Fany The Guild master

Inside the depths of the dungeon. A group of 5 adventurers made their way through the dark tunnel leading toward their destination. Composed of some of the best adventurers in Dawnriver, the group led by Fany the active Guild master of the city, was following the trail used by the fleeting group that was here before them. Now being haunted by an unidentified monster, these sections of the dungeon were forbidden to anyone wishing to stay alive.

In this last expedition before the lockdown by the guild, Fany hoped to find survivors who either were able to hide from the monster or were still alive despite their injuries. With no info on this monster except that it was alone and preferred to stick to the shadows, she wanted to avoid a direct confrontation at all costs. Any monster that was able to decimate multiple adventurers without suffering any injury was never to be underestimated, even by an A-rank pro like her and her team.

Led by a light, magic sphere illuminating the way, they arrived where the monster was last sighted. The lost outpost of bioluminescent mushroom. Filled with three-size mushrooms that could reach the ceiling of the dungeon, this place has long been left to the spore growth. A long time ago, this outpost has been a flourishing place to rest and resupply inside the dungeon. One of the few where someone could hope to have a decent night of sleep after a hard day of work fighting the dangerous monsters inhabiting the other, more volatile areas of the deep underground. Now abandoned, this shadow of a place was simply a landmark between many inside the dungeon.

Navigating the main pathway, the adventurers were on edge at any sign of movement. With abandoned houses and shacks still holding up despite the years, there were many ways for a foe to take them by surprise in this labyrinth. The most disturbing part of all was that there was nothing else to be found. Without any fly or other small animal to fill the silence, their own footsteps were the only thing reaching their ears and potentially, whatever was nearby. Staining the road, pools of blood were filling the air with iron. Trails of the red liquid led deep into shady alleyways and streets that ended up everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Without any corpse to be seen, their best option was to find one and hope to get decent information out of it.

Following one the bloody trail, Fany and her team turned multiple corners in search of the one who once held all the blood. Making sure to be ready at every step, they proceeded carefully to avoid any unpleasant surprise from whatever was roaming the outpost.

Covering their back, the archer was watching with an eagle eye the rooftop and windows of the house surrounding them. With a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, his single mission was to keep the group safe from ambush and surprise attacks. Needless to say, he always did his job impeccably without ever failing, otherwise, he wouldn’t be there to do it again.

Sandwiched in the middle of their formation, Fany and her witch friend were to provide magical support to the one on the front. Either with stone spikes, lightning rays, defensive walls or basic healing. While they both graduated from the University of Magic, their respective career led them to specialize in different ways. Fany, with her light brown hair, always preferred to stay close to those needing her help, sometimes even using her own staff to fight off stray enemies coming for her. Having earned the title of Guild master with her exceptional use of her earth affinity, she was ready for her first fight in a long time. Her friend preferred to stay away from any potential melee battle that could harm her, Instead, she used her profound knowledge of both magic and the dungeon to support those to earn her trust.

On the front line of the formation were the two last members of the group. With the two men both equipped with a spear and shield each, their role in the group was simple. Make the enemy regret not fleeing when he had the chance.

Minutes of careful trailing later, they found a young man lying on the ground with his face against the wall. His armour was bathed in his blood, with multiple sections simply shattered in pieces around him. Approaching carefully, one of the two men turned the young lad over for a proper view of his body.

With his nose forcefully retracted in his head, the front part of the skull was almost entirely broken, having been smashed against the wall far beyond what was needed to kill him. Showing lots of the inside, his head was unrecognizable to anyone who would have known him. What was left, wasn’t even a face only a mother could love. This was a brutal sight, even for veterans of the field.

“Anything about that monster?” Fany asked, her eyes avoiding the remains of the bloody man. Even if this was a rescue mission, any information about whatever did this would be great for later. Sending a potential hunting party without a drop of information about their target would not end well when it would be time to exterminate the thing. For now, sightseeing would do, as gross as it was.

“Not much, but yeah. Best guess is that the monster first took this guy by behind and pierced his torso, with what, I don’t know. Then it dragged it here and proceeded to finish him by delivering some fresh air to his brain. There’s something like a hand imprint in this guy's hair, so the thing must have hands that resemble ours.”

“Is it humanoid, a wereinflinction perhaps? I know this is rare, but the disease still appears from time to time, so if it is a werehumanoid then at least we know what we are dealing with.”

“Unfortunately, this is not. There’s 6 finger mark on his head, so it's not the result of the wereinfliction. There’s never been a report of the disease provoking growth of new appendages, and there is no humanoid race with 6 fingers. Also, there’s no fur here or anywhere, so it probably doesn’t have any. No way it could avoid losing a single scratch of hair or fur with all the mess it caused.”

“So we’re still in the dark about what that thing is.”

“If it means not encountering it, I prefer it that way.” The witch said.

“Let's go back to the main road and verify the other trail. I doubt it, but maybe it kept one of its victims alive.” The archer suggested.

“Probably not, there isn’t a single bite on that guy. Either it already had it full when it gutted him, or it not a gourmand hunting for only food.”

“You think it kills for the fun of it.” The archer's face was disturbed at the thought that such barbaric behaviour could be possible. He had seen many kinds of monsters and humans in the past, but none that would desecrate the dead just for entertainment.

“Yeah, something like that.” Answered the man. “Otherwise, there would be no need for that much violence. The guy was bleeding heavily with just the hole in his chest, and the first time he ate the wall was probably also his last sight. But, the monster still continued until his victim was beyond unrecognizable. It’s a miracle it didn’t rip the head off altogether.”

“Still, let's search for other bodies. If we are sure that it doesn’t spare anyone, then we will leave. In the case that there is still someone alive down here, their life is in our hands.”

---

??????

Lurking in the shadow of a mushroom tree. The creature climbed the tree surface, avoiding any too-luminous spots that could reveal it, before reaching the heaven of the ceiling. Using its tin, but muscular and long arms and legs to stick to the ceiling, the monster took chase toward the direction where he could hear the voices of new prey to kill.

Almost a hundred metres above the strange assembly of construction, the creature crawled silently between patches of darkness not lit by the mushroom trees. In its natural environment, it only needed its dark ebony dark smooth skin scales to perfectly hide and wait for its prey to drop their guard. Even the movement of its very long pointy tail was invisible in the darkness that he was born in.

Hidden under a thinner part of his robust skull, the monster's eyes could see in the darkest corner of the dungeon. Its head was slightly elongated forward, with a mouth filled with teeth that could shred the thickest of meat with ease.

Reaching above the sound intruding his brain. The creature saw 5 life forms that walked in a bipedal manner like him. But unlike him, they were prey and not predators. Recognizing the resemblance they had with the prey he hunted not long ago, his mouth began salivating. Not at the thought of filling his stomach, but instead at the simple idea of satiating his ever-hungry killing instinct.

The ones he encountered earlier were weak, defenceless and cowards. Even with their superior number, he had made short work of them. His only regret was that he wasn’t able to catch them all, allowing some of them to escape. In his silent rage, he wouldn’t let any prey escape like before. After all, they were just that, prey, their life was finished as soon as he set his sights on them.

Letting go of the ceiling, the creature landed silently on a nearby rooftop. Tracking his targets, he stayed out of sight by localizing them with his sharp earring. They moved slower than he thought they would. Carefully progressing through stone and wood construct, the creature knew that somehow, his prey were aware of his presence and that they wouldn’t be easy to catch by surprise. Their movement and formation were methodical, precise and at the ready in case he was careless. Compared to the complete chumps he gutted earlier, they knew what they were doing. Still, no matter the danger, no matter the risk, he was hungry for their blood. If worse came to be, he would simply hide and launch another surprise attack when they expected it the less.

But no matter what, there was nobody to stop his thirst to kill, so they would die.

---

Fany the Guild master

Fany and her team have found a few more corpses by now. The fate of each of the poor souls they found was bloodier each time. The one in front of them was no exception. The girl had a big slash across her body, with multiple holes spread on her torso. With one of her arms not too far away, the stains of blood on the pavement made it clear that her body had been played around with by throwing her and her inert everywhere.

Fany had to hold on to avoid desecrating the dead with her vomit. The rest of her team was also shocked, but the thought of joining the bloody girl splattered on the ground kept their sense sharp.

“Can we go now? I don’t think we’re gonna find anyone alive in this damn place.” The archer asked.

“Almost done, give me a minute.” The front guard answered. With an expert eye, he observed each detail the body was telling him. Clothes that have been pieced from outside, small drip of a thick liquid akin to saliva, and the precision of having only hit vital organs. All these little things that could have gone unseen by the other were telling him a story.

First, the girl has been separated from her group and dragged here by a tail that had served as a hook. Then, the monster ended her by destroying every organ inside her torso. For the severed arm and nasty open wound on her, these were simply made for the fun of it. It was rare, but there were a few monster species that took pleasure in toying with their victim body for the brutal spectacle they could create. The only reassuring fact was that this kind of monster had the tendency to deliver the finishing blow quite fast, and then inflict whatever fatality they wanted to the lifeless body afterwards.

“Once you’re done, we be leaving,” Fany said with uneasiness. “I don’t want to chance it more than we already do. We know enough for now that I should be able to form an appropriate team to exterminate that thing.”

Staying away from the corpse's horrible smell, the other spear and shield wielder stood on guard with his back against a wall. When his friends were busy talking, he was the one to make sure nothing disturbed them. Generally, he was silent and kept his opinion to himself, as it wasn’t his job to argue and complain.

This time, however, he agreed with their feeling to want to leave this place. With droplets of what he thought were humidity dropping on his armour, he was ready to speak his mind about this whole thing.

“The sooner we leave, the b…” Vanishing abruptly, both his voice and himself disappeared into the shadow of the roof behind him. Never to be seen ever again.

“Kert, did you say something?” Having heard the voice of her friend for a second, Fany looked around to where she thought her teammate was a second ago. “Guys, where’s Kert?” A look of suspicion appeared in her eyes. It was a common understanding to never split up from the team when on a quest or in the dungeon. This applies especially when doing a dangerous mission like this one. Something wasn’t right, and it didn’t take long for her to see that.

A small pool of blood was splattered against the wall and dragged up to its roof. Useless to say that it wasn’t there before.

“We lost Kert! Battle ready everyone, protective formation now!” At Fany order, the group of 4 put themselves back to back and each watch a different direction. This was a standard formation that any group of adventurers learned to do quickly. In the heat of a battle, this kind of positioning could save lives, especially when against multiple enemies or a single hidden enemy.

“What happened?” At the ready with his spear and shield, the man was, as usual, extremely calm.

“I don’t know, there’s blood where Kert was a minute ago!”

“Shit!” Knocking an arrow in his bowstring, the archer searched with his eyes for the killer. Surrounded by tons of possible paths and roofs, his head tried to guess the next direction from where the monster would attack, but to no avail. He just didn’t know enough about his target to be sure of what to think. If he was against a human or a normal monster, he wouldn’t have any difficulty mimicking their way of thinking and guess the optimal attack point they would take, but he was at a total loss against the pure brutality of whatever took his friend.

“Fany, your order?! Tell me we are leaving!” The witch held her staff tightly as if her very life depended on it. As she was good enough to cast spells quickly, she only needed to see what she needed to obliterate to send a fury of lightning ray at it.

As not only a Guild master but also the leader of this team, it was her decision to leave or to search for their missing friend. Having known him for years, it wasn’t an easy decision for her.

“We… we are leaving! Toward the main entry, let go!” On her order, they began running in the direction of where they came from. Diving into the labyrinth-like narrow streets of the outpost, they expected an ambush at every corner and were ready in case there was one waiting for them.

Still keeping an eye on their back, the archer ran beside Fany.

“Are you serious?!” He said. “We’re not even gonna search for Kert? He may still be alive!”

“You saw what that bastard did to the other adventurers! There is no way it’s spared him! If we are lucky, the monster is too busy playing with his corpse to chase us.”

“But,”

“Shut up!” She yelled at him. “Complain all you want when we get out of the dungeon. For now, our only goal is to be alive, so we can make a toast to his memory.”

Reaching the main road, they left behind the narrowness of the alleyway to the open way leading to the exit. Maintaining their speed, they still had a few hundred metres to cross before leaving the bioluminescent mushroom outpost behind.

As they continued their run, a faint noise riffled through the air and passed right beside the archer's head, a fraction of a moment later, a spear pierced into the witch's stomach. Going all the way in and beyond, the metal head had entirely gone through her as she began bleeding. Fortunately for her, the shaft of the spear was stuck inside her inert, blocking most of the hole and keeping the wound from leaking too much blood.

“Jessy!” The front guard screamed. Stopping in their track, the archer readied his bow and searched for the one having thrown the spear, as it had come from behind them. Meanwhile, Fany cauterized the wound to the best of her ability and the guard broke both ends of the spear, leaving the middle part inside his friend's stomach. He noticed that the spear he had just broken was the one once used by his friend, but the urgency of the situation kept him from minding it too much. The witch was in too much shock to do anything and she needed proper medical attention as soon as possible.

Crippling on the ground toward him just outside his peripheral vision, a black tail, seemingly coming out of nowhere, slowly enrolled around his feet. When he noticed the strange thing circling his leg, he was too slow to react. Having been detected, the tail grabbed the man's leg and swept him off his feet as he crashed face-first into the ground. The sound of his heavy armour rang on the pavement as he was dragged away. His scream became less and less loud as he was lost to the inert of the outpost.

Taking her injured friend in her arms, princess carry style, Fany and the archer resumed their run toward the exit, more desperate than ever.

When they were nearly there, they could see the narrow cave that would lead them to safety. If they could make it inside, there would be a single path to survey and block, making things easier for them if they could reach it.

At only 5 metres away from the exit, the archer's sharp ears caught a single small rock being kicked on the ground, where he was a moment ago. Trusting his instinct, he let go of his bow, grabbed his dagger, turned around and sliced at the emptiness behind him.

Green blood coated his weapon as the monster appeared in front of him, the pain having made it lose its camouflage. A head taller than him, the archer looked at the monster trying to understand what kind of uncharted atrocity he was looking at. He tried to attack it again, but the monster was quicker than him.

Ignoring the wound on its arm, the monster spun around and rammed its tail into the archer's side, sending him flying away with multiple fractures.

Entering the tunnel alone with the witch in her arms, Fany glanced behind only to see the monster coming for her at top speed. In the corner of her eye, she saw the archer knocked out on the ground. She was the only one left.

Using all the magic she could, Fany concentrated her mana and cast a spell. Emerging from the ground, a stone wall covered the entire passage behind her, separating her for good from her imminent death.

Taking a moment to take in the situation, she leaned her back against the wall and did her best to calm her breathing. With her friend still in her arms, she guessed that she should hurry back to the surface in the hope that she wouldn’t be the only one to make it out alive.

As a few tears rolled down her cheeks, she heard the sound of something hitting the other side of her earth wall. Being almost a full metre thick, the chance that the creature could destroy the wall was small but possible. She didn’t know how long the creature would need to destroy her wall, but she was confident that she had a few minutes. The problem was that it might not be enough.

Not wanting to be right there when the wall would be broken, she held her friend tight and rushed deeper into the tunnel, leaving the sound of the creature away from her ears as the earth protecting her crumbled more and more with each ruthless hit.

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