(Trital)
I growled, my skin burning and crawling in tandem, feeling my opposite touch my skin and fire lick across it. I was also being stabbed repeatedly by a small, fast human while the large orc forced me to dance like some kind of bard. I was sick of it.
I shrieked, then activated one of the dead elf's skills. I vanished half a moment before the small human appeared, and he froze in shock long enough for me to appear behind him and stab him through the chest with my tail, though he dodged my fists. His demonic aspects were frustrating...
He managed to get off of my tail unfortunately, and I went for the human witch who still wasn't done casting her spell. Every moment she scared me more- the longer a spell took to cast, the more powerful it ended up being- she'd been channeling for more than half a minute. Before I reached her, the small human appeared again and I danced a half a step back away from his blade, only to be shot. I yowled, growling as the arrow stuck out of my bicep. I dashed forward, spinning around the small ones knife and pushing his arm to the side in order to distract him and unbalance him- then jumped over the gout of flames that inevitably tried to hit me.
I ripped the arrow out of my arm in midair, and knew I'd been poisoned, which was already ticking away at my health. I twisted and Threw the arrow at the elf woman like I was firing it from a bow. She gasped, barely managing to avoid the arrow and giving me enough time to land and make it to the human woman.
I shouted in fury, pulling back a fist to hit her in the face with, only to have it get caught around the wrist. I froze in shock just long enough for the person to catch my other wrist in their contraption, and then somehow bind them with the twang of a bowstring. I whimper around, my hands trapped against each other at the small of my back, in time to see the orc finish stepping back away from me, and then in half of a second, knock an arrow and pull back with his bow.
I tried to dodge, but over-balanced and fell onto my side as the arrow nicked me. I tried to get back up, but got pushed down instead, grunting as the small human man was now crouched over me on the balls of his feet- which weren't on the ground, but on my chest, making it hard to breath. I lashed out at the orc's feet and stab him just after he fires, the human stabbing down at my neck as well.
The men knew I was a man, and the orc took advantage of that knowledge to my the most critical shot you can against a man, while the roguish human slit my throat. I stiffened, on the verge of death and feeling agony like none I'd ever encountered. So I bit the human's arm. He froze, stuck in paralysis as I started draining his blood and healing. I'd gotten this skill from one of the last demon's I'd killed, and I would use it now.
After two seconds, I let go and rolled, using the elf-rogues skill again to vanish and leave my bonds behind, appearing behind the orc and biting his neck before drinking deeply. I healed up for a full second before letting go and stabbing through his bow arm three times, ruining his tendons and muscles there. He wouldn't be shooting me again, and I loved that knowledge. i dodged to the side and kicked out at the human who- as I'd guessed he would- had attempted to backstab me. Instead, my kick straightened his aim squarely into the orcs back.
The human paled, getting a debuff called 'traitor'. Traitor caused all sources of damage to affect him and cause him double damage until the end of the fight. Magic couldn't affect a teammate unless it was an incredible powerful, or positive spell- so traitor was hard for mages to get. Melee, though...
I laughed, and then was consumed by flames again. I howled, leaping into the small human's blade in order to grab him and use him as a shield. He screamed, the flames actually burning him as I protected myself from the flames with him. The elf stopped before he died, unfortunately, and I threw him at the elf, distracting her even more as I ducked the orc's one-armed strike. I punched his armpit hard, so hard that it dislocated the bone and I heard it pop out of it's joint.
The orc growled furiously, and I shot towards the human. I had all the other people distracted and unable to attack, so I wasn't stopped- instead, I punched the woman, aiming for her neck- or trying to. She said a final word and her eyes flew open as she finished her minute-long spell and sent it flying out into the world- a few centimeters before I hit her skin.
The magic forced me back, and the mage wasn't injured, but I tried to ignore the spell and kill her before it finished. However, I couldn't get close to her no matter what I did. So I dashed back to the orc- who had been running towards me- and ducked his punch again before stabbing him in the back with my tail, only to scream as my own back experienced the damage. I was bleeding again, and I backed away, growling. I didn't know how long the spell would last, but I could outlast it- I would be fine.
I kept watching the orc as the big brute recovered, only to feel a tingling sense that I'd forgotten something or someone incredibly important. I quickly turned, horrified to see holy flames coming straight for me. I stepped back out of the flames path, but they didn't follow me. I tensed, and then felt it- a deep, painful wound right in the back of my neck. The human rogue's hand trembled in agony as he held the knife, and he growled in fury.
"Take that, you bloody demon!" He twisted it, and I felt all of the pipes and stuff in my neck get turned to confetti before he ripped the bloody dagger out of my neck by cutting sideways through it, and opening my jugular. I collapsed to the ground, my blood spattering everything, and then passed out, dying shortly after. It had been a fast fight, but they had won.
And I hadn't left them unblemished either.
___
Alcor
I panted, looking at Stephan in an odd mix of pride and jealousy. He was covered in blood, and had an insane look of rage and battle-lust in his eyes, his exhaustion and adrenaline clear in the way his burned and scarred body trembled. He was the sexiest human man I'd ever seen- and by far the sexiest I'd ever seen that specific human man- which meant that Auriel would definitely be preferring him. He had every bit of rage-fueled, carnage inducing rage that I myself lacked, so how could I compete.
I sighed, closing my eyes and stepping backwards until I could lean against a wall. A loud ding made me jump before I realized it was a prompt- and I was confused. We hadn't beaten the dungeon yet, there were still things to do... but, that didn't mean they hadn't beaten it, he realized. We most certainly had- by defeating the boss monster of the dungeon. I grinned, chuckling to myself.
Congratulations! You have defeated: Unnamed dungeon.
Type: Celestial Fae core.
Due to completing the dungeon your first time through without the use of potions or healing equipment, you have gained a title!
Reckless Adventurer: You can now regenerate five percent of your hp every three seconds outside of combat, and two percent every three seconds when inside of combat. Be aware that all healing-related items and abilities other than this one are now twice as effective on you, healing for twice what they normally would.
Due to defeating the boss monster in a battle that lasted less than two minutes, you have each gained three free status points. Because you have decided not to destroy the core, you have gained relationship status with it- status, acquaintances.
Warning, you have completed a world-class dungeon in it's early, formative years. It has no dungeon fairy yet and is still very young. Would you like to claim and name this dungeon core?
Y/N
I blinked in confused shock. Then I hit yes, not even questioning the oddity. This was definitely worth it. I got a prompt asking for a name and minimized it, looking through the rest first.
Congratulations! You have leveled up! Because you have claimed a dungeon core, your base stat increases are doubled, meaning you gain four strength, two agility, and four wisdom per level up. You have four remaining unspent status points.
Congratulations, Alcor. You have earned the title: Star-Struck Admirer. You now have a bonus of 1 additional charisma point every time you level up- though that point is still going to be distributed according to the system's rules.
Warning: you are bleeding, and poisoned with demonic essence. Due to the demonic essence, the bleed effect will not go away. If you cannot find someone who will remove this essence from you in a weeks time, you will die- if it is suppressed, you may live a normal life until the bleed effect kills you in a months time.
Warning: You have caught the attention of a higher power- whether for good or for ill, your god is smiling upon you. Pray for guidance to understand your creators will.
Know this- you have survived an encounter with a more powerful foe who would only have grown stronger and faster the longer you fought- and you did so by luck. Because of this, you and your party have all gained three luck points.
I blinked. This was... a lot. And it was weird. Why would my god have noticed me? I hadn't done anything noteworthy that I was aware of, and as for the title? I would rather not have that... it was incredibly embarrassing, and I knew I'd have to share it later.
However, as I reviewed my prompts, I grew nervous. I had just agreed to something I really, really didn't understand... It had an already obvious benefit... but... I didn't even know what to do first... Until a prompt de-minimized itself and I saw it again.
You have claimed a Dungeon Core- please name it: _______
I stared at the prompt in abject and utter confusion. Looking over at my party, I saw that only Val looked frustrated, and the others simply looked a bit confused. I walked over, tapping her shoulder- both out of curiosity and worry.
"Val? What is wrong? Are you okay?" She seemed very stressed and ill at ease, meanwhile my arm was still dangling almost limply from my shoulder. It hurt, but I could ignore that for now.
"It offered us a dungeon core, and someone accepted it before us! I'm so upset- who knows what that could've done!" He blinked, stunned as she continued with her rant. "If I find whomever took tat from our party, I'm going tear them apart and completely destroy everything they've ever loved!"
I blinked, then looked around, uneasy. "Um... I... I didn't mean to... I just saw it and hit yes without thinking about it... Umm... I'm sorry, Val..." She hesitated, and then looked at me, gripping my shirt desperately.
"What. Did. It. Say???" She looked like she was about to murder someone, and I started sweating, my arm stinging and flaring with pain because of the whole 'being dislocated' thing. He didn't consciously acknowledge the pain, though- he couldn't afford to show weakness with this terrifying woman in his face.
"I-I... I don't know? A naming option is all I really got as far as I can tell..." He didn't dare mention anything else, as he wasn't certain how related to the orb it was- after all, nothing in this dungeon made any sense...
She froze, then looked at it. "This... this thing can have a name? That's... terrific!!! Come on! What should it be named? Everyone, we have to make this good!" I blinked in utter bewilderment. Looking at Stephan, he was equally dazed.
Val started mumbling about names, pacing side to side while we watched. I sighed, looking at the screen and muttering a quiet prayer to my god. A name entered my mind with so much force I grunted and stumbled, grimacing in pain.
"Alcor?" Val was at my side, and so was Stephan. Both looked worried, though Auriel watched from a small distance away. She did look concerned though. I blushed and almost forgot what had made me stumble until it blindsided me again- and Auriel actually took a step closer as I whimpered.
"I-I get it... I'll name it Yorick, anything for my god..." They tensed, and I breathed, typing in the name as the pain faded, blessedly. I'd suffered actual health loss from it, and now my nose was bleeding. I sighed, wiping away the blood and pressing accept.
Immediately a prompt appeared, and I blinked, double-checking. Hitting accept, I heard something that terrified me. Something unnatural, beyond my understanding, and way out past what made sense- even for this dungeon.
"Since when is my name Yorick? That makes no sense, I... I could've sworn it was... Why can't I remember? Oh, hang on, now the orc is doing something interesting again... I wonder what is going on in that big head of his? I'm so curious..." The voice kept going, as if a non-stop monologue voicing it's every voice, and I had no idea what to do.
"V-Val...?" My voice broke cracking as I spoke her name, making them all stare at me in confusion and worry. They hadn't ever really heard me sound this shaken up before, and it worried them. Rightly so, since he had no clue about what exactly this meant.
"I can hear the orb- it's talking, and it's thinking." I sounded scared, as any logical person would be. The orb- Yorick- shut up, an uneasy silence consuming everyone and leaving no one certain exactly about what was going on.
"The orc can what now?" Yorick spoke, silently voicing what I assumed was the main question on everyone's mind. After all, I was talking to a dungeon core- or listening to it at least. And it sounded stunned.