Outside of the Level 1 Dungeon, it had become a hive of activity, from guards to Guild representatives, angry Adventurers, and even cleaners. The roads and the vicinity of the portal were being meticulously cleaned in anticipation of the high-ranking visitor.
The two cleaners hurriedly finished up and got out of there quickly, averting their eyes from the arguments that were unfolding between the portal guards and the Adventurers.
“And I'm telling you for the fiftieth time, the Dungeon is closed today as an inspector is due to visit!”
The guard was at boiling point, being forced to repeat the same information over and over to the person in front of him who refused to accept what he heard.
“I don't care about some inspector! I booked the Dungeon for today. It didn't say anything online about it being closed. It gave me this date and time slot, so stop pissing me about!”
Clenching his fist, the guard quickly released it before he put his job at risk. Visualising his family at home and his reason for earning money, the guard tried again to calm the Adventurer down.
“Look, mate, that's the web page's fault; it must not have updated with the info of the inspector coming. Contact the Guild office, and they'll refund you, or let you change the date and time slot....I get that you're pissed off, but taking it out on me will get you nowhere!.... Just trust me, this is for your own good, so I recommend going before the inspector turns up.”
The first half of the explanation had begun to calm the man down slightly, but the last half was taken incorrectly as a threat.
Sensing he was about to lash out, a female guard placed a hand on the man's shoulder and immediately calmed him when he saw the beauty in front of him.
“Excuse me, my colleague wasn't trying to threaten you; he genuinely is trying to help you.....The inspector who's coming is a Necromancer; I honestly don't advise being here arguing when he comes.”
Any thoughts of flirting with the woman in front of him quickly evaporated when he heard the word 'Necromancer'. Out of the myriad of special abilities in the world, that one is one of the few that people instinctively fear.
This is part and parcel of the many cases that graced the news over the years, of Necromancers abusing their powers, be it for necrophilia, twisted desires, or pure psychopathy.
From this, Necromancers acquired a bad stigma, with most people fearing being turned into an undead at the whims of a degenerate.
Trying to maintain some face, the Adventurer forced a smile at the woman and replied before making a hasty exit with his comrades.
“Ah, oh, Necromancer, you say.....Well, another day should be fine. The weather said there's a 1% chance of rain today, and I didn't bring an umbrella.”
Watching the man's back, the guard thanked his colleague before they fell into conversation.
“Thanks for that, Carline; the arrogant prick wouldn't listen to a thing I said.”
“Don't mention it. If anything like that happens again, then just call me over. Men are easy, simple creatures.”
Carline was confronted with a deadpan expression as the man stared at her.
“You know I'm a man as well, right?”
Deciding to play with him a little, Carline slowly looked him up and down before replying.
“Barely. Ha Ha.”
That proved to be the wrong reply as a sudden pain radiated from her shin, with a boot squarely connecting with it.
The look of pain quickly vanished from her face and was replaced with one of fear. Turning to see what she was looking at, the pair watched on as the inspector made his way towards them.
Wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt, the spectacled man looked the epitome of professionalism with his slicked-back, black hair.
The man could have easily been confused with an office worker if it were not for the well-defined physique that set him apart from the average person, but the main thing was his companions.
Walking on either side of the inspector were two skeletons, one on each side.
Their pure white bones framed the red lights that emanated from within their eye sockets and gave them a menacing appearance.
One of the skeletons held a briefcase, whereas the other skeleton carried a box of paperwork in its arms.
Carline, with her hand hidden from sight, started to prod repeatedly at her colleague's back and whispered to him.
“Eric, you go; I don't think I can move in case I pee myself.”
Usually he would give a funny quip as a retort, but this time he could not as he felt the same.
Taking in a deep breath, the guard stepped forwards and tried his hardest to not show the fear that was currently racking his body.
“Hello, Mr Siegfried, it is an honour to meet such an esteemed Dungeon inspector.”
While giving out a cold glare, the inspector studied the man before giving a silent command to his skeletons before he replied to him.
“Where is the Guild representative? There should have been someone here, but all I see are you two guards?”
Eric cursed internally at the question he was confronted with.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! There's no way I can tell him they ran away when they found out the inspector was a Necromancer. I don't get paid enough for this crap."
“Ahh, sorry about that, Mr Siegfried. The Guild representative was called away urgently on a family matter. I think his mother had fallen ill.”
Expecting to hear a string of curses riding on a wave of anger, Eric was surprised when the inspector smiled at him and replied calmly.
“I see. Family should be cherished after all....Now then, you two plebeians can fill in these forms while I begin my investigation....I will set a timer of five minutes; if I am not back within that time, then come in to check on my progress.”
The goodwill that had been built up with his initial words instantly vanished as the man looked down on them as worthless peasants.
Without either of the two guards noticing, the skeletons that flanked the inspector had manoeuvred behind them and taken out numerous forms to be filled in.
Eric first realised this when he heard a high-pitched yelp from Carline, who had been shocked by the skeletal hand prodding her in the back.
Turning to face the undead, Carline stuttered her words and accepted the forms.
“Ahh...Ohh...Tha...Thank you, Mr Skeleton.”
Leaving the two bemused guards alone with their newly acquired paperwork, the inspector stood in front of the portal with his skeleton summons standing beside him, now no longer holding paperwork, but a scimitar in each hand.
Straightening out his tie, before bending his neck to the sides, an audible crack could be heard.
Reaching into his pocket, the inspector produced his weapons, something no one would have expected. A set of shiny silver knuckle dusters was slipped over his fingers, sitting snugly against his knuckles.
Pointing forwards, he instructed his skeletons.
“Cal and Cium, go through first and take aggro. I'll ground-pound, jump when I do and then finish off the stunned monsters.”
At once the pair of skeletons ran forwards and disappeared through the portal.
After a count of three, the inspector nonchalantly walked forwards and vanished from sight, the portal swallowing him whole.
When the inspector woke up in the morning, there was no way he could have known that his day would have ended up in such a way. The sight he was expecting to see when he emerged from the portal, that of his skeleton summons butchering the lizardmen, was so far from reality that it was a comical notion.
He saw the lizardmen as expected, but they were not fighting; they were standing there preparing to launch their spears at him.
Looking down, he saw his skeletons, saw them lying flat and impaled by wooden spikes, their bodies pinned fast.
What he saw registered within less than a second; after that, the laws of the universe took effect and with it, so did gravity.
Underfoot was a large hole that had been dug and filled with wooden spikes aimed right for him.
He fell forwards and into the hole; the numerous wooden spikes impaled him and instantly ended his life. At his sides, the skeletons lost their ability to function, their bones disconnecting at the joints and falling into the pit.
All around the hole, the lizardmen returned to sanity as the Dungeon recognised the human that had entered, had died, and now it was only the monsters who were present.
Looks of pure shock were on their faces, their eyes wide open in disbelief that their plan had actually worked.
Murmurs were traded by everyone.
“We did it?”
“It actually worked?”
“I don't believe it!”
“Bob's plan didn't actually fail again!?!”
“Are we free now?”
“I'm so happy!”
When it finally sank in that they had succeeded, they all began to celebrate, whereas Bob and Ted peered over the edge of the hole.
“Bob, I'm really surprised it worked. I wasn't doubting you, but your track record was shocking.”
“Ted, you cheeky shit, I didn't see you come up with any great ideas!”
From behind them, Suzy appeared between them, her arms around them and unwittingly applying her body weight.
The trio began to fall forwards, before their tails drastically clawed at the ground behind them to halt their descent into the hole, resulting in them dropping to their knees at the edge of the pit.
“Phew, that was a close one, Ted. You need to work on your core muscles; you nearly dragged my precious Bob and me into that pit!”
Looking at the pink lizardman trying to pin the blame on him, Ted was in utter disbelief; that was until he reminded himself it was Suzy he was dealing with, and that was just part and parcel of her crappy personality.
“Sure, sure, blame it all on me, why don't you!”
“Oh okay, will do, Ted......Actually, you know this is the first time I've seen a dead human. It feels different than seeing one of our kin die, especially knowing we will just revive again. I feel kind of sick.”
Ted and Suzy both looked at the dead human who was lying flat in the pit, with wooden spikes protruding from his body. The look of fear was still etched on the dead human's face; the horror he saw in his last moments was reflected within his blood-soaked eyes.
Suzy fought back a wave of sickness that sought to bring up the bile within her stomach.
At that moment, the noise of Bob's stomach rumbling came from beside them and attracted their attention.
Ted and Suzy both looked at Bob; his eyes were also fixed on the dead body, but he did not see an object of revulsion; he saw a way to appease the rumbling.
A long thread of saliva stretched downwards from his mouth before it ultimately broke away and hit the ground.
Outside of the Dungeon, the two security guards, Eric and Carline, had finished filling out the forms they were handed and were now in the middle of gossiping. The pair kept their eyes on the portal in case the subject of their talk made an appearance.
“Eric, how did you know that inspector's name and that he was a necromancer?”
“Well, the two skeletons were a bit of a giveaway....I'm only joking. We got an email last night from the Guild, and let me guess, you didn't read it, did you?”
Carline averted her gaze when she answered.
“Err, well, I never read the emails. I have you to tell me everything, don't I!.... If I didn't do that, then what's the point of your existence!?.....Hehe.”
A low grumble escaped his lips, yet Eric did not refute her words.
Reaching into his pocket, he produced his phone and started doing a web search.
“If you had read it, though, Carline, you would have seen his name as I did. I checked last night, but look. I'll show you.”
Carline's eyes went wide when she saw the articles that had been written about the inspector, Mr Siegfried. Although he appeared to be an upstanding member of society, there were several articles detailing rumours and accusations about him using his powers nefariously, and for sexual perversions as well.
Not a single accusation had held fast, with both Carline and Eric assuming the government had helped cover it up.
<BEEP BEEP!>
The phone they were both engrossed in suddenly started flashing and beeping, with the five-minute countdown timer flashing repeatedly.
Both looking at one another, they uttered the same words and resolved themselves.
““Rock, Paper, Scissors!””
A series of hand gestures later, a dejected Carline stood in front of the portal, looking back at Eric. She wore the most pathetic look she could muster.
“Your puppy dog eyes won't work on me, Carline. Now just go in and check on him. I'll buy you dinner tonight.”
“Promise?”
“Yeah, I promise. Now hurry up.”
Inwardly cursing her luck, but thankful she got something she desired out of it, Carline entered the portal. The sight in front of her would be one that she would tell her therapist about over and over again.
The moment she passed through into the Dungeon, the ground beneath her had vanished, and she fell slightly, landing safely on something squishy.
Looking down, she saw she was standing on the legs of the dead inspector who was impaled by numerous spikes.
“EEEEEKKKK!”
A shrill scream escaped her lips; all around the pit she was in were lizardmen staring at her with bloodthirsty eyes. Her scream had garnered the attention of one particular lizardman in front of her, who was leaning over the edge of the pit and doing something to the inspector's head.
The realisation of what was happening made her throw up; the monster had opened up his head and was scooping out his brain, his mouth already full of the organ.
The sight spurred her into action; even so, she was not a high-ranking Adventurer, or a powerful and strong warrior; she was confident in her athletic abilities.
Utilising those, she sprang backwards and through the portal, leaving the monsters and now a vomit-stained corpse inside the pit.
Eric was taken aback to see her returning so suddenly and doing so backwards of all things.
“You're done already. He didn't do anything weird to you, did he, Carline?”
Slowly turning around to face him, her face was as white as a ghost. Her legs gave out on her, and she collapsed to the ground; all of the strength in her body had evaporated.
No longer able to hold it in, she began to bawl her eyes out, causing Eric to become panicked and dive to the ground to embrace her.
“Carline, what's wrong!? What did that bastard do to you? Tell me now! I don't care if he's strong, I'll fucking kill the bastard if he's hurt you!”
In between sobs, Carline managed to force her words out, her eyes red and puffy and her nose dripping with snot.
“I-I-It's not.....He didn't do....Anything......Dead, he's dead!...... Eric, he's DEAD!”
“Say what now!?”