Dungeon 102 Chapter 2 (Patreon)

“Now it’s your turn.” Crimson looked around the class. “Don’t worry about the floors or walls. Sometimes you’ll be in a rocky environment and those can be the hardest, so this will be good practice. We’ll get someone to fix the classroom afterwards.”

No one wanted to disappoint Crimson, so we all burst into a flurry of action. The classroom was basic with linoleum floors, drywall walls and drop ceilings.

“I will make the tent.” Fayeth snatched up the tent. “We’ll share it. Crimson said that was safer.”

“No way.” Harley was quick to disagree. “I’m not sharing one with Ken and Des. They’ll keep me up all night.”

Des sighed. “In the dungeon we all need our sleep.” She shook her head at Harley.

“Right. What she said.” I agreed. No reason to lose sleep, but I wouldn’t mind a quickie now and then in the dungeon. Thankfully, Des was of the same opinion.

“Maybe just a quickie.” Des pinched her fingers together and set off Harley, who threw her hands up in the air. Des always loved an opportunity to tease Harley and she had loosened up a little over the term.

“Whatever. I’m working on the traps. Ken, give me a knife.” Harley held out her hand.

I gave her one of my spare throwing knives and she took it before counting her steps out in front of her.

“Then, I’ll start cooking.” Charlotte smiled.

“Actually, I can take care of that too.” Fayeth stopped her.

There was a moment of explosive tension between Charlotte and Fayeth as the two eyed each other. While Des and Fayeth had their own styles and areas, Fayeth and Charlotte overlapped a bit more.

Unfortunately, Fayeth was more aggressive.

Charlotte backed down. “Then… I’ll…”

“Why don’t you keep watch. With Bun-bun, you probably have the best hearing of the group. Even though we are in the classroom, we should act like we are in the dungeon. You never know what Crimson will do.” I suggested as I caught a wide smile from Crimson.

She was far too pleased with herself. She was definitely about to punish any group who didn’t have somebody keeping watch.

Crimson’s whip uncoiled down onto the floor, smacking and drawing several groups’ attention.

We weren’t the only ones to suddenly put someone on watch duty.

Taylor and Kendra’s group were all knee deep in arguing over the tent and missed the whip hitting the floor.

Crimson’s whip lashed out so fast I couldn’t see more than it shift on the ground before a boom sounded in the air as their tent exploded. “No one was watching, and you were surprised by a dungeon monster. It destroyed one of your tents in the process.”

Kendra threw her hands up and marched away from the group to cool off and to stand watch.

“Remember, we are practicing for the real thing.” Crimson reminded everyone with a smile.

“Good job, Charlotte.” I tried to make her feel like she was doing something, even if watching was the least active job.

My own knife was digging into the wall as I worked to set up a thin wire for the alarms. Later, we’d be able to use spells to make the process easier, but for now, Des and I were running tight wires attached to soda cans filled with tabs and other objects that would rattle if someone tripped them.

Fayeth was humming to herself as she quickly assembled the tent. She was fluffing the pillows as she laid out the bedding inside. She really was a homemaker.

Charlotte kept glancing back at Fayeth and puffed her cheeks out. I think she wanted Fayeth to struggle a little, but she was doing a great job.

“Everyone, get those fires going.” Crimson reminded us. “You need to get some food made and get everyone to sleep in the next half an hour.” She checked her CID to mark the time.

“I can help.” Charlotte offered.

“No. I can handle it.” Fayeth moved from the finished tent to the space in front of it and quickly got the logs set up.

Des shared a look with me as we got another wire set for our alarms. “Going to step in?”

“No. They are grown women. They can sort it out.” I held the wire while Des placed the can. Des gave me a look that said she wasn’t sure it was the right course of action, but she also didn’t step in to try to address the tension between Charlotte and Fayeth.

Both of them were very caring, but it seemed caring for me only had room for one of them in their minds.

There was a twang and Harley yelped.

I looked back to Harley dangling from the ceiling in her own trap. “Okay, Bun-bun is on watch. Charlotte, help Harley down please.” I nodded to Charlotte.

Fayeth hummed happily as she put a pan down over the square stack of burning logs. Then she took the bag that Crimson had provided us and started to peel vegetables into the pan, along with some eggs and meat.

What she was cooking highly resembled what Crimson made at the Visitor Center all the time. It was just a mash of nutritious food, all bound together with cooked egg.

“Why can’t we just bring a ton of sandwiches on our trips?” A student asked.

“You never know how long you’ll be in the dungeon.” Crimson crossed her arms. “Besides, it is a wonderful bonding time for parties. Fresh and warm food bolsters the spirit. All of these can’t be taken for granted. Thus, cooking while you are out is a time honored tradition steeped in benefits.”

Des spoke up, apparently deciding to take the moment to suck up to Crimson. “Besides, camping isn’t fighting the dungeon. You can do it in larger groups than just the party. It’s a time to make friends with other parties on the floor. My father has said that sharing a campfire and a meal has saved him on several occasions when the other party provided aid the next day or later that week.”

“Exactly.” Crimson nodded.

Des’ explanation seemed to quell any other questions. Crimson and the famous Arthur Renard cooked food, so they all would too.

“Ouch.” Harley fell down from her trap. “Thanks Char, you are the best.” Harley scrambled to her feet and hugged our healer.

“Thank you.” Charlotte looked towards me as if seeking my opinion as well.

“Great job Charlotte. Bun-bun can be lookout for now. You should probably help Harley reset that trap and the other ones.” I offered.

Charlotte nodded firmly and we went to work as the smell of food wafted into the air.

Even the stoic Bun-bun started wiggling his cute nose.

Harley got the trap reset and another two put up.

By the time that we had finished with the alarms and traps, the area looked like a mess, but it was a mess that someone wouldn’t easily bypass to get to our camp. Our flag was staked into the floor in front of our tent.

“Food.” Fayeth handed out slices of her concoction.

“Mmm. Good.” Desmonda mumbled through her first bite.

The elf blushed and twirled at her long blonde hair. “What do you think, Ken?” She waited expectantly for my opinion.

At the same time, Charlotte glared at me.

I sighed and took a bite. It was fluffy and the eggs had done a wonderful job of sealing in the moisture of the little bits of meat as well as the flavor of the vegetables. “Wonderful.”

Charlotte deflated and looked defeated before Bun-bun pulled at her sleeve for his piece. She broke off a piece before the rabbit snatched it and climbed over her shoulder to nest in her green hair. “This is very good. Thank you Fayeth.” Charlotte managed.

“Alright everyone.” Crimson clapped her hands. “We are going to turn the lights off.” There was a click and the classroom went dark. Then Crimson blurred and covered the windows too. “Every party picks one member to go on the offensive. The rest of you are going to rest. You don’t get to react until your alarm or trap goes off. You may have one person on watch.”

“Crimson, if we lose our flag, is this for real?” Candice asked, sounding confident.

“I’ll find a reward for whichever team has the most points at the end of this, but no, I’m not going to expel anyone today.” Crimson replied.

Harley let out an exaggerated sigh. “Thank god. Okay, Ken is on offense, obvi. That way Des doesn’t get rowdy in the tent either.”

I imagined there was at least one pair of eyes rolling at that.

“I’ll be on watch.” Charlotte’s hand shot up, barely visible in the embers of our fire. “Bun-bun’s hearing will be the best.” I knew she was eager to prove herself.

“Fair. I could use a nap. I don’t sleep well on nights that Des is over.” Fayeth stretched out her arms.

Harley made a gagging noise. “Not things I needed to know.”

“It’s because I don’t like sleeping alone.” Fayeth clarified. “It’s much more comfortable to sleep with Ken in the bed. If you snuggle up to him he wraps his arm around you an—“ Fayeth was muffled by Harley.

“Please do not explain more.” The pink-haired bard rustled around with the tent and the bell in her hair jingled for a minute before it went silent.

I gave Charlotte a thumbs up. Now that the rest of our group had made it into the tent, it was time to do my job. I got onto my belly, crawling under a spot in the alarms. It would be painfully obvious to Charlotte if someone tried to come through this way, which was why it wasn’t so concerning to me.

It was pitch black, so I had to try to remember where each of the five parties had set up in the classroom as I moved around. Only the slight orange of dying embers gave a camp away.

Until you had a skill for it, darkness could be difficult to navigate.

I crouched low, moving towards Candice’s group, but I wasn’t alone.

Someone else, far less concerned with hiding, had moved in front of me.

“Charge!” Taylor shouted as their alarms went off. She slammed into Candice’s tank, knocking her down, and snagging the flag. “Get rushed bums.”

Taylor had gotten another few steps out of their camp before the room was lit up by a purple fireball flying at her.

It missed by a mile, but it served its purpose of lighting up the entire room.

An assassin shot out from their tent. “Caltrops.” She threw her hand out and a field of spikes covered the area around Taylor.

I was annoyed as the fireball missed Taylor but headed straight for me, giving away my location.

“Absorb.” I whispered and raised my hand.

The fire went out like a blown candle, and I felt the mana pour into my internal channels.

There was just a single moment where I could see Candice’s shocked face. No one but my party had seen that unique skill yet.

But I’d decided the move was worth it. I needed to protect myself and I needed darkness. But my target had now changed as I moved forward.

“Sorry Taylor.” I appeared in front of her and sucker punched her in the gut, snatching the flag from her before kicking off her thigh and vaulting out of the caltrops.

She wasn’t so lucky, cursing up a storm as her feet were shredded and Candice’s party caught up to her.

“She doesn’t have the flag.” Someone shouted as I ran back to my camp.

Bun-bun perked up, but he didn’t make any noise to alert Charlotte.

I tossed Candice’s flag to her. “One down.”

“Good job.” Charlotte replied, and while I couldn’t see her, it sounded like she was smiling.

Rushing off, I went towards Taylor and Kendra’s camp. As I crept closer, I was feeling confident. They hadn’t done a great job setting up their area.

There was the faintest glimmer of light around their camp, and I realized that Kendra, being an enchanter, must have added some magic to their traps or alarms.

I wasn’t sure what she would have done with them, but they were most likely something to slow down any intruders.

Either way, I got close. “Absorb.” I mouthed as I put my hand near the trap and sucked the magic out of it. Then I moved quickly in the dark around to the other side.

“Hmm?” Their guard made a noise and there was shuffling by their camp.

I listened and waited until I was sure I knew where the guard was located. Then I took a rock from my CID and threw it further out.

“Someone’s here.” Regan shouted.

Kendra, Bonnie and Leah shot out of the tent. Leah raised her staff and blew a glowing orb towards the direction where Regan had been.

It was just enough light for me to see the alarm wires nearby me. Luckily, the stone had done its job and they were all looking the other direction.

My sword cut through the wires, and I dashed in, knowing I had less than a second before they would realize the trick and turn around.

My fingers curled around their flag as the alarms hit the floor and they all whipped around.

“Get him.” Kendra waved a wand and Regan’s arrow glowed blue. “Frost Enchantment.”

Regan didn’t hesitate, firing the arrow at me.

It was a great shot.

“Absorb.” I hissed. I caught the arrow point first in my hand. It speared through my fist as I grabbed it. But whatever magic was on it was gone. It hurt like a bitch, but Charlotte could heal my hand as soon as I got back to her.

“What was that?” Regan shouted at Kendra. “It didn’t work.”

“No, it should have worked.” Kendra stomped her foot and glared after me.

Another blue orb shot out at me, but I was already dashing over the desks to Charlotte who was standing up, but not facing me.

“Entangling roots.” Charlotte shouted and green magic shot up from the floor, tangling another of our classmates.

Harley’s voice came just as soon as Charlotte finished. “Haste.”

Fayeth exploded out of the tent, a shield of roots growing out of her arm as she slammed it down over the flag.

Fayeth protected our flag, making sure nobody got to it.

Des was out next rushing to Charlotte’s side. “Shadow Bolt.” A swirl of purple magic roiled in Des’s hands but the other classmate held up her hands.

My girlfriend waved her hand and dismissed the spell halfway. “Okay then, shoo.”

I smiled as I jumped through the alarms in our own camp, holding my hand with an arrow through it and another flag. “This makes two. Three including ours. We win.”

Charlotte dropped her staff. “Your hand. Let me fix that.” She grabbed it and gave me a pained smile before she broke the arrow and shoved it through the hole.

I grunted, but otherwise stayed quiet. I’d dealt with a lot of pain in my time in the dungeons. And my stamina was high enough that it wasn’t too bad of a wound.

“Heal.” Charlotte cast the spell over my hand. It glowed green before the wound closed without a scar. “There. All better.”

“Thank you.” I kissed her on the forehead in thanks.

Charlotte blushed and became flustered. “What?”

“He said thank you.” Fayeth put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

“I know what he said.” The cute druid puffed out her cheeks. “But- but he kissed me.”

We didn’t get a chance to talk about it further.

Crimson threw the lights on and clapped her hands. “Congratulations, Ken and team. They captured two flags and managed to hold onto their own. They are the winners for this round. Now we will go over some additional lessons and then break class for this afternoon. Tonight we and the rest of the first year classes will be camping in the gym. It will be the same exercise but on a larger scale, so prepare yourselves.”

She made eye contact around the room. “I hope you all learned from this and won’t disappoint me. Anyone who gets their flags stolen tonight will need to show up early to class tomorrow for additional physical training. I do not like being disappointed.”

There was an audible gulp among the students.

“But won’t we be up all night with the exercise?” Someone asked.

“We are simulating the dungeon. You need to find a way to get some rest. Rotate your members on watch, because the next day you’ll have class. In fact, I think we’ll do some sparring in the morning.” Crimson smiled, clearly pleased with her brilliant idea.