Chapter 78: Crushing darkness

Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):

We trained for an hour, the focus lying on using my tail. After we were done, I felt a lot more confident using it in an actual battle.

There were sadly not that many situations where striking an enemy with my tail was useful. Mostly I could only really do it when an enemy approached me from behind or when I was fighting an enemy and I was being flanked. I could then twirl around to meet the new enemy while striking the one I was already fighting with my tail, hopefully making them stumble, or even set them flying.

It could also work when I was surrounded and I needed to clear some space. I could spin around, slamming everyone and everything within a two meter radius with my tail.

There were some things I had to keep in mind, though. If my enemies were large or heavy, it wouldn’t work. Neither would it work against stronger opponents with hands. They could grab onto my tail, and then I’d really be in trouble.

After training, we split up again until we had to go down to the second floor. Tiki went to practice setting up her traps in unfavorable circumstances—she wasn’t confident she could set it up in time or without mistakes in a battle—while Alex and I went to join the cooking class. I wasn’t sure I would get much out of the class, but Alex really wanted to go, so I wanted to go with him.

And while cooking would be difficult for me here in the forest, it shouldn’t be impossible. Especially not if I just cooked for myself, since then I could work on a place lower to the ground than that damned tall cauldron. Besides, Alex and I could work together. I was sure there were tasks I could do without too much issue.

In the end, we each made some nice steaks. The assistant running the cooking class had listened to us and the trouble I had with cooking and had come with something I would be able to do, too.

A campfire was very low to the ground, I could carry a steak or a pan with one talon, and I could do any seasoning with ease, too. Walking back and forward was a little tedious, but it was nothing I wasn’t already used to. And while the steak was in the pan, I could sit by it and actually use two talons. It was fun cooking together with Alex, and that offset any negatives it might have had. A delicious lunch at the end was certainly also welcome.

Soon, we met back up with Tiki near the entrance to the caves. We still had some time left, but we wanted to do a final check of our gear before we went down. Now, if we found we’d forgotten anything, we could still go grab it. We hadn’t forgotten anything, though, so we just hung out until it was time to go.

We weren’t the only ones who did it like this, either. There were quite a few others already hanging around and waiting. The atmosphere was decidedly nervous. The first floor had been fine, but the second floor was a different story altogether. The space would be tighter, the monsters bigger, and their levels higher. It was going to be a challenge. At least, it was going to be a challenge to them. I didn’t think our group was going to have any issues at all, really.

Sure, the monsters would be bigger and stronger, but we were also stronger now. Tiki and Alex had both leveled up and had gotten a much better grasp of how to use their abilities in combat, while I had figured out more ways to use my instinctive magic while fighting. So I had a feeling it was going to be a piece of cake.

Tiki and Alex didn’t look quite so sure of that, though, which made me wonder if I wasn’t being overconfident. Maybe it would be best to treat the encounters we would be having down there as if we actually were facing dangerous monsters. Yeah, the more I thought about that, the better that idea seemed.

It didn’t take long before group two returned from the cave. They looked haggard, and in some cases couldn’t walk by themselves. Seeing them like this did not help anyone’s nerves.

A few minutes later, after everyone who needed medical attention was brought to the healers’ tent, Scott gathered our group together and we went down into the caves. I once again flew down the hole, and from there we went to the first floor. But unlike last time, the group didn’t split up there, and we instead followed the teaching staff through the cavern all the way to the opposite side of the entrance. There, a large hole in the wall formed the entrance to the tunnel leading further downwards. We followed said tunnel for almost half an hour before the slope finally evened out again.

Unlike with the first floor, the tunnel didn’t lead into a large cavern, but instead led into a small cave. The cave was an almost perfect half-sphere. Eerily so, even. First it was the entrance tunnels, and now this cave. The deeper we went, the more questions I had. Why are these caves so nearly perfect? Was it a strange natural process, or did someone make them? If the latter, why did they do that?

None of the books I’d read seemed to have any answers. Most just glossed over it, or only warned that the caves might feel eerie and to not let it get to you. A nervous and jumpy fighter was nothing but a liability. I imagined tapping a jumpy Alex or Tiki on the shoulder to quietly get their attention, only for them to jump and skewer my snout. It was one of the reasons we talked regularly outside of fights. It helped us relax.

The other thing of note about the cave were the holes in the wall, each a tunnel leading off in different directions. After running straight for a while, they’d start branching off and intersecting. They’d go up and down, weaving around each other, making a maze. It was a whole new mess to deal with. We’d have to make a map while we walked or we’d get lost. Though, if we did get lost, our guide would lead us back. There was extremely little chance of us actually getting stuck down here.

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Not unless there was a cave-in, but that wouldn’t happen. Aside from the tunnels’ natural sturdiness, the ceilings of the tunnels were supported by regularly placed enchanted wooden beams. They wouldn’t even burn. So, the chance of a cave in was so small it might as well not exist.

“Alright, everyone stop here, please,” Scott called out. “Before I let you go, there’s a few things you need to know. The first and most important is that you need to make and keep a map. If you aren’t sure how to do that, your guide can offer advice and instruction. You will use this map to get back later, so make sure it’s good. But don’t worry if you get lost anyway, the guide will bring you back safely.”

“Now, the second thing you need to know is that, in those tunnels,” he said, gesturing at the tunnels behind him, “there is significantly less space to move around in. Adjust your strategies and styles accordingly. There is some other stuff that would probably be useful to know, like the monsters, how to best navigate these tunnels, etc. But I’ll leave you all to find that out yourselves. Now then, please find your usual guides and get started. I’ll stay here and monitor you from afar with my Skills.”

With that, everyone started moving towards their guide. They were all standing near a tunnel entrance. We moved over to our own guide, too. She handed us a roll of parchment and some pencils.

“Use these for your map,” she said. “The parchment is alchemically treated to be flame retardant and tough, so it won’t break during a fight. Keep it away from acid, though.”

Tiki took the map and immediately drew our starting point on it. After that we headed into the tunnel. As we walked in, the earth closed in around us. The tunnel getting smaller the further we went in. Constricting, limiting, crushing. The tunnel wasn’t even wide enough to spread my wings. If I did, my wingtips would be scraping against the walls. It wasn’t right. I should be able to spread my wings. It was like the walls wanted me to know there was no escaping their crushing depths.

The surface was at least a few hundred meters above us. And all around us was only stone and darkness. Our lights only lit the tunnel a dozen or so meters ahead. After that? A darkness so pure I didn’t know anything like it existed. It was like we were in a stone coffin, surrounded by metric tons of stone and rock. No escape, with only death waiting for us.

I didn’t like it. No, I didn’t like it one bit.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then another, and another. Feeling a little calmer, I opened my eyes again and focussed on Alex. The crushing tightness of the walls wasn’t any less daunting. But he looked comfortable, and I used that as an anchor.

The other tunnels had been fine. I’d gotten in and out without issue, and these wouldn’t be any different. But they were different. Those tunnels were wide and expansive, with light runes lighting the entire length. Here I couldn’t even spread my wings. Was that really all the difference it took? That I couldn't spread my wings?

My fear wasn’t rational, I knew that. I walked around in tight spaces where I couldn’t really spread my wings all the time. Even the hallways of the main school building were tighter than these. But those were always well lit, and had windows, or else open doors all over the place. Here there was only rock and the dark.

I took another deep breath, not letting myself fall into another spiral. For once, I was finally glad for my fear of falling and those bridges. I’d learned ways to deal with these kinds of things. With a little effort, I imagined Alex walking next to me, reassuring me things were fine, and focused on that. Then I realized that Alex was actually walking right next to me.

I’d gotten so stuck in my own head that I’d completely forgotten I wasn’t alone down here. My friends were here with me, and the guide—who had a pretty high level—was here too. That thought alone brought comfort to me and made the tunnel feel a little less daunting. But I could do better than that.

“Hey, Alex? I’m feeling a bit, well, a lot, claustrophobic right now. Can we talk? I want something to distract me from the crushing feeling this place gives me. It’s like the walls want us to—” I took a deep breath. “Sorry.”

He put a hand on my shoulder while we walked. He smiled at me. “You helped me with my fears. I would be a pretty shitty boy—” He stopped mid-sentence and glanced over at our guide. He hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and continued. “I’d be a pretty shitty boyfriend if I didn’t help you, too.”

I wanted to give him a kiss and tell him how proud I was of him for taking that next step in telling people about us. But I’d save it for later, for when there weren’t any other people around.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. “Or do you want to talk about something else?”

I thought about it for a moment, but the choice was rather simple. “I do want to talk about it, but let’s do that later, okay? When we’re not in the tunnels anymore. Let’s talk about something else for now.”

And so he did. We talked about all sorts of things, but mostly we talked about books. We hadn’t started in the adult one that I’d gotten yet, but we had gotten a decent bit into one of the others we’d brought along.

The book was the one Sekara had recommended to Alex and was about a vigilante solving crimes and punishing criminals while escaping the authorities. Personally I felt like most of the issues in the book would’ve been solved better and faster, with much less property damage and collateral damage, if the main character just reported their findings to their local guard or police. Alex mostly shared my opinion, but also said that not every town, or even country, had guards and investigators as good as our campus did. And that he could see wanting to take matters into his own hands.

He had a point, I had to admit. My thought went to Tiki’s issue with her, probably, thieving brother. If they didn’t find anything and wouldn’t punish her brother, what would she do? And what would I do to help? I wasn’t sure. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

At least the fight scenes were still fun to read, though.

We were just about done with talking about the book when a squelch interrupted what I was saying. I looked ahead and stared into the darkness. The squelching became louder and more frequent. Like something was hopping towards us. I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

A few moments later, I was proven right. Three bulbous creatures hopped into the light. They were gray and looked like they had absorbed loose stones. There were so many stones, even, I almost missed the few white bones jutting out of their membranes.

Cave slimes. Nasty little monsters. It was time for our first fight.