LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 25: Return From the Depths
As Xenia watches in a mixture of curiosity and fear, a section of the wall on one side of her core chamber begins to disintegrate. It begins with the shaking of dust and flakes from the stone surface, but soon turns into the formation of cracks. Pieces of the wall begin to break off, but while some fall to the floor, others almost seem to evaporate into powder in the air the moment they detach from the rock. Then all at once, a hole forms at about waist level, quickly expanding to a size wide enough to install a doorway into. Xenia steps forward to take a look inside, but before she can get much closer, a golem-like creature steps out - followed by a vaguely-familiar minotaur woman. The dungeon master gasps as the recognition hits her.
"Oh, shit! The adventurers are still alive!" She pauses then, glancing at the core pedestal behind her and then back at the mere twenty feet or so between it and the new tunnel.
"...Oh, shit! The adventurers are still alive!"
"We're here! I think?" Roxxy's cheerful voice burbles as Tassa makes her own way into the new space, needing a moment to adjust to the light of actual torches and the sight of actual furniture and other objects. After days spent in nothing but the pale blue glow of Grizza's magical lights, she'd almost forgotten that other shades of light existed. Sensing that they're back in the dungeon, the minotaur quickly draws her main heavy axe and scans the room for traps, but as dungeon rooms go, it seems very...unusual. There's a bed, a table, chairs...the construction of the furniture is very odd, but the space looks more like a bedroom than a dungeon room. There's even a rabbit hopping around in a far corner, like someone's lost pet. Then she takes another look at the clamshell statue in the center of the room, and the realization strikes her.
"The core chamber...we came out right in the core chamber!"
Grizza's voice calls out behind her. "Does the dungeon have exit portals yet? If we can skip fighting our way back out, that'd be much appreciated." Tassa does spot one, but shakes her head.
"Don't you get it, Grizza? It's here...it's right here." She steps forward, but Grizza reaches out to grab hold of her arm.
"Tassa, focus. We agreed to just focus on getting out, right? No more mistakes. We're all exhausted, hungry and injured, we don't have time for this."
The minotaur shakes him off and growls in response. "I agreed not to fight our way through the dungeon in our current condition, yes. But it's right there! Just give me a minute, and we can settle this for good!" She steps forward, her strong legs quickly covering the distance between the new tunnel and the pedestal, but as she reaches out to try and find a way to open it a slimy red tentacle suddenly wraps itself around her forearm. In shock, the trio all turn to look towards the chamber's proper doorway, where a red slime woman is speaking to them in Draconic...a language none of them happen to know.
Still, Grizza makes an attempt to respond. "Uh, hello! Are you an adventurer? Do you have a party? Perhaps we can team up and finish the dungeon together?"
Lollyp sighs. "Figures, I went with Rainlander for my secondary language training. Oh well, whatever. Eat lightning, adventurer scum!" Releasing her hold on the minotaur, she pulls her hand back and quickly begins generating an aura of electricity around it. As she releases that lightning in a bolt towards the woman, however, the elemental steps between the two just in time to block it with their own massive body. Lollyp keeps the bolt zapping for as long as she can, but it doesn't seem to do much more than shake off a few loose flakes from the elemental's form, and before long the bolt fizzles out. Lollyp's eyes go wide. "Shit! Fuck! I'm out of mana already!"
With no more said, the elemental and the minotaur move to take the fight into melee range. The slime and the elemental seem to be rather evenly matched - Roxxy's slow, telegraphed moves are easy for Lollyp to dodge, while even her hardest blows with hammer-like appendages seem to do nothing to the elemental. Once Tassa gets into range with her large two-handed axe though, the balance shifts significantly. Lollyp switches to more of a grappling style, turning her body into a mass of tentacles, but she's unable to pin down both at once, and tying herself to one leaves her open to counter attacks from the other. The smashing attacks by the elemental don't do much damage to her elastic form, but the sharp blade of the axe slicing through her membrane is much more painful.
Through it all Xenia watches on, almost paralyzed. Lollyp has a lot of potential as a boss monster, she knows this. But it's not realized potential yet. She has no equipment still, and is literally fighting three-to-one unarmed and naked. She doesn't have the benefit of her boss arena. She's barely had time to practice using the strength of her new, more physically-oriented body. And on top of that the third intruder, the drider, hasn't even entered the fray yet, simply watching on and waiting to see if he's needed. Which he won't be. As Xenia watches, tear after tear opens in Lollyp's skin, and Xenia knows the slime is going to lose this fight. And while Lollyp can be revived if the dungeon survives, she remembers the look of the hatred on the minotaur's face before she fell into darkness all those days ago.
Hand slightly shaking, she reaches into her metaphysical inventory and removes one of the avatar-generating orbs she'd received from Cerise. "Can't fuckin' believe I'm using one of these up the first fuckin' day I get 'em." Guy quickly calls out to interrupt her before she can use it, however.
"Xenia! Dungeon avatars aren't designed for combat! Even with the proper version, if you get hit by a weapon even once, you'll pop like a bubble!"
Xenia, Reincarnator Extraordinaire, takes a deep breath and steadies herself. Nerves calmed, she looks up at Guy and smirks. "Then I guess I'll just need to make sure I don't get hit, huh?" With a wink, she crushes the orb in her palm.
Tassa is very, very confused. How did a slime adventurer get out here? Why is she alone? Why did she attack them so quickly? ...Why is she in a dungeon entirely naked? But ultimately those questions don't really matter. The slime picked a fight, and Tassa has a very large deal of pent-up aggression from the past week that needs an outlet. It's extremely difficult to land a fatal blow on a slime with an edged weapon, she knows, but over time every cut and slash will add up and cause the woman to spill out onto the floor. Just a few good hits more...
As she raises her axe for another blow, she freezes at the sound of someone calling her name from behind her. Not Grizza - a woman. "TASSA!" Turning around in surprise, she finds a strange sight. A human woman, somehow existing only in the colors of black and white, is glaring at her from the center of the chamber. At first she wears only a simple robe, but in an instant it's replaced by a set of light metal armor - a breastplate covering her chest, and greaves and bracers appearing to protect the limbs with a leather underlayer. Her right arm stretches out and a simple, unadorned sword appears from nowhere to fill her hand. "I believe your fight is with me."
Grizza gasps. "It's a dungeon avatar!"
Tassa shakes her head, as she steps aside to give herself some space. "An avatar? Already? But...it is you, isn't it. You killed Ragrush, and Pusht. Ha! I'm glad you came out to fight me, spirit. That's going to make this much more personal. Do you have a name, spirit? You seem to know mine."
The avatar smirks. "...Do I have a name?" In almost a blur of motion, the woman's closed the distance between the two of them, with a wide swing forcing Tassa to hop backwards in surprise. "I'm the Chosen of Ulthor!" Tassa attempts to bring her heavy axe down on the woman's head, but a sudden slash on her hand causes her to drop the weapon before she even realizes she's been struck. "The Hero of Seven Cities!" The minotaur quickly swaps to her smaller one-handed axes, pulling them from their holsters, but finds herself continually pushed back to buy herself time. "Dreaded Lord of the Broken Mountain Tribes!" Tassa yells, stepping forward with a trio of quick swings, only to find herself hitting nothing but air as the avatar dodges each, grinning as if her attacks weren't even a threat. "Guardian of the Eternal Forest! Devourer of the Black Bog!" Another slash on her other hand, and Tassa finds herself dropping a second axe to the floor. She blocks a sword swing with the other, but the already-injured limb lacks the strength to hold the woman back, and that weapon is flung from her grip entirely. Retreating again, the minotaur finds herself reduced to grabbing for her smaller throwing axes.
"Master of the Easthall Guild! Prince of the Fallen Tower! Blade of Beatrice the Monster Slayer!" With each bizarre title shouted out, the woman advances again, slashing at each of Tassa's limbs, knocking every weapon from her grasp the moment she draws it. Before she even truly knows what's going on, the minotaur finds herself kneeling on the floor, disarmed, with a sword to her throat. "...Xenia Worthy, Master of Worthy Dungeon. And you...fucked up." Tassa looks around but everyone else in the room seems stunned, even the wounded slime woman, and with a weapon at her throat it's now too late for Roxxy or Grizza to step in without putting her at risk. Realizing that no one can help her, and she can no longer even help herself, Tassa finds an odd moment of...peace.
"I don't understand what you are, spirit. But me...it seems I am cursed to always be a fool. Fine then...I surrender. Take me for your collection, if you must. I suppose then at least I'll see Ragrush again, in some way."
Xenia freezes, as thoughts race through her mind unbidden. FUCK! Why did she have to say that!? Now she'll reincarnate as she is! Why couldn't she have just died in the fight? If she'd been 'collected' as a normal soul, she and her boyfriend could've been reincarnated together on equal terms, which would've been like...poetic, if in a fucked up, sad way. But with Tassa remembering everything and Ragrush starting fresh as a, whatever, it'll just fuck her up even more! But she's tried to kill me twice now, I can't just let her -
Suddenly, her thoughts are interrupted by a cry from behind her. "DON'T HURT HER! PLEASE!" Xenia turns her head to find the oddly child-like voice coming from the rocky golem who dug the tunnel into her chamber, a golem showing an unusual amount of fear as she stares at Xenia. And Xenia knows...she can't do it. Not like this.
Turning back to Tassa, she grips the woman by her collar and pulls her to her feet. Xenia can tell her avatar wouldn't be strong enough to lift a woman Tassa's size like this normally, but it seems as if all the fight truly has gone out of the minotaur, and she doesn't resist the movement. Pulling her to eye level, Xenia stares into Tassa's eyes with all the seriousness her pitch-black irises can generate. "Get this, Tassa. I ain't sorry for what happened. I don't regret how shit played out. If I could do it again, I would. You walked into my house looking for a fight, and you got one." With that said, Xenia's eyes soften. "But even though I don't know shit about your boyfriend, I know this isn't what he'd want for you. I could take your life, and I probably should...but I think I've taken enough from you already."
Turning around, she begins to half-drag the woman to the exit portal. "Go home. Get therapy. Become an alcoholic. I don't really give a shit." Stopping, she pushes the minotaur into the center of the ring. "If you really wanna come back and try this again, that's on you. Next time, I promise I'll try and kill you, whether you want it or not. But for today? It's been fun, but now get the fuck out of my house." Tassa looks down at the portal ring, and almost without thinking, activates it and vanishes from the room. One intruder gone, Xenia turns to face the others. "You two too. Get the fuck out."
The golem needs no more encouragement, immediately rushing to the portal to catch up with her friend. The drider, on the other hand, seems to approach much more slowly, as if he's thinking something over. Finally, as he reaches the dungeon master's side, he seems to come to a decision and speaks.
"Thank you. For not killing her."
Unsure how to respond, Xenia nods. "I don't blame her. But try and keep a better leash on your pal, okay? Kind of sensing a theme with that lady." The drider nods in response, before continuing.
"As thanks, I feel like I should let you know. We've spent the last...however many days wandering around in what is, to our best guess, some sort of...abandoned or lost dungeon beneath your own. A massive one, though empty."
Xenia stares at the drider. "...What?"
"We were sent here to investigate the region, because our Mana Weavers felt there was something 'wrong' in the energy signature of your...birth. But I suspect now that perhaps that had something more to do with it."
Xenia chuckles. "Ah, really? Could be. More likely it's all the curses, though."
This time it's the drider's turn to stare. "...What?"
