Chapter XXXII (32)- Dungeon Denizens

Kizu stood in a bog. A hazy fog obscured everything outside of a small radius. And yet, despite the dreary location, he felt utterly safe. He had the distinct impression to just stay still and wait. A log stuck out from the ground not too far off. He took a few steps toward it, every step accompanied by a slurp as he peeled his foot off the marshy ground.

“Hello?” someone said timidly. “Are you there? I can’t see you.”

Kizu froze. Small balls of light appeared dimly in the fog. They reminded him of a wisp. But their colors were wrong. Professor Grove gave off a bluish light. These wisps were a conglomerate of scarlets similar to the eyes of the vampire spawn.

The bog’s water soaked through his boots. He could feel his toes shriveling up. After a moment of silence, he carefully took the final step towards the log.

“You’re there aren’t you?” the voice said.

He lifted himself onto the half-rotted wood. Perched on top of it, he removed his boots and massaged his wrinkly feet. He looked into the fog. One of the wisps was different from the rest. Instead of red, it was a dull yellow. Like the sun through an overcast sky.

“Why won’t you say something?” the voice wailed. “This is even worse than before. Just go away!”

The command shook everything around him. He barely managed to grapple the log before being knocked into the swamp. The red wisps snapped into motion. But not towards him, but instead descending on the yellow wisp, smothering it. A blood moon eclipsing the muted sun. Then, once they extinguished their prey, the lights turned to him.

Kizu sat up and looked around himself. Not in a bog. Back in the dungeon with Ione. She dozed beside him. He winced as his gaze went over her twisted leg. She needed help.

He wondered if he could scrounge up the materials to brew a potion of healing. Going over the usual ingredients in his mind, he pondered possible subterranean substitutes. Nothing feasible. He might be able to mash up a poultice to numb the pain though. But he would need to scavenge and see what plants managed to grow in the dungeon. For a moment, he wished he was back in his dream, even despite the sinister wisps. At least he knew what grew in a bog.

“So annoying,” someone grumbled. The words shattered his thoughts.

Kizu glanced frantically around. Ione was still asleep. Her summoned creature hovered over her. The voice had come from beyond them. Around the corner.

“Stop grumbling,” a second voice said.

“I hate it up here though,” the first whined. “It’s so hot.”

“Do you think I like it? Think outside yourself for once and do your job. Suck it up like everyone else does.”

“But you don’t see Kekkon up here, do you?”

Kizu snatched Ione’s summoned creature from the air and pulled himself close to Ione. With a deep breath he focused. An illusionary boulder appeared over them. He designed it to appear like the other ancient rubble around them. Nothing out of place. He even crafted a few smaller rocks strewn nearby to make it more aesthetically normal.

And not a moment too soon. Two figures rounded the corner. They both had long black hair that almost reached their feet. Kizu was surprised they managed to walk without tripping over it. But more startling than that, were their eyes. Both sets were a dangerous scarlet.

“You’re not speaking ill of the lord, are you?” the second voice said icily. As it approached Kizu made out its face. It was horribly scarred. It looked like lumpy dough mashed into the vague shape of a face. He was amazed it could speak so clearly.

“Of course not,” the first one said. This one, Kizu noted, had an incredibly pale face like the vampire spawn he had killed earlier. It could almost be its twin sibling for how close they resembled one another.

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’m tired and hot. I hate it up here. This whole layer is just a glorified cave. Just let me complain in peace. All I want is a drink.”

“Why should I let you complain when it disrupts my peace? In fact, I have half a mind to tell Kekkon what you said. He might give me your rations as a reward.”

The unscarred one stopped and stiffened. “You wouldn’t.”

“Keep complaining and find out,” the scarred one said.

The summoned creature squirmed in his arms. Kizu held it tighter, disregarding its discomfort. They would all be far less comfortable if dead.

Ione shifted in her sleep. Then she yelped in pain as her damaged leg bumped the dungeon wall. Kizu slapped a hand over her mouth to keep her from making more noise. But the damage was already done.

“What now?” the scarred one said, turning to look over its shoulder at its companion. “Was that your attempt at a sob?”

“Of course not,” the unscarred one snapped. It looked around, its gaze lingered on the boulder. Kizu could hear his own heart pumping. The summoned creature squirmed again in his lap, attempting to get free while Kizu only held it down with one arm.

“Do you sense something?” the scarred one asked.

“Well, no,” the unscarred one admitted.

“Then keep moving. You’re the one who’s been complaining about spending so much time on this layer. Kekkon said that if there are people here, they’ve been casting spells and have enchanted equipment. We’ll sense them.”

The two of them shuffled off.

Ione yanked Kizu’s hand off her mouth.

“Good news for you, you taste disgusting.” She spat. “If they capture us, I guarantee they’ll drain me dry first.”

Kizu didn’t bother with a response. He maintained the illusion and sat perfectly still.

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“”When was the last time you washed your hands? Actually, scratch that, I don’t want to know. Do you have any water on you?”

“No.”

The summoned creature in his arms attempted to escape again. He held it tight.

“What is this?” he asked Ione after a few minutes of silence. He nodded down to the summoned creature in his arms. “I’ve been wondering for a while.”

“A grotesque. They’re actually dungeon denizens. They live deep underground and eat fire.”

“So, the rivers of fire that exist up here are further down as well?”

“As far as I know.”

“I thought you couldn’t summon magical creatures.”

“No. I said I could easily summon any creature that wasn’t magical. Magical creatures are more unique. Each one requires a lot more studying than I can usually be bothered with.”

“So…hypothetically you could summon a dragon?”

She laughed. “First, I would need easily twice the strength of any living summoner I know of. The closest I’ve ever heard of is a wyvern summoner. But they’re a fraction of the size and not nearly as intelligent. Then I probably would need an encyclopedia sized tome strictly about dragons. And likely that wouldn’t even be enough. Most magic creatures require the summoner to consume a piece of them. Usually blood. And good luck finding blood of an extinct race.”

“But is it possible? You could hypothetically someday do it.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Sure, it’s not ‘time travel’ level of hypothetically possible. But it’s close enough to it that nobody will ever be successful.”

“Do you want to?” Kizu asked. “Summon a dragon, that is.”

“Are you stupid? Of course, I do! Who wouldn’t want to be able to summon a dragon?”

Kizu thought about it as he stood and stretched. Then he bent and lifted Ione up in his arms. Despite her light weight, he felt his sore muscles strain a bit with the effort. She took a sharp intake of breath as he repositioned her.

“Life would be a lot easier if I could just summon a dragon.” Ione sighed.

“I think they’re gone,” he said. “Let’s keep moving.”

The illusionary boulder faded as they abandoned it.

“Wait, turn around,” she said. “We want to go the other direction.”

“You mean the same direction the crazy bloodthirsty monsters just went?”

“Because, if there’s an entrance, they probably know where it is. And where do you think they’d look for intruders?”

“The entrance,” Kizu admitted begrudgingly.

He turned and followed her instructions. To his delight, the path did take an upwards climb for a while. But then it flattened out. At most forks he just took the largest path, judging it as the ‘main’ one out of the options. But then it splintered into six equally sized paths.

“You mentioned my bond to my summons,” Ione said. “But what about yours to you monkey?”

Kizu shook his head. “I’ve tried reaching out. He doesn’t seem to understand what kind of danger I’m in. Currently, he’s angry that I didn’t bring him food.”

“But can you tell what direction he’s in?”

Kizu considered. It wasn’t perfect, it wouldn’t lead him to the door, but she was right that he could get the marginal direction. He closed his eyes and focused on his bond. It tightened like a fishing line caught. Yes. Even with Mort irritated with him and largely blocking him out, he could still get an impression of his location.

“This way,” he said, carrying her off to the right.

They had only just started walking off in the chosen direction when the ground began to shake. Curses echoed down from the pathway.

Kizu slowed but didn’t stop entirely. He peered around each corner before continuing on. It was painstaking, but eventually his ignoring Ione’s complaints to move faster paid off.

The cavern’s flooring color was off slightly. The shade appeared wrong. And then he realized why. There was no dirt on it. As if someone or something had meticulously cleaned off the specific three meters of the dungeon.

He set down Ione behind him and found an old, rusted pole that looked to have been thrown off to the side a millennia ago. He jabbed it down. First carefully, but when nothing happened, he attempted it again with more force.

The ground gave way. It all collapsed in on itself, rubble falling into darkness below. Kizu had to jump backwards so as to not get sucked in with it all.

“Hello?” someone called down from below.

“Shut up,” hissed another.

“It’s probably someone here to tell us to return.”

“And if they find us in a pit, do you think that Kekkon will be ecstatic to hear about it? Shut up and let me find a way out of here.”

“Nobody’s responding,” the first voice said morosely. “I guess it must have been another creature that wandered up from a deeper layer. One too stupid to talk back.”

Kizu privately thought that anything that chose not to respond was wise in his opinion.

“Good, let’s consider ourselves lucky. Now grab ahold of some of that rubble. Maybe we can ride it back up.”

Ride it up? Kizu only had the question in the back of his mind for an instant before the cavern shook. An identical quake to the one he had felt earlier. Then, to his horror, the blocks of stone began to rise up from the bottom of the pit and refix themselves back in their original places.

He only had moments. He scooped up Ione, disregarding her yelp of pain, and backed up slightly. Then he ran and flung himself forward. The momentum carried him through the air and his stomach slammed straight into the ledge on the edge of the pit. He dropped Ione and she rolled away as he attempted to claw himself up.

“Did you see that?” someone said below him.

“Stop losing focus!” the other one snapped.

Kizu felt himself slipping. He managed to wedge his fingers into a crack between stones on the dungeon floor, but the tips of his fingers couldn’t hold his entire body weight for long.

“It actually is someone! He looks…human!”

“It’s the intruder! The one in contact with Anata! Grab him on your way up!”

“Do it yourself.”

“You’re closer,” the voice growled.

The first voice must have decided to comply because Kizu felt something grab his ankle. The weight became too much. He felt his grip slip.

Ione threw herself at him. She grabbed a hold of his wrists just as he was about to go over. Her eyes were wet, and she panted with effort.

Kizu kicked out with his other leg. And his foot connected with something. He slammed his foot into it again, harder. Kizu felt the grip on his ankle loosen. Using the momentum from the kick, he managed to get his upper body back on the dungeon floor. Then he scrambled upward over the ledge.

Not knowing what else to do, he quickly threw out illusions towards the pit. One showed a rough image of himself falling down into the darkness. Then, while he hoped they were distracted with that one, he threw up illusionary stones and chunks of debris in random places over their heads.

“Watch yourself!”

The call was cut off by an audible grunt. In attempting to dodge the fake debris, they had inadvertently hit their heads on the real deal. Kizu held back a smile as he heard them crash down at the bottom of the pit.

As an afterthought, he tossed in his remaining vials of explosive brews through one of the holes in the floor before it had time to seal off. He heard them shatter below, followed by yelling.

Then he scooped up Ione who glared at him.

“What’s that look for? Would you rather if I left you behind?”

“I’ll remember this next time you’re needing to be carried around,” she promised him.

Kizu’s bond with Mort guided him the next few turns. It strengthened the closer he got to the monkey. Then, finally, he let out a breath. He recognized where he was. Back in familiar territory. It only took them a few more minutes before Kizu found the door leading from the dungeon back up into the academy.

“No way,” Ione said. “You actually found the exit?”

“Of course.” He gave her a tired grin.

He pushed the door open. He saw a familiar spiral staircase with his nook behind it. It looked the same as it always did as they stepped through and out of the dungeon.

“Shouldn’t that door be locked?”

Kizu looked back. He tried the door. It didn’t budge.

“It is locked,” he told her.

“But only from this side? The academy’s side? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“There must be an enchantment that only lets humans through.”

“Then how did the vampiric spawn originally escape?”

“Well….it did have human blood in its system at the time.” He decided to redirect the topic in a different direction. “We need to get you to a healer. And I need to tell Roba about the breach in the dungeon under that lady’s house.” He still wasn’t sure how he’d explain Ione’s presence. But he doubted he could omit her from his report now that she needed medical attention.

“As you command.” Ione waved him forward. “Onward my valiant steed, carry me to the medical bay.”

Kizu blinked at her word choice. “Wait. Couldn’t you have just summoned something to carry you this whole time?”

Her smile broke ear to ear. “Of course! But where’s the fun in that?”