The Rough Rider quickly ushered Titan out of the shop as everyone started asking him questions about Glenda.
Titan sat quietly going over the budget and making notes.
“Alright new rule. Don’t tell people your a student of Glenda.” Charlie said.
Titan frowned, shaking his head. “Is Glenda like a super star in the dungeon crawler community?”
The five males in the van all snorted in laughter.
“She’s a legendary Dungeon Crawler. Do you even know what type of class she is?”
“Glenda said she was a Sage with minor skills wizardry and combat instruction. She taught me how to use my Axiom Edge.”
“Holy shit.” Eddie said.
“What?” Titan asked half paying attention.
Charlie sat in the passenger seat. He shook his head. “You didn’t mention she taught you to use a weapon.”
Titan shrugged. “Isn’t that what trainers are supposed to do?” He said.
Hank snorted. “He got you there.” He said.
Charlie sighed. “We’ll talk about this shit later. We’re coming up on the location of the dungeon.” He said.
Eddie tapped Titan’s shoulder getting his attention. “How pretty is Glenda by the way? The reports seem to vary from one asshole to the next that has gotten a chance to work with her.”
“Glenda’s eyes are the color of the sea. Her hair is lush strawberry blond. Lips like rose petals. A perfect slim curvy body and she smells like good books and rich spices.”
Titan didn’t look up from his work to see Eddie staring at him open mouthed. The van stopped in front of a empty parking lot. Charlie got out first.
Titan put away his copy of the budget in his magic bag and looked at Eddie. “Are you going to get out of the van?” He asked.
Eddie snorted and then opened the door and exited quickly.
Titan followed him out of the van to stand outside facing an empty parking lot. He started to ask where the dungeon was.
Titans attention snapped to a glowing show door to one of the stores nearby.
Charlie nodded walking toward the door. “It’s inside. This one is an old dungeon that regenerates loot and monsters Every Forty-eight hours.”
Titan nodded. He rolled his shoulders. His heart started racing as he followed Rough Riders inside.
The veterans noticed the instant change in Titan and the signs of his nervousness.
Titan had a grim look on his face. Inside was empty but for the entrance the dungeon.
It looked the same as his first dungeon entrance. A rocky entrance leading into a dungeon.
A male wizard dressed in a blue military uniform stood by the entrance to the dungeon. Titans focused locked on him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
SYSTEM (ERROR) STATUS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Henry Hammer
Class: Wizard/Rogue (Rank III)
Level: 10
Focus Pool: 2,000/2,000
Health: 2,010/2,010
Primary Attribute: Perception: 9,000
Secondary Attributes:
- Strength (STR): 20
- Agility (AGI): 14
- Willpower (WIL): 160
- Endurance (END): 500
Titan frowned at his system status and the strange odd numbers.
Henry nodded to them. “You’re late. First crew got some loot then ran out.”
Charlie sighed but he nodded. “Thanks. It’ll be good practice for our Rookie.”
Hank glanced at Titan and started to turn away but focused on him with a keen gaze.
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“You look like somebody I know.” Hank said.
“Yeah. He’s Deacon’s son.” Charlie said quickly.
Hank frowned still staring at Titan. “That must be it. Anyway. This your first dungeon kid?”
Titan shook his head. “Second.” He said.
“Alright. Let’s go. Might be slim pickings but it will do. Titan will get some good practice.”
Charlie waved the others threw the door. The Rough Riders started entrancing the doorway.
Titan and Charlie were the last ones to enter. Titan didn’t relax until he was inside and an invisible shield was behind blocking the way out.
Charlie watched him closely. “It’ll get easier over time.” He said.
Titan nodded without comment. He took out his Axiom Edge and the blade glowed.
Titan scanned his surrounding silently as the others observed him.
The dungeon was much the same as the last one but for the ceiling was a stormy grey sky.
“Do you feel any enemies nearby?” Ronald asked.
Titan frowned and he looked up and around. He expanded his senses taking in his surroundings.
“What is it?” Charlie asked.
“No. How big is it?” Ronald asked.
Titan focused and saw something.
[Enemy Critical Analysis]
Dungeon Boss: Steel Spider
Health points: 500/500
“Steel Spider! Five hundred hit points.” Titan said.
“That’s impossible! The Sipder was killed five years ago when the dungeon first appeared.” Charlie said.
Titan felt danger. “It’s about to attack.”
“Titan I don’t see anything up there.” Ronald said.
TItan backed up and then he sprang for flipped through the air landing on his feet.
Titan kept his focus on the boss and heard something move behind him.
“TITAN MOVE!” Charlie said.
Titan blinked and was suddenly behind his enemy about to stab him in the throat.
“TITAN. STOP!” Charlie ordered.
Titan forced himself to stop before finishing his enemy and pushed his enemy toward his team mates.
Titan fell to his one knee. He was sweating and breathing heavy.
He gritted his teeth struggling to control himself. “Who the fuck are you?” He said.
[System Status]
Name: Madison Angles
Class: Warlock (Rank V)
Level: 43
Focus: 2,098/1,098
Health: 999/999
Primary Attribute: Perception: 250
Secondary Attributes:
- Strength (STR): 20
- Agility (AGI): 14
- Willpower (WIL): 160
- Endurance (END): 500
Primary Skill:
Illusion
Backstab
“Angles used Illusion to trick me. It won’t work next time.” Titan said.
The female started to speak but Ronald put his hand out in front of her eyes and flashed a light.
Madison screamed and then fell to the ground.
Hank started searching her back pack and robes while the others looked around.
Charlie walked over toward Titan. He took a hold of his shoulders. “We’re getting the fuck out of here.” He said.
“Charlie. What the hell is going on?”
“Not now. We need to get the fuck out of here before that bitch wakes up. Fucks with our miinds again.”
Charlie put an arm around Titan and put an arm around Tim.
“Ronald see what you can do to trick that fucking asshole to bring the shield down.” Charlie said.
“Hank. Get in a good position to take him out if you have to.”
Ronald moved fast up the stone steps to the entrance and banged on the entrance.
“LET ME OUT. GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. THEY’RE ALL DEAD. LET ME OUT.” Ronald yelled.
The shield suddenly went down and Henry appeared at the entrance. He started to say something but Ronald kneed him between the legs shoving him aside.
“Eveybody move out!” Charlie ordered.
Hank moved to help Charlie half carry Titan to the entrance and out.
They rushed out of the dungeon as Ronald watched Henry on the floor.
When they were out he flashed the light in his face. Henry passed out.
They rushed to the van packing inside and Eddie started up the van and burned rubber getting away.
“What the fuck happened?” Titan asked.
“We got in the middle of a guild war. That bitch is a part of a larger guild that knocks off strong Dungeon Crawlers.”
“She wanted to kill me?! Why I’m just a rookie.” Titan said.
Charlie snorted. “Don’t count yourself out. You’re pretty fast. No. You weren’t her target, she was just using you as practice before her real targets came.”
“Shit. Is this the kind of shit dad had to deal with too?”
Eddie snorted. “Oh no. Your daddy had perfect sense for sniffing out that bullshit.”
Titan was silent. “How did he end up dying in a dungeon?” He asked finally.
Everyone was silent. Charlie put an arm around Titan’s shoulder.
“The average career of a Crawler is eighteen to forty-five. He was a good Dungeon Crawler. But he wasn’t the best. He should have retired two years ago.”
“He worked a lot to pay for my college and dreamed of me becoming an accountant." Titan said.
“No. It wasn’t your fault. He died doing what he wanted to do. That’s what happened. It’s not right or wrong.”
Titan sighed. “Damn it. That bitch warlock made me miss a chance to make money.”
Ronald tapped a finger to his chin. “Titan. When you looked at the wizard guarding the dungeon. What did you see in his system menu?”
Titan frowned. “He was weird. HIs system menu said, wizard slash rogue. It didn’t make sense.”
“Okay. Why didn’t it make sense?”
“His rank and level and experience, it was all a mixed bag. He even had two class names. It’s like it was bullshit.” He said.
“Henry Hammer is dead.” Charlie said.
Titan froze. “I don’t understand.”
Eddie whistled. “Woo wee. We are in some deep political guild shit. That asshole was a rogue impostor.”
“Oh shit. We have to report this?” Titan said.
“No we can’t.” Charlie said.
Titan was silent for a few moments. “Why not?”
Charlie nodded his head.
“That bitch that almost killed you is a part of a big guild with big political power. We have to avoid involvement in this shit.”