《Trash Mob》 Chapter 0: Prologue In the almost pitch black caverns of a mid-tier dungeon, somewhere within the human kingdom of Eorona, a dung beetle with the intelligence of an adult human needs to run for his life. "Seriously? A fucking dung beetle? Why not a dragon, or, oh I don''t know, a God damn rock golem!" Dakota loudly chitters with his mandibles as he takes a sharp left into a rocky corridor. "Why, why am I being punished like this, I cant fathom the reason behind making someone go through this hell over and over and over again. First a rabbit, then a-" As he continued to chitter away while his six legs worked at full speed, a loud chant was shouted from the previous intersection of rock and shale. "BRING THY RIGHTEOUS HEAVENS ABOVE, WRATH UPON THY ENEMIES, FORWARD SHINE THY PATH AHEAD, AND NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN!" With the chant ended, Dakota would eventually turn around to see a large golden orb of white/yellow light flying straight for him. "Are you fucking kidding me? A chanted light spell to kill a measely dung beetle? What''s the point in doing that?! I don''t know if I can dodge this one!" Dakotas mandibles clicking away as the light travels closer, and closer to his backside. Swerving left and right didn''t seem to make a difference in regards to the spells amazing tracking ability. As the light got ever closer, his carapace rear end grew ever hotter. His speed may have increased, but it matter not when the spell is propelled by light itself. After a few seconds the only thing that would be left after impact is the pebbles and debris off the side of the cave wall. A loud bang proceeded by the creation of a huge crater now sits upon where Dakota had, without realizing it, started to run along the vertical dungeon wall in an attempt to run away fast enough. "Did we get it??" A question posed by a scrawny looking human boy wearing white robes laced with gold trimming. Carrying a staff endorned by a golden sphere with intricate designs upon its surface.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "I hope so! If we let him get away then he could go and get the rest of his buddies from the lower floors and really do some damage! I can handle a couple of those things, but more than a handful and even this baby is going down!" Responded a human man covered head to toe in heavy-plated black armor while patting his silver tower shield with a smirk. "Keep it down will you! If you attract a mob of trash and get us killed again like the dungeon in the Elven country I''m going to report you to the guild master for incompetency!" Snided an Elven woman wearing a face mask and hood colored dark green, daggers in hands at the ready. "Fine, fine. Let''s just go to the stairs and head down to the boss room. I''m getting sick of the smell of these trash mob levels anyway. Literally smells like shit in here..." The burly man in armor said while wafting the air and making a face of disgust. "Agreed. Let''s move." ---------------------------------------------------------- Once the party had left the area, a small pile of rubble began to shake free as if to say ''not so fast!''. From the pile emerged Dakota the dung beetle. Covered in shale dust and fieces. "Who knew shit could be so versatile... Saved from a literal burning orb of energy! Also lucky for me that party didn''t check the kill feed to make sure I was in fact dead..." Cleaning himself off of rubble, Dakota slowly got up from the crater along the vertical wall and proceeded to fall upon the ground onto his backside. "Ugh, come on! Ugh, are you kidding me... This is how it ends? I''m to lay here and die on my back because this body of mine can''t even do a crunch?" Dakota struggled to get off his back by rocking back and forth to no avail. It would appear he would indeed be stuck like this until an outside force came to intervene. As if on que, a loud, ravenous cacophony of chittering sounds started down the corridor in the direction the party from earlier had gone. A literal stampede of golden retriever sized dung beetles started running at full speed, mandibles clicking, towards Dakotas prone form. In front of the stampede was the three party members from earlier, seemingly arguing over whose fault it was this was even happening in the first place. The knight stopping for a moment to look down and see Dakota laying next to the cratered surface from their cleric''s spell earlier. "Oh, looky here! FREE KILL!" The knight dragged out the words in such a way that made Dakota shudder for what was about to happen... Taking his sword and raising it into the air, and thrusting it down upon Dakota''s flailing body, causing a critical hit that instantly killed him. His soft underbelly much more susceptible to damage than his hard outer carapace. Dakota loathed this part. The death, the pain of actually dying. Having to feel the pain for even a split second before reviving into a new mob was the worst part of the experience. No way to escape the torment of being stabbed, burned, or even thrown off a bridge for ''good fun''. He just hoped that this next body will actually be able to defend itself in some way... But deep down, Dakota knew that most likely wasn''t going to happen... END. Chapter 1: Rabbit Stew Darkness. Only darkness surrounds him. Pitch black nothingness. Within the eternal sea of blackness, voices can be heard, broken and incomprehensible at times. "Doct- Patient is reacting well to trea-" "Good. Keep up the go- Let him rest. He''s going to need it for the D- Code- a-" Confused and unfamiliar with his surroundings, the last part of those spoken words seem to ring a bell within his mind. "Da-kot-a. My name is Dakota? No, that can''t be right... Who am I? Where am I?" "Hey! Is anyone there! Where am I!? What are you doing to me!?" He shouted into the abyss, and soon after a bright light like the sun torn from heavens appeared above him. Accompanied by the voices from earlier, now fading in and out. It was difficult for our protagonist to understand their words through the copious amount of foreign chemicals being pumped into him, thickening the layers of fog within his brain. "Begin the tran-" "Yes, Doc-" Dakota now flying up towards the light within the starless void, entered the portal into the unknown. "Woah! Woah! Woah!" Screaming the entire way through the vortex. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arriving on the other side of the portal, things were not as they were before. Within the void, Dakota had what appeared to be, a physical body, but here, something was off. Ever since emerging from the portal, his perspective of the world was much too low to be right. Deciding to inspect his physical form, Dakota looked down upon his... hands? "What is this? What are those? Am I some kind of animal? This isn''t funny anymore! I want out!" With white paws raised into the air, yelling into the sky above, or so Dakota thought was yelling, was in fact squeaking. With every word, a squeak came out of his new form''s mouth. Bringing his now distinctive paws up to his face, he felt a large set of teeth sticking out of his upper lip. Large ears adorned his head, those of a rabbit it seemed. Along with what felt like a spiral-shaped horn in the center of his forehead.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "I''m a... rabbit? Am I dreaming?" Some text appeared in a slightly opaque box in the corner of his vision.
RACE: Horned Rabbit Level: 1 XP: 0 / 10 Traits / Abilities: Jump, Increased Jump Height, Jump Attack, Horn Bash, Increased Movement Speed, Minor Health Regeneration, Vegetarian, Wind Soul.
"Horned Rabbit? Like a Jackalope? Wha-" Dakota was quickly cut off by the sound of shouts in the distance. He tried to peer into the direction of the shouts but he quickly found out his new form doesn''t have anything remotely like the eyes of a hawk. So, he decided to run towards the shouting. Upon reaching the destination, a group of adventurers dressed as though they had just filmed a fantasy series for television, were attacking an enormous version of a horned rabbit. This one black-furred with red eyes and the size of a Great Dane. The party was having trouble with the monster rabbit as it jumped around them at high speed dodging all the arrows from their human archer. "I can''t hit it Drogan! What am I supposed to do about its speed!?" Yelled the archer to the apparent party leader as he nocked another arrow, missing the black rabbit once again. "What do you want me to do about it!? I am a little preoccupied with guarding your ass aren''t I?" Drogan roared back as the black rabbit charged his wooden buckler with its solitary spiral horn at the ready. So fast that you wouldn''t be able to see it under normal circumstances, but these adventurers seemed to be quite able to handle its speed nonetheless. Despite the shoddy wooden appearance of his shield, Drogan successfully blocked the hit with apparent ease and slashed away at the rabbits back to no avail. The black horned rabbit dodged the sword swing by a hair''s breadth. "What do I do? Do I help the rabbit or the humans?" Dakota asked out loud in confusion about what to do in this situation. Then as if to answer his question, the giant horned rabbit stopped moving and stared at him intently. A black smoke moving from its fur, slowly rolling across the grassy fields towards Dakota''s body. Scared and unsure of what to do, Dakota just sat there, both back legs haunched in an upright position. "Don''t let the corruption get that little one! We don''t need two of these things on our hands!" Shrieked Drogan towards his two other party members. The third, who at this point hadn''t really done much of anything, simply held up her gnarled wooden staff towards Dakota''s frozen mass. Unable to move due to an unnatural force upon his small frame, the smoke grew ever closer. "FIRE IS THY CLEANSING SOURCE OF ALL LIFE. CLEANSE THY EVIL BEFORE ME. CHAR AND DESTROY IN HOPES OF BEING REBORN! FIREBALL!" The chant was shouted so fast that Dakota barely had time to register what was happening... In a flash, a hurling ball of fire slammed into his fur and started to burn him alive. The pain is unbearable, but as fast as the chant had been cast, the pain subsided and it was back to the void. Everything within Dakota''s vision going black. After a moment, he opened his eyes once again and this time he was in the body of a humanoid it seems as when he looked down at his hands this time, he actually had fingers. He just hoped this time will end in a better outcome than the previous life. The pain from the burns still mentally scarring his thoughts, unable to think about anything else, he fell to the floor in a feeble position. Maybe sleeping this nightmare away will solve all his problems... END.