Chapter 326 - The Guardian of the Ironclad Abyss III
109832 - 5 - 5 - 10
Dear Diary,
Today I trained really really hard with Lina and Master B. We went super deep into the mountains and fought a whole lot of tigers. Tiger meat is really tasty. We brought some home for mom and dad too. They made weird faces when we told them how tasty it was, but then they tried it and they liked it a lot. Hunting is fun. I think I wanna be a hunter when I grow up.
Lia
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Her breath heavy and her legs aching, Chloe collapsed into a pile of goop as she reached the mausoleum’s entrance. She didn’t know how long she had been running. The concept of time had lost its meaning by the dwarf’s fourth nap. Not even her levels provided any meaningful measure. She had gained so many over the course of her misfortune that she couldn’t be bothered to check. Moving her eyes was too much effort. She continued to lie where she was, with her face on the building’s top step, her body splayed on the stairs beneath it, and her luggage dropped at her feet.
She was still being chased. It hadn’t been all that long since the dwarf had last fallen asleep, but it didn’t matter. Sophia and Krail had already arrived, and they had moved on the horde as soon as they saw it; everything was dead by the time she could be bothered to push herself off the ground.
“I’m surprised you made it through in one piece,” said Krail, as he sat down beside her. “And before the dwarf, even. This almost reminds me of the time that my daughter bested me on a goblin hunt. She was only level thirty to my hundred at the time, but she managed to find their nest and wipe them out while I bumbled around on the other side of the forest. A real shame, really.”
“Right…” said Chloe. “So about the dwarf. I have him with me.” She reached into the apron, and after fiddling around for a bit, produced the bearded rock in question.
“Is he dead?” The elf raised a brow.
“He’s sleeping, apparently,” complained the maid. “He has to nap after every attack.”
The old man stared, completely appalled. “If he’s thrice ascended with an ability like that, then I might as well be an aspect.”
“Negative,” said Sophia. “Your ability is equally as absurd.” She sat beside a nearby pillar with her back as straight as a rod.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” asked the elf.
“I apologize,” said the land shark. “I did not mean to offend, but your class is equally as ridiculous.”
“Well it’s highly effective,” said Krail. “I’m sure you would understand if you valued tradition over whatever silly gods you worship.”
Sophia balled her hands into fists. “I demand an apology.”
“As if,” scoffed Krail. “All of you zealots are insane. Your faith in these so-called ‘gods’ is about as ridicul—”
“Why don’t we settle down and have ourselves some dinner?” Chloe inserted herself into the conversation with a forced smile. She was tired enough to die, but she reached into her bag and rummaged around for supplies regardless. Fortunately, it was only really the bedrolls that sustained any significant losses. They only had two left, but one of the members was a rock that had no need for a bed, and they would most likely stand guard on shifts to begin with.
While they still seemed eager to go at each other's throats, the pair backed down by the time she distributed their rations. The jerky wasn’t terrible. It was smoked for long enough to have a flavour reminiscent of maple wood smoke, but its fruity notes only fueled her need for tea. Unfortunately, the expedition had not budgeted for the luxury; the only leaves on the list of so-called necessities were medicinal in nature.
Chloe was disappointed, but a quick observation of her teammates led her to believe that it was likely for the best. Like the unconscious dwarf before them, the elf and the landshark were quick to relax their guard. If a few bites of jerky were already enough to do away with their caution, then a decent meal surely would have robbed them of their vigilance in its entirety. At the very least, they were back to normal by the time the food was gone. Silently, or perhaps professionally, they got to their feet and continued their advance.
The mausoleum’s interior was every bit as grand as its outer walls suggested. The entire space was filled with pillars and statues, decorations that were made of finely crafted marble. One would expect that they had degraded with age, like the building’s exterior, but they remained in perfect condition, just like the candles that lit the path ahead. Presented in the mouths of lions, bears, and wolves, the flames were ever-burning. Chloe was almost tempted to think them primordial, but a quick experiment proved that not to be the case. It was only on the walls that the candles were infinite. When ripped from their places, they would burn out and die within a matter of moments. Likewise, any torches lit by their flames were just as quick to be quenched.
There were more monsters roaming the halls than the building’s exterior. Denser mobs consisting of zombies and skeletons rose from the shadows and rushed the party, but they were quickly deleted. Those not filled with arrows were blown away by Sophia’s attacks.
Unlike the maze outside of it, the building’s interior was fairly easy to navigate. It was an open-concept floor plan with only a few rooms and facilities placed off to the side. Otherwise, it was a grand hall that led into a deep, circular pit. The torches within it sparked to life soon after it came into view. The closest was the first to light, with each then triggering a reaction in the one beside it.
Eventually, the whole circle was lit, showing off not only the distant sandstone floor, but also the boss monster that lay within. The most prominent part of its body was its skull. The undead creature had a massive humanoid head with a towering height of nearly three meters. The bulk of its features were troll-like; the canines that grew from its lower jaw protruded far above the rest of its teeth, and a line of spikes ran along the top of its head.
But while the troll’s oversized skull was present, the state of its body was questionable at best. The remaining bones appeared to stem from a wild assortment of different creatures. Its head sat directly inside a large pelvis with three slots for joints, each of which sported a leg which stood like that of a spider or crab. They were in a triangular formation, two in front, and one in the back for balance.
“It’s level six hundred, legendary class, likely mindless,” said Krail, as his eyes glowed in the dark.
“Sounds like the fighter can handle it by herself then,” said the dwarf. “Whaddya say, elf?”
“I won’t say no,” said Krail. “I’ve been needing a break anyway. The old back’s been killing me.”
“And you, Girlie?”
Chloe didn’t immediately react. She continued to stare fearfully at the hundred-meter fall until the rock raised its voice.
“Girlie? Hello? Maid? You in there?”
“Huh? Oh, me?” said Chloe. “I wasn’t really planning on fighting much if I could avoid it.”
“Then it's all yours, Sharkie,” said Enrique. “You were acting like tough shit back at the castle, so let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Request confirmed. I am willing to engage in single combat,” said Sophia.
“I know she just said that she was fine with it, but why does it sound like you’re just trying to slack off?” asked Chloe.
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“Because I am, genius,” said the rock. “Not like I can do much to it with this body anyway. I’ve got one Holy Radiance in me, and that alone ain’t exorcising anything in the legendary class unless someone does me the favour of beating its face in first.”
“I’ll just need a few minutes if you’d rather we tackle it together,” said Krail. “I just need a quick break before the old back gives out. You’ll know exactly what I mean when you get to my age. Everything’ll start hurting when you wake up one day, and it’ll never really stop.”
“I will have slain it before your rest is complete.” Her hands clasped into fists, Sophia jumped into the arena, fell a hundred meters, and landed opposite her newfound prey.
The skeleton roared and kicked into a charge the moment she hit the ground, but the prime minister’s maid stood her ground and raised her hands. Unlike most other fighters, she carried no blades, bludgeons, or catalysts on her person. But neither did she need them. Clad in raging magic, her fists were all those things and more.
The ascended kelpfin led with a straight punch. Her hand met the skull’s rush head-on and presented her with promised victory. It tore straight through the skeleton’s jaw. The difference in their statures did not allow Sophia to finish the monster in just one strike, but the attack had borne enough power for Chloe to think it within reason. The shark girl’s fists had pulsed right before impact, and the magic that enveloped them had suddenly changed its shape. It went from a bursting aura to a single point. It was like her hand had become a spear, a solid spear packed to the brim with mana.
Like Chloe, the monster was completely caught off guard, but it quickly spun around and retaliated with a cleaving swipe. It didn't falter. It was incapable of faltering. Even with all of its levels, it was simply an unintelligent, undead creature, driven by nothing but lust for battle and blood. In all likelihood, it hadn't even noticed the damage it took.
But for what it lacked in brains, the skull made up with raw aggression. Its claws were nearly impossible to dodge. Moving so quickly they blurred, they hammered the martial artist with a flurry of blows. Sophia was unbothered. She parried them with ease. Every strike the skeleton threw was brushed aside and guided away from her frame. She wasn't quite fast enough to retaliate, but neither was she at risk of taking damage. At least until the monster howled. And shook the entire dungeon.
So exceedingly powerful was the effect that Chloe nearly vomited outright. The one hundred meters between the skeleton and the maid served as no obstacle for its sound-based attack. Her whole body shivered with a sense of dread. Echoes burned themselves into the back of her mind, flooding it with inescapable thoughts of death. She could see its jaws as they wrapped around her head and threatened to swallow her whole. She could feel the punctures in her gut that followed as it ran her through. And she could sense her blood escaping as she lay half-conscious, body growing colder and stiffer with every passing moment.
It was an undeniable, irrevocable terror. She wanted to run away. She needed to run away. Every fibre of her being demanded that she escape beyond its reach. Even though she already was.
She was not the only one affected. The elf sitting beside her went just as pale. Cold sweat dripped down his brow, and his knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip. The dwarf shivered in a way that no rock should. And the kelpfin froze where she stood.
Blood poured from her ears as her eardrums burst.
Blood poured from her eyes as her brain rattled against its cage.
Blood poured from her mouth as her stomach acid boiled over.
It was not the status condition that crippled her, but rather the screech’s overwhelming volume. She didn’t even have a chance to process the accompanying fear with the force of sound as potent as it was.
A claw dug into her gut before she could hit the ground and sent her flying halfway across the arena. Despite unleashing such a devastating attack, the skeleton showed no signs of slowing. It continued its assault, chasing Sophia each time she tumbled away and kicking her with its sharpened legs again.
The first three attacks left punctures and gashes in the kelpfin’s body, but Sophia regained consciousness by the fourth. Narrowly deflecting the creature’s leg, she pushed herself off the ground and retaliated with a punch.
But unlike the first, it did nothing.
There was no crackling of mana or cracking of bone. It was a weak, flimsy hit. The problem wasn’t a lack of muscle—Sophia was slender, but her body was made of finely toned fibres, interwoven for density over size—but rather a lack of aggression. She couldn’t bring herself to use all her strength, for she too had been debilitated by the skeleton’s roar and filled with a sense of dread.
Her second attack was even less confident than her first. She tried pumping her fists full of magic, but it fizzled out before it could take on a half-decent shape.
The skeleton struck her again. It rammed its head straight into her body and threw her into the arena’s outer wall. She coughed and hacked as she peeled off of it and collapsed into a pile on the floor. The confident warrior that had challenged the skeletal beast was gone. Replaced by a crippled husk.
“Requesting assistance,” she said, weakly.
“Buy me five seconds!” shouted the elf. “I’ll bail her out!”
Gulping, Chloe grabbed the dwarf and ran towards the pit. She was also still weighed down by fear, but having been far, far away from its source, she wasn’t nearly as affected.
“Hey, wait a fucking second! You’re not doing what I think you are, are you!?” screamed Enrique. “I ain’t touching that thing with a ten-foot pole! Throw yourself goddammit!”
He tried to flee, but she hooked two fingers into his beard and, using it like a sling, flung him with all the might her terrified limbs could muster. Though reluctant, the moonstone eventually burst into a holy lustre and delivered an exorcising strike straight to the bone golem’s face. It was the same attack that had cleared an entire legion of undead just a few hours prior, but against the floor boss, it worked exactly as poorly as he had claimed. A few bits crumbled off of the skull, and the odd crack or two was introduced to the rest of its body, but the undead creature refused to return to its grave. If anything, its malevolence was only furthered.
It opened its mouth to shriek again, but having finished his preparations in time, the elf allowed for no such spell to be cast. He pelted it with a wave of arrows, staggering it with the sheer volume of projectiles.
And then, finally, the shark recovered. Her ears and eyes were still bleeding, but she got to her feet with her stomach wound closed and her magic flickering to life. Kicking off the ground, she closed the distance between them and shifted the weight in her circuits. Her mana moved as her muscles activated, flowing from her toes to her soles to her tendons and her calves. It flowed up her thighs, through her back, passed her shoulders, and finally into her arms before being expelled out the end of her fingers. Every part of the rising uppercut was fueled by an empowering enhancement, a wave of mana that took the shape of a roaring bear.
The overwhelming force of the impact ripped through the undead’s skull; the shark girl emerged from the top of its head fist first, her body still wreathed in the raw energy she had ejected from her frame.
Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as the monster’s body collapsed. For a moment, it had almost looked like the party would be wiped, but they had managed to eke out a win.
“Lost your nerve for a bit there, eh?” laughed the rock.
“Please repeat following a brief delay. I am unable to hear you at this point in time,” said Sophia, as she tapped the side of her head. “My eardrums were destroyed in the assault. They will require another ten seconds to heal.”
“Right,” said the dwarf. “Forgot you lot needed ears to listen.”
He slowly rolled over to the monster’s fallen frame and gave it a poke with his beard. “This thing looks pretty decent. Bet it’ll probably be better than the moonstone, even if the place is swarming with undead.”
“There’s no harm in giving it a try, is there?” asked Krail, as he slid down the side of the pit. “I was under the impression that dwarves with levels as high as yours could do as they pleased with corpses.”
“Wish that was how it was,” said the dwarf. “I can only register one new host every half a day. I’ll be shit outta luck if we find anything better, unless we’re willing to stop and make camp, that is. It is getting kinda late, but I ain’t got a clue how our stamina’s holding up.”
“Right,” said the elf. “Then how about you stay here with Sophia while Chloe and I scout the second floor? We’ll loop back around after an hour or two and let you know what we find, if it fits at all. Seems like it might be a bit tall, if the next floor is anything like the last.”
“Alright, sounds like a plan,” said Enrique, before raising his voice. “What do you think, girls?” He didn’t expect Sophia to answer, so he turned to the maid still hovering up above, only to find her incapable of providing a response.
She was glowing with a bright white light. Her form was slowly changing, morphing as her body was rebuilt from the ground up. It was a process that each of the warriors had seen many times before.
“Looks like she’s busy,” said Krail. “I’ll just scout ahead by myself. I might not exactly be a ranger, but I can at least check for enemies.”
“Be careful,” said Enrique. “This place has clearly got more tricks than we bargained for coming in.”
“Maybe. But I doubt it’ll pull the same bullshit twice in a row.”
Propping himself up with his cane, he walked down the steps and immediately discovered that the dungeon did, in fact, pull the same bullshit twice in a row.
His magical senses revealed that the dungeon had changed his location and placed him somewhere on the second floor. The only saving grace was that there wasn’t much to the floor to begin with.
It was comprised of a single room and a single monster.
Another boss battle. Right after they had wrapped up the first.