Cinnamon bun volume two.., p.23
Cinnamon Bun (Volume Two): A Wholesome LitRPG, page 23
“Why?” I asked.
The only answer I received was to have an angry doll rush towards me. Two long blades, mounted on mechanical limbs, folded out of the sides of its dress and started to stab at me.
I ducked the first, batted the second aside with my spade, then stepped up to the doll before the first could come back around to hit me. The doll stepped back, flowing with me in what was obviously a dancing step.
That ended when I hopped to the air and kicked the doll’s head off.
“Awa!” Awen said as she blocked a blade with her crossbow, then skipped back to avoid a second. One doll was already dead by her feet, a bolt lodged in its head.
I bounced over to Awen and tackled the doll harassing her out of the way. Amaryllis, for her part, was standing over a pile of dolls torn apart by cracking whips of electricity.
One last shot from Awen’s crossbow into the doll’s head, and the room went quiet.
Ten dolls died in twice as many seconds.
Congratulations! You have danced Dancing Doll, level 5, off the mortal coil. Due to combating as a team your reward is reduced!
“What the heck?” I asked.
Eli had the good grace to rub at the back of his neck. “Heh, sorry about that. I should have explained a little better. The dolls get impatient though.”
“Two dresses this time,” Percy said as he bent over double and pulled a white gown off the floor as if it was a pile of rags instead of a beautiful lacy dress. He stuffed it in a satchel and wandered off to pick up a second dress from a fading doll.
“Right, come along girls. The boss room is right this way. You’ll get to meet the puppet king!”
I frowned at Eli’s back as he and Boots began to climb the stairs at the far end of the room. “Didn’t like that, did you?” Amaryllis asked.
“No, no I didn’t,” I said.
She patted me on the shoulder. “That’s how delvers do things. Profits first, safety second, adventure never.”
I nodded. I was glad I was an explorer then.
The hall we entered, the last floor of the dungeon according to the boys, was a vast room. Longer than it was wide, the hall was illuminated by crystal chandeliers held up by chains hooked to the sides and little sconces mounted to the twenty or so floor-to-ceiling pillars that lined the sides of the room all the way up to the dias at the end.
A throne waited in the distance, a thin man slumped onto it, one leg over an arm and his body slouched to the side like someone watching TV on a saturday morning. He, because the cut of his richly decorated clothes said ‘boy’ was wearing a too-big crown that was tipped so far forwards that it masked his eyes.
“Is that the boss?” I asked.
“Sorta,” Eli said. “That’s the boss puppet.”
I fired an Insight at the man on the throne instead of trying to pry answers from Eli.
The Puppet King.
No level or anything. Weird.
“Where’s the actual boss, then?” Amaryllis asked.
Eli gestured to an empty spot near the ceiling above. “You can’t see it yet. Once the king starts to fight you’ll catch glimpses of it. The idea is you knock the king down, and it’ll swoop down to help it up. That’s when you hit it. It’s a pretty easy, if intense fight.”
“The king is fast,” Boots warned. “And his arms have swords in them. Bunch of nasty tricks to him.”
“Interesting,” Amaryllis said. She cracked her head from side to side. “Well, I’m ready.”
I bounced on the balls of my feet a few times as I took in the room. There were a bunch of pillars all around, so I had lots of room to maneuver. “Yeah, me too,” I said.
“Awa, me, me too!” Awen said as she hugged her crossbow close. “Um. I don’t have too much ammo left.”
“Right, let’s start this thing,” Eli said as he stomped ahead.
When our little group was about halfway down the room, the doors to the throne room clunked shut behind us and the puppet on the throne shifted. Its head rolled until it was looking down at us from below the lip of its crown. Its mouth, which was made of two pieces of delicately carved wood shaped like lips, snapped up into a smile.
“Get ready,” Eli said as he brought his staff up before him.
The delvers shifted into a sort of triangular defence, eyes locked with the king.
I had a question on the tip of my tongue when, with the suddenness of a mouse trap going off, the king sprung out of his seat.
My eyes widened. I raised my spade just in time to block a spinning kick aimed right at my face.
The king bounced off, cartwheeled twice, then landed in a crouch. I saw his placid marble eyes look at me for just a moment before they shifted over to Awen who was behind and to my right.
I intercepted him mid-jump with a shoulder-tackle. It was barely enough to get him to move out of his path.
The king bounced once off the ground, then his arms shot out, extending with twin ‘clacks’ of wood on wood. Two blades, like tiny scythes, tore out of his wrists and skittered across the marble floor until he came to a stop.
Awen’s crossbow twanged, a bolt slicing through the air so fast it was hard to see.
The king’s entire body twisted back and the bolt flew past to lodge into the far wall.
The fight hadn’t lasted more than three seconds and I was already nervous.
“Keep your eyes on him!” Eli shouted.
Boots shifted out of their formation, axe spinning in one hand. “Come on, cinnamon girl, let’s show that noble who the real kings are, yeah?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Boots’ reply was to roar with laughter as he charged ahead, his axe rising into the air above only to come crashing down so hard and fast that when it hit the ground, the floor cratered.
The king, of course, was having none of that.
The puppet spun around, arms moving as if they had far too many joints and leaving after-images in the air. Boots smacked one blow aside, then parried another with his axe.
The king twisted around and to the side to dip under Boots’ guard. One of his sickle-like blades sliced across Boot’s exposed ribs. The big man winced and stepped back, but the king didn’t let up.
I shot ahead, spade stabbing forwards like a spear only for it to be tapped aside by the king’s raised foot.
I still had tricks up my sleeves though, and I fired a burst of stamina that had me shooting off to one side for only as long as it took for my foot to touch the ground again before I shot back towards the king from a different angle.
The king dodged again, but he looked to be off balance, his leg stretched out at an awkward angle.
Then he fell onto his bum as I swiped the air where he had been.
I blinked, looked down, and only just managed to hop out of the way of his rising foot. A foot with a three-inch blade sticking out of it.
I was in midair when the king’s smile turned into a frown. His jaw unhinged, revealing a pipe sticking out of his mouth.
“Poison!” Eli shouted.
The king spat out thick off-white fog from his mouth. It met a wall of cleaning magic that made it evaporate out of the air.
The king’s jaw snapped shut. He did not look pleased.
Before he could do anything about that, a dozen small, fist-sized fireballs raced past where he was, and the king was soon busy dancing out of their way like someone dancing the robot to speedmetal.
Awen fired her crossbow.
The king snatched the bolt out of the air, and with a spin flung the bolt towards Amaryllis.
My bird friend side-stepped it. “Yeah, no. Enough of this,” she said.
I slapped my hands over my ears.
The room filled with light, growing warm even as a deep electric hum resonated in my bones and the air began to smell like ozone.
“Can’t dodge that, can you?” Amaryllis asked. She was wearing a smug grin.
It was probably deserved. The puppet king had a foot-wide hole blown through his chest and his wooden arms and head were all smoking. Even his royal clothes had taken a beating, some of it smouldering away.
The puppet crashed to the floors, its strings cut.
“Was that all?” Amaryllis asked.
“Dammit,” Eli shouted. “You’re not supposed to kill the puppet!”
“Huh?” I asked.
My attention was drawn up by a flash of motion above. There, hovering by the ceiling, was a large cross. Two wooden planks as wide around as I was, each end covered in little hands pinching at torn ropes, and in the joint in the centre, two dozen mis-matched chameleon-like eyes that were twitching every which way.
“Insight,’ I said.
The Puppet Master of the Palace of Strings, level 8.
“It’s above!” I said.
It was too late.
Thin cords whipped down and snaked around Boots’ arms and legs and neck. The man’s eyes went wide a moment before he started running towards his friends. “I can’t move!” he said as he swung his axe around to try and decapitate Percy.
The healer ducked under the swing, turned tail, and started running while screaming a whole host of impolite things. Boots never let up, occasionally swinging his axe as he went.
Amaryllis aimed her arm up. Some of the eyes twitched her way. The arc of lightning that snapped out of her shot through the spot the monster had been in only seconds before.
Boots yelped as he was dragged to the side by the trailing strings.
Amaryllis growled and fired off three more blasts of lightning, but the boss monster was quick and agile, spinning out of their way each time, even when Eli joined in and started flinging fireballs up at the ceiling.
Then one of Awen’s bolts thudded into the centre of the cross and the entire thing went nuts, bouncing off walls and butting up against the ceiling. When it came down and tried to buzz over our heads, I jumped up and landed on its back.
My weight made it veer down, and the entire thing crashed into the floor for a moment before it started to lift.
“Oh no,” I admonished the boss before smacking it with the sharp edge of my spade. It took a bloody gouge into the wood.
Boots, who had recovered from his little ordeal, rushed over and smacked the boss back down with a dull thud of his axe. Then Awen came, her crossbow set aside so that she could wield her hammer in both hands. “Raa!” she roared with the ferocity of a yawning puppy.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Congratulations, you have defeated Dungeon Boss: The Puppet Master of the Palace of Strings, level 8! For defeating a Dungeon boss, bonus exp is gained! Due to combating as a team your reward is reduced!
“It’s done!” I cheered.
Dungeon Cleared!
All adversaries with The Palace of Strings Defeated.
All Bosses Defeated
Broccoli Bunch, Cinnamon bun, level 9 is awarded the Puppeteer class.
All class slots filled.
Replace current class with Puppeteer?
Replacing your current class will reset your level to 0.
“No thanks!” I told mister menu. “Amaryllis, you got your class!” I said.
“Indeed,” Amaryllis siad. She looked extra smug as she stared off into space. Then she blinked a few times and the smug was replaced by a more normal smile. “Thanks, by the way. I think I’ll be having a lot of fun with this one.”
I was about to reply when a new prompt filled my vision.
Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Cinnamon Bun class has reached level 10!
Health +5
Stamina +10
Mana +5
Resilience +10
Flexibility +10
Magic +5
You have gained: One Class Skill Point
You are now eligible for Class Evolution!
“Oooh!”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Evolution
I had a list of possible evolutions to choose from, a whole lot of juicy things to dig into. But, unfortunately, I didn’t have the time just then.
The delve team were sniffing about, looking for loot drops by the boss and looking increasingly disappointed as their search found nothing. The girls were focused on their own thing. Awen had a small piece of glass that she was focusing on and Amaryllis was… shocking herself? That was a problem for later.
The pillars along the edges of the room were now housing two portals. One exiting just beyond the dungeon and the other…
I walked over to the dungeon’s core room and stared within. This one looked like a sort of empty treasury, with the dungeon core sitting on a velvety cushion atop a stone plinth, A step into the room and I was flooded with fresh mana that made my fingertips twitch.
No roots, evil or otherwise.
I was grinning as I stepped out of the core room.
“You’re not supposed to go in there,” Percy said. He had removed his helmet, revealing a surprisingly handsome twenty-something boy with nice blonde hair plastered to his head and an okay chin.
“I didn’t touch anything,” I said.
He harrumphed and tucked his helmet under one arm. “We’re leaving in a bit.”
“Right!” I said.
Eli and Boots were packing things up in a few smaller bags, they didn’t seem to carry much with them into the dungeon, probably because they stayed in Rosenbell and didn’t need to bring all sorts of supplies in. “Alright,” Eli said as he stood up and stretched. “We’re done here. It was a real pleasure working with you ladies.”
“It was fun,” I said. “Will we be seeing you in town?”
“You can see me whenever and however you want,” Eli said.
I took a moment to register that, then turned to Amaryllis. “I think it’s time we go.”
We left the portal with only the sound of Boots’ roaring laughter and Percy’s disappointed sigh behind us.
The air outside the dungeon hit like a wall of warmth, sucking all the humidity away in only a few short seconds. I hadn’t noticed how dry it was around Rosenbell. Then again, we had walked over, getting acclimated as we moved.
“Where to?” I asked.
“An inn,” Amaryllis said. “Then… perhaps a bookstore after? I hope that this town has at least one. There are some little things I’d like to look up.”
“Brilliant!” I said. “I’m gonna be looking at my stats and such while we move, alright?”
“I, I can lead you,” Awen said. “By-by the hand. As we walk. By holding your hand. In mine.”
“Sure!” I said. “Usually I’d ask for a piggyback ride, but that might be too much, huh?”
“Awa. I… I wouldn’t mind if you rode me.”
Amaryllis sighed. “You’re both idiots,” she said as she pulled a cord next to the empty spot where the lift had been. It rang a bell far above and soon the lift was dropping to our level a foot at a time.
I grinned, squeezed Awen’s hand in mine, used my other hand to scritch Orange behind the ear, and asked Mister Menu to pop open my stats page.
I’d gotten way cooler since arriving on Dirt, but I still had a ways to go. My next big rank up would be Cleaning at rank S. That was five whole points. After that… I guessed that I could spend some points on other things? Maybe Dancing and Gardening, they both sounded handy. Or maybe I could get those sooner? So many options!
The lift finally arrived and Awen tugged me onto it.
“How many class evolution options is it normal to get?” I asked.
“It depends on the person’s achievements,” Amaryllis said. “There’s always at least one. It can go pretty high.”
“Uncle once said he had ten options once. He picked the one that sounded the most fun,” Awen said.
I nodded. “If it’s good enough for Abraham it’s good enough for Broccoli.” I nodded.
Amaryllis muttered something that sounded like it might have been ‘utter morons’ but I decided to ignore that.
You have Five (5) available Class Evolutions!
I grinned and poked at Mister Menu to show me the first.
Cinnamon Nun
You have cleansed ghosts with magic and might. Have caused others to obtain the fear of god, and have stayed pure in body and mind.
Requirements:
Virgin
Affinity for Holy magics
Skill Unlocks:
Cleaning > Holy Cleaning
Class Description:
The Cinnamon Nun, as warm and soothing a presence as warm cinnamon on a cold day. A figure of calm and purity in an otherwise turbulent world.
Do you Want to Evolve your Cinnamon Bun class into the Cinnamon Nun class?
I tapped my chin as we rose. “I got a weird one,” I said. “Cinnamon Nun. It’s like a holy thing.”
Amaryllis shifted. “That could be useful, I suppose.”
“I don’t know, I don’t look good in black.”
I ignored Amaryllis’ confused look and opened the next class even as the lift stopped and we started walking.
Buns of Steel
Your posterior has suffered repeated damage. Now it is hardened and toughened against even the hardest smack.
Requirements:
Suffer damage to the rear
A leg-based movement skill
Have at least one person admire your posterior
Skill Unlocks:
Dance > Booty Swing
Jumping> Butt Bouncing
Class Description:
Buns of Steel; both tough, and impossible to ignore.
Do you Want to Evolve your Cinnamon Bun class into the Buns of Steel class?
“Awa, you have a strange expression,” Awen said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah it’s just. Ah, this class looks…” I wondered how I could say it. “I think it’s a tank class. Not for me.”
“That’s, um, okay. You should be yourself, right?” Awen asked.
I grinned over to her. “That’s right!”
We passed out of the dock section and into Rosenbell proper just as I opened a new classes description window… thing.
Cinnamon Burn
You have begun to walk the path of fire mastery. You are not just spicy. You burn.
Requirements:
Fire mana use
At least one mana-manipulation skill
