As the bones of the skeletal dragon fall to the floor, Lina and Ashen remain unmoving as the dust settles in a state of disbelief.
It may have only been a skeleton monster of a juvenile dragon but it is still significant.
Lina goes over to Ashen, who has broken bones and can’t get up after taking a hit from the monster.
Lina could take this opportunity to kill him since he is a Priest of Death, she stands over him and slowly draws her dagger.
Though she raises it to herself, cutting fabric off from her own cloak and using it to help patch up Ashen saying,
“You owe me one.”
Ashen simply smiles and chuckles with a pained breath.
“We aren’t out of the woods yet, knowing my luck this was only the beginning, still.”
Ashen is quiet for a long moment before saying,
“Thanks for not dying on me.”
Lina is quiet for a long moment before finishing his bandages,
“You certainly don’t sound like a Priest of Death, why did you choose that religion anyways?”
Ashen’s soft smiles fades as he ponders for a moment,
“Hard to say, did you have a choice when you became an Attuned?”
Lina admits he has a point, from what she heard, the bishops found her when she was a baby having survived a landslide that killed her family by which she was already an Attuned.
Later after she has recovered enough energy, she heals Ashen enough to where he can stand.
They start gathering the bones and Ashen grabs his dagger now shattered into pieces. Then he says,
“I still can’t believe you gave up a piece of your soul to a priest of death, are you not scared that there might be repercussions later on?”
Lina ignores his words not wanting to consider it, they finish packing all the bones into their magically expanding bags then rest in the small room they fell into.
Over the next few hours they rest then start trying to make their way out of here.
Seems the rest of the monsters on the 8th floor are Skeletal Orcs, they are strong but not nearly as bad as the Skeletal Dragon which must have wandered up from the 9th floor.
Ashen’s luck really is the worst and Lina has to deal with it too. The only good news is because they faced hell against the dragon, they can use the bones it left behind to help them get past the orcs like tough clubs. They do not face much trouble as they make their way from the 8th floor to the 6th as the higher the floor the easier the monsters.
Lina is feeling confident they can beat the Mini Boss on the 5th floor and make it home as she makes a funny remark,
“I used to think my luck was terrible, monsters rarely leave their original floors yet not only did it, it then guarded our only exit.”
Ashen isn’t smiling.
“My luck has been a lot worse, in fact this has been pretty tame by comparison.”
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Lina is intrigued,
“Really? Spill.”
Ashen frowns slightly,
“Well there was one time the Honor faction had 4 A rank adventurers watching me after others started going missing around me, but then we happened to stumble upon a Minotaur who killed them all. Then since it couldn’t be found afterwards, they assumed I was lying about the Minotaur and that I killed the 4 A ranks.”
Lina admits that is much more unlucky,
“Maybe your luck has turned around?”
Ashen isn’t convinced as they press forward. They make it to the top of the stairs and prepare to fight for the fight of their lives.
They open the door but inside the Skeleton of the Cyclops monster is already defeated.
But Lina and Ashen aren’t celebrating, there stands a group of Paladins and other priests of the church of Life as well as many other high ranking priests who are allied with them.
But Lina’s eyes are drawn to one holding a golden compass who smiles as he sees her, Evan, her adoptive father, and one of the bishops planning on sacrificing her.
Evan gets up from the bones of the Cyclops which lays dead with barely a scratch on Evan, he then walks a few steps towards Lina but stops as she draws her knife in anger as he says,
“Lina, this farce ends now, you’re coming home with me.”
Lina can feel her heart pounding inside her chest, all these people standing before her are extremely powerful. How did they find her in a dungeon anyways?
Lina gulps then grabs Ashen’s wrist as she and him flee back down the stairs, further into the dungeon. Ashen speaks up first,
“Any ideas?”
Lina wracks her brain to try and find a solution, the paladins are chasing them as they hear metallic steps of their armor chase them down.
They have a head start but the paladins will be faster than them. Lina starts pulling Ashen towards an area to hide in but is pulled back by him.
“No, it will only be a matter of time before they find us in a place like that. Let’s go further down and use the leftover monsters to our advantage, with such a large group they won’t be able to sneak around the monsters like we can so it will slow them down.”
Lina agrees as they head down the stairs. Her lungs and heart are in pain as they slow down on the stairs to the 9th floor a bit later but they keep walking as they hear their group fighting the skeletal orcs behind them.
Lina turns to Ashen and says hesitantly,
“You could hide, it’s me they are after not you.”
Ashen is quiet for a moment.
“True but you’re the first companion who hasn’t died on me, besides it’s as the scriptures of death say. Death should not be feared but avoided at all costs.”
With that they continue deeper, onto the 9th floor filled with skeletal Dragons.
From this point they have to be extremely careful as there is no way they can even take down one of them.
They enter a large room with stone pillars around the edges of the rectangular structure. As they hide behind one, they almost vomit from the closeness of the massive Skeletal Dragons wandering around them.
They also see a large stone door at the head and other end of the large hall from the stairs, The boss door.
They make their way to the boss door then start making their ways down a path by it when Ashen says,
“Wait, if we go down there we will just be trapped until they clear this floor.”
Lina is frustrated not at Ashen but the situation,
“Well what do you suggest?”
Ashen looks towards the giant stone doors and responds,
“They are so desperate to capture you that they came all this way.”
He turns towards her to explain his plan but his eyes go wide instead. One of the skeletal dragons spots them and Ashen barely pulls both of them out of the way as the pillar blocks the dragon’s flames.
“We don’t have time for this, Go into the boss room.”
Lina snaps at Ashen, “Are you nuts?!”
The Paladins are at the far side of the room fighting most of the Skeletal Dragons yet one still found them. As the Skeletal dragon prepares to attack again this time with its claw, Ashen says,
“Please just trust me.”
Lina angrily clicks her tongue and opens the door to the boss room, the Skeletal dragon’s claw hits the door as she barely makes it inside before it crushes her.
She then turns towards the door expecting Ashen to enter but he doesn’t.
Then after a moment of anger and frustration, she notices the torches around the room lighting with blue flames revealing a massive pile of bones in the center.
The bones start moving on their own forming a skeletal Dragon. But Lina knows this isn’t just any Skeletal Dragon, it’s made from the bones of an Ancient Dragon, easily an S rank monster.
She then hears the doors behind her open, she turns back towards it with a hopeful smile only to see Evan along with his party enter tired but still in good condition.
The doors slam shut behind them trapping everyone inside till the boss dies.
Lina looks around, she is trapped in an enclosed room, on one side is an S rank boss monster.
On the other is a group of Paladins and her former Caretaker here to capture her for a sacrifice.
Lina smiles from fear as she shakily raises her arms to try and balance her light headed mind, she is dizzy knowing one hard truth. She’s trapped.
