The Skeleton Mansion and the Horned Hare
[ Welcome to "The Skeleton Mansion" [F]
The Skeleton Mansion is an [F] rank Dungeon. The mansion has four floors. The first three floors are full of different kinds of Skeleton monsters. Get to the Fourth Floor to leave the Dungeon. Monsters such as Skeletons[F-] and Skeleton Soldiers[F] can be found.
Participants: 3 Humans.
Clear Requirement: Climb to the Fourth Floor
Minimal individual reward: 100 Gold Coins, 200 Experience Points.
]
The three who entered the Dungeon looking for loot were disappointed.
"What? 200 Experience Points? For real? I need thousands to level up though!" Salma complained.
"Right. Let's hope there are lots of them." Adam said.
"Are you for real? Let's not wish for more monsters who want nothing but our death. We're trying to get Artefacts anyways, not Experience Points." Layla scolded them.
"Right..." The two muttered.
"Where are we anyways?" Layla asked.
She looked around and couldn't see anything except two moons in the sky.
The moons overlapped.
Salma had two Skills that helped her in the dark, Cat Senses and Fox Vision.
Adam had the Skill Night Vision.
Layla was the only one who couldn't see much around them.
"Looks like a graveyard. I don't know how spacious it is. In front of us, there's the mansion I guess. The door is fifteen meters in front of us. Must be the entrance." Adam said as he looked around them.
"Yep. The graveyard is big. It stretches further than I can see. I can't hear any sounds coming from there. It's creepy." Salma added.
"I hope there'll be light inside." Layla said as she looked at the two moons.
"The whole atmosphere is creepy. Light, come out." Adam said.
The large black wolf appeared in front of the two.
"You should be able to see well in the dark. You get 100% of the Experience Points the monsters you kill drop." Light rubbed its head against Adam's shoulder.
"Oh. My Sponsor wants me to use the Fire Fox. The more enemies he burns, the gets stronger he gets." Salma said as she summoned her Fire Fox.
"I guess we'll just hang out behind them then. We can leave the fighting to them. I'm sure they'll be enough." Layla said.
Adam took out Python too.
"Python, you stay behind Light. Alright? Like we did in The Testing Room."
Adam walked up to the door and opened it.
Everyone went in.
The ceiling was pretty high, at least three meters high.
"There are lots of monsters here. About sixty." Adam said.
"Yeah. 58 on this floor."Salma added.
"Is that so?" Layla asked.
The atmosphere sent shivers to her body. She was the only who couldn't see anything except her companions.
"You guys go." Adam ordered his Familiars.
"Little fox, I'll call you Foxie... No, too basic. Roxie. Roxie, go and get rid of more monsters than them." Salma told her Fire Fox.
Light and the newly named Roxie ran next to each other while Python stayed behind.
As soon as they took about ten steps away from the door, the whole floor got illuminated.
Lamps on the ceiling and the walls lit up.
"That's better. Yeah. Lots of Skeletons. The floor is very spacious too. The stairs that take you upstairs are about fifty meters away. Maybe it's possible to sprint until the Fourth Floor without fighting." Layla said with a relieved expression.
Light ran towards the weak Skeletons and either bit them with his fierce fangs and destroyed them in one hit, or swung his paws to slash them with his claws before Python finished them with a Fire Ball. They worked perfectly together.
On the other side of the room, Roxie was getting rid of monsters cunningly, by pushing a Skeleton's legs, causing it to fall down, shooting a strong Fire Ball at a second Skeleton before slashing the fallen Skeleton with fiery claws.
"Kayla, can I see Roxie's Status?" Salma asked.
[ Summoned By: Salma
Time Left: 13minutes and 14seconds
Name: Roxie
Species : Fire Fox
HP: 180/180
Endurance: 85/90
Mana Points: 200/250
Stats: Strength: 10
Agility: 35
Sense: 30
Mana: 25
Vigor & Endurance: 18
Skill(s): Fire Ball
Fire Resistance
Fire Claws
]
"Oh. Right. It gets stronger the more enemies it burns. I'm the one getting the Experience Points the Skeletons drop." Salma told the other two.
"So am the only one who's not gaining anything from this, huh? Even Adam will gain Experience Points after getting out of the Dungeon..." Layla pointed out.
"Oh yeah, that's true. You can be the second one to pick from the Artefacts we get." Adam told her.
"If we get any..." Layla added.
"Every Skeleton drops 5 Experience Points and 2 Gold Coins. Don't worry about it." Salma comforted her sister.
After about ten minutes, all the Skeletons were wiped out.
"Light gained 120Experience Points. Python about 30. That's not impressive at all."
"I got 140." Salma said.
"Oh. Alright." Layla chuckled. "Nothing to be jealous about." She added.
They went up the stairs.
The floor they arrived at was exactly on top of the one before.
Once again, the room lit up.
It was an exact copy of the one below.
"86 of them. Some look stronger than others." Salma said.
"Probably Skeleton Soldiers. They look more sturdy and have Swords and Shields." Adam added.
"Then there are 36 Skeleton Soldiers."
The three monsters continued their raid on The Skeleton Mansion.
The Skeleton Soldiers were armed and they had more Health Points than simple Skeletons.
Roxie had no problem defeating them with the same strategy it used before.
Whenever a Skeleton Soldier raised its Shield, Light would jump on it and the Skeleton would fall on its back. Python would finish the ones on the ground.
Once the Fire Fox's time limit came, it was engulfed in flames. Once the flames faded, it had disappeared.
Salma simply summoned it once more and it continued fighting.
Skeleton Soldiers gave 5Gold Coins and 10 Experience Points.
Since Adam gave 100% of the Experience Points to his Tamed Monsters, he only received the Gold Coins.
It took a little over 20 minutes for all of them to be wiped out.
Light gained 215 Experience Points, Python 65 and Salma gained 230. Roxie defeated a bit less than half the monsters.
"This is pretty boring." Layla said as they walked towards the stairs.
"Yeah! Nothing to be afraid of!" Salma shouted.
"Maybe there's a Hidden Location in the Graveyard." Adam said.
"Well, I'm sure some Dungeons don't have Hidden Locations. Let's clear the Dungeon first. We'll still have 24 hours after that." Layla told Adam.
The Third Floor was an exact copy of the one below.
Of course, it had more monsters.
"Wow. 120 in total. It's getting crowded here. Most of them are Skeleton Soldiers." Salma said.
She summoned Roxie once more.
She summoned it once more before all the Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers were wiped out.
"Both Light and Python leveled up once." Adam said once all the monsters were wiped out.
"I guess an [E] rank Dungeon wouldn't be too hard." Layla told them.
The two looked at her with surprised faces.
They were used to her being the voice of reason.
"What? I'm being realistic. This is not only easy, but also boring and kind of pointless if we don't find a Hidden Location." She explained.
The two nodded.
They made their way to the Fourth Floor.
The room lit up once more.
[Congratulations! ]
[You have reached the Fourth Floor of "The Skeleton Mansion". You have cleared the Dungeon.]
"Wasn't that hard." Layla chuckled as she high-fived Salma.
"There's a door there." Adam pointed to the other end of the room.
"Do we dare?" Layla asked jokingly.
The three, accompanied by the three monsters, walked towards the door.
They stopped in front of it.
The door was huge.
It arrived to the ceiling and was very wide.
[Evil Beings want you to open that door.]
[Gods that adore blood want you to open that door.]
Suddenly, the three of them felt a very light breeze guiding them away from the door.
"Huh?" Layla was surprised.
"Right?" Adam said.
"What? What?" Salma asked.
"I thought this would be the Hidden Location. But the wind is guiding us that way, towards the Graveyard." Layla explained.
"What wind?" The youngest sister asked.
"The one from our Titles." Adam answered.
Layla nodded.
"This could be a trap, I guess. Maybe to trap the greedy ones?" She said.
"Might be a strong monster behind the door. Salma, can you tell?" Adam asked the red-haired Salma.
"No. There's a small room on the other side. But nothing is moving. Skeletons are hard to notice since they're not really alive. They don't make noise except if they move." Salma explained.
It made sense, since Skeletons didn't breathe. They didn't have a heart beating inside their body either.
These factors made their presence hard to notice.
"I think we can do it though." Adam said.
"It's an [F] rank Dungeon. It can't be that hard." Layla added as she took steps towards the huge door.
She pushed it open and quickly stepped back.
"Oh. There is a monster." Salma said.
"And??" Layla shouted.
"It's slow." She answered.
The room was very dark.
Adam could see something stand up from some kind of throne or seat.
[ You have awoken The Skeleton General [E-].]
Loud footsteps could be heard.
The three stepped back to the center of the room.
The Tamed and Summoned Monsters were at their sides.
A couple of seconds later, a huge monster made its way outside the room.
"It's slow. Even after waking it up, you have time to leave the Dungeon." Adam noted.
"Can I have it?" Layla asked.
The other two shrugged their shoulders and stood back with their monsters.
[The Everlasting Winter is cheering you on.]
Although Salma stood back, she was aiming a Fire Arrow at the monster, in case Layla got in trouble at any point in time.
Adam too, was ready to jump in at any time.
But the rank of the monster was given. It was an [E] rank monster.
Stronger than Mutated Black Widows[E-].
It had the same rank as a Spider Queen's Guard[E], which made it strong.
But not strong enough to make them sweat.
The closest comparison Adam could make was the Red Orc he fought in The Testing Room.
"It's all muscles, no brain. Probably." He told Layla.
"Don't worry about it." She said.
The monster was a lot bigger than the previous Skeletons.
It was about 2.5meters tall and its upper body was covered in armor.
Its bones were a lot thicker and looked bulkier than those of the previous monsters.
Although, its arms looked skinny.
In its right hand, a greatsword made of iron.
"Oh..." Adam muttered.
"I get to pick Artefacts before you, remember?" Layla said without turning back.
She took steps towards the slow-moving foe while taking out her two Iron Maces.
'Gotta smash the bones. The Spear or the Dagger aren't good matches against it.'
The monster was taking heavy and slow steps towards Layla.
Once the distance between them was about 3 meters, the monster made its move.
"Layla!" Salma shouted.
The monster swung its greatsword with one arm in a downward motion with great strength.
Adam's eyes widened.
He didn't expect such speed coming from the monster.
Although the attack was faster than she expected, Layla easily dodged by turning her body sideways and stepping back.
The monster's attack hit the ground in front of her.
The floor being made of wood, pieces of it flew in the air.
Layla quickly slammed both her Iron Maces on the monster's extended arm.
Cracks appeared on the bones, but it wasn't enough to break them.
The monster pulled its arm back and Layla got closer to its body.
She stood right in front of it and it tried punching her with its left unarmed arm.
Layla ducked down and threw the Iron Mace she had in her left hand on the ground.
'Acceleration' She thought.
For the next ten seconds, she would be a lot faster than the monster.
Layla extended her left arm towards the monster and grabbed its knee, where bones connected.
'Freeze.'
Its knee and part of its leg froze.
Even though she used all her Mana Points, a small portion of the leg was frozen.
'Tougher than I thought. Still, the knee was what I wanted to freeze.'
Layla quickly slammed her Iron Mace on the monster's knee three times.
She managed to break its leg.
The Skeleton General fell to the ground on its back.
'Game Over.' The three thought.
Once it hit the ground, she slammed her Iron Mace many more times on its head.
Salma felt a cold breeze and turned around.
She knew the fight was already over.
[1 Skeleton General has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 200Gold and 400Experience Points.]
[Additionnal rewards will be added to the dungeon clearance rewards.]
She turned back at Salma and Adam after reading the message.
"Easy enough." Layla said as she put her Weapons back in her Inventory.
[ You have received the following Artefacts and Items:
{Bronze Vest[E-]} {Iron Greatsword[F+]} ]
"Should we go follow that wind now?" Layla added.
"Haha. I think the wind doesn't have anything to do with that Title. I hadn't noticed, but there's a window next to the stairs." Salma said as she pointed.
"Oh. We never looked that way I guess. We didn't feel the wind when we were outside the Mansion either so that makes sense." Adam said.
Layla went inside the room the monster had gone out from.
"Nothing here."
"Should we still go check that Graveyard?" Adam asked.
"Sounds boring. Let's just leave." Salma answered.
[You have expressed your desire to leave the Dungeon "The Skeleton Mansion".]
A Gate appeared at the center of the room.
They made their way outside.
"That took about two hours of standing around." Layla said jokingly as she looked at the messages she received.
[You have cleared the Dungeon "The Skeleton Mansion".]
[Rewards are being calculated.]
[Achievements:
You have reached the Fourth Floor.
You have defeated 1 Skeleton General. ]
[ Reward per achievement:
Reaching The Fourth Floor: 100 Gold Coins + 200 Experience Points.
Defeating 1 Skeleton General: 700 Experience Points.]
[You have received 100 Gold Coins and 900 Experience Points.]
Since Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers gave a minuscule amount of Experience Points, at the end, the three had gained about the same amount of Experience Points.
"Only need about 10 of these Dungeons to level up hahaha." Salma said while laughing.
They were back in the sunny plain they had left less than two hours before.
Adam called back his Tamed Monsters into his Monster Tamer Bracelet.
"Here. Adam, can you fuse these together?" Layla asked as she handed him the Bronze Vest and the Iron Greatsword she had received.
"Sure."
He grabbed the two Artefacts.
They turned into dust before taking a new form.
A brown greatsword made of bronze appeared.
Adam handed Layla the weapon
She grabbed it between her hands.
"Weird. It's heavier even though its Attack Power is lower..." She muttered.
"It's lighter than my Goblin Chief's Greatsword." Adam added.
"Can I have it? My Sponsor says that I should train with it from time to time." Salma told the other two.
Adam and Layla looked at each other.
'Maybe we can actually trust her Sponsor?' They thought.
Layla handed her sister the Bronze Greatsword and Salma immediately put it in her Storage.
There five Dungeons around the house and the fields.
The Testing Room is to the North and the one they just got out from was to the South.
The spider Dungeon was to the East and the first one Adam had entered was to the West.
"The last one is close to this one, right?" Adam asked.
"Yeah. We found it while playing around before you arrived." Layla answered.
"I think it's this way." Salma said as she pointed to her left.
"Let's clear this last one and call it a day." The dark-haired Layla exclaimed as she walked in the direction Salma pointed towards.
After about 20 minutes of walking, they found a Blue Gate.
Without any hesitation, the three stepped inside.
They found themselves on a plain.
It wasn't that different from the one they were in before.
The weather was lovely and no enemies could be seen.
[ Welcome to "The Horned Hare's Domain" [F]
The Horned Hare is an [F] rank monster. It only attacks when attacked. The Horned Hare wears an Artefact that makes it extremely agile. Catch the Horned Hare to clear the Dungeon.
Participants: 3 Humans.
Clear Requirement: Catch the Horned Hare.
Minimal individual reward: 500 Gold Coins and100 Experience Points.
Special Reward: The one to catch the Horned Hare shall obtain the Artefact.
]
"Fun!!" Salma shouted as she jumped up after reading the description.
"Nothing like the Dungeons we know." Layla said.
After a bit, she turned towards Adam.
He was looking at the ground with his fists clenched.
Layla looked at him with pity.
'What if the Dungeon we had entered was like this one? That's probably what you're thinking, Adam?' She thought.
Salma, seeing him deep in thought, pulled his arm down.
"Come! Let's catch it! I can tell where it is hiding!" She said with a wide smile.
He let out a weak smile and nodded.
Layla looked at the two running towards the Horned Hare.
It noticed them once they were about 10 meters away.
The monster started sprinting away.
'They're running pretty slowly. Even Salma who has the lowest Agility out of the three of us could catch the Horned Hare easily. I guess she's been considerate. She wants Adam to laugh and have a good time. Meanwhile, all he can think about is that it could've been his family members he was running with right now. I wonder if we can cheer him up. Maybe we can't do anything for him...' Layla wondered as she sat on the green grass.
[ The Everlasting Winter approves of your character.]
'I wonder if time heals all wounds...'