Rieren needed a little time to catch her breath and let her heart stop trying to pound itself out of her chest. In the moments of the fight itself, such physiological reactions would fade to the background, rarely making their presence felt. Now however, with her battle against the Abyssal finally over, she felt the full brunt of the fight’s aftermath.

There was unfortunately no time to take inventory of her various wounds. Her use of some of her skills had caused some internal bleeding as well, a few patches of her skin angry red despite being whole. She couldn’t move her left arm without eliciting spikes of agony shooting through her.

Thankfully, it didn’t look like her contribution to the rest of the battle was mandatory.

The moment she rested allowed her to focus on the battle behind her. All the sounds were encouraging—dismayed screams from the remaining Shifters and rousing yells from the other disciples and guards.

Rieren hadn’t considered how she was supposed to get past the enormous tail blocking the way back into the tunnel. But her severing of the tail had allowed the viscera that was blowing it up to seep out through the ragged hole she had cut. It had deflated the tail enough for her to squeeze past the blockage and to see what was going on.

One of the Abyssals was on the verge of falling over, thanks to all the wounds it had suffered. It was already bleeding out most of its inner mass. There was no space for it to recover. Not even any time for it to counterattack. Amalyse and Folend refused to give it any breathing room. If the Abyssal focused on one of them, the other would swoop in with a devastating hit.

Even as Rieren watched, the Shifter tried to launch itself at Folend with a powerful lunge, but Amalyse struck its leg to cut through several tendons. The monster screamed in frustration.

A similar thing was occurring with the guards fighting the third Shifter, though they hadn’t managed to injure theirs to that extent. Not surprising since they were significantly weaker than the disciples.

Nevertheless, there were strange red barbs sticking out of Abyssal, which seemed to be distracting it. Avalien had summoned a greatshield and his broadsword to poke at the monster, though he wasn’t getting many chances, thanks to how aggressive the creatures tended to be. It was the other two guards dealing damage.

One of them was the one who could summon those red barbs, though they seemed limited. He was hesitating now, likely saving his remainder for when a more opportune moment arrived. The woman was using her sword to launch bolts of energy at the monster.

All the guards were using the same trick that Folend and Amalyse had used to such great effect. If the Malomen Shifter focused on any one of them, another one would launch a distracting attack on its back. Though, for the guards, their attacks were being dodged more easily than the disciples’.

Behind them all, Batcat was yelling out supportive meows. They carried down all the way to Rieren’s position despite all the commotion of the battle. Likely a property of it being a Spirit Beast.

Rieren was just glad it wasn’t trying to dive into the midst of the battle. It could be a little insane at times.

Sighing, Rieren let herself fall back. The others could handle the remaining monsters. They weren’t in any danger. She could afford to wait and let Divine Resilience fix her up.

The other thing she needed to handle was recovering what little loot the monster had left behind. Not having received any achievement for her kill meant it really wasn’t any higher than C-Grade. She had already received that achievement after taking down a Life Stifler with Batcat’s help.

Thankfully, she still had access to some loot. The Shifter had kindly left behind the wing she had cut off and the enormous end of its tail she had also severed. Having no wish to burden her storage ring with them, Rieren slowly walked up to both and sold them to the System Shop.

That gave her a combined nine Credits. Not too terrible. The whole body would have given her more. If they were lucky, the others might get it.

Which seemed to be the case, going by the sudden screams echoing down the tunnel. Rieren turned to find one Abyssal falling, its head finally crushed by Folend’s mace. It didn’t take long for the disciples to turn and assist with the last Shifter, which fell to Avalien’s sword.

Groaning, Rieren got to her feet and pulled herself inside the passageway. She was still in pain, but Divine Resilience had already done a fantastic job of reducing the pounding agony.

The floor was slick with the Abyssals’ remains. All the viscera and dark blood made a slippery surface, threatening to make Rieren loose her footing. A fall in her condition would not be pleasant. Nevertheless, she was able to maintain enough balance to finally reach the others near the Shifters’ corpse.

“Your plan worked,” Amalyse said brightly. “They couldn’t do much once we wounded them all over.” She frowned as Rieren came closer. “You sure you won against your Abyssal?”

Rieren waved it off. “It is dead. We must head off, though before we do so, I suggest that you take advantage of the corpses and sell them for Credits.”

“We are already doing so,” Avalien said.

He had conjured a large axe from somewhere, and there was a somewhat manic look in his eyes as he approached the Shifters’ bodies, likely with the intention of slicing them into equal parts.

They waited while he got busy with the gruesome business. Rieren didn’t really mind the time it took. It allowed her to heal more.

At the same time, use of the confetti had granted her a good chunk of Essence from the monster’s death. There wasn’t exactly a good spot to cultivate here, but she could channel the Essence while doing other things. Standing still certainly helped to perform it with greater efficiency.

When Avalien was finally done and they had all obtained some more Credits—some of them had levelled up too, for this was their first C-Grade kill—they decided to move on.

“For all that we won without difficulty,” Amalyse said. “I don’t want more of them.”

They mutually agreed with silence. Admitting cowardice was a loss of honour, but that mattered little when they had just survived a rather harrowing trip across a chasm. Rieren would be glad for less aggressive and powerful Abyssals too.

New Achievement!

First dungeon obstacle overcome! You have broken through your first obstacle within a dungeon, and with a monstrous audience to boot! The Dungeon Core better be wary of your approach.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Rewards

* 1 Level

* 1 Skill point

* 1 Credit

* 1 Ingredient: Spirit Medium

Ah, another level. As if Rieren’s body wasn’t rebelling against her growth already. Good thing she had Divine Resilience handy. So, she added the stats—two Body, one each to Spirit and Mind—and held the skill point in check for now. She would need it soon when she had access to better skills.

The ingredient was interesting. It was a small vial of a blue-white, cloudy liquid. Supposedly, one could dissolve and store someone’s very soul in that liquid with the right device.

Rieren couldn’t foresee any use for it, but she withheld from selling it off just yet. Souls were extremely valuable. If at a pinch she needed a great number of Credits…

The tunnel curved to the right. Rieren wished one of the automatons had accompanied them, preferably Kervantes himself, but she tried to keep their directions in mind. It was simple. There was no other way to go. No turns for them to wonder about, no side passages to lead them astray. Only one way forward.

A way that was getting strangely warmer. And humid.

“Is that… fog?” one of the guards asked.

Rieren frowned at the translucent grey clouds in distance. It took only a moment of observation for her to determine its true nature. “Steam.”

Amalyse stared at her. “Steam?”

“Likely from the lava and a waterfall colliding. I suspect there is a break in the passageway through which the steam must have entered.”

Alarmed as Amalyse sounded, and as the others looked on with anxiety at what they might come across farther ahead, Rieren had to suppress a little smile. Now this was a proper reward for fighting and beating those accursed, shape-shifting Abyssals.

She had lamented the fact that all she had gathered so far had been pure Essence. Not so now. If she could ascertain Elder Olg’s safety, she could perhaps return here and cultivate, awkward as the position might be. Though, for all she knew, there might be an even better location a little farther ahead.

They came across the break in the passageway Rieren had predicted before long. The floor turned wet and warm vapour buffeted them. A waterfall roared somewhere nearby, the hiss of newborn steam rising up out of the distance.

When they finally turned and came across the break, they all paused a moment to take it all in.

The break in the passageway revealed an enormous gorge on the mountainside. Here the mountain had shattered to display the sky for the first time since Rieren had entered the dungeon. This had to be the location where Lionsfall, the largest waterfall on Lionshard mountain, was located.

All the destruction had caused lava to erupt through various vents so that the waterfall wasn’t the only thing roaring down into the pit below. Where the water met the molten lava, steam gushed out like a geyser. The lava itself was cooling down to solid rock, but it was a slow process. There was a great deal of lava, even for the waterfall.

“Let’s keep going,” Amalyse said, leading the way forward.

Rieren followed a little reluctantly. So many Aspects here she could have made use of if there was an opportunity to wait and cultivate. Water, steam, and to a lesser degree, heat as well. She would just have to return later if Elder Olg’s location was too far away.

Which turned out to not be the case. As they waded their way through the steam that left their clothes damp and their brows beaded with condensation, they entered another chamber.

A chamber filled with corpses and Ashflame.

Many were human, but a great number of the bodies in the room belonged to various Abyssals. Some Blightmanes, some Shadeborns, though the majority were Armistice Enforcers.

The wounds were devastating. It was normal to expect to see the monsters having suffered the effect of various weapons and skills or techniques. But Rieren’s eyes were invariably drawn to the more human bodies.

One had the head entirely crushed as though it had been caught in enormous jaws. Another body had been twisted around entirely, legs and torso facing opposite directions. Chopped-off limbs peppered the entire room. There was even a body that had its entire top half missing.

The battle here had been vicious.

“These are the ones who went with the Elder,” Folend said. “I recognize a few of them.”

He carefully went past the fire and came to a stop beside the body of an older disciple. There was the slightest twist in his forehead, the only evidence of a reaction that he was willing to betray.

Rieren turned away, scanning the rest of the bodies quickly as her anxiety mounted. It was cruel, but she sighed out in relief when she ascertained that Elder Olg wasn’t among the dead. Though, that begged the question where he exactly he was supposed to be. All this fire, yet no sign of the Elder himself. At least it gave the indication he was alive, wherever he was.

“Look at the Abyss Rent,” Amalyse said, pointing slightly above them.

Rieren looked up and frowned. Like much of the room, it was on fire as well. The Elder had seemingly sought to burn it down. Rieren was having trouble piecing together the chain of events that had led to the current state of the chamber.

“Anyone have any ideas of where we should start looking for Elder Olg?” Amalyse asked.

“Our goal is to close the Abyss Rent,” Folend said.

“Oh really? And here I thought you’d been so humbled that you had grown a heart, Folend.”

He growled at her. “I’m going to start cultivating so we can prevent any more monsters coming out and turning us into corpses just like the others here.”

Folend did just that. He sat himself down, closed his eyes, and ate another of those strange eggs before starting to draw in the Essence. Avalien and some of the other guards joined him as well. Apparently, that was what they had been ordered to do if they came across an Abyss Rent by Elder Alm.

Batcat meowed on top of Rieren’s head. It was likely expressing its distaste for the monsters in the room, dead though they might be.

But that ignited an idea in Rieren’s head.

She pulled Batcat off her head and set the kitten down before her. It stared up at her inquisitively.

“Can you absorb some of these flames, Batcat?” she asked, pointing at the nearest spout of Ashflame.

Some of the others were looking at her and the winged kitten with curiosity. The old mantle of secrecy tried to stifle her, but Rieren shoved it off with a bit of effort. There were important answers to find here. The chain of events that had occurred here was beginning to clear in her head, and it was frightening. She had to see if Batcat would corroborate her fears.

“You think that will work?” Amalyse asked.

Rieren pursed her lips. “We are about to find out, I suppose.”

The kitten stared at her for a moment. She had already received a great deal of proof that Batcat could understand her rather well, even if she didn’t speak whatever language Spirit Beasts in the shape of cats used. But moments like these felt like the cat was purposefully trying to make her look like an idiot.

“Please,” she whispered.

Batcat gave a little purr and then scurried over to the nearest deposit of Ashflame. Stabbing its nose into the fire, it inhaled in the Ashflame until none of the grey embers was left around it. Then the cat returned with a satisfied glint in its eye.

“Thank you,” Rieren said as she picked up the kitten again. She was already channelling Essence, making sure to direct it by pulling it all from Batcat. “Time to see the truth.”

Now that Rieren was capable of seeing Essence in action, she decided to pour a bit into her eyes to observe what exactly was taking place when she drew in the Essence from the kitten.

What she found was a strange transformation occurring within the kitten. The natural Essence was tainted with the Aspects Rieren sought. Aside from the silver of the Elder’s Ashflame, there was the near-white of the steam and the molten orange of the heat.

But the weirdest bit was the cat itself. Where Batcat was generally pure black, under Rieren’s Essence-filled eyes, it was also a void of pure darkness in the enhanced vision as well. There was no Essence at all within it. Not even anything of the Essence it had ingested either. At least it went along with what she had felt a while ago when she had tried to draw Essence from it.

But the trick worked. As before, when Rieren finished channelling the Essence, she found herself in possession of memories. It consisted of nothing but a long series of seemingly disconnected images, but it was enough to determine the truth.

Elder Olg had led his group into the chamber, already looking harried. A literal army of Abyssals had poured out of the Abyss Rent as they had neared. The subsequent battle was a confusion of blood, chaos, and death. At the end, the monsters had taken several people with them into the Abyss Rent.

With the others dead, there was no reason for Elder Olg to remain outside the Abyss Rent. There was no one who needed his immediate attention. Despite the many wounds he bore, he staggered upright and followed the monsters into the Abyss Rent as well, likely determined to retrieve the ones captured under his care.

Rieren’s breath came in little gasps as he pulled herself from the memories Batcat had dug up. Amalyse was staring at her as though she could read what Rieren had seen right off her face.

“It worked,” Rieren said.

Amalyse swallowed. “Please tell me you didn’t see what I think you did.”

Rieren grimaced. “Elder Olg went through the Abyss Rent.”