Dungeon Sniper

No one would believe what I saw. Heck, I was not sure that I saw correctly.

But it happened. And fast.

Rafaqa did not even blink an eye at the hundred or so Drakans flocking toward us. Instead, he lifted up his greatsword, exhaled slowly as he held it on his side, and swung.

A giant whirlwind formed from within the vacuum of a distorted space left by the trajectory of the monstrously thick blade. The wind then swirled and shot forward, striking the Drakan soldiers in the air.

The Drakans were not just blasted off by the force of the wind.

They literally melted and evaporated before the unnatural typhoon brought on by a single Orc. A legendary hero, but an Orc nonetheless.

"Let us go pick up our dinner, then," said Rafaqa causally as he walked away under the sky that had become clear once again.

Elysia, her back still bent, g.r.o.a.n.e.d miserably.

"Hey... Do you want me to carry you inside the cave?" I asked cautiously.

"No. Leave me alone. The smell," said Elysia weakly.

"It's okay. You don't smell, and even if you do, I don't mind."

I sniffed just in case.

"I didn't get anything on my clothes. I was referring to the smell of the... meat, inside the cave," shot Elysia angrily.

"Oh... Just so you know, I'll still find you attractive whether you're covered in—"

"Go away!"

Someone was in a bad mood.

I did not want to see the remains of the dragon soldiers either, but I was too amazed by what I had just seen that I hastily followed the hunky Orc.

"That was awesome," I said to Rafaqa, panting slightly after finally catching up to the Orc's large strides.

Rafaqa smiled modestly as he glanced down at me sideways.

"But surely, you are capable of such a feat yourself, hero child."

"Me? Noooo. Not in a million years"

"Humility. That is something I have not seen a long time in another Human hero."

"No. I mean it. I can't vaporize a hundred scary-looking dragon soldiers in one blow. No one can," I laughed awkwardly.

Rafaqa realized that I was neither joking or humbling myself and turned to me with a baffled face. Coincidentally, we had arrived at the gruesome scene where the body parts and organ pieces of the Drakans laying around everywhere in bloody puddles.

"But you are a hero."

"Unofficially. I don't know what I am, really," I shrugged nervously.

"This is trouble. I was counting on you to be at least an equal to Alpha's prowess."

"Are you saying that Alpha could do something like you just did to the flying dragon men?"

"Not as swift and thorough as I, but he could wreak some havoc on his own."

I pictured a Human male, face shrouded in mystery, swinging a giant greatsword and producing the mini-typhoon as Rafaqa had just done. Well, I tried to picture the image.

Rafaqa stared down at me worriedly as I was blanking out and snapped me out of my reverie with a finger snap that sounded like a firework exploding in dead proximity.

"I see now," nodded Rafaqa understandingly.

"You see that my ears are bleeding? Never, ever snap your finger close to my ears ever again, please, " I grumbled, hearing my muted voice through the momentary deafness.

"You are without your weapon. I know Alpha put some restrictions on passing through the Gates—"

"And yet you still have your monster sword with you. How?"

"Multiple reasons. One is because I am stronger than Alpha. I am the strongest hero, in fact."

"Sure."

"Two, Trilion has three lion souls in it. Not just any lions. Deadly ones that preyed on a hundred people, thousand if you count helpless game. I killed all three of them with one blow each to their skulls, bare-handed. But this is hardly the time to explain how the dynamics of power affects Transcendence—"

"Nor is it time for one to boast about his past—"

"Not boasting. I was merely stating the facts. But you are correct, child, I will have plenty of time to tell you my fables over dinner once we get all of this precious meat back to the cave."

Rafaqa picked up a handful of what used to be a fearsome dragonian air force. He beckoned me to do the same, so I picked up a couple of arms and legs grudgingly.

"I advise that you gather some more meat, child. Orcs are heavy eaters, and you shall not expect me to share my food with you."

"Thank you for saying that. Can we go back now?"

I wanted to see how Elysia was doing. And I did not want to stand in front of severed Drakan body parts any longer.

Before we headed back, I spotted a relatively undamaged bow among the immobile piles of the Drakan corpses. I ran and picked up the metal bow, a little too big for my liking but I figured it would do the job.

"Are you planning to eat that?" asked Rafaqa incredulously as I came back with the metal bow in my hand.

"You have no idea how much I wish that to be true, but no. But I'm not eating any dead Drakan either."

"Ah, you are an archer, I see."

A sniper, but I was not so sure anymore so I shrug-nodded at the old Orc.

"An archer needs a ranged weapon. Sure... sure... Now drop the bow and follow me," said Rafaqa seriously, without a hint of a smile.

"I don't know, Rafaqa... sir, I kind of feel safe with a viable weapon at hand—"

"That is a mere toy you are holding. You cannot possibly think that a dragon's creation can hurt its creator. At the very least, you need its equal."

"What does that even mean?"

"First, dinner. Then I lead you to your weapon."

I stared at Rafaqa as he turned and walked back toward his hideout cave.

"Dinner? The sun's still way too high and—"

"The night approaches more quickly here than any other Level. Stays longer too. You will see for yourself."

I looked up dubiously at the sky. It felt and seemed early afternoon to me.

Then I saw it. The sun was indeed moving at a fast, abnormal pace. The bizarre movement of the sun was fascinating, but also uncanny, ominous.

Within an hour, the sun had set completely.

.

.

.

Elysia and I did not touch the Drakan meat this time either and probably ever. We felt ravenous, sure, but watching Rafaqa devour the skinless t.h.i.g.h in front of our eyes helped sate our hunger. Very effectively so.

"There will come a time you will be begging for more, I assure you, children," said Rafaqa through the stuffed mouth.

"I'd rather starve to death, thanks."

I meant every word.

"You think I eat for the taste of these things? I eat to survive, and to fight," said Rafaqa indignantly.

"He's right, Beta. You should eat some just to stay alive," said Elysia worriedly at my side.

"Let's eat together then."

"I... Elves can survive off just water. I'm fine," said Elysia quickly, her face looking pale just from the thought of it.

"I'm also a vegetarian—"

"I get it. You don't have to eat it. I'm not going to force you, so don't force me either. Truce?"

"... I just don't want you to starve to death, Beta."

"All right, Raffy, answer me this."

"Raffy?" frowned Rafaqa.

"Is there really nothing else to eat around here?"

"If you do not wish to eat the meat, then there is always the blood. Highly nutritious too."

Rafaqa reached for a cup and slurped its content.

"Blood? Oh, that's the wine thingy you offered us before—NO THANKS!"

"Again, one night I am going to catch you cover your face on these goodies—"

"Again, not a chance. I ate a lot of things since I've arrived in this world, but eating another humanoid, that's just cannibalism."

And I did have a Perk that allowed me to pursue a cannibalistic diet and live off it. But that did not mean that I had to follow such a path. I still had something called Human dignity... believe it or not.

Rafaqa had finished his meal and picked his teeth with a splintery bone that came from I-did-not-want-to-talk-about-it.

"There is one species of animal still present on this Level," said Rafaqa lazily.

"What? Why didn't you tell us this sooner?"

"Are there plants? Edible plants? Please say 'yes,'" begged Elysia desperately.

"No plants. Heh, plants," scoffed Rafaqa disdainfully, "but there are bats. Large, vicious ones, too quick and sneaky for me to waste my energy catching them, but perhaps you can, little Human child."

"Those bats, what do they eat? Fruits? Leaves?" asked Elysia pertinaciously.

"Drakan remains, just like me. The only difference is that I hunt while they scavenge."

That shut Elysia up. Meanwhile, I was gauging between eating Drakan corpses or fresh bats for survival.

Bats won by a landslide.

"Where can I find these bats?" I asked gravely. Elysia shook her head in disgust next to me.

Rafaqa looked outside the exit of the cave and nodded thoughtfully. I followed his gaze and thought that it was pitch dark outside. Like, nothing dark.

"There's no moon in the sky," I gasped in a sudden realization.

"No. Why do you act surprised though, child?"

I stared back at Elysia and Rafaqa and understood their calmness. Right. They came from Level One in which neither sun nor moon was there. This was their norm, as the last two Levels had been anomalies for them.

"Life is full of surprises, right?"

Elysia gave me that weird, concerned look that she had used to give me all the time. It had been a while.

"The time is perfect. They do not live in this cave, of course. There are other caves nearby filled with them. But first, we have to get you a weapon as I promised earlier."

Rafaqa got up from his rock stool, and I followed suit.

"I'd rather stay and conserve my energy," muttered Elyisa weakly as she put aside the Drakan meat leftovers gingerly from the fire pit.

"Are you sure you do not want some night snack of roasted bats?" asked Rafaqa, innocently on his part but Elysia took it the wrong way and shot him a contemptuous look.

"You seem eager," I said to Rafaqa as we left the cave and walked outside. I automatically activated the Night Eye and saw Rafaqa's primal Orc eyes flashing in the dark.

"I have wanted to taste those bats for some time now. You eat Drakans for fifty years, you are bound to ask for something different," said Rafaqa, l.i.c.k.i.n.g his thick lips.

"You don't say."

Rafaqa led me to a ledge overlooking a boundless plain below. It would have looked breathtaking once the sun rose from beyond the horizon, but now it looked vastly empty and still.

Rafaqa, without a word, began to dig the ground below with Trilion. The large, thick blade of the greatsword served well as an oversized shovel too.

Before I even offered to help or ask what he was doing, Rafaqa was done digging and pulled out a crude, wobbly box from underneath.

"This is a grave I made for Alpha."

I stared down at what I realized now was a coffin made of stones. Rafaqa ran his large hand over the rough surface of the cover and lifted it up.

I knew there was no body or anything, but it still felt quite horrific to lift a coffin in the middle of a night... in the middle of nowhere.

Inside it was a single object. A stick. No, a wooden club. No, a... I did not know what it was.

"The Elfling asked whether there was any plant on this land. This may be the last plant present here... last of the two remaining, at least."

The way Rafaqa said the last words bothered me, but my train of thought stopped abruptly as Rafaqa picked up the object and threw it to me. I caught it haphazardly, feeling the rugged surface and the solemn weight with my hands.

"What is this?"

I looked up at Rafaqa, still puzzled... still in the 'dark,' pun intended.

"A byproduct of two great powers competing for resources. A remnant of everything that had gone wrong, or a missing piece to end it all."

"Do Orcs, like, practice talking in crypts in their spare time? I don't get you guys sometimes. Most times."

"Alpha snatched it from the Last Dragon before her 'transformation' was complete. He fiddled with it, weaponized it, shot it a few times before, alas, running away."

"This thing shoots? Wait, what transformation? Slow down, Uncle Raffy."

"Uncle?" frowned the old Orc, his flashing eyes furrowing in consternation.

"Too soon?" I smiled nervously.

"... I told you that the Last Dragon was hurt badly by Alpha and me."

"The wing and the paw, yes."

Rafaqa closed his mouth and looked around the night scene wistfully.

The empty, deserted void stretched for miles... for good.

"This place used to look like home. Like Level One."

"Oh yeah?" I said doubtfully.

Rafaqa sighed and clicked his tongue.

"And it still looked like home for the first thirty-minutes I had set foot on here."

Until the 'Transformation' happened.

The Last Dragon, in spite and fury, stuck its tail inside the ground and s.u.c.k.e.d the life out of it. Out of the entire Level Four.

Rivers dried up. Trees fell into dust. Grass burned. Soils cracked.

And the Last Dragon turned into a giant tree.

Immobile, grounded, but alive. And perhaps more immortal than ever.

"... So the dragon is not a dragon anymore, but a tree?"

"And the Drakans are the fruits of the monster tree that stands in the center of the Level," said Rafaqa as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I didn't think things could get more grotesque, but okay," I gulped uneasily.

A thought hit me then.

"Why didn't you just burn it to the ground? The dragon-tree, I mean."

"You think I have not tried, child? The dragon is the master of three elements: fire, water, and thunder. It breathes fire, brings down rain, and summons lightning. Is this part clear?"

"I can imagine, yeah."

"The only other elements it is susceptible to are metals and earth."

"But fire melts metals," I objected.

"Not this metal I have got right here with me. Besides, metals are 'forged' with fire, never destroyed."

"That... makes sense."

"As for earth, the dragon became one with it, so the only weakness it has right now is against metal, sadly. "

"Okay. Okay, now this is getting more like Pokemon. I can dig this."

Rafaqa looked intrigued.

"What is—"

"Forget what I said. What's your point, Uncle Raffy?"

And Uncle Raffy spaced out at the worst timing, blinking nostalgically.

"... No one called me 'uncle' before. I was an only child so no nephews or nieces, and the others referred to me as 'sir,' rather than—"

"Fine. Your point, sir."

"Now that I think about it, I kind of like being called uncle—"

"Keep getting sidetracked like that I start calling you 'bro,' bro."

"Pardon me, but you have to understand, fifty years by myself, it gets to you, you see."

All right. How could you not feel sympathy after hearing that?

"Your goal. You want to go back home. To your friends and family. I promised I'll help you, and until the time comes, I'm right here. Talking with you, stranded with you. But we've got to work on our game, right? And we still have a lot to cover as I just learned that our enemy is a giant tree that pops out minion fruits."

Rafaqa came back to his senses, and the old warrior got the fire back in his eyes.

"Now you see how killing the dragon would unleash a large life energy back to the Level. Because it is withholding all the life force in itself."

"That bastard. So what's our plan?"

"Simple, child. You keep the Drakans away from me as I chop down the tree."

"... That does sound simple. The only problem is, how am I ever going to shoot down hundreds of Drakans—"

"Well, more like thousands, as the tree is going to release all of them at once, naturally," Rafaqa corrected me nonchalantly.

"... Thousands of Drakans, how do I deal with them?"

"With that."

Rafaqa pointed to the wooden stick at my hands. I had forgotten that I was holding it for the past few minutes. It felt that irrelevant.

"I only saw Alpha use it once, briefly at that too, but even a melee fighter like me shuddered at its might," said Rafaqa wistfully.

"... Is this a wizard staff? Because I am no mage."

"I did not deem you a mage. You are a ranger, are you not? A shooter, I presume?"

"I am, but—"

"Then this is the right weapon for you. I am sure."

"Well, I'm not. Because this looks nothing like a bow. Or a spear. At best, it's a wooden—"

I blinked. I turned the piece of wood upside down and, there, I felt the grip.

"It was a claw before Alpha slashed it away from the Transforming dragon," said Rafaqa somberly.

"... It's a rifle."

So came the epiphany.

"That, yes. Alpha called it so too."

"Did Alpha say anything else?"

"Nothing much. I told you he only stayed here for half an hour. He held on to it for less than ten minutes before throwing it at me before he left. And I buried it right after for his sake... for his death inside me," said the reminiscing Orc through gritted teeth.

I sensed Rafaqa's anger toward Alpha began to boil again, so I cut in abruptly.

"Has this thing got a name?"

That distracted Rafaqa enough.

"A name?"

"Did Alpha call it by something else other than just 'rifle?'"

"Why is that important?"

"Just curious," I shrugged innocently.

Rafaqa blinked and thought for a moment.

"He did give it a name, now that I think back."

As much as I hated to admit, I had a feeling that Alpha was prone to give objects name... just like me. Or was I like Alpha for naming stuff?

Was this likeness a coincidence, or was there something that I should know and be worried about?

Despite my inner apprehension, I waited patiently as Rafaqa rolled the half-forgotten name several times in his mouth silently.

"Omega. Or some gibberish like that," said Rafaqa finally.

Fitting, I thought, for a toy belonging to a guy who loved to play god in this world.