“Stop, don’t move,” Ell commanded in a barely audible whisper as she ducked down and pressed herself closer to the ground.
Without question, Rohl did as commanded and moved to mimic her actions. Despite seeing nothing out of the ordinary among the dense forest and green woodland, he trusted her instincts enough to do as asked.
“What is it?” Rohl mouthed silently as his eyes fluctuated between his companion and their surroundings.
“Forest hydra,” Ell mouthed in return, twitching her finger at a tree just ahead of them.
Instinctively, Rohl’s eyes followed the movement and scoured the treeline until he saw it. The beast was camouflaged almost perfectly within the canopy, its brown and green skin blended seamlessly with the forest and if it weren’t for its bulky elongated size, Rohl doubted he would have seen it even with knowing its general location.
Looks barely anything like a normal hydra.
Rohl knew a little more about the more basic hydra but the one in front of him seemed nothing at all like its relatives. If it weren’t for the three heads he could see slowly slithering around the bark of the tree, Rohl doubted he would have been able to distinguish it from a normal snake.
It’s large but has no legs and likely no breath attacks. Looks like it just ambushed its prey from the canopy line. It is well hidden up there. Its moving but doesn’t look like it spotted us, we don’t have to fight it.
With Rohl keen on keeping his presence hidden, he kept his mouth shut and instead made a small hand gesture, one he was sure anyone could interpret as let’s go around it.
However, a small shake of the head from his companion put an end to that idea. And given how her hand was slowly creeping towards her bow, it was fairly obvious what she entailed.
Without so much as a sound, the elf moved up slightly, raised her bow and readied an arrow.
I guess we’re fighting it but what am is supposed to do? I’m not going up there with it.
Much to Rohl’s fortune, his companion didn’t seem to need his aid and simply let loose an arrow straight towards one of the beasts’ heads.
In what was one of the most impressive displays of archery Rohl had ever seen, the arrow cleaved through the eyes of one of the hydra's three heads, forcing the snake-like head to thrash around wildly, whilst the other two simply began to hiss and search for their new enemy.
But the second they seemed to have found their targets the dying head finally forced the body to lose its hold on the branch and fall to the ground with a nasty stunning thump.
Without so much as a word, Ell rushed forward, dragging Rohl along by the arm as she did so. Once they had closed the gap between them and their recovering enemy, Ell pushed him to the right whilst diving to the left herself.
I thought communication was key to a successful team.
Despite the sudden rush, Ell still remained silent, leaving Rohl to figure out the strategy by himself. But given how one of the heads had turned its gaze toward him, Rohl instead settled on keeping the point of his blade between him and it.
I can’t let it bite me; I have to strike it if it attempts to lunge.
The creature was definitely planning something, the subtle tone of its hisses and the slight opening of its jaw alluded to that and yet the creature did little more than remain rooted in place and swing its head around slightly.
An action mimicked completely by the second head facing his companion.
It can’t move, both heads are trying to take the body in opposite directions.
Even with his annoyance over the situation, Rohl had to admit it was a clever strategy and one he was sure could have been communicated verbally, but there was little point complaining about that now, especially when he still had to kill the beast in front of him.
For the moment, all he could bring himself to do was slowly move from side to side and keep his sword aimed towards its head. With the hydra’s beady eyes following his movements, Rohl knew he had little chance of striking the beast without getting bitten in return.
I don’t have the range, no way I get close without it striking me.
Rohl wasn’t confident enough in his abilities to attempt to dodge its attack and neither did he feel comfortable throwing his weapon at the beast either.
They were in a stalemate and one Rohl had no idea how to end. With his companion surely in the same situation as him, Rohl couldn’t help but take one eye away from his foe to glance at how she was doing.
The elf had dropped her sword on the ground and had instead decided to face this enemy with her bow once again, she had an arrow drawn, ready and aimed perfectly at the hydra’s remaining head and yet her arrow remained fixed in her grasp.
Why isn’t she firing, with hers dead, we could finish the other one together.
Almost as if she had been waiting for the thought, the elf finally loosed her arrow and seemed to smile slightly as it pierced clearly through the hydra’s head and lodged itself in the back of the other.
After one last death flair, the hydra’s body finally collapsed onto the ground, still and unmoving.
Okay, I get it, if they didn’t die at the same time, then one head could have full control of the body but still, if she had missed.
Even with the immediate danger over, Ell had yet to stow her weapons and celebrate their victory, instead, she dropped her bow, picked up her sword and began to cleave away at the hydra’s body. In just a few clean strikes, all three of the hydra’s heads had been separated and its body divided up into three equal chunks.
The sight combined with fresh blood streaming out of the chunks did make for a gruesome sight and yet Rohl couldn’t turn away, he was far too absorbed in what he was seeing.
Even after cleaving apart the body, the elf wasn’t done, she pushed away its heads with her sword and attempted to cover them with as much dirt as she could force up.
“Bury the head of any hydra you kill. Its body is edible, so get to work.”
As much as Rohl wanted to rush to obey, he was somewhat torn on doing so, he desperately wanted the food and yet he wasn’t too keen on attempting to harvest the beast. He simply lacked the knowledge on how to prepare it.
But just before he could ask, the possibility was taken from him. Its body began to slowly absorb into the ground as the dungeon finally reclaimed its property.
Dammit, we needed the food.
Neither Rohl nor Ell verbally outed their anger or frustration, but Rohl could tell from the elf’s changing posture how she must be feeling. She seemed barely able to restrain herself from striking at another tree and instead contented herself with a few slow breaths and a tightening grip on her sword.
Rohl however had other thoughts demanding his attention, he had resisted the urge for a while but now with no other source of food, Rohl could no longer resist the rumbling of his stomach or the few offshoots of pain in released into him.
I held off for a good while but any longer and I’ll risk my strength failing.
He desperately wished he didn’t have to eat the black roots, they were his ticket to financial freedom, and one of the main reasons he had seen this quest through. Eating them was a blow by itself but now he had no choice but to slip one out his knapsack and slowly consume it.
As it turned out the twig had a rather rough, thin texture to it with an altogether earthy taste to it.
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The taste is what you’d expect but for a tree type creature, it’s not that bad.
Rohl couldn’t say he exactly enjoyed the taste or likely got many nutrients for it but for what it was, it was a decent emergency survival food, if a costly one. However, it took a few chews for him to be able to comfily swallow the root and simply contented himself with watching the elf’s rage as he did so.
Once she had finished her anger and fastened her cloak over her shoulders, it seemed they were once again ready to continue their apparently endless escape from the dungeon.
And it did seem endless, Rohl had somewhat lost track of just how many days they had been trapped here. Even if he discounted the days, they had simply been on the forest’s outskirts and not the dungeon, it had to have been a week or nearing it at least. That or the dungeon was simply playing tricks with them.
Would anyone even come searching for us? How many adventurers set off to never return?
If they sent parties after every adventuring group, surely, they'd just be putting more bodies at risk, plus the expense would just get greater with every missing party. But still, they were exploring a region marked for deforestation, surely other groups would have to come even if to fulfil the quest.
I don’t know much about Ell, maybe she has people who’ll search for her.
It was a possibility but one Rohl doubted, if she had anyone else in the city, Rohl assumed they would have joined them on the quest. That greatly limited the number of possible people who would search for them, apart from Quinn and his group, Rohl knew no one capable enough to come rescue them and even then, it was doubtful Quinn's party would risk themselves for him once more, he had like the group but hadn’t exactly had time to grow close to them.
Just us then.
The thought was hardly a reassuring one but one that also changed nothing about their current predicament or strategy. Ell was still guiding them through the forest, still searching for a way out. Rohl knew nothing of what was going through her head but if she was still pushing forward, then Rohl definitely wasn’t going to stop either.
I convinced her to not give up, least I can do is not falter myself.
That reassurance would content him for now but Rohl doubted he had the strength to do this indefinitely, vengeance for his family was a hell of a motivator but it couldn’t give him the physical or mental strength to escape a dungeon.
Whatever happens, we need to take this slow, not exert ourselves and above all do not get injured. Avoid whatever fights we need to and avoid detection.
This leg of their journey required stealth and compared to his earlier abilities, Rohl knew for a fact he was getting better at that. Whilst he was a far cry from his companions’ abilities, his steps were far softer and quieter than they had been. He may still have to watch the ground in front of him as he stepped but he could at least do it slightly faster than he had previously.
I am improving if slowly.
Ell hadn’t said anything about his increased speed but given what she was like, the lack of outspoken criticism was about as close to a compliment on his abilities as he was going to get.
His companion could creep through the forest with far more stealth and grace than he likely ever would, compared with her sharper senses, Rohl was by far the weaker of the two.
I should probably thank her for not leaving me here.
Such a conversation could wait for now, it was far too dangerous for them to begin speaking casually, if any monster heard them talk, it could easily mean their end. But with the sky once again beginning to darken, they might have a chance to converse before they slept. If they found a suitable sleeping area that was, they had gotten lucky the previous few nights, but eventually, they would end up either sleeping on the forest floor or up one of the many trees that surrounded them.
Neither option was preferable and each was fraught with dangers but compared to continuing their hike in the pitch darkness of night, they didn’t have a choice.
Either through the dungeon’s own mechanisms or simply because Rohl was getting far too distracted with his own thoughts and his constant scouring of his surroundings, but the night seemed to creep up on him far faster than he believed possible.
He did feel as tired and aching as you might expect of someone who had spent all day walking but still, he felt night had come far too soon.
I must be getting lost in the monotony of the day. Doing the same stuff day in and day out without end must really mess with you. That or it’s another reason to hate this bloody dungeon. It must just be messing with us, with the kind of strength they possess, we should have been slaughtered by powerful monsters ages ago, or is Ell just good enough to avoid them?
Rohl’s questions seemed endless and once night truly fell, he might have a chance to answer some, but first, he had to ask another question of the elf, one that had to be decided upon now.
“Do we continue on or sleep here?”
Rohl’s words did make his companion stop in her tracks and whilst it was hard to tell from his angle, she did seem to grimace slightly at them. As if it was a question, she was hoping not to have to answer.
“With your pitiful abilities, we can’t risk continuing on tonight.”
The added insult seemed unneeded to Rohl, but he was not going to bother commenting on it, instead, he focused his next words towards their plan for the night.
“So, what do we do?”
“Sleeping in the open is too risky, we’ll have to climb, but before you do anything stupid clear the tree first,” Ell answered before carefully selecting the most suitable tree in their vicinity.
After signalling it with a small tilt of the head, Ell drew her weapon and slowly began to approach.
Rohl was soon to follow but not before quickly assessing it for himself. It did seem a suitable enough location, one that was large enough to prevent any monsters from Reaching them from the ground but also thick enough to be able to support their weight. The tree appeared to be suitable enough, that was if they could be sure no spirits were held within.
After readying his own blade, Rohl stepped before the tree and once again released his blessing, as he had somewhat expected, there was no response. If that was from the lack of spirits or the dungeon's influence, Rohl couldn’t be sure.
But with his blessing proving futile, Ell moved onto her apparent backup plan, hack, slash, and chip at the tree in the hope of drawing any monsters out. However, with her efforts leaving little more than a scarred tree and no enemies, they couldn’t be completely sure the tree was safe.
A fact that didn’t seem to bother his companion particularly much, in a series of graceful fluid movements, she scaled up the trunk of the tree, using its branches like steps in a staircase.
It was a feat Rohl knew he could never repeat but with Ell no sat on one of the higher branches looking down on him, it was one he would have to try and replicate somehow. If he stretched as such as possible, he could just about grasp a dead outcrop of branch, it was hardly a truly handheld but one he could somewhat use to pull himself up with.
With somewhat pained limbs, Rohl somehow found the strength to lift the upper part of his body, while pushing against the trees' thick truck with his feet. In this position, he could somewhat force his body higher up the tree, just to the point where he could attempt to wrap his legs around the closest branch.
Once he had secured and found new handholds, it was much easier for him to secure his position before forcing himself up the branch and into a sitting position.
It had been far less graceful than the elf’s climb, but it had got the job done and given the slight laughter, Rohl could hear from above, it had also provided some much-needed entertainment for his companion.
That’s the hard part done at least.
From his new position, it was far easier for Rohl to clamber up the remainder of the tree’s branches, before taking a somewhat shaky seat beside his companion.
Ignoring the mirth that still remained fixed in her eyes, Rohl gave her a glance that could only mean one thing.
So, what now? Oh, woah woah, don’t look down, I really don’t need that right now.
“Take this.”
With his eyes staring directly at his companion, Rohl did his best to grab the offered dagger, all whilst doing his best not to look down. Something he did much easier than he had.
“Carve a deep ring around the tree branch, old hunters trick, any spirit will have to heal the wound to be able to pass through,” Ell spoke next, as if she had already known what he was going to ask.
And with the unspoken question answered, Rohl got to work carving out as much of the branch as he could, a task made a little harder by the fact his eyes were glued to the canopy around him.
He could see quite a distance into the forest, with its endless green spreading as far as his eyes could see. If it wasn’t for the fact that part to the forest was simply a dungeon in disguise, the sight would surely have been a beautiful one.
“Stop you idiot, you’re cutting a circle, not sawing the branch off.”
With a somewhat sheepish look, Rohl passed the blade back without stopping to look at the scarred tree he had left behind.
The tree should be clear, but some extra warning is always good, still not sure how we're meant to sleep up here, the branch is hardly spacious.
There was no chance of him being able to sleep on the branch without falling off, it was far too thin and open to the air to allow easy sleeping. Still, it didn’t seem the elf shared his worries if the slight rustling she made as she searched her own knapsack was anything to go by.
After a short moment, Rohl had an idea of her plan as his companion drew out a small neatly tied-up rope.
“We’ll take shifts and make sure you tie yourself securely to the branch,” Ell said with a look that gave the impression that she truly thought there was a chance he would end up falling out of the tree during his sleep.
He did have to admit the idea was a decent one, especially having one of them keep watch and given how the elf was already using the rope to secure her waist to the branch below, he also had a good idea of who would be keeping watch first.
Unlike some of their previous nights, there was no small discussion or planning before they slept, simply a calm silence that was occasionally interrupted by the sounds of the forest. None of which brought any comfort to Rohl as he attempted to take up his role of lookout.
I can barely see anything, if it wasn’t for the full moon, I’d barely be able to see a thing. This is going to be a long night.
Much to his surprise, his companion didn’t seem to have the same worries as him and had apparently been able to sleep within mere moments of securing themselves to the branch below. A feat that was extra impressive given how little room she had and how bumpy and uncomfortable the sleeping place was.
She must be taking this harder than she lets on.
His companion wasn’t the easiest person to read and was far from open with him, but the situation they were in was one that even the toughest adventurer would struggle with. It was difficult not to feel overwhelmed and overstretched by their situation, they had little food, few resources and even less hope of actually escaping this peril.
I don’t even know where to begin, all I can do is put one foot ahead of the other, but for how long, how long until a monster gets us, or we run out of food? This can’t go on for much longer.
“How did it ever come to this?”