Sasha was familiar with these two ancient relics. They came from a time before the Grand Soul Contract, before Hell’s Great Game began. When the god’s aggressively expanded their presence in Hell, surging beyond their original Divine Domains on the plane to make room for the newly proposed game.

In that time, Hell had many examples of its own flora and fauna, much of which had been processed back into the Higg afterwards as part of the game. But one of the casualties of that time of conflict, where agents of the gods fought empires of Natives, was this duo of megaflora.

“I wish I knew the specifics.” Sasha sighed. The historical texts she’d read never specified the function or capabilities of these plants, only that they had latent powers of their own, and seemed to have an important function in Hell’s ecosystem. But botany wasn’t a priority at the time. The only things included were some idle speculation, the names of the plants, and a sketch with a short description of their physical qualities.

At least Sasha could be confident that they’d located ‘the tree’ referenced by the Dungeon. After all, what else would it be? Finding out their goal immediately upon entering was a boon. On the negative side, Sasha had no idea under what conditions a Radiant Purgation Redwood would bloom, so they’d be waiting for an unknown amount of time.

Winding down the tree she’d climbed was easier than going up, as she strategically dropped down at several points to shorten the journey. She was careful not to take too big of a hit, as everything she was carrying experienced a fourth of the impact that she did. Some of the pottery Rick had made could shatter if she dropped too far.

Without anything pressing to speed her down, though, she made it to the ground with no issues. Rick was wandering around the tree, running his hand along various undergrowth and poking things with his shovel.

“What are you doing?” Sasha asked, slithering over to watch.

“Checkin’ for any magic nonsense. No idea what could be goin’ on in a Dungeon.” Rick shrugged and kept poking.

“And you think your shovel will be able to distinguish the magical and non-magical?” She asked.

RIck shrugged again, wincing as he did it. No doubt his bruised torso made that more painful than he was expecting. Not to mention the broken arm. But he soldiered on anyway. “I’m just lookin’ for anythin’ that doesn’t fit. You know, stuff that’s hot or cold in a way it shouldn’t be, reflectin’ light weirdly. Stuff that doesn’t fit the laws of nature I’m used to.”

“That’s not a terrible testing method, but I’m assuming some of these plants are from universes with natural laws completely different from your own. They might be magical in harmless ways.” Sasha looked around herself. After all, with a Radiant Purgation Redwood and Synergist Spirit Root in this Dungeon, it would be strange for the rest of the flora to be mundane. And world’s like Rick’s, ones without magic, were rare to find on the Material plane.

“Yup.” Rick nodded, pointing his shovel at a patch of lichen. “That one there changes its smell to match your favorite meal.”

“How do you know?”

“Cuz there ain’t no plant in existence that smells like my grandma’s seafood gumbo.”

“...Yeah, that would be weird.” slithering over, Sasha smelled the lichen with a flick of her tongue. It smelled exactly like one of Rick’s better cooking attempts he’d made over the last few months. Considering Rick’s food was the only thing she’d ever eaten, the options were limited. But she’d agree that that particular meal was her favorite so far.

“Didja see anythin’ interestin’ up there?” RIck asked.

Sasha explained what she’d found and her knowledge, or lack thereof, on the topic. She wished she had more information to give, but her sources were limited.

“Well, a big ol’ tree, eh? Sounds like fun! I suppose we should get closer to keep an eye on it, yeah?” Rick grinned like a child on a trip to an amusement park. Sasha could only roll her eyes at her charge’s enthusiasm for exploration and the unknown before winding her way up his shovel and arm to ride along.

As they traveled toward the Redwood and Spirit Root, not much changed about the surrounding forest. There was only one notable difference, and it was only apparent after they’d walked roughly a mile by Rick’s estimates.

“They’re definitely gettin’ bigger. And there’s more of ‘em to boot.” Rick frowned, rubbing his chin with his good hand. His shovel was planted into the ground next to the subject of their observation. The vines. The green-black vines that they’d seen everywhere upon entering the Dungeon had grown larger, to three times the circumference and half again the density compared to the rest of the surrounding plant life, which had remained constant.

“That seems concerning.”

Rick nodded. “When everythin’ else stays the same, it’s usually the changin’ bits that get you.”

He started to lean over toward the example they were looking at, only to stop midway, a grimace covering his face. “Actually, you mind takin’ a closer look? I’m…A bit tuckered out.”

Sasha had noticed Rick’s breathing growing heavier and heavier as they traveled, but didn’t comment. After all, they had little in the way of options, so acknowledging his current weakness didn’t help the situation. After all, Sasha couldn’t move him, and he walked faster than she could slither. And with the state he was in, she wasn’t about to leave him in the middle of the forest alone. For as lacking as her offensive capabilities were, Rick’s were worse right now.

She wordlessly wound down to get a closer look. A flick of her tongue revealed that the vine released a faintly greasy smell, one that stuck to her tongue in an uncomfortable way. She flicked a bit of dirt at it, and the loose brown detritus stuck to the surface. Curious, she grabbed a loose branch and poked it, finding the fallen tree limb stuck fast to the vine.

“It smells terrible, and is extremely sticky.” Sasha reported.

“Well, that might explain the other thing I’d noticed.” Rick frowned, looking up into the canopy above, which was also laden in vines.

“Which is?”

“No animals. Anywhere.” He waved his good arm upward.

Sasha stiffened. “Has it always…”

“Nahh,” RIck waved her off. “We heard plenty of critters when we entered. But that dropped off the farther we got. I’m thinkin’ that these sticky vines aren’t very friendly for smaller animals. If they’re that sticky, they’re likely to get caught.”

“That would make sense.” Sasha nodded. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed the gradual drop-off of animal activity. “But there’s another possible reason.”

“We’re walkin’ into the lion’s den.” Rick grimaced, and this time Sasha was sure it wasn’t due to his injuries.

“That would make sense for a survival Dungeon. A dangerous creature or group of creatures living near our objective. Which has some negative connotations.” Sasha sighed.

“Like what?”

“If ‘the tree’ has guardians, it’s unlikely that it will bloom unassisted.”

“You sure about that?” Looking at Rick’s face, Sasha knew he wasn’t doubting her, he just didn’t like the implications.

“That tends to be how these things go. If the survival goal didn’t require any action from us, then the entire forest would be a hazard to navigate. But we’ve been fine this whole time, which means that the ‘survival’ aspect is a bit of a misnomer. We need to survive completing the goal of getting the tree to bloom, rather than survive the environment until that happens on its own.”

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“Seems a bit misleadin’.” Rick glared up at the air.

“There are no rules against vagueness or withholding details. Only against lying outright. And even then, the System might let the designing God get away with it if they made the rewards good enough. But that’s not what happened here. Just…Creative wording.” Sasha wound back up to Rick’s shoulders. “And this is all an assumption anyway. We’re extrapolating too much on too little information. This was about the vines, which are a much better explanation for the lack of fauna. Considering your current state, I propose that we retreat to a more populated area of forest and wait. If the Radiant Purgation Redwood shows no signs of blooming after a week or so, we can consider taking action.”

And you’ll have had a week of rest to recover. Sasha thought. But she didn’t say that.

“That seems like the right idea.” Rick nodded.

Unfortunately, Rick had to stop before they’d even reached their starting position. Simply walking was enough to put strain on his body, especially the deep tissue bruising all over his chest. He’d managed to keep the movement of his broken arm to a minimum, but it wasn’t enough to stop the pain from slowly building up and wearing on him.

At least, that was Sasha’s assumption after he called a stop all on his own. She couldn’t think of a reason for him to do that outside of being unable to bear going on. Especially after he simply sat down on a log after Sasha threw a sack over it to stop the sticky vines from gluing his jeans to the wood. And once he sat, he just breathed heavily, taking the jerky and water Sasha offered without comment.

It was…disturbing. In a way that Sasha couldn’t properly describe. She’d spent the last four months watching this man be endlessly positive and competent, never faltering no matter the difficulty. Now, she was seeing very clearly that he was just as vulnerable as every other charge she’d ever had. Somehow, she’d forgotten how quickly everything could fall apart in Hell’s Great Game. Especially for a freshly arrived Sinner.

Somewhere along the way, Rick had made her forget that. She’d started to believe in his confidence, that them leaving this floor was just a matter of time, rather than an incredibly difficult accomplishment that bordered on the impossible. She was surprised that she’d even started to believe that handling the First Floor wouldn’t be so hard, so long as she was with Rick.

But he was mortal, just like everyone else. All it took was a few rough hits to reduce the most competent charge she’d ever had to a man that got winded from a long walk. One who didn’t even have the use of one of his arms. And now it was on her once more to pull this together somehow. Something she didn’t exactly have the best record of doing. How was she supposed-

“Hey!” Rick huffed.

“W-What?” Sasha whipped around to look at her charge, belatedly realizing that he’d tried getting her attention multiple times. His expression was sharp in a way she hadn’t seen before, holding an intensity that startled her. He looked angry. Like he was going to start yelling.

Instead, his next words were soft.

“Miss Sasha, we’ll handle this just fine.”

“That seems like an overly optimistic assessssment.” She hissed. Her emotions were still running high, some part of her realized. But all she could see was the faces of every other charge she’d failed, superimposed over Rick’s.

“It ain’t. I’m workin’ with hard facts here.” His gaze didn’t shift or waver. “This is nothin’, you’ll see.”

“You can hardly move Rick! Can you run at all? What happens if we encounter something dangerous in this Dungeon? What then?” She shot back.

“We’ll make it work.”

“How? Where can you get that confidence?” Sasha really wanted to know, so that maybe she could find some.

“Because, I trust you. Simple as that.”

“....What? You trust me? Why? I’ve hardly done anything this whole time!” What a ridiculous answer. Was this pity? Was he trying to make her feel better? Would he try to comfort her?

Rather than offer up empty platitudes. Rick laughed at her. Then he grimaced, his ribs no doubt protesting his mirth. “Miss Sasha, I wouldn’t have survived my first five minutes in Hell without you. And that’s a fact. More than that, I wouldn’t have made it a day, or a week, or a month without your help. I’da stumbled into somethin’ I had no idea how to deal with and gotten myself dead. Or I’d have missed somethin’ important that would have saved my skin down the line and screwed myself over.”

He looked up into the air and sighed heavily. “I’m not the most detail oriented fella, and I’ve got a bad habit of my feet runnin’ off before my head catches up. Meanwhile, you’ve kept your head squarely five steps ahead of me so I don’t stumble and somehow managed to put up with my wildness.”

“You ignore me more often than not. And manage just fine anyway.” Sasha scoffed.

Rick shook his head. “Sometimes you’re too cautious. And that’s fine. But the point is that you make the difference between me takin’ the first thought when I do somethin’ and no thought at all. And that’s about as wide a gap as you can get. So I need you to start believin’ that we can handle this, even with me in a sorry state. Because I believe we can. I believe you can. Even if you don’t seem to. So I guess if you can’t believe in yourself, believe in the me that believes in you.”

Sasha stared at him for a long moment. Then she laughed. “That was nonsense, you know? Believe in the me that believes in you? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Rick shrugged. “I heard it somewhere and thought it sounded right clever, thank you very much. Now, are you feelin’ better?”

Taking a moment to assess herself, Sasha actually considered their situation, from an objective perspective this time. Instead of listening to her worst fears. And…It was bad. Injured Sinner, non-combat Sin Totem, no Divine Steps, in a Dungeon, with the Dungeon Entrance blocked by another, aggressive Sinner.

But they had an abundance of resources, no apparent direct dangers, and time. Considering everything she’d seen from Rick so far, Sasha found it hard to believe that he couldn’t figure a way out of this if he just had the time to do so. So in a weird way, she got what he was saying. Sasha wasn’t sure she believed in herself to solve all the problems. But could she keep Rick alive long enough for him to handle what she couldn’t? That, she could manage.

She could believe in him long enough to believe in herself.

…Or something like that. Now she was getting sucked into Rick’s ridiculousness. But maybe that wasn’t the worst thing. Sasha had never been a confident Spirit, and she doubted that would change any time soon. In fact, it seemed like Rick appreciated her more measured perspective. But she was sick and tired of falling apart whenever things got difficult, and if taking a page from Rick’s playbook on handling life could let her deal with tough situations like this, she was willing to be a little ridiculous.

“Ok, I’m fine. Let’s get back to it.”

The week that followed was almost shamefully easy considering how much Sasha had been dreading it. The farther they traveled from the Radiant Purgation Redwood and the surrounding Spirit Root, the less of those sticky vines there were. After a certain point, the wildlife continued to increase rapidly, until the forest was pulsing with it.

Considering his condition, Sasha left Rick in a less populated area to rest while she scouted. This was something about her current Sin Totem form she hadn’t considered, but Sasha could sneak around relatively easily. Her senses in this form were sharp, and she was much smarter than all the other fauna around, which made hiding simple.

She confirmed that there were several kinds of magical wildlife farther out that could easily kill her or Rick, but they only occupied areas where the vines weren’t present at all. Keeping that in mind, it was almost laughably easy for Rick and Sasha to remain in an intermediary space, where there were still vines present, but not so thick as to be a nuisance.

Sasha could appreciate how difficult this Dungeon would normally be if it wasn’t for her Stomach Storage. Without the need to constantly hunt for food and water, there were far less chances for them to get caught, either by the stronger beasts or in the sticky vines, the two apparent hazards in this Dungeon.

It was a true survival challenge. Normally, one would have to make concessions to get supplies, risking one hazard or the other to get them. But Rick just used a sharpened shovel to clear out a small encampment of sticky vines (ruining the shovel in the process, the fluids inside the vines were acidic enough to destroy the metal) and they were free of hazards.

Over that week, the worst of Rick’s bruising faded, and he rapidly regained much of his basic mobility. However, his arm was still as bad as ever, barely improving. Sasha was certain he’d have to use a Revive to fix it properly, as she’d likely set it incorrectly. But that wasn’t on the table right now.

The real problem that rose in that week was something Sasha had hoped she was imagining. But after a week, she had to ask Rick, just to make sure.

“They’re gettin’ bigger. No doubt in my mind. And fast too.” Once more, they were both looking at a vine on the ground. It was at least triple the size it had been a week ago. And the sounds of wildlife from the surrounding woods had dropped off at a similar rate.

“I was afraid of that. Hold on a second.” Sasha wound her way up a tree. One thing she’d gained in the last week was a much increased proficiency with her snake body. The last four months she’d mostly rode around Rick’s shoulders, never really having to travel on her own. After a week of self-sufficiency gained from constant scouting missions, she traveled up the tree four times faster than her first trip.

This time, she wasn’t looking around for predators. Instead, she climbed all the way to the top, something she hadn’t done all week after noticing several hawk-like birds in the sky. Birds that would be perfectly happy to have a snakey snack. But she needed to now, because she had to check on their objective.

What she saw was what she’d feared. The two ancient behemoths in the middle of the Dungeon had gained a new feature. Green vines were snaking up the base of the Synergist Spirit Root and reaching toward the Radiant Purgation Redwood. Their ticket out of here was under attack.