Chapter Two

Someone’s Watching Us?!

Dale's pickaxe clattered onto the rocky floor. The noise echoed, too loud, all around them. The [Miner] brandished his enchanted hatchets in the next breath.

"Is that a woman?!" Dale asked. He hurriedly positioned himself at the front of their group. "Oy! Are you a Diver?!"

Another blue dome quickly enveloped them as Alice cast [Lesser Barrier]. The harsh lines of her face were screwed up in concentration as she seemingly muttered several spells.

In the near distance, close enough to make out the brilliant blue hue of her eyes, stood a young woman. Most of her body was hidden behind the curve of the rocky hallway, but she was unmistakably a human woman. Messy white hair seemed to fall down to her hips.

The stranger jumped in surprise as the [Lesser Glowglobe] continued to cover the cave with light. Before Dale could loose another shout, the young women retreated behind the cave wall and disappeared.

"Oy!" Dale's shout bounced across [Floor 17]. "Was that a woman!? Did you two see her?!"

"I saw her..." Arryn said, and he took a deep gulp of air. He had not realized it, but he had been holding his breath the entire time. "A woman...? Or maybe a mimic?"

"She wasn't wearing any equipment," Alice said. Arryn cast a glance over at the willowy [Cleric]. The harsh lines of her face had relaxed. She ran a hand through the short bob of her hair. "And she wasn't a monster."

"A bounty then?" Dale asked, his bushy beard bouncing to and fro as he continued to scan the darkness.

"That... makes sense?" Arryn tried to swallow the unusual unease that prickled his skin.

Idiots who stole and murdered in the Beldew Dungeon often woke up with bounties on their heads. Unfortunately for them, the only way out of the Dungeon was The Elevator, which meant most criminals were forced to dive deeper and deeper to avoid bounty hunters.

"Or maybe she's in trouble," Alice said sharply. She cast several more [Lesser Glowglobes], but the mysterious woman did not reappear.

"We're on the 17th floor," Dale said gruffly. "Assume they're a bounty. Or worse."

"We're leaving," Arryn said. "Masks off. I want to get back to The Elevator. Fast."

"Wait, wait!" Dale said, panic written across his squashed face. "I haven't finished collecting the cores!"

Arryn cast a glance at the rocky floor. Several pinpricks of light continued to glow. There were even two purple glimmers.

"I said we're leaving," Arryn said, though the words were painful even for him. "We've found enough, Dale."

For one horrible moment, Arryn thought Dale was going to attack him. The massive man's hatchets trembled with avarice. Arryn could see the greed in the man's fiery eyes.

"Listen to Arryn," Alice said. The blue dome around them faded, and her brother's shoulders slumped. "We made a killing this dive."

Arryn loosed a relieved sigh as Alice rubbed Dale on the back like an overgrown baby. The [Miner] was a good man, but he liked to drink and party overmuch. Arryn had been forced to drug him on more than one occasion when he refused to end a dive. Dale always wanted to collect more.

"Masks off," Arryn repeated, and the two siblings loosened the leather straps around their faces.

He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. He imagined a man sprinting like the wind itself. The man was a blur of speed, and a reddish-blue powder started to flitter out from between Arryn's fingers.

"To The Elevator!" Arryn shouted as he weaved the small cloud of dust around Alice and Dale.

As a [Perfumer], Arryn was immune to most poisons and status effects. Unfortunately, that meant he was immune to most buffs, as well. He felt none of the rush the redheaded siblings shared as he cast [Imbue Agility].

Dale stowed one of his hatchets away and grabbed Arryn with a lurching speed. Arryn felt a familiar embarrassment creep across his face as the [Miner] threw him across his burly shoulders. Arryn would never be able to keep up with them otherwise.

"Th-the Elevator, little go-gorilla!" Dale said, tripping over his own words as the powder pumped him full of energy.

Alice clicked her tongue, but she waved her staff erratically in the hazy air. For one breathless moment, [Floor 17] remained covered in darkness, but then...

"Off!" Dale shouted with a powder-induced excitement. "We-we're off!"

A trail of [Lesser Glowglobes] slowly came alive, leading them back the way they had come.

Arryn felt his stomach lurch as Dale started to sprint with an impossible agility towards the nearest glowglobe. Alice stuck close to him like a shadow. She pointed and laughed hysterically at Arryn's unease.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Li-like a ba-baby!" Alice snorted with powder-induced laughter.

Arryn ignored them. He continued to rub his fingers together, producing a continuous stream of the reddish-blue powder. Normally, he would have maintained [Repulsive Odor] on the trip back to The Elevator, but speed seemed more important right now. There was something-

"There!" Arryn hissed. He pointed needlessly at a figure at the edge of sight. Neither Alice nor Dale could have seen her in their full-throated sprints.

The white-haired woman continued to hide just out of view. Her clothes looked ragged, and her distant expression was indecipherable.

Darkness swallowed her as the nearest glowglobe puttered out.

"I saw her again!" Arryn shouted over at the siblings, but it was clear they could not hear him. The two muttered to themselves as they continued to leap over the rocky terrain of [Floor 17].

It was hard not to grimace.

[Perfumers] were not the most... respected Divers in the Beldew Dungeon. Arryn's ability was invaluable to his team, but few appreciated being drugged like this. And then there was the fear. [Perfumers] could do so much, after all.

Arryn's chest was soon damp with Dale's sweat as the burly man maintained his impossible sprint. The trail of glowglobes seemed to go on forever. There were no landmarks on [Floor 17] to mark how far they had come either.

After they had passed at least twenty glowglobes, a horrible dread crept across Arryn's skin. Because what if they were running around in circles? They had somehow not run into a single monster on this floor. Perhaps they had fallen into some kind of trap?

Worry after worry filled his head as the two siblings continued to babble nonsense to one another. He wanted desperately to stop rubbing his fingers together. He wanted Dale and Alice back. He did not want to be alone in the dark, and he felt so terribly alone!

And then a spring of light appeared ahead.

It was not a glowglobe.

It was The Elevator.

"Thank goodness," Arryn said, and an enormous weight lifted from his shoulders. [Diver's Paranoia]. That was all it had been, but The Elevator had dispelled the dreaded curse.

The Dungeon Device illuminated the surrounding cave with an ethereal glow. It looked like an enormous glossy tube that yawned into the rocky ceiling above and the rocky floor below. A solid white platform interrupted the rocky floor beside The Elevator's entrance.

"Th-the Elevator, eh?!" Dale continued to race towards the glossy tube like a battering ram.

Arryn dispersed the powder that clung to Alice and her brother. He felt the [Miner] slow with each step as they drew closer and closer.

"O-open the do-door!" Alice said with the last of her powder-induced mania. "I'm hu-hungry!"

The three of them came to a sluggish halt beside the white platform. Dale practically collapsed onto the ground. Arryn had to hop off the brute's shoulder. His sister slumped down beside him the next moment.

"I'll take care of the door..." Arryn said awkwardly. The two siblings grunted in unison.

Much of his panic had disappeared, but he still hurried onto The Elevator's white platform. It was perfectly smooth except for one small hole just beside the glossy wall of The Elevator. It was here that Arryn rushed.

He reached out and tapped the core slot. A blue screen burst in front of his eyes. A single phrase filled the small box.

< Select Destination >

"Floor 1," Arryn said, and the blue screen flickered with new text.

< [Floor 17] to [Floor 1] >

< Cost: 5,000 [Blue Cores] >

"What?" Arryn rubbed his eyes.

< [Floor 17] to [Floor 1] >

< Cost: 5,000 [Blue Cores] >

"That... That can't be right," Arryn said. The trip should have only cost around thirty [Blue Cores]. He waved away the screen, and it disappeared. "Let's try again..."

He cast a nervous glance over his shoulder. The siblings remained exhausted on the ground. He tapped the core slot, and the same screen reappeared.

< Select Destination >

"Floor 1," Arryn said.

< [Floor 17] to [Floor 1] >

< Cost: 99,999 [Blue Cores] >

"What...?" Arryn muttered softly to himself. This made no sense... but then he remembered something awful. "No... No, no, no!"

All at once the old horror stories rushed him like a thief. Nobody really knew what The Elevator or the Dungeon Devices were. Nobody knew how they worked, but they worked perfectly. There were horror stories, however, and Arryn felt as if he was inside one right now.

"Seventh Floor!" Arryn blustered suddenly. He remembered the warm bed and shower he had enjoyed in the Diver's Den on [Floor 7].

< [Floor 17] to [Floor 7] >

Arryn bit down on his lip.

< Cost: 9 [Blue Cores] >

"Thank you!" Arryn said with a ragged breath. "Thank you, thank you! Accept! Please, accept!"

< 9 [Blue Cores] received >

Arryn felt something like a whish of wind race over his body as the cores were collected.

< [Floor 17] to [Floor 7] >

The glossy tube of The Elevator split open like the uncurling of a butterfly's wings.

"Come on, guys!" Arryn shouted. He had found his terror all over again, and he wanted to get off this floor. "Let's go!"

The redheads did not share in his enthusiasm, however.

"Get up!" Arryn cursed as he ran over and kicked Dale in the rear end. "I've paid!"

The two siblings stumbled over to The Elevator only begrudgingly. Arryn thought about casting another [Imbue Agility], but the two were already exhausted.

It seemed to take a small lifetime for the three of them to all enter The Elevator. Dale had regained a little bit of sense by then, but Alice collapsed and fell asleep the moment she entered.

The blue screen from before flickered across Arryn's eyes as The Elevator doors closed. He almost collapsed onto the floor in relief. All the horrors of [Floor 17] seemed to vanish, and he looked out across the rocky terrain.

< Departing >

His eyes locked onto something at the cusp of sight.

< [Floor 17] to [Floor 7] >

"She followed us, eh?" Dale asked groggily as he rubbed his eyes beside Arryn.

The same white-haired woman from before was looking up at The Elevator from afar.

"Wait..." A spark of energy filled Dale's voice. "What... What's that...?"

Arryn wanted to look away. He had never dived this deep, and he did not think he would ever return. The Elevator had already started to carry them up and away to safety, but he wanted it to move faster.

"Look at that!" Dale said, and the man came alive with greed. "We've got... got to open the door!"

The young woman bathed in the warm glow of The Elevator. Arryn did not think she was a bounty. He was not even sure if she was human.

"Look at the size of that mana core!" Dale said, pressing his face against the glossy wall of The Elevator. He had seemingly forgotten all about the woman. He was focused entirely on what was behind her.

It did not look like a [Mana Core] to Arryn, however.

It looked...

It looked like an...

image [https://i.imgur.com/HtP76rP.png]