Hello everyone, this is Anthos. I would like to apologize for the absence of a chapter during the last three months.

I won't go into details, but I had a burnout, because of my work and my studies and had a difficult period that prevented me from writing anything remotely satisfying (everything I came out with was literally depressing).

So, I'm back and I decided to completely change the arc that was supposed to take place, shortening it to go straight to the point. I'm going to get Ashton and Aiz back together, faster than expected. I don't have the heart to write at length and drag out a beat-up period in their relationship when I want to write something softer and less heady.

I admit that the quality of this chapter is not top notch and I apologize for that. Maybe I modify later. Who know ?

Otherwise, good reading all the same.

Chapter 16 : Descent and beginning

The two adventurers walked side by side. Despite the impression of nonchalance given by the two, a seasoned person would see that this was not the case. Every moving shadow was immediately picked up, the hand always ready to move the weapon to intercept an ambush.

The entrance to the cave had not been hard to find, it was literally a hole in the ground overlooking the depths of the earth. Surprisingly enough, the absence of a flashlight on the two adventurers, partly due to their innate characteristics, on the one hand for Aiz her high level, on the other hand, the time spent in the night of Yharnam for Ashton.

The tunnel itself was just wide enough for five grown men to walk next to each other, which meant a large combat zone and an inability to hold the line in case of too many monsters. But more importantly, there was more room to move and dodge, which was a plus for the two adventurers who share a fast-paced, strike-based fighting style.

The ceiling was also quite high at about seven meters, leaving more than enough room for a monster to get around them. But more importantly, there was a cruel absence of monsters of any kind, as if they had gone deeper into the tunnels.

Ashton stopped for a moment and looked at the walls.

"Too smooth." he muttered.

He put his hand against the wall and felt it crumble, leaving only a thin blackish layer between his fingers.

"What's going on?" asked Aiz.

"This tunnel isn't natural, it was dig by an acid-spitting creature," he said.

"Probably a Scolopendrium variant," the blonde analysed.

"I trust you on that. I don't know enough about variants for that."

Aiz's eyes lit up slightly.

"If you want, I could teach you them." Ashton raised his eyebrows. "You teach me some of your tactics, I can do the same with my knowledge."

The two stoic faces in the tunnels hid the same feeling, a definite apprehension, but not about the same things.

"Okay." yielded the hunter. "We'll talk about it on the way out, but I'm not against it."

This atmosphere, a slight shiver of contentment crossed the hunter's back. The biting cold of an unfamiliar cave, the steady, distant sounds and the smell, yes, the sweet, distant flagrance of blood...

Ashton froze as he realized this.

"Blood before us." he informed half-heartedly as he drew his cleaver.

As he continued to follow the path, they saw a sword abandoned on the ground. It was of a rather low quality and covered with blood. Around it, pieces of torn clothing and traces of battle covered the area.

"Here," Ashton muttered as he knelt in front of a bloody mark.

He placed two fingers on it and examined the texture and smell.

"Can you tell how long they've been dead?"

"Two days at most." he informed. "A day minimum. I don't know where they took the body."

"They must have moved it further inland to devour it."

"I thought monsters didn't need to eat..."

"The ones in the dungeon. Outside, they learned to need food to survive." the Swordswoman pointed out. "They carried the corpse over here."

Aiz gestured to a long trail of blood that pulled itself around a corner into a fairly shallow hole, no more than a meter high.

The hunter raised his guard and slid his cleaver into his hand in anticipation of an attack.

The blonde did the same. The closer they got, the stronger the smell became, and then it was quickly followed by a soft chewing sound. The faces of the two adventurers wrinkled with disgust, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened to the unfortunate man.

Some kind of lizard was standing over the lifeless body of an adventurer. There was little left to identify his face, which had been devoured, leaving only a deep hollow of flesh overlooking the less than appetizing sights of his skull, open as a hull.

The hunter quickly looked around, spotting no potential enemies, preparing to act.

Aiz drew her sword and projected herself under the slightly surprised gaze of the hunter. She had been responsive and made a good decision, much better than he had, if he was to recognize it as such.

As the monster's body disappeared in a black cloud after its crystal was shattered, Ashton moved closer to the scene of the murder. The blonde had put her hand in front of her nose, cutting off the unbearable smell of blood emanating from every corner of the room.

"Um..." muttered Ashton as he pulled a card from the body pocket. "Adel Frin, an adventurer from the Modi Familia. He was level 2."

"Modi Familia? That's surprising," Aiz remarked. "This Familia tends to stay out of the guild's missions, they're an exploration Familia... I don't see them outside the dungeon."

"Probably there is a real reason? I don't know... We'll see," the hunter said as he stood up. "Do you have a particular way of disposing of bodies?" Ashton asked next, looking at the corpse.

"Not particularly." replied Aiz. "Why is that?"

"To find out... Everyone's traditions are different, seeing as he doesn't have any, I don't have to respect them. Let's go away then."

"Where do you think the others went?" questioned Aiz as she walked down the hallway.

"The mercenaries or the adventurers?" asked Ashton, watching the shadows.

"Both."

"They must have gone deeper."

They came to a junction. The tunnel split into four separate corridors, each looking very much the same.

For several minutes they considered each choice, before Aiz took the path to the right, leading their duo.

"Why this way?" the hunter asked, looking around.

He trusted her enough and had gotten to know her abilities enough to know that this wasn't coming from nowhere.

"The marks on the walls," informed Aiz. "There were four of them, it's used by the Familia adventurer to indicate exploring but not completed."

"Hmm... Interesting. We could have used it for some particularly tortuous catacombs," he remarked.

"Still, if they didn't come out, there must be something further down," Aiz continued, trying to see movement further down.

"Good point," Ashton noted. "Your experience will be vital to the adventurers' directions."

The path through the corridors was not particularly dangerous for the two experienced adventurers. At most, it was awkward given the cunning of the monsters occupying it.

"So, these are the mercenaries," Ashton remarked as he examined the mass human grave.

"Disgusting," said Aiz as she took a few steps away, not hiding her contempt for the macabre sight before her.

Aiz may have looked blank and inexpressive, but one thing was for sure, she wasn't particularly used to murders and seeing death all around her. The gutted, devoured and destroyed bodies made her heart race, forcing her to look away from the macabre spectacle.

The hunter didn't even nod in agreement and began the usual method of methodically searching the corpses.

"How do you not vomit?" asked the Swordswoman, keeping her distance from the corpses.

The young man simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I'm used to it. I mean... I've seen worse so it's not really dramatic."

As he continued his thorough search, he missed the slight twinkle in his fellow adventurer's eyes. For Aiz, it explained some of the nightmares he seemed to be having.

Perhaps she should ask him about it later?

The two weren't friends, but she could certainly tell there was at least some familiarity between them.

"The mercenaries must have followed the adventurers and were intercepted here by a more powerful monster that trapped them," Ashton said, cutting off the blonde's thoughts and pulling an adventurer's card from one of the more damaged corpses than the others. "His death was not easy," the hunter remarked cruelly as he closed his open eyes with one hand in silent terror of the young man.

The movement was a habit of hunters to pay tribute to those who fell on the other side.

"But why did they come here?"

"I don't know." said Aiz, looking around. "There must be some special reason."

They continued down the hallway, leaving the mass grave behind. There was nothing more to take in and understand about the carnage other than the monsters that lay beyond.

Aiz thrust her sword forward; cleanly severing the head of one of the mutant mole species attacking them by surprise. Ashton swung his cleaver into a closed position, carefully tearing the belly of a second. The two fighters, back-to-back, didn't seem too worried. And for good reason, a dozen of the monsters had already fallen under their assaults, so five or ten more was finally only a few.

A person's ability could be recognized by the way they ignored the death around them, and in their case, this cold disinterest in monsters was a striking example of their skill.

The cleaver danced through the heart-breaking air, slitting the throats separating the pulpits in its macabre waltz, followed closely by the soft, precise symphony of Aiz's sword.

The hunter was, in a way, the cold and violent death arriving without regard and brutally slitting the throats of all that was in his path while the swordwoman was the silent and gentle embrace of the end arriving quickly and cleanly.

Two different ways of fighting that seemed to complement each other in their current situation. Quickly, the monster attacks dropped in intensity until they no longer occurred, allowing the young woman to catch her breath.

She turned to her teammate who turned his weapon, folding it behind his back. His breathing was calm and appeased, showing no signs of fatigue. He placed both hands on her back, causing a slight cracking sound.

"I hate this suicide attack type."

After a moment's pause, Aiz raised her fist to Ashton who responded by punching him.

"I'm sorry, but do you know what that means?" interrogate Aiz.

Ashton hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

"No... I was just seeing other hunters do this. So, I guess it's a sign of respect?"

The girl shrugged.

"I don't know either. Tiona does it all the time, so I wanted to try it."

There was a moment of blankness between the two, followed by a slight nose blow from Ashton.

"We're both equally misinformed about society."

Aiz responded with a simple, annoyed tap on the hunter's shoulder.

"Not nice... But realistic..." she replied, taking the lead.

The hunter followed her, blowing into his scarf of uncertain amusement.

The corridors were getting wider, now stretching about ten meters wide giving them more space. The area seemed to grow in size with each instant and eventually joined a huge room.

"We have the answer..." growled Ashton in annoyance as he looked at the massive wall that occupied the back of the room.

"So, they took all the risks for a tomb? What idiocy..." sighed Ashton as he approached.

"Maybe it contains artifacts or something. Ruins can hold many secrets, especially a ruin from the time of the heroes." corrected Aiz with more respect.

This surprised Ashton who only responded with an annoyed grunt.

The tomb-like building was half carved into the rock face, giving an impression of magnitude even though it barely protruded from the wall. Clearly, the creature tunnel had led to the entrance to the area that the explorers had then used to reach it.

Two questions arose:

-How had they learned that the tunnel led directly to this tomb?

-And what were they looking for?

The duo passed through the huge half-open door, entering what appeared to be the main room. It was big, massive, quite similar to what Ashton had already seen in the cathedrals of Yharnam, just lacking the gothic style so particular to the city of fools, but also the gigantism that was related to it.

But the most surprising thing was that it seemed to be carved right out of the rock. The antechamber reeked of a hellish smell of enclosure.

"A mark." indicated Ashton on the wall.

"The tomb is across the street," Aiz continued.

"Hmm..." muttered Ashton. "We haven't encountered monsters and cadavers in a while... Let's prepare for the worst."

Ashton put his hand on his weapon, followed by the young woman. The mission had become more dangerous, but nothing the two experts couldn't handle.

The hunter was the first to pass through the door, opening onto the huge room that made up the main part of the structure. From the formation, it resembled the royal tombs located not far from Yharnam. A noise caught the attention of the hunter who gritted his teeth as he pulled himself to the side under cover.

He motioned for Aiz to come closer silently, gently examining where the noise was coming from.

Hidden from see from his position, Ashton observed the creature further. Some sort of... lizard, mixed with an insect. About 50% of the creature's flesh seemed to be missing, leaving its skeleton exposed and visible on several parts of its body. Around its open skull protruded part of the beast's brain.

Around it, other insects were stirring, seemingly bringing the lifeless bodies of two of the dead adventurers. The hunter let his gaze drift around the room, spotting the lifeless bodies of the rest of the expedition. So, this is where they had gone...

The pieces quickly fell into place. The adventurers had disturbed the colony of insects in the temple, waking them up, causing their deaths. The mercenaries had arrived and suffered a similar fate, wounding what appeared to be the queen or king quite badly.

"Repugnant." whispered Aiz softly, frowning while keeping an inexpressive face.

This made Ashton smile slightly, noticing that despite the anger, the blonde still wore the neutral face they shared. It somehow warmed his heart. Despite the situation, he felt a greater familiarity with the young woman, especially since the beginning of this mission.

"I'm going around them," Ashton indicated in a breath. "We attack them as soon as I'm in position."

Slowly, he walked forward letting the shadows guide him to the next pillar. Dis-cretion was a key value in Yharnam, and it made sense here. The creatures were stupid, almost as stupid as any he had ever encountered in this world.

They lacked the typical unhealthy glow of madness or the aura of death and blood that usually marked this type of creature. Once in position, he took a slight breath and closed his eyes for half a second before concentrating.

With one hand, he motioned to Aiz and dashed forward.

"Down." said Aiz simply to Ashton.

Instinctively, the hunter ducked and saw the swordsman's blade pass over him, tearing the flesh of one of the insects that had tried to pass behind her back.

In response, Ashton got up abruptly and impaled a second one that was sliding towards his teammate's legs. Back-to-back, the adventurer and the hunter fought, showing all the experience and reflexes accumulated by the fights.

Aiz felt light in her movements. The first habits she had acquired as a hunter were certainly good in such a particular situation with so many enemies.

A step forward, a violent strike, then a downward slide quite identical to Ashton's, just before turning her blade up and down to open a second one in two, followed finally by a movement to the side to offset a new incoming attack.

The enemies were becoming too many, even for them. Ashton drew in his cleaver for a moment, grabbing a bottle from his belt and lighting it, hurling it past the horde of monsters.

A roar sounded that of the queen feeling the flames rising on her. In a sequence, he plunged his hand into his pocket, and disappeared in a small cloud of smoke, reappearing above one of the larger insects, his blade completely open.

"Ariel," Aiz murmured softly as her blade was covered in magic.

She needed to take out the queen quickly.

Moving between the monsters in a dance of death, the swordwoman could see her target nearby. Covered in burn marks from the strange bottle her teammate had thrown, the queen was roaring, surrounded by several smaller monsters. Much faster than should be humanly possible, the young woman disappeared, leaving behind only the corpses of monsters, dissolving from their broken mana stones.

It was a strangely soothing routine for the young woman. Sliding, climbing, tearing, she was in her element, hunting monsters. Aiz caught herself thinking about it that way. Clearly, Ashton was exerting some influence on her when he talked about the dungeon raids and dragged her along.

The cold disinterestedness, the empty words and the advice he gave her echoed with her special style without her ever having heard of it. In that moment she realized one thing, Ashton was an anomaly, everything he talked about was foreign to her and his lack of even basic knowledge about the dungeon made him all the more strange.

She stifled the thoughts and fell back on her fight. Going down, going up aggressively, taking advantage of every moment she could find, she used her magic with frightening efficiency, leaving the monsters no chance of survival.

Ashton, who was fighting not far away, had a slight cynical smile.

"As much as this world wants to pretend, they are not better.

It amused him to no end, and he would gladly admit it, in a sadistic sort of way, to see someone being as violent as the hunters. It reminded him of home and everything he had experienced there.

A roar brought him back to reality as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke, reappearing backwards.

"The queen decided to fight?" he surprised himself.

The creature had moved forward, followed by what could only be described as its bodyguard. A large part of its flesh had been, as expected, burned by its molotov. Blood would flow, and certainly not his. Two of the insects moved forward to block him.

Gaining momentum, the hunter propelled himself forward, sliding downward while planting his foot in the ground to maintain his speed, and spun his cleaver horizontally. The watery sound of blood meeting the fangs of his blade passed through his ears, followed by the pleasant sensation of tearing flesh.

His mind took an unhealthy pleasure in hearing the painful cries of the monsters before they died out.

Before he knew it, another monster had passed behind him. By the time he reacted, the claws met his leg, digging the claws into his calf. Ash-ton held back a grunt of pain.

Calmly, he raised his pistol and prepared to fire. A simple hiss answered him, as the beast he was aiming at split in two, collapsing to the ground, completely torn apart by an attack from its back.

"Sa vas?!" questioned Aiz with a slight panic.

Withdrawing the still sunken claw from his leg and turning to intercept one of the monsters with his pistol, he answered gravely.

"Good. Nothing too serious."

The hunter grabbed a vial of blood and shoved it down his leg, feeling the corrupted liquid disperse through his veins and letting the flesh recompose itself around his open wound. The sound of the severed tendon reconnecting made Aiz wince slightly.

"We need to take out the queen quickly," the hunter announced. "We won't last in the long run."

Shifting his body slightly to the right, he passed between two clawing blows, and turned quickly as he heard a spurt. A puddle of acid fell inches from him, dissolving the ground. Some kind of grub looked at him and twisted around, projecting another shot.

"Take care of the monsters," Aiz said simply. "I'm killing the queen."

Before he could respond, he saw the woman take her stance and... she disappeared. Following her to where she was supposed to go, he saw black particles as well as monsters fall, leaving only a quick rush of air.

She was good, much better than he thought. After all, he considered himself more of a hunter than an adventurer.

"Let's cover her and trust." he said to himself simply as he resumed his hunt.

Aiz appeared before the queen. Leaning on her right foot, she pivoted, piercing the first of the monsters in front of her. Swinging to the right, she let her magic-covered sword arc smoothly and slice through the second monster that passed behind the first.

She took a quick look around, checking on the hunter. The brutal sound of an insect slicing and dismembering gave her her answer. She let out a cluck of her tongue at the brutality of her teammate, but refocused on her fight.

Taking a step or two back, she took in the situation.

The fight had no reason to be accelerated in view of the general situation. She took her time, following one of the advices Ashton had given her, never take risks when it was not necessary.

Keeping her distance, the sword woman continued to keep the strike just far enough away to attack. Then, as the queen grew more confident noticing her opponent's lack of initiative, she put her own method into action. A fusion of the hunter's teachings and her own experience.

Her sword passed under the raised paw of the monster and penetrated the eye, making the creature roar with pain. It was standing too close to the queen to touch her, but also just far enough away that the monsters around it could not reach her without hurting their leader.

Aiz maintained her pressure, releasing more of her Ariel's magic and raising her blade, opening the visual cavity further. The flesh burned by Ash-ton's flaming bottle let the enchanted blade penetrate the thick tissue with ease.

A howl answered it, followed by a backward rush that Aiz blocked. Forcing her feet to the ground, she prevented any movement from her opponent and continued to thrust her blade further forward, feeling the bone that blocked it crack.

One... Two... Three... Crack...

The sound of the monster's skull cracking under the blade, followed by the rustle of the brain disconnecting from the rest of the queen's body. A slight smile broke the stoic features of the young woman as she took the life of such a dangerous monster, who had already caused too many deaths.

The sound of the corpse collapsing heavily on the floor echoed through the room. And as if the monsters had had their minds broken, a shrill groan passed through the tunnel, caused by the outcry of the panicked monsters.

Ashton took two steps back, disengaging quickly so as not to be crushed by the fleeing insects. Then he spotted some of the mole species. During the fights, he had not taken notice, preferring to focus on the fight than on his type of enemy, reacting more than acting.

The hunter sniffed the air and realized one thing; the flagrance of fog that was sprinkling the cave was gone.

"Pheromone," he noted.

"She used it to control all types of insects. She must have mutated, just like the black monsters.

"Some kind of hive mind... So, monsters shouldn't be a problem anymore?"

"Probably... Now we just must find the remains of the last adventurers." the blonde concluded.

Ashton turned and followed a metallic scent to a corner.

"We have our answer."

There, lying in a heap were several corpses.

Looking at the last body, Ashton discovered a book. It was old, bound in leather, and despite the blood that had covered part of the cover and pages, he managed to decipher the title.

"Mausoleum of Knight Adern."

And now he had the answer to the discovery of the tomb. The adventurers had simply taken advantage of the tunnel made by the monsters and had found themselves shot in more than they had hoped for by stumbling upon a particularly powerful nest.

The hunter sighed as he looked at the monster carcasses.

"Are we leaving?" questioned Aiz who was busy looking around.

"The monsters are eliminated, the adventurers' fate is discovered, nothing more can be accomplished," Ashton sighed softly.

Aiz looked at the hunter's face, turning downward. A hint of sadness and pain could be felt in his walk. She knew the feeling, he thought he had failed again.

"This is not a failure," she said softly to the hunter.

Ashton looked up in surprise.

"But they're still dead," the blond-haired man replied coldly.

"I know," Aiz replied calmly. "But no one else will have to experience it."

"You've already lived it," the hunter concluded simply.

"I... Yes..." replied the sword woman, lowering her head.

Images of the black dragon flashed through her mind. Her mother, her father... She shook. Ashton saw it and decided to do something he would never do normally. He reached over and patted her back, snapping her out of her trance.

"I don't know what's happened to you, and that's your own. But know that I know how you feel."

As she looked into his eyes, the blonde saw what she knew. Without thinking, she hugged him, in her arms.

A soft, soothing warmth flowed through them and an unknown feeling.

I have reduced the exploration part of the cave considerably. Honestly, I don't have the courage to write more fights at the moment. I've turned all my ideas to improving the relationship of the two outside and during the period before the return to Orario to link them by twenty or thirty thousand words at most.

As said above, I have in mind to write more of a gentle thing and about fixing Ashton's mental state rather than an OP adventurer's adventure as it seemed to be at the beginning. My goal is going to be to make Ashton more human.

That will be all here, I hope this chapter has you more. I will try to publish as soon as possible, but don't wait for two or three weeks MINIMUM.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and your loved ones.