The Human From a Dungeon

Nick Smith

Adventurer Level: 11

Human – American

We stared in shock as a huge, shadowy figure began to stand, its joints screeching with the effort. Then it began to approach us, sending shudders through the floor with each step. It took a lot to fight the animalistic urge to run. Finally, it stepped into the glow of our lights and I realized that it looked almost exactly like the robots we had been fighting, only much larger.

"Fuck, that's big," Garin muttered.

"That's what she said," Nifth replied with a grin, receiving a few groans in reply.

It was at least three times my height and twice as wide as I am at the shoulders. Its left arm ended in a blade, and its right arm ended in a hammer, just like the other robots. The biggest difference other than size was its face. Just like the other robots, its face was engraved into its metallic head. Unlike the other robots, its eyes were glowing with a teal light.

"I guess it fires its ranged attack from its eyes," I said.

"Look closer," Yulk advised.

In response to my confused expression, he gestured toward the boss as it came to a halt about a dozen feet away. I took a better look and noticed that the center of its hammer and also had a teal glow. That meant it could probably fire in at least two directions at once, unless the beams converged or something. I also noted that the glows were more than double the size of the ones we'd seen on the drones.

"Shit," I grumbled. "Does it have any weak-points that I can aim for?"

"Well, the limbs can't function if they're not connected to the body, so the joints would be a good bet," Yulk said.

"Right..." I gave Yulk a blank stare and turned my attention inward. 'Any ideas?'

'A penetrative shot to the power supply would disable it,' Ten replied. 'Probably.'

'Probably?'

'Well, it could have redundant power supplies or backup batteries. It is worth noting, however, that some power supplies explode when punctured.'

'So instead of two giant laser beams, we'd have to worry about a bomb,' I pinched the bridge of my nose.

'The explosion wouldn't be THAT big. We would be safe at this distance. Probably.'

'I guess that's a risk we can take, then. Where is its power supply located?'

'Nick,' Ten simulated a sigh. 'If I knew where its power supply was, I would know if it had redundant ones. I would also know what kind of power supply it is and whether or not it would explode.'

"Fuck," I mumbled aloud angrily. 'Okay, fine. Best guess?'

'Center mass, where the armor is thickest. Installing a power supply in an extremity would be pretty dumb. But who knows? Maybe a fool managed to get into robotics.'

"Dosten, let us know when you're ready to cast," Garin said. "Kirea, stick close to me and get ready to dodge if the initial volley doesn't kill it. Nifth, aim for the eyes."

"That was the plan," Nifth chuckled. "Gonna be using a skill caused Penetrative Shot, which will slow my rate of fire."

"Yeah, that's fine. Normal arrows would probably ding right off the fucker. Are you folks ready?" Garin asked, turning to me.

Yulk and Larie nodded. I took a deep breath, bracing myself. A somewhat stupid idea had occurred to me, and I was preemptively dreading the consequences.

"Yeah, we're ready when you are," I said. "We'll launch our attacks once Dosten and Nifth do."

Dosten, Yulk, and Larie raised a hand toward the boss. I raised both of my hands with my index fingers pointed toward the massive chest. I already knew that I could cast two bullets at once, but two steel bullets was unexplored territory.

I steadied my hands, hoping that I had enough magic to pull this off. The boss stared at us while remaining unnervingly still, like it was frozen in time. A moment later, I heard an unintelligible mutter come from Dosten and triggered my spell.

"Tellub leets tsac!" I shouted.

The mixed magic in my core flowed through both of my arms and into my index fingers. At the tips of my fingers, two round chunks of steel formed and launched fast enough to make a sonic boom. It was hard to tell which hit first, my bullets or the three lightning spells.

Electricity arced between the boss's limbs and two holes appeared in its upper chest as the spells struck their target. Its eyes had already begun to dim when Nifth's arrow struck. The arrow went deep, and it kind of looked like the boss's left eye had been replaced by feathers.

A tsunami of exhaustion slammed into me, but I began to take deep, purposeful breaths and managed to keep my footing. The boss, however, collapsed to its knees, sending a shockwave through the floor that nearly caused me to topple over. My footing held firm, though, and my breathing slowly recharged my magic core as the boss's head bowed.

"W-we did it?" Dosten asked.

"YES!" Garin shouted, pumping his fist. "That's how it's done! Awesome work, everyone!"

The tingling sensation in my body began to recede, and I expected to feel relieved. But the anxious knot that had formed in my gut didn't fade. I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear the cobwebs.

But it was the sound of screeching metal that got rid of the fuzzy feeling behind my eyes and replaced it with fear.

"GET DOWN!" I shouted.

I threw myself to the right as a beam of light filled the space I had just been standing in. The boss had raised its head, and its eye was glowing brighter than ever. My impact with the ground knocked the breath out of me, but I forced air into my lungs and tried to stand.

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More screeching tore at my ears as the boss rose to its feet. It started to raise the glowing portion of its hammer toward me, but three more bolts of lightning struck it. It froze for a moment, which was all the time I needed to get back to my feet.

I checked my cooldowns, and was relieved to find that my dodge was successful due to luck rather than my skills. But my magic core hadn't recovered enough for another Steel Bullet, and the boss was very much focused on me.

Why, though? If it were me, I'd prioritize the enemy that had done the most damage. But Nifth's arrow had destroyed one of its eyes. Unless...

Another terrible idea occurred to me.

"KEEP HITTING IT!" I shouted, and began sprinting toward the boss.

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Garin shouted toward my back.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me,' Ten said.

'We've got a better chance close up to it than we do at a distance,' I replied, sliding between the boss's legs.

As I had hoped, the boss tracked my movements and turned away from the rest of the party.

'A better chance at what? Your sword isn't going to do anything to it, and don't you DARE punch it.'

'A better chance of avoiding attacks while I wait for my magic to recharge.'

I ducked, and the boss's blade whooshed over my head.

'I see,' Ten said hesitantly. 'Carry on.'

I leapt to my left as the hammer came down, slamming into the ground where I had just been standing. The boss wasn't all that fast, but there was no doubt in my mind that even a single, glancing blow would probably be fatal. I kept control of my breathing, regenerating my magic with each breath.

As I dodged the sword again I caught a glimpse of Kirea holding onto Garin, who was trying to rush to my side. His hammer would certainly be more effective than my sword, but the goal was to distract rather than destroy. If I could keep the boss busy until-

The hammer struck the floor again, and a chunk of rock struck me in the head. My only warning was the sudden appearance of Aries, my helmet, which rang like a bell at the impact. I fell to one knee and tried to roll out of the way, but ended up on my back.

My breath caught in my throat as I watched the boss's sword rise. I wanted to roll out of the way, but my body couldn't hear me over the sound of my head ringing. Just before the sword came down and ended me, three more lightning bolts and an arrow struck the boss in the back.

The massive motherfucker froze again, but its eyes didn't dim like they had the first time. It did begin to smoke, though. I scrambled to my feet and leapt back. A fraction of a second later the giant blade smashed into the ground where I had been laying. The boss pulled its blade from the ground and stepped toward me.

'I think you were right,' I told Ten as I dodged another swing of the hammer.

'I know,' it replied. 'It's good to hear you acknowledge that this was a dumb idea, though. It suggests that you might be able to learn to listen to me, if we survive.'

'You didn't actually SAY that this was a dumb idea, and I meant about the power supply. I think it has more than one.'

'I have come to a similar conclusion.'

I ducked as the humongous robot attempted to bisect me again.

'So where's the other one, then?' I asked impatiently.

'How'd you know that I magically formulated detailed schematics of the boss out of nowhere? That's sarcasm. I still don't know, Nick.'

Another arrow struck the boss, traveling straight through its shoulder. The hammer still rose, though.

'Guess, please,' I said as I rolled out of the way.

'Fine. Given the fact that your spells hit the upper torso, and it would be stupid to put a secondary power supply in an extremity, I would hypothesize that the secondary power supply is in the lower torso.'

Three more lightning bolts connected with the boss, and I took the reprieve to gain a bit of distance so that I could focus on gathering my magic. The faint white smoke that had been trickling out of the gaps in its body had turned a few shades darker. It was taking damage, but not fast enough.

By the time the boss started moving again, I had slightly more than enough magic for another shot.

"God, I wish I had a fucking rocket launcher," I muttered as I aimed. "Tellub leets tsac!"

The chunk of steel struck the lower portion of the boss's torso as it was taking another step. Its foot hung in the air as its eyes began to dim, and I came to the horrifying realization that I was between it and the ground. With all of my might, I leapt to the side as it came tumbling down.

I hit the ground twice because the impact of the boss lifted me into the air a bit. My cuirass took the blunt of the impacts, but it was still enough to force the air out of my lungs. But, I scrambled to my feet anyway.

The big-ass bot had left a small impact crater where it had fallen. The only movement from it was the black smoke that poured from its new holes and gently drifted up into the darkness. Even if the boss were somehow still functional, it was doubtful that it would be able to get up again.

Then the adrenaline wore off and it was my turn to fall. The pain of my knees hitting the stone floor was probably the only thing that kept my eyes open. Then a bony hand gently grabbed my shoulder. I was so tired that I didn't even jump at the sudden contact.

"Laeh ronim tsac," Larie said.

The exhaustion grew more pronounced as my various aches and pains began to dissipate.

'Damn it, I really wish he had said something first,' Ten complained. 'I was barely able to adjust to account for the magical healing.'

'Yeah,' I replied. 'Is there anything you can do about the exhaustion?'

'No. Your fatigue is caused by exertion, not injury. I could keep you from falling asleep, but that wouldn't stop you from feeling tired.'

'Damn. Oh well, at least we beat the boss.'

'Yes, thankfully the engineer that designed it was at least competent. I am curious about the power supplies, but I doubt they're intact enough for any sort of analysis.'

"That was amazing, you fuckin' idiot," Garin said as he ran up. "Why'd you run off on your own like that?"

"He forgets that there are others that are just as competent as he is," Yulk chuckled as he walked over. "Though, I doubt your hammer would have been all that much help, given the situation."

"The b-boss was focusing on me because my first spell hit its p-primary power supply," I explained, struggling to speak. "I got close so that it couldn't fire its b-beam weapon. Then I just had to buy enough time to r-recharge my magic and f-figure out where its other power supply was."

"Well, okay, but I could have helped with that," Garin argued.

I looked up at the hammer-holding orc with a devilish grin, "I didn't say you couldn't, you know."

He stood there with his mouth slightly open, completely dumbfounded. Dosten, Nifth, and Yulk chuckled a little.

"I stopped you because you'd have gotten splattered," Kirea said sternly. "That thing's hammer was way bigger than yours."

Nifth laughed, "That's what sh-"

"Shut the fuck up," Kirea interrupted with a scowl.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I can't exactly argue with results, I guess," Garin said with a sigh. "And I can't be mad that you were concerned for my well-being, Kirea. Some faith in my abilities would be nice in the future, though."

"Well, when you get some we can build a shrine or something," Dosten grinned.

"Hey!"

"So what do we do now?" I interrupted. "I don't think I can make it much further without resting first."

"That's just as well," Garin said. "It would be a waste not to explore the room for treasure and dismantle the boss for loot. It should be safe to take our time, too."

"Safe? What do you mean?"

"We beat all the enemies in this section of the dungeon, and the ones further in aren't going to come this far back."

"Why not?"

"I dunno, they just never do," he shrugged.

"Some people hypothesize that the monsters are hostile to each other, and the bosses act as deterrents that keep each monster in its section," Yulk added. "It isn't a terrible explanation, but gathering enough evidence to prove it is obviously impossible. One would have to sneak past one of the bosses, kidnap a monster from further in the dungeon, and then return to the boss with the monster in tow."

"I don't think there are any bosses that you can actually sneak past," Nifth chuckled. "Not that you'd want to. The risk of someone else running into the boss while you're trying to kidnap a monster would be too high. You'd lose out on the loot."

"I see," I said groggily. "Okay, well, if you're sure we're safe, I'm going to rest. I think I need a pretty long nap. You can do whatever you want with the boss."

"Carving up the boss will be pretty noisy, I think," Garin laughed. "We'll start with the exploration so you can get some sleep."

"Sounds good," Nifth said, offering me a hand.

He helped me to my feet, and despite the fact that it felt like I was moving through molasses, I helped set up camp. I forced myself to eat a stick of jerky before laying down. Garin and the other three readied themselves and set off just as my eyes began to close.

With a sigh of relief and a sense of accomplishment, I drifted off to sleep.