Chapter 9 — Into the Dungeon: Fourth and Fifth Floors

Editor: PROCRASTINATOR

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

Huh. A silvery-blue crane is watching us. It seems harmless, so I’ll let it be. Eh? What’s that rumbling noise? The rocks seem to be coalescing in a single spot. Is this how this boss respawns?

 

I created a vacuum barrier to stop the sound around Luna and skewered the rocks into the ceiling again. I could stop the rumbling too, but too much effort. These bosses are way easier than the first one. 

 

Also, is it just me, or did the temperature drop?

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

“Morning Ei…”

 

“Is it really morning if it has been sunny this entire time?”

 

“I don’t… know…”

 

“Luna, wake up! You’re still half asleep.”

“Give me a bit…”

 

I could wait. But why should I wait?

 

“[Create Water].”

 

Hehehe. I created a ball of water and slammed it into Luna’s face. It was also very cold.

 

“Alright you’re awake now!”

 

“What was that for!!!”

 

“Time is of the essence?”

 

“Not really!”

 

“It was funny?”

 

“Okay… I guess…” 

 

“Well, let’s press onwards.”

 

The next floor is a bit like a mountain range. But not really. The “mountains” are stacks of granite pillars and there’s a fog hanging around the bottom of them. I have a feeling that nothing good will happen if we fall. Oh, and that crane is following us for some reason.

 

“SKREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

 

Some oversized vultures are flying above us.

 

“Huh… giant vultures. Let’s kill them!”

 

“Ei! The day just started and you’re already a battle maniac!”

 

“Well, I had a warm up of five bosses while you slept!”

 

“Eh?!? Wait, didn’t you sleep?!”

 

“Nope! Now it’s murder time! [Windblade: Tenfold]!”

 

I created 10 blades of wind and sent them flying at the vultures.

 

“[SKREEEEEE]!!! SKREEEE!!”

 

…Can everything use magic here? The vultures sent some more wind blades at mine, some dodged, and I only ended up killing one of the vultures. I guess I need to will them to track targets next time.

 

“Wind too easy for you? Try some ice! Luna, on my mark!”

 

“Three… two… one… [Ice Shard Storm]!”

 

“[Ice Spike]!”

 

The crane is still watching us. It seems impressed?

 

“Hey, Ei, can I scout ahead a bit?”

 

“Sure, we can cover more ground that way. I’ll go east, you go west.”

 

“Alright!”

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Luna’s POV]

 

After splitting up, I ran for a while. As I thought, the crane was following me! I think it’s her. I stop running and turn around to face it. The crane then is enveloped in an icy mist and once it clears, a person is standing there! 

 

It’s definitely Vadina! She’s wearing her usual light blue and white kimono with snowflake patterns. She has a red rope tied around her left arm and a similar red string tying her long pale blue hair back. I always think that the hair looks like snow.

 

“Vadina! You’re back!”

 

“Indeed I have returned. How hath thou been?”

 

“Good! I made a new friend!”

 

“I saw. What is her name?”

 

“Her name is Ei! I met her around a week ago!”

 

“I seeth. Well, I shalt return to thy body now.”

 

Vadina turns into a cool mist and phases into my body. I continued running absentmindedly while talking with her. 

 

“Did you find anything on how contract magic works?”

 

“I found one thing. According to legends, ancient contract sorcerers couldst enter a state of shared mind with their spirits. It is said that this couldst enhance powers by orders of magnitudes. They calleth it, ‘Auriga Arts’.”

 

“Do you think we could do that?”

 

“With practice, thou couldst. I thinketh so.”

 

“Hmmm… I guess. I mean, we have known each other for 143 years!”

 

“143 years? It hath been that long?”

 

“...yes?”

 

“... Perhaps I shouldst starteth counting time once more.” (E/N PLEASE stop writing old english my brain hurts)   

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

While Luna ran off to the west, I went east. Haaaa… I can finally stretch my wings. I activated my transformation and began flying. This is nice. I should probably get some more blood too, since I haven’t had any recently.

 

“Target spotted! Die vulture!”

 

I skewered the vulture on my claws and slammed it into the ground. Then I used hemomancy (A/N: blood magic) to draw out the blood and eat it. These vultures taste decent. Maybe it’s because they are from a dungeon? Who knows.

 

I kept moving forward skewering some vultures while sometimes just dicing them with strings of blood. I should probably try to develop some new fighting methods. I’ll get too predictable otherwise.

 

Let’s try forming spikes and shooting them.

 

“Hey vultures! Look at me!”

 

I made sure to hide my presence to make me look weak. I’m pretty sure they would run if they saw a vampire normally. I also disabled my transformation so as to not give away my true strength. Not that that really matters. The transformation only amplifies my abilities.

 

Immediately, five vultures come to kill me. Wonderful. I force blood out of my arms and form them into spikes. Hahaha! Die!

 

The spikes fly into the vultures and kill them, before dissolving back into normal blood. I would save the corpses, but they turned to black gel and seeped into the ground before I could.

 

After flying for a bit more, I found a massive hole into the ground. I’m guessing this is where the floor boss is. Now, I can try out two new spells I made!

 

I activate my transformation and I imagine wind spreading out around me. I feel through the air looking for Luna… and found her! Odd… The crane isn’t here anymore. Maybe it got eaten. These vultures aren’t just scavengers after all. Next, I need to whisper to Luna, so I’ll send a message by blowing my voice. Huh… this could be tricky. I need to do voiceless casting for this. Wait, I already did that.

 

“Luna, I found the floor boss. Head to the light in the sky I’m about to send up.”

 

At the same time, I imagine “[Wind Whisper].” I hope it worked.

 

“[Fireball]!”

 

Then, I use a fireball as a flare. This should work.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

A few minutes later, Luna arrived.

 

“This does look like the next floor!”

 

“Alright, let’s go.”

 

There is no door this time. Only a leap of faith into an odd looking portal. This will be fun.

 

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

 

“Ei!! Why did you just jump?!?!”

 

“I’ll be fine! I’ll catch you if I need toooooooooo….”

 

I can’t see Luna anymore and I start slowing down. Luna appears a few seconds later.

 

“I never want to do that again!”

 

“Why? It’s just like my unique travel method. Hmm… I need to come up with a good name for it.”

 

“It’s not the same!!!”

 

Before we could argue further, a big spider appeared. Like, really big. It was easily the size of a room. 

 

“SCUUURRRAAAA!!!”

 

“Let’s beat this spider up!”

 

“Let’s! Alright, Ei, kill it after I try something.”

 

Luna gets an extreme look of concentration on her face… then…

 

“[Frosty Footing]!”

 

Ice freezes the feet of the spider. But it isn’t enough, unlike me. I would have been able to stop it. Luna looks a bit dejected…

 

“You’ll do it eventually! Just keep practicing!”

 

“...Thanks.”

 

Oh well. Now is the time for fighting, not idle conversation. 

 

Using the opening Luna created, even though it was brief, I ran up to the spider. Upon closer inspection, it’s a tarantula. I like tarantulas. It tries to chomp my head off, but I side step and slice its head off.

 

“You end a fight that should take minutes in seconds again…”

 

“What did you expect?”

 

The tarantula dropped some poison and hair. I think those could be useful. There’s also a chest, but nothing useful was in it. Again. *sigh*

 

“Looks like we’ll be in a tarantula den next floor. Are you going to be okay Luna?”

 

“Yep! Tarantulas aren’t bugs, they’re spiders! And they kill bugs!”

 

Well, I guess it isn’t a problem then. 

 

In front of us is another giant hole. It’s lined with webs and I can see tarantulas scurrying around on the floor below. They aren’t as big as the boss, but they still come to around waist level on a human.

 

“Luna, I’m putting an air barrier around us again because we don’t want to get the hair on us.”

 

“Alright!”

 

“[Windwall]!” 

 

And then we jumped. Luna seemed to enjoy it more this time. I landed on a tarantula and squashed it. Good thing I put a barrier up.

 

“Should we split up again?”

 

“Sure! I’ll take the left, you take the right!”

 

“Alright. Meet up here in an hour?”

 

“Sure!”

 

To the right I go.

 

This tunnel is really unremarkable. Ahh… I wonder what Luna is doing.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Luna’s POV]

 

I went to the left.

 

“Vadina, what did you think of when we tried to use Auriga Arts?”

 

“It wast not great. I thought that thou hath made a good attempt however. Perhaps thou wilt get it on thy next try?”

 

“Any tips?”

 

“The information I have found wast not descriptive. All it said wast to beest in the same state of mind; to become one.”

 

“Well, I found some tarantulas, so let’s try.”

 

I imagine the two of our positions being the same, like we became overlaid in the same image. I try to focus on my mental connection to Vadina… kind of like seeing into her mind? If that’s possible?

 

Breath in.

 

Breath out.

 

Huh. My skin is glowing slightly! 

 

“I think we got something!”

 

“I agreeth, however, this is not perfect. Thou must practiceth.”

 

“It’s still pretty good for a second attempt!”

 

I imagine ice spikes flying out and stabbing the tarantulas in front of me. What did Ei call it? [Ice Storm]? [Shard Storm]? I can’t remember! I’ll just make my own name up!

 

*fwoosh*

 

*shink* *shink* *shink* *shink* *shink*

 

Eh? I didn’t say anything? Huh… 

 

Wait, didn’t Ei say it was mostly on image and will? And then with my affinity and a badly performed Auriga Art, I guess I can do chantless magic? Awesome!

 

“That was unexpected.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

“Well, this makes things easier.”

 

I continued on while practicing my voiceless magic. I also tried to deepen the connection I made with Vadina, but I don’t think it worked. I finally reached a room full of eggs.

 

“This looks like the place Vadina!”

 

“Indeed. Thou shouldst return. It hath been 80 minutes already.”

 

“Already? Oh no… I’m turning into a battle maniac too aren’t I?!?”

 

“I wouldst say not. Thou art controlled still.”

 

“Oh… good!”

 

“HEY LUNA!!”

 

“GAH! EI WHAT WAS THAT FOR! YOU’RE USING MAGIC YOU DON’T NEED TO BE LOUD!”

 

“LOOK AHEAD OF YOU! IT SEEMS WE MADE IT TO THE SAME SPOT!”

 

“BUT WHY ARE WE YELLING?!?”

 

“BECAUSE IT IS FUN! LET’S WIPE OUT THESE EGGS!”

 

Oh… I stopped glowing. I guess I got surprised and the connection broke.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

Luna was glowing! I saw it! Maybe that’s what she was trying to do earlier? Hehe… a secret magic art. I like it.

 

Time to clear out these eggs. 

 

“[Ice Shard Storm]!”

 

“[Ei’s Spell About Ice Blades]!”

 

… Luna what’s with that name? It works I guess…

 

“It’s [Ice Shard Storm] Luna!”

 

“Got it!”

 

Well, either way, all of the eggs are dead now. Is it just me, or is Luna’s ice magic, like, way stronger than before?

 

“This is the final boss door right?”

 

“Yep!”

 

In front of us stands a massive blade door with gold patterns on it. It’s about twice the size of the other doors. There are no carvings also, just intricate gold designs with a skull with red eyes in the center.

 

“Huh… Well, finish mapping and we’ll head back.”