Chapter 7: Down in the Dungeon Pt. 2
The heroes kept making their way through the first floor of the dungeon. They encountered a few more small hordes and racked up more kills. The new standings for experience were now
Markus
Level: 1 Exp: 125/1000
Derek
Level: 1 Exp: 250/1000
Ian
Level: 1 Exp: 115/1000
Zoe
Level: 1 Exp: 120/1000
Alice
Level: 1 Exp: 85/1000
Rose
Level: 1 Exp: 40/1000
The change in plan of luring in zombies and greatly harming them so that Rose could finish them off was working decently. For Rose to get experience like that, it was tedious, but it would pay off in the end.
"Ok, I did some calculations and Rose would need to kill about 200 more zombies to level up. I think it would be better if Rose just finished off all the zombies we run in to. Hopefully, she can learn an attacking spell when she levels up."
"I don't know Ian, should we really put that much focus into having Rose level up? Will it really do us that much good in the long run?"
"Yeah Alice, it will. If there was one thing, I have learned from playing a lot of MMORPGs and TTRPGs, it's that having a strong healer is vital to keeping the team alive. Once we get Rose to level 2 then we can focus on the rest of us getting there."
"Alright, I'm trusting you on this. Don't let us down, we're counting on you as you know this kind of situation better than any of us could."
The group began pushing through the rest of the floor and added more dead zombies to their count. With their new plan in action, Rose claimed most of the kills and now had the most experience points out of the group.
Rose
Level: 1 Exp: 340/1000
The others let Rose finish so many zombies that she was about a third of the way to reaching level two. This was a good point for them to start back tracking the way they came and see if they could find any loot. After an hour and a half of searching, they only found one chest.
"Zoe, you're up. You have your lock pick tools, right?"
"Yeah, I got some practice with them, but it will still take me a bit of time. Cover me while I try to figure this out."
Ian walked over to the chest and looked at carefully. Zoe looked at him in a confused manner, "What are you looking for, traps?"
Ian looked back at her and with a straight face, "I'm testing it for organic material, it could be a monster."
"There can't possibly be such a thing can there?"
Derek was the one to respond to Zoe, "A mimic, a creature that can take the form of inanimate objects. They can catch you off guard even though they aren't usually very powerful. However, the older the mimic the more powerful and the bigger it is."
"Oh, that's good to know," said Zoe nervously as she slightly backed away from the chest.
"Just keep going, Zoe. If it even moves a centimeter, I'll smack the shit out of it."
Zoe, not fully confident in Ian's words, went back to picking the lock. After messing with the tumblers and some careful turning, a subtle click was heard. Zoe quickly opened the chest and inside were a pair of ornate daggers with jet black blades that shined like freshly polished glass. One of the daggers had a handle that was designed to look like a skull and the other looked like a demon. The skull had red jewels that formed eyes and the demon had green eyes. As Zoe reached for the daggers Ian quickly grabbed her hand. "You shouldn't touch them; I have a bad feeling about those daggers. They could be cursed objects that could instantly kill you."
Zoe became afraid of the daggers and Ian's words, so she quickly backed up. Ian took out a piece of spare cloth and went to pick up the daggers. When he got close, a spell circle appeared and blasted Ian backwards a few feet. The daggers rose out of the chest and began to float towards Zoe. They began to make a noise that enticed Zoe to grab them.
She reached her arms out and grabbed the daggers with firm grip.
Hero has obtained: Legendary Class weapons (bound)
Skull of Culling: a dagger that does necrotic damage to any enemy with living flesh.
Demon of Slaying: a dagger that does infernal damage to any holy enemy.
The daggers seemed to be top tier equipment that would be pretty useful. Zoe put her old daggers in her pack and strapped the Demon and the Skull onto her equipment belt. Ian got up from the floor and walked back over to the group. "Those daggers are insane, I wonder if there any other pieces of gear like that."
[A/N: What do you think?]
The group left the area and continued through the floor. They saw something that they made them a little giddy inside. In front of them were a massive pair of stone doors that led to the next floor. The group rushed over to the doors as quickly as possible and made a big mistake. When they were about 20 feet from the doors, a sudden sense of danger washed over them. A lone zombie appeared out of the floor in front of the gate. However, this zombie was different from the others. It was much bigger and looked more monstrous with massive arms, short pointed ears and tusk like protrusions from its lower jaw. It even carried a large hand axe and a shield made from bones. It was about 7 feet tall and looked like it could snap everyone one of the heroes in half with little to no effort.
"Hey Ian, do you have any plan for this guy?"
"Run like hell and dont look back. I don't think we can beat this guy."
"Where are we gonna run to, he can chase us through the floor."
"You guys will go around him and down to the next floor while I distract him."
Markus grabbed Ian by the collar and looked him dead in the eyes. "That has got to be the most idiotic plan I've ever heard. You aren't going through with this."
Ian grabbed Markus' wrist and pulled his hand with his monstrous strength. Markus had forgotten how strong Ian truly was. "I have a plan. I'm not a complete moron."
Ian took a few steps back and took his stick in his hand. He held it like a spear and took a few steps forward. With all the strength he had, he launched his stick straight into the zombies face. The stick slammed into the head of the zombie and it fell backwards against the door. The doors opened towards the staircase to the second floor so the zombie was now unconscious in front of the stairs.
"Well, I didn't see that coming."
"Is it dead? I think it's dead."
"Nope, I didn't get any experience for that. Let's finish it while it's knocked out."
Before the group could formulate a plan, the large zombie began to move and rise. It got back on its feet and picked up Ian's stick. The zombie took his stick and hurled it towards the group, planting the stick right in front of Derek. The hulking creature started to run at group with its axe in one hand and shield in the other.
"Scatter!!!!," screamed Markus as the group was panicking. They all went different directions, but the zombie was smart. It started to run to the easiest target to hit which was Rose. Rose had tripped trying to run away from the group and now faced certain doom. Ian saw that she was in trouble and sprinted over to her. He was shorter than the zombie, but he got to Rose faster as his muscles were functioning higher than the zombies and he was closer. Ian stood in front of Rose and prepared for any blow, but he wasn't trained in taking a hit. The zombie swung its axe backwards and tucked in its shield, but instead of swinging its axe it hit Ian with the full force of its bone shield and launched him three feet in the air then seven feet across the room.
Rose watched as Ian had been launched across the room, "IIIIIIIIIIIIIaaaaaaaaaannnn!!!!!!!"
Ian was lying there, in a fetal like position and could barely even move. Everyone was filled with a mix of emotions as Ian had been swatted away like a fly. Markus and Derek were filled with rage while Rose was shocked. Alice was cowering with fear and Zoe felt despair as they had witnessed one of the strongest people they had ever seen get bitch-slapped across room.
Derek and Markus both charged the zombie and began trying to cleave and cut through the massive shield. The zombie would block one of them with the shield and parry the other with its axe.
Markus activated his skill, Rally, to get the girls back into the right mind frame. Rose, Alice and Zoe felt the surge of energy from the skill and rushed over to help the boys. Alice and Zoe provided support to Markus and Derek while Rose went to heal Ian. She began using as much mana as she could muster, but it cost her most of her mana to heal the broken ribs and partially punctured lung that Ian had suffered. Ian began to stir and move a bit so Rose helped him stand up.
Ian started to walk on his own and went for his stick. Once he got to it, he grabbed it with both hands and pulled it out of the ground.
"Alright dead head, time to go back to being dead."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Deltora
Deltora So, I've decided to cut down the content of the chapters so I can spread them out. Please leave a comment of you enjoyed the chapters and so I can get feedback from you, the readers.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone