Dungeon Menagerie 4 (Patreon)

Commissioned by InfiniteChaosRai

Dungeon Menagerie

Chapter 4

-VB-

Vanessa gulped and tried to make herself look smaller atop Mori - her Judgement Bird friend - as he strolled through the lobby of the Babel Tower, where there were hundreds of adventurers moving about. 

Some of them just lounged about, others moved to the edge to buy potions from potion stalls, and a few traded among themselves. 

A few people glanced at her, but most of them kept to themselves. Only one person tried to touch Mori, but, well, he’s prickly and really didn’t like that. 

Eventually, he carried her down one of the spiral staircases in the middle of the room…

And just like that, without any fanfare, she was in the dungeon. 

Wide and tall, she knew that it would be big but now that she was in here, she felt small. It was dimly lit, creepy, and … and …

She shivered as goosebumps popped all over her skin for a second. 

“M-Mori? Are you sure about this?” she whimpered while clutching onto his neck. He just squawked indignantly at her. “It’s just … it’s the dungeon. There are monsters in here.” 

Despite the fact that he had bandage over his eyes, the way he “looked” at her felt like he was looking at her disappointedly. He lifted one of his wings and pointed it at himself. 

“What? What about you?” And then the way his beaks opened just a bit and his head swayed around was like … was he rolling his eyes at her?! “What?!”

Apparently, he was done with her because he looked away and focused on their surrounding. He marched forward almost leisurely as if this was a stroll through the park for him. He swayed slightly from side to side, almost as if he was rocking her to sleep.

She frowned. She didn’t appreciate being treated like a baby.

Vanessa moved to get off, but he stopped her, holding his wings around her firmly but protectively. 

“What?” she grumbled. 

He cawed at her. 

And she understood what he meant.

Danger.

She stayed put. 

At the very least, she knew that he had her best interest at heart. 

So she waited on top of him as he carried her around the First Floor of the Dungeon. 

And nothing showed up.

Click.

She froze and slowly looked over her shoulder.

Just far enough that she couldn’t make it out completely, there was something ugly, green, and ragtag holding a rusty blade and standing on two legs.

“I-Is that a goblin…?” she muttered.

Mori cawed without looking over his shoulder. 

And as he kept walking forward, more goblins began to show up. 

“Hieee….!” 

Within half an hour, there were over three dozen goblins slowly creeping up toward her.

And that’s when Mori stopped. He finally looked over his shoulder as he reached up to the golden balance that hung on his neck. He pulled it off and held it by the string and -.

He rung the balance?

Then she flinched as the balance rung out and filled the corridor with waves of transparent pale blue shockwave. She braced herself to be struck hard but … it didn’t do anything? 

“KEEEEEE!!!”

She jolted and her eyes snapped toward the goblins. 

Over two-thirds of them suddenly found a noose around their neck and hoisted up into the air. And then their necks snapped and cracked as gravity pulled them back down, and the rope held against their weight. 

She jolted with wide eyes as she heard a dozen goblin necks snapped and their bodies dangled from the ropes. The rest of the surviving goblins looked worse for wear without actually looking like they took any damage but they screeched and charged at her and Mori! 

And then she felt herself jerking as Mori burst toward them. 

The first goblin that he reached got his face stomped by his noddly bird legs and feet, but Mori was so strong that the goblin’s head cracked open the moment it slammed into the rocky ground. 

Mori screeched in return, and a weaker shockwave similar to the first rung out. Some of the goblins abruptly found nooses around their necks and flung up. 

And in the background of cracking skulls, snapping necks, screeching goblins, and splattering blood, Vanessa hung onto the back of her friend for her dear life. She lurched from side to side as he swung his arms and stomped his feet onto the goblins. There were sharp clangs and even more screeches, and she just shut her eyes and whimpered as she felt like she was being thrown about. 

And then with one final crack, silence came back.

Still quivering, she looked up from his black feathers and ….

“Ugk!” 

She jumped off and barfed.

Mori didn’t say anything as she threw up bile until she was dry heaving. When she stopped and panted for air, he finally cawed. 

She looked at him with a light glare and saw him tapping a rusty knife with his talon.

“... What?” she asked in confusion.

Mori cawed again, kicking the knife toward her so that it came to a sliding stop in front of her knees before he walked over to one of the headless goblins and stabbed into its chest with his talon.

“Caw!”

She looked up at him, then the knife, and finally the goblin body. 

And she shook her head. “No, no, no! I can’t do that!” 

Mori crowed loudly at her and then pointed at her stomach.

She bit her lips because … she forgot only momentarily but now that the danger was gone and the adrenaline left her veins, she was feeling even hungrier than before. 

She whimpered as she picked up the knife, crawled over to the body… and tore into it for the magic stone. 

-VB-

Vanessa looked dead ahead without any energy as she swayed from side to side on top of Mori the Judgement Bird. 

She had blood all over her, she had a bag made out of goblin loincloth and bloody stones inside the bag, and she knew for a fact that this entire experience left her traumatized. 

Mori ignored her plight and climbed out of the dungeon and walked up the spiral staircase, out of the dungeon, and to the Guild.

She mindlessly asked for the stone to be exchanged, and the guild clerk did it for her.

It wasn’t until she had a cheap sandwich in her hands that she finally woke up.

Because even if she got traumatized, the taste of a cheap sandwich in her hungry mouth and salivating tongue was enough for her to promise herself to go back down there.