The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (the false prince TXT) 📕

but for some stupid reason the Cohort leader thought it would be smart to block the horrific claw coming towards him with his large dagger.  Needless to say, it wasn’t one of his finest decisions, as the blow had so much power behind it that it sent Marvus flying.

As he picked himself up, feeling a stitch in his side that indicated that something was probably broken, he saw the dangerous beast-man eviscerating another one of his Cohort, before the others stayed far away from it.  They were much faster than it was, and though it was strong, the werewolf couldn’t catch them.  My turn again; this time, don’t be an idiot.

He rushed over, ignoring the pain even as he downed another Potion, tumbling past the behemoth with his dagger extended to the side.  A superficial slice appeared on the upper thigh of the werewolf, not really enough to hurt it, but enough to focus its attention solely on Marvus.  As the upright beast turned its eyes on him, the Plunderer gulped as he saw an impossibly intelligent hatred staring back at him.  He’d never fought a werewolf before, and the sight of it fully concentrating on him made more frightened than he’d like to admit.

This time Marvus ducked and rolled instead of trying to block one of the strikes aimed at him, which was harder than it looked.  The reach on the werewolf was such that it was nearly impossible to duck out of the way entirely, and he got more than a few scratches along his leather armor as a result; luckily, only once did the beast-man actually draw blood along his back, which stung but didn’t incapacitate him in any way.

Another howl from the trees startled him, and he quickly glanced around to see where his Cohort was.  They were nowhere to be seen.  Good.

“You better hurry!  They’re coming.”

As he rolled backwards to dodge another attack, he saw all 7 of his Cohort members appear behind the werewolf and stab it in its back, the skills of their Classes enhancing the damage they did to a target unaware of their location.  The werewolf howled again – in pain, this time – and turned on the surprise attackers with a vicious swipe of its claws, smacking two of the Thieves in the process, sending them flying backwards.  Marvus watched them land in a heap, injured but not dead – right in the path of the returning wolves.

Before the werewolf could recover, the Cohort leader yelled and used his Rush ability again, appearing next to the monstrous beast, where he stabbed upwards into its chest, hoping to pierce its heart.  His dagger just wasn’t long enough, though, even when it was nearly hidden inside of the walking wolf’s chest cavity, and he sprang away, abandoning his weapon as he narrowly avoided having his face torn off by a savage claw.

Unfortunately, he tripped over the corpse of one of his Cohort and sprawled onto his back.  The werewolf stomped over, obviously injured but ignoring those wounds as it strove to kill Marvus.  He tried to scramble to his feet, but it was too late; unbalanced, he couldn’t spring or roll away to avoid the hit.  He winced preemptively as he anticipated the blow that would tear his head from his body…but it never came.

Gerthin suddenly jumped onto the back of the werewolf, causing the monster to pause in confusion, and then his twin blades stabbed into its neck.  With a practiced yank and a twist, the walking nightmare’s head popped off, and the Assassin rode its body to the ground as it collapsed in death.

Howls erupted into the air as the werewolf’s body disappeared, and the wave of remaining wolves bounded into them.  Fortunately, there was no longer a glow around them, and Marvus – along with the other Cohort members – were able to dispatch them with only a minimum of hassle.  In the end, there were only 6 people left of their original 20: Marvus, Gerthin, Derf, and three Level 19 Thieves.

Not a good result, but they were alive.

In the middle of their battlefield, strewn with the corpses of their dead and the loot left behind by the multitudes of monsters they had slain, appeared a treasure chest.  Marvus walked over and lifted the top, surprised at what he saw inside.  Not just one, but 2 Enchantment Scrolls, along with 5 Minor Healing Potions…and 2 gold coins!  Added to the single gold coin that the werewolf had dropped, as well as the loot from the rest of the dungeon, he calculated that every single surviving member of the Cohort would end up with 2 or 3 gold apiece, a veritable fortune for their Levels.

But, it still wasn’t what he had come here for – and the others knew it, too.

“Where is this treasure you promised us?  This massive payday you were talking about – where is it?  Because, this—” Gerthin pointed to the chest, which was already disappearing after they had removed all of the items— “is definitely not it.”

“It’s that way; can’t you all feel it with your Valuation Sense?”  Marvus pointed towards one of the far walls, which he couldn’t actually see since it was so dark, but he instinctively knew it was there.

“No we can’t – you should know that.”

That was true, he did know that, but he had forgotten for a moment that they hadn’t trained the skill like he had.  Honestly, he probably wouldn’t have felt it before he had hit Level 30 in his Valuation Sense skill, so he could understand.  He explained all of that to the others, who begrudgingly agreed to investigate a little more.

His Sense led him and the others to the wall, where they couldn’t see any opening; however, after a bit of searching, they found another cleverly hidden access to a new passageway, similar to the one where he found