Alise Lovell The Beautifull, Pure and Many More
A fresh morning! The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, Leon and Kaguya's muffled argument is coming from the showers and the smell of fresh scrambled eggs are wafting over to me as I sit on a couch reading the morning papers.
Everything is as usual…
It's way too quiet.
Everything is as the new usual.
I flipped another page, skimming over the more meaningless headlines and finally found the commentary cartoons. They usually had something inane to whine about I could distract myself with until Lyra was done preparing breakfast.
Though a headline caught my interest. "Years Long Slave-Trading Ring Uncovered!" It read. I felt a genuine smile bloom. The article was all about the "increased efforts" of the Ganesha Familia or what not, but I knew the truth. It was Miss Taylor without a doubt!
My proof? I just knew it to be true!
Well besides my gut feeling there was also the fact that if it actually was all Ganesha Familia's work Shakti wouldn't look so refreshed all day yesterday. These headlines had been coming one after the other for three weeks now!
Also when had they started? About three days after we had last seen Miss Taylor! The facts aligned perfectly!
Thank you me.
No you thank you, me!
"You look way too smug for so early in the morning, wipe it off." Lyra called out from the kitchen with a pan in her hands and the new glasses Asfi had made for her resting on her head.
"I'm just congratulating myself for having such a powerful deductive capability." I replied.
Lyra made a face at me, one that was definitely not cute at all. "I swear you speak like the gods do sometimes." She replied with an irked tone.
Those words… To be honest they felt like a gut punch! The gods' occasional rambles and indecipherable words are nothing like my glorious internal monologue!
…Probably.
"Stop whatever stupid thing you're thinking about and come to the table already." Lyra said as she turned to leave.
Rude.
Setting the papers aside I rose from my comfortable and warm seat and began padding off towards the… dining room.
Going through the oak door leading to it I found a severely depressing sight. A room made for ten to fifteen people with a massive table in the centre of it, housed only five. The usually filled to the brim table only had enough food for one family.
…
I kept my smile on despite that sight and walked over to the seat next to Lady Astrea's patting Ryuu on the head as I happened past trying to bring her out of the downward spiral she was about to enter.
The embarrassed twitch of her ears told me it worked. Just as I sat down Kaguya reached over with her new silver arm to pour me some tea.
That arm had only arrived two days ago from Dian Cecht familia along with a note containing an absurd number of zeroes as the bill… that was the discounted version Lady Astrea had gotten from their greedy god.
Well that was the price you paid for the top of the shelf stuff a level four swordswoman like our Kaguya. Though she was still complaining about how it didn't feel as precise.
But if she wasn't complaining I would've been more worried. That's just how Kaguya was, a sharp tongue, a sharp wit and an ever reliable pillar.
"Ouuuu…. Spoiling your captain as always. Kaguya, I love you!" I cheered and took a sip from the freshly poured tea.
Bitter…
Ah, that's why she poured it. She made the tea this time.
I saw her roll her eyes at my reaction.
I stuck out my tongue.
"Is the guild still refusing to tell us where Miss Hebert is?" Ryu asked as she buttered some toasted bread.
"They're being evasive about it too. Some of the clerks I asked denied her existence, to me. As if I hadn't come into the Guild with her when we came up!" Lyra complained.
"I'm sure they're just going along with the orders of Ouranos or Royman, you shouldn't blame those children for it." Commented Lady Astrea.
"Even if it's not their fault it's really frustrating…" Kaguya muttered.
I leaned over and stole a bite from Leon's bread to her indignant squawk. I shoved a piece of sliced apple into her mouth to keep her occupied as I chewed.
Hmm… The guild is probably going to be a dead end, from what Lyra said Miss Taylor has a Brass Sky meaning that she is a person acknowledged by Lord Ouranos. She probably visits the main guild building fairly often but doesn't hang around the main hall where quests are posted since she gets issued quests directly by the guild.
It's unlikely we'd be able to find her there. No point searching for her there.
The Ganesha familia, our other potential source of knowledge of her whereabouts wasn't much more helpful either. They knew of her… but most of them I'd talked to either didn't know where she lived or what she spent her time doing. I'd tried talking to Hashana, who apparently worked with her more closely but every time I tried, he was sleeping.
Seems he had gone full nocturnal because of how busy he was.
Well there was also Shakti. Shakti who apparently had never seen Miss Taylor, she even acted like she didn't know who it was when I first asked her only relenting once I managed to annoy her sufficiently!
So Ganesha familia was also a dead end. Though their god would probably spill more if Lady Astrea asked him, he was about as fond of her as she was fond of him. If I wasn't so sure Lady Astrea was avoiding him consciously I would try to push them together.
As it currently was those two's relationship was on the back burner, I could work on playing matchmaker after we were properly back on our feet.
Hmm….
Well no point trying to find Miss Taylor like this!
I grabbed my tea and gulped it down in one go. Getting odd looks from my familia all the while.
I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them alongside a bright smile.
"Worry not! I have conceived an idea most ingenious!" I exclaimed.
Kaguya massaged her brow silently.
Lady Astrea suddenly had an indulging smile.
Lyra silently looked away.
But worst of all was Leon… She sent my way a warm smile like a younger sibling indulging the wants of their elder sister.
UGH! Straight to the heart!
I kept going despite the critical hit I received. "If we cannot find Miss Taylor by asking for her whereabouts we should simply go out and visit locations she might frequent!" I exclaimed.
"And how exactly are we going to know which locations those are?" Lyra pointed out.
I smiled brightly. "We won't! We'll simply patrol along the most crowded streets and keep an eye out!" I confirmed their fears with a cheery attitude.
Kaguya returned to her breakfast. "Figured it was going to be something like this…" She murmured.
"Well… not like we are going to be doing much of anything else, I don't really feel like going into the dungeon." Lyra spoke from her seat as she played around with the scrambled eggs on her plate.
"I was going to go patrolling along the main street anyways, so it won't be much trouble to keep an eye out." Leon added.
The immense desire to be outside of our all too empty house would push them out anyways, so if I also gave them a short-term goal that should keep everyone occupied enough to properly and slowly sort out their feelings.
Now only Kaguya remained!
I sent her an expectant look. She sighed and glanced towards Lady Astrea, who sent her a smile that practically shouted "Please just go along with her.".
Kaguya sighed deeply.
"Fine, we'll go out to look but don't be disappointed when we don't find her." She complained.
I continued my breakfast with a victorious smile and a good feeling in my gut.
Humming along to a tune I had heard from some tavern or the other, I walked through the main streets near the Stardust Garden dragging Kaguya along, greeting people and watching out for trouble as we did so.
It was peaceful, the recent arrests had driven Evilus into the mud. People felt safe getting out once again. I knew it was temporary, Evilus was a massive group, and they hid amongst the very people we greeted.
I knew for a fact that five of the shops we'd passed by had family members that were Evilus members. But if I were to act on that like I was still the brat that had been determined to force her Justice onto the world one act of violence at a time…
Well, the city would descend into chaos really quick!
So this temporary peace would have to do, we'd eventually thin their numbers enough. One Familia at a time.
We'd exterminate those bastards one by one.
Well! Besides that, today had a more short-term goal! Finding Miss Taylor.
"I really don't think you're going to manage to find her by checking out every single shop around us." Kaguya noted when she saw my eyes glance around to the insides of nearby café's.
No, I know I will find her! Why?
Because I feel it! And my instincts are… almost never wrong.
Just as I was about to reply I saw a familiar head of curly black hair, a rarity in Orario.
I knew a shit eating grin had found itself on my face the moment I saw it. I rushed towards the tea shop I saw her in dragging Kaguya all the while.
I heard her mutter something scathing, but it went into one ear and right out the other.
As I neared the shop, I opened the door and checked the table I had seen her in.
A tall figure with an intense look in her eyes dressed in what I'd associate with people who constantly bought the same types of outfits, that is to say a wool sweater and some well-tailored but bland pants was sitting there at the table.
The empty breakfast spread before her and the glass almost empty tea kettle told me she had been having breakfast and was now relaxing while reading the newspaper. Though with the way she squinted at it I could tell she wasn't very pleased…
Was she unhappy Ganesha familia was getting all the credit? No, she didn't seem to be the sort to care about that.
My eyes inadvertently slid to her still missing arm, she hadn't gotten a prosthetic. Did she not have the money for it? That seemed unlikely but an arm at her level would cost a truly astronomical amount.
Something told me that wasn't it.
She saw us come in and a soft surprised look passed by her eyes, she clumsily folded the newspaper back together and pushed aside a pencil I hadn't seen moments before aside. There was a napkin to her side with something scrawled onto it.
Seeing her motion for us to come and sit Kaguya and I got closer. I elbowed her lightly.
"Told you we'd find her this way." I told her a little bit too smugly.
"Even I can't predict your wild bouts of immense luck." She replied. Heh, she was mad.
"The fates just favour me that way." I told her as we took out some seats and sat down at Miss Taylor's table.
"You two are looking lively." Miss Hebert commented.
"Well, we've been trying to find you for the last three weeks, so this is certainly a boost to our spirits." I replied to her with a wide smile.
She hummed softly.
"I see, I didn't think you'd want to meet me so soon. I usually eat breakfast at this shop, come whenever." She said as she took another sip.
Aha! An invitation to meet more often!
Kaguya raised her hand to order us some tea with a name I had no idea how to spell, for a second it exposed her new silver arm usually hidden by her Kimono. Along with the haori she wore since the air was so cold her arm had been hidden until now, so it was very noticeable when Miss Hebert's eyes flicked over to the arm and a confused look passed her face.
Oh? Was she not aware of prosthetics? They are somewhat more common these days after the dark days but if she really has been outside Orario since her familia was banished and only came back recently or spent quite literally all her time in the dungeon, she might not have been aware of them.
But then again… even that didn't make sense, even before Hera familia was banished the occasional ex-adventurer with them were common.
She had to have grown up outside Orario to not have seen them, or maybe she was so sheltered for some reason that she had never seen one before.
"Hmm, so why this place?" I asked her, trying to make conversation.
Miss Taylor looked thoughtful for a second, tapping her fingers against the table.
"Mostly because it's near my apartment."
Hmm?
"You live close by?" Asked Kaguya, I saw her eyebrows twitching slightly.
She must've thought the same thing I was.
"Oh, yes. Actually just over there." Miss Taylor confirmed with a nod and then pointed to the two-story apartment building across the street. One of the types that had been getting more and more common in Orario. Though many now stood empty since the Great Feud.
That didn't really matter though.
What mattered was that she was living quite literally a street over from the Stardust Garden.
I felt a laugh bubble up inside me.
"Something the matter?" Taylor asked us.
"Ahahaha…. Turns out you live almost right next to us." I answered her.
She tilted her head slightly to the left. It was an oddly cute reaction for someone with her disposition.
"We live the next street over, our familia home is called the Stardust Garden. It's the manor with the stone block walled garden around it." Kaguya mentioned with frustration colouring her voice.
I rubbed the back of my neck slightly.
"Seems we were looking too far away…" I said.
Miss Hebert raised her eyebrows.
"What a coincidence." Her tone seemed to indicate she thought it was anything but.
I couldn't guess why she thought that but seems she was pleased about it.
"So… Miss Taylor, you've been busy huh? Trying to fill in for us?" I mentioned happily.
"Nothing like that, I don't have much else to do right now but letting people like them run around without a good bit of fear in their hearts never benefits anyone." She admitted neutrally.
Waving her deeds off as if it was natural for her to be this dedicated to hunting down Evilus.
"You're not even trying to deny it despite everyone else being so evasive about it?" Kaguya asked as our tea arrived.
Despite knowing full well what the tea was going to be like I took a sip. Bleh… Bitter again.
Miss Taylor pointed towards a small pitcher of honey and another of milk to the side as if asking for permission. I gladly nodded.
"I didn't intend for it to be a secret or anything but seems both the Guild and Hashana interpreted things that way. Not that it doesn't make things easier for me, sometimes stakeouts can last days even though they don't know what I look like." She explained as she poured a generous helping of milk and some honey into my tea.
I motioned for her to stop and began stirring.
"Ah… I get you; we used to do that too back when we were a new Familia but got a bit too famous and weren't all that good at it so the Guild's military police forced us to stop." I told her.
Her eyes noticeably drifted towards my flashy and beautiful red hair along with my well… knowingly "loud" clothing. What a strong judgemental stare! I can feel my imagine in her head being shifted around examined like some sort of antique!
"I can see that." She commented simply. I knew it was done out of kindness but the things she didn't say hurt more!
"You look a bit frustrated for someone whose been so successful, thought it would be easier than this?" Kaguya commented on Taylor's intense look. Something I had been trying to avoid. Oh well…
The look on her face became a bit more genuinely frustrated. "They have been going more and more into the ground recently, I've picked off a lot of their more outlying members, but the stronger familia's have all gone into hiding." She admitted.
Ah… she was having the same problems as us, the actually active folks were hiding and stepping down their operations so all she could find were the people with dubious connections. If she did step on some toes, she could probably wipe most of them out but as it was? Not much to do.
I nodded my head deeply. "It's really frustrating when they do that right?"
She took another sip from her tea but didn't answer for a second.
"I hate having to sit idle but my expertise in rooting out people in hiding is… Sad to say not all that advanced. So I'm left waiting for the guild to get me something to go after." She admitted. There was some genuine impatience in her but most of what I saw was acceptance. I guess she was used to this.
"Guess, you can work on getting your gear up to speed then?" I mentioned off handedly… actually not off handedly only have one here.
"I suppose…" She trailed off as she glanced at the newspaper to the side.
I was more so talking about the arm but apparently that's not what she imagined.
"If you've been avoiding getting an arm because it would take a while to get used to it you might want to get started quickly." Kaguya said.
Miss Hebert looked confused once again.
"I can?" She asked in a surprised manner.
"Well they are quite expensive, but I heard you got a Brass Sky, right? Those special quests should be able to pay it off." I tried to explain.
"Hmm. Who makes them?"
I tried to go through the best people in the city with the Enigma ability.
"Well, anyone with the Enigma skill could make them but if you're looking for the best quality ones Dian Cecht familia has to be it." Kaguya replied before I could.
"Though you might want to talk to your contact at the guild before going to them to get a discount." I added, those things were damn expensive and if the Guild could pull some strings for her, it just might make the price manageable.
"I'll see what I could do." She replied before taking another sip.
I inched forward a bit, my curiosity getting the best of me. A sneak peek at the scrawling on the napkin only served to confuse me further. There were letters written on it, written neatly but underneath them the ways to enunciate them accompanied each of the letters.
Like the type of homework they'd give children learning how to read. Did Miss Taylor not know how to read and write? That seemed odd, our running theory would put her in the at least somewhat educated section of people, and even if that were not the case the number of people that couldn't write had gone down quite a lot in Orario.
Was our theory wrong? Did Miss Taylor come from somewhere outside of Orario? Then how did she get this strong and what was she doing in Orario right now…
If someone was insane enough to try the Dragon Valley might provide the opportunity to level up that far… But then how would she be connected to the Guild?
…
A feeling in my gut says that I should follow along with this, that it might bring me closer to the truth behind Miss Taylor. But it would be like dancing on a tightrope, most people wouldn't notice it behind her detached or sometimes standoffish behaviour, but Miss Taylor was incredibly skittish.
Her eyes darted around when she thought people weren't looking, her head rarely stood completely still for longer than a few seconds and she constantly glanced towards sources of noise.
All fairly well hidden, if you were someone not as good at reading people as I was. I knew that if I pushed too hard or to fast here, I would spook Miss Taylor off.
I really didn't want to do that; she seemed lonely enough already. She had an air to her that just made me want to hug her and tell her everything would be all right; despite the menacing and professional attitude she wanted to keep herself to.
Besides I owed not just my life but the lives of Kaguya, Lyra and possibly even Leon to her as well. No matter what happened I wanted to help this woman out…
Well. Nothing can be won if you're afraid of a little risk in life.
"Say… Miss Taylor, I'm usually a bit blunt so if this comes of insulting, I don't mean it. But is it alright if I ask you a question that might be a bit personal?" I began. I'd back off if she seemed uncomfortable, but this was the best way.
She glanced at me oddly for a second before answering.
"…Go ahead?" Her affirmation came off a bit questioning, but she wasn't really acting defensive, more so confused.
What was it that lady Astrea said? Time to cross the Rubicon?
"Do you not know how to read?" I asked her.
Things went silent. Not really, everyone around us were still talking and the bustle of the street outside was still somewhat audible. But our little group went silent.
Taylor had a spooked look in her eyes. As if she was trying to decide between punching me in the face and running or just plain running. She took a deep breath, and it passed by.
The sorrowful look in her eyes was not of much reassurance but her picking her teacup up to take a sip was.
"…I used to." She spoke with such a profound sadness to her voice that I hadn't heard from her before. For some reason… it seamed nearest to her truest feelings. Not to what she felt, not to what she expressed but what suffused her entire being.
"Used to?" Kaguya questioned further, though not without stepping on my shoes forcefully.
Taylor gazed longingly at the newspaper by her side.
"Reading has been the one hobby I've always allowed myself, it's a… habit I've picked up from my late mother and a sort of homage to her. It makes me remember that I'm the daughter she raised no matter what." She explained.
So she lost the ability to read then and has been trying to relearn it by herself. There were a wide variety of reasons she could've lost it… but the most likely one was head trauma.
Something almost every adventurer feared. Most wounds could be easily healed, even crushed limbs could be reconstructed and severed ones replaced. But if you got a head wound that did serious damage?
You just might be out of luck. The types of illnesses that can cause were varied and mostly uncurable by mortal hands, and even the treatments gods could offer without their Arcanum's were unreliable.
By the looks of it Taylor wasn't too bad off, she could speak, she could move without issue… She seemed alright in the head. But undoubtedly losing something precious to her, a homage to her own mother who had gone off to Tenkai…
It must've hurt. There was only one thing I could do.
"We could help you relearn if you want." I offered with a bright smile.
Miss Taylor had a shocked expression. It hurt how she didn't expect even the slightest help from others.
What had this woman that couldn't have been all that much older than me experienced that she was so willing to fight for others… but never expected others to fight for her?
"You would do that?"
"Of course!" I wanted to be a Hero of Justice! What kind of Hero doesn't help their comrades!?
Kaguya shot me an indulgent look.
"Come knock on our homes gate whenever you're available. Our goddess wanted to thank you personally anyways so… what is it people say here? Two papilios one stone? Something like that." Kaguya elaborated with a butchered Koine expression.
"Two birds one stone."
"Two moths one stone."
Miss Taylor and I both corrected before looking at each other questioningly.
"Koine sure has a lot of variations to its expressions." Kaguya drawled blandly.
Sure… But two birds? I guess mountainfolk could say that.
I hadn't been expecting to see the girls today, not that I was avoiding them, but Orario was a decently sized city so getting to meet them totally per chance was not very likely.
Of course Ouranos had gotten me an apartment a five minutes' walk from their familia home. That god really is as meddlesome as the most well-intentioned grandfather. Well… not that I'm complaining.
For some reason to have someone watching out for my social life without being intrusive about it feels good. It means I don't have to do all the work trying to live like a normal person…
Not that I've been doing much of that. For the last three weeks I've been on the surface it's been a constant cycle of stalk, call for Ganesha familia and attack. I've become so damned familiar with the insides of the gigantic wall of the city that I've come to hate them.
Seriously why was Evilus so intent on carving hiding holes safehouses and secret crevasses into the solid walls.
Well I had to admit that a part of my anger at the wall was because I got told off by Hashana. He said that I was "way too destructive" and that I was "damaging the structural integrity of the walls".
He was probably right but knowing that there were probably more thugs inside those walls and that I had to wait for someone else to get to them was frustrating.
Anyways that angle of attack had gone away so I'd focused on something else, longer term stakeouts. The more profitable of the Evilus's ventures was the drug trade inside the city which was noticeably entwined with the semi-autonomous casinos in Orario.
Fels had warned me not to cause too much trouble there as a lot of rich foreign nobles came there to… take part in the vices be they gambling, drugs or prostitutes. Apparently if I hurt one of them it might severely impact Orario's economy, which would of course get people killed and crime would rise.
So I had to be a bit more careful about that place. Direct attacks had turned into night ambushes or attacks when my targets entered the dungeon. Or in the rarer cases just collecting evidence for the Guild to take them away.
It was… oddly satisfying in a different way. I felt like stalking was becoming an unhealthy habit.
A week after I had begun that lead had dried up as well, the higher echelons of Evilus had cut off their people on the ground leaving them out to rot.
With their cell like organization Evilus could freely cut off their members or groups of them to avoid pursuers like me. But there was drawback to this. I had bleeding off all the money and weapons they had been gathering.
I hadn't managed to discover where the money and weapons all went, their drop off spots were usually inside the dungeon, and they hid the drops and then picked them up a long time afterwards. I hadn't managed to spot them being picked up.
The money, weapons and materials were all going somewhere. Some stronghold hidden from my eyes. But I had had no luck discovering it.
Eventually giving up on discovering it without further information I gave my report to Ouranos and picked up more work from Fels.
Smaller gangs of Evilus had gotten their hands on some of the more minor factions in Orario whether it be through blackmail extortion or plain hostage taking. Rooting them out had taken the longest especially since I had to accompany Ganesha familia for most of it.
Though there was a rumour that someone with one arm was running around with a Brass Sky, my face and looks hadn't really spread that far. Well, that had started to change as I went around but until quite recently, I had lugged around Hashana or that Aira for legitimacy.
Aira especially had gotten quite whiny that I quite often picked up her small frame and presented her as a badge. She was not a young teen despite her height and generally more youthful looks. Apparently, she was something called a "Pallum" essentially a hobbit except with normal feet and not a voracious appetite.
Which meant that Lyra was also not a kid just a Pallum. Sorry for referring to you as pink haired kid for a while Lyra. I probably should've guessed, her… proportions weren't really like a child's nor did her face look all that childish.
Though it had taken by far the longest and was generally less successful than the ones before I had managed to beat, crush, kick and throw the gangs of Evilus gangs controlling those famillias. Though regarding how good of a thing that was at freeing the famillias from Evilus's control?
Well… the hostages were safe and the extorted folks were a bit better off but the blackmailed folks needed special assistance from the Guild and even the others needed the help of Ganesha familia for a while.
So I was left without a thing to do. Then I went to Fels to see if they had more leads for me to follow up on, where I was scolded for constantly requiring more magic items from them and told that "Getting those leads you follow are not easy!".
So I'd made them mad. To be fair the magic items were really useful, invisibility cloaks called Reverse Veils were so useful that I had come to wear them most of the time when stalking. Besides that there were those smoke bombs, the flashbangs, the teargas…
Fels made a lot of magic items. Really useful ones and they were apparently working on something called an Occulus, essentially a radio.
Of course I wanted as many as I could get my hands on.
So they weren't really wrong in scolding me.
Anyways, since I've been without anything to do, I'd been working on my reading. To no real avail.
But now that Alise had offered to teach me, I could finally make some strides into it. I had to admit, the idea of being able to read an entire Worlds worth of unique and new classics had me giddy like a child.
Also… I was a bit embarrassed to admit it, but it was also an opportunity to make some… friends.
Hashana and his familia were good coworkers, but they weren't exactly friends to me sort of like how the Wards had been once I'd joined them. Really, I'd only ever gotten close to… Golem.
I was kind of looking forward to it, even the small talk we'd had in that shop had really made my day.
It had also given me some real important information. Cybernetics. This world had cybernetics. It was ridiculous, stupid. The world I was in, apparently called Gekai, varied widely in technology. I had come to accept that, however the fact that they had fully functioning Cybernetics with some models even including a full sense of touch seemed a bit out of wack.
So…
I was going to go talk to Fels about where I should get one. To be honest… getting one felt unnatural and even made me somewhat nauseous for no real reason that I could discern. Was it because I was a monster?
Didn't seem that way. Something in my mind just recoiled at there being attached to my stump right now.
I buried that feeling. I wanted an arm, having only one was annoying. I couldn't even dress myself quickly and everything felt like a slog.
I knocked on the door where Fels had their primary workshop. It was inside an abandoned mansion, decidedly a safety hazard. Somehow Fels was alright with that.
I got an answer a few seconds later. "Come in." Called the layered androgenous voice of Fels.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
"Morning." I greeted Fels, who was busy carefully stirring a massive cauldron. They really looked like the perfect picture of an evil witch right now with the shrouded form and menacingly bubbling cauldron.
"Yes, morning to you too. Though if you came for more leads, my sources still haven't gotten anything for you." Fels spoke without even glancing my way.
"I'm not here for that today, I was going to ask you for advice on getting a prosthetic arm." I dismissed with a wave of my hand.
Fels's attention shifted over to me briefly before twisting a nob to the side of their workstation.
"I see, where exactly are you planning on getting one?" They asked.
For some reason I heard a rare bit of agitation in their voice.
"Dian Cecht familia, why?" I asked back as I took a seat on the guest's chair, they had placed inside specifically for me.
Fels mumbled something under their breath. Before stopping stirring the cauldron and stepping away from it.
"Ignore that hack's familia, they may know how to brew potions and do healing but they are total amateurs when it comes to proper magic items." They spoke as they pulled out a piece of paper and a quill.
"Not a fan of them?" I questioned casually.
Fels clicked their tounge. "The familia itself is filled with good people with a very good work ethic and skill for healing, but their god is of the sort that I despise the most." They admitted.
I see, personal bias. Though considering how proficient Fels was with magic item creation they might be right when it comes to the cybernetics.
"Where should I get an arm then?" I asked them.
Fels slammed the paper on a desk and began drawing something.
"Nowhere, even Dian Cecht's follower who make the best commercially available arms can go to a max of level four strength. Something you are already past and will go even further ahead if you keep eating more magic stones." They began before frustratedly dipping their quill in an inkpot.
I noted the words commercially available. Did that mean-?
"I'll be making your arm, show that hack of a god some real craftsmanship. Even then, I'm not sure I can totally match your current strength. The most I could make is early level five strength and even for that I'll need some exceptionally difficult to acquire ingredients."
A soft smile found its way onto my face. Seems Fels wasn't beyond basic competitiveness.
Well I'd take the best item maker in the world making me an arm. Though these materials they spoke of seemed troublesome.
"I'm assuming I'll need to get those ingredients for you." Going into the dungeon wasn't exactly something I wanted to do… but for an arm it seemed worth it.
Well even besides that, ever since Fels had mentioned that eating the stones would make me stronger they had been something of an objective of mine.
Right now I didn't necessarily need to be stronger, and it might end up being even more difficult to hold back if I did get stronger. Even then, I knew more difficult foes would eventually appear, so even if it wasn't a primary concern for me right now being prepared could only ever be helpful.
"Indeed, you'll need to make your way all the way down to the 48th floor for it though. I'll need crystals from the 48th for my mithril formula, deep floors adamantite, flame rock crystals, some Dungeon lilies, Deformis Spider webs along with some of their fangs and a Worm Well crest." They listed off.
That was a lot of ingredients.
"I'll get the dungeon lilies and flame rock crystals along with the Worm Well crest myself, I have my sources for them, but those sources can't head into the 48th floor so that'll be your mission. You'll need to kill Deformis Spiders down there gather adamantite and crystal outcroppings there. The guild sent Freya Familia on an expedition down there recently so there shouldn't be any Monster Rexes in the way for the next couple of weeks." Fels was still explaining.
For some reason this felt like it would go on for a while.
It did.
Go on for a while that is.
Fels had given me a bunch of maps taught me how to read them and marked shortcuts, drop item gathering locations, locations of things called pantry's where monsters gathered, safe locations where I could rest by myself all the way down to the 60th floor. Apparently, most of the information and maps were leftovers from a now disbanded familia called Zeus familia.
Regardless I had spent the rest of my time yesterday preparing equipment to head down deeper than I had ever before. A large camping backpack, a sleeping bag, a lot of water even though Fels told me of locations to refill my Water supply, a fire starting kit… that sort of stuff.
I had probably overprepared but… It was also for another reason. The voice which had been silent the last day or so since I hadn't been fighting had suddenly gotten a lot more talkative.
Coming back? So soon? Show me the sun some more…
She was insistent about it as well. I had been constantly doing something solely to keep myself distracted. But I'd finally run out of distractions, the time had almost come for me to start my trek down into the depths of the dungeon.
I had already shouldered my equipment and was heading over to the Stardust Garden, Astrea familia's home. Once I was before the gates of their manor, I knocked on the metal bars of the gate repeatedly only stopping once I realised there was a bell to the side with a rope hanging off it. I grabbed it instead and rung it a couple of times.
The inner door opened after a few seconds and a curious Elf peaked out. I waved at Leon who stepped outside of the manor once she saw me and ran up to the gate and opened it.
"Morning." I greeted, I hadn't noticed how sleepy her eyes were. She had either just woken up or not slept at all.
"…It's quite early but yes, Morning." The blonde elf greeted back. It was already six, what was she on about?
I reached into a pouch wrapped around my impromptu battle clothes, essentially a particularly though surcoat I had gotten from an adventurers clothing store made from something called salamander wool on top of a padded undershirt and some leather pants that looked like riding pants, just not as shiny.
Though not much of it was visible from all the pouches and equipment I had over it.
Trappings of Human perspective
"I'll be heading very deep into the Dungeon but since Alise had invited me over, I wanted to give a warning." I mentioned.
Leon nodded her head knowingly. "Ah. I'd heard of that. But more importantly considering all that equipment you are carrying around. Are you going down by yourself?" Leon tilted her head questioningly.
"Yes, I'll be going down at full speed, but It might take up to a week for me to head all the way down and come back up."
She nodded her head knowingly. "I see, I'd offer to come with, but Lady Astrea ordered us to not head down further than the 28th floor for another month." She apologized.
Her tone was genuine almost ashamed that she couldn't be of assistance.
To be honest, I would've probably been reassured if they did come. These girls were more experienced with the Dungeon than I was.
You are of the Dungeon
Though I was also somewhat glad, I didn't know how dangerous the place I was going would be. No even if I was, I don't think I would've been all that comfortable with taking anyone else down with me. It felt too much like endangering them for my own personal gain.
This was all for my new arm, not something worth endangering the girls over.
You will kill them one day
I waved off her apology. "It's fine, you all have been through a lot. Get yourselves into order first, maybe some other time we'll head down together. I heard you all have already been given a mandatory quest from the Guild, Alise was complaining about it the other day."
Leon made a face for a second, one filled with soft contempt. Nothing more than the slightest downturn of the corners of her mouth and some slight movement of her eyebrows.
I couldn't fault her, mandatory quests meant expeditions, down into the depths of the Dungeon. For a Familia that had just recently lost so many of their members to be getting sent down… Well it was cruel to say the least.
Alise had only said that it was how these things went in Orario, though even she had been genuinely somewhat bitter about it.
Leon shook her head slightly. "Yes, we have. I'll look forward to your assistance then… Though I have to say it is shameful of us to constantly be receiving your help without paying anything back." She spoke and bowed her head slightly.
"As I've said already, it's fine. Alise's offer to help me relearn how to read is already enough for me. If I really need anything I'll ask you first."
Leon nodded deeply at my answer but bowed her head once again.
To be honest, it was kind of embarrassing.
"Anyways, I'm heading off." I finished and stepped away from the gate.
What Leon said made me halt my steps for a second.
"Take care Miss Hebert." Leon spoke with a soft smile, a slight bit of worry visible through it.
A genuine wish for my well-being. It was like staring into the sun.
For some reason… It made a warm feeling bloom inside of me.
I smiled at her.
"I will." I answered back.
Rip her apart
I'd sooner kill myself.
Sword? In my hand.
Baton? In its holster.
Nanothorn Knife? Strapped to my belt inside its holster. I still hadn't managed to get it properly cleaned. So it was only for the worst-case scenarios.
Besides that… Magic Items? Check, all spread across the bandoliers and pouches over my clothes.
Water and Food? In the backpack, camping supplies? Strapped under the backpack.
Maps are also in the backpack.
That's it then time to head in.
I began walking through the small crowd around me towards the white tower that stretched into the heavens.
The Lid
The voice spat, hate colouring its ethereal voice.
Your prison. I agreed.
Our prison You don't belong there
I belong nowhere.
I thought that as I finally passed by the threshold and into the Dungeon.
It took me a few minutes longer to finally enter the first floor.
With a deep breath I began to formulate my path downwards. The was to the 18th floor the under resort safe zone was fairly straight forward, I would rush onward following a specific path I had plotted out until the 13th floor where I would jump down the vertical shafts there to skip down to the 17th floor.
I opened my eyes and began running.
I ran at a decent pace, something that felt like what my runs in the morning had. Of course unlike then I was going at a speed that outpaced any car.
Each step was more like a leap sending shockwaves where my boots touched the ground and launching me forward dozens of meters at a time.
I was still holding back my strength as I had been warned by Fels that when high level adventurers went to fast on the top floors it sometimes injured new adventurers.
I measured my strength carefully and slowed down a bit whenever I either passed by some newbies or had to slaughter a small herd of monsters to keep them from grouping up behind me.
I didn't bother carving apart the corpses I left behind, the new adventurers could have them.
Aria is here
No she isn't. I thought instinctively despite the thought being nothing more than contrarian instincts I had developed against the voice.
I didn't even know who Aria was, but I didn't care either.
I ran through another floor slaughtering some dog looking monsters along with some actual minotaurs, this place was nuts.
I made the final turn of my initial course and began searching for one of the shafts I was supposed to jump down quickly finding one. I peeked down slightly.
Yep…
That dark hole whose bottom I couldn't see even with my enhanced senses. Alright, screw jumping straight down. I stepped into the abyss and stabbed my sword slightly into the stone walls as I fell slowing my descent but also tearing through the wall.
Shit… would my sword get blunt from that?
…
I should've thought of that before I did it. Regardless I continued my descent that way for a solid ten seconds until I finally saw the ground a couple hundred metres down.
I pulled out my sword from the wall and descended the last bits in a free fall. Though everything in my mind screamed that I was about to become red mist I aligned my feet towards the ground and landed doing nothing but slightly bending my knees.
My mind and body were mostly in sync but sometimes I had moments like that where some instincts fired off regardless.
"ROOOAAAAAAGHH!" A roar came followed shortly after by an explosion knocking me out of my thoughts.
Fels had told me that the floor boss would most likely be dead, seems they were wrong.
I moved to check out who was fighting it, I'd learned that you apparently weren't supposed to steal another adventurer's kill inside the Dungeon. Not necessarily a law but a common rule of etiquette.
I'd respect these peoples rules, of course it wouldn't stop me from saving them if things got bad, though I doubted they would complain in that case.
My thunderous steps resumed, and I flew past the cramped cave paths towards the source of the roar. Picking up more and more speed as I ran, I let my jog to turn into a light sprint.
A shockwave happened around me and I couldn't hear anything, I didn't let that stop me though. I needed to be there just in case something terrible happened. The shockwaves continued I left them step after step until I finally arrived at the large cavern where Goliath the Monster Rex was supposed to be.
What I came across was nothing less than a massacre. A massive creature perhaps as tall as seven meders stood on two legs, had it not been for its massive, distended jaw and grey skin you could've mistakenly thought it was a very large human. But the sight of it facing off against the group of dwarven adventurers easily dispelled that notion.
This thing wasn't human, there wasn't a single shred of a thought in it beyond destroying all that it came across. The scenery around the battlefield expressed that quite bluntly.
Bodies both alive and dead flung every which direction, shattered limbs, entirely severed body parts, a red pulp that had undoubtedly once been a person squished into a crater on the floor.
They hadn't been ready for Goliath, they had probably meant to pass by him and head deeper in like I did but the boss had spawned far too early…
This was probably what the Dungeon's most unsettling characteristic was. It was predictable until suddenly it wasn't.
It reminded me of the Endbringers that way. All it took was a single mistake and the Dungeon would suddenly change and send you spiralling down towards an agonizing death.
Instead of my feet dragging into the stone and slowing me down as I'd originally planned they kept launching me forward and I brought my sword to bear. A charge into the throat most likely wouldn't kill it outright, it was a more reliable kill to simply stab into its heart.
I passed by the dwarfs still stubbornly holding onto their shield wall and past their skirmishers trying to bring the beast down and finally got within ten metres of the monster.
My sword raised and pointed with a steady hand towards its heart I pushed off from the ground.
Goliath tried to swat me away with its left hand. The lumbering massive limb was all too slow in my vision.
Instead of batting it away as I normally might I landed on the hand and ran up it towards the body. Its jaw opened and I saw a light shining from inside of it. A breath attack of some sort.
With a ear piercing roar a ball of compressed air and some sort of energy shot from its hideous maw. I saw it coming but made no move to avoid and instead swung my sword around.
The two forces clashed but it was no contest, my onyx-coloured sword passed through the blast with close to no resistance causing an explosion of pressure but diverting most of it straight back towards the Goliath's head.
Once the absurdly strong gust of wind I'd caused slammed into its jaw I had my opportunity.
Taking advantage of the stunned beast I covered the last few meders and jumped from the arm towards the chest. With the sound of flesh being slapped with a violent force my feet landed on its chest and my sword descended into its heart with all my strength.
It pierced through with close to no resistance, it felt like I was cutting slime rather than corded muscle. I ripped out my sword drawing viscera and blood as I did so and thrust my sword back in.
Slaughter!
And again.
Maim!
And again.
Devour!
And again.
The giant monster's screams echoed throughout the room as I continued to giddily stab into its heart. Over and over again. Blood flying out and pieces of meat and skin being scattered.
I felt disgust well up within me, but it felt faded, squashed. I listened to that warning and stopped with a shaking breath.
I let myself fall of its chest with my sword in hand.
I flipped slightly backwards as I did and landed on my feet facing the dwarves. The monster dropped down to its knees behind me with its chest turned into a bloody mess of stab wounds. My hand had been entirely covered in blood.
The beast stopped moving.
"I apologise for taking your prey, however I couldn't let any more of you die to that thing." I bowed my head slightly.
The head dwarf, most likely their captain had wounds all over his body, bruises and broken skin bleeding profusely. He let out a shaky sigh and let himself drop to one knee. He must've been holding himself up with pure adrenaline and nothing else.
Easy prey
A younger dwarf ran up to him with a vial of something red in hand, supposedly a potion. He raised a hand to stop him.
"Wait a second Dormul. I'll drink later, take care of the rest." He spoke through his immense greying beard.
The younger one seemed to want to argue but thought better of it and ran towards the other Familia members.
"Thank you, lass!" The older dwarf shouted and bowed his head.
People bowing their heads to me was becoming a consistently annoying event. I wasn't all that respectable.
"It's what any proper person would do, you were in need, and I had the strength to help." I dismissed another profound thanks.
Perhaps in our time…
It was becoming a way too common occurrence. Though it did feel good, but enjoying that…
Well it felt quite narcissistic.
The dwarf had a look in his eyes, as if he had suddenly been refreshed upon hearing that response. He bowed his head even deeper.
"Magni familia won't forget this, lass. We'll pay you back even if it takes a hundred lifetimes." He promised.
Not this again!
I really wanted to wave my hands and tell him to please don't be that bothered about it. But that also felt like disrespecting this earnest man.
"Will you be alright from here?" I asked instead.
You have to find Aria
He nodded confidently. "We'll regroup and rest in the 18th floor a bit and then head back up, we're experienced with these floors." I saw his gaze wander to the bodies of their dead companions. Seems the 18th floor would house yet another grave of adventurers.
"Then I'll be off." I said simply and blasted off towards the 18th floor.
Go… Find Aria
"Oi! Lass, you didn't tell us your name!" He shouted from behind me.
I ignored him quite deliberately.
She's near
If every group I ended up helping became determined to pay me back I feared to imagine how it'd be a few years down the line.
Best to keep my name a secret. Perhaps I should use my mask?
No…
I'll be Taylor Hebert even if it brings me trouble.
A night's rest inside the 18th floor later I continued my journey down, I had barely gotten through a quarter of my journey thus far, the floors of the dungeon got absurdly larger the deeper I went.
These floors made of wood like the insides of a massive tree were gigantic, it had taken me longer to traverse a single floor down here than it had taken five floors up there. The sheer amount of monsters probably also didn't help, I could've just run past them, but I feared creating something called a "Pass Parade".
An incident where another adventurer runs past a bunch of monsters getting them to follow them and then puts another adventurer into danger because of it. To say the least that wasn't something I could allow to happen.
So slaughtering them in masse constantly was the only solution which just made this portion a slog to get through. Though to be honest there was another thought deep down that made me slightly more irritable towards this floor.
Bugs.
Lots and lots of bugs. Bugs that had guns. I'm not being witty or funny about this, there are dragonflies on this floor that had a muzzle inside their abdomens which shot out supersonic projectiles with loud bangs.
They had guns! Can you imagine what I could do with that if I still had my powers?
The massive bipedal beetles, large hornets with lance like stingers and poisonous caterpillars were just extras at that point!
My thoughts elsewhere I sent a spin kick towards a bipedal monster that looked like a mountain of moss. The supersonic blow created shockwaves in its wake and slammed into the disgusting thing, crunching something where normally a head was supposed to be so hard it collapsed into its chest cavity and the body was sent flying.
I stopped for a second looking on at the destruction left in my kicks wake. There was a gouge in the wooden ground of this floor created by the monster's body almost a dozen meders long. The rubble it had caused scattered into the surrounding forest shredding it apart.
Sighing in frustration I went to retrieve its magic stone. I had been genuinely getting stronger bit by bit every time I ate a magic stone, not big leaps but consistent small improvements.
I had underestimated how quickly those improvements could layer on.
I continued to run through the Dungeon heading towards my next checkpoint the Water City or the 25th floor.
The winding paths made from nothing but wood and covered in forests consistently gave me time to think even though I had to sometimes get back to the real world and slaughter another dozen bug monsters.
If my strength kept growing at this rate, I would consistently have to readjust my blows to keep things non-lethal. It wouldn't have been a problem but since my growth only occurred when I was deep inside this pit fighting against monsters I couldn't naturally adjust as I grew.
Fels had called my strength "On the middle end of level five." I wish I knew what a level was, but as far as I could infer it was a way to quantify the blessings of the gods.
With the way things were going I'd make it to higher end of level five by the end of this trip. Though that's just a guess.
Smelling the scent of water I slowed down for a moment and began to look for the passageway to the 25th floor. It took a few minutes of searching around but I managed to find it.
Stepping through I was met with another enchanting sight. The sheer amount of rivers and waterfalls that the Water City housed had enchanted me when I first went through the floors covered in blue stone and coral-like structures and even still it was a welcome sight.
Fels had told me of a shortcut that only the highest end of adventurers could take in this place but I was somewhat hesitant to try it. Not because the shortcut itself was quite literally jumping off the absurdly tall waterfall, but because I would be skipping this floor and its general beauty.
But well… I also liked being outside the dungeon and getting another arm earlier so I ran towards the edge of the waterfall I could see, jumping from rocky outcrop on the walls to other rocky outcrops to not have to go around.
When I was finally right beside the gigantic centrepiece of the interconnected floors of the Water City I took a deep breath and looked down.
…That was one hell of a fall.
I wonder if this would feel like sky diving. I'd never gotten to try anything like that out, not that seeking adrenaline was all that hard for me. Almost every damn day had been nothing but adrenaline for a long while.
Well no point delaying things.
I pushed off from where I was standing and began free falling. The wind whistled past my ears and buffeted my form even as I spread my arms and legs to better control my fall.
This actually wasn't that bad even though I was staring at the basin at the end of the waterfall rapidly approaching. I fell for a solid fifteen seconds reaching a speed that wasn't all that fast compared to my normal movement but absurdly fast to be falling at.
I angled my feet downwards and held my arms close to my sides. With a massive explosion of water I fell deep into the cold waters. I saw a few monsters moving my way inside the water, fishlike things with blackish blue skin and a shape kind of like an orca.
I ignored them and swam up to the surface. Seems I wasn't going to be allowed that though. A body slammed into me from behind sending me reeling deep into the waters.
Well fuck you too.
I drew my sword and pierced through the monster's head ripping out the magic stone with one blow and swung the sword around to generate a current to push the rest away.
Once I saw them being pushed away, I pushed against the water launching me upwards and out of the water.
Taking a welcome breath of air I let myself fall onto solid ground. The fish things jumped out the water creating waves and sending water flying as they exited the water. Seems they weren't very intelligent. I drew back into a comfortable stance and thrusted my sword repeatedly.
The sword flashed by puncturing skulls and piercing through gills, the slaughter hadn't even lasted a second. I grabbed the stones as they fell and began snacking on them as I unpacked my empty water bottles.
Need to fill up to the maximum here. Going into the deep floor without water…
That understandably made me anxious, even if I knew of a source in there now, I wasn't going to be takin chances and getting that thirsty again. I knew for a fact that if I hadn't been the thing I am I would've died from thirst long before I found that crevice.
I did my work diligently and secured my water back into my bag. Just as I was about to resume my journey, I heard something. The sound of crunching as something disturbed the coral stone somewhere nearby. My eyes darted around scanning every which way, something was watching me. I could feel it, yet my eyes saw nothing.
That is until I spotted a pair of orange eyes staring at me from the shadows. That in itself was beyond creepy but the person or rather monster that they belonged to was much more thought provoking.
It was a red scaled lizardman like the ones belonging to the middle floor I had already passed by nothing unusual for it except for its larger than normal size and clear unclouded eyes.
But it also wore armour and had a sword strapped onto a belt. Not much armour admittedly, just some shoulder guards along with vambraces and leg armour but armour, nonetheless.
Given by the way it had been trying to hide its presence as well… this thing seemed highly intelligent. I didn't draw my sword and waited for it to make the first move.
It of course proved my hypothesis that it was intelligent and ran away into a side cavern after slamming its tail into a structural weak point causing a collapse and blocking its escape path.
Strong as well, by the looks of things. Way stronger than the average lizardmen I had seen.
That thing was smart as well. I'll need to report that to Ouranos once I'm back up, if monsters are getting smarter as time goes on that won't bode well for Orario.
I put that thought on the back burner and got ready to enter the safe zone of the 28th floor. I needed some rest before continuing downwards.
The 28th floor had been beautiful, which wasn't much of a rarity in the Dungeon but the safe zones like the 18th and 28th were especially so. It was weird how dedicated the Dungeon was to housing these near perfect recreations of an idyllic forest where fruits grew from every tree, water was plenty and the air was comfortably mild.
Was it making these for the monsters trapped inside to enjoy? As a sort of paradise or was it creating them to draw people into a false sense of safety so they would descend even deeper?
Of course it in and itself was a question if the Dungeon was genuinely sapient or even sentient. Maybe it was some sort of immensely complex algorithm churning out reactions to set conditions.
It is the first truth of this world
Supposedly only the gods knew and since they had to be shady bastards like any sort of entity holding cosmic power, they refused to share.
Such is their nature they revel in the suffering
Regardless I'd had to leave that not so natural paradise behind as my journey continued through to the dense forest ravine. Another forest type zone with a slightly more ominous aura and a wide variety of large dinosaur monsters prowling it.
Had it not been for the way I'd been constantly skipping large sections of it by hidden passageways and large holes going through ancient trees it would've taken me a very long time to get through. Thankfully Fels was an expert in navigating the Dungeon. So it didn't take me all that much time to wander through the misty forest and to the entrance to my next destination.
I spotted another dinosaur blocking my path and speared it through the eye with a quick thrust as I kept walking with the exit, a cavernous staircase made of pristine white marble, in clear sight.
I was getting more and more precise with this ludicrously sharp blade. That sharpness enchantment thing was apparently no joke, it didn't seem to even show the slightest indication of losing its edge after countless skulls, ribs and shells pierced through.
Ripping the magic stone out of the monster's corpse with a precise cut I slowed into a walk as I neared the entrance to the first place I had appeared in this world.
It was the last bit to overcome and then the real challenge would start. The White Palace was called was noted as a "difficulty spike" in the dungeon as that werewolf in the guild called it. The floor was larger, the monsters more adept and the environment more hostile than ever before with stifling darkness and winding unmapped paths.
It was a place that existed solely to kill adventurers. The colosseum I had sheltered under being a perfect example of the entire place. A titanic floor unlike any an adventurer would face up until this point.
Thankfully I had a pre plotted course courtesy of Fels to get through here.
I stepped through the threshold and immediately felt it. Attention. Something was watching me…
No… the Dungeon was watching me. I felt the sword in my hand heat up as if it was expecting the slaughter to come.
This sword had been made from the ribs of this floors Monster Rex or in other words it's floor boss. The fact that it was reacting to this place was decidedly closer to the supernatural bullshit section of ridiculous that I tried to steer clear off.
Powers and monsters? I can take. Ghosts and symbolic meanings along with ominous foreshadowing?
I wasn't all that fond of that, always thought it a terrible cliché.
I sprinted at full throt down the winding stone corridors listening to the uneasy feeling I had. Despite following the main path that was the shortest way to the next floor the 37th floor that I was on was supposedly bigger than the entirety of Orario, a floor the size of a city. It could take up to an hour even if I could run through it at my max speed consistently and didn't have to worry about the maze-like structure and monsters.
…Hold that thought. Monsters. Why aren't there any monsters?
I heard a crack. Then another. Then another thousand. I looked around me despite already guessing at what was about to happen.
Cracks along the walls monsters were being birthed on mass, a "monster party". Relatively common trick of the Dungeon but one of the deadliest ones.
Curse my luck or curse the dungeon. Things were about to turn into a pitched battle.
I heard laughter in the back of my mind.
Ahahahaha!
I readied my sword and thought about possibly ditching these monsters with a smoke bomb curtesy of Fels but as I glanced at the path I was supposed to take to get out of here I saw the absurdly large body of a gigantic snake covering my exit.
A worm well or a Lambton as it was more commonly called.
Kill! Maim! Burn!
I tried to focus, analyse my opponents coming out the walls. Mostly those skeleton soldiers with shields and spears accompanied by humanoid monsters with bodies made of obsidian, as if that wasn't enough there was a pack of those dragon things with quills I'd already fought.
So… spartoi, obsidian soldiers, a damned lambton and if that wasn't enough a pack of peluda.
Grow and Reach until you find Aria…
Shut up, I'm getting ambushed here.
I had to have the momentum on my side and use their numbers against them, hesitation would be defeat in this fight. I couldn't weather their attrition, so I needed to hit them hard and fast. The peluda, whose quils and flame breath could serve as support for other monsters needed to go first.
My plan made I took in a deep breath and opened my eyes fully and leapt ahead.
Pushing off towards the only place that wasn't covered in monsters, the walls.
My feet found themselves on the white stone walls pushing me along before gravity could bring me down. Seeing a white shape moving from the edge of my eyes I pushed off the wall to dodge an incoming bone javelin. Another thirty were launched at me as I was mid air.
Gritting my teeth I reached with my sword to stab through a nearby obsidian soldier and launch it towards the javelins as a shield. Seeing the peluda launching quils I didn't dare land on the floor and instead kicked off the shield of a nearby spartoi.
The shockwaves I sent as I moved pushed apart the monsters in my path and I flew towards the pelud leaving behind the rain of quils they had sent towards me. A glance as I flipped over myself to get my feet on the wall showed the devastation their attacks had wrecked upon their allies.
I forcefully kept my features neutral. Combat wasn't something to be enjoyed, it was a means to an end. In this case my survival.
Yet the battlefield is the only place you belong
A peluda opened its maw full of malformed razor-sharp teeth and leapt towards me, trying to tie me up fighting it.
These things were surprisingly coordinated.
I shut the errant jaw with an axe kick and pierced through the dragon's skull and into the brain. Not bothering to avoid the spray of blood and grey matter I pushed off the monster and towards the other dragons launching its corpse towards the other monsters trying to follow me.
My feet finally landed on the ground once again, but I didn't stop my momentum in the slightest. A scream tore itself out of my mouth as I pushed ahead. I dived down onto my knees as another flame attack came from the nearest peluda and slid forward on my knees letting my body fall as close to the floor as it could without scraping.
Once I saw the open maw pass above me my left arm lashed out spearing through the lizard's jaw and through its skull.
More!
With a growl coming out my mouth I pushed off the corpse with my stump and jumped backwards into a thrusting stance. Predictably the other two remaining peluda's blasted the corpse apart with their breath giving me a chance to attack.
I charged forth leaving shockwaves and scattering pebbles like shrapnel in my wake. Without a second's warning I came through the ash and smoke spearing the peluda closest to me.
As I was pulling out my sword, I heard a whistling noise from afar. Acting purely on instinct I managed to jump back and avoid the javelin thrown at me.
I turned briefly towards the spartoi before I realised the mistake I made. I'd left myself open.
Don't die yet
With a series of quiet fwip noises spines shot out I didn't have enough time to avoid them, so I raised my sword and did something decidedly stupid.
I batted aside one, then another dozen. My arm was blur even to my vision and the tip of my sword even faster. But I was off balance with a poor stance, the quills were coming from my right whereas my sword was to my left leaving a miniscule opening in my guard.
My eyes widened as several of the launched spikes headed directly towards that opening.
Fuck it.
I batted aside one and leaned out the way of another but the third stabbed into my right shoulder. It hurt and it hurt a lot, but I kept my movement going and stepped towards the peluda. My sword wasn't in the correct position to stab it but with its head lowered to launch its quills there was a perfect way to dispose of it.
I lowered my right foot towards its head with maximum force breaking its spine in the moment of contact and turning the entire head into nothing but a grisly red smear into the new crater in the ground.
Despite this small victory I couldn't afford to slow down. I placed my swords hilt into my mouth to hold it and pulled out one of the magic items I'd managed to get from Fels. A flashbang in the shape of a white ceramic bottle.
Giving it a slight shake I tossed it and turned away. Moments later a bright flash of light so bright it burned came from among the horde I'd tossed it into followed immediately after by a loud bang like a thousand guns going off at once.
I roughly pulled out the quill in the time that bought me. Only see the flowing flesh underneath it sickly purple. Shit I'd forgotten they were poisonous. I need the antidote in my bag as denoted by the way my wound refused to heal over like it usually did.
Tossing the bloody quill away I got my sword back in hand and turned to face the horde coming towards me only to note something much more concerning. The lambton was missing.
Feeling vibrations from beneath I jumped back narrowly avoiding the emerging snake. I brandished my sword despite the pain in my right shoulder.
And my impromptu invitation to a duel was accepted by the snake as it charged head on towards me. I stared down the monster as it tore up the white stone of the ground in its fury.
Feast on It
A moment of focus came as everything slowed. There was nothing but my opponent in front of me and nothing in the past that mattered. Only I existed.
I let it come and once it was a breath away from me, I stepped to the side and let it pass for a singular second before my arm drawn back lashed out.
The onyx sword in my hands made from polished metal-like bone pierced through the armoured scales of the serpent and into the side of its head. I desperately held onto my sword and forcefully got dragged back making gouges in the stone. Until the now cooling corpse finally bled its momentum.
I must've hit the magic stone as the lambton's massive corpse exploded into ash revealing the mob of still standing spartoi and obsidian soldiers eager for a scrap.
I grit my teeth.
Fine, I'll kill them all too.
It is your rightful place
A push and I launched myself towards the enemy. It only became a mess of melee after that. Thrusts and kicks followed batting away attacks breaking bone and obsidian. But as I immersed myself in combat my attention slipped.
My movements became rougher, my openings just a little wider. And as I stabbed through yet another rock monster a spear pierced through my back. I let out a gasp and that was all that they needed.
A sword cut into my chest and axe chopped off my leg a spear pierced through my mouth. Pain jolted through me, but the panic was greater. But greater than even that was unnatural fury.
I saw red.
My flesh bubbled and my chopped off leg regenerated in less than an instant and came up in a kick that sent shockwaves and scattered bones all across the corridor.
Tear
Although my body had almost been cut in half by a sword my own blade kept thrusting furiously and even whipping about slashing through bones and obsidian. The spear piercing through my mouth eventually came loose in a blood mess and dropped letting my mouth properly heal.
Bite
Not that it mattered the only thing that came out of my mouth was only the most primal of screeches.
Cry
I viewed everything from a place behind my eyes. I was in control but also not, instincts had taken over biting, kicking, stabbing, slashing and trashing about in blind fury accumulating more and more cuts and bruises that only healed moments later.
Destroy everything that opposes us
Before I had even realised it, everything had ended. I was left alone in a dusky white corridor covered in blood with torn clothes and a graveyard's worth of bones and enough obsidian to erect a monument out of.
I came back to my senses with a sense of vertigo.
I breathed out. I needed to gather their stones and drop items… but for now I needed a breather.
…
I sat by the corpse of a peluda and drank some water. Thankfully my backpack had survived the rampage.
…
I know you're watching me, Dungeon.
Like hell am I dying to a cave too smart for its own good.
An: A bit late this week! Seems I can't shake of this habit of mine where I write way too much per chapter. But your long awaited chapter has arrived as ordered!
I moved forward the arm since so many people were complaining about it but also merged it with another few plot points to not shake things up properly.
But more importantly the real MVP of this chapter is Alise and her inhumanly strong intuition. Seriously that girl could straight up pull facts from nothing but gut feelings and almost always be right about them.
So thanks to her observational and social skills Taylor gets drawn more and more into her meticulous and just plan! Social Interaction! Of course that plan wouldn't be as effective if Ryuu wasn't so charismatic and caring.
Well blowing off the lovely and healing bits Taylor certainly has a lot going on. But as always I won't spoil anything. For now please tell me what you think!
Extra: There might end up being an extra Omake in Space Battles in the coming days about a joke between my Beta and I