Azaria The Doll Dungeon 6

Hey Guys! A bonus chapter since Dungeon Robotics was late. Other than that enjoy your weekend!

Lance Teron

“Ugh!” The pain in my shoulder woke me up. I glanced around but didn’t have anyway of telling what time it was. I pulled my phone out and checked the clock. It was well past two in the morning. “Damn I passed out for five hours.”

Unknown: [You will pay for what you did. You better hope we never see you again.]

Great! Am I going to have to skip town? That fucking douche Kyle. I swear I’m going to get him back for this! I moved to sit up and felt the pain in my shoulder grow worse. I laid back to my original position. I used the camera on my phone to check and saw the arrow that was buried several inches into my back.

“Mother Fuckers!”

I couldn’t pull it out. I would end up bleeding too much. At least the bleeding had stopped for now. I’d hate to restart it by removing the arrow and reopening the wound. I pulled up the browser on my phone to see what options I had available at my disposal. If I went to the hospital, I could be treated but I’d have to make a dash afterwards. 

Kyle’s family was pretty highly connected, and they knew I was injured. I was sure they were watching everything in the city. Especially considering the message I’d received. I searched how to bandage the wound, but best and most assured ones required someone else stitch or wrap it.

I suddenly felt my energy drop then a few seconds later I heard a cry that echoed through the tunnel. “NO!” 

I jumped at the noise. It sounded like a howl on the wind. I tried to peer deeper into the darkness but couldn’t see past a few feet. Even when I used my phone’s light it only added a few extra feet. A few moments later there was another echo of ‘No!’ on the wind. 

“Rogue monster or user?” I mumbled laying still. I was already spotted since I’d shined my light into the darkness. Whatever was in the darkness knew I was here. If it was a user, I might be able to get help. If it was a monster, well there wasn’t much I could do. I was a harvester after all. I didn’t have anyway of fighting anything that might have made this its home.

I felt another sharp pull on my energy that quickly stopped. My eye widened as I realized what that meant. I was in a dungeon! I jerked my head and saw the entrance was sealed by a barrier of light. Just fucking great! This place was supposed to be empty.

Thinking quickly, I tired to come up with options on just surviving this mess. Since I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary that meant this must be a new dungeon. It would likely only have one floor. That would be a boon if I attempted to fight to the teleport matrix. The monsters would be weak and fragile.

I could wait here but given that this place is recorded as inactive it would be months before anyone came down here. Likely, not until the energy readings in the area dropped or a rogue monster was spotted coming out. The latter being the most likely. I groaned as the pain in my shoulder grew worse. The throbbing was causing me to have a headache.

“I could try that. It’s only succeeded twice, but I’m in a good position with it being new dungeon.” I murmured to myself as I felt my bag. It was loaded with the materials from the dungeon from earlier. 

I screwed up my courage then coughed before shouting, “I request a trade with the dungeon!” Raising my voice did not help with my pain. I ground my teeth and waited. 

A moment later there was a swirl of light as a figure appeared in the distance. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to focus on it. What would I be dealing with? A monster type? I just hope its not an undead type. They couldn’t be reasoned with. 

A blond hair girl that looked between the ages of sixteen and eighteen appeared. I coughed as she was completely nude. I took a deep breath and chanted that it wasn’t human over and over in my head. I had to admit that she had a very nice figure. She almost looked like a model. A small part of my mind was annoyed that her long hair managed to cover the important part.

“AH!” the figure screamed again before a unicorn of all things appeared out of nowhere. She grabbed it and hid behind it. “Why the hell am I naked!” she cried.

“Mistress. Dungeon cores usually don’t care for the trappings of the living.”

“Shut up! I want some clothes!” the girl shouted the turned away. A moment later there was a flash of light and she was wearing a white one piece that would not have been out of place in the middle of summer. “Now. What next?”

“This… young man requested a trade. He initiated a little used feature of the dungeon system. Be careful. This is as dangerous as regular users,” The unicorn said while he sent what I could tell was a look of disdain at me. I glared at him wondering what he could see of me. 

“Gotcha. Then nice to meet you. I am Azaria!” The girl said as she started to hover in the air. I had to turn my head as the girl forgot to create underwear. I could vaguely make out two pink points poking out from the loose fabric. I was getting worried this might not go as expected.

“Lance. I want to have a clear mind so could you cover up a bit more?” I said.

Azaria glanced at her chest and squealed in a rather cute way before there was another flash and I could just make out a cute bra now covering her. “What do you want!?” She shouted at me. Short tempered maybe? She wasn’t anything like the other cores that have made contact with humans over the past year.

“I need help. I have some materials I would be willing to trade.” I said with a grimace. I was still laying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of my back after all.

Azaria looked at me for a long moment. “Go to a hospital.”

“If I could do that I would have,” I replied a bit more curtly than I meant to. She pouted in an angry sort of way and started to float away. “Wait! Dungeon cores can heal this sort of damage easily, right?! I’m willing to trade for that alone!”

Azaria paused midflight and glanced at me with a look of consideration. She made her way over to the unicorn and they whispered something for a few moments. I’m not sure what they came to, but they made their way over to me. “Very well! I shall help you. What do you have to offer?”

“Can you at least help me remove the arrow first?” I asked with a pleading tone. The pain was starting to make it hard to think.

She glared at me but nodded. She waved her hand at something in the darkness behind her. A few moments later the sounded of wood striking stone echoed out. I widen my eyes when I saw six nutcrackers that had been enlarged to just a bit bigger than a child of eight or nine walk out. They were armed with Halberds that looked plenty wicked enough.

In a few seconds, I was surrounded. One of the nutcrackers reached forward to pull the arrow out while the rest leveled their weapons at me. With a jerk, the nutcracker ripped the arrow from my shoulder. I gritted my teeth to stop any sound from escaping. I felt it would look bad if I cried out in pain in front of the girl.

Blood started to pour from the wound. Azaria flew over and placed her hand on the wound and channeled Aether into my wound. My body drank it up like a sponge. The owund closed after only a few seconds, but she didn’t stop the flow. A heat started to build inside and I felt like I was about to burst when the unicorn pushed her off me. 

The heat quickly died. I mentally checked my body and found it felt better than it had ever felt in years. All the aches and pains that I’d developed over the year of being a harvester had vanished. I sat up and moved my arm through a few motions. It was as good as new.

I turned to thank Azaria and found she had licked the blood off her hand as there was some still smeared across her cheek. She had a strange grin and seemed almost like a different person. She raised her hand and was about to say something when her face shifted, and a look of horror appeared.

“NO!” she screamed before flying back into the darkness.

“Don’t mind her, she’s going through some things. I’ll take care of the rest of the transaction. You offered materials. Please produce them before the men crave you up.”

“Of course!” I said pulling the backpack open. I removed the scales, bones, blood, and the life stones of the creatures I harvested in the Station 62 dungeon. I really wasn’t sure what the fair value of my life would equate to thus I emptied everything in the bag.

“This will be acceptable. You may reside here for a while if you’d rather not tempt fate. I can tell that you were chased by foes to be in that state.”

“Thank you! I do have a question. Where is the dungeon?” I asked. The darkness was all encompassing. I worried that it was some sort of dark aspect dungeon. While it wouldn’t be the first, they were annoying and very dangerous. Humans weren’t exactly equipped to deal with ghosts yet. 

“To put it simply, it’s under construction and humans are not able to perceive it yet,” the unicorn replied with a shake of his mane.

“I see. Would you thank Azaria for me? I’m not sure what happened but she did save my life.”

“I will do so. If you value your life, do not venture pass the train car. Young… man” With that the unicorn turned and walked back towards the darkness. I couldn’t tell where but at one point he vanished. I’d tracked him with my eyes the entire time too.

“I guess I’ll check my status,” I murmured after the nutcrackers left as well and I was alone. 

Lance Teron

Age:20

Level:6

Race: Human

Type: Undefined ->Harvester

Aether: 30/100

Skills: Harvest

Achievements:

Trading With Chaos – You achieved something few could claim. While it might appear to be dumb luck, even luck has a place in the universe. Aether gain +1 per hour.

I blinked as my status changed since the last time I viewed it. I never heard of a Harvester type before. It was just a title that was used for people like me that pulled parts from monsters. I’d even gained it as a skill. I’d never heard of someone gaining a skill outside scrolls or awakening. 

What could this mean?