Markus.
The monster dragged the sobbing girl by her golden hair as Markus watched with despairing eyes, following meekly at her heels. His mind racing with terror-fueled uncertainty…
Lugging his feet all the way with despondent misery, keeping the hope that he might desperately manage a worthwhile pn that, sadly, never fshed before him in a heroic moment of genius.
And then, he was there, standing at the bonfire… feeling a dispassionate gaze upon him…
He didn't need another warning… Markus dutifully nodded his head as he began pulling off his clothes with shaking fingers… He wasn't sure what this was happening, but if it meant he wasn't going to be 'skull fucked,' he rather felt he'd be cooperative until something better came along.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-im-sorry-im-sorry-im-sorry-im-sorry!" Alicia continued to whimper, tears streaming down her cheeks as she was once more lifted bodily in the air so the hob could look at her face to face, the terrified girl sobbing and quivering as she dangled, desperately trying to cw for purchase at the monstrosities forearm to alleviate the pain.
Then, she was dropped, screaming in agony as her ankle hit the floor at a terrible angle, Markus flinching as he watched her body crumple as if in slow motion, eyes fixated on the improper way the leg bent with her outcry...
"Do her after you're done with yourself." The hob commanded, her bizarre accent fading away to yet another sort, though this one was far colder and menacing, as though she'd simply been pying some game and, now, had grown bored with it all…
"And no potions or funny business; I've got great senses and will know if you misbehave!" Her st words were almost cheery, but the implications of her unspoken threat made Markus's skin crawl with the sensation of spiders…
The aberration wandered off towards Hueburts continued struggling voice as Markus pulled his robe over his shoulders, meeting Alicia's terrified eyes the moment after.
He felt exposed now that he was down to his skivvies, yet he continued to work as the other mage stared wide-eyed at him, the occasional heave and sob causing her to mewl as she shifted her likely broken ankle…
"Why are you disrobing!" She cried with a miserable whisper, "What is happening?"
"It wants us alive for now…" Markus hissed, gring at the other mage, who seemed nearly broken in both spirit and body…
"I'm not letting it eat me!" She growled, a hand darting for his wand, which y carefully atop his clothes before he grabbed her by the wrist! Struggling with the woman while trying to talk some bloody sense into her.
"Stop fighting this!" He warned, crazed eyes filled with a manic desire to survive! "It-will-kill-us-both! Just do as it says until we get a chance to—"
"Run away?" The monster called, not even bothering to look over her shoulder while digging a foul-mouthed and frothing Hueburt from the pile of bones.
Both the mages froze at that, staring in disbelief at the creature that was half a room away and still clearly listening to them intently. Alicia allowed her struggles to fade as she tucked in on herself, rolling into a haphazard ball while their party leader shouted out all the ways he was going to fuck their dungeon-boss host right up her arse; all the while, she manhandled him with notable ease.
He, too, was tossed to the floor beside the others as the hob dusted her cpping hands as if just finishing a difficult job in the garden, pnting them on each hip once she'd done so.
"Strip."
"Oh, you can fuck right off If you think I'm going to lift a shit-covered finger for the likes of—"
"Strip," She reiterated, half growling and half purring with delight, "or I will spit-roast you over the fire for a snack. I'm not hungry per se, but I could appreciate a good munch or two."
"Piss off, girlie; if you wanted me dead, I'd be dead!"
The monster blinked at the redheaded fighter's unwavering backbone, earning herself a sneer as the man hucked back and spat at her, half of it catching on his voluminous beard, but at least some did make its way onto her legs, which caused the creature's eye to momentarily twitch.
She smiled then, something—departing from her gaze, despite the attempt at a serene expression; then, she plucked the man by the throat with a single hand and unched him into the bonfire!
Hueburts wide gray eyes met with Markus's own in what seemed like an eternal moment, both of them staring at the other in complete and bewildered silence before he smashed into the roaring bze and screamed as his flesh was seared in near-instant blisters!
The sound of tormented agony filled the chamber with its harrowed echo as he pleaded and begged for what seemed like an age... His limbs scrabbled and climbed the ever-toppling logs, which burst into crackling ash, his voice simply—vanishing to a distressed burble amidst the smoke and embers.
His shadowed and bzing form desperately tried to dig its way through the tumbling array of wood all around him but—stilled with an abrupt silence as the crackle and hiss of roasting flesh and fat began its sickening serenade as he cooked…
"What an unpleasant individual… Insane that I actually thought he was sort of funny for a few moments…"
The chattering of teeth was enough to bring the nightmare's attention back upon Markus, who could do little but try and steady his wired nerves as the creature's malignant gaze fell upon him…
She seemed to note with some satisfaction that he had done as instructed, though she clicked her tongue when her gaze drifted to Alicia, who simply cowered and curled up tighter upon herself, rocking back and forth while chanting a prayer to the great mother.
Her words were desperate as her voice was a shivering whisper.
"You know," The monster began, squatting down and yanking Alicia towards her. The scream of terror, pleading, and hopeless kicking all added to a cacophony of chaos until a horrible crunch fttened her skull as the hob punched it with a hammered fist, the girl's head exploding like an over-ripe pumpkin that was dropped off a bridge!
"I sort of expected a lot more from all of you… I mean, I was even having a goof and hamming it up to try and hide what I really am, but… apparently, I should have just killed you all from the start…"
"Y-y-you're not a dungeon monster then?" Markus whispered with shaky breaths, pointedly not looking at the dripping gore that slopped off the hob's hand as she pulled it away from the carnage… giving it a few zy flicks as if drying her hands...
"No, I am a dungeon monster." The creature corrected, yawning and exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth before colpsing on her rear and crossing her legs to sit. "I've got a few questions, however, and—if you answer them correctly, I might let you live. Pretty good deal, all things considered, no?"
"You—want questions?"
"Answers, actually, but I get it, you must be pretty out of sorts."
"B-b-but—why? You're a—"
"Monster? The creature asked, chuckling ruefully as Markus felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach, "I am a monster, just a rather smart one! I mean, I was smart, even before the whole attribute thing the systems got going on, but hey, we don't need to talk about that. What I'm interested in is you guys!"
Markus's eyes shifted, gncing towards Alicia's unmoving form, then at the glowing outline of Hueburt, who looked charred and filled with embers… Though he couldn't see her, Markus visibly recalled the exposed brain of Lisa as the rock had taken a veritable chunk out of her head…
All the images of his team's final moments fshing through his head and causing his body to shake with involuntary apprehension… "W-were all dead…" He began, voice shaking as his nerves wound to a near breaking point, "What's there to even care about?"
The hob took in a sharp breath through her teeth, looking as though she herself were slightly displeased that everyone else was gone—but the moment passed as she shrugged her broad shoulders and leaned back on her hands. "Ehh, I guess I'd say I'm interested less in you specifically and more in your—culture?
I want to know about the outside world, the city, its people, the government, whatever this guild thing is I keep hearing about, you know, the basics!
Honestly, I'm sort of really confused by this whole suppression team thing; I mean, yours is the second I've fought, but like, what do you even do? What's the point? And how many teams like yours are out there?"
"You want me to—betray my people?"
"That's an ugly word." The monster cooed, grinning but now absent the darkness that was present when her emotions vacated her gaze, "I'd think of it more like a transaction! You give me what I want, and I—figure out if It's worth it to let you live."
For a moment, Markus considered the creature's words… wondering if, only for the sake of his crumbling hope, she might actually—honor any kind of bargain they might strike…
He wished he knew a spell that would magically bind and enforce that sort of promise, yet he was hardly out of the academy! Sprig's tits, he wasn't even level seven yet!
Granted, much like Hueburt, Markus had regretted choosing mage as a css rather than a profession as he generally disliked fighting once getting a taste of it, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.
Still, he knew that the primary concern the monster would have with him leaving would be that he would be taking her secrets with him… And everyone knew that the best way to keep what one didn't want to be shared was to make sure that nobody was alive to gossip about it…
Markus felt his throat bob, mind racing as he tried to figure out how he could escape! And failing that, how could he convince the terrible creature watching him to let him walk out of here alive…
She wasn't stupid; that much was obvious… doubtless, the only reason she was being so casual about everything was that she felt herself to be in complete control.
Markus couldn't even argue the sentiment! He'd seen just how quick the hob could be when she wanted, and he held no compunctions about his chances at pulling a fast one in such close proximity…
"Well?" The monster asked, waiting expectantly with her gleaming grin.
Slowly, Markus found his head nodding in the affirmative, noting how the hob's eyes lit up with glee that he was willing to py along… Naked as he was, save for his underwear, he didn't think it was such a surprise, but—given how everyone else was dead...
Maybe he really was the oddball of the group… not that Lisa got much of a chance to save herself, but what was done was done…
"Where do you, umm, want me to start?" He asked, the creature's expression broadening to the point it sent chills through his veins…
"How about you begin where you think is best, treat it like you're giving a history lesson to a kid. If I've got a question, I'll ask."
"Okay… uhhh… well, you wanted to know about the city, right? Okay… okay… The city is Taeldra, and it's old… Once, it was the capital of an empire, but now, after its colpse, it's just one of many city-states that share a sort of merchant alliance with a handful of others that dot the coast and managed to survive the st desotion."
"And that desotion was?"
"A kind of—'end of the world' moment…" Markus expined, feeling slightly silly he was giving a basic first-year academy lesson to what was essentially a descendant of monsters that had caused it all.
"The system appeared when dungeons did. Monsters were already around at that point, but the dungeons—did something to them and started churning out armies of monstrosities that wiped out significant portions of the world's popution.
Cities, towns, vilges… most of the northern continent that we call 'Pannore' is still entirely uninhabitable due to wild dungeons that were never put down, sughtering anything around them.
Not even animals live there anymore… though; there have been efforts made by some nations to recim what they can… Whereas we are currently on 'Pannsuu,' the southern half of the old world continent that was split by archmages when it was deemed the north was too far gone to save…
That's where everyone lives now… Though, wild dungeons still make traveling outside a walled city somewhat—dangerous…"
"How high are the walls?"
"W-what?"
"The walls," The monster pushed, rolling her hand as she did so, "Are they, like, hundreds of feet tall or like—normal castle ones…"
"What would be the point of a hundred-foot wall?"
"Super tall monsters?" The hob supplied, earning her a rather confused look from Markus, who struggled to follow along…
"Most monsters aren't that big…" He began, speaking slowly as he chose his words carefully, "And those that are like—dragons, typically don't care much for them in the first pce…
Most nightmares of that variety are long since gone, though… maybe, they were around during the desotion itself, but that was hundreds of years ago!
When I said it was dangerous to wander around outside a city, it was because of the roving hordes of—well, goblins and kobolds, all the dire wolves and giant spiders and zombies... You know, normal monsters!"
"And they're all dungeon mobs?"
Markus felt his cheek twitch at the rather curious word that the hob used to describe the creatures but figured she'd likely picked it up from one of the presumably many victims she had under her belt.
Given how easily she'd made a mockery of their team, Markus had a fairly solid idea that this—thing he was conversing with was, in fact, responsible for all the missing delvers…
"They were dungeon monsters…" the young man expined, chewing on his lip as a kind of pn began to emerge in his mind.
True, he couldn't beat this thing in a fight, but maybe he didn't have to.
"But," he quickly added, trying to force down a smile, "once a monster leaves a dungeon and isn't killed in the outside world, its connection to it is severed! It takes time, but that's how most modern-day monsters came to be! There weren't this many types back in the old days, just the undead really...
Once they break free, they're like animals or people, they slowly gain minds of their own and adapt, and are even capable of reproduction. It's truly fascinating, and the academy has an immense amount of information if that's what you're after! I could even—"
"Stop," The hob grinned, lifting her hand up to forestall the rising excitement in the mage's voice, her expression somewhat softer than it had previously been, "I already know I can leave. And I intend to do so at some point, but keep going with where we were; you're doing very well, by the way."
Markus defted a fraction, nodding as his little scheme was cut down at the knees before it had even started. Yet, she had offered him something of a chance, unwittingly or otherwise, one that he would be broaching again when he decided he might get away with it.
All he needed to do was convince her to leave with him, to make a deal on her behalf with the city, and he'd be free! Plus, Markus might even be heralded as a hero for helping capture the dungeon's notorious killer, who had been striking fear into the hearts of the city populous as her rampage continued without end in sight.
"Alright… so—that's basic history, I guess… not too much else to really say without a textbook… Umm, the city is pretty big… one of the rgest in the area! There's a king who still calls himself emperor; he pretty much hamstrung the power of the city's nobles when he took the crown and used their wealth to save the city from financial colpse…
The Taeldrian College of Wizardry is the rgest school of magic worth any real schor's time within a year travel in any direction… It's massive and part of the reason, in conjunction with the dungeon, of why the city is so wealthy! O-or, why the city's nobles were, at least..."
"Is that why the dungeon’s kept suppressed?"
"Y-yes and no…" Markus allowed, though, again, arms were rising in his head over the monster's apparent knowledge. For a creature within the dungeon's depths to know it was being willfully suppressed meant that the greater entity itself was likely aware as well.
He had no idea how it happened, but clearly, the dungeon was waking up again, and it had created something to fight back against those who'd chained it. Worse, it had proven frighteningly adept at its grisly work…
Without the numbers before him, all Markus could say on the matter was that this creature was hurting the city… and not just economically as new delvers began turning away from what had been the most popur beginners dungeon on the continent, now too afraid to go near it…
Likewise, the academy was suffering as well… a rge part of its success had come from the certainty that its scions could test themselves in a sterile environment that was just dangerous enough to push them, but not so much that it ended in deaths.
Sure, kids could still find themselves at the wrong end of a goblin spear, but that was why the guild worked so well hand in hand with it. Constantly churning out capable combatants that were paid to take lower-level mages on as part of their teams.
It was all a well-oiled automaton of grand design, yet one monster had proven it to be built upon a house of cards…
"The dungeon is suppressed primarily for its economic importance," Markus stated, carefully considering what he should say and what he should leave out. "But most of that has to do with corrupt nobles that fill their coffers…
The 'great families' that ran the city were the ones who did it and most profited from it all until Justinian wrested control from them. Yet, before that, they used it to cement their pce as the city's de facto rulers. Creating a monopoly on resources plundered from the dungeon, as well as controlling access through the guild.
However, as the popution grew, their ability to maintain that control eroded, becoming weaker and weaker; first, the guild broke free from their influence, then the city, along with many other institutions within it.
There's actually been quite a lot of talk about trying to strike a bargain with the dungeon and allowing it to start growing again… a lot of people that find themselves in power are discontent that the majority of the popuce is so low-level…"
"Because everyone leaves to go find a dungeon where they can actually improve themselves once they graduate?"
"Not everyone leaves; the city made a habit of making that rather difficult… Though again, much of the reason behind it all can be attributed to those previously in power.
It was deemed easier to control the city with fewer people who could fight back… But again, that changed once Justinian conquered it..."
"There's still war? Even with monsters roaming around?"
"Of course!" Markus ughed, though it was a sour thing at best, "What king ever set aside his ambitions just because a few hundred skeletons roam the woods at night?
Monsters of the sort that live on Pansuu aren't very capable against professional soldiers. Maybe, back when the system and dungeons first showed up, there were issues, but nowadays, soldiers are chocked full of powerful skills and highly leveled! War just means that the winning side becomes even stronger!"
The monster-woman was silent for a time, seeming to consider his words while chewing at her lower lip, the shadow of her bewitching face shifting in the firelight before she emerged from her contemptive thoughts with another question. "If I were to leave the dungeon, they'd try to kill me, wouldn't they?"
"N-not outright!"
"Then ensvement to dissect me... Or to study me, or whatever else they might try to do so I couldn't return to the dungeon and revive." She outright stated, shutting him down with a calcuting look.
"Don't bother trying to deny it; I know what I've been doing in here is ruffling feathers, and it's not lost on me that I haven't once seen a hob or a goblin adventurer wandering around in here. It's just all humans and elves… it's sort of disappointingly vanil…"
"O-other races do exist in the city…"
"As sves?"
Markus winced, shying away from the rge woman who smirked in response.
"So," She continued with a nguid purr, "that either means you don't allow your property to level themselves in the dungeon, or they're in segregated communities and are less owned and more considered subhuman and therefore undesirable."
She chuckled at that, seeing how Markus's face reddened slightly for being read so easily, the monster's throaty amusement resonating through the chamber as though she found it far more funny than it otherwise should be.
"Would it be prostitution then?" She asked, her tone filled with mirth, "My body sold to the highest bidder once I was magically colred and contained? I'd imagine I'd make quite the prize given my appearance… monster or otherwise, I've seen where your eyes linger when sneaking gnces at my flesh…
Do you—desire me?" She smirked, all sultry smiles and dripping honey, as Markus forced himself to maintain his visual aversion… "Really?" She cackled, still somehow reading his thoughts without Markus saying a word!
"Even after what I did to your friends? Well, isn't that interesting… would that be considered a sort of—fetish in your world? Lusting after a monster like myself? I admit, I might be open to it… it is quite lonely being the only one who knows that water is good for more than drinking around here…"
Markus shifted in his seat, mortified by the way his mind began punishing him with—decidedly problematic thoughts… he stirred beneath his undergarments, the part of him that was a young and virile young man unable to deny certain realities.
Hueburt hadn't been wrong… The monster was—captivating…
Still, he refused to offer his baser instincts their time of day, ardently keeping to his vow of abstinence, at least where seven-foot-tall nightmares of violence and death were concerned.
His older brother's words of wisdom repyed on repeat as he sat there, face brighter than a tomato!
Never stick your prick where it wasn't meant to be...
