Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

They all aimed to hit it big, find something that would make them rich multiple generations over, everyone had heard of stories, stories of great treasures hidden away inside dungeons, some were fake, some weren’t, one could in fact become rich by stepping in a dungeon and stumbling upon something.

A secret way had been uncovered, nothing screamed of riches more than a hidden path, everyone that could fight swarming in, like flies to a pungent corpse, even those that couldn’t, and wouldn’t step into the dungeon were attracted.

A dense presence of dense skulls incensed merchants of all sizes and fame, they too could hit it big thanks to this opportunity, whatever that could be sold was getting sold, clothes, armours, weapons, potions, scrolls, anything that was even remotely close to the experience of dungeon crawling.

But there was a glaring problem, one that didn’t discourage much, only heightening their expectations and hopes, the dungeon was simply enormous, a veritable maze of unknown proportions, larger than any that had explored others could have expected.

Even if one were to know the exact way from entrance to end, it seemed clear that at least a week would be necessary to traverse it all, without counting the threat of monsters or accounting for the requirement of sleep and rest.

Everyone believed it to be even longer, this harrowing fact served as fuel.

’What lies at the bottom must be extraordinary’ they must have all thought, seemingly convinced that a dungeon had to reward their efforts and not simply be one giant death trap.

Time passed and passed, the group of five that had opened the gateway to all of this madness had entered multiple times since then, going back in and out, attempting to map the way to their destination without getting skewered.

The monsters were certainly dreadful, but predictable, as well as lacking in much stealth.

Even despite the lack of lighting, the sounds of their approach made it hard not to be expecting them, even with the constant echoing.

In any case, as more and more teams went in, they strung up lanterns and other light sources as they went, slowly uncovering the veil shrouding the interior.

Within a few days of it being made clear what the monsters besides the living armours were, death hunters began to show up, making much better progress in the mapping and reconnaissance department than anyone else, a dungeon sprouting up undeads was much akin to a declaration of war for them, they would pick this whole place apart if necessary.

However, the progress, which was certainly fast at the start, hit a roadblock when a staircase leading to another bit of the dungeon was discovered as the only way further down.

From here on out however, things got much more difficult, and the group five were right there to witness it themselves, not anyone had yet to truly explore deeper and come back to speak of it, either killed, or unable to make their way back.

With a quick prayer, Iritim, the group’s priestess called forth a luminous orb, whilst being a priestess, she pretty much filled in as a mage equivalent as well, since no one in the group could use any sort of energy beyond mild body reinforcement.

"This is disgusting" exclaimed one of them, right before the macerating smell of the whole thing hit them head on, not a single one of them was able to hold back their face from scrunching up reflexively.

Iritim recited a prayer to shield them from toxic fumes, which this smell definitely was, even by just being on the edge of its reach, they could feel their skin itching, and their nasal hair to curl up like deceased spider legs.

Wiping the tears that had formed in her eyes, Irgot, the dark elf, serving as one half of the pair of scouts alongside, Ariandnel, the elf.

She inspected the strange substance forming some sort of indoor jungle of nightmares, it sizzled, bubbled and moved in generally disturbing manner.

"Looks like something rotten…’ remarked Ariandnel, reconsidering taking another step down. Continue reading stories on NovelBin.Côm

"Well, there are already undeads in there, so not totally unexpected, right?" Tilke, the red ogress cracked her neck, not quite minding the prospect of digging through pure decay.

"We don’t have to step closer anyways, step back everyone!" finally, the star of the show, Marlene, the unwanted that had warranted this team to be under close surveillance in the first place, closing one eye, she flinged some sort of round object with a rope attached to it.

The item bursted as it struck the ground, spreading a flaming liquid all over the growth of rot all around, quickly spreading along the vile substance.

The five ran up the stairs, not planning on staying in the dungeon as smoke filled up the whole place.

The great stake of flames fell flat as the rot quickly began to defend its integrity, oozing and bursting with black blood, extinguishing the fire before it could deal any real damage.

The burnt off pieces fell off and were promptly replaced before the astonished eyes of the group.

"Don’t tell me this whole thing is a single monster" that was a rather spooky prospect, and seeing the way it had reacted to being attacked, even if it wasn’t the case, they may as well treat it as such.

"We still have the necklaces at least" relativised Marlene, still opting to retreat and regroup for now, they would allow others, and hopefully the death hunters to try their own things before moving any deeper.