An Excerpt from my novel: The One Unworthy of Legends

"Well that's everyth-" Andy was cut off by a scream, from the direction of the dungeon. "ah hell!" He exclaimed as he realized something. . . "FUCK!" He pulled out his staff as Garth was already leading the way. "Damn it all! I did not wanna deal with a dungeon mutation, especially knowing that they brought Skarlet with them." Andy was still grumbling as they leaped into the graveyard and approached the monolith. Suddenly someone burst from the entrance, stumbling, they barely dodged a boney claw that tried to drag them back in.

"What is that!?" Andy exclaimed seeing the power and speed. He activated his mana sending it through the beast to get an understanding of it. This was called inspection, it was a spell discovered a long time ago by a genius magic researcher.

Though all he recieved back was a mental image of a red dragon decaying and falling before rising with a purple aura flowing around it.

"Shit! That's a red dragon zombie, that things like rank ten or something we'd need an A rank or S rank adventure party to deal with one of those!?" Andy exclaimed as Garth grabbed the person who was trying to escape and tossed them back. He tried to block the monster's claw, but it only forced his sword away with pure power. He was thrown back, dodging out of the way.

"It's trapped at the entrance for now, if we collapse it the dungeon should recede and reset. It'll be a future problem in like ten years, but it should be an easier dungeon then!" Andy called out, Garth nodded activating a Beserk martial art. A skill where a warrior fills his body with mana so it can outperform its own limits. He then dashed forward and slammed his sword against the beast, forcing it back a bit as they both skidded past the doorway.

Garth leaped back and dashed for the door, Andy was already amassing one of his most destructive spells.

Garth brought his sword to the front, Parrying a bony, clawed hand, he slid forward and smashed his shoulder into the chest of the beast. A screeching, grating sound rang out as the undead dragon's claws scraped the stone floor.

Garth frowned in annoyance as he ducked under another slashed, stepping back a bit before ramming into the creature once more, that horrid sound rang out again. And pain tore through his shoulder as a blow from its claws grazed him.

Garth backed up once more and charged, Mana filled him and power exploded as he slammed into the beast, a feeling of surprise clouded his mind as a new pain bloomed from an unexpected part of his body. Oh, huh, this is my limit, this is my death. Garth thought despondently, he glanced over his shoulder at his long time friend Andy, he smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Andy's incantation broke, he stumbled over his words, he watched as Garth activated another martial skill. His friend charged, but the undead dragon seemingly had learned and quickly reacted. Andy watched helplessly as his friend impaled himself on one of the large claws, turned around with a bloody smile. Andy choked as he saw that thumbs up, his friend giving him encouragement even as his life ebbed away.

Andy gritted his teeth, the mana from his spell swirled around him and began to break apart due to his loss of control and concentration. But as it did, emotion poured out from him, his mind blurred and he began to mix the energies in the air. The mana flowed around him like he was bending the air, that very same air began to vibrate as the mana condensed and took on a beautiful purple color. He didn't realize it but he was advancing forward as a mage, taking the first steps to becoming the powerful wizard and Guild Master of the future.

Andy's eyes sprang open, he didn't realize when he had closed them. The purple Mana had formed into the strands, like a web, spinning and curling together to form a complicated magic circle. It split into three pieces, three triangles that rotated outwards. Threads of purple erupted from the tips of those triangles and formed a fourth circle in the center. Fire erupted around the edges and in the center as it seemed to carve glyphs into the air itself.

The magic circle collapsed into a spear, the air was roaring with power, and with yell of pain, and sorrow. Andy threw the spear, an attack that would later be named. Gungnir, the unstoppable spear.

Boom!

An explosion rang out, the spear had obliterated the entrance and destroyed the ground itself, as it began to crack and sink. Clouds of dust and smoke begin to rise and Andy stumbled backwards. He turned his head to look at the person that he had saved, through that pain, and sorrow of losing a friend. A soft smile graced his face as he gazed into the young terrified eyes of a little girl. The daughter of his best friend, Skarlet, the unfortunate victim of this terrible incident.

He approached her, lifted her into his arms and took some distance from the crumbling dungeon. As the smoke cleared, there was a ravine left where the dungeon used to be. Or maybe it would be better to call it a gorge, as if a Giant had reached down and gouged out the Earth in a straight line with a single finger.

Andy smiled down at the girl as he started to walk, she clung to him desperately. Even as the tears trembled in his eyes he kept smiling and comforting her. You're my responsibility now, that is the debt I owe your family. I will protect you. Those were the thoughts going through his mind as he trekked back towards town. I will remember you my friend, you wouldn't want a fuss to be made so I won't do anything drastic. But, you'll forgive me for an elaborate funeral at least. Our promise as adventurers, I'll keep it. A bottle of Ale shared over the grave on the eve of passing. I can at least do that once a year. Andy's thoughts lingered on Garth, he was a humble man, as adventurers they'd talked about death plenty. They made a promise about their destined deaths. It was simple.

"Nothing grand, no monuments. We aren't heroes. Just, once a year break a glass on my grave would ya. Doubt the ale in the after life could compare to the drinks shared with my mate." Andy sighed as a tear finally escaped, while he remembered the words his friend had said. "Yeah, the ale up there would probably be pristine and high quality, not really your style huh?" He laughed he couldn't help but laugh, a sad and painful laugh.