A Soldier's Life - 436 - Enter At Your Own Risk (edit 8-14-25 fixed plot inconsistencies)

Chapter 436: Enter At Your Own Risk

We kept track of the ghouls as we rushed across the lava flats. Lesser undead like the ghouls couldn't move very fast. Since they had no circulating blood, they used nether essence to contract and relax necrotic-infested muscles and tendons. It caused their movements to be jerky, and they could only move at a quick walk. Still, they were clearly moving to intercept us, so someone was directing them. As our boots scuffed along the worn path across the lava rocks, almost everyone was silent. Only Bharok muttered annoyance about seawater squelching in his boots.

We slowed as we approached the jungle. Fenlorian ordered the woods scouted before we entered. When the all clear was given, we moved as a group into the woods. The absence of animal sounds in the tropical forest unsettled me as we approached. At least my earth drake boots had dried enough that I was beginning to get clear images from my earth pulses.

Just a hundred yards in, an obsidian faceted monolith stood tall and proud in a clearing. One facet of the monolith had the familiar oily surface of a dungeon entrance. “The site has been cleared recently,” I said as our group entered the clearing. Evidence of cut branches and trampled earth was easy to spot.

“They have been utilizing the dungeon…” Fenlorian said slowly. “It must be the soulless.”

“Why not the undead?” Baelira asked with skepticism. Fenlorian didn’t appear to pick up that Baelira’s doubt was directed at him.

“The dungeon pact does not extend to the undead. The dungeons do not need to follow the compact rules when undead enter,” Lepidus answered flatly. “We have little time before the ghouls arrive.”

Fenlorian ordered five Sentinels to enter the dungeon. I was not one of them, but as the fifth disappeared into the entrance, the oily surface turned dull black and solidified. Seeing this, the Sentinels got upset. A minute later, the five who had entered exited the dungeon, confirming it was functioning normally. It raised more questions, but it was clear this dungeon had not been affected unless it had regained control and the undead lords had cleaned up the bodies of the escaped monsters. However, there were no signs of combat around the clearing.

“Who is going to seek refuge inside?” a sailor asked worriedly.

“Refuge? You are just trapping yourself in there if you enter. We should head to the coast and outpace the undead until we can get picked up,” Torandir voiced his opinion.

Fenlorian stopped any argument. “We do not have time to bicker. The ghouls will be here soon. There is danger in entering the dungeon, not just from the creatures inside, but also when you exit, you won't know what you'll face. Torandir and I will lead those not entering west and back along the coast. Hopefully, the second ship will find us. We will wait offshore for the entire day so that those who entered the dungeon can find us when they exit.”

“I cannot sustain fast movement,” Lepidus said in his dry voice. “I will enter the dungeon as my slowness will endanger the group.”

“Will the dungeon see you as an undead? Doesn’t that mean it will be allowed to break the rules?” I said unsympathetically.

“No, it will not see me as an undead,” Lepidus said louder than his normal flat tone. Fenlorian had said Lepidus was neither living nor undead, trapped between the two states.

Fenlorian interrupted and voiced his urgency. “Five people need to enter now. Those with me will lead as many of the ghouls away as we can.”

“I don’t think anyone should trap themselves in the dungeon. If Lepidus wants to enter, he can enter by himself,” someone said.

Fenlorian shook his head. “No. More soulless are likely coming. If only one of us enters, then the soulless can enter. Four must join Lepidus.” His gaze travelled over our group and settled on me. “Eryk, Bharok, Baelira, and Zynrae will stay with Lepidus. It will give you a balance of defensive and offensive magic,” ending arguments and deciding.

I clenched my jaw, being ordered to stay, but it was true that Bharok and Baelira were the two best defensive mages of the eleven of us remaining. “The rest of you, we are going to move out to the flats so the ghouls can see us, and we will draw them away.” Fenlorian nodded to our group and turned away, leading the others.

“We should enter immediately,” Lepidus said, stepping into the dungeon entrance. I watched the other group disappear down the path before following. Bharok and Baelira waited for me and followed me through.

The entry chamber air was hot, humid, thick and stifling. Lepidus and Zynrae had led the way and stood in the center of an oval-shaped stone room. The walls were black stone, and writings in white chalk were everywhere. This was typical of entry rooms, with prior delvers leaving wisdom and knowledge. The strange thing about this chamber was the number of languages the script was in. I immediately recognized Latin, Orcish, Stone Giant, Elvish, and Spanish. There were other languages as well, including one that might be Egyptian hieroglyphs, but I was not sure.

Other than the oily-surfaced dungeon exit, only a narrow passage lined with ivy vines led out of the chamber. “There is no water here, but we just need to wait till mid-morning tomorrow and attempt to exit,” Lepidus said, sitting down.

I took a step toward the entrance to the maze to inspect the vines. I had read about the Creeping Vine Maze dungeon over the last week, and if the books were accurate, I knew exactly what lay beyond. “Rest. There is no need to enter,” he commanded. “The dungeon will not attack us in the safe room, and we will need our energy when we exit,” Lepidus said a little more diplomatically, seeing my reaction.

“I am aware,” I said, annoyed at being ordered by Lepidus. “I am still going to wander about for a bit.”

“Why? There is no point in risking your life,” Zynrae said, as he studied some of the writings on the wall.

“I won't go far,” I said dismissively and stepped into the narrow access. Outside the entry room, the floor of the dungeon was covered in black sand. The vines were poison ivy, but nothing more than an irritant that I could purge. Someone followed me, and I turned to see Baelira and Bharok close behind.

“We are supposed to keep you from getting yourself killed,” Bharok grumbled. I was slightly annoyed because I wanted to find some sand spiders to kill and use the collector. It didn’t look like my shadows would abandon their duty, though.

Baelira began explaining the maze to Bharok as we went further inside. The dwarf hadn’t studied with us during the past few days, as he had not expected to enter. “The maze changes every time you enter the dungeon, but will not change when you are inside. It is believed to cover about two square miles. There are some traps in the passages, but they are easy to spot.”

I stabbed magebane down into the back of a sand spider and leveraged the squirming spider out. “This dungeon is not like other dungeons, as there are spiders, creeping vines, and black oozes in traps in the corridors between the rooms.” I held up the twitching black spider the size of my head in front of the dwarf, who didn’t flinch away. “These spiders have a slow-working sleep poison. I might be able to salvage the poison sacks.” When it stilled, I gestured with my hand, and the spider disappeared.

A brief look of shock before understanding dawned on the dwarf’s face. He probably thought I wasted my void magic on it before realizing I stored it. “I brought cure poison potions for the sand spiders,” Baelira said from the back.

When I stabbed a second spider a few minutes later, Baelira asked. “How did you see it?”

“I can sense them through my boots,” I said, kicking the sand, and whipping the spider into the wall with my blade. It continued to twitch briefly before curling in on itself. I thought perhaps I could convince Baelira to keep my collector a secret, having fostered a relationship with her, but I didn’t know Bharok well enough. The second spider disappeared.

I pointed at the vines on the wall with magebane. “There are three types of vines in the corridors. These glossy leaf ones are just poison ivy and will cause you to break out in a blistered rash. It spreads wherever you touch yourself and is very unpleasant.” I found a dark three-lobed, spiked, leafed vine a few steps further down. “This is a normal grape vine. There are bunches of grapes in the corridors, and small beetles eat the grapes, then the spiders eat the beetles.”

“What is the last type?” Bharok asked, inspecting the leaves carefully.

“The creeping vines,” Baelira answered him with sarcasm. “The dungeon is called the Creeping Vine Maze.”

“Yes, the creeping vines. They look just like the grape vines but have thorns. They move slowly, so they target the spider’s sleeping victims. They will have tiny black thorns that inject a numbing agent that also destroys tissue. The vines will pull you under the sand to be fertilizer,” I finished explaining.

“And why are we exploring the dungeon again,” Bharok said, eyeing the vine-covered walls and sandy floor with apprehension.

“Reward chests?” Baelira guessed my reasoning.

“A few reward chests would be nice. Dungeons are not dangerous as long as you know your limits and are prepared.” I stopped at the entrance to the first room we had come to in the maze. We had walked quite a distance, and I had killed three spiders and I stored all of them.

“Is that a safe room?” Bharok said, stepping forward. I grabbed his cuirass, holding him back.

The square room beyond had a dark hardwood floor, a fireplace with glowing embers. There was a worn carpet in front of the fire. One large table had five comfortable-looking chairs around it. On the table was a roasted bird, glasses filled with a red liquid, bowls of vegetables and five place settings. “Mimic room,” Baelira and I echoed at the same time.

“The food is an illusion, and there are three mimics in the room according to the texts,” I said, scanning the room. “The fireplace and table are two of them, as their illusion ability has a very short range.”

“I thought mimics appeared as chests?” Bharok said more warily.

 “Ceiling?” Baelira guessed. A large chandelier hung there, but none of the candles in it were lit. I was very apprehensive about entering because this setting was not in any of the books. There were six inviting rooms mentioned in the books that hosted mimics and this was not one of them.

“Maybe the largest chair with the high back on it,” I guessed. If we were going to do this, there was no way I was not going to use the collector on the mimics.

I began to explain mimics to the dwarf. “They have extremely dense bodies. When you get close to them, they send out thick pseudopods that will stick to anything. Before you know it, your foot and arm are stuck to it and you can't do anything as it draws you into its mouth for a taste of dwarf.”

“I brought the oil of slipperiness,” Baelira said, reaching into her belt. I cocked my eyebrow at her for being so prepared. She shrugged. “Figured it was better to be prepared than not. There were crates of these potions in one of the storerooms.”

The dwarf grinned. “Heard the married couples like to sneak a few,” Bharok chuckled. “Might have borrowed a few myself.” Seeing we were not amused, he cleared his throat. “I am game to enter if you two are.”

I nodded and took the vial of thick blue oil from Baelira. She had two more for Bharok and herself. I removed my gloves and carefully applied the alchemical substance to my limbs and torso before putting my gloves back on. The oil only lasted about ten minutes after being exposed to air, so we would have to be quick. I tried to send out an earth pulse, but the entry into the room greatly muted the echo, and I couldn’t discern much beyond ten feet.

“I got the fireplace,” Bharok said as his knuckles cracked on the shaft of his hammer in anticipation.

“Baelira and I will focus on the table until we locate the third one, then I will handle it,” I said, offering a simple plan. “Ready?” After nods of confirmation, we rushed into the room…

© Copyrighted 2024, 2025 by AlwaysRollsAOne

No permission is granted to translate, copy, or repost this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site other than my Patreon, it has been stolen without my permission and violates the DMCA. Remember, this work is the result of my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removing or altering this notification acknowledges that you are aware that you are violating the DMCA. No permission is granted for my original work to be used to train AI.