Chapter 33: Lupaken, City of Wolfkin, City of [Natural Dungeons]

Verity sat, stunned, in Rei’s office. She wanted to be mad, but the events she had just experienced were so baffling to her that the only thing she could feel was confusion. She had bought something, it had been stolen right in front of her, and she had been thanked for it.

She had never experienced anything quite like it.

Rei was on the other side of the room sitting at a writing desk as she slowly ripped her quill apart in fury. After all of the tufts had been ripped off the quill, she stared at it for a long moment before turning to Verity.

“I’m very sorry for this, I don’t know how Damus manipulated things, but I promise you on my honor that I’ll help you recover what has been lost. The next [Holy Crystal] is on me.” She forced a joking and friendly expression onto her face.

Verity stared at her for a long moment, then asked, “What are the odds that I’ll win if I request arbitration?”

Rei shook her head, “Practically none, Damus is a devotee to the God of Truth, and in good standing with most citizens. He’s also done something that would be called ‘good’ by many. Offering that [Holy Crystal] to the gods would be considered a better use of it than giving it to you. I don’t know what kind of half-truths he had to use to manipulate the records, but he hasn’t been punished by the God of Truth for violating any of his oaths - not yet at any rate.

“For the average person, that’s enough proof that he’s in the right. The oaths he’s made seem absolute to outsiders, but he and I know they aren’t.” Rei fell silent for a second, staring at Verity, “I’m sorry you got caught up in this - he wasn’t always like this. I don’t know where I went wrong, or where he went wrong, but he’s been behaving badly for the past few years.

“We grew up together, we joined the Temple at about the same time, and we’ve been comrades for years. We were a part of the first successful team to slay Alphis the Champion of Blood in the [Hallowed Graveyard]. We’ve had each other’s back endlessly! But two years ago, something changed. He backed away from me completely, we’re even sleeping in separate rooms now, and it’s only gotten worse as time passed…”

“Wait for a moment,” Verity said, forcefully stopping Rei with a raised hand, “Sleeping in separate rooms?”

“Yes,” Rei said, nodding with a surprised expression, “We’re married, didn’t you know?”

“Uhh, no? I had no clue at all!”

Rei gave Verity a wan smile, “Well, we are. We’ve been married for 25 years. 26 years in two months.”

“You two don’t act like it!”

“We did at one point, but not anymore. Anyway, that’s not important right now, what is important is what you’re gonna do next.”

Verity let out a long sigh, “What can I do next but wait? I can’t exactly ask you to buy another [Holy Crystal] for me, it’s not your fault and I have a decent idea how much you’re paid.”

Rei winced at Verity’s blunt words, but shook her head and said, “I need to repay you for the actions my husband took. You don’t need to worry, I’ll go retrieve one personally.” She added in a low voice, as if talking to herself, “It might take me a bit of time though.”

There were only a few dungeons that could even drop a [Holy Crystal], and while the [Hallowed Graveyard] had the highest drop rate for them, it was common to go six months or more before seeing another one. The [Hellbound Exorcists] that dropped them the most often weren’t desirable targets for most, which only heightened the issue. It would be difficult for Rei to hunt them on her own since they were creatures of [Holy] and [Corruption]. They were naturally resistant to the kind of damage she could do, and the Level penalty would only make the situation worse.

Verity thought about it. She had a lot of the reward from the natural dungeon left, but she also had to buy gear and stood in need of other items. The was no real way for her to purchase a second [Holy Crystal] and still be able to do everything she needed to.

Verity slowly shrugged, “Sure, I can give you time. I’m really sorry I can’t pass up on your offer, but I can’t afford to be left behind…”

“You plan on joining Crimson’s party, yes?” Rei asked.

Verity nodded. She had already joined, but until Crimson surpassed [Brass] class, he couldn’t formally register a party with the guild, so it was informal.

She grimaced at Verity’s action, “I owe that kid a lot, I’d rather not owe him anymore. I don’t think I’ll be able to look him in the eye until I replace what is rightfully yours.”

Verity’s mind immediately caught on to what Rei had said, and asked, “You…owe him a lot? How?”

How does a High Priestess owe anything to a little kid?

Rei gave her a long side glance, appearing to debate over what to say, then spoke, “Look, you and I both know that he’s not that strong, he’s strong for his age, and he’s strong by Falst standards, but by the rest of the world he’s only a bit above average amongst his age group. Pure might is not where he excels anyway.”

Verity nodded. Environment had a large effect on people, if he had been somewhere with a higher amount of average strength, he would have been more powerful. She had received that type of benefit herself, the Barren Wastes had helped her grow up stronger than she would’ve in Falst.

Rei continued, “The only thing that puts him above average is his [Skill] with a sword. There aren’t many that reach that high of a level with [Mastery Skills] - even in their old age, and I only know about how high it is because he told me.”

Verity agreed, she knew that personally. Her [Martial Mastery Skill] had stalled once it reached Lv.40. Crimson seemed to know a trick of some kind that helped him avoid getting stalled there. It was also true that - physique-wise - he was completely average. Beastkin would probably consider him something like a bare minimum as their basic standard for physical ability was naturally higher. Elves would consider him to be on the upper end of average or the lower end of above average. Physically, his greatest talent was his endurance. He could perform any exercise without stopping for hours.

When it came to magic, he had a unique and deep understanding of how it worked, but knowledge isn’t a banner that can be seen waving in the air. The spells he knew how to cast weren’t impressive, just the basics, so his knowledge went unnoticed by all but a few. Previously, he had been nothing short of a genius for being able to cast as many spells as he could before getting his [Blessing]. Once he received his [Blessing], his ability would only be rated as average - certainly not at the level of a genius. That kind of rating would necessitate learning extremely difficult spells, and not having an extreme understanding of the basics.

However, Rei didn’t know about the limitations the gods placed on Crimson - his Rizvim. There was more to him than either of them could see.

Rei continued, “While Crimson is moderately impressive in his own age group, there are really only two things that truly set him apart from others. The first is his fanatical devotion to working hard. He pushes himself inhumanly far for minimal payoffs and is willing to accept a significant amount of pain in the process. However, this difference less apparent in other countries where the people need to gain higher levels to survive. Additionally, there are others outside of Falst who are willing to push themselves as hard as he does, though they are few in number.”

Rei grinned at Verity, “But the other thing that sets him apart is unfathomable. He shouldn’t stand out as much as he does, but he has a way of getting caught in your mind, and wanting you to do better.”

Verity felt she partially understood what Rei was saying, but asked for clarification.

“Since Crimson showed up in Falst, people started to take notice of him. When he stands out, people see his effort and they feel inspired to change too. I don’t have any evidence that it’s him, just a gut feeling, but attendance in the temple is higher than normal, and our [Priests] have abruptly become a lot stronger. My gut feeling makes me think he’s somehow the one who did it.

“I’ve made progress on [Skills] that haven’t grown for years, I’ve felt more determined to level up, and it’s not just me. Other people who were stuck suddenly overcame walls before them, became more motivated, and managed to move beyond where they were. I guess that it’s all him causing these things.”

Verity scratched her head with an awkward expression, “Yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I couldn’t make progress with my [Martial Mastery Skill] for years, then he comes along, and suddenly I level it up past 50 almost overnight. It’s definitely him, and I don’t know why it happens, and I don’t think he realizes that it’s happening, but it is.

“I could chalk it up to his advice, but to be frank, his advice wasn’t so good back then. It’s gotten better, and he still has a bad habit of giving vague advice at times, but just being around him has made me want to be stronger…and I don’t know why.”

Rei shrugged, “Maybe a [Skill] or a [Title] he has gives that effect and he hasn’t said what it is, which is fair enough. [Skills] are a very private thing, it’s not often to reveal what you have to others.”

Verity didn’t feel the need to mention that Crimson likely wouldn’t be able to tell if he had a [Skill] of that nature due to being unable to read [Skill] descriptions.

“Anyway, I got off track,” Rei said, “I’ll see what I can do about your [Holy Crystal]. How soon do you need it?”

Feeling a bit rueful, Verity said, “As soon as possible. I need it before I can get my new [Class].”

“Oh…” the apologetic look from Rei intensified.

————

Crimson had spent the last few days miserable. It felt akin to a relapse. He’d started going to bed later and getting up later - even if it was only a little. He was neglecting a lot of his usual training, and he’d felt like there were lead weights in his gut and on his back. He could see himself regressing to the same wretch from his past life. The one who had chosen not to try.

For the first time in a while, he loathed himself.

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In an effort to distract himself and set his misery aside, Crimson had been productive. His days were spent running back and forth, doing what he’d been hired for, writing. He spent his time tracing words in large fonts on banners and signs. The wooden signs would then be painted, while the cloth ones would be embroidered. He’d completely lost count of the number of words he’d written, but it was no less than a few hundred. They were being hung at every street corner on the ground, and every switchback on the mountain. Many of them were hung outside of homes or places of relevance, and others were being attached to carts.

Even in his depressed state, Crimson was still fast. He’d finished most of the signs earlier that day, and had switched over to help with the stitching on the cloth banners. That task had finished less than a few hours after he joined in. Admittedly, he hadn’t sped the process up much, if at all. The actual [Tailors] were excellent at their job and hadn’t needed him, but he needed something to keep himself busy.

His supervisor was Ryn, the servant of Reah who hated Nav. He’d thought she’d be petty and harass him, but she hadn’t done anything of the sort. He was left to assume that she didn’t bother him since he was doing his job well. She just kept giving him more work.

It was part of the Lupaken culture for the heads of each household to send a formal greeting to both the Chief and their Heir during the Heir’s Coming of Age Ceremony, this greeting was given in person verbally and recorded by a scribe like Crimson during the actual ceremony.

Families of lower standing would send a written greeting with some rare exceptions. There were too many households to finish the ceremony in time otherwise. Crimson had been visiting those families with another Wolfkin as his guide, recording their words on a high-quality piece of paper, and keeping an inventory of what they declared they would offer as a tribute for Tsiva’s - the Heir’s - birthday.

The Chief needed to be the strongest in the tribe. Offering support so the heir could get stronger as fast as possible was an encouraged practice in the tribe. For the families that couldn’t afford to give anything, there was no punishment or discrimination, which Crimson found fascinating. There was a strong indifference towards wealth as a concept because all that mattered to the Wolfkin was strength. For the ones that couldn’t offer material goods, it was common to pledge their skills and abilities to the heir of the chief to do what was needed. By that same token, it wasn’t considered more noble to offer more to the heir, rather it was asked that everyone put the best thing they could offer forward.

One of the families he’d visited had a circumstance like that, they were reasonably wealthy, likely just barely in the upper class using human standards of wealth. They didn’t pledge a single piece of money, rather, the youngest son was offered as a potential party member. Crimson’s partner, a man who was guiding him to the different households to visit, in addition to actually leading the formalized part of the greeting, didn’t even blink and had instructed him to record it.

He spent his time between each house brooding about his situation. It was completely his fault, he was aware. He had nothing to lose by at least attempting to assist Rhea with her issue, and he genuinely wanted to try. Alois had offered a good reward for his efforts, and it was likely that helping her would allow him to study mana in a way he never had before, but…

For as pathetic as it was, his response to being threatened was to completely reject Alois. Even after all his weak-minded brooding, the only solution he could see that satisfied his pathetic pride was waiting till the wolfkin died, then helping his daughter. He was close to his deathbed, close enough that a few years of waiting would see Crimson freed, but he didn’t want to wait that long. It would be a waste of time, and he would only regress further. It would take opportunities and events away from him, things he didn’t want to lose. So his frustration grew.

It was in this circular logic that Crimson had been trapped for the last week, meals with Alois, Nav, and Rhea had a palpable tension in the air as the stress between them scratched the mood. Rhea - who seemed to be perpetually grumpy - grew angrier the longer the tension dragged on, while Nav seemed to shrink smaller in proportion to her anger. Crimson and Alois silently avoided each other, mutually frustrated at the other while simultaneously ashamed to look the other in the eye.

Dinner of the third day, the one who finally cracked with the hair on her tail sticking up, was Rhea.

“What in the name of the accursed gods is going on between you two?” She roared at them with an extremely vulgar curse, food going flying as she gesticulated wildly. “I’ve had enough of this, just punch each other in the face and move on!”

Alois turned to her, “I would advise you-“

“Stitch your mouth shut! I don’t want to hear it, just fix it!”

She was turning red in the face from her shouting. Crimson had a hand over the ear closest to her because of the noise.

Alois attempted to speak again, “Rhea, I-“

“Fix! It!” She growled out in a low voice.

After a long pause, one Crimson felt no obligation to end, Alois spoke, “I made a mistake I cannot go back on, I promised by my honor to do something horrible, and Crimson rightly refuses to back down.”

“And what would that be?” Rhea asked with a growl.

“He uhh…that he would…attempt…to treat your illness,” Alois said, awkwardly, with a completely straight back.

It was Crimson’s first time seeing Rhea surprised. The hair on her tail stood on end, more like a cat’s tail than a wolf’s, and her ears started twitching all over as she stared at Alois with her mouth open.

Then, Rhea glared at the two of them with bloodlust, “I can’t believe you two. My ‘illness’ is something that can never be treated! Affinities are the way that they are. I have been cursed by the gods, there is nothing that can happen that will change that! If this boy promised or said anything to you, Father, then he is a charlatan.”

She focused on Crimson, “What did my father ‘swear on his honor’ to do if you weren’t able to heal me?”

Crimson responded bluntly, “Lupaken is my prison.”

Rhea let out a long sigh, “Then, here’s what we’ll do-“

Abruptly, a horn was blown. It was deep and loud, enough so to pierce into the room that they were in on top of the mountain. It echoed three times before falling silent.

After a long moment of quiet, Alois spoke, “Nav, go attend the meeting for us. Rhea, Crimson, we shall continue this conversation later.”

Crimson was able to tell how serious the situation was, so he was willing to let the conversation go, but he couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of meeting is this?”

Rhea was the one to respond, “It means that a Natural Dungeon has been spotted. The meeting is to determine who needs to conquer it before it breaks open. If it’s too late for us to do that, then we’ll need to arrange defensive lines. Well,” she said, looking bitter, “those who are strong enough will defend. The rest of us will cower like little slimes, waiting to be squished.”

Nav, who was ducking out the door, said, “don’t be so pessimistic, I’ll bring good news!”

After Nav left, they all separated to their usual tasks. Typically, Crimson would be preparing for bed, but he went and sat by the fire to mess with his magic until Nav returned. He was trying to figure out what made a [Fire] spell over any other element, in the hope that it would help with his magic creation. It took Nav, with his higher stats, just 10 minutes to completely descend the mountain. So, theoretically, the soonest they could possibly hear anything would be in half an hour.

—————

It was nearly three hours later that Nav barged back into the room, out of breath. He made enough of a ruckus that there was no need to tell Alois or Rhea, they popped out of their rooms immediately at the noise. Rhea arrived first, Alois last, and they all arrived around the kitchen table.

Nav spoke first before anyone could ask, “There was a [Natural Dungeon] sighted about 15 miles west-southwest of Lupaken.”

Alois noted in a low voice, “That’s pretty close.”

Nav gave a jerky nod in response, “Yeah, our scouting teams managed to overlook it, being as close as it was. The dungeon will descend tomorrow.”

The air in the room grew cold, Nav’s words had a greater chilling effect than any blizzard.

“T-tomorrow?” Rhea asked.

Before her question could be answered, Alois asked, “What level?”

With a big grimace, Nav said, “I don’t remember its name, but it is a [Level 53 Elemental Titan] dungeon. Since it's going to descend, we won’t need to worry about any restrictions, and the scouts reported no flying monsters, so the plan is to keep them from getting close. The Chief will be leading a party to hunt any [Boss] they come across, while three other teams are tasked with hunting the others. They set out immediately to surround the area, and map out what will be affected.”

“What kind of terrain will we have to deal with?” Alois asked.

“That’s the best news of the day,” returned Nav, “it seems like it’s just going to be a small valley. Nothing like the lava lakes from six years ago.”

Crimson listened quietly to all the news. It was surprising that they didn’t search more diligently in areas closer to Lupaken, but it also answered a question he’d been nursing for a bit.

The entire city was extremely fortified, it was hard on non-combatants, and had a militaristic nature, but he couldn’t see any threats. Well, here was his answer: they had to deal with an inordinate amount of [Natural Dungeons]. The closest [Godmade Dungeon] as the crow flies was five days away, but the most effective traveling route put Falst as the closest city to find a [Natural Dungeon]. That meant that all the Wolfkin became strong by fighting against [Natural Dungeons].

The next thing he noticed was the attitudes around the table. The room had been a little stressed, but fine until Nav had mentioned that the Dungeon was Descending tomorrow. That was when Alois and Rhea had gotten stressed. Compared to Falst, they seemed a lot more used to this situation. Just hearing that a [Natural Dungeon] existed had caused panic in Falst, and it was nothing compared to this.

The other thing that he noted was the verbiage. They might’ve been speaking Kiiwolf, but the word they used definitely translated to ‘descent’ not ‘break.’ In Falst, the term had always been “Dungeon Break,” not “Dungeon Descent.” From what they were talking about with terrain, he had a guess, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

Alois and Nav started discussing other key factors involved with the situation, but what the were discussing included too many names Crimson didn’t know to follow the conversation.

Deciding that tomorrow would be a busy day, Crimson turned in, silently excusing himself and going to his room. Despite the stressful situation he would be facing tomorrow, it still didn’t take long for the peace of sleep to take him.

—————

Crimson slept in as long as he could. It was a rare thing for him, but when he’d woken up at his usual time - which he hadn’t done for a few days - he made the conscious decision to roll over and go back to sleep. While he might not be involved in the Dungeon Descent, it would be for the best if he was as rested as possible.

Blearily, he eventually got up at what he guessed was 09:00 and wandered out to the remaining scraps of breakfast. After wolfing down the small amount of food, he ignored the gurgling complaints of his own stomach, informing him that it wasn’t enough, even for the small amount of food he usually ate. He showered, got ready, then walked out on to the path outside the den to discover where Alois and Rhea were.

They were both leaning on the railing, their heads turned to the right to face the direction they’d heard that the [Natural Dungeon] was in.

There was two other people there with them. One was a familiar face, the other wasn’t. The first was Talis, the kid from morning training with the greedy eyes. The other was a Dwarf who looked like him but was a little shorter and significantly more rotund.

Crimson habitually walked quietly, so the only ones to notice him before he joined them at the rail were the wolfkin, with their better hearing. Rhea turned back to him, and with a grin that was all teeth, said, “You’re just in time, it’s about to begin.”

He opted not to lean on the rail and instead took a few steps back to get a clear view of what was going on. After just a few minutes of waiting, watching the forest, Crimson felt a massive wave of magic wash over him. It was like being next to a massive set of speakers right as they were turned on full blast. He could feel every inch of [Mana] in his body tremble in response to the wave he felt. Visually, it took a few seconds after that wave, but they could all see what happened next.

A wall of dark mist slowly expanded upward and crept around to form a dome around an area. From the point of origin, assumedly the gate, it started to fade away, leaving behind, not a forest, but a valley. Even the sky above the area seemed to be a different color, more of a red, for a few seconds before it slowly matched the new biome.

With a lump of nerves in his gut, Crimson squinted, and could just make out massive silhouettes stepping up out of the valley, only to be met with a few magic attacks. Even with his excellent perception, he couldn’t see the individual wolf kin, but he could tell from how some of the silhouettes twisted that they were being attacked.

Crimson didn’t get to be an audience for long, as he felt another wave of magic at his back, rattling his [Mana] and his bones along with it. Spinning around, he saw, less than five miles away, straight east of Lupaken, another dome of mist started to form.

He cursed instantly, then shouted, “There’s another one to the east!”

Everyone jerked around, and he was surrounded by curses and gasps from the rest of the group.

He’d been the only one to notice.

They all watched in horror as the dome finished forming, then slowly started to fade away like the first. This time, it wasn’t a little mountain that was left behind, but what looked like a slice taken from a massive cliff. The second the dungeon finished manifesting, parts of the cliff started to collapse, no longer supported by whatever they had been connected to prior. Five miles was enough for Crimson to see at least decently clearly, so he could see that some of the monsters were caught up in it, but the bigger issue was the flying monsters he could see taking off from caves in the cliffside. Some were squished as well, but it was fewer than the ones on the ground.

They didn’t have one [Natural Dungeon] to deal with. They had two.