Chapter 25
Thank the gods I can speak properly again! I do not want to sound like that permanently. No. No. No. No. I just want to get out of this forest… And I don't know which is worse… that damned scarecrow or those duck ponds… Both I don't like... ha...
We made it out of the forest and we were faced with… a rocky wasteland. I see no trees or bushes. Just rocks… rocks everywhere. I wonder if we are in over our heads here…
Looking at the large expanse, they decided to camp at the fringe of the forest for a night to gather wood and scavenge extra food for the rest of the journey. When the next day arrived, they had gotten enough of both to last at least a night. The walk was not as unbearable as was expected. The air was strangely cool. The land was cracked and littered with rocks and boulders. They spent about half the day just walking and traversing across the wasteland.
"Any idea how much longer we need to walk before we reach those ruins?" asked Choco tiredly.
"No idea," admitted Subaru, "You know, let's have a break. We can stop there."
They stopped at a large boulder and took cover under the shade.
"Ha… yay for rest," cheered Matsuri.
"Ah," sounded Rushia.
"This makes me wonder where the ruins are," said the tiefling, "Are there even ruins in the first place?"
"There should be," replied the fighter, "If not, why would we be directed here?" She then picked up a small rock and tossed it away. It bounced on the ground, rolling away before coming to a stop. Then, it hopped. Subaru blinked, wondering if she was dreaming. It bounced again. Then, several times.
"Choco, what's going on?" she asked as she kept staring at the bouncing rock. The ground then started shuddering. Everyone got on their feet and drew out their weapons. They slowly stepped around, wary of any attacks. Everything suddenly stopped moving. Silence.
The ground in front of Subaru suddenly burst open, showering the place with dirt and rock. A large, purple worm followed after and lunged at her with maw agape. She leaped back, fully avoiding it. It rose up, coiled on its body and roaring loudly, the sting on its tail end dripping with venom. A beam of radiant flame slammed onto its body in response. A familiar spirit weapon materialized beside it, missing its attack as the worm writhed under the light beam. They wasted little time retaliating, her sword and a few arrows biting its flesh. She heard Rushia chanting and red ribbons flew and wrapped around it for a moment. It roared even louder before lunging at her. She moved to the side to avoid the large maw but she gasped and grit her teeth as the stinger was jabbed into her stomach. It stung and made her want to vomit her stomach out. It then dove into the earth, much to her surprise.
"Watch out! It may come around for another attack," warned Choco.
"Just… what was that?" shouted out the fighter in between coughs.
"That's a purple worm," replied Matsuri aloud, "I only heard of them… though, I thought they were a lot more bigger than that."
"You mean they get bigger? Than that!?" she shouted, now sounding quite fearful.
"Eh?" murmured Rushia as the ground shook a little. Then, the worm burst out behind her and swallowed her whole.
"RUSHIA!" shouted the fighter.
"Quickly! Kill it before it runs!" shouted Choco before muttering a prayer and reaching to the sky. Their weapons glowed with radiant light.
Subaru roared as she charged forward and slashed through its thick skin, with Matsuri assisting with arrows. It roared again and lunged at the fighter. She dodged to the side but once again fell victim to the stinger. The churning in her stomach increased, just as the worm dove into the ground again.
"Damn it, get back here!" she yelled after the disappearing monster.
"Focus, Subaru!" called out the tiefling as she tensed up as the ground started shuddering again. True enough, the ground burst open in front of her and the worm lunged forward. This time, she was ready. She leaped up into the air, mentally moving the spirit mace into position. Drawing her own mace, both weapons slammed straight onto the worms head, splitting it wide open. It writhed for a moment, thrashing itself out of the hole, as she took a few steps back. It then lay still, dead with green liquid lapping out of its decimated head.
"Rushia! Are you in there!?" yelled Subaru worriedly as she ran over and peered inside.
Some squelching sounds could be heard coming from within. Seconds later, the young necromancer crawled out of the dead worm, dripping with liquid. "Naaaaaaaa," she yelled in frustration.
"Are you alright?" asked the fighter with concern. The pouting girl stood up and walked past her to get her backpack, hissing angrily to herself.
"Umm, since this worm isn't as big as I thought it was, it might be just a juvenile. So… are the bigger ones around here? An adult one? It couldn't come from out of nowhere, right?" Matsuri asked suddenly.
The group stared at each other for a moment, dread slowly being etched on their faces. Then, the fighter said, "Erm, let's get out of here."
With unbelievable speed, they gathered their things and quickly left the place.
Eventually, due to their hasty retreat, they reached the coast of this wasteland. They decided to follow the coast to try and find the ruins. And after an hour of walking towards what they assumed was the tip of the land, they did. Somewhat. Pieces of stone and rubble concentrated around one single area that had a spiral staircase leading down into the depths of some dungeon. Seeing that night was falling, they decided to camp for the night at the entrance, making use of the supplies they gathered before. It was fortunate that nothing else happened during the night.
In the morning, they readied themselves before descending into the darkness with a torch each. It was only one flight and they stepped into a medium-sized room. A passage led off in the darkness. They looked at each other and nodded. As they entered the passage, they found a skeleton on the floor.
"Is this one it?" whispered Subaru.
"Hmph, it might explain why that devil couldn't contact anyone," muttered Choco.
"No clue on who this is," noted Matsuri, "Also, what did that lich say? 'Half-blooded kin'? This one doesn't have any horns."
"Strange," murmured Rushia.
"Right, let's continue," the fighter stated as she continued onward, "We should-"
*click*
*shing*
Luckily, she was able to jump back on time as several spikes shot out of the intricately carved wall and slammed into the opposite side.
"WHAT!" she yelled out in surprise, suddenly feeling very terrified as the spikes slowly retracted into the slots of the wall she never noticed before. They were extremely well hidden in the carved grooves of the wall.
"Tch, traps. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole passage is full of them," muttered the tiefling with a frown, "Makes me wonder what we're dealing with here."
"Ah," Rushia sounded. She then walked over to the skeleton and pulled off the leg bone.
"Erm, what are you..." trailed off the scout when the young girl started pressing down on the tile that triggered the trap with the long bone. It triggered with a click and a shing. A small chant and gesture later, the tile was bright pink. "That's a good idea," she admitted.
"Hi, hi," the young girl laughed as she continued to cautiously press the tiles while they pressed onward. She triggered two more traps, one with rapid-firing bolts and another mechanical spike trap. Both tiles were also glowing bright pink by the time she was done with them. And then, she heard a fourth click.
Nothing happened.
"Hmm? That's weird," muttered Subaru as Rushia pulled back the bone, "Did it-"
"Argh!" shouted Matsuri as she stumbled forward, two arrows buried in her back. Choco sprang to action, quickly having her kneel down while she proceeded to carefully examine the arrows.
The fighter quickly searched through her pack and pulled something out while asking, "Here, do you need this?" She offered a healing potion.
The scout looked to the tiefling, who said, "Take it as I remove the arrows."
She got ready to pull the shafts out.
"Three… two… one!"
Pulling out the bloodied, sharpened wood, she watched as Matsuri immediately downed the potion in one swig. The scout breathed heavily for a moment before calming down. "Well, that was… kind of scary," she admitted. Getting to her feet and looking behind them, she muttered, "Where in the world did those arrows come from?"
*click*
Something seemed to shift from far off and nothing else happened. Rushia withdrew the bone and still nothing happened. "Only that," she summed up.
"I hope we don't face any more traps," grumbled Subaru with a frown, "Thankfully, the exit is just up ahead. Let's go."
The trapped passage opened up into a large area. Two sets of stairs were on either side going downwards into the darkness. A brazier lit the way to each set of stairs. Nothing else was around. They scanned the place warily.
"Nothing seems to stand out," stated Matsuri.
"Those traps are well-made. Whoever is here now is just using them for their own benefit," mused Choco.
"Right, let's just go and see what's over the edge there," suggested Subaru. All in agreement, they crossed the raised area.
Without warning, a strange sigil appeared when they crossed the center. They tried to run back to the passage but it was too late. Purple, translucent walls having the same sigil suddenly materialized over the edge of the area all the way to the entrance of the passage, sealing them in. Dropping their packs, they got ready for a fight. A flash of light later, four steam mephits appeared. Cackling, their bodies suddenly blurred out of sight as they flew around them.
"What in the world are these?" asked the fighter as she moved to protect Matsuri and Rushia.
"Small elemental," replied the young necromancer.
"So they can be defeated like any other thing," added the scout as she sent arrows into the nearest one. One lodged in the chest and the other going wide, disappearing into the darkness. Choco just chanted and gestured, their bodies gaining a radiant gleam.
The mephits cackled, continuing to move around and hover in the air. All four went straight for Subaru and let loose bursts of piping hot steam on her and Matsuri, prompting shrieks of pain. One of them stopped their cackling when a spectral, skeletal hand slapped it across the face, causing it to shriek in return. It was so distracted, it didn't realize it died when the fighter slashed it down. She was quite surprised, though, when it burst into a blast of steam, but she was able to shield herself in time. Then, she had to duck when its friend dove at her. She couldn't hit it in time due to the awkward angle.
Meanwhile, Choco summoned her spirit mace and went to town on the nearest mephit, smacking it to the ground and finishing it off with her own mace. The blast of steam was also shielded off. Its friend too dove at her, raking her back, the pain disrupting her concentration and making the radiant gleam fade away. At the same time, Rushia tagged the mephit that dove at the fighter, the spell causing frost to cover its hands and claws. Having it a bit more visible was a benefit, as the fighter's longsword cleaved through it easily, though she got a blast of hot air as a response. The same happened to the tiefling as she moved to take out the last mephit.
Suddenly, the sigil glowed the moment the last mephit dissipated. This time, two magma mephits and one fire elemental materialized. This time, they were more than ready. A ball of necrotic energy flew through the air and washed over the elemental. Subaru ran forward and sliced one mephit into four pieces, dodging backward as it exploded in a burst of lava. The other mephit fell to Matsuri's arrows, the lava setting the arrows on fire as it lost its shape as well.
The spirit mace floated over and slammed the elemental in the back while its face was flooded with a flash of bright light. Roaring angrily, it flowed over to Subaru, its flaming fist rocking her head. The shaken fighter let out a scream of pain as the elemental engulfed her with its body. It took another blast of necrotic energy to destroy its form and make it dematerialize. At the same time, the purple barrier disappeared. Choco quickly ran over to her and healed her burns.
"Are you alright to continue?" she asked as the fighter calmed down enough to stop her agonized screams. Getting a nod, she helped her to her feet. She helped her over to look over the edge of the area. There was a walkway down there with a pair of torches lighting the entrance of two passages.
"Well, let's go right," said Subaru after they retrieved their backpacks.. Not knowing where else to go, they followed the fighter down the right passageway.
The place was sparsely lined with torches. The place was quite dim, so they still needed torches. Soon the passage split into two again. They went right and continued onward. Soon, they reached another branch.
"So many forks in the way," muttered Matsuri as she glanced around, "Okay… there seems to be more disturbance on the left side passage."
"Alright, we go right again," decided the fighter.
The passage soon led to a wooden door. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked or trapped in any way. Rushia, however, looked reluctant to go in when the door creaked open.
"What's wrong, Rushia?" asked Subaru.
"Something is wrong in there, Subaru," she replied, "It feels like being cut off from… something..."
"I sort of feel it too," admitted Choco as she stood in the doorway, "Someone probably put an anti-magic field here. Makes you wonder why..."
"That would be me, my dear," a voice suddenly spoke up.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice. The room was a prison with cells all along one side of the wall, boxed in by wooden partitions. In the farthest cell, was a beautiful lady with purple hair in twin-tails. She wore a long grey robe with an attached hood. The most striking feature about her was a jet-black tail that came out behind her. "So, are you here to let me out?" she continued to ask.
"Are you the one sent by that devil?" asked Matsuri, and then she turned around to ask the fighter, "Did we ever get a name?"
This brought a laugh from the lady's lips. "You don't even know his name and you are helping him?" she said between chuckles, "That's rich." And she continued to laugh.
"Well? Were you sent by a devil or not?" asked the fighter exasperatedly.
The laughter petered off. "Yes, I was," she confirmed with a smirk, "My lord sent me here to find an artefact here. Unfortunately, I only found kobolds. Lots of them. I have no idea why they are here nor do I care. Getting captured was unfortunate. Getting stuck in this anti-magic field is even worse."
"Do you know who is leading these kobolds?" asked the tiefling as the party went up to the cell. It had a heavy padlock. The wood also seemed too sturdy to be broken. They need a saw or an axe to break through it.
"Well, there was this half-black dragon. I think he's the one they answer to," she informed them.
"I'm surprised they didn't kill you," muttered Subaru.
"I think the thought did cross the half-dragon's mind, but thanks to my great looks, I was just imprisoned until they could decide what to do with me," she assumed with a shrug. She then said, "Well, I hope you're ready, because the replacement guard should be here."
"What?"
They heard the creaky door opening and a single kobold stepped inside. It froze the moment it caught sight of the party. Matsuri immediately shot it, the arrow slamming straight center in its throat.
"Well, if you can lift the key from it, we can go on our merry way, my dear rescuers," urged on the lady.
"So, what do we call you?" asked the fighter as the scout ran over and shut the door before searching the kobold guard.
"Ah, where are my manners. You can call me... Towa. I am a half-devil. It's a pleasure to meet you."
AN: Hello, readers. Today, we have an actual dungeon dive. With traps. And monsters. It was hard to find an in-between worm. You either get a gigantic full-grown purple worm or smaller wormlings. Nothing that's in between ever got put out. Thankfully, one can Google to find people's homebrew for that.
Anyway, here is our next party member, Towa.
Towa Tokayami
Half-Devil (Path of Beauty) Warlock
Pact of the Fiend with Asmodeus
Seeking out something specific takes a while to put together. She wants to become an archdevil, we give her an archdevil as a patron, someone to look up to. Of course, this doesn't discount her tendency to do good deeds, as part of her flaw, despite her insistence that she is Lawful Evil.
Alright, this is it for this chapter. Next chapter, we escape and travel back to the capital. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.