Chương 12: Mural

"Wake up, Oscar." Oscar opened his eyes to see Bruno and Gita standing over him. They looked to be completely fine, if not a bit confused. Taking Bruno's hand, he stood up and massaged his throbbing head. Bruno reached into one of his jacket's inner pockets and offered him a healing potion.

"Give us the rundown of what happened." Once he'd taken a small sip, Oscar told them about Dorian's fate. He might have embellished some details to make himself look good, but he was entitled to that just a little bit, he thought. Sadly though, no one believed him, with both giving him a raised eyebrow.

"Suddenly you're good at fighting? After that ass-kicking I gave you, now you can fight?" Gita said with genuine disbelief.

"I know it sounds insane, but yeah. [Lesser Dexterity] is a really good skill it turns out," Oscar replied.

"Or maybe it's that you were fighting a weak foe. I'm sure that skill has helped you a ton, but it doesn't just make you some destructive force," Bruno said.

"I don't say that to diminish your win here either. I just don't want you to get arrogant and make a mistake in the future." Oscar rolled his eyes, knowing he was right but unwilling to admit it.

"He said to check his paintings for the location of a dungeon. I don't know where they are, but I think we should split up and look for both the paintings and any survivors." Thankfully no one disagreed with the idea. He'd look for survivors later; first he wanted to try his new skill on Dorian's body. It seemed to be quite the morbid skill, and assuming he was right, he honestly found it hard to care. Taking off in a full sprint towards where the fight had ended, Oscar found Dorian and knelt down beside the body.

"[Skill Divest]," Oscar said, instinct telling him to place his hand directly on Dorian's chest. The moment his hand touched Dorian's head, a wave of information crashed into him, visible as long as he kept his eyes shut. Just like the skill had said before, Dorian was a level 11 [Painter]. A list of nine skills displayed itself, but only three were named. The rest were redacted, and he was unable to decipher any parts of it.

The three that he did see were the skills he'd actually seen Dorian use, so perhaps that was how it worked. Technically, he hadn't seen one of them. However, he'd been nearby and also had seen the effects of the skill, so maybe him understanding what the skill did was what unlocked it for him. These restrictions made sense to him, too. A skill like this with no restrictions could have him killing anyone he saw in hopes of obtaining some super rare skill.

Skills Available for [Skill Divest]: [Efflorescence] [Erasure] [Inducing Hue] Of the three, [Inducing Hue] was immediately eliminated from consideration. That one seemed to require actual paint, and he wasn't about to carry a rainbow assortment of paint on him at all times. The other two were more appealing. [Erasure] seemed pretty ridiculous, but also equal parts terrifying. With just the one time he'd seen Dorian use it, his understanding was, as a result, quite low.

It had easily carved out a hole in that wall, deleting the stone in its entirety. Was the destruction a set size each time? What were its limits? Could it actually be used on people after all? There were so many questions that he had about skill… and that intrigued him more than it maybe should. In comparison, [Efflorescence] was a much simpler skill to not only understand but also use. Use the skill to make crystal. Its applications also made sense. But, as a result, that made the skill much less exciting to pick.

In the games he'd play, it was never exciting to pick a basic fireball over something with a confusing or unique name. Part of the fun was trying new abilities and seeing how they worked, and the immediate uses for it that would brew in his head.

"Eh, let's do the fun option this time," Oscar said.

"I'm sure I'll get the chance to dump it later if it sucks." Skill: [Skill Divest] has selected the skill [Erasure]. New Skill Obtained! Skill: [Erasure] Obtained!

"Admiring your handiwork?" Bruno said, snapping Oscar out of his reverie.

"Uh… no, I was just trying my new skill. Well, one of them at least," Oscar said.

"Wasn't going to keep this a secret for long. I just wanted to test it out before I said anything." Bruno raised his eyebrows and let out a quick whistle.

"Damn, you got more than one level? Maybe you weren't as shit as I thought." Oscar blushed at the praise. And for Bruno, it was praise.

"Yeah, two levels and two skills. I don't know what the other one does, but this skill sort of guided me to do this. It does feel a little evil, but… what am I to do? Not use the skill?"

"Oscar, your class was gifted to you from the most heinous man this world has ever known; all of your skills are going to look evil. It's just how you use them and how much you refuse to let them use you that matters," Bruno replied.

"Now, show me what you've gotten already. I need to know if it's reason to execute you or not." Positive that that wasn't a joke, Oscar hesitated before finally relenting and using the skill he'd stolen.

"Okay, I don't really know if it'll work for me the same way that it did for Dorian, but I'm going to try to use it on that house behind you." It was a bit insensitive of him to try and actively destroy more of this town, but hey, they already had a lot of rebuilding to do already. Maybe someone would get a level from it as well.

"[Erasure]," Oscar said, pinching his hand and aiming it at the side of the house. A small hole appeared where he was aiming, and when he spread his hand wider, the hole also increased in size. Swiping his hand to the right, the hole followed his movements, resulting in the deletion of the house's stone wall. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"That was his skill, wasn't it?" Bruno said in amazement.

"Dorian used it to escape away from us in town hall… and now you have it? You obtained a skill that's not in your class? No… you stole it from him, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but there are some limits to it. Out of the skills he'd obtained at his level, I could only choose from three of them. Those three were the ones I'd seen myself, leaving the others redacted," Oscar said.

"I've also discovered this skill is on a lengthy timer before I can use it again. And I can only have one stolen skill at a time as well." Bruno took the information in, and then Oscar watched as he silently went to observe the house he'd erased the wall from. After a few minutes of studying, he returned with his findings.

"[Erasure] is a basic skill for [Painters] to rectify a small mistake without having to toss away their art," Bruno said.

"Corruption is still mostly an unknown thing these days, but… I've seen it alter skills like that before. Dorian somehow must've come into contact with a corruption outbreak somewhere."

"Is it normal for people that are corrupted to also spread it to others?" Oscar asked.

"No. Not that I've seen at least," Bruno said.

"Honestly, Dorian might have been the most normal corrupted individual I've seen. Most end up like these poor bastards, just completely deranged and uncontrollable." Oscar had been able to detect what he believed to be corruption from both the dancer and Dorian, but what he couldn't understand was how Bruno could do so.

"How is that you're able to sense corruption? Are you like me?" Oscar asked. Bruno chewed on his words for a moment before responding, his expression indicating he wasn't going to reveal much on the subject.

"No, I was just taught by my… master? Boss? Eh, I don't know what to call him, but he's the expert on the subject. I'd like for him to meet you one—" A loud crash followed by a cry came from the house adjacent to the one that Oscar had just used his skill on, causing them to drop their conversation. The pair sprinted to the house and kicked in the door to reveal a man and a woman writhing on top of a now broken table.

"Are you two okay?" Oscar said as he rushed to their side. It was an older man and woman, likely married given the rings they both had on. Both of their necks was red, looking as if they'd been strangling one another. The woman was vigorously massaging her neck while the man just laid there with his eyes closed, breathing slowly. Bruno came over and handed the woman the healing potion first, telling her to take only a small sip. Once she'd taken her dosage, he passed it to the man.

As the potion worked its magic, life began to be restored in them.

"I-Is he…is that cursed [Painter] gone?" The older man asked as he stood up and helped the woman up as well. Oscar nodded and informed them that he'd killed Dorian.

"I don't know how many people survived; you two are the first we've heard wake up. There are some others out near the fountain that should be up soon as well."

"He's dead? Good riddance. All we did was try to help him get back on his feet, but that boy was too broken to be fixed," the woman said.

"Poor Steven, he tried to help him more than anyone, but the boy believed Steven was out to sabotage his art when all he'd really done was offer him a place to display it for the whole town to see." Bruno grabbed Oscar and dragged him towards the exit.

"We'll leave you two to get settled. I can hear the stirring of the people that were knocked out outside starting to wake. I'm glad we could help stop Dorian, but we really should get going soon."

"I wish I could offer our hospitality… I suspect there will be plenty that need help getting back on their feet. Not to mention performing burial rites for all that perished," The man said.

"Apologies, I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I'm Maris, and this is my wife, Janice. And as [Mayor], I cannot let you leave without something as our way of saying thanks." Like a child at a toy store, Oscar's eyes lit up. This was what he'd been waiting for. He didn't know what this town could offer him, but surely they had some ancient relic, or maybe a—"Information will suffice as reward enough," Bruno said, killing Oscar's excitement.

"There was a report of a massive quake in this area about two weeks back, do you have any information on that?"

"I'd take a reward if you're offering…" Oscar meekly said, but no one aside from Janice heard, who offered him an awkward smile.

"The quake? News of that spread, has it?" Maris said.

"I wish I could tell you anything about it, but it happened a bit away from here. There were some spooked folk, but other than that… not much I can say."

"Dorian said his paintings could provide us some answers," Oscar said, having forgotten to mention that earlier. Bruno smacked Oscar in the back of the head.

"Would you consider not spreading news about the monster just outside your door? I'm a member of the Grand Council, and it's something I've been investigating. If news were to spread, it might cause a panic, making my investigation much harder." Janice gasped in horror.

"Monster? Out here? What kind is it?"

"Janice, calm down. It's okay," Maris said, wrapping his wife in a hug.

"It was one of your people. That's all I can say about it, for there isn't much I know about the matter yet," Bruno replied.

"Dorian caused the change in them and was likely to meet the same fate soon himself. Just please dispose of the thing quietly; that's all I ask of you. Now… we really should be going." Maris and Janice shook each of their hands, promising to do what they could to contain the information. Oscar felt like it was near impossible to do so, especially once they saw just what it looked like.

Bruno must have his reasons for lying about being a part of the Grand Council, so he went along with it and thanked them for their silence as he left the couple's home.

"Where the fuck have you two been?" Gita demanded as she stomped up to them.

"I'm not good at comforting these people, and there are a lot more survivors than I thought!"

"Gita, calm down. The [Mayor] of Ascot is fine, so he can deal with them," Oscar said.

"Did you see any of Dorian's paintings anywhere?"

"I've seen them, yeah, and let me tell you… they're fucking creepy. He's got a whole mural made in one of the offices on the other side of town hall."

"Show me," Bruno said, sounding serious. Gita led them back to town hall and entered one of the larger offices. To Oscar's relief, there was no unfortunate soul that'd been killed in the same way like the one guy he'd found. The office was a normal office, aside from the mural, that is.

"Yep. That's creepy alright," Bruno said, his eyes transfixed on the art. It was a large mural, taking up essentially every spot on the back wall. The painting depicted what Oscar assumed to be Dorian near a massive tree that had bright red leaves and a white trunk. Dorian had his back against the tree, and in front of him was a massive stone archway decorated in strange markings. The markings were highlighted in a dark purple and black, with the center completely empty.

Inside the archway, there was a bunch of faintly painted glowing eyes in the center, peering at Dorian. Besides that, it was normal behind the archway, containing just what looked to be a small town in the distance.

"Is that Ascot?" Oscar asked, pointing at the town that everyone was already looking at.

"I… think so. Looks to be to the east, I think," Bruno replied.

"Which should be right over…" Gita ran over to the window and shouted in surprise.

"There! I think I see the tree!" Oscar and Bruno crowed around the window as well to confirm it themselves. That definitely was the tree way off in the distance, but where was the archway?

"I presume that archway is the entrance to the dungeon, but I don't see it. Something that tall should be visible, even from this distance," Bruno said.

"Well, I suppose we shall just have to see for ourselves, won't we?" Oscar looked at Gita, and Gita looked at Oscar, both equally alarmed.

"You want to go there?" Oscar asked.

"Even after seeing those creepy eyes in the painting? That's what must've corrupted Dorian. Who knows what the fuck that thing is."

"Precisely the point, Oscar," Bruno replied.

"Like I said earlier, there's so much we don't know about corruption. And the only way to learn more is by…"

"Letting other people do the research," Gita said, cutting in with an answer that satisfied Oscar.

"By going in ourselves and experiencing the world's first corrupted dungeon, that's right," Bruno said, smugly shaking his smug face.

"I think I'll stay and learn how to comfort the victims of this town instead, actually," Gita said as she slowly stepped towards the exit. Bruno exhibited speed that neither knew he possessed and blocked the door.

"Fret not, little Gita, for you're in good hands. Oscar, the hero of Ascot, will protect us… won't he?" Oscar shook his head frantically, but it was no use. Bruno wouldn't take no for an answer, and so, the trio restocked on some basic supplies and some other useful gear before leaving the town of Ascot behind.

As the tree got closer and closer, the feeling of dread intensified more and more… until finally, they stood in front of the archway, which had only just appeared to them upon entering the area. Whatever was lurking inside felt ominous and powerful, causing every fiber in Oscar's body to protest stepping inside. He desperately wanted to be back in Ascot, back in Burgen's Hill, back… home. Anywhere but here was fine. Unfortunately for Oscar and Gita… Bruno was here.

"Cheer up, guys. Think of this as a training experience. Besides, there might be some crazy treasure inside as well; think about the positives," Bruno said as he wrapped one arm around Oscar's shoulders.

"That sounds cool, but I've always been the type of guy that's happy living with less, you know? I don't need some crazy treasure or—" Oscar was forced to shut up as he felt a hand push him hard into the archway. The tranquility of nature vanished, and in its place was the despair that accompanied being deprived of light within an unknown space. Oscar turned around and tried to escape the way he'd came… but there was only a dead end behind him.

After many long minutes, Bruno and Gita entered the dungeon themselves, their voices calling out towards his frantic plea. A snap of the fingers echoed in the small room but offered sanity in the form of light as Oscar saw a cigar being lit, the small light revealing Bruno's wicked smile.

"Shit, this place is spooky, isn't it? Maybe you two were right; I should have just left this to someone not burdened down by you two. Ah, well, nothing to be done about it now, right?"