I stood straight, Rubellia staring at me with wide, sparkling eyes. My mask and cloak were covered in blood, as was Rei. I twirled her in my hand before flicking her, causing the blood to splatter on the ground, before sheathing her and stepping
down from the minotaur.
You okay? I reached a hand out to
Rubellia.
“You…You saved me.” She
whispered as she gently took my hand.
Everybody gets one. I pulled her up gently. Don’t think too hard about it.
“Thank you…” She never let go of my hand. In fact, her grip tightened as she continued to stare.
You must also have that damn ability. I pulled my hand away forcefully. I won’t let you get a read on me. I began walking away.
“You’re him, aren’t you?” I stopped at Rubellia’s question. “You’re the Gilded Hero.”
“He is no hero,” an all too
familiar voice sounded from the room.
Great. This woman again.
“What? Who are you?” Han
pointed his axe toward the woman.
Dumb ass. Can’t you tell she’s an apparition?
“There’s no need to be afraid, Hero of Knowledge.” Han’s eyes widened at her response. “You and your party have cleared my dungeon; for that, I am here to reward you.”
Excuse me! I’m sorry. I think I just heard you say he and his party cleared it. You know damn well I soloed this dungeon!
“Out of my way, pesky rabbit.” The woman scoffed as she waved a hand, creating a gust of wind that blew me across the room.
“Heh,” Han smirked at me.
I’ll kick your ass!
“Reward us?” Sora asked
as she stepped forward. “What do you mean?”
“You three were the first party to ever clear a dungeon, as all who attempted before perished. That was why I chose you. I knew you could do it.”
They would have died without me!
“Yeah,” Han shrugged. “It was pretty easy.” The woman chuckled softly.
“I’m sure it was. Now, for your reward, I will bestow upon you the gift my guardian had.” A red orb floated from her to Han before merging with him. “It’s called Berserk. Use this skill when you are hurt and feel you can no longer fight. It will heal your wounds and double your strength.”
THAT SHOULD BE MY SKILL, DAMNIT!
“As for you,” A blue orb floated toward Sora and merged with her. “I have upgraded that ability of
yours. It should now be called Scan, and it allows you to see all information on any person or monster you encounter at will. It can even show you their stats and abilities. However, if the monster or person is significantly stronger or higher level than you, it won’t work.”
“Really?” Sora immediately looked at me, only to frown. It seemed the ability still hadn’t worked on me.
“And you,” a silver orb floated and merged with Rubellia. “I grant you the spell Bind. Use it to prevent your enemies from moving.”
“This is a level eight spell!” Rubellia squeaked.
“Use it in your adventures.” The woman smiled. “Now, go.” Light surrounded the trio. “Continue
with your adventures and grow ever stronger. Many more trials await you, especially if you plan to conquer the other dungeons. May the God’s smile upon this hero and his party.” At that, the trio vanished. I immediately removed my mask.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“What the hell was that!? You gave them all the good shit! What about me? I soloed this dungeon, and they would have died without my help.”
“Can you shut up?” She scowled at me. Her attitude towards me was completely different than it was for the trio, and I didn’t like it. Not only had she praised them for doing something they didn’t do, but she rewarded them for it as well.
All those skills and abilities she gave them should have been mine. That left me with nothing but a bitchy apparition. Moments like this made me wish the world was more video game-like. If it were, at least all
of us would have been rewarded for the dungeon’s completion. But because this wasn’t a game, the woman favoritized the trio, rewarding them instead of me.
I understood her frustrations with me, however. I mean, I soloed her dungeon, called it shitty, and speed ran it, all of which she hated me for, but that didn’t excuse my lack of reward. If it weren’t for me, the trio would have died. If it weren’t for me, the dungeon never would have been cleared.
I couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with Han’s title. Sora and the dungeon creator had called him the Hero of Knowledge, and the dialogue he received sounded like that of a main character. That was most likely why she had given him and his party the upgrades.
In this world, in terms of coding, I was a virus, a trojan horse, an unaccounted variable. What I meant by this was that I was never meant to clear the dungeon.
“Whatever,” I grumbled.
“I’m just saying they would have died without my-“
“You think I don’t know that!”
“Eh?” Her sudden yelling caught me by surprise.
“Gods, what am I gonna do?” She began to ruffle her hair in frustration. “I thought they were strong enough when I deemed them worthy, but they almost died. If you hadn’t been here…” She trailed off.
“Strength means nothing compared to experience,” I said, stepping toward the woman.
“What?”
“You said you thought they were strong enough, and they showed their strength in the second phase of
the fight. The minotaur was strengthened by a buff, yet they still managed to take it down. But it was their lack of experience with a monster like that that led to their near death.”
“You say that like you’ve
dealt with it before.” She frowned.
“More or less,” I shrugged. “What I’m saying is that I have experience with these kinds of things. They don’t. Plus, their formation was terrible, regardless of how well they did. They had their mage by herself away from the warrior, and the archer was fighting on the frontlines. That’s why I had to step in and save their NOOB asses.”
“NOOB?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Indeed, it doesn’t.” She sighed. We were silent for a moment before she looked at me again. “You’re experienced, right?”
“That’s what I said.”
“You’re strong, right?”
“More or less.”
“Then watch over them.”
