. You can read the story here if you want:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Great_God_Pan
The other story "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" is by Clark Ashton Smith. Clark Ashton Smith was an associate and contemporary of the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and he's basically known for his dark fantasy and horror stories and for his extremely vast vocabulary, since one of his interests was the limits of language (he was fluent in several languages actually and he was almost completely self-taught). "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" is about two lovers (who were accompanied by some servants) who were supposed to meet up in a forest somewhere but were interrupted by some vampires, who showed hospitality to them in their castle, even though they both felt something perturbing, incongruous and disquieting about them. Ultimately, the vampires wanted their blood and probably wanted to kill them. But the protagonist thought up of an idea to save themselves. It's a nice short story that one could finish pretty quickly. You could read it here if you want:
http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/181/a-rendezvous-in-averoigne
Interesting! Will check out both of them in my free time. Thanks!
Also, check out Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde and Lord Dunsany. They were all either contemporaries or near-contemporaries of Arthur Machen and Clark Ashton Smith.
Edgar Allan Poe doesn't need any explanation since he was one of the most famous horror writers (along with H.P. Lovecraft).This website is handy since it also has a glossary of words that one might not know that Poe used in his stories:
https://poestories.com/stories.php
Two other websites for Poe's short stories and poems:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Edgar_Allan_Poe
https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/147/the-works-of-edgar-allan-poe/
Oscar Wilde is known for his metaphoric horror novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray", which is also his only novel.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray
https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/113/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/
And Lord Dunsany wrote these short stories about these gods, and his stories tend to read more like mythology. They were a huge influence on fantasy and people such as J.R.R. Tolkien and Guillermo del Toro were influenced by them. His book "The Gods of Pegaña" could be finished in a few hours or even less.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gods_of_Peg%C4%81na
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Edward_John_Moreton_Drax_Plunkett
Now if you want something more recent, check out Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, Clive Barker, Thomas Ligotti, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Holdstock, Tad Williams, Guy Gavriel Kay and Neil Gaiman.
Roger Zelazny is known for novels such as "The Chronicles of Amber", "The Lord of Light" and "Creatures of Light and Darkness". His protagonists are all either gods or demigods from various mythologies or were humans who were trying to become gods. They were immensely powerful and entertaining.
Michael Moorcock is known for his "Elric" stories which were a series of interconnected novels, novellas and short stories about Elric of Melniboné. Elric was the last in the line of Emperors of this fallen and decadent empire and unlike some other fantasy protagonists, Elric doesn't have a physically robust disposition or constitution, instead he has a frail and physically weak constitution and he relies on his sword Stormbringer to provide him with energy. Stormbringer is a sentient, demonic, soul-sucking sword and he feels ambivalent about it. On one hand, it provides him with energy so that he doesn't die, on the other hand, he fears that it might kill him one day since it has a mind of its own. Elric is a very powerful sorcerer and summoner though who could even invoke the gods to do what he wants. Michael Moorcock intentionally gave Elric a frail disposition because he was sick of the fantasy motifs of his time, where protagonists were physically strong and muscular. His stories are always adventurous and were an influence on various people such as Guillermo del Toro.
Clive Barker started out writing horror, but gradually shifted away to do more and more dark fantasy (which sometimes overlaps with horror anyways). His novels "Weaveworld" and "Imajica" are his two best works and could be considered to be the pinnacles or epitomes of his works, but his works began a gradual decline in quality after those two lol.
Thomas Ligotti writes mostly short horror stories, and are mostly found in various collections and the like. His horror stories tend to be much more philosophical, metaphoric, existential and psychological. They're almost as if H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe met Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges and Arthur Schopenhauer lol.
Ursula K. Le Guin wrote a lot of stuff, but her "Earthsea" novels are probably the ones that I liked the most. The magic in the story seems to follow a Taoist metaphor, in which good magic is harmonious and bad magic (such as necromancy) brings disaster. Ursula K. Le Guin was influenced by Taoism in some of her stories as well as by psychologist Carl Jung.
Robert Holdstock is known for his novel "Mythago Wood", which involves this forest that houses the motifs (for a lack of better term) of various mythologies.
Tad Williams is known for his "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" series of fantasy novels, which are about a power struggle that takes place in Osten Ard, where the stories take place.
Guy Gavriel Kay wrote many novels and many of them are standalone, so that you could just pick one up and you should be fine. There are exceptions though such as how "Sailing to Sarantium" and "Lord of Emperors" are heavily connected, etc. He tends to set his novels in fantasy analogues of real-life historical places (such as fantasy versions of the Byzantine Empire, medieval Spain, medieval England and the Tang Dynasty).
Neil Gaiman needs no explanation. He's one of the most famous fantasy writers around. He's well known for his graphic novel series "The Sandman", but he's also known for novels such as "Neverwhere" and "American Gods".
Thanks for the chap!
I mean she already realized she can leave permanent reminders on their bodys without breaking the promise. I think he very much would agree to disciplinary measures to keep them away from his girls. I mean this dude didnt give a sh*t about them dying like flys.
Thanks for the chappy
When the winds died down, I unsheathed my sword and helped Myra up and gave her a stamina potion.
I think that she didn't unsheath her sword there, but rather sheath it, as she later starts pulling it out again.
the maced cockroach said as he was out of the breath.
out of the breath --> out of breath
Thanks for the chapter
I'll fix it in the morning.
Edit: Fixed! Thanks! :)
couldn't she ask him with this comunication device for premission to kill them, like when they left Myra alone with the ghouls?
She don't want to her Master to think that she's incompetent and can't handle a simple task properly. For her asking for the permission to kill whom Master entrusted to protect is shameful. As for why she's making move now will be answered in next chapter.
P.S She's still gonna carry out Max orders.
@Bone_Crusher we need mooore
Ufaaaa .... estava cansado desses aventureiros já.
Realmente me irrita quando eles agem como se tivessem que ser protegido, mesmo se o outro tivesse que dar a vida por eles.
Me faz lembra daqueles nobres ou ricos que pensam que a vida deles vale mais.
Oh they back stabed me? But gotta keep them alive because i accept the job. Oh they kill one of my friend? No problem, the job gotta continue.... sh*t they make me sacrifice..... but atleast they are save so my job is done......