The area that had suffered from the battle had returned to quite a normal state. The stone had been repaired, cleared of all the viscera, and all that was left were pieces of armor.
Evelyn looked to Maidrin wondering if they would react, yet none appeared as Adrith said, “We’ll collect these and move on, nothing else here”.
Evelyn nodded, she was at first incredibly happy, in her heart she felt a weight being lifted, yet with how both of them reacted, it felt like at this moment it was a hollow moment. She pursed her lips as she drew in her thoughts for a moment and began to help Adrith collect the items. Maidrin watched as they placed the items onto the golden disc before they left.
The travel was quiet, Evelyn realized now both her traveling partners were quiet types. She could at least do well with Adrith as he would answer what she asked. His only issue in her mind is that she never sparked conversation unless necessary, and he keeps talking briefly. Maidrin on the other hand did not speak. If she had not heard Maidrin speak before, Evelyn would have assumed Maidrin was dumb.
Evelyn still tried to spark some kind of talking, the walking was boring, and the combat seemed almost dull in comparison to what they have now accomplished, “Most of the monsters here seem weaker for some reason, do you know why that might be Adrith?”
Adrith spoke while never turning from the path ahead, “Most likely from both their group coming down and the Chimera Dragon rising”. He made a light gesture behind him, about where a monster can acclimate.
Evelyn nodded as she followed up, “I thought monsters didn’t need to eat”.
Adrith nodded lightly to himself, “Yes, they don’t. However the more monster cores a monster can acclimate, and the more dense those cores are, the stronger the monster becomes”
Evelyn continued, wishing to fill her time, “Well, wouldn’t that just make monsters stronger overall? Since all the monsters will be hunting each other more vigorously to survive against bigger monsters?”
Adrith shook his head, “No. Monsters will go after other monsters not like them, yet as we go higher monsters will work more and more together as they all share similar traits. Most of the ‘Strong’ monsters would be closer to the Chimera Dragon’s areas of ascent and would be eaten first”
Evelyn nodded her head. She thought momentarily as she tried to ask Maidrin, “Where were you all last camped?”
Maidrin took a few moments, “A day away”
Evelyn was confused for a moment as she asked Adrith, “How far would someone get with a day's travel?”
Adrith thought for a moment and said, “If they were below this floor, then got here, they are either on the floor above us or the next one”
Evelyn nodded her head as she looked to Maidrin again, “Did you set spares in the area in case?”
Maidrin just shook their head.
Evelyn sighed, she was now filled with worry as she thought about the group being naked and unable to defend themselves while they traveled up nicely and calmly. Evelyn turned to Adrith, yet before she could speak, he did, “Running is not an option”
Evelyn glared at Adrith for a moment before she saw something coming from Maidrin. She could see from Maidrin’s helm, a constant build-up of breath, movement in the shoulder and armpit armor large torso movement, and the hands seeming to droop. Maidrin was winded, Evelyn expected such a thing from heavy armor, yet she did not expect to see such a thing down here. Maybe it was because of her interactions with Adrith painting her image of what someone in full armor should look like.
Evelyn shook her head as she kept following, her questions never ceased, and now she felt very comfortable in her journey in the dungeon. Many of the monsters here were ones she knew. Yet that still did not take away the horror of the dungeons. Even if she knew what to expect, to see it was a different story.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
After a day's travel, following Maidrin at times as they knew where they last slept, they heard the wailing and crying of people. Maidrin was the first to rush forward, Adrith turned to Evelyn, “Stay behind us”.
Evelyn nodded her head as the two of them ran forward. Catching up with Maidrin to find a group of 10 strange shadow creatures attacking what seemed to be a large group of naked people. Maidrin made it to the fight first with a large swing of their massive sword. Cleaving into one of the monsters as it was at that moment knew what she was facing. These monsters were very notorious on the lower floors when she ventured into them. They were beasts made of a shadowy liquid that changed shape and form. They could hide in the many shadows the dungeons had. When they attack, they often take the form of a large slug creature that has either a large singular serrated tentacle or multiple smaller barbed tentacles.
Evelyn saw the creature split in half as she yelled out, “Watch-”, she then noticed nothing happen. She saw that the Shadow Beast did nothing. She looked confused as she knew that when Shadow Beasts were cut in half by mundane weapons, they would become 2 Shadow Beasts.
Evelyn watched as Adrith stood by and allowed Maidrin to deal with the Shadow Beasts. She looked at him with curiosity, she couldn’t tell what was going on in his head. Yet from what she could see, Maidrin was handling the fighting quite well. Better than she could have expected. Evelyn moved to Adrith and she asked him, “Why aren’t you fighting?”
Adrith answered cooly, “Why aren’t you?”
Evelyn looked at him with a face of annoyance, “You asked me to stay back behind your two”
Adrith nodded his head, “Correct”
Evelyn turned to now try and look into the slits of his helm. She wasn’t sure if there was a creature in there controlling him as she then continued, “Well why are we doing nothing and having Maidrin do all the fighting?”
Adrith spoke never turning to Evelyn, “We have no need. Besides, their sword is magical, there’s no worry”
Evelyn nodded herself, “Yes, I noticed that now. But does that matter?”
Adrith was quiet for a moment. It took a second before he then spoke, “The symbol on the cross guard”
Evelyn quickly asked, “A symbol on the cross guard? What is it some insignia?”
Evelyn turned back to the fighting and saw that the 10 Shadow Beasts were dealt with with surprising speed. Maidrin was kneeling over the people at the moment, many of them had lost limbs and taken serious injuries, yet none died. Evelyn then saw Adrith then make his way forward, leaving any questions she has unanswered for now.
Even sighed as she made her way over with Adrith. There she saw that the group was made up of 9 people. Each one was completely naked, she noticed 2 people instantly, the woman who rode her Wishing Star, and the axeman who died in the Chimera Dragon’s attack. She took a gasp of air as she made her way to her Wishing Star and grabbed the woman’s staff, “Hey! Here, I have your staff, you can heal yourselves”
The woman took the staff and said, “Thank you”. Her voice was shaking, yet she was hearty enough to be able to keep it steady her voice so she was able to chant.
“Guide me, oh divine lords of above, give onto us your embrace, judge me”
“Usher me, oh lords of life, give to your children your eternal grace, deem me”
“Deliver me, your healing embrace to ward of that quiet night, through me, heal”
A cool blue light began to move through the woman’s body. Surrounding her like a dress made of water as it rose higher and higher before the water condensed and began to shine a brilliant gold and began to pour down onto herself and those near her. She took a breath in and sighed heavily. Evelyn could think that the energy use must have been great, yet she was very impressed. A healing like that was quite the spell to learn.
Evelyn turned to the rest as she said, “On this disc are all the things we picked up along the way, take what you need”.
Evelyn then held her hand to her chest as she said, “My name is Evelyn Lucero, and my compatriot-”, Evelyn turned to Adrith as he spoke, “Name’s Adrith”. Evelyn nodded as she then continued, “-are planning to leave the dungeon. Please take what you need and we can head off”.
The others looked among themselves and nodded as they began to make their way to the disc. Maidrin seemed to be stand-offish as she then saw on the center of the cross guard of their sword what seemed to be the head of a lion. Then along the cross guard were depictions of wolves, with the cross guard itself seeming to take a more wing-like structure. She nodded to herself as she moved over to Adrith to ask him now that they were distracted, “What’s so special about the cross guard?”
Adrith was quiet for a moment, he was leaning on the wall as he seemed to be looking off towards the path in front of them, but Evelyn could tell that he was most likely eyeing up Maidrin. Adrith then spoke, “That blade is the Standard of Leadership. A sword held by a knight captain”