Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

That was all it took.  Jeska had to grudgingly admit to being a bit envious of the way Rosara was able to manipulate people in a way that had nothing to do with her looks; she just had a natural charisma, a natural charm, that allowed her to twist them around her little finger.

“Ok, we all know the plan, right?  I go in first and draw their attention, and then you come in afterwards to—safely—help me finish them off.”  It was an extremely simple plan, though Arcen didn’t mention that she would be going off to his left with Kelty while Rosara and Pascale would go right.  It sure beat his first plan, which was for him to just rush in and start smacking things all by himself while the others sat back in safety; they were a group, and it was necessary for them to work together.  Besides, as strong as he was, he could still die if he were to end up surrounded.

“Yes, and don’t forget—I’m looking at you, Arcen—if it looks like we are outmatched, we need to run.  No being stupid.”  Jeska looked at her brother, who glanced away with a nod, refusing to meet her eyes.  He better not be reckless and get someone killed, least of all himself.

“Fine; as long as we’re all in agreement, lead on.”  Jeska tightened her grip on her Training Weapon, wishing she could have something a little more sharp.  Unfortunately, when they had tried to bring some knives and a couple of old swords that had been forged long ago from someone’s attic, those items were not accepted into their Inventories.  And every time they tried to hold a different weapon, it seemed to want to jump out of their hands of its own accord.  The same went with anything resembling armor of any kind; it felt itchy and extremely uncomfortable, even if they were padded and custom-fitted to a person before they became Heroes.

With a squaring of his wide shoulders, Arcen took the first step into the unknown…with four uncertain Heroes right behind him.

Chapter 16

Almost immediately, there was a rustling of the ferns in the room, located just behind the glowing fern in the middle.  Arcen quickly stepped forward a few steps so that he wasn’t blocking the entrance anymore, and readied his weapon to attack.  Jeska and Kelty swung left but stayed out of the fight for the moment, while Rosara and Pascale did the same on the right.  The rustling got closer to her brother when something finally emerged from the ferns at about knee-height on him: three extremely large rats.

She had seen some big rats before, of course; they liked to smuggle aboard large shipping boats and feed on just about anything they could find, which produced some scary-looking rodents when they were finally tracked down and exterminated.  They didn’t hold a candle to the dungeon rats, however.  These were literally monstrous.

Knee-height on Arcen meant that they were nearly waist-height on Jeska – and they were odd-looking as well.  One of them appeared as if it were literally on fire, with little flashes of flames covering its body in quick intervals; another seemed to have just come out of a pool of water or something, as it was dripping water as it ran; and the third was hard to make out in the shadows created by the ferns in the room, as it was covered in a dark, sludge-like substance.  Oh, and it smelled, which she caught a whiff of as it sprinted for the largest target in the room: her brother.

Getting a better look at them also granted her something else, something that distracted her just enough that she stopped moving while she figured out what it was.

Bilge Rat ★

Attack Type: Melee

Element: Dark

Apparently, it was information about the dark-colored rat, though very little of it made any sense to her.  The other two rats had a similar bunch of information floating above their bodies, but other than different names – River Rat and Flare Rat – the only thing different was their “Element”.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and as she glanced over, Jeska saw one of the ferns in the middle of the room—not the glowing one—moving.  She looked closer at it, trying to get some more information about it, and was rewarded after less than a second.

Stone-tipped Fern ★

Attack Type: Ranged

Element: Nature

Unfortunately, it was still moving.  It looked like someone had bent back one of its fronds, as if they were pressing it out of the way to get by; the next second, the front whipped back into place…and a dozen sharp stone fragments broke off of the frond and flew ahead of the fern – right toward Arcen.

“Look—” she started to shout, but it was too late.  All but a couple of the stone shards smacked right into her brother’s chest, only somewhat deflected by the thicker cloth tunic he was wearing.  Even as he cried out in pain, the three rats arrived, jumping at him as he scrambled to defend himself after being surprised by the projectiles.  The wet rat managed to hop up and bite onto his thigh, holding on even as Arcen moved around.  The dark gunk-covered rat got a face full of wooden club as her brother swung wildly in a slight panic, knocking it away but not killing it, while the rat on fire landed on his other thigh.

Instead of biting, however, it just sat there…and his pants started to catch fire.  Luckily for him, Rosara and Pascale were there, frantically beating at the two rats, inevitably hitting Arcen at the same time.  “Ouch, don’t hit me – hit these darn rats!”  As Jeska got ready to join in on the fun, she