Cath tucked up by the side of Flo waited patiently and then finally spotted a somewhat familiar figure appear walking down the set of crooked stone stairs.
It was Max who held the marriage contract in his hand.
Noticing Flo and Cath, his expression didn’t change.
The smile wasn’t happy.
Just awkward.
His pupils seemed to want to escape his eyes and his fingers constantly itched against each other.
Flo stood up and pulled Cath with him, “Max, can you open the door for us please?” He asked and Max did as told.
Once the door opened and they all passed through, Cath took charge and with her arm wrapped around Flo’s pulled him away from Max.
“Bye Max, I’m sorry but you can’t come along.
You can go do other things.
We need to be alone, bye,” Cath’s voice became smaller and smaller as the distance between the duo and the lone Max increased.
Flo limping but forced along with Cath’s tug on his arm looked back at Max, a hint of apologeticness in his eyes.
As they vanished from Max’s sight and up the stairs, Max lowered his gaze back onto the marriage contract.
…
Inside Greywood Forest, a large open space revealed itself.
The space consisted of the typical flat grey grass and just ahead is a large hill.
On top of the hill is a charcoal-coloured tree bigger than another tree in the area.
The trunk of the tree swerved creating a weird curved shape.
Cath burst out of the shrubs with Flo in tow, stepping into the empty area of the forest.
“This is as far as my nose takes me,” Cath stated inspecting the floor, “so there has to be an entrance here.”
They started to inspect the floor together.
For a while they found nothing, “Catherine, are you sure it’s here?”
“Very,” she responded and started to look more enthusiastically to support her claim.
Flo climbed up the hill, and stared at the strangely curved tree before touching all over the trunk.
Not finding anything, he stepped backwards.
His right slipped causing him to fall but he caught himself just in time.
“Did you find anything?” Cath asked as she appeared behind him.
“Nothing, I think your nose is telling you a lie?” He said standing up but continuing to look at the tree.
“My nose is not a liar,” she said, pouting.
And then to prove her point, she whipped her scythe out, slashing at the curved tree and perfectly splitting the trunk in half.
However, nothing happened.
She looked down at the floor embarrassed as Flo chuckled to himself behind her.
“Well what, now?” Flo asked, inspecting the surroundings some more.
Cath her head now lifted upwards, as she found some support for herself stating, “there’s a reason no one’s found it yet.”
“So you’re the only one with a good nose then,” he chimed in with a smile.
“The only one with a great nose,” she replied.
Cath didn’t respond with words but instead with an action, as she pushed her hand into the center of the trunk her whole arm disappearing.
And then, the ground beneath them began to separate.
Both hopping to the side as the mechanics worked themselves, “Well, the creator of this dungeon has put a lot of work into this,” Flo said as they stared at the two sheets of metal slowly parting.
“I always wonder where they find cores powerful enough to make dungeons?” Cath asked.
“Usually dragon cores, aren’t they?
I mean their species have the most natural powers no matter the level of the core,” he replied as they both stared into the opening.
“I don’t like dragons, they’re just like… too big.”
“Too big, they’re a lot smaller than you’d think,” Flo replied as the conversation naturally died out because the dungeons entrance had finally fully opened.
A short flight of slanted stone stairs presented itself to Flo and Cath as they walked down.
Only a few steps later, a long hallway was now in front of the duo.
Except for the collection of dust, the dungeon was in tip-top condition, confirming that no one else has been here.
Small glass holes were carved into the connection between the wall and the ceiling which emitted a warm orange glow across the walkway.
The hallway seemed to continue forever, so Flo decided to bring up something, “you were quite rude to Max,” his calm tone made her heart waver.
“I just needed us to do this alone,” she responded, though her voice was meek and her point was weak.
“So why did we have to be alone then,” Flo’s tone remained in perfect tranquility.
“I’ll tell you after,” her nails tapped along her scythe, in an unrhythmic motion.
No refute was made by Flo as the walk in the long hallway continued.
Eventually, they made it to the end where the narrow dungeon exploded into a colossal circular ball of streaming blood.
Trees with crimson leaves and rivers and waterfalls drowned in the blood of thousands of beasts decorated the sphere.
Making it out of the hallway and onto a path mixed with splatters of red grass and dirt, the dungeon only continued downwards.
At the bottom of the sphere were multiple waterfalls that ran into rivers which ran into a large blood lake directly in the middle.
“That’s the boss arena I guess?” Flo sighed as he said this, his eyes wandering around the ball, inspecting every detail.
“It’s not, the dungeon’s larger than this, it’s likely a weak silver core or strong bronze core,” Cath replied, trying to make up ground for her previous mistakes in the eyes of Florian.
“I’ll trust your nose,” he said as they moved carefully downwards, “make sure to not exert yourself.
If the dungeon is a lot larger than this, then we have a long day ahead of us.”
“I know, my nose isn’t my only good attribute,” she said pouting again.
“Then prove it,” Flo responded with a smile, his grip on his pistol holster tightening.
Pop pop pop
Multiple bursts of flesh erupted around them as large black and red bugs flew above them.
They originated from the plague-like bubbles surrounding the trees.
Bang Bang Bang
A series of shots killed all of the bugs.
But a few bugs weren’t the danger.
Across the many trees, implanted on them were hundreds of ready to burst bubbles.
Realising this, Flo looked back at Cath, “Once we get to that lake at the bottom, do we just jump in?” He asked.
“Probably,” she responded with slight confusion.
“Here’s the plan, we are gonna run down to the lake as fast as we can, forget everything behind us, kill anything blocking our way and then jump into the lake because we’ll die any other way.” This story is hosted at novelping(.)com.
Cath, seeming extremely ready, asked, “are we going now?”
“Let’s go then,” Flo responded just before they began running rapidly down the sphere.
Pop Pop Pop Pop.
The bubbles burst around them, releasing the massive bugs straight towards them.
Bang Bang
Another series of bullets killed a multitude of bugs.
Swish swish
Cath swung her scythe madly, slicing the insects in half while also creating orbs of water to blind the bugs.
Sometimes killing and sometimes dodging, the duo madly rushed down the slopes.
Making a split second decision, Flo grabbed an arm of Cath and took a sharp left, darting straight towards the cliff edge.
Pulling her closer, they jumped off together and he tucked her into his chest as they smashed into the blood lake.
Under the lake, Flo didn’t let go of Cath and swam towards the bottom of the lake.
Blinded by the intense crimson red, he swam through the lake whilst gurgling the blooded water.
Changing directions, Flo followed the noise of falling water.
Seeing the edge of the pool of blood, he let one arm guide along the wall.
His legs kicked faster as held Cath while following the wall and in the general sense of the large tumbling splashes of falling water.
Cath shut her eyes tightly as she rested into Flo’s chest.
But it couldn’t really be considered resting.
Less and less oxygen filled their lungs.
Flo’s movements got more and more desperate.
His legs kicked father as he used his arms to fling himself across the blood pool’s edge.
Cath could feel the beating of Flo’s heart start to slow.
And then, Flo’s arms found a hole in the cragged edges and flung himself and Cath into it.
The splashed softly the tumbling water got louder and louder while Flo’s heart got quieter and quieter against the head of Cath.
Not long later, they burst out of the hole and into a streaming river of the same blood.
Together, they pulled themselves to the side and to the dryness of land.
Coughing together and letting the blood stream out of their ears, nose and mouth together, they gazed around the area and breathed a sigh of relief.
No plague-like spots decorated the trees.
Now the dungeon narrowed in size, the streaming river they escaped from led to a large circular patch of ruby red grass.
In the middle of the grass, standing tall and proud was a knightly figure enshrined in pure dark red armour.
A typical sword and shield was clasped in his hands.
“Is that the boss?” Flo asked whilst inspecting the knight.
“No, the boss is just beyond this area.
This one’s more like a security guard,” she said, similarly inspecting the knight.
“Well we don’t have much of a choice, you ready?” He asked, looking at Cath.
However he didn’t get an answer as the once stagnant knight suddenly lunged at them, Cath being alert pushed Flo away and dodged herself.
Taken aback by the strike, they gathered themselves and began to strike back.