---Delve Notification---
[SAFE ZONE REACHED]
Ethan blinked through dust and swamp water before realizing that one half of his left wing was on fire.
He rolled against the dusty floor that he and his companions had landed on. They had entered through the portal into, seemingly, an entirely different interior from what he was expecting—considering that Fauna’s spell had all but obliterated the spire’s exterior. A chamber of ancient sandstone walls surrounded them—each of them engraved with etchings and patterns showing Grumlets hard at work worshipping at shrines or toiling away in the swamps outside, building more monuments to whatever gods they worshipped.
Oh boy, LORE. Where’s the video essay to explain how these walls contain secrets I could never be bothered to care about?
Disdain for this world will get you nowhere, you know.
I thought you’d be pleased with that, Ethan remarked as he shook himself off and took a look at his downed companions around him. After all, you’d like nothing more than to see me dead, right? Or are you more of a Tsundere than I thought?
Searching for Class Designation: [Tsundere]
Results: Inconclusive.
Explanation required.
You’ll just have to take a guess, Sys. Some secrets can’t just be spilled willy-nilly.
He nosed the forms of Tara, Fauna, and Klax, who seemed like they’d been out in a daze as deep as his. As they came to, each of them looked around with wonder, with Fauna in particular staring blankly in disbelief. Probably, her own System window was telling her they had made it.
“We’re… alive,” she said.
“Hell yeah, we are!” Tara shrieked, cartwheeling back to squeeze Ethan’s long neck and then pouncing on her Hopla sister. “All thanks to Ethan and a certain bunny girl’s fiery fingers.”
“T-Tara! You’re embarrassing me in front of the Archon!”
Ethan laughed along with the girls as Klax rose to stand beside him, eyes brimming with relief but also absolute focus.
“Now we tend to our wounds,” he said, pointing down at the scratches on his arms and Ethan’s wings—spots where the javelins of the Grumlets had pierced his feathers and even chipped his armor.
“Ah, Klaxy,” Ethan groaned. “I barely felt a thing, really!”
As usual, Sys then popped up to prove him wrong.
Current HP: 45/90
“…Okay. Maybe I got a few scratches on me. But that’s what our healing potions are for, right?”
Tara jumped up then, finally leaving her shy comrade alone, and threw open her arms to the room around them.
“No need,” she told Ethan. “This here’s a safe zone. There’s usually one or two between Delve floors—a place to rest and recuperate, y’know?”
“Every adventuring party gets at least 12 hours’ respite,” Klax elaborated. “We’d be clever to take it before moving on.”
“And save our supplies for when we need instant healing during combat,” Ethan agreed with a sage, birdly nod. “Sucks that none of you guys have a cleric or healer around.”
Klax shrugged. “It is not something we hybrids are blessed with.”
“Healin’ spells are lame anyway. Never helped any of us put the dead back together. Ain’t that right, Faun?”
The Hopla looked up at Tara with vacant eyes. She said nothing.
“…Eh, sorry.”
Still nothing.
I’m sensing some actual juicy lore here…
“Let us make camp,” Klax said, producing a bundle of firewood from his pack and beginning the process of getting a fire going. “If we can take turns keeping watch, we can make sure the safe zone is not violated. Though these spots are normally peaceful, one never can know if another Delving party decides to come along and violate this sanctuary.”
“That happens?” Ethan asked.
“It is not outside the realms of possibility.”
“Nothin’ really is in good old Argwyll, Ethan!” Tara beamed. “Ain’t your Earth the same way?”
“‘My Earth’ was more boring than anything you could imagine,” Ethan replied with a chuckle. But his demon eye was focused not on Tara as the flappy beak of his host said these words. Instead, it was rooted squarely on Fauna, and how she simply stared forward into the fire that was slowly starting to take shape beneath Klax’s hands.
…Yeah, Ethan thought. This world is way more interesting.
Current Spirit Cores: 120
As the hours droned on, Ethan found that he couldn’t sleep. He decided to take up watch when the seventh hour came along, as this would give him time to make any skill improvements with his new bundle of Cores.
Sure, I could save up and get another grade in one of my [Hat] skills, but who wants to be a bore? I ain’t gonna just save up points and then never end up using them. Besides, who knows what kinda hell’s waiting below. Klax says there’s at least two more floors to go, and I’m betting there’s a nice, very possessable Boss monster just waiting for me on the last one…
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Ethan decided then and there that his best chance at survival would be prioritizing the Dark Raven skills that he would be transferring to whatever new host he acquired. And that meant he really had two choices: Wing Buffet, Peck, or Dive.
Spirit Cores Required to Increase [Dark Raven] Skills from Grade F-E: 80
Grade E-D: 120
I’ve already got a handle on Dive… and Peck just seems like a basic attack. Wing Buffet for sure seems the more useful skill. I mean… if I’m gonna take Dive with me to my next host, I’m gonna need wings to make proper use of it. And it’s another form of crowd control for when Roar’s on its cooldown.
Wing-Buffet (Grade F)
Your wings flap up a storm, {Repelling} any foes with STR lower than 15 away up to 20ft.
(Grade E)
[Repulsion Increase]
You now {Repel} any foes with STR lower than 25 away up to 50ft.
Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade: 80
Confirm Upgrade?
Ethan needed no further prompting. Peck was basically a waste. His wings were this creature’s strength, and if he could take it to another, he was gonna make sure they were powered up.
Upgrade confirmed
Wing-Buffet (Grade E)
Current Spirit Cores: 40
Have to remember to keep a good Core surplus… otherwise I won’t be able to possess the big bastard down under…
Always thinking ahead, just like your predecessors.
This bodes well for you.
Of course. Sys was the System of all the other Archons, right? Ethan wondered if there was a way to break through the [CLASSIFIED] records Sys kept throwing up when he asked a question about them. Then again, maybe Sys had blanks when it came to the previous Archons. After all, all their info and memories would be just too much of an advantage, right? And Sys didn’t seem interested in giving him more advantages than he had…
He decided to turn his attention from Sys to the stirring rabbit girl who he suddenly found sitting up, staring once again into the little bonfire they were huddled around.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked her.
She glanced up at him as though surprised he had noticed her and gave a wet sniff of the chamber’s stagnant air.
“Am I bothering you, Ethan?”
“What? No! I just meant—well—I thought it seemed like you kinda had something on your mind earlier.”
She returned her gaze to the flames, though she did manage to beam a brief smile.
“Yes… maybe I do.”
When she said nothing else, Ethan wasn’t sure what else to say. But he knew he couldn't just let this silence last.
Go on, Sir Archon. Show me just how good of an orator you can be.
Sys… I’m gonna need some free headspace right now, ‘kay?
He sidled up beside Fauna while she hugged her knees, eyes still staring blankly.
“You know…” he began—his three eyes watching her from their corners. “That was a pretty awesome spell you just pulled off outside.”
She looked up with confusion, the light of the bonfire’s embers dancing in her eyes.
“‘Awesome’?”
“Y’know—cool. Epic. Super. You were like a… super bunny girl.”
Eloquent.
You are a natural-born [Poet].
What did I just tell you!?
Fauna burst out laughing before Sys could make another quip, giggling lightly so she didn’t wake their slumbering comrades.
“Thanks,” she whispered. “You… you aren’t what I expected the Archon to be.”
“Yeah, the rest of them weren’t devilishly handsome hats, eh?”
She sniggered. “The rest of them didn’t really ask us how we felt about… all this. We all followed them because the humans hated us. But we couldn’t say no even if we wanted to.”
Ethan cocked his feathery brow at the girl.
“How can you say no… when all your species thinks the same way?”
She trailed off before realizing exactly what she’d said.
“S-sorry! I’m rambling. I—um—f-forget all that, I just—”
Ethan held up a wing. “We’re a team now, y’know,” he winked. “And I’m still a newbie to this world. I wanna know what you think.”
“I’m not so special, Ethan,” Fauna replied in barely a murmur. “I’m just another hybrid who lost everything during the… the purges.”
“Purges?”
“It was after the last Archon fell,” she explained slowly, eyes re-focused on the crackling bonfire throwing their shadows across the chamber walls. “The Greycloaks joined up with the King… Lysandus. He—they—wanted to hunt us all down for good. They said they’d make sure we all died this time.”
To his shock, Ethan saw the Hopla’s pale hand clench in anger, nails digging into her bare thighs.
“My mom, my sisters—everyone in our burrow wanted to leave. To find Sanctum—the safe place we’d all heard rumors about. But I—I told them we should stay. That the Burrow was our home. That if anyone did come, I’d… I’d protect them…”
The Hopla’s eyes were truly staring into her past now.
“But when they came for… for my burrow… I couldn’t… my spells wouldn’t work right. Everything just… fizzled. I couldn’t help them. My sisters… mother… everyone. They came and—and they…”
She buried her head in her knees for a moment, then. Ethan knew the rest of the story. The girl didn’t have to go on.
“I should’ve listened to them,” she said. “I’m nothing special. I’m just a Wildglance who can’t be counted on. I only survived because I was a coward, Ethan. I ran. When they came for me last… laughing as my spells fizzled out and died, my mother pleading, begging for me to go. I did what she said this time. I ran. I ran because I was scared. And because I was stupid. I ran when I… I… I should’ve died with them.”
She said these words with more confidence than Ethan thought her capable of expressing. Then she fell silent. Silent as the stone walls that encased them.
Geeze… that’s a sadder backstory than I thought I’d hear from her.
He shuffled uncomfortably next to the girl, hearing her stifle some small sobs. No real tears came, but judging by what she just said… if there was a [psychologist] skill, he’d make use of it. Really, he would…
I’m afraid you’re out of luck, there.
…Fine then, he answered Sys. Guess I’ll just flap my gums and see what comes out.
“You know, you’re the first mage-type I’ve met in this place. And, let me tell you, you’re way cooler than the ones in my world.”
The girl turned to him, tears at the corner of her eyes. “Your world… has mages?”
“Eh… kinda?” he shrugged. “Except ours are nothing but stories. Stories of old men with long beards and big sticks, shooting fireballs and smoking weed—or the fantasy equivalent. They’re nothing but stories, Fauna. And they’re nothing like you. You’re real. You’re a badass chicken-flinging, laser-beam shooting rabbit girl sitting right beside me, and I never thought I’d see things as amazing as what you’ve done for real.”
“You… you think I’m amazing?”
“Come on… you literally burned up a whole horde of those ugly shits outside. I get that your magic’s unpredictable and stuff, but that’s exactly what makes it cool! Everything you do is a surprise.”
Now, it was suddenly Ethan’s turn to stare into the fire.
“…No one wants to live a boring, predictable life,” he said. “You literally can’t have one. That’s a bloody great power.”
Not bad, Ethan.
For a [Hat]
In the face of Sys’ sarcasm, Ethan furrowed his brow again. But his whole demeanor was thrown off by Fauna’s giggling beside him—much louder, and much clearer than before, echoing up the ancient walls around them and back down again.
“I bet you were a funny human,” she said. “I wonder, if you’d come here just as you were…”
She trailed off and seemed to shake the thought from her head. She yawned, wiggled her ears, and gave a little weary stretch.
“Thanks,” she said with a slight blush. “For talking with me.”
Ethan’s bird host stiffened. “Believe me, Fauna, it’s me that should be thanking you. Eh—all of you.”
With that, the Hopla girl beamed him a smile and brushed his feathery wing with her hand before heading to sleep. For his part, he stayed awake to keep watch for the last few hours of their rest, watching the little chest of the rabbit girl rise gently as she finally fell asleep.
If you start caring too much about these guys, he told himself. You're gonna end up fucked. You know that, right?
He did. But he also knew that it was quickly becoming too late to do anything about it.