Chapter 26
Thankfully, the entrance to the eighteenth floor was clear. The Goliath was absent and as we walked towards the path down, no rumbles or the wall cracking of monster spawning interrupted us. We still kept alert. We all knew that the dungeon hated us, and one moment of negligence was all it took for things to go very very wrong.
Only as we entered the eighteenth floor, and approached the sleepy town of Riviera, did we relax. All but Haruhime were here when the irregular showed up.
Above us, mimicking the actual sun, was the glowing white crystal. Endless little refractions of light from the ceiling above told us it was roughly two or so in the afternoon. Without a clock to really judge time, it was my closest guess.
We were greeted by the few who were here as we passed by. Some even recognized us, asking if we were expecting more trouble like last time, or if we were getting ready to head deeper in. My nickname around here seemed to be 'Crazy Kit', for my stunt with Bell in killing the irregular.
"Has is already been that long?" Welf asked, "Feels like only last week that we were down here doing something crazy..."
"It does, doesn't it?" Bell commented, stretching out his arms and taking a deep breath. "But, it's still really pretty down here. The dungeon is amazing!"
It really did smell better than the city. Fresh water, clean air, the smell of the forest without the scent of all those people living in one place. To be fair, with the use of magic stones, Orario had almost modern plumbing, water treatment, and all the other things required to keep a city from turning into a disease infested pit. It also helped that the general wealth in the city was rather high. Adventurers made money, bought goods, and in turn the citizens had money to keep a healthy lifestyle. The guild took a modest tax, and were very diligent when it came to general maintenance of the city itself. Sure, there were poor sections of the city, but I had yet to see down right poverty anywhere. The only people I saw sleeping in the streets were drunk adventurers, and the only homeless the new arrivals, who usually had some sort of idea of what to do when they got here.
The only real black mark on all this were the people who were hit with the fallout of the adventurer trade. Mothers and fathers who don't make it back being the biggest one. I stole a glance over at Lilly, who was happily chatting with Haruhime. She had suffered immeasurably since her parents died. But now...
"What'cha thinking about sister?" Welf nudged me in the side, bringing me back from the edge of a gloomy thought. "No need to look so gloomy. We made it! In good time! And aside from a couple of singed eyebrows, none of us are hurt."
"Just thinking." I replied, forcing a bit of a grin, "You're right, we did good. Let's relax a little." We all stopped in the centre of the town, where the shade of the great tree was weakest, "Meet back here for dinner. Signal if there is trouble. Don't spend all your valis." The last I directed to Haruhime and Lilly, who tried to look like I was being mean, but giggled at my raised eyebrow.
I found myself sitting on the same hill as before. Memories of the fight that happened there sifted through my mind as I looked over the forest, my eyes open, but not really seeing what was before me. It was the first time the rage overtook me, and I nearly killed someone. Since then, it was just something that lurked in my dreams, but being back here made it all come back. They say time heals all wounds. Even the dungeon heals itself. The small crystal that man shattered to distract me was back, as if the battle never happened.
I couldn't help but think again, what exactly was this place?
"Kodori-san?" Mikoto said from behind me, startling me out of my thoughts. "You seem troubled."
Turning my ears, but not my head, I asked, "How can you tell?"
Gently, a hand scooped under the middle of my tail and lifted it off the grass. "Your tail is very honest." With equal care, she sat and rested my tail in her lap. "I learned long ago with Hime-chan's tail. Yours is even easier to read."
"I'm just... Over thinking things. Even after living her for this long, I can't seem to figure things out." I tried to ignore the tingles running up my back as she played with my fur, "Too many little things are bothering me."
"Would you like to explain?" She asked.
"Lets take a walk."
I wondered how well she would understand my worries. Keeping my personal ones to the side, I explained what I could to her. The forest, being underground. The grass growing on almost nothing but bare stone. Boulders that had bare dungeon floor under them. No insects, but somehow there were flowers blooming. The huge crater where her gravity magic had half buried the Black Goliath being gone, and covered in grass again. Monsters that constantly spawned, lived and died, only to be spawned again. Even the small waterfalls and pools that were just perfect for bathing, complete with fine sand at the bottom for scrubbing the skin.
"I don't have all the words to explain more." I said as we soaked in one of those pools. "But, it's too... perfect. Like... some one is trying to make something work, ummm..."
"Experiment?" She offered, using some of the white sand to scrub her arm.
"Yes that." I replied, "It's all too clean. Even with the magic, and Gods, and everything."
"You worry too much." She said in return, "It matters not why it is, just that we keep the people above ground safe from it." She looked at me, tilting her head to one side, "Tell me... Why do you fight? Why are you in the dungeon?"
"That's... A difficult question." I said, giving my underarm a sniff, and then scrubbing it with sand. "Its... No single thing."
"I'll answer first then." She said, scooping up a little sand and motioning for me to turn around. "Back home, there is the orphanage were our Familia started." The sand stung a little, but it felt bracing, instead of painful. "Part of why I am here, is to make money, and send it back there. To help the children there to be more fortunate than we were."
I nodded, feeling her hands leave my back. I picked up some sand as well, and turned around, finding myself already facing her back. "For me... I couldn't sit still. Everything is so new here. Where I started, there were no monsters, no dungeons. Just rules. Not... Bad ones, but enough that only the rich or influential could really get ahead. People became parts of an uncaring machine." I reached down and stopped my tail from also trying to scrub her back, resuming my task with one hand. "So part of it, is a need to see the new things. But another part, is 'why'. At this point, I'm almost not sure I care about that."
"Oh? You don't wish to know what brought you here?" She waded away, starting to climb out of the pond. I tried not to stare too much at her back as she continued, "Do you not miss your old home?"
Turning my eyes away just before she turned around, her pants in hand, I said, "No. My old life has almost no value to me, when put in front of what I am now." I followed her out, rubbing my tail from the base of my spine downwards to get the water out, "Aside from what I learned there, life experience and schooling. I honestly hope I never go back." Aside from the body, which still had its awkward features, this was just... A better place for me.
"Your family?"
"I don't know if I even have family." I replied, brushing off as much water as I could before putting my clothes on again. "But one more thing... Something Bell told me."
"Oh?"
"You can find anything in the dungeon. It's what his grandfather told him." My ears gave a few twitches, my damp hair making them feel a little chilly. "Even if you can't, I've found more than I could ever had hoped for."
"I wonder as well. For some, the dungeon is a means to an end. For others, a path to an unknown goal." She finished dressing, putting her sword through her sash, ready for battle once again.
"Mikoto-san is wise." I said with a grin, earning myself a punch to the shoulder and a laugh.
After dinner and a quick re-check on supplies, we found that not only did we do well getting here, the only thing we didn't have was a half day of food. Welf only had to spend a minimal amount of time sharpening the party's weapons, and none of our equipment had any appreciable wear. Water was replenished from one of the many springs found on the floor, and that was it. It made me happy that we'd come so far in terms of skill, but also a little nervous. I was probably the only one in this world who had heard of Murphy's Law, after all.
"So, what do you think?" Welf asked me, "I think we can go further."
There were various nods around the campfire. "Seems like we all want to try." I said, looking around, "And I think we are ready for a little more of a challenge." The rest gave a quiet little cheer, "So, get a good sleep, make sure everything is packed properly so we can leave at... First glow? What ever it's called down here."
Another little cheer, and we started putting mess kits away for the day.
I had no trouble sleeping that night. After Lilly's attempt to volunteer herself to sleep in Bell's tent failing, she ended up in mine. Haruhime, who said she was going to also volunteer to sleep in Bell's tent, but being interrupted by Lilly, also ended up with me. I sort of felt sorry for him, one day, he would have to choose. And with his mindset of trying to make everyone happy, he was going to either run away screaming, or be stolen away from the rest of the girls who wanted him.
But, with both Lilly and Haruhime trying to find the best place to get comfortable against me, the phantom feeling of those manacles was easily ignored.
The nineteenth floor was very odd. The wall colours, all mostly uniform on the upper floors, was a confusing mix of reds and greys. At times, the floor would slope sharply, almost like a staircase. While other times it ramped upwards. It was sort of like navigating a three level 'floor' instead. Where the stone was mostly grey, we found these very odd bear monsters.
If I wasn't trying not to get slashed by their thick claws, I'd have probably face palmed at the name 'Bug Bear.' Shaggy fur, insect eyes, sharp stubby claws that looked like rusted iron, and with a weird mandible mouth. The name fit, but seriously? I wondered who owed who for the trademark on that name.
"Bell! Can you handle that one?" He was fighting another one of the new monsters. A lizard man. Like a walking iguana, it had smooth scales, long tail for balance, and swing the natural stone club with crude but effective speed and strength. Its tail was also one of its weapons, and more than once Bell had to stop an attack to avoid being slammed by it.
"I'm fine! Lilly! Help Ouka!"
Ouka, with his spear, with the help of Chigusa and Welf, were trying to get a giant boar charge him. I knew he was skilled enough, but the two meter long beast was being stubborn and not taking the bait. Lilly used her little crossbow to shoot it in the rear for encouragement.
"Kodori-san! Another one!"
The wall cracked and bled, a second bug bear flopping out of the open wound in the wall. I had to finish this one quickly, else I'd have a second one to deal with. With my hands protected from the sharp bits of the bear's mandibles, I pulled them out of its face with a backwards heave. I hardly felt its return strike against my ribs, the armoured coat taking the shock well, but instead of retreating, it fell onto me. "Asuka!" I called as I went down under it, putting one arm up to stop what was left of its mouth from taking a bite out of my face, and my other over my head, in case Asuka missed.
I needn't have worried. Her long bow twanged once, twice, three times in rapid succession, and the body over me shivered as all three arrows buried themselves into the top of its head. The body over me relaxed, settling over me even as I tried to roll it to the side.
"Kodori!" Bell called, grunting as he tried to rush the lizard man.
"Stay calm!" I yelled back, curling up a leg and pushing the body off me. I turned to the next bug bear, "We got this!"
We got that. It was harder than anything we'd done to that point, but, we still suffered almost no losses. Chigusa refused a potion for a cut she had gotten. I was only a little bruised, and Welf was the only one who actually needed a potion. He had, with Haruhime's help, shoulder tossed that stubborn boar after it had bitten at Chigusa. His injury was from its hooves as he grabbed it by its hind leg and brought it over his shoulder and into the ground with what most would call 'authority'. Even then, we only used a potion on him so he would stop bleeding, while Chigusa opted for a bandage.
Our next challenge was worse. We'd walked up a slope, the stone around us fading into a red swirled with white, and felt what could only be described as a vibration in the air. It reminded me of being inside of a car on idle, that sort of purr you feel from under your feet and rear. Except, it was from everywhere but behind us.
We all felt it, but didn't really know what it was, until with a scream, what looked like a flying sword lanced through the room from one exit to the other, passing overhead and leaving behind a wounded Asuka. With a cry, she fell backwards onto Lilly, her shoulder spraying blood from a slash wound.
"Turtle!" I shouted, feeling the hum in the air increase, even as we encircled Haruhime, Lilly and Asuka. To add to our problems, I felt a quiver from the ground itself. "Chigusa! Lay her on your shield! Bell, burn the first thing through that tunnel! Ouka brace your spear! Mikoto, beside him!"
I opened my hands, ready to grab anything I could, as Bell stood beside me daggers away, palm out, aiming at the door. I heard the familiar 'pop' of a cork and a groan of pain from our downed archer, as the humming increased another octave and the tension mounted as we all huddled protectively around our downed member in the centre of the room.
And with a pouring rush of glittering wings, dozens of giant dragonflies knifed into the room. The 'flying sword' was really just a chrome coloured insect.
True to form, Bell roasted two of them, the first into the room, and another before they finished emerging. I heard a 'splat' and 'chop' from behind me, hearing Ouka and Mikoto catch the one that had just left the room. And then it got too busy for me to focus on anything by myself.
They were so FAST. Like a dragonfly from back home, they could hover, make right angled turns, and evade even the fastest of hands. Unlike the ones back home, their tails and leg tips were razor sharp, and even as I finally managed to catch one, my face had been cut a few times. The scales of my coat brushed off the sharp slashing attacks but each one reminded me that aside from Bell, I was the only properly armoured among us.
Bell was doing well with his firebolt magic, the nature of the spell itself burning the wings off them even with a near miss. Welf was slamming his great sword into the fallen insects so they couldn't do something like find one of our legs to chew on. He suffered several flyby attacks but took them stoically, returning to guard the middle when the ground level threat was dealt wit
And suddenly. The room was clear.
Panting hard, I looked around. The scent of blood, not just from right under my nose where I'd been cut, but from some of the rest of us, filled the air. "Clea... MOVE!" I shouted along with Welf, who fell over the still recovering Asuka as the ground beneath us erupted. Our formation broken, four huge horned heads broke through the ground. Looking like giant stag beetles, they threw dirt and bodies into the air as they shook themselves out of the ground.
Ouka and Mikoto were first to recover, the big spear man rolling to his feet and driving the point of his spear into the ground and wedging the haft between a main horn and a mandible, locking the head into position long enough for Mikoto to feed it her katana. That was all the luck we had there, as Welf and Asuka were thrown across the room, the blacksmith holding her close and protecting her head as they rolled along the floor into a wall. The shield and Chigusa went separate ways, as did Lilly and Haruhime.
Bell shouted out his firebolt, but the lance of flame and lightning only scorched the horn of the one he hit. I charged the next one as the first went after him, while Lilly and Haruhime helped each other out of the way of the third. Chigusa however, was left alone, the third one scuttling over to her.
Like the boars, they were huge, two meters long and heavy. Being insects, they were stronger too. And even with my own magic flaring up inside of me, I was almost unable to stop that giant horn from impaling me. "Ouka! Help her!" I grunted as I tried to move my hands around the horned head of my opponent, looking for just the right place to grab and twist its head off.
Letting go of his weapon, he stomped over the dead beetle and managed to land on the one after Chigusa only an instant before it lanced her with its horn. I heard the sound of shattering metal as Mikoto's sword broke, but undaunted she joined Ouka in wrestling the beetle away from Chigusa.
"Hold it still sister!" I heard Welf shout as his heavy boots ran across the floor. I didn't have the time to look his way, but I braced my hands, holding the mouth away from my leg while keeping its horn at bay. A flash of metal, and his great sword arced down, slamming into the beetle's back and cutting its head off at the joint between head and body.
Behind me, Bell let out another firebolt, then with the sound of sharpening stone over a blade, he called out a victory cry, a heavy thump I could feel through my boots as that beetle fell. I was just about to go help with the last beetle when I heard the sound of shattering carapace, as Ouka applied his boot to the back of the beetle's skull.
Still panting, I touched my face with my hand to see how bad I'd been cut, and simply... Felt. No hums, no rumbles, just the lot of us breathing, and bleeding. "Quickly! See to wounded! Head count!" I said, getting a name from everyone in the room but Asuka, who was still laying at the side of the room.
It was bad. Once again, the dungeon had surprised us. And only because none of us lost our cool did we all make it. But, we had had some bad luck in that last fight too. Asuka was healed, the wonder of potions keeping her from being crippled for life or bleeding out. But she had lost a lot of blood, the slash she had received just missing her throat, and laying the bone of her shoulder bare before Lilly managed to feed her a potion. Bell and I were the well off, with only minor cuts that needed a damp cloth to clean and nothing else. Chigusa was also fine for the most part, but shaken badly, and bruised from being thrown by the beetles. Haruhime and Lilly were a little bruised, but fine.
But Ouka had had his back slashed a few times, and his spear was no longer trustworthy under battle conditions, the haft splintered in several places. Mikoto's sword had broken to bits inside the beetle's mouth when she tried to remove it, and Welf had also been cut up by the dragonflies, as well as his tumble away with Asuka.
We had won, but only just.
And that was when we all felt yet another vibration through the floor. Only just finished our cleanup and recovery, we all looked at each other and nodded. "We're done. Back up." I said, getting another nod from them all.
Quickly, we started towards the way we had come, but just as Bell and Welf had entered the tunnel, we heard a voice, big and loud, call out just as the vibration stopped.
"Fancy meeting you here..." It was not a voice I ever wanted to hear again. "The crazy fox and her friends. Little Haru too... Turned traitor as soon as Ishtar was gone huh?"
Beside me, Haruhime trembled, her and I turning to look at the speaker. It was Phryne, the monstrous Amazon, former ace of the Ishtar Familia. Huge and menacing, even from across the room, her over proportioned shoulders and bullfrog head, as well as lumpy vaguely female body made her look like more of a monster than anything I'd seen in the dungeon so far. She was also carrying that same axe as before, though the haft was much shorter, making it look unbalanced and crude in her huge hand.
"Not that I blame you." She continued, as the rest of us came back into the room. "She wasn't nearly as pretty as I am, and had such a terrible personality. She was only worth following for the chance to find a good mate."
"Bell... I have a bad feeling about this." I mumbled to him as he came to stand beside me.
"Oh! Speaking of mate... There's the one who got away." She started towards us then, "Come to think about it... I owe the three of you, and her, too, for getting in my way." With comical ease, she levelled the huge axe at us, as Mikoto stood beside Haruhime. I felt ice form in my gut as she got within about ten paces of us.
"Run." I said, backing up a step, a hand on Haruhime's shoulder to back her up with me. I knew that look in Phryne's eyes. "Run, and we can drop the tunnel behind us." Another step away.
"Oh I don't THINK SO!"
It happened so fast, I hardly remember doing it. The hand on Haruhime pushed her into Mikoto, who, out of reflex, grabbed onto her. I spun in place, catching sight of the giant Amazon winding up to throw her axe. I grabbed Mikoto by her sash, then collar, giving her a Chloe Javelin towards a surprised Ouka.
"RUN!" I screamed, pushing Bell ahead of me, catching him as he stumbled, and throwing him through the exit as well, just as a spinning disk of silver and black buzzed over my shoulder, just missing Bell as he passed through the mouth of the tunnel. Instead, it slammed into stone above the room entrance, the axe blade burying itself to the haft, and bringing down the tunnel.
I was trapped.
"Kodori!" Bell screamed from the other side.
Looking at the mess, and feeling the menacing thump of Phryne's footsteps start up behind me, I called back, "Run! Bell! Listen to me! Go! Keep them safe!" Huh, he finally dropped the 'Miss' on my name.
"DAMNIT!" He screamed, the first time I'd ever heard him swear.
"Oh? You think you can stop me?" Five paces away, she paused to crack her knuckles, "You caught me off guard with that punch you used, but if you think you can beat me with just that..."
I heard retreating footsteps behind me. I acted calm, though my heart was slamming around inside my chest, and reached back, grabbing hold of her axe. "And I owe you for that kick you gave me." The axe was heavy, unbalanced, like a sledge hammer head on a toy hammer handle. "But I owe them so much more." Looking her right in the eye, I tapped the axe against the wall, the entire thing disintegrating as I used it to try and damage something.
"What!? YOU DARE!?" She screamed at me, my heart skipping a beat as her entire body seemed to expand slightly with her rage.
"But, I think you're wrong." Reaching into my coat, I pulled out two potions, pure magic potions. With my thumb, I popped the corks off, while looking inside myself, at the cage where I kept my magic, "I think I can stop you." I downed the two potions, her face twisting in rage further, one foot lifting off the ground.
I looked at my ember, the flame of my magic, at the shadow of the monster that wrapped around it. I pictured myself, standing outside that cage.
And as her foot came down, and the rush of the two magic potions hit my system...
I opened the cage, and stepped aside.
Why yes, this is a cliffhanger. :)