Demon Card Enforcer 3, Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Chapter Ten: Three Spirits One

            The four of them—Wolfe, Shel, Miriam, and Derek—walked through the tunnel underneath the earth. They were trailed by six companion cards—Wolfe’s three, Sorenia and Artenia, and Malik, Eater of the Dead, the card Wolfe had gained for Miriam last year when he had killed Tracy, the deckbearer for hire that had been working for the traffickers.

            “I can’t believe you're coming to a dungeon is a cocktail dress,” Wolfe said to Miriam.

The only concession the mafia princess had made to the fact that the dungeon might be dangerous had been switching her stilettos for black tennis shoes and grabbing her golf club. Other than that, she was dressed as she had been in the club two hours before.

“I can’t believe someone sold you an assault rifle,” Miriam replied.

Wolfe hefted the new Ar-15 he was carrying. “It’s not an assault rifle.”

Miriam laughed musically and rolled her eys. “And yet, I bet you assault someone with it.”

Wolfe widened his eyes and obviously rolled them right back.

Miriam shifted the subject. “I doubt the dungeon will let you in with an assault rifle.”

Wolfe shrugged. “We’ll see.”

            He knew she was most likely right. Most dungeons were odd about what could go in, and the older the dungeon, the less it tended to allow modern weapons, especially larger ones. Most dungeon’s let pistols in, and a few let some pretty heavy ones in—there was a documented case of one allowing someone in with a tripod-mounted, belt-fed machine gun—but there were more that wouldn’t even allow pistols than those that let people in with semi-automatic rifles.

            The dungeons had always been picky. There was a hilarious story he’d heard way back in high school from one of his cool history teachers. Mr. Hammonds, Wolfe thought. It had been about one of the English kings that had tried to take a ballistae into a dungeon and been rejected.

            Still, after his close call on the boat against the Weeds gang, Wolfe knew he needed to up his game. He was wearing a bullet-proof jacket and carrying both is STI Edge in its holster, and an AR-15 in his hands.

            Then Shel busted up laughing. “No one sold him an Ar-15. It’s mine.”

            Wolfe frowned as the other two chuckled and Miriam said, “That makes sense.”

            Wolfe saw a glow up ahead. “Oh look, we’re here. Shame we can’t talk about this anymore.”

            The group of four walked up to the gate. It was as Miriam had described it—a solid door in the side of the rock, metal, with no handle. Around the door was lava coming from nowhere, pouring down past the door on either side, and returning to nowhere. Wolfe immediately started to sweat, but even when he got close, he was never close to getting burned.

            Wolfe touched the door of metal.

            A notification popped up. No firearms are allowed inside the dungeon.

            Wolfe grimaced and turned to the others, placing his AR-15 on the side of the gate. “No firearms at all, not even pistols.”

            Derek and Shel groaned and pulled their pistol holsters off, setting them next to Wolfe’s semi-automatic rifle.

            “My club is looking pretty smart right about now,” Miriam crowed.

            Wolfe patted his new hunting knife even as he set his own STI edge down. “I’m doing okay in the ‘up close and personal’ department.”

            Derek half-heartily hefted his own pitchfork. “I’m doing… not miserably.”

            Miriam laughed musically and placed her hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be fine, my little imp.”

            Wolfe eyed Miriam. I know she told me she hams it up as camouflage, to convince people she’s not dangerous, but I think she just loves the games as well.

            Miriam pulled her deck, touching her hand to her chest and then splaying it outward. Bone-white and Purple cards, four of them, appeared, as well as a fifth bone-white card off to the side.

            “Ooh, got it in one,” she said, touching a purple card.

            The vague outline of an eye appeared, staring at the dungeon entrance. “So, this is a Level one to a level thirty-five dungeon, group, with Fire, Elemental, and Nature types. It’s called Loowitlatkla’s Fall, and has three levels.”

            “Hmm,” Wolfe muttered.

            Shel pulled her phone out.

            “You’re getting reception down here?” Wolfe asked, bemused.

            She laughed. “No. I did a bunch of research on dungeons last night, after you fell asleep. I kept the stuff on my phone so we could reference it inside the dungeon, but this also works.”

            She paused, scolling something on her phone, then spoke again. “Most dungeon’s have a floor per ten levels, and a boss at the end of each floor, with a single sub-boss on each floor as well.” She scrolled again. “Plus a final boss. But that’s just the usual, almost fifty percent of dungeon’s deviate from that. And group means its designed to challenge three-to-four deckbearers at a time, so we’re pretty much on spec for this.”

            “Although way over level for most of it,” Wolfe said as he reached over and touched the metal door again.

            Without any warning, he found himself sweating in the near-burning heat of a huge cavern. He was standing on a ten-foot-wide ledge around a lake of lava. But at the edge of the lake of lava, impossibly, were small, bright green plants. And the rest of the dungeon was a riot of colors as well. Cereboo,  Malviere, and the Obsessed Infernal Cultist had appeared next to him the second he entered.

            Wolfe got about twenty seconds to stare before a bat, made of fire, flew at Cereboo.

Least Firebat

Dungeon Monster Fire [Bat] Creature

Health: 3

Attack: N/A

Defense: 1

Magical Attack: 4

Magical Defense: 1

Special: Incorporeal: This creature is not affected by physical attacks

Special: Thorns [Fire 3]: Whenever this creature is attacked in melee or brawl, the attacker takes three true damage as Fire.

“I hate elementals.”—Hoyaneh, Iroquois Deckbearer

            Wolfe stepped back against the gate, and Malviere called out, “Fall” in her otherworldy voice. Black energy shaped like a dog hit the bat even as it hit Cereboo. Cereboo yipped from two of his heads, but the bat disintegrated.

            Wolfe removed the ‘0 xp’ notification—the bat had been equivalent level of two, far too low for him to gain experience.

            A moment later, Derek appeared, and after that Miriam and Shel stepped in.

            Miriam fanned herself with her free hand, beads of sweat forming on her instantly. “Maybe I should have been naked.”

            “Please don’t,” Wolfe responded, and Miriam chuckled.

            A few more bats were flying across the lake, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Wolfe did see a single tunnel exit on the far side, however.

            “Shall we?” he asked, pointing.

***

            Light beams from Sorenia and Artenia cleaved the Fire Bear Cub in twain.

Derek called out, “Ding!”

            Shel clapped her hands silently. “Congratulations, Derek! That’s two levels, right?”

            Derek nodded. “Yeah. The Frozen Cairn was nice, but aside from two losing arena battles, I haven’t had any other chances to level, so this has been wonderful. Especially since with you and Wolfe and your insane decks around, this is basically just me being power leveled.”

            Derek clasped Wolfe on the shoulder. “You’ve always had my back, man.”

            Wolfe shrugged out of it. “Miriam has your back, not me. I just appreciate a guy that can be relied upon to not be utterly incompetent.”

            Derek nodded with a half smile.

            “How much further to the first boss, do you think?” Miriam asked. “I mean, I’m getting some nice experience. But I’m also pretty tired of watching Malviere, Sorenia, and Artenia just burn everything down while the rest of us do jack. Plus, getting no cards is pretty irritating.”

            “Well, that bear cub was level nine, so I’d bet we’re about to find the first boss,” Shel replied, her eyes staring at nothing while she checked notifications, Wolfe assumed.

            Shel continued. “And if we’re getting no cards now we can expect to get an extra-large reward from the floor boss. Dungeons are usually pretty consistent in output.”

            The group walked from the tunnel into the next cavern. It was about fifty feet on a side, with a few tiny rivulets of lava throughout it.     

            In the center stood a giant—a man, twelve feet tall, covered in stone, and carrying a massive stone club.

            “I don’t think my own nine-iron is going to do much,” Miriam said with a cute frown. “In fact, I’m beginning to regret having brought it.”

            Wolfe stared at the boss card.

Stonecoat Scout Leader

Dungeon Monster Boss, Elemental [Earth, Humanoid] creature

Health: 100

Attack: 10

Defense: 10

Magical Attack: N/A

Magical Defense: 7

Special: Stone skin: This creature has resistance to all physical attacks

“If he survives, he’ll bring the others.”—Sachem, Iroquois Chief

            “Watch the lava, I think that’s what makes this fight even slightly dangerous to us,” Wolfe said. He’s had a hand of cards out for some time, waiting for the moment to actually fight, as opposed to letting the companion cards handle everything.

            He touched his second Obsessed Infernal Cultist, summoning it onto the battlefield.

            At the same time, Cereboo raced toward the Stonecoat Scout Leader. Malviere whispered words of power, and the already pumped up Cereboo flew into action. He hit the Dungeon Boss six times, each for a net of two damage, knocking an eighth of the creatures health. But that was mere seconds before he was slammed with the club. He was picked up and carried through the air, taking just over his Health in damage and dissolving into red light.

            A tiny Imp poked the Stonecoat, shipping it a tiny bit.

            Wolfe glanced over at Derek with a raised eyebrow.

            “My deck isn’t that great,” Derek said sheepishly.

            “You will pay for hurting Big Brother,” Malviere intoned, slamming her spirit dog into the creature. At the same time, light beams from the two lantern angels hit it. The damage was more than Cereboo’s teeth chewing on it. Malviere’s Death attack did nothing, the dog dissipating against the creature.

Elemental Type was immune to Death, Wolfe remembered.

By contrast, each Light beam carved significant damage into the creature, inflicting a net of seventeen more damage.

Wolfe tossed his Demonic Portal, going for the maximum creature build. He dropped a Gehennan Kennel Master and the Tier-four Angry Hellhound. The Hellhound was instantly effected by the Kennel Master’s Motivation ability, and made an attack that doubled up—a net hundred and twenty-one damage physical attack and a net forty-nine point magical attack for another eleven damage.

Artenia and Sorenia fired again, and Malviere used her own ability to give the Angry Hellhound another attack. The stone on the enemy cracked, and the blood began to leak through the edges.

Miriam screamed, a noise half sound, half mental pressure, but the Elemental ignored her psychic attack as well.

Wolfe was a bit annoyed when the Stonecoat Scout Leader clubbed his hellhound out of existence, but he swiped his cards, got another Demonic Portal, and brought out two Tier-Three Angry Hellhounds and a Lost Hellhound Puppy.

Two vampires began wailing on the boss, as well as a couple more imps.

The boss went down to a hoard of creatures and companions the next round, dropping a pack of cards and a separate single card.

“That wasn’t that hard,” Derek noted.

Wolfe wasn’t so sanguine. “Maybe. But that was a level ten boss, and we’ve got someone over thirty and someone almost twenty-five. Our decks are the best against the Elemental type.”

“Should we stop?” Shel asked as she walked over and picked the pack and card up.

Wolfe snorted. “Definitely not—that was easy. Let’s get you to Level Twenty-Five and get some cards. I’m sure we’ll be fine to at least the next boss.”

He walked over to Shel.

“What’d we get?”