Re:Monster - Re:Vival

Day Four

With my new gear, came a newfound sense of confidence, which it really shouldn't have, considering what happened to the last people who wore this crap. Regardless, with little left to do on that floor, I quickly found the staircase and delved deeper into the so-called dungeon.

I had expected it, but the next floor was the same as the last. Stone corridors with roaming skeletons. The new gear made it much easier to deal with the walking corpses, although I still hadn't had a chance to test out the sword or dagger properly. It didn't really matter if skeletons were really the only thing I had to deal with other than the rare human.

What made things even easier was that with my new gear, I'd likely be able to avoid unnecessary fights with weak humans or even just attracting their unwanted attention. After all, who's going to pay attention to a single guy walking around in shoddy gear? Weirdos. That's who. I just had to hope there weren't too many of them down here.

After wandering around the floor for a while, I found that the only real difference between this floor and the last was the amount of skeletons. I'd say they'd doubled from the look of it. Not that I was complaining. What I was complaining about was the lack of new skills. I ended up not getting a single new skill. Not one.

I was just starting to get frustrated when I noticed a group of humans standing in front of a large, plain-looking, stone double-door. I watched from a distance as they waited patiently for something. There were four of them. A female archer dressed in gear that looked a little more expensive than the guy I killed but it also seemed worn in places. She was more experienced than the last guy, that's for sure.

The second was a large, bulky man that looked to be around his 40's dressed in pieces of plate and chain mail armour with a shield on his left and a mace on his right. He looked like the stereotypical crusader from the early portion of a video game. The type that doesn't actually work for the church and hasn't accomplished anything of note but likes to role-play that everything he does is "for the gods" or something.

The third person was clearly a swordsman. With dark blonde hair and a blue outfit covered in pieces of leather armour, he, to use the video game references once again, looked like the levelled up version of the Warrior I killed on the last floor. He held himself well and, though he seemed relaxed, he was doing a pretty good job at keeping his stance firm and his weaknesses covered.

Lastly, there was a young woman who seemed very different from the others. She had short, chin-length, red hair and eyes the colour of dull sapphires. Her gear was old and worn while the backpack strapped to her body was frayed in a lot of different places. Speaking of the backpack, it was massive. Double her size at least. Although she looked to be around 5'3", that still meant the backpack was around ten or eleven feet tall. I had to wonder just how much work she had put into training her body that she could carry that much weight at all times.

As I was pondering the young woman's lifting strength, the stone doors began emitting purple light in the form of a strange symbol that spread across both doors.

"Looks like they're done."

The oldest of the bunch, the wannabe crusader, spoke up. His tone made me think they'd done this before. We're dungeons repeatable? I was starting to believe less and less that I was in hell and more that I'd been reincarnated as a skeleton in a dungeon. It was like something straight out of one of those old Japanese comics.

"Is everyone ready? Check your gear again to make sure."

"How many times have we done this, Clyde? It's only the fifth floor. We'll be fine~. Don't be such a stick in the mud.

The Ranger woman teased the swordsman, answering my question at the same time.

"Umm... w-what would you like me to do?"

The redhead spoke up nervously. She clearly wasn't on the same, friendly terms as the others.

"Just stay at the back and don't get in the way."

The Ranger woman spoke back sharply, obviously annoyed that she'd interrupted her conversation with the blonde swordsman. The redhead lowered her head and followed along as the four of them entered the room.

It looked like that was the only way to go further down towards the depths so I had no choice but to wait my turn. I was surprised by how long it was taking, to be honest. So long that as I stood there, another group showed up.

A short girl with short, mud-brown hair, wearing gauntlets, a man in thick armour with a large shield and nothing else, a dark-skinned, muscular woman with a mace and a boy with a staff. The staff interested me the most when it came to that group. More specifically, it was the small, red gem in the centre of the staff's head that caught my eye. It gave off a feeling similar to the skeletons. It didn't feel like death but it had a sort of... mystical feeling. Was he a mage?

"Oh, hi there. Late night for you too?"

The gauntlet girl cheerfully shouted, attracting the attention of the rest of the group. Unfortunately, she had been speaking to me. I attempted to wave her off. Playing the role of an asshole was something that came natural to me most of the time.

"Are you here alone?"

She was apparently undeterred by my non-response.

"Are you really gonna take on the Greater Skeleton by yourself?"

"Have you ever fought it before?"

"Do you have any oil on you?"

"Can you use Fire Magic?"

She wouldn't shut up. Perhaps because of that, I'd ended up purposely tuning her out. That turned out to be a mistake. Because I was ignoring her, I didn't notice that she gotten close enough to grab my hood and pull it back. An attempt to get my attention, no doubt, but the gasps of shock meant that she hadn't expected to find a skeleton beneath the hood.

I heard her jump back so I turned around slowly, noticing that all four of them had readied themselves for battle. It wasn't my intention to kill anyone else before going to the next floor but at this point, if they attack, they'll have brought it on themselves.

~~~~~

A/N: Updates will be once a week on Sunday (AWST) from now on unless I feel like adding more. Also, if any readers have critique or suggestions in the future, please don't hesitate to comment. I know I've got a lot of room to improve.