A/N: Yeah...I'm updating quite sooner than usual. I guess it's a good thing, right? Haha...I've just been inspired as of late, not to mention rather creative too. Oh well...good news for anyone reading this, right?
Anyways, the story's coming to a close in about a chapter or two to go...but...ahem! Shout-outs!
Rusty Knights Productions - I'm glad this story made your day...that day. Thanks, and I will keep up the work.
Yuriel-Castries - I guess this chap also ends in a cliffie...oops! Haha. Thanks for being a faithful reader, though the story's gonna see its end in about 2 more chapters. Good pacing? Oh the story...not the updating. Okay...
Thanks also to SIMSteven and zzanmato at GameFAQs for informing me on something about Terajima's dungeon.
Okay...here's the next one. Hopefully as enjoyable as the previous ones, so, uh, enjoy!
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CHAPTER 5
Act
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Immediately upon reaching the last step, Blackrose used a fairy's orb. The second level revealed a single, winding passageway littered with dozens, seemingly hundreds, of dungeon portals.
"Talk about extreme opposites..." she said sarcastically. Kite only laughed nervously and scratched his head in response.
Looking down the corridor ahead, twelve portals were already visible before the path veered to the left. The mere sight of so many imposing portals in such close proximity sent shivers down the Heavy Blade's spine and, at the back of her mind, she seriously considered going back upstairs.
"It'll be okay...let's just take this thing slowly, one by one if necessary. We're not under any time limit or anything, right?" Kite assured her, as if he had read her thoughts. He gave her a confident smile.
"N-no...I mean, yea...yeah! I know! Who said anything about backing out anyway...?" Blackrose huffed assertively, though her hands still trembled visibly. To this, Kite only shook his head and smiled even more widely.
He stepped forward and waited in anticipation as the nearest of the dungeon portals began to condense. Carefully unsheathing his Two Together, he came face to face with...
...a level one goblin.
Kite accidentally dropped one of his blades out of sheer surprise, but was able to catch it, before it hit the floor, and save face before Blackrose noticed.
"Hey, it's just a little runt!" She exclaimed, peering out from behind him where she had been hiding. Almost nonchalantly, she strolled up to the enemy and whacked it once with the broad surface of her weapon. This alone was enough to fell the unfortunate beast.
"Now that was too easy!" She whooped.
"Still, let's not be too hasty; the other portals could bring out stronger monsters..." Kite cautioned, gingerly stepping nearer the next portal.
But this second gateway produced only five more of the same weak monster, which were just as quickly dispatched as the first. The third...fourth...and fifth portals were no different, save from that more and more goblins appeared from each successive one.
The Heavy Blade's previous fear turned to confidence, and then to embarrassment for her earlier show of nervousness in front of her partner. She was only a little annoyed at the developments concerning weak monsters coming out of the portals; she was more so at herself for being afraid.
Kite looked obliquely at her. She was thinking of something, a mischievous grin spread across her face. He knew at once that he wouldn't like her idea.
"Uh, Blackrose, you aren't thinking..."
"Who said anything about thinking?" she replied in what seemed like an ominous tone to Kite.
'Oh no...'
Blackrose took only a second to sheathe her weapon and, with a gradually loudening cry, the Heavy Blade launched herself into a sprint through the sea of yellow ahead.
Quickly, after pulling his jaw shut, having shook his head a few times to confirm reality, and silently mouthing a muffled noise of frustration, Kite cast Ap Do on Blackrose and then on himself, not bothering to hide Two Together. He too then darted forward.
All around him, the brilliant glow of yellow flashed, dungeon portals beginning to open and pour forth whatever monstrosities they held...
...of course, Kite, and Blackrose as well for that matter, knew that the only monsters they would face were weak, level-one goblins.
'The question is...' Kite mused, fighting a seeping sense of dread as he heard the rapidly-growing rumbling of goblins' feet on the pavement behind him, 'could we hold our own without being overwhelmed?'
"Haha! We're running again, Kite!" The Twin Blade heard from somewhere in front as he rounded a corner.
'Yeah, all thanks to your crazy antics!' He wanted to shout back, but then kept the thought to himself. "Don't be too reckless!" He yelled instead.
The running did continue, with Kite mostly trying to keep up with his companion. Still, that did not stop him from trying to lessen the number of goblins. In between a quick blast of Lanceor and another round of Ap Do, he weighed their situation. On one hand, the portals around them, though no less intimidating, seemed to be noticeably decreasing in number; on the other, the rumbling seemed ever-incessant behind, and getting even more threatening each second, despite his efforts so far.
For a sudden odd moment, he felt as if he were the one being chased by goblins in a game of tag, instead of the usual other way around.
And then he found out, almost true to Blackrose's earlier comment, that maybe thinking wouldn't exactly be included in the plan this time, as they had reached a closed gate; the stairs leading to the lower level were taunting them from the other side. The last of the portals were already fading, the oppressive yellow steadily, thankfully, dying down. The Heavy Blade was leaning on the gate, panting slightly, Mimiru's Sword drawn and ready.
The whole corridor was crowded with goblins, some even climbing over others in a blind attempt to get ahead. If he hadn't known they were in fact feebler than their appearance suggested, Kite would have been very much afraid.
The Twin Blade took an attack stance beside her. "You know how troublesome I really think this is?" He was half-smiling, though hiding it from his partner.
"It would've been better if we had a Wavemaster here and more area-of-effect spells other than your Lanceor or whatever summon, huh?" She replied nonchalantly. "Oh well. Don't worry, we'll improvise."
He rolled his eyes. 'She's acting rather...optimistic...today,' he thought as he slipped on his Lucky Shoes and cast Rig Saem and Rig Geam.
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It was half an hour of pure hack-and-slash that left Kite's pulse pounding in his ears minutes since it had ended, though, of course, there were spells cast during the fray, mostly Ap Do, Rig Saem, Rig Geam, Lanceor and, when Kite bothered to occasionally swap Two Together for Fishskin, Merrows. Pressing matters prevented him from ironically donning all goblin equipment and casting 'Summon Goblin', though the idea screamed in his head.
But afterwards, the hall became as barren as it had once been. Not a single goblin remained and, fortunately, since the enemies' bodies disappeared soon after being defeated, no corpses littered the floor either.
A left-over puddle of water from the last Merrows summon formed near Kite's feet. Looking into it, he noticed his disheveled hair was a little messier than usual, though he really didn't feel too exhausted. He took no more than a few seconds to get himself in order, and then he turned to his partner...only to find nobody beside him.
'Where...?'
"Hey slowpoke! Come on, we're not too far from the end now I'll bet!" She was already bounding down the steps, the gate wide open. Strangely, Kite didn't notice it being unbolted at all.
He ran after her, a bit of worry seeping into him. "Blackrose! Don't wander too quickly! We don't know what's down there!" But his warnings fell on deaf ears as the Heavy Blade continued on.
'Isn't she tired of running at least?' He wondered, quickening his pace to catch up.
The staircase was a rather long and winding one; what had begun as a broad, straight passage soon narrowed and spiraled, resembling that of a crypt or a tower of sorts. Images of a previous experience with a certain tower flashed through Kite's mind, and he involuntarily shuddered, the feeling of uneasiness escalating a notch.
'Something's wrong,' he told himself. His thoughts immediately went to the Heavy Blade running in front of him. 'She shouldn't rush ahead by herself...' Normally, his partner going off on her own didn't bother him as much, but this time was different.
The long corridor at the bottom of the stairs looked innocent enough. Blackrose had already used a Fairy Orb, and Kite was at least a little relieved to see no dungeon portals. He felt he had had enough of those for one day, even if they did contain monsters other than goblins.
The only noticeable feature of the floor was what lay in the only room at the far end – a Gott statue and its treasure.
Blackrose had only stopped for a while; soon she was scurrying ahead again, with an extra spring in her step this time. "Come on Kite! The treasure's just down there! I can almost smell it!"
'Smell it?' The expression struck Kite as singular, though for all he knew, it could have been just that – an expression. As he began moving forward, a queer smile etched on his face as he imagined things that might give off some kind of remarkable scent – flowers, perfume, food, fresh paint, smoke, and even biologic waste material! He abruptly shook his head upon reaching that thought. 'What the heck am I thinking!?' Something at the back of his mind told him that he should be worrying instead.
Although thankful that nothing was pursuing them this time, Kite was getting fed up with running. Peering into the darkness beyond, he could barely make out the Heavy Blade's form a few dozen steps in front of him.
'Wait...how come this corridor seems to be getting darker all of a sudden...?'
He concluded it wasn't his imagination a few more steps later. The torches on both sides of the passageway gave off less and less light the further they went, until there was just enough to distinguish faint outlines; the only ones Kite saw now were those of his own hands, of his partner just ahead, and of the door some distance away. The room ahead was shrouded in black.
Feeling a little thirsty, though not stopping his feet from moving, he pulled a flask from his pouch and downed it hurriedly. A slightly sour taste made him jerk his head up and examine the item more closely. This wasn't a Health Drink...
'Hermit's Blood. Darn, it's too dark to see! Oh well...' he thought, shrugging, and drank the rest of the liquid anyway, increasing his magical attack power as well.
"Hey Blackrose!" Kite called out, still running. Almost absently, he took out a Burning Oil item from his pack, using it as a source of light before he had to eventually use it up and increase his fire attribute. The oil glowed brightly, relieving his eyes of having to strain so hard to see.
Silently, he wished there was an item he could presently use that wasn't so transient...or so hot. Only several seconds was all the light it gave before burning out and singeing his fingers. Quickly, he procured some Pure Water to relieve the sting, strengthening his water attribute in the process.
"Quit dawdling, Kite!" At her statement, he felt a little ridiculous fooling around with his items. It was then that he noticed she had already crossed the door's outline, and into the Gott statue room.
"We're...OOF!" Her exclamation was abruptly cut off as she suddenly bumped into something hard and fell to the floor.
"What the...AHHH!" Bright light blared intensely from the inside of the room without warning. The Heavy Blade shut her eyes tight, having been used to the pitch-blackness that dominated until not two seconds ago. Kite, having had a semi-constant fire a bit earlier to aid his seeing, only had to blink thrice to adjust his vision...
...before a feeling of déjà vu washed over him. Standing noiselessly right in front of his stunned partner was a giant, translucent, cyan-colored golem; its body reflected the light and added further blinding luminescence to the area, a myriad of colors bursting in all directions. The humanoid-shaped monstrosity's head was a small, solid oblong, dwarfed by its immense body; a small glowing red orb embedded inside its head, moving in different directions, indicated what might have been its eye. It wielded twin battle axes in its hands...
Kite figured he had no more time for observation as one of those battle axes was raised carefully, silently upward by their now-hostile adversary. Blackrose was still sitting on the floor, rubbing her eyes and cursing liberally. She still didn't seem to notice the being in front of her, about to inflict on her the worst status of all – death.
"Watch out!" Kite yelled. Reaching his partner, he pushed her to one side and leapt to the other. She let out a yelp of surprise as the impact of the heavy crystal axe sent tremors through the ground behind her, pulverizing the stone floor.
Pushed forward by the impact, and still blinded by the glare, Blackrose tumbled gracelessly, her string of uncouth phrases mercifully coming to an end as she yelled, "Kite, what's going on!?"
The golem wasted no time; deftly maneuvering, it began to swing the other axe in a horizontal arc towards the Heavy Blade.
"No!" Kite only had time enough to throw himself in front of the weapon's path, not really thinking out any strategy. The force of the blow was enough to launch him five feet into the air and into the stone wall beside his partner, but he was able to alter the trajectory of the slice using his blades, and it missed both of them completely.
Winded, the Twin Blade groggily shook his head and looked up. Blackrose was squinting now, her eyes more adjusted to the light, and they both became aware of the first axe once again poised above their heads in another vertical chop.
Blackrose could only scream, startled as she was about their enemy and current situation.
Kite, fortunately, had more presence of mind. Right before the weapon came crashing down, he immediately called forth a summon spell. His mind shouted 'Lanceor', but his mouth uttered differently. "Merrows!" Even he was surprised. Looking, he found himself holding Fishskin instead of Two Together.
The water summon instantly materialized in front of him, and sent a high-powered torrent upon their enemy. Kite's astonishment doubled as the golem was hurtled to the opposite wall as if it were a piece of paper blown by the wind, and tripled when the words 'Elemental Critical' appeared not too far above.
One shot. That was all it took for the Data Drain indicator to appear around the massive torso sprawled on the ground. As if on instinct, Kite lifted his right arm. The bracelet flared to life, and sent waves of data streaming forward.
After it had been done, a small critter was left cringing where the golem used to be. It then ran quickly outside the room and into a hole in the corridor wall. Also on the floor was a huge puddle of water.
"I think it was an ice golem," Kite stated flatly. Inwardly, he thanked whatever powers there were that he had been careless enough to make mistakes with his items a little earlier, having realized that his magical abilities were still boosted up.
His partner was already on her feet, though her knees were a little wobbly. "Ice? But it wasn't cold at all when I bumped into it..."
"Thrown in for deception, I guess," Kite mused, shrugging. "Maybe so that the players wouldn't think of using water until it was too late." He recalled meaning to use Lanceor instead of his other summon. "That thing was blinding fast for its size."
It was only then he noticed he was clutching something in his left fist, small enough to fit inside. He opened his hand, revealing a small, red orb.
'Its eye...?' He pondered. 'Probably the item from Data Drain...' He dropped it into his pouch, before even the thought of showing it to Blackrose entered his mind, and promptly forgot about it there, another thought taking its place. Kite then began to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" There was a tone of annoyance in her words; but if Kite had looked at her, the tint of red on her face would have suggested it to be something else altogether. He opted instead to glance at the far end of the room, towards the coveted Gott statue they had worked so hard to reach.
"It's not something really funny; though I remember this one time just recently when I went with Terajima Ryoko to look for an item she wanted. The place was filled with a lot of data bugs, and it was all we could do to reach the last floor. There was also this monster guarding the treasure, and I ended up saving her in much the same way I did just now. Cool, huh?" His eyes shone as he spoke; gleamed with a look of amusement, though one that could easily be mistaken for fascination or affection.
The hint of a smile playing on her lips suddenly shriveled into a scowl as Blackrose caught a glimpse of his expression; she turned quickly away and pretended not to see it; it was causing too much discomfort on her part. She sighed lightly. "Come on," she replied softly.
They both crossed the length of the room, towards the Gott statue and its treasure.
'This is only a statue, right...?' Kite wondered to himself. There were too many of the creatures coming to life as of late, he couldn't shake the feeling that this one might run amok on them as well. Fortunately, it did not.
It was the Heavy Blade who stepped forward. Gingerly, as if it would break upon touch, she lifted the lid of the chest open.