Chapter 13: The Second Floor of the Dungeon

“Anyone have a particular direction they want to try?” I asked, taking the first step onto the carpet that made up the second floor of the Dungeon. It was weird to be in what felt like a normal hallway and know that at some point I was going to have to fight monsters in it.

“Straight seemed to work out well for CJ, Norris, and Samuel last time, so let’s stick with that,” Peter said. He shoved past me to take the lead, his stride confident as though he didn’t care that an enemy could appear at any time.

“I doubt it was our choice in direction that put us behind them,” Bethany pointed out, but our brother didn’t respond.

She followed Peter, and I took up the rear spot since I was better equipped to deal with an ambush than my older sister given her [skills] were all in the support department. Thinking of that, I brought up the next important topic we needed to discuss.

“How are we going to handle that new [quest] we got? What exactly does it mean when it says ‘participate?’ Does that specifically mean killing monsters, or just being involved?” I asked as we walked through the corridor based on my grandmother’s living room. “Because if it’s just being involved, I think we already do a good job of that with how we handle groups of enemies.”

“I don’t know about that. I do help out, but I definitely don’t contribute as much as you or Peter,” Bethany replied.

Peter scoffed at us over his shoulder. “Nobody contributes as much as me. I’m carrying this team on my back.”

I rolled my eyes. “We get it, Peter. You’re the star of the show. That’s why we’re letting you lead us through this maze.” So far, my brother had kept going straight, just as he originally wanted, and there were no impediments to that plan.

“Ah, yes, the terrifying maze that is Gram-Gram’s living room,” my little brother said.

“At least we haven’t run into any monsters yet so our [MP] can recharge,” Bethany said.

I reached over to the nearest picture frame, one that contained a black and white photo of some old relative I’d never learned the name of. Grandma Marks always loved family history and keeping photos of her ancestors around. I rapped my knuckles against the wooden frame. “Knock on wood it stays that way. You are trying to jinx us?”

“Oh come on. If something was going to jump out at us, it would have already.” Bethany shook her head. “Really, Madison. I didn’t think you were the kind to be–”

The frame I just knocked on flew off the wall and smacked Bethany in the head–I didn’t know why it was taking its rage out on her instead of me when I was the one who touched it, but I also wasn’t going to complain. A banner appeared above the creature as a set of eyes and teeth formed along the glass, turning it into a proper monster.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor]

[Level 4]

“Nice going, Madi,” Peter called back as he spun around and produced his sword.

“Not my fault.” I put my hands out and [Pushed] the [Ancestor] away before it could make another dive attempt at Bethany. It flung backwards towards Peter who hacked at it with his sword.

The frame took damage, but somehow it remained in one piece.

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“This is one heck of a frame.” Bethany ducked as the frame dashed towards her again, teeth chomping up and down.

I [Pushed] the creature back towards my brother again, and as he was swinging his sword at it, something bonked me in the back of the head, causing me to stumble forward a step. Holding the newly formed goose egg, I turned to discover another [Bitter Ancestor] had joined the fray. No, two–three–FIVE more of those stupid picture frames came to life and were descending on me and my siblings.

“That’s not good,” Bethany said.

I used [Push All] on the incoming [Ancestors], sending the newest five back down the hallway a pathetic ten feet, but it appeared Peter was having some luck as I got a notification.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor Defeated]

[15 XP Gained]

“Let me try [Calming] one of them,” Bethany suggested, coming to stand right at my side.

I glanced over my shoulder to see that Peter had exchanged his sword for his bow and had an arrow at the ready.

“I’ll [Push All] the group and then [Pull] just one forward for you,” I said.

She nodded, and I put my hands back out. The frames were all within five feet of us again, but my [Push All] sent them back down the hallway. I quickly latched a [Pull] onto the frontmost one, drawing it back up.

Bethany held a hand out. “[Calm].”

The frame continued towards us, looking completely unaffected.

My sister tried again. “[Calm].”

The [Bitter Ancestor] didn’t slow down, and I held my hand up, ready to protect us from the incoming monster.

Peter released his shot. The arrow slammed into the glass face of the picture, shattering it into bits of shiny powder.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor Defeated]

[15 XP Gained]

“Arrows work a lot better than your sword. Keep at it, Peter. I’ll keep them back so you have space to shoot,” I said to him.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. Figured that one out myself actually,” he replied.

“We can be petty later. Let’s focus on not dying.” Bethany tried [Calming] one of the frames again, but there was still no noticeable effect.

“Save your [MP], Beth.” I used [Push All] on the four remaining [Bitter Ancestors], and Peter released another arrow, nailing one of them in the face and turning it into dust.

[Last Trace of a Bitter Ancestor Defeated]

[15 XP Gained]

Peter took down another picture frame, and then I used my [Push All] again to keep the other two back. He then finished them both off, sending up the last two notifications about [XP].

I took a breath and glanced around the now barren hallway. Any other pictures on the wall stayed there, and I decided to be dumb enough to hope they’d stay there. “I think we got them all.”

Sweat coated my hands. As I wiped them off on my pants, I pulled up my status screen to check my [MP] and [XP].

[Temporary Class:]

[Kinetic Mage, Level 5]

[MP: 1/30]

[XP: 330/500]

I was lucky we’d spent so much time walking so my [MP] regenerated enough I could use my abilities. Not to mention my passive halved the amount I needed to spend each time. Still, I would need to be careful in the future since I was always teetering on the brink of hitting zero, and Alfie had warned me that the side effects of running out of [MP] were unpleasant.

“Come on. Let’s keep going,” Peter said.

“I’m at one [MP], Peter. If we run into any monsters, I won’t be able to do anything.” I closed my screen.

“I’m sure it’ll be like the first floor where monsters are spaced apart enough for us to recover between fights. I don’t want to waste any time. We’re already behind.” His bow disappeared into nothing, and he started walking back down the hall. “We’re about to reach a T intersection. Let’s go right at it.”

Beth didn’t even look at me as she followed after him. She was clearly unhappy with this decision too, but our brother wasn’t leaving any room for argument.

Murmuring my complaints to myself, I walked after my siblings and silently prayed Peter was right. As we turned right at the next intersection, it turned out he was wrong. Very wrong.