DD 202 Ch 1 (Patreon)

Chapter 1

The rest of my Haylon class was milling about, ready to start as the rest of my party and I walked out of Crimson’s [Portal].

“Ken!” Penny’s head shot up seeing me arrive. The blue haired Frost Knight was always eager to see me. “You’re out of the sling.”

“Yes I fucking am.” I rolled my shoulder. It still felt stiff from disuse. “Are we all ready to hunt some vampires?” I chuckled.

It wasn’t just Class 2-A present in the room. Class 2-B was standing around as well, with the Harem Queen lingering behind them and then several clusters of upperclassmen sprinkled around as well.

Ren, president of the senior class, gave me a sharp wave. “You aren’t allowed to beat us or we won’t graduate. Figured the best option was to ask to join you on this trip.”

I glanced at Crimson as she played with her long black braid. The group around us was large.

“Oh it’ll be fine. This event is quite large.” Crimson answered my unspoken question before speaking up to the rest of the people present. “Listen up. We’ll be heading out in just a moment. You can all set up camp at the base of the path. It’s fairly safe.”

“Crimson safe or safe safe?” Taylor raised her hand while speaking at the same time.

Crimson deadpanned at her. “It isn’t a safe zone if that’s what you are asking.”

“Right right.” Taylor nodded and her group started organizing who was going to be on watch.

“Let’s get this show on the road.” Crimson seemed less than pleased with the question and ripped a portal open to compensate.

Everyone else probably just thought she was being impatient. Yet, I knew Crimson intimately now.

Charlotte hung onto my arm as we walked through the portal. The druid was our healer and had been taking extra care of me since I’d suffered mana burn from wielding the Harem Queen’s spare sword.

The move, while painful, had been worth it to take down the Dwarf Queen that was invading the safe zone.

Charlotte was not there to give her opinion at the time, but she had certainly voiced her opinion after despite taking such good care of me.

Since the start of the new year she’d been more mature, some of the softness that had been in her before had been ground away by her mother’s training. Yet, I found it back in full force once I’d been injured.

As we stepped through the portal, the scenery shifted from the white stone building built in a safe zone to a packed earth that was dark, lit by a false moon hanging in the sky.

It wasn’t really a moon, but rather a convincing replica in the ceiling of this dungeon floor.

All around us were bare stone cliffs and trees without a single leaf. The dungeon floor was spooky.

“Don’t know what I expected.” Des came out behind us and we walked away from the portal to make room for the others. The Demonic Mage’s hips swayed side to side as her long purple hair danced just at her waist. She ran a hand through the unruly lock of hair that often covered one of her red eyes that had become a little more pink with her changes this summer. “We are going to be killing vampires. This feels like the sort of creepy scenery you’d see in a show for a vampire’s…la…ir.” She stared off to the side and we all followed her gaze.

Not far from where we were standing was a jagged, winding path led up to an absolutely massive castle in the distance. It was placed with the moon hanging over it.

“Guessing that’s the event.” I nodded at the castle.

“That would be a good bet.” Des agreed.

Fayeth came up behind us and rubbed her tan arms. “It’s a little chilly here.”

“It isn’t like you are wearing much.” I pointed out. The elf’s world was unbearably hot, so much so that they had to live under the shade of giant trees to survive. Her fashion hadn’t changed much since coming to our world. She tended to stick with the thin strappy dresses.

“It’s the kind of chill that makes you want to find somewhere warm to nap.” Felin came up behind us, wearing human clothes. She’d squeezed herself into a pair of leather pants and had on a bright red leather jacket. Though covering up more did little to hide her non-human nature. A pair of snow white cat ears with little blue tiger stripes stuck out of the top of her mane of white hair. The stripes continued down along her skin giving her blue stripes all over.

The rebellious tail that flicked back and forth behind her also gave her away as different.

“You would think of a nap.” I sighed, but led the group forward, using [Eyes of Wisdom] to scan for monsters. “Up ahead. Fayeth, if you’d do the honors?”

The elf squinted in the gloom.

“Right there.” Felin pointed over her shoulder. “Can’t you see the big hairy guy?”

“Not all of us have such good night vision.” Fayeth said and started marching forward in the direction I’d indicated.

She’d run into the giant werewolf eventually.

In fairness, she could probably handle the monster on her own. This was the 28th floor of some distant branch of the dungeon.

It saw her first and howled into the sky, summoning half a dozen wolves around it.

“Never mind. Found it.” Fayeth called out and blew [Agitating Spores] all over the area in front of her as wolves jumped out with spittle flying from their fangs.

The spittle didn’t bother the tank at all as hard roots curled out around her shoulders and down her arms forming armor and a shield as she stepped into the first wolf. She knocked the wolf aside with her shield and swung her glaive in a wide cleave.

“Want me to help, or do you want to play with your new blades? You finally get to bring them out of the box.” Des said.

“Maybe he should…” Charlotte started to object but I already had two spinning in my hands as I charged in behind Fayeth, spraying an arc of shadowy blades over the opponents and flipped over a wolf to strike at the larger werewolf with my own incredible agility.

The new blades from the Harem Queen worked like a charm, slicing through the werewolf in short order as purple lightning raced up my arms. Fayeth and I squeezed the small pack of monsters into black smoke between us.

Items dropped on the ground as the smoke dissipated.

Crimson clapped her hands. “Alright. See? Relatively safe. Let’s move up a little closer to the path and then we’ll set up camp before we take on the event for the first time.”

“Anyone know what we are getting ourselves into?” Kendra asked the wider group.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Crimson frowned.

Candice had her CID open and was reading. “There will be a large number of  vampires, more depending on how many groups are present. We slaughter them and they turn into a stream of blood that goes into the heart of the castle. There’s a blood orb in a secret basement that once it’s absorbed enough, it spawns the boss.”

Crimson sighed as her student had a dungeon almanac open and was reading from it. “The thing we want to train fighting the vampires is to fight other humanoids.” She told the classes present. “It takes a different sort of skill set to dodge a sword strike than a giant foot.”

Given what we all just went through, many of us nodded.

A sudden gloom began to manifest in the crowd. The battles with the dwarven race had left more than a few scars.

“Let’s set up camp and then get training.” Crimson clapped her hands. “No time like the present to get stronger. Besides, my class is going to win the raid contest between the schools. I need to keep pushing them.”

The Harem Queen snorted, several handsome men trailing behind her. “My class is going to give yours a run for your money.”

As for the seniors, no one seemed to be supervising them. I wasn’t sure if that was on purpose or not.

Crimson and the Harem Queen started bickering behind me as my group moved closer to the path up to the castle and started throwing down our camping supplies.

Crimson could have portalled us back to a safe zone every night, but that wasn’t much of her speed. She liked to push us.

Besides, we had good bonding time around the campfires.

“Gonna put your tent here?” Selene came up next to me as I was unloading camp gear from my CID.

“Huh? Yeah.” I said distractedly.

Selene took measured steps away from me and started to get her group to set up right next to us.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the whole class to camp together.

Quickly Penny’s group, as well as Kendra’s and Felicity’s, made a quick horseshoe of tents around a central point while more than a few of them were breaking branches off the dead trees and piling them up in the center.

It seemed that Leah and Wendy were having another argument about the pros and cons of log cabin campfires versus teepees.

“Again?” Des snickered, clearing a spot and starting to hammer in a steak for our tent. “I’m pretty sure with our magic, it doesn’t matter what shape the bonfire is in. Fireballs make it all go woosh.”

“The log cabin one is certainly warmer though.” Fayeth threw her opinion into the ring for our little group as she started up a little cooking station with Charlotte.

“They get overzealous with the teepee and make it too tall. Remember the time that Taylor knocked one over?” Charlotte was helping Fayeth with her setup.

At this point, we were a well oiled team.

“That was this summer?” I asked, having missed that moment.

“Yeah, your grandparents sent us really deep and made us camp on a low floor to really drive home the points of camping.” Des explained.

Felin was watching us with curiosity as we spoke. I could only tell by the way her tail flicked back and forth like it was batting something invisible behind her.

“Alright, let’s pop it up.” Des and I had gotten pretty good at this part of tent making, expanding the legs and hooking them into the steaks before walking the other two out.

Our tent was a large rectangle with a pitched top. Honestly, it was a small building that we quickly assembled and disassembled. We had some smaller ones, but if we were going to be here a while, we might as well get comfortable.

Felin watched and pulled out the large rug we’d given her earlier. “So I just roll this out?”

“Yeah. It’s not exactly the softest thing in the world, but it beats the dirt.” Des said.

All around us the other classes were pulling out their larger group tents and setting up.

Harley was even trying to shuffle a third healer into her own.

It wasn’t fair to say she was ‘off’ the team. Yet, in the raid setting we were going into, she was adamant about finding and solidifying her ‘healer harem’. Not that I blamed her, in fact I’d support her just to see my friend blossom into what she wanted to be.

Felin crouched down and started rolling out the rug as Des and I secured the other legs of the tent. Then she got to hanging clothes to make separate rooms.

But with Harley out of the tent, our need for privacy went way down.

Crimson swept into our tent. “Lovely.” She threw down a big bed and started to make herself at home.

I paused. “What is it that you think you are doing?”

“Moving in, duh?” Crimson’s bed looked invitingly soft. “Someone has to stay behind while you all go to the event. What if the Dungeon thinks this is abandoned and tries to absorb it all?”

“We both know that won’t happen that quickly.” I narrowed my eyes.

We all knew the dungeon could be surprisingly intelligent about some of its decisions.

“Let’s not risk it.” Crimson clicked her tongue and then put out a table and chairs before throwing down a portable shower that made Des give me a pleading look.

“Fine. Not like I was going to leave you out in the cold. I was worried about your reputation, Crimson.” I leveled a glare at her.

She blinked. “That? Who cares about that? Well, besides someone mistaking the Harem Queen for me. That’s unacceptable. This though? I won’t mind the rumors if you won’t.” Crimson started whistling a happy tune as she made herself at home.

I sighed and finished staking the tent. “Well, then you’ll be too busy here to hover over our shoulders as we go do the event.”

“Yep.” Crimson was laying on her chest on the bed with her CID off and propped up with reruns of a famous sitcom. “You have fun.” She kicked her feet and pulled out some chips as she settled in for what I assumed was a session of binge watching.

The Harem Queen walked in. “You started without me?”

“You were slow.” Crimson didn’t look up from her CID.

I frowned. “Since when do you two get along?”

“We don’t. But everyone loves Roommates.” Heather, the Harem Queen, pulled out her own popcorn and sat on the bed. “Don’t you have levels to grind?”

I stared at the two and decided to stop asking questions. I’d seen weirder things than the two of them starting to get along.

Maybe it was because Heather brought her harem with her or because I had started being steady with Crimson that the tension broke.

Fayeth was outside by the unlit bonfire dusting her hands off at getting her kitchen set up when I walked out. “Oh, Ken. People are starting to gather for the event. We can’t be late.”

I walked up to the adorable elf and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

The rest of the Haylon students were gearing up, strapping on armor and checking their inventories to get ready for a fight.

I was just happy to not be fighting actual people for a change. The monsters of the event would be almost like a break.

Harley waved at us with three healers flanking her. “Oh, Ken! Guys, this is my party member Ken. Though, we’re still the healer party for the event.” She clarified hastily.

The pink-haired bard skipped over, the bell in her hair tinkling as she landed firmly in front of me. “Make me look cool.” She whispered.

“How am I supposed to do that?” I shrugged, giving her a high five.

She rolled her eyes. “The healer harem is coming together.” Her voice was strained with barely contained excitement.

“Good for you.” I bumped her shoulder. “I know you’ve been wanting it. Look on the positive side. We have this event and then the raid. You can push your healer harem dreams as far as you want between the two.”

Her eyes shined. “I know. Helps that you’re good with this.”

“I’m more than good with it, Harley. Healers are the lifeblood of the raid, just make sure that they are all rested come time to perform.” I gave her a pointed look.

“Perform?” She grinned like a loon and bounced her eyebrows.

“You know what I meant. The fighting Harley, the fighting.” I sighed. She often only had one thing on her mind.

“Just teasing.” Harley played with her hair and gave a soft smile that wasn’t for me. “They will all be fit as a fiddle and ready to raid or do the event fight when it's time.” She pinched her eyes together. “It’s really happening! Going to have the best, soft, loving, healer harem ever.”

“Keep your voice down or they’ll realize how not chill you are about this.” I chuckled. “Now go back to them and get ready, I think we’re heading up to that castle as soon as everyone’s ready.”

Harley scurried off and Des made herself known by leaning on my shoulder. “Ah, the baby bird is leaving the nest.” She mimed wiping a tear from her eye.

“Don’t lie. You’ll miss not having her to torment.” I pulled Des in against me.

“In some ways she was a better tank than I.” Fayeth sighed at my side. “I’ll miss her, but Felin is really starting to do great work.”

“Just need to fill that other spot in the raid before we get there.” I said and saw we had everyone gathered. Felicity’s party had lost two people this semester.

Rather than give anyone a spiel, I just pulled Fayeth with me and started walking up the path.

At this point, we were all adventurers with some experience under our belt. We could organize on the fly.