Tiny Dungeon

POV Natalia Talios

Natalia didn’t let her gaze stray from the mouse even as she marveled at the feel of the weapon in her hands. Despite being large enough to need wielding with two hands, the sword was light and balanced with a keen double-edged blade. An artifact. A lower one to be sure but even a minor artifact was an almost divine object. ‘And the Dungeon gave one to a mouse.’ She scoffed at the thought even as she reached the line drawn by the smaller mouse who gave her his blade.

Then, with a flick of a tail, it was just her and the largest mouse she had ever seen. She took in said mouse with a calculating gaze even as they started circling each other. She analyzed how he stood, the massive sword he wielded easily in one hand, and the cloak of fur that draped across his back by golden clasps. He was an Iron Rank beast according to Boris which was two Ranks below her. She smiled. ‘This is going to be fun.’

She shot forward, her Silver-Core empowering her body far past mundane speeds. She swung her sword at the mouse’s knees and was only moderately surprised to find his sword there to meet hers. Sparks flew from the impact as the two artifacts clashed sending a fan of them outward. Natalia refused the instinct to duck away and in doing so saw the whiplike tail of the mouse enter her peripherals. In that split second her reflexes fired off and her right hand left the handle of the artifact to catch the tail with a stinging crack that shook the air.

From the look of surprise on the Guardian’s face, he hadn’t expected her to see his tail coming. ‘Pretty sound tactics for a mouse,’ Natalia thought even as her hand throbbed from catching the muscular tail. ‘That was just like catching a whip and just as fun.’ Her sarcastic thoughts flew from her mind as the mouse re-engaged with his blade, holding it in two hands to overpower the bind she had put on it.

Even as she strained to hold out on holding his blade in place, the tail in her hand flexed to pull her off balance. Choosing to let go, she capitalized on the slight recoil the tail made as it shot backward by pushing with her blade. With a rasping clang, the blades disconnected and the Guardian staggered back. He recovered quickly, Natalia could give him that, but not fast enough. She revved her Heart of Vitality to send strength and agility coursing through her body and then she was in the air bringing her sword down on the enemy.

She smirked only to find the same expression on the mouse’s furry face. Then both his artifacts began to gleam with inner light. In a flash, his left foot paw stamped the ground and the stone shot upward. ‘Damn, how many times have people told me I jump into the air too much for someone without an air affinity.’ It was too late to do anything now, especially as the air seemed to freeze around her, seemingly pulling her into the stone spears rising from the ground. She felt the world slow down as the spears drew near only to speed up again as she acted. Her sword sheared off the tip of the foremost spear before using the minuscule area she had just created to push herself out and away.

She spun, seeking the ground only to find the mouse, there and waiting, the artifact in his hand blazing with flame. ‘How many affinities does that blade hold?’ The thought was a flickering thing that barely registered as her body was already moving. She brought her right hand down, the artifact screaming through the air to collide with the other in a gout of flame. Using that impact, Natalia forced Aether into her arm muscles and pressed hard, contorting her body to flip over the mouse’s large frame.

Hitting the ground she dove forward on instinct and by the whip-crack of the mouse’s tail she had made the right decision. Spinning she brought her blade to bear on the mouse and managed to catch his flaming artifact inches from her face. The blistering heat blazed like a hungry beast seeking to devour her skin, portions beginning to pucker red. Her mouth split into a rictus grin of pain as she powered through to break the bind, her own artifact seemingly unharmed but the same could not be said for her skin.

“Alright then,” she stated calmly before cracking her neck, disregarding the burned skin that crinkled painfully at the motion. She heard Korim whisper to the others behind her even as she began to let her Aether surge.

“There she goes again. Captain’s about to go full battle junkie on that rodent.”

Natalia smothered the smile she felt bubbling up at Korim’s words. Instead, she let her Aether flood from her Core in waves, activating her plethora of abilities. Unlike most Delvers, who had to get their start from Synchronizing with lesser Cores from Copper, Bronze, or Iron rank monsters, Natalia’s grandfather had given her an almost mythical headstart. She didn’t know where he had found it but the Core of a Platinum Rank monster was perhaps the greatest foundation someone could receive beyond what the gods gave their most loyal followers.

With each successive rank, a Core gave a single ability, usually something in line with the dead monster’s power set. The Silver rank Abigu Core they had taken earlier in their journey would probably gift a Synchronizer abilities of strength and endurance, five of them, in line with its high ranking. There were seven rankings given to mortals with the Mythical Three beyond those, according to the church’s teachings. Copper was directly above mundane, followed by Bronze, Iron, Steel, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, in that order. The Mythical Three; True-Divine, Ascendant, and Transcendent, were spoken of by the church as the domain of the gods. There were legends of mortals ascending to such heights but they were few and far between and lived in the realms of demi-gods, saints, and fallen divinities.

As an individual gifted with a Platinum Monster Core, Natalia was unlike most Delvers in two regards. Most Delvers began with only one of their abilities Synchronized and the rest were gained as they ranked up their Core to match the rank of the monster their Core came from. Secondly, they were able to Synchronize with a further Core when they reached the same rank as their monstrous donor had when it had been slain. In this way, a Delver could climb the ranks, adding more and more monster Cores to their own Crystaline Core until they achieved the pinnacle of rank. They had to be careful that they didn’t add too much at one time and they had to be able to Synchronize completely with their Core before adding a new one but the risks were worth it as it gave a wide variety of abilities to utilize.

Natalia was not like this. When her grandfather had handed her the monster Core that would become hers she hadn’t known the level at which that magic operated. The fact that no one had noticed or taken it before she was ready was proof that her grandfather had placed great spells upon the Core to keep it hidden. She would never have the large amount of abilities other Delver’s utilized and she wouldn’t be able to Synchronize to another Core until she reached Platinum rank. That didn’t really matter though.

She felt it, the moment when her five Silver Rank abilities all clicked into place. From the look in the Guardian’s eyes, he could sense it too. Five-Headed Hydra activated, sacrificing a metaphysical head to return her body to peak physical condition. All her fatigue and pain were whisked away as if it were nothing more than a passing breeze or a phantom of her imagination. The head’s sacrifice, in turn, activated Hydra’s Lament, releasing an aura of magical despair that swept the room, clamping down on Aether's use and smothering the will to fight.

Her Heart of Vitality began to beat again, maximizing the effects of Five-Headed Hydra, to send a surge of strength into her body. Two-Shall-Replace-One slowly began to replace the head she lost and a second monstrous head appeared in the physical world off her left shoulder, formed directly out of Aether. Green scales lined a serpentine head that flared outward like a cobra from the deep south and red-gold eyes stared lidlessly at the Guardian mouse, who was struggling to stay firm in the face of such changes.

Finally, her last ability available to her at Silver rank, Maw of Endless Hunger, activated. Aether poured in to replace what she had lost and she, in turn, poured the excess into Heart of Vitality. It had been a long time since she had had to use all of her abilities in tandem and she reveled in the feeling. Locking gazes with her opponent she saw him shaking from the pressure she exuded but the look in his eyes was a good one. There was acceptance in that gaze but also an immovable will to fight till the end. She could respect that. After all, that same determination dwelled inside of her as well.

“You can take pride in the fact that I find you a proper opponent. Hopefully, I will see you once you wake up.” She saw the split second of confusion in his eyes before she leaped towards him.

POV Valterra Unok’Davaas

Valterra sent another wave of Aether at his Guardian mouse where he sat in a bloody mess upon his throne. The Core sighed to himself, keeping his disappointment from traveling the bond he shared with the large mouse. He knew that Wenigo had no hope of winning, logically, but it seemed wholly unfair that a mere Uncommon Guardian had been able to achieve the next evolutionary stage and his first Named creature had not. It seemed that his niece was not the experimenting type. When she got serious it was all or nothing.

Wenigo, for all his wounds and bruised ego, was recuperating admirably. His eyes smoldered with the need to become stronger, his fighting spirit refusing to be quenched in the least by his defeat. His kin tended to him as best they could and his squire had not left his side, armed to the teeth with his own artifact, which had been given back to him by a grateful Natalia. That at least was something that brought joy to the Dungeon. Apparently, artifacts such as the ones he had made were quite valuable and were sought after by certain kinds of Delvers but because his were so small they would most likely be safe for the time being.

All in all, he was pleased with how his first three Floors had performed. According to the Delving party, it would be sufficient to hold off most low-ranking Delvers and even some of the Rank directly below them which they said was impressive for a Dungeon as young as he was. ‘I wonder if that’s because I am so small. My creatures tend to mature faster, small as they are. Is it the same for me? I’ll have to ask them some other time.’

The Delving party had already left after the extremely fast culmination of the battle and were now on the Psuedo-Floor in the attic exploring his tiny city. Valterra had congratulated them as was their due but they were most likely aware of his vexation at the conclusion of the battle as Natalia had apologized, something even she had found strange from her expression afterward. Valterra chuckled at the thought. This whole event was strange. Who would have thought that familial ties would bind a Delver and a Dungeon together and allow regular communication to be possible? He did wonder where the gods were, however. Normally they would be watching right now but he didn’t feel them. That wasn’t necessarily strange but with the update to his System and becoming an Administrator he had gotten quite good at knowing when they were present.

That they weren’t watching now was rather telling. ‘Where are they?’