Chapter 80

The mind will do things for you, without conscience thought. For example, you stub your toe, it hurts, and the pain fades after a time. You bump your arm while working, and you only notice the bruise when you look into the mirror and wonder, 'how the hell did that get there?'

Sight is another one. You see something from the edge of your vision moving towards you quickly? Most people will flinch, instinctively moving away from the possible danger. You will perceive patterns in things, and notice a break in them, like that one smudge on a white wall someone didn't clean.

Sound. You don't hear you own heartbeat normally, or the constant hum of a computer fan. Though, in truth, you do hear them, but 'tune them out' since it is so constant you only notice when it isn't there, or changes in pitch/tone/frequency.

And thankfully, smell. Like these weird internal caves we were now in. It smelled like meat that was just starting to turn foul. Like blood that wasn't quite fresh. And like a cave long abandoned by an animal. But once the smell became 'the new normal', I didn't have to suffer through it.

"More monsters!" Usa called out. "I can't... I hear them but don't know where they're coming from!"

The internal tunnels of the Tortoise's body were... noisy. Not just with the constant noise of 'life' coming from the very walls, but there were monsters in here too, lots of them, and they were very aware of us.

Floating eyeballs that (of course) shot eye lasers. Centipedes that were about twice as long as I was tall. Fewer bats, but still bats. The rare yeti. And most disturbingly, zombies wearing old armour. For the most part, they were easy to kill. The eye lasers surprised Fohl and Atla (one because of the 'novelty' the other because she was blind to almost everything but us and the 'dim glow' of monsters). The centipedes grossed out Raphtalia and apparently sounded like 'something was crawling in his ears' to Usa. The Yeti were a little harder for Tetsu because the tunnels weren't really sized for her dragon form.

Clive? He saw everything. And the instant something came around a corner (lots of these) or floated over the party's heads, or really just made itself a target? Clive was ready. Raphtalia as well. Her sword, skill, and big sister energy helped keep Fohl and Atla safe when I could not.

Me? Under my mask, I was smiling. Even with the limitations that had been put on me, even with how screwed up this world was...

It felt like the dungeon.

"Ma'am? Are you laughing?" Usa asked, his whip wrapping around... well, it looked like a pillar of flesh that had suddenly grown an eye and teeth.

"Yes." I admitted, blocking most of one end of the tunnel we were in with an Air Strike Shield so Clive could put an arrow through the eye of Usa's target (a Mimic Type Familiar apparently).

The energy in the air, the very stuff of souls, felt like it was licking my horns as it flowed past. The feeling was making me consider keeping the things when I got home... The fighting too! So much fighting... And these centipedes! Perfect for practising this defence rating attack! And these monsters were just weak enough my magic could kill them!

"It almost feels like home!" I laugh/growled, putting the Shield between me and one of those annoying eye lasers, "Good job!" I added as Atla put her borrowed spear through the squishy outside, making it deflate amusingly. "I feel us getting closer!"

"We've been fighting for so long!" Tetsu whined, "Bad crawly thing!" though her discomfort was not distracting her from killing things. "And I can't eat stuff here! It's all bad!"

"You've been saying that we're getting closer, but... are we?" Raphtalia added, pausing for a split second to kill a yeti. "I feel like we're going in circles!"

Something latched onto my arm, but my tails brushed someone familiar, stopping me from punching it. Clive was there, the hand he used to draw his bow a bit bloody as he signed 'circles' 'same' 'wall' 'change'.

"Back to back!" I called out, suddenly aware of my party wearing down under the constant fighting.

I'd been so wrapped up in the familiar feelings, having a party I could trust, being in a place I knew how to fight in, enjoying the ebb and flow of combat without real worry... That I hadn't been paying attention to my party. Tetsu's complaints had slid off me like Welf grumbling about missing time at the forge. Usa's distress had passed me by like Lilly pouting about how many ants we had to kill...

I buried the shame of my inattention for the moment as we fought in a tighter and tighter formation until we were all just out of weapon's reach of each other. Then I used the 'starlight shield', creating a protective dome over us.

And just like that, the pleasant tingle over my horns vanished, the death in the air blocked by the barrier. "Recover!" I called out, "I'll stand watch. What are we missing?" I changed to the Book Shield, and blocked off either end of the fleshy tunnel with an Air Strike Shield, then a magic sustained ice wall. "And someone remind me to give Melty something nice." I added after casting.

"I hope nothing comes out of the walls again..." Usa said, wrapping his yellow/black striped cape over himself a little tighter. "There is so much noise, it's hard to pick things out."

"We understand." Raphtalia said.

I felt a little warm and fuzzy feeling, seeing Usa admit a failing, but not apologize for it. "Anyone hurt?" Atla asked, her and Fohl patting their pouches for bandages and making sure their potions were still there and intact.

"click." Clive motioned with a hand, setting his bow down and covering Atla with his grey fur cape while she bandaged his hand.

Fohl came to check on me, and I let myself feel my body again. Adrenaline, experience, conditioning, all helped a person ignore pain. "Raphtalia? Can you help him get my shoulder..." I knelt, "Armour buckles are just under... yeah..." Holding the string of a 'kite' that consisted of a dragon and six people did not do me any favours.

"Anywhere else?" Raphtalia asked, reminding me of Eina just before she would ahem at me.

"I could use a nap?" The starlight barrier faded with a weird little ethereal 'pop', and my horns started to tingle again. "What are we missing?"

"Food?" Tetsu said hopefully.

"Oh right... Hmm..." I started to summon emergency rations from the Shield. "Someone also remind me to do some cooking later. Or we are going to have to go back to plain nourishing beverages."

There was a party wide shiver.

(Outside, reasonable distance away, Queen's command tent)

Tucked behind one of the thicker rock spires, out of the direct path of the Tortoise's apparent path, the Queen (finally) dismissed the last of the generals who were 'diplomatically upset' with how this was all going.

It wasn't about what would likely be the end of the country they were in. The monster's soul eating minions had all but assured the collapse of this little nation east of Melromarc. What was left of the leadership already knew it would be a long, slow, multi-generation effort to grow back into the hollowed out ruins left by the 'guardian'.

It wasn't about how little Melromarc was 'doing to help'. The fact Mirellia was here at all was welcome, and the efforts of her troops and leadership she provided had been instrumental to their current survival.

It was about how long this was taking, and how useless the Heroes seemed to be.

The Tortoise took a step.

She had used every speck of self control she had not to gather up all the 'diplomatically upset' generals left in this little army they'd gathered, and execute them. "Report?" She said to thin air.

With hardly a flutter from the tent flaps, a dark shape resolved in a kneeling position behind the Queen. "The Seven Star Heroes that we could reach, will take too long getting here to be of use."

"A shame, but expected. With the next Wave so close at hand, the other countries will be looking to their own immediate security before sending assistance to the country who put the world in this position in the first place." She let out a tiny imperious sigh, "I should have let Kodori execute my foolish husband."

The Shadow, unseen by her Queen, smiled just a tiny bit. But she perked up suddenly, "Ma'am." And vanished.

The Tortoise took a step.

Not having dismissed the Shadow, the Queen understood why it had left so suddenly. Turning, the Vassal Fan in her hand casually, but firmly, she faced the tent's entrance. "Enter."

For a moment, the Queen thought the Shadow might have been mistaken. But a moment later, a hand pulled the flap aside, and first one, then another entered. "Pardon the intrusion."

"L'arc, and Therese, if I am not mistaken?" Mirellia greeted. "Considering that our worlds are at war, this is unexpected."

Even if he was a meathead, L'arc kept his voice down. "Well, we were expecting Glass to be holding that."

Therese on the other hand, was glittering elegance. Bowing, complete with a nice curtsy and everything, she added, "Do you know if she is well?"

The Tortoise took a step.

The Queen took a moment to reply, using it to put together an educated guess as to why they were here. "Last we spoke, she was still safely in her confines." She casually tapped her hip with the Fan, "You are here about the message?"

"Yeah. I'm a little surprised you heard it, but..." L'arc looked to the much better spoken Therese.

"Having been chosen by the Vassal Weapon, hearing its voice comes as no surprise. Other world or not, your hand is the only one it has to move it." Therese, of course, came to the rescue of her friend. "While we are indeed at war, suffering is not how we fight. What you heard was the plea from another of our weapons."

"I am aware they use some unknown method to choose who is worthy of using their full potential, but..." The Queen didn't like the implication of what Therese was implying. "The weapons hold intelligence?"

L'arc nodded, but Therese replied, "They do. Most times, they stay silent, content to work with their user. But some, like myself, can speak more directly with them. Others... Can force them to comply, pushing the relation from companion, to slave. Instead of simply 'inert'."

The Queen thought of her foolish husband, and the Vassal staff he once used, but simply carried now. "I believe I understand. Then what of the Legendary Weapons?"

"If Kodori were not so guarded, and we not on a mission to kill her at the time, I might know more about that." Therese said.

"At the time?" The Queen raised an eyebrow.

"We're pretty sure your lizard problem is because one of us is getting out of control." L'arc said, "If we're going to win, we're going to win fair. And because I have this," He gave the shortened scythe at his hip a pat, "I've got another job to do first."

The Tortoise took a step.

"We don't expect you to come with us. But considering our last encounter..." Therese trailed off, far to elegant to outright say the obvious.

Mirellia considered for a moment on how to stop Kodori from instantly trying to kill these two if they crossed paths again. The sound crystals and Occulus didn't work. Her Shadows were mostly occupied... Mostly...

"Go with them." She said, picking up a quill and paper, scribbling out a quick message, rolling, and sealing it with a bit of wax and the ring on her finger.

For a moment, the two guests were puzzled, but a very real hand appeared from the Queen's actual shadow, took the letter, and disappeared into her shadow again.

The Tortoise took a step.

"Next time, we might be fighting." L'arc said in that weirdly friendly way of his, "But I'll admit, that was really cool."

(Kodori)

We had taken a brief rest. Just enough time to eat, balm our wounds and do a quick weapons check. However, this still left us with the same problem. We had two targets, yet none of the tunnels seemed to lead in the right direction. And that was with two people who knew what direction to go.

The brief rest had helped me clear my head a little from the battle lust and mild euphoria of being someplace I (I'll never admit it to Aisha) liked being. So, I decided to take a more direct path.

"I have come to the conclusion, the tortoise is screwing with us." I said, "Back home, the Dungeon occasionally changed its layout, and I think that's what is happening here."

Clive nodded, having been the one to 'clue in' on some of the repeating paths we'd taken.

"I don't know how it's fooling with our sense of direction, even with a clear direction to go in. So." I closed my eyes and very carefully opened my other senses, feeling for the directions of the two targets. "I pick this way. Raphtalia?"

"Are you sure?" She asked, still drawing the Atma Weapon from her hip, "Last time we hurt the wall, everything went crazy."

Yes, Usa had missed, and put a lightning bolt into the wall. We then had to spend a solid ten minutes killing about three times the monsters. The wall also healed VERY fast. So, I put a hand out to stop Raphtalia.

"Okay. Cutting might not be the best." I smiled, my eyes behind my mask twitching. "So we'll do this another way." I took out one of the 'triple potions', the masterwork before the 'ultimate medicine' that cured Usa and Atla.

Then I changed the Shield to the Tyrant Dragon Rex form it had gotten.

"We'll see which 'sealed monster' does better." I grinned, "I'm going to burn a hole there."

(Kuro and Rishia)

"Please don't get sick on me?" Kuro pleaded as the ponderous rumble of the tortoise's slow stride and the constant 'thump-thump' of Kuro's feet against the ground threatened to make Rishia's motion sick. "I don't want to get too close to the edge, but I think we're almost there."

"trying... not... to..." Rishia focused on the horizon, "I see... Someone is running this way... I think... please stop?"

Their path had taken them from the front corner edge of the tortoise's shell, over all kinds of rocky half corroded paths, and the occasional bone white bits of exposed shell. Not wanting to slip off the edge, Kuro moved a little 'inland' and ground to a halt over a muddy pebble filled patch of ground.

"Slowly slowly..." Kuro encouraged. Once Rishia had dismounted, she changed into her smaller form so she could pat the other girl's back.

The Tortoise took a step.

Risha took a moment, but just a moment, to take a deep breath, settle her lunch, then walk carefully towards the edge of the shell. They were about half way around to the middle of the shell, but it was a very big monster. "Yes... Can you see them?"

Kuro looked at Rishia, then in the direction she was looking. But no matter how she squinted, using one or both eyes, all she saw was open field, the doomed border fort, and soldiers getting out of (or staying out of) the way.

"No? Only the heroes would be crazy enough to run, on foot, towards this thing." The bird girl stomped her foot.

"Look there." Rishia got behind the bird girl, and pointed to something on the ground.

The Tortoise took a step.

Again, Kuro took a moment to try and see something. And this time, she did! Or rather, a 'lack' of something. Something was making a thin trail of dust, much like she did when running at high speed. However, the cause wasn't visible.

"Maybe a special magic? I can't see people, just something moving fast." Kuro admitted.

"I hope they're here to help." Rishia said quietly, "I... don't know what to do..."

"I was planning on jumping on its head and pecking it until it died." Kuro said with far more confidence than she felt.

The Tortoise took a step, and screamed. A long, low, wheezing moan from lungs the size of small cities. As it let out a gurgling breathy scream of titanic agony, it once again started to list sideways. The two threw themselves away from the edge, clinging to each other as the great mass tilted right, tried to correct, slanted left, then with a spine jarring teeth rattling SLAM the walking landmass flopped onto its belly.

(On the ground, at top speed)

"I mean, I have no problem looking for a way in." L'arc said, running fast enough his entire body was just under a 45 degree average tilt. "But the longer we take..."

Therese, managing to run just as fast, but without the savage leaning, several of the gems on her clothing glinting with magical effort, replied with a, "Perhaps we can find Kodori and her party? They seemed quite resourceful."

"We might need-"

Whatever he was about to say froze in his throat as the giant head of the tortoise let out a thin blast of black and purple fire. The beam persisted however, as the monster let out a roar of agony that threatened to vibrate the flesh from their bones. The two of them had to dodge to either side as the tortoise shifted first to (their) left, then right, the beam zipping around in front of it as it was revealed that the monster hadn't created the beam, but instead, the beam had come from inside it someplace, and was simply exiting through its shoulder near the root of its long neck.

"We have to fly!" Therese said, their two paths intersecting again as the beam cut off, and the walking mountain came crashing down on nerveless legs. "That came from inside! That's our way in!" She put a gem in her mouth, and with a little hop landed on L'arc's back.

Instead of being suddenly burdened by her weight as she wrapped her arms and legs around his torso, L'arc was lifted off the ground and into the air, the violent, ground cracking weight of the tortoise sending up fountains of dust. Just as his hands clasped behind Therese's rear in a standard 'piggyback' carry, a bit of paper found its way into his hand.

(Kodori)

Like the dungeon, I never really relied on which way was 'north'. Instead it was maps and a near perfect memory. So I honestly didn't know much about where I was aiming save that it was 'a little to the right' of the actual target.

In preparation, everyone had put a damp cloth over their mouth and nose, taken a sip of 'all purpose antidote', and were in my 'bubble shield'.

I held the vial of 'triple' potion in my teeth, ready to tip it up with my lips to drink it, glanced back at my party, got the nod, and did everything at once.

The two ice walls I'd been holding there with my mana vanished into sparkles, and the roaring dragon face of the Tyrant Shield vomited forth a beam of furious black and purple fire. Not to be confused with my own 'Kodori is angry' glow, this was malignant and fierce, destruction given direction. It hit the wall of the tunnel, splashed against it for a quarter of a second, released an incredibly vile smell of cooking meat and boiling blood, and then started to burrow through the literal meat of the beast's innards.

My Health, MP and SP started to drain away at an alarming pace, but half way down as I started to feel the sudden tingle/dizziness of extreme magic use, I tipped the potion up and swallowed the syrupy medicine as fast as I could. For a moment, the three 'bars' stopped draining, started to recover, then once again began to evaporate.

Then the floor under me began to tilt crazily. It took a half second, but I realized it wasn't me, but the tortoise!

"brace..." my voice was weak, "BRACE!" But I forced out the word all the same.

It felt like the floor of the 'cave' tried to jump up to meet my chin, and I was forced to cut off the billowing beam of devouring flame or risk 'friendly fire'. But as soon as the rumbling stopped, I could have sworn I saw daylight peeking through the blood and meat fog in front of me. And now, with the way truly clear between me and one of the 'targets' we were trying to get to, I knew it was the Heart someplace in the middle of that tunnel.

"RUN!" I shouted, glancing over my shoulder to make sure they were all getting up.

All of them were already on their feet, and running towards me as I looked ahead and started to charge down the slowly shrinking tunnel I'd made through the turtle.

We ran.

Being a mother/father of seven, I'd encountered many disgusting things. All for a good cause, but still, few things were as vile as 'baby intestines figuring out fibre'.

So, it was with great displeasure, and almost as much disgust, that I ran through what was basically a tunnel of burnt meat, partially evaporated blood, and pulsating with regenerating walls. Ahead of me, since I was carrying Atla, everyone else ran ahead, and aside from Clive, whom I'd seen eat this kind of thing before during out early days, everyone else was covering their nose and mouth, weapons stowed.

Thankfully, what ever nonsense the tortoise had been doing to keep us wandering in circles had been literally cut through, and maybe thirty seconds later we had re-entered the 'natural' tunnels inside the tortoise one half bend away from the heart. Through all the pulsating walls, ragged breathing and my own heartbeat, the great organ keeping this walking landmass moving was felt as much as heard.

Usa put his ears under his helmet and tapped the 'volume control' amulet a couple of times before he stooped looking like he might be sick with the slow consistent bass of the mighty heart. Raphtalia recovered next, drawing her blade and peeking around the corner.

Fohl was close behind, and as I put Atla down, I saw the tiger boy put a hand on her back. Maybe for balance, maybe for comfort, perhaps a sneaky moment of 'accidental affection'. But no, an instant later, he heaved himself backwards, his fist clenching in the fabric of Raphtalia's shirt and hauling her backwards too.

And the space they had just been in suddenly vanished in a beam of purple/pink light, the walls around the mouth of the corridor (that hadn't just been evaporated) bursting forth in a mass of teeth and claws. "Mimic familiars!" Usa called out as Raphtalia and Fohl hit their rears just out of danger, then suffering a further indignity as Usa and Clive dragged them backwards to let me step in front.

"The goal is in sight!" I called over my shoulder, slamming the Shield of Marius between the teeth of a 'Mimic Familiar' as it tried to get past me, "I need a little time to recover, then I need to get close enough to touch it!"

"Right!" They all called back.

Tetsu joined me a moment later, the larger hallway letting her change into her dragon form. She'd already deemed everything in here as 'inedible', so she kept her mouth closed, the bony ridges on her face and enchanted claws ripping through an amorphous toothy horror. She wasn't very careful about staying beside me though, and her charge (and bloody massacre) carried her past the corner.

"Not too far!" I grunted, watching the timer for using the Tyrant Beam (better name pending?) tick down.

What Tetsu did then would have gotten her a good 7/10. She had seen some kind of beam come from the room, so instead of risking direct exposure to a possible second blast, she heaved the bloody mess of the Mimic between her and the room. Big dragon hind claws ripped and dug into the floor for traction, and she took a second Mimic away, then the one I was fighting as well, her giant maw opening up and just clamping down on its back someplace. A half second later, she had three, three metre tall monsters balled up in front of her and was pushing them into the next room.

Style, originality, and improvisation.

Of course, I couldn't let her go in alone, and it was probably what got me caught in the area of effect...

Heavy! Suddenly, it felt like the metal of my armour, all the seams and buckles, the magical cloth of my house robe, and the belt of stuff around my hips, all wanted to fall through the meat of my body.

"Grrrrr." I strained, my mask putting alarming pressure onto the base of my horns, "Gravity magic! Don't come closer!" I stayed still, my legs and spine straining against the familiar effect with only a fraction of my familiar strength.

Most of the rest of the party made a sound of distress, and even some of the monsters that had come down the actual tunnel after us roared (and made amusing crunching noises) as the Heart slapped down an indiscriminate defence.

I tried to overcharge my armour's Air Wake enchantment, as well as that of the Shield of Marius. And suddenly, the effect eased off. Not instantly, and my already depleted mana was falling further, but I moved ahead a little, just so I could get eyes on Tetsu, and keep an eye on the party as well.

The heart was really just a titanic knot of flesh. Or rather, the outer wall of it was just like the rest of the tunnels. But behind a massive rounded wall of the same pink/red everything else was, something moved. Slowly, a shape contracted beneath the wall of flesh, and a heavy pulse of life moved out through the body around us.

Tetsu was growling as she held her ground, the remains of the Mimics at her feet, crushed under the gravity magic where she had resisted. But suddenly, the magic stopped, a great liquid rush filling the heart as it slowly took in another ocean of blood.

"I'm gonna BITE YOU!" Tetsu roared starting forward, her legs no longer straining to keep her upright.

Everyone else was running towards me, and it was Atla who probably saved Tetsu's life. "Tetsu! DUCK!"

The dragon's jaw snapped shut just shy of the Heart's wall, and she flattened herself to the floor. Not seeing what Alta was worried about, I trusted her all the same, "DUCK AND COVER!"

I braced myself behind the Shield of Marius and my tails felt the presence of everyone else as they hid behind me. Then, everything was bright, hot, and heavy as a wave of energy slammed into the Shield.

Fohl and Atla ducked between my legs to brace their backs against the inside of the Shield, while Raphtalia, Usa and Clive leaned on my back. For a painful, burning, muscle straining ten seconds we all resisted the blast of howling energy, the smell of cooking meat, bloody vapour and burning hair filling the air around us.

Until the beam cut off with a near audible snap, and we all fell forward, panting with exertion. "Have..." I gasped, the Shield keeping me from standing as Fohl and Atla were buried under me and the other adults. "have to get..."

"You are quite insane you know." Glass taunted, "But, I think help has arrived."

I could already feel the Heart recycling its energy for another attack. It was predicable, but there was so much power there! The use of the Tyrant Beam had almost totally turned off the Shield for another minute or so, and my party had to untangle itself so we could all stand up.

"We're here to heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!" I heard... L'arc? Yes, it was L'arc, yell.

"Pardon the intrusion." Therese was with him, and as we stood up, we saw the two of them hacking through a fresh wave of tortoise 'antibodies'.

Before I could say anything, as my party (and Tetsu who was holding the smoking end of her tail with a dragon sized pout) got ready to face them, L'arc tossed a balled up bit of paper at me. "Sorry! Crushed it on the way here!"

The ball of paper crinkled off my mask and landed in my hand. With a weird surreal feeling, I calmly restored it as best I could, and noted the still attached bit of red wax. "They are here to help." I read out loud, the flowery signature mostly ruined but still readable, "Mirellia."

"We can explain further in a moment." Therese said as the gem I'd given her turned a Yeti to ash near instantly.

"But since you're here, you have a plan, right?" L'arc asked, "And you still have Glass with you, right?"

"I am still here, yes." Glass answered for herself (in a 'thank you very much' kind of way).

It was that kind of day apparently, "Buy me a minute." I said, "I need to sit down."

"Just a minute? That's it?" L'arc laughed, "Hey rabbit! Good to see you!"

Usa didn't reply, but DID step in to cover L'arc's back.

NOTES!

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

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