“What was that about wanting something to destroy?” Shadow Emery insisted.
“Nothing, I tell you. I just found a new spell, and I was excited to try it. That’s all.”
“Please do not move. With the number of fractures that you have, I am surprised that you can move your arm at all.” Applying some healing magic on my wounds, particularly my arm, Karcie had been tasked to put me back in fighting shape.
Shadow Emery sighed. “Well, you’re alive, so that’s a win in my book. The other should arrive soon.”
Apparently, while she was on her small escapade, she encountered Shadow Phyralia. By the time Shadow Emery got back to me, she said the other shadow was going to get the others and meet us here.
“I wish I could do something,” I whispered.
“I’m gonna pretend I never heard that.” The other me said. “Oh, here there are!”
Entering the room were the twins, Mizuko, Tara, and Gnash, as well as Shadow Phyralia. I have felt the presence of my two familiars approaching, but not hearing a shadow being footsteps was always strange.
Without wasting time, Gnash was on me, painting my face with his saliva. He only calmed down when I gave him a belly scratch. “What a good boy.”
Walking up to me, Tara stared at me with all eight of her eyes. She weaved some web into bandages and gave them to Karcie who used them to cover all the wounds that weren’t fully healed.
When I asked Karcie why she didn’t just heal all my wounds, she explained that while healing magic was useful, letting the wounds heal on their own from time to time was necessary to avoid the body developing a dependency on healing magic.
Tara also sewed any holes and cuts my clothes had with her webs, I could see that she did the same to the others when we were separated. The white web contrasted with the black and grey of their clothes quite nicely.
Tara wasn’t the kind to ask for anything in return, but I grabbed some dried meat from Gnash's satchel and gave it to her. Her face remained expressionless for the most part, only through her eyes could I see a glimmer of joy as she savoured the meat.
Reylia and Phyralia also gave me a hug. They really couldn’t miss their turn, could they?
Mizuko didn’t have anything special to say to me, so she proceeded to take a little nap.
We had a brief conversation about what to do. The hostage we were supposed to rescue had been saved, only to die not long after. There wasn’t much we could do about it, and even less we could have done. Dwelling on this was useless, so we moved on. The fact that they were ungrateful pricks didn’t help their case. I didn’t know what Karcie and their jailers had done to them, as long as she obeyed us and did her job she would be fine on our side. Though I was curious about what happened, so I reminded myself to ask about that later.
The twins did confirm that the killer we faced off against was indeed dead. They had found his body lifeless and still burning when they left. That kind of corrosive fire didn’t want to be put out.
After deliberation, the best thing to do was to leave this place. There wasn’t much more for us to do anymore except fight more bandits. We were exhausted and short on mana, we wouldn’t fight unless we needed to.
As they weren’t needed anymore, the two shadows vanished back into our shades.
As we were about to leave, Mizuko's ears stood up. “Someone is coming.” She said.
Reylia unsheathed her sword, and Phyralia aimed her bow with an arrow at the ready. Tara lifted her front leg to appear as menacing as possible, and Gnash took a ready-to-bounce stance. Even Hybry, who returned in my web backpack, was ready to spit acid.
Karcie hid behind me. She was a healer, not a fighter.
Well, I would have liked to unsheathe Flashbang, but as I reached for its scabbard, I found nothing. I had lost the sword during my fall, and I hadn’t had the opportunity to search for it yet. True be known, I wouldn’t have left the fortress without turning every single stone if it was to find my dear Flashbang. Going back to a sword that needed constant care and sharpening was not on my program.
Hearing a pair of footsteps approaching, we waited until the person appeared out of the dept of the fortress. It was Reran Greythorn, a noble assigned to a different rescue group. He had cut here and there, but otherwise, he was fine. It was the first time I saw him without his maid or werewolf nearby.
He had his sword pointed at us, but lowered it down when he recognized our faces. He let out a sigh of relief.
Technically the leader of our group, Phyralia asked him what was going on.
“We found a group of hostages and were on our way to extract them.” His breath was ragged, but he still held his composure. “But we were ambushed by a woman leading a dozen bandits. She was quick and killed two of my men in a flash. My maid and her werewolf were fighting her when I left them.”
“You left them behind?!” Phyralia exclaimed.
“To get reinforcement, to get help! Her sword’s play was above my own.” He looked disgusted while saying that. “We didn’t stand a chance by ourselves.”
Looking at me particularly, his eyes stopped at my empty hand. “Emery, was it? Did you lose your sword, the one with a shining middle line who’s always glowing?”
“Yeah, I lost it while falling from the sky?”
“Falling from the sky?” He asked, wondering what I meant.
“That was a long fight,” Reylia commented.
“Well, I suppose you be happy to know that the woman who attacked us found your sword.”
“Let's get going then. She won’t be the worst thing we handled today.” I said.
The twins and I exchanged a look. We were tired, but we could still fight. My familiars were there and ready to fight. With a healer on our side, we didn’t have to worry much about injuries as long as we kept our heads on our shoulders.
We could have got out to get more people, but we didn’t know how long it would take to find adventurers still in shape to fight and willing to help.
“Karcie,” Phyralia said. “Heal him while we move. Reran lead the way.”
We arrived on the scene too late. The fight was over and there were bodies littering the corridor. Some I recognized as Reran goons, while others were dead bandits. As the one who hired them personally, Reran didn’t seem too bogged down by death.
His eyes looked around, scanning the hallway until he found what he was looking for. Virinia, his maid, was tending to the enormous ball of fur leaning on the wall. She used basic fire cauterization spells to mend the werewolf wounds to the best of her abilities.
I couldn’t see the woman Reran had talked about, the hostages or my sword anywhere.
Walking up to the maid, Reran eyed her carefully until it was clear her life wasn’t in danger. “What’s the situation?” He asked.
Facing him, she bowed and spoke. “They took the civilians to a set of staircases that lead underground. Nine bandits in total escaped the fight.”
He turned to me. “That healing magic from your friend was impressive, I would greatly appreciate it if she could tend to my maid and her pet.”
“Sure, do you mind Karcie?”
“No, not really,”
She inspected the wounds the maid had. Most of them had already been patched up, but they were far from being healed. Her magic glowed a soft light as it did its work. I looked at the flesh reconstruction. I almost looked away, but seeing it was far too intriguing. Doctors on Earth would go crazy simply looking at veins, muscles and skin magical healing process. The only way to describe it was disgusting and magnificent at the same time.
When she finished with Virinia, Karcie approached the werewolf. The monster barred its teeth at her and put his claws before her eyes. He wouldn’t let her heal him that easily.
Karcie's legs were shaking as she took a few steps back. Touching someone was the best way to apply heals, but she could do it as long as she wasn’t too far. Her light mended the wounds as best it could, but the result was weaker than it could have been. Since he wouldn’t let her close, this was all she could do. This was enough for the time being.
To find the bandit group that escaped and the hostages they took with them, we didn’t have any other choice other than to follow the path they took.
Gnash and the werewolf lead the way down the stairs. Mizuko stood on Tara's back in case she detected someone. Since I didn’t have a weapon with me, Virinia gave me a dagger and I stayed in the middle of the formation.
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This place had a sense of dread about it, it felt endless. The wood foundation securing the ceiling and the shape of the stairway looked to be near breaking point and older than Lavanda could ever get.
The decor changed to a big rocky cave. Plants that I never saw before grew in the stone of the walls. Lanterns lighted the way, there wasn’t an ounce of sunlight down here.
With how long we went down the stairs, Phyralia estimated that we must have been at least hundreds of metres underground. We weren’t in the fortress anymore.
There was a crystal shining a light in the area. I sensed something magical about the crystal, but I didn’t know what it was, so I asked the twins about it.
“It’s a Warden crystal. It creates a suppressing aura that dissuades any monster from coming close. It’s useful to protect certain areas from monster attacks. If you search the wall of the city carefully, you could find hundreds of them everywhere.” Reylia said
Such a practical tool and I didn’t even have one, such a shame. There must have been a reason why everybody wasn’t carrying one around. “If it is so useful, then why everyone isn’t using one when travelling? Seems to me that a protection against monster attack would be something everyone would want.”
I did like hunting to the point I probably wouldn’t want something that scared my prey away in my backpack, but it really surprised me how I had never heard of one before.
Phyralia was the one who answered. “It takes some time to create the aura. Even if you were to walk extremely slow, the aura would take too long to form and get any use from it. Even if you were to use one to stay safe at night, the aura would only appear late in the morning.”
Before we explored the cave, the ground began to tremble. Unable to keep our footing, most of us were down on the ground. Some rock fell off the ceiling, the cave wall looked like they were about to fall apart and we were in the middle of it. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. When the earthquake ended, it took us a moment to get up.
“Is everyone alright?” Phyralia asked.
We all were fine, but I couldn’t have said the same about the exit. The stairway didn’t get blocked by rocks; it got totally destroyed. The wood pillars that had been supporting the structure had broken, which, on top of the earthquake, had made the stairway fall apart.
Trying to see in the cracks, I send Tenta tentacles between the rocks. If there was only a small portion that had fallen apart, then we could just excavate it. If it was more, we wouldn’t have any other choice other than to find another way out of here.
When he got as far as it could, Tenta came back and swung its tentacles left and right.
“Shame, but we still need to rescue the hostages and find your sword, so there was no bailing out, anyway,” Reylia said.
With no other choice, we followed the path taken by the bandits. We encountered multiple paths with variations in elevation, which made it hard to progress, but with Gnash and the werewolf flair, we never lost track of the bandits.
Considering the amount of magic lanterns they installed everywhere, the bandit must have known the layout of this cave system pretty well.
After a while, Mizuko sensed something up ahead. We were relieved at the news, with how thick the stone was, we didn’t know if her magic detection would still work underground.
Flying out from an intersection, something I didn’t think I would see appeared before my eyes. The monster had a dark body with wings between the arms and legs. Its perky ears stood up at our sight. Two big teeth stood out from his mouth with a protruded nose. The creature was covered with a thin fur.
“A BAT!” I couldn’t contain myself, there was a bat in front of me.
Flying directly at me, the big bat opened his mouth, hoping to take a sizeable chunk out of my head. Before it reached me, Tara shot a web, which caught him to the ground. Without wasting a moment, Gnash jumped on the poor bat and sank his teeth into the monster's neck, killing it instantly.
I didn’t care if it was dead; I had to touch it. I cut open the web and inspected the catch. Slightly bigger than Gnash, the bat fur was soft to the touch, and the skin had a rough texture to it. I eyed the wing's skin and wondered what I could do with it. It was thin, but also solid and resistant. It needed to be to allow the bat to fly.
It had been a little while since I had last knitted something or made some clothes. A new cloak, a cape, undergarments, or even light armour, there were so many possibilities, so many things I wanted to make with such a fine catch.
“Emery! Emery!” I had the feeling someone was trying to catch my attention. Turning around, I found Reylia about to scream in my ears.
“I’m there, sorry, it is the first time I see a bat monster.”
“A bat monster? I don’t know what a bat is, but that thing is called a bloodsucker.”
“Dangerous, out for your blood, ambush predator and classified B-rank monster in the dungeon compendium.” Phyralia continued in her sister's stead.
“The layout does conform to the description of the dungeon lower section,” Reran said. “Although, I never anyone mention there was an alternative entry other than the main entrance.”
“It’s not unheard of that some people who dug too deep created new entryways to the dungeon. Although it is illegal since it creates ways for deeper level monsters to access the higher layers or even the surface.”
Reran was lost in his thoughts until something caught his attention. “I never had the opportunity to explore the lower levels. Do you know on which level we are on?”
The twins took a moment to talk between themselves. They asked me about the features of surrounding plants, as I was the best to learn about their perks without risking poisoning.
“This is clearly an off-the-chart section, in the fourth underground level, if we had to guess. Most of the plant life isn’t poisonous, and the rock is full of lower-grade minerals. The chance of encountering dangerous monsters is low. Finding the path to the higher floor should be a matter of time.”
“How long do you mean when you say a matter of time?” Reran asked.
“Half a day to get to the third floor, two days to reach the surface.”
“How are we going to get food and water? I don’t see any food stand nearby.” I asked. We all had our personal rations, but they were mostly for snack purposes. Especially since my familiars were with us.
Reylia pointed at the bat's dead body. “Right there.”
Having the most monster butchering experience in the group, surprisingly, I got to work. I used a dagger to separate the monster's skin from its muscle meat and take out the organs. I was ready to throw the organs away, but Tara and Gnash volunteered to eat them. Using Tara's webs and salt taken from Gnash's satchel, I packed up the meat for the time being. We would cook it later.
Even if it slowed us down, survival was more important than the mission.
As for the water, they said that the third floor had a few small lakes we could use for the water supply. Until then, we would provide it using our mana whenever needed. We had to be careful when creating and drinking water meant for consumption, as it lacked the basic nutrients the body needed. In this case, I guessed the twins talked about minerals and electrolytes.
I also didn’t miss the chance and kept the bat skin to make something later on.
When Gnash finished his meal, I gave him a bone with some meat left on it. His tail swung left and right, which enticed Hybry to play with it. With Hybry on her head, Tara followed close behind Gnash to not slow us down while they played.
From time to time, the ground would shake with tremors, but they were as bad as the earthquake earlier.
We continued to follow the bandit smell deeper into the dungeon. More blood suckers attacked us, but we already had plenty of meat, so we avoided them when we had the chance and killed them quickly whenever we couldn’t. I tried my best to preserve as much of the skin and meat as possible to not waste it. Even if we were in the middle of the dungeon, money was still money.
Hybry, Tara and Gnash ate the surplus of raw meat, Virinia even gave some to the werewolf. Without complaint or growl, it ate anything she gave him, even some of the fattest organs like the liver.
I tried to convince Mizuko to eat some of the meat, but she refused to touch it without proper cooking. Her stomach growled at the thought of eating, but no matter how hard I tried, she wouldn’t.
“Unless you have jerky, I will wait as long as necessary to get a proper meal. If this thing could satisfy me, I wouldn’t have left the wilderness.”
Just like we promised her, I took out the best food we had available and gave it to her hungry stomach. Here, it was the jerky left in Gnash's satchel. A satisfied smile was the only comfort I got from her.
The ground tremors intensified more and more as we progressed. It was so shaking so much that sometimes we needed to wait until they were over to continue.
After walking more, Mizuko's ears picked up a group of people ahead, as well as a gigantic monster fighting against them.
Looking around the corner, the bandits were fighting a giant monster.
More than seven meters in height, the creature had silver-grey skin shining as it charged around. On top of its head was a horn shaped like a rugged blade, and it had another one at the end of its tail. Both had their edge covered in a dark green substance. For the mouth, it was like the teeth were an extension of the skin, their colour was more silver to the point it was probably made of metal, instead of bone. Overall, the creature had a dinosaur kind of appearance.
Eight bandits fought against the monster. They had more friends lying around, but they were either dead or unconscious. Their bodies ranged from intact to cut in half and opened chests as if something exploded their chest.
Between the ones still alive, there was a woman who had far better skills than the rest. She dodged, attacked with ease, and threw fireballs at the monster. None of them did any actual damage, but for the situation they were in, this was probably better than nothing. When she was close, she used a sword to slash at the monster's hard skin. The blade did not pierce the skin but did leave its mark. Even from how far I was, I could recognize the light glow of my sword, my Flashbang.
Away from the fight, there were two men guarding a crowd of people. Instead of keeping them safe, it seemed that their job was more to keep them in check while the primary group handled whatever they were fighting.
While the monster was distracted by who was probably their boss, two men took the chance and attacked the monster's legs, hoping to find a weak spot. No matter how tough a creature, there was always a softer spot somewhere to allow movements. Their idea wasn’t bad.
The problem happened when both of their blades bounced off and failed to find the soft spot. Without warning, the monster kicked the two away and turned toward them. Still stunned by the kick, they couldn’t get up.
“Run you dumbass!” The woman screamed at them.
Head down, the monster charged forward headfirst into the first man. The horn blade easily pierced his chest, ignoring the protecting armour he was wearing. After he cleaned the corpse off his horn, the monster aimed to do the same with the other guy.
The man jumped to the side just in time to avoid a direct hit, but during the jump, his armour had been hit by the edge of the blade. It left a shallow cut in, but it also covered it with a dark green liquid.
The man panicked and tried to remove his chest piece as fast as he could. While he did that, the green substance colour changed to clearer and clearer. Starting from dark nauseous green until glowing green, when the substance reached its peak colour, it was too late for the man who wasn’t able to take his chest piece off.
His armour exploded in his face, leaving only his lower torso and legs behind. The pieces of metal he had on him didn’t exist anymore, it probably all turned into shrapnel before his eyes.
Only six bandits were left standing, the monster wasn’t about to let them run away, and neither were we. I didn’t care that much about these chumps, but I wouldn’t allow my sword to stay in that bitch's hands any longer, and even less get turned to dust.