I walked down the stairs and into the darkness, holding my Ofuda out in front of me. I wanted to be prepared, just in case something really did jump out at me. The room at the bottom of the stairs was dark, and humid. It smelled like mildew. Once I entered, two torches on the other side of the room roared to life. Other than that, the room was empty. I turned and called up to Raphtalia, "It's all clear in this room. Come on down."
I turned back around. The sound of feet pattering down the stone stairs let me know that Raphtalia was hurrying down to join me. I walked over to the other side of the room, where there was a door and two torches. I grabbed one of the torches with my offhand, pulling it from the sconce. It would be useful to have some portable light. Even assuming each chamber had torches like this, it made me feel a bit more comfortable. "See? Nothing to worry about, Raphtalia."
Of course, the further chambers would certainly have something more notable in them. That was a basic rule of dungeons. You don't start off with a big battle, and a lot of dungeons start off with nothing at all in the first room or two to lull you into a false sense of security. I wasn't going to fall for it, but I wanted to soothe Raphtalia's nerves a bit, so she'd be more effective when we actually did come up against something. "Right." Her voice was shaky, but she seemed determined.
I moved forward, through the doorway, holding my torch in front of me. The door opened into a large, circular room. There was a large table in the center of the room, with skeletons slumped in the chairs wearing fancy clothes. Multiple doorways lead off to the sides. There aren't any of those magic torches in here, so I'm immediately glad that I grabbed the torch from the previous room. Out loud, I mused, "What is this place? Some sort of underground lair, I guess…" The townsfolk weren't clear exactly what the purpose of this place was before it was a dungeon, so I really had no clue.
"It's scary," Raphtalia murmured, her voice quivering. She had her dagger out, but this really was the type of place you'd hear about in a scary story for kids, so I didn't blame her for being nervous. As she said that, I heard the sound of something clattering. A light began to glow in each of the skeleton's eyes, and they began to stand up! They were being animated!
"Get on guard!" I called, holding my Ofuda out in front of me. Raphtalia looked between me and the skeletons, and held her dagger out in front of us. In hopes of gaining the upper hand quickly, I gripped my ofuda and shouted, "All Zweit Cyclone!" A cyclone tore out of the front of the Ofuda and rushed forward. The power of the wind slammed the table and everything on it against the wall, but the skeletons were somehow more resilient. Still, a few of them also went flying after a moment, and slammed into the wall. Only 3 skeletons remained by the time the spell ended.
Raphtalia was seemingly emboldened by the success of my spell. "Go!" I shouted, and off she went, charging in. She slashed one of the skeletons in the neck area, managing to cleave through its spinal column and send its head flying. The body immediately collapsed after that attack. Each skeleton was giving a surprisingly good amount of XP, about 20 per kill. Since there were 7 in here at the start, by the end of the fight we'd each have gained 140 XP, just from this one room. It wasn't enough to level either of us up, of course, but it was still an impressive amount.
I stepped in once more. Now that Raphtalia was in the fray, I only used Zweit Air Burst, so she wouldn't be hit. One Zweit Air Burst crushed one of the Skeleton's skulls into dust, and Raphtalia finished the other. With that, the dungeon's first encounter had been finished. I rolled my shoulders out, feeling my mana beginning to regenerate. "See?" I said, passively, "I told you we didn't have anything to worry about."
Raphtalia nodded. "Still," She said with a nervous chuckle, "I can't believe we're actually fighting skeletons. That's something that happens in fairy tales, not in real life." I chuckled as well, but for different reasons. In my world, a girl who's half raccoon would have been something from a fantasy, but here, it's just real life. It was funny to hear her talking about fairy tales.
"Let's keep moving." I said sternly. I moved around the room for a bit, looking for anything worth picking up. I did see a few small gems in one of the skeletons' clothing, so I pried those out and allowed one to be absorbed by the Ofuda, stashing the rest into an inner pocket of my cloak. A new ofuda was unlocked.
Jewel Ofuda
Level: 1
XP: 0/50
Rarity: UC
Skills:
Basic Attack (0/5)
Accessory Making 1 (Locked)
Accessory Quality Upgrade 1 (Locked)
It was pretty interesting indeed. If I could make magical accessories, I might be able to upgrade my own mediocre stats. In some games, you could even store spells in accessories, just like my ofudas. There were probably plenty of different possibilities on what could be done with accessories in this world. The magic did seem to mimic a sort of RPG system, after all.
We headed on into the next room after a bit more searching for valuables. It was a smaller room, with moss creeping up the stone bricks. Yet again, there were a few skeletons waiting for us. This time, they rolled out of shelves in the walls and stumbled to their feet, holding rusted swords and axes. Raphtalia, sword still out, leapt into action before I could even order her two, slashing at one. I jumped in behind her, blocking one of the skeletons that was winding up to strike her from behind. Its sword couldn't even get through my ofuda, of course, so it was easy enough to block the strike. From my new position right in front of it, I hit it with a Zweit Air Burst, sending it flying into a wall. Given the way its spine crumbled, I felt comfortable turning to help Raphtalia. While I had been focused on that skeleton, Raphtalia had lopped the head off of the skeleton she was clashing with. That left a third, who made an ineffectual charge towards us.
"Go for it, Raphtalia." I said. She nodded firmly, and once again moved to act, swinging her sword at it. It moved its axe to defend, but she had become quick in our time together. Kicking out her leg, she hit it in the side of the knee. It stumbled back, and she took that chance to swing for its arm. Her dagger dug into its upper arm, and eventually pushed through the bone, sending the arm clutching the axe clattering to the ground. She spins around, and uses the momentum to slash her dagger through the spine, cleanly bifurcating the skeleton. I… didn't teach her that.
"Nice moves." I said, not wanting to sound too impressed. I didn't want to inflate her ego, of course. Getting cocky would only make her clumsy. "Where'd you learn that one?"
She shrugged. "I thought of it on the spot, I guess. It was pretty cool, right?" She turned and gave me a big smile. It was an anachronistic picture, to be sure. A young girl with her tail wagging happily, holding a dagger after fighting off a monster. I couldn't dwell on it for too long, though, or I'd realize I was the one who'd pushed her into that. I just nodded.
"It was great. You're starting to get really good with that dagger." Again, I began to search the fallen bodies of the skeletons to see if they had anything valuable. "Don't get overconfident, though. Even Koubou made some misstrokes." She gave me an odd look at that saying. They wouldn't have Koubou in this world. "Nevermind." I really didn't want to explain stuff like that to her when I didn't have a particularly comprehensive knowledge of history to begin with. "Let's just keep moving, okay?" She nods, obviously not particularly interested in delving into the metaphor either.
Off of this room, there was two separate pathways. One seemed to be brighter than the other, for some reason. I glanced at Raphtalia, who didn't provide me with any insight on which to choose. With a sigh, I looked between them before deciding to go down the more bright path. That seemed like the natural choice, right? The pathway was longer than the other two, paved with mossy stone bricks. Torches roared in sconces on the walls, lighting our way down into whatever awaited us. I walked ahead of Raphtalia, so I was the one that ended up tripping the first trap. Of course there were traps- it was a dungeon. I stepped on a stone brick, and felt it sink somewhat into the ground. There was a sound of groaning in the walls, but nothing immediately happened. Was it on a time delay, or would the trap only go off if I moved my foot? It was hard to say. "Shit. Stand totally still, Raphtalia. Totally still. I think I just activated some sort of trap."
Still, nothing was happening. It had to be that once I moved my foot, some sort of trap would trigger. "Okay, Raphtalia, go ahead of me. See if you can get down to the end of the hallway. Watch your feet while you walk, be very careful."
Her eyes are wide. "Wh-what?" She seems worried for me, but she nods. "Alright." I watch her steadily move down the hallway, eyes locked on the ground. She occasionally prods at certain tiles with the tip of her foot, as if to check if they'll sink into the ground. It takes a while, maybe five minutes, but she makes it all the way to the end of the hallway, standing in the threshold of the door. My turn, now.
I stepped off of the tile, and immediately began to run for the threshold. It was a good thing, too, as darts immediately began whizzing past me from small holes in the walls. A classic trap, but that didn't make me any happier to have it happening to me. I sprinted at top speed, but I could still feel a few darts hitting against my armor. I was too slow, and in all this heavy armor, I couldn't even keep at full tilt for long. I'd never been the athletic type, and my hero status didn't help me on that front.
Still, I managed to make it to the end of the hall. Out of breath, some darts hanging from my cloak, but mostly undamaged and intact, at the other end of the hall. I gave Raphtalia a thumbs up, trying to reassure her. Shit! I was even more out of shape than I had estimated. I couldn't get my breath back. "Let's… take a break." Raphtalia nodded- the look on her face was inscrutable. She was obviously amused at my predicament, but she seemed a bit worried for me as well. Somehow, that made it even more embarrassing than just her mirth. Still, it was obvious that she appreciated the chance for a break, as she pressed her back to the wall and slid down to the ground. I sat as well, a few feet away from her.
"Naofumi?" She asked, shyly. I turned to look at her, and she continued, "Er… sorry if I shouldn't ask this, but when do you think I can be free?"
Immediately, I had to look away from her. Of course. How could I answer that? "No, you have the right to ask. Don't apologize to me." I paused for the moment. When could she be free? It was a good question. All I'd told her was that I'd free her once I knew she was trustworthy, but that was too vague. She needed something to look forward to. "After the first wave comes. I need somebody by my side for that. Once we get through that, you will be free." I turned and forced myself to look her in the eyes. "I swear. As soon as we get through the wave, and not a moment later."
She looks like she doesn't want to believe me. Her face carries that sort of cautious optimism it had so many times before, when I'd said things like this to her. Still, I hadn't given her any reason to distrust me, and I didn't intend to do so anytime soon.
"I understand. I'll do my best, Naofumi." I patted her head. I knew she was telling me the truth when she said that- now it was my duty to make her strong enough that her best would get us through. I stood up, and helped her get up as well.
"Let's keep moving. We must be getting close to the end." She nods, and we head out of the room and into the next. This room seems to be a crypt- then again, given this dungeon was entirely populated by skeletons, the whole thing was probably best described as a crypt. A number of shelves were carved into the walls, and skeletons in various states of deterioration lay inside. A number of small, old looking chests lined the walls as well, perhaps the effects of these skeletons, from when they were alive? I moved forward, towards the left wall, looking to touch one of the treasure chests.
As if on cue, the skeletons began to move, sitting up from their rest and stepping out of their shelves. "Alright. You take the ones on that side, Raphtalia. I've got your back on this side. Yell if you need support."
"Right." She was really shaping up to be a warrior. She'd already become accustomed to the sight of the skeletons, and her mind was clear of fear, or so I believed. I couldn't get into her head, of course, but if she was afraid, she didn't show it. I didn't have much time to continue that train of thought. I had to duck as one of the six skeletons currently facing me made a clumsy swing for my head. I leveled my ofuda at it, casting Zweit Air Burst and slamming it into the wall. The cracking sound it made as it impacted the stone gave me the confidence to turn to my next target. I shifted my body so that my back was to the wall- I didn't want to be attacked from two angles. The skeletons began moving towards me slowly, the one in front making another clumsy swing. Their attacks really had no finesse to them. Maybe the lack of muscle was making them weaker? It wasn't the time to worry about that anyways.
I swung my ofuda to push it back, and then I cast Zweit Cyclone. I hadn't wanted to use it in such a small space, but the skeletons had all clumped up. It was the best opportunity to use it. "Heads up, Raphtalia!" The warning didn't do her much good after I'd already cast the spell. I'd have to cut the mana off before it could go too far.
The skeletons, having no way to withstand the Cyclone whirling towards them, all got scooped up in its powerful winds. They were sent flying, and they all hit the walls with sickening crunching sounds. I had no doubts about them being dead, or as dead as a skeleton can get, and the xp gained notifications popping up confirmed as much. I turned to help out with Raphtalia's fight, only to find that she'd already cut down most of her foes, and was locking swords with the last. She'd sustained a few cuts, so rather than jump in and attack, I swapped to my Medicine Ofuda and cast First Heal. I'd never used the spell- it surrounded her with some sort of green aura, and her scrapes knit themselves back together, just like that. I saw her health tick back up by a few points in my HUD. Pretty amazing stuff, and it didn't even cost all that much mana to use. Raphtalia, feeling a bit better, had no problem finishing off the weak skeleton, and we were left once again in a quiet room.
I wasted no time. "Right, let's loot these chests. Be quick about it, too." I squatted down and began moving from chest to chest. They were locked, but the locks were so rusted that they could just be yanked open. The contents, mostly, were underwhelming. There were a lot of weapons, which were just as rusted now as the chests that had contained them. It brought into question how the weapons the actual skeletons used remained in such good condition. There were a few interesting things, though. An old, yellowed tome in one, and a pouch full of old, but still shiny, coins in another. I even found what must have been some sort of magic dagger, given the faint aura it gave off, with an ornate handle and a leather sheath. No sign of aging on any of it. I slipped it into my cloak for now, but intended on giving it to Raphtalia once we could figure out what it did.
"Did you find anything, Raphtalia?" I asked, glancing over to her side of the room. She was peering into one of the chests, eyes wide.
"Well, yes… I think you should come look, Naofumi." She sounded like she was in awe. I stood and walked over to the chest, nudging her to move aside. Sitting inside the chest was a small box, about the size of a novel. It was inlaid with gold, with an ornate representation of a warrior battling a dragon on it.
"Seems a bit ostentatious for a place like this…" I murmured, reaching down to pick it up. It wasn't particularly heavy. The latch on the front was the only thing keeping it shut. I tried to open the latch, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't move an inch. Enchanted? Or cursed, more likely. "It's magically sealed," I said out loud. Raphtalia nodded. Maybe she'd tried to open it herself, before I came over. I shrugged.
"Well, let's take it with us. Maybe it's worth something to a wizard or witch who can open it?" I let it drop into a pouch inside my cloak. "Alright, let's keep going. We have to be close to the end. We can worry about the box later." Her eyes were locked onto the spot where I'd put it into my cloak. She obviously found a lot more significance in its existence than I did. For a moment, I wondered if she'd been cursed. I stared down at her, trying to discern if she was acting off, but the moment had passed. She'd looked away, and after another moment, I continued our journey deeper into the dungeon.
The next hallway was long, and dark. It wasn't adorned with any of the magical torches that the previous hallways had, and as we moved towards the room, I got a building feeling of uneasiness. I glanced over at Raphtalia, and her expression told me she was feeling the same way. We kept pressing forward, despite that, and soon enough we were standing before a large set of wooden doors. I looked over at Raphtalia, and she looked back at me. I reached out one hand without a word, pressed it against the door, and shoved it open.
My hair stood on end as we stepped inside, like lightning was about to strike. The room was a large, round one. Ahead of us was a raised stone platform, with two curved staircases leading up to it. "Stay down here." I said, walking cautiously towards the staircase. I began walking up, step by step, continually looking around to make sure I wasn't going to be ambushed by a trap.
I came to the top of the staircase. There was a large stone slab there, with a cloaked figure laying on it. He was definitely dead, judging by the decay of his skin, but he wasn't as withered away as the skeletons had been, obviously. I came to stand fully on the upper part of the room, looking down on the corpse. "Everything seems-"
I had turned to speak to Raphtalia, when I heard a creaking sound coming from the stone slab. I turned back around just in time to see the cloaked figure sitting up on its slab, a red glow having filled its eyes. It opened its mouth and let out an otherworldly shriek, ear-piercingly loud despite the decay of its throat. One of its withered hands extended towards me, and I was suddenly hit with a blast of force, sending me flying off the raised stone pedestal and landing on my back.
I gasped out as all the air was driven from my lungs from impact. Raphtalia, wide-eyed, was looking between me and the undead being, trying to decide which was more important at that moment. She apparently came to the conclusion that protecting me was more important than launching an attack, as she moved over to stand in front of me, dagger drawn. "Are you okay?" She asked, keeping her eyes firmly locked on the zombie while she did.
"I'm… fine," I managed to wheeze out, still struggling to refill my lungs. I forced myself to stand, just in time to see the zombie lift off the ground and begin to float, moving towards us with no visible method of suspension. "We need to beat this guy, quick."
This was clearly some sort of boss battle. It would stand to reason that the boss battle would be the last encounter in the dungeon, and then we'd be able to leave. We just had to beat this thing.
Well, easier said than done. Once again, it opened its mouth and let out a shriek. I pointed my Ofuda at it, and launched a Zweit Cyclone. It didn't seem to do all that much damage, but it pushed it back away from us, forcing it to move out of the way of the powerful winds if it wanted to advance. "Listen, Raphtalia. If it gets down here, you attack it with everything you've got. I'm going to try and stop it before it can." I switched to my Medicine Ofuda, briefly, and made a clone of its First Heal skill. I handed it over to Raphtalia. "It's set to activate if you shout Heal. If you get hurt, use that."
She nodded. There was no time for discussion, and she clearly understood that. I swapped back to my Orange Balloon Ofuda, and aimed a Zweit Air Burst at it. This one was much more effective, given it was a single target spell rather than an All spell. The floating monster was knocked backward by its impact- I saw a dent made in its chest by the force of the air that slammed into it. A good hit. With a roar of outrage, it reached out its hand and launched another wave of force at me. I, again, was thrown backwards. This time, I was more prepared. I managed to catch myself before I tumbled backwards, so I mostly avoided the brunt of the attack. The undead was floating closer, but still not close enough for Raphtalia to strike him. I had to get him down here, so we could work together and end this fight.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I could use my Zweit Air Burst to knock it down to the ground. But how would I get behind it to do so? I thought for a moment, hitting it with another mostly ineffective air burst. An idea came to my mind, then. I couldn't help but grin. If this worked out, it'd be a pretty great story. "I have an idea." I said, "Get ready to attack!"
I made a clone of my Air Burst Ofuda and held it out in front of me. While I could attempt to throw it, even with how supernaturally well my Ofuda cut through the air when thrown, it wouldn't make it. I tossed it up into the air, and hit it with an Air Burst. It was sent flying forward, up into the air, just as intended. It sailed past the undead being, but before it could get too far, I shouted, "Activate!"
The kanji on the front glowed, and the spell activated. A blast of air came from behind the floating being, hitting it in the back. It was shoved towards the ground at high speed, screeching all the way. "Now, Raphtalia!"
She seized the opportunity well. Lashing out with her blade, she cut it deeply across the midsection. A dark blue blood oozed from the deep wound. It screamed out, but Raphtalia didn't stop there- she cut it again, and again, and again. After seven cuts, it finally mustered its concentration enough to put up some sort of magical barrier and quickly float back up towards the ceiling, allowing me to properly look at Raphtalia's handiwork. Seven nasty slices, two or three to the chest, one to the throat, and a few to the arms. The right arm had been especially badly damaged, and seemed to be hanging on only by a bit of sinew. Totally useless now, though maybe whatever magic animated this thing could mend the wound.
Obviously angered now, the undead thing began using more powerful magic. It opened its jaw and let out a stream of fire, first. I rushed over to Raphtalia, pulling her close to my body and using my cloak to shelter us both. The elemental resistance managed to abate some of the fire, but I still felt my skin burning, just from the heat. I opened my mouth and screamed. It wasn't a matter of mental fortitude, it was instinct. I think Raphtalia screamed, too, but the heat was such that I wasn't exactly all that observant. Then, it stopped. I didn't know if the thing had run out of magic, or if it had just decided to stop the stream, but it was a welcome reprieve. I stopped screaming, too, though the pain was excruciating. I stumbled back, Raphtalia stepped out of the shelter of my cloak, and we returned to the offensive.
It was hard to say how long things went on like that. The thing was durable- I knocked its arm off with an air burst and it didn't even seem to care, not to mention the pints of blood that must have leaked from its wounds through the course of the fight. I, too, must have been vulnerable. I took another stream of fire, though not one as sustained as the first, and a few lightning strikes as well. It was a formidable foe, and I poured every last thing I could think of into it.
In the end, it had been Raphtalia that dealt the final blow, to nobody's surprise. The thing floated down toward us. It had been charging up some big attack- there was a glow emanating from its hands, and it was obviously enraged by my constant harassment of it. It turned to focus on me, and let out a screech.
Its death was almost anti-climactic. Raphtalia saw her opportunity and took it. She darted towards its turned back and slipped a knife between its ribs. Its scream seemed to get choked in its throat. The red glow faded from its eyes, and it collapsed to the ground like a sack of potatoes, totally limp, with Raphtalia's dagger still stuck in its chest. I stared at the body, for a moment. Then, silently, I grabbed a torch from the wall and walked over to the body, setting its clothes aflame after Raphtalia retrieved her dagger.
"There. We did it, Raphtalia. We did it!" I looked over at her, and saw her staring at the dagger in her hands. "Something wrong?" She looked up at me, confused.
"Isn't it glowing? It looks like it's glowing red, right?" I furrowed my brow, focusing my gaze on the dagger. It didn't seem like it was glowing to me. I shook my head, and she blinked a few times, looking back down at it. "Maybe it's the light…" She murmured, wiping the blade off on her clothes and slipping it back into her sheath. The burning corpse was really starting to stink, and as far as I could tell there wasn't any treasure in this room.
"We can worry about that later. Let's get out of here." She nodded, and I led her up the staircase towards the wooden door at the back of the room. I pushed it open, and soon enough, we exited the dungeon and returned to the world, both worse for wear but having gained experience for it.
Of course, compared to what was to come, the challenge of that undead sorcerer would soon be a happy memory. The first wave was steadily approaching.