Rupegia 7 "Good Luck"

"Not unexpected," Roxanne says.

They both look excitedly at me.

"But what does this blessing do?" I ask.

"It means the G.o.ddess has her eye on you and will influence the world to help you. If you keep it like this then you will certainly become a famous scholar one day," says Roxanne while slightly clapping her hands, Alissa nods along.

Well then, that's fortunate for me. I guess this might be the time to go to the magic university and see if I can join. After this we will have some money saved so I can probably spend some time studying.

We break our camp after breakfast and start moving. In just a few minutes we reach the first stairs. The sound of falling water tickles my ears but the vertigo from looking down the hole in the middle of the spiral stairs makes me much more anxious.

Like planned, I pull a metal spike, rope, and hammer. I hammer the spike on the ground and tie the rope, the dungeoneering advice book taught me the bowline knot to tie the rope on the spike.

This rope will stay here for at least 2 days if the Spriggans don't mess with it. If they do there's the alternative of using Roxanne, she can materialize two small bat wings on her back that allows her to magically float around. This way she can go up and put the spike and rope for us.

The descent is slow because the steps are damp and worn out. We tie the rope to our bodies by using a belt and go down. Roxanne also uses the rope because the wings would waste mana.

"What's that thing?" Alissa says.

I get closer and notice there's a vine loop on the floor. The rest of the vine disappears over the edge of the stairs.

I pull a small wooden bowl we use to eat soup and throw it into the vine. The vine immediately moves and pulls the bowl towards the edge.

"Well, first trap successfully dodged," I say.

We finally reach the floor and remove the rope from our waists. This time the rooms have no identification so I have to pay more attention to the map and Alissa goes in front.

We move a few rooms and Alissa stops.

"There's an enemy observing us," she says.

"Can you take the shot?"

"Yes, but he will certainly dodge it."

"I will leave the decision to you now. We have to be aggressive with them, killing them is the best option but scaring them is also an alternative. Can't waste too many arrows though.

"Understood, I will wait until I have better chances to hit."

"That's fine."

We keep moving for a few more minutes when Alissa sudden stops and lets an arrow fly.

"I smell blood but it must have done little damage, it escaped fast," she says.

"That's okay, good work."

Her tail sways quickly and then stops. I should praise her more often.

If we ignored the Spriggan he would have likely tried to sneak near us and steal something.

That was the only enemy on this floor. We also found a bear trap, I wonder where they find these things.

Another stair another vine trap. 14 more levels to go.

­

"Now there's two," Alissa says.

"The same one from last time?"

"Yes, I smell blood."

"Let's wait until we can see them and Roxanne will fire a [Fire Arrow] at them."

From what I understood the Spriggans keep one or two rooms away from us. They can see in the dark so only with [Sense Presence] can Alissa notice them. It's actually impressive she managed to fire an arrow accurate enough to harm a Spriggan while only using [Sense Presence] to get their location.

We move 3 more rooms and I see a small shadow peeking from the entrance of the room.

"Miss Roxanne, can you see there? On the right side of the corridor there's a small head peeking."

"I don't think so, can you point my finger where I need to fire? I think it's going to be easier," she says.

I get closer to her and line my cheek with hers, then I grab her hand and point it towards the shadow. I can feel the slight smell of sweat and something sweet coming form her hair. Her hand is so soft. Call me whatever you want but I enjoy moments like this.

"Hopefully they don't sense mana. Alissa, fire when Roxanne says the spell."

Then she charges mana and chants quietly.

"[Fire Arrow]," she says.

A flame shaped like an arrow lights the tunnel and flies alongside a normal one. The fire one continues until far away and disappears, a miss.

"Got one," Alissa says.

"Nice."

"Impressive as always, Miss Alissa."

She squirms a little. Ah the cuteness.

We move towards the body and see a thin green man laying down on the floor with an arrow on his forehead. His eyes are pure white with a green web pattern on it. His chest is full of pieces of mossy dark bark, his genitals are thankfully covered by a large curved piece of bark and there's 1 large piece of bark protecting each forearm. His hair is a bunch of small pieces of bark protruding upwards. His feet soles look disgusting.

"Let's take his head," Alissa says.

She draws her sword and beheads the body. The head is the proof of extermination but I didn't really wanna get it. I quickly store it on my "Items".

We walk again and reach another stair. No bear traps on this floor though. I pull another rope and we do the same thing again.

"Master, this moss is suspicious," Alissa says.

"What do you mean?"

"I can see some cracks under it."

"Oh, lets. .h.i.t it with the hammer and see how it goes."

With a *poof* I pull the hammer out and Alissa who's in front smacks the patch of moss with it. A large spot of the stairs crumbles.

"That one wouldn't be so dangerous thanks to these ropes but it would certainly be scary. Thanks Alissa," I say.

We finish the stairs and reach another floor. 13 to go. I wonder what's below the ground in this world. Is it like Earth where there's the mantle and things get hotter the deeper we go? Or is there impa.s.sable purple bedrock? Maybe it just ends and an infinite hole appears.

­

In this floor the shallow pools are much bigger and the paths to avoid them are much smaller, they are barely wide enough for one person.

"I smell something funny on the water," Alissa says.

"Let's not touch it."

"Could be corrosive, there's hardly any poison that can be diluted into a small pool like this and still work," says Roxanne.

Corrosion is even worse than poison. I just can't imagine something hurting Alissa's cute little feet.

"There's another vine here," Alissa says.

I throw the same bowl that I recovered from last time, the vine moves and pulls the bowl into the water. I hear sizzling.

"Corrosive. Wouldn't kill us but it would hurt," says Roxanne with a nod.

No Spriggan on this level, maybe the corrosive pools are dangerous for them too.

Another stair another vine trap. 12 floors to go.

­

The pools are back to normal size.

"There's a small mound on the moss here," says Alissa.

"I don't even wanna trigger this trap let's just go around."

We take a small detour around the room and circle the pool.

"There's another mound here."

"Well s.h.i.+t."

I pick a spare iron spike because it's heavier than the bowl and throw into the mound. A white flash blinds us for a few seconds. I pull Alissa backwards while still blind and pull my s.h.i.+eld in front of us.

Time pa.s.ses, our vision returns and nothing happens.

"They are just messing with us," I say.

"Just like the book said," says Alissa, a little tense.

A few more mounds on the way, a few more flashes. We don't get blinded a second time. I wish I could dig the mound up but I'm scared it might turn into an actual mine at some point.

Another stair another vi-...

"It's moving!" Warns Alissa.

Like a snake the vine comes towards us. Alissa draws her sword and we both awkwardly slash at the ground a few times. This is not good for the blade. The vine stops moving after a dozen cuts.

"The Spriggans can control vines, the first real attack is coming soon," I say.

We reach the floor, 11 floors to go.

­

No traps. We grow a bit restless.

"Three hits, it's the Spriggans," says Alissa.

Finally.

"One for each, I take the middle, Alissa the left, Roxanne the last."

We move forward. When we turn the corner of the room and enter the corridor we see something blocking our way. It's a wooden chest high wall. We brace for battle.

"They are behind that."

"Uh… Miss Roxanne, [Fireball] please."

"Yessir!" She was rather quiet all this time. Now with an enemy in front instead of traps she seems happier.

I feel a lot of mana gathering.

"[Fireball]!"

A large fire ball flies and hits the wooden wall, it explodes and a large hole opens in the middle.

"Erm… They are moving… downwards?" Asks Alissa, looking confused.

"What?" I ask.

"Yeah, they ran away... downwards. There must be a stair or something there."

"So another feint," I drop my shoulders.

"Ugh..." Roxanne groans.

The numbers are increasing but they are not attacking. Scaring is working but not for long.

We move forward and behind the flaming wooden wall we see a dark hole in the ground with vines hanging from it. It goes down a few meters then opens into a dark room.

"This must be a way they sneak about," I say.

We keep moving and reach the stairs. Another stair another vine trap.

"Master, the stairs are slippery," says Alissa.

We take extra care and reach the floor. 10 to go.

­

We are crossing a corridor when Alissa stops.

"Something… oh, it's a wire."

Now, wire traps are a mind trap too. There could be other wire traps just after the first one, it could be a simple feint, it could be something that blows up the entire corridor if you trigger so let's not trigger just to see what happens. It could also be a feint with a pressure trap after it. It's a mind game to predict where the next trap could be.

I look at the walls.

"Are those slits?"

"Yes, master. Arrow trap on the wall."

If you trigger this multiple arrows will come flying out of the walls. Don't ask how it works, it's just "magic".

"Alissa, pay close attention, is there any other trap right in front of the wire? Like a pressure trap, a mound or another wire?"

"Let's see… There's a suspicious square tile over there," she says.

Heh, I knew it.

"Then let's slowly move across this corridor. If you trigger something immediately drop on the floor."

We move slowly through the traps, there was a second suspicious square tile.

Alissa stops.

"There's one watching us."

Just one?

This corridor is rather long… This is suspicious.

"Alissa, fire at it. Let's move quicker."

An arrow flies. I hurry us forward, then we feel a small tremor.

"Run!" I yell. I don't even care whatever it is just f.u.c.king run.

I glance behind us and see the floor starts to split and a deep dark hole appears below.

"FASTER!" I scream. I can't see Roxanne, I just hope she exercises regularly.

Me and Alissa reach the end. I look back and Roxanne is still some distance away, dammit girl. I desperately open my "Items" and pull out spare rope. Her footing ends and she jumps.

­

Bat wings appear out of Roxanne's back and flap slowly, she crosses her arms and legs as if she was sitting in the air. She slowly floats in the air towards us. I forgot about that, thanks for the heart attack.

"So… I'm really thankful I can float," she says while letting out an embarra.s.sed smile.

"I would have thrown you a rope if you couldn't," I say.

"That's a little rea.s.suring. But I'm still pretty p.i.s.sed at the Spriggans, that was a major trap! We evade multiple traps and then the little s.h.i.+t even comes here and triggers the last one himself.

"That's why we need to brutalize them. If they attack we leave no survivors, that puts some fear into them," I say.

"I see, well I'll use [Melt Skin] on them then!"

I shudder at the thought. Help me Alissa, she's threatening my mental health.

"Let's not deviate from the plan, effective ways of killing comes first," says Alissa.

Thank you for being so reliable.

"Hmph, alright," says Roxanne, she crosses her arms and pouts.

We reach the stairs. Another stair another… Moving vine.

We reach the floor. 9 to go.

­

"There's one on the left corridor and two on the right," says Alissa.

"Hm… If we chase they will run, if we ignore they will come from behind and ambush. But I want to force a fight..." I ponder.

But there's no time to ponder.

"Master! Three coming from the front! Ambus.h.!.+" Yells Alissa.

"s.h.i.+t. Alissa right! Roxanne left! Kill sides then support me!"

I draw my sword and ready my s.h.i.+eld. I charge a heavy [Fireball].

Something is thrown, it's a crude wooden spear. I easily block it with my s.h.i.+eld.

"Projectiles! Watch out!"

Roxanne is bad at dodging, she's the one in most danger. I need to kill that spear thrower, there's no cover here.

Shadows come into range of our light and 3 skinny green men appear. Two are wielding crude metal swords and crude wooden s.h.i.+elds, the third has a spear on its hand and 12 more on his back. The s.h.i.+eld users have a large amount of bark on their arms and legs, their chest is the most vulnerable.

I charge forward. The spear thrower must die. The s.h.i.+eld users stop and brace themselves.

I bash the one on the left, my arm hurts, he staggers backwards. A spear flies and hits my s.h.i.+eld, but that's enough of an opening. I let out the [Fireball] towards the spear user and parry the incoming blow from the one on the right.

I hear a scream, the spear thrower got hit on his throwing arm and part of his chest. Part of his arm caught fire and he's running around, too stupid to put out a fire in the middle of a damp room full of pools of water.

I immediately back away and glance at the girls.

Alissa is on the ground being pulled by a vine towards the pool, there's a Spriggan on fire near her and Roxanne is sprinting towards her. f.u.c.king no no and no.

I dash towards the one on fire, he drops his flaming s.h.i.+eld and moves towards the defenseless Alissa. Her sword is on the ground out of her reach. I don't have time to stop, I throw myself into the Spriggan and my sword pierces his back while we both fall on the ground in a messy way.

He thrashes about trying to hit me with punches or kicks. My sword is stuck, I draw my dagger from my back and stab his chest multiple times. He slowly stops resisting and goes limp.

"[Melt Skin]!"

A terrifying scream fills the room. It's a voice similar to a human's but it feels like it's two voices overlapping each other. I look at the source, one Spriggan is rolling in the ground while white steam comes from his body, luckily I can't see much more than that. Roxanne stands near him with a dagger in her hand.

Alissa is besides her clas.h.i.+ng swords with a s.h.i.+eld user Spriggan. His attacks slows and he starts to retreat. I dash to him. Like h.e.l.l I'm gonna let you go now you s.h.i.+t stain.

We surround him. Roxanne looks angry and threatening with a dagger in her hand, her hair is disheveled; Alissa in front with a serious look. I come from the side and slash at his flank. He can't defend properly, blue blood flows down. He gets on his knee and Alissa beheads him.

I look around, the spear thrower is already gone. There's a Spriggan with an arrow on his forehead, a carbonized body and the one with the melted skin pa.s.sed out or something, I don't want to look at him right now. Roxanne moves towards him and I hear a sound of flesh being cut. Jesus.

Alissa starts collecting heads. She stares at one with a mohawk made of bark, then laughs and stores the head. I just spend the time staring down, cleaning my sword and s.h.i.+eld while Roxanne pats her robes and brushes her hair.

"I'm sorry, master. I got caught in a vine trap and dropped my sword and bow," Alissa says while bowing."

"Don't apologize for this, mistakes happens and we deal with it as a team. It was good acting by Roxanne to come and free you. I was also a bit far so it was partially my fault you were so close to danger."

"T-that's not-..."

"Don't argue. We are companions," I say decisively, I don't want her to apologize like this for every mistake.

She bites her lip and nods.

"… Understood, master."

"Now let's go, I don't like this smell."

It's the smell of barbecue.

We reach the stair and take a small break.

We eat an early lunch, at least it seems so since we have no idea of the time. I take my tea with my lunch, I like to drink tea in an afternoon snack but there's no time to take another break after this so it has to be like this.

Alissa is content while making tea and Roxanne's blood"thirst is quenched. This is kind of a nice place to have a picnic. The atmosphere is nice and the girls are happy, almost makes me forget the imps planning our deaths are nearby.

Another stair, another vine trap.

8 to go.

­

This floor had a few wooden walls around, but no enemies. It seems we scared them with the last fight. Perhaps it was a test to see how we react, doesn't seem unlike of monsters to sacrifice a few.

Another stair another two moving vine traps.

7 floors left.

­

Mounds and bear traps appear again. I have a bad feeling about this so we throw a spike from far away, this time it blows. Finally the mines appear. We move extra carefully on this floor.

We reach the stairs. Another stair another… empty stair? No traps, suspicious.

6 floors left.

­

Pitfalls, pitfalls galore. We have to keep looking for cracks in the ground and hammering anything remotely suspicious. I tie a rope around me and Alissa, Roxanne holds it from a bit far behind.

Another stair another no trap descent.

5 floors to go.

­

"A Spriggan is watching us."

"Hmm… I wanna chase him and scare him."

"There has been quite a lot of traps these floors, better not run," says Alissa.

"Let me try a small explosion near him," Roxanne suggests

"Ain't that a waste of mana?" I ask.

Roxanne's explosions mana efficiency is kinda bad.

"If it's small it will only startle him, won't waste too much mana."

"Fine then."

"Point me in the direction, Miss Alissa."

This time is a cute girl and a hot woman rubbing cheeks and holding hands. I want a picture of this scene.

"[Explosion]!" And a boom.

I feel a slight breeze.

"He actually got pushed away a bit, I think the explosion could have even damaged him," says Alissa.

"Oh wow, we should use this more often then, it seems they have absolutely no sense of magic," I say.

Alissa finds another one but he runs away immediately when we stop to aim. Heheh, they are scared now.

A mix of traps appear on this floor, quite annoying.

We reach the stairs, another stair another no vine trap descent.

4 floors to go.

­

Vines, vines everywhere. We walk forward slas.h.i.+ng at the ground repeatedly, my poor sword will get ruined like this. Vines try to grab us from multiple angles but they are ineffective like this. It's not like the Bush Babies that can strike hard with their vines, these can only move and entangle us then push us towards the pools. If it catches us and we fall as long as we have a sword or dagger on hand there's nothing else it can do.

Honestly the most annoying room so far, I almost feel like just running to try pa.s.s through all these vines.

We reach the stairs. I look at Alissa, she looks at me.

"Something is odd."

"Even I think so," Roxanne says.

The stairs look… Too well done. All the other stairs looked worn out and uneven, this one is a perfect stair.

"Hm… If something happens we always have the rope. Let's go," I say.

We start descending, there's also no vine trap here. We are midway when we hear a *clunk* sound.

Here we go.

The stair changes into a slope and from the walls near the stairs a large amount of water gushes out in jets.

There's no time to react, we are getting pushed towards the edge and start losing our balance. I slip and soon after Roxanne and Alissa also slip. I can't get up and we get pushed over the edge.

The rope holds and we dangle above the pit a good 10 meters above the ground. On the ground I see multiple pointy shadows at the edge of my light.

"These f.u.c.kers…"

"My robe…"

"Annoying…"

We slowly crawl down the rope and land on a place safely from the spikes on the ground. Then we use [Fire Magic] to dry ourselves.

3 floors to go.

­

Another floor full of wood walls. Seems empty.

"One monster hiding ahead," says Alissa.

"Hm? Have they all not ran away? Well, whatever, he's behind that wooden wall?"

"Yes, master."

At the end of the corridor I see the outline of a chest high wall.

"Miss Roxanne, you can see that too right? Think you can cause an explosion right where his head would be?"

"Ohoh! I like that!"

Then Alissa helps Roxanne point her finger again. Oof, my heart.

"[Explosion]!"

I hear a boom with a fleshy sound. I giggle.

We walk forward and see a headless Spriggan laying on the ground with his back on the wall. The surroundings are completely covered in blue blood and small bits of meat.

"Hoh, it seems he was sleeping on the wall. I'm quite satisfied with this but it's a shame I destroyed the proof of extermination."

"Master, What's so funny?"

I can't control my laughter.

"I'm not going insane… It's just that… It's just so ridiculous."

I can't contain my laughter, the girls look worried.

My stomach hurts.

"L-let's go, master."

We reach the stairs. Oh look it's back, another stair another vine trap.

2 floors to go.

­

We are thankful this one was short. It was filled with even more traps, but the short distance meant we barely had to deal with them.

Another stair, another vine trap.

Last floor.

­

"The smell of Spriggan is really strong here," says Alissa.

"Perhaps they actually live here?" Asks Roxanne.

"This floor has actual food. It's not known if they really do live here but they come here often."

There are 40 more floors after the one of the Moon Turtles. It's possible they are hunter"gatherers and don't really live anywhere for long. This floor has small bushes with bitter fruits so a small group can survive here.

"I smell burnt wood," says Alissa after a few rooms.

"Oh? So they do use fire," I say.

"This means they are close by," says Roxanne.

She seems eager to blow some heads.

"Let's not fight them," I stop her immediately.

"Awn…"

"You can only blow their heads if they are standing still, you know."

"I can still use [Melt Skin]."

I'm surrounded by s.a.d.i.s.tic women.

"Miss Roxanne, that spell is only for emergencies, it's too dangerous to use carelessly," warns Alissa.

"Hmmmmmm..." Roxanne seems vexed.

Alissa is not wrong. That spell is short range, I'm not letting Roxanne get close to another Spriggan again.

"Oh! Master, nine of them ahead!" Alissa warns.

The room ahead is quite small.

"Hihihihih… miss Roxanne, [Firestorm] please..." I get giddy.

"Yes… yes!" Blood fills Roxanne's eyes.

They thought they could ambush us like this, they thought they could outnumber us. They underestimate us. You don't f.u.c.k with a fire mage.

"They are not coming, they are waiting in ambush," says Alissa.

Even I am p.i.s.sed at these imps, if we can crush them from afar without even being able to see them then my heart is safe. It's just more numbers on my experience bar.

I hug Alissa from her waist and she drops her head on my shoulder.

On the distance a room gets light up. Flames appear from nothing, they create lines in the air and move on a spiral. In a second hundreds of these lines of fire fill the room and a tornado of fire is made.

*FOOOOM* A strong hot wind blows on us. The smell of burnt wood fills our noses.

"GET f.u.c.kED!" Screams Roxanne. She's panting and leaning on her staff.

"They are all dead. Good job, Miss Roxanne," Alissa says in a kind voice.

The last stair is a few rooms ahead, this was the last resistance the Spriggans will put up. After this the journey back will be simple.

Inside the room there are no corpses left behind, the entire room is black and burned.

We reach the stairs. Another stair, another vine trap.

We finally reached the floor of the Moon Turtles.

­

"MOONLIGHT MOOOOOSS," Roxanne lets out a long scream and falls on her knees, her eyes watery, her hands on her cheeks.

This floor is damper than the others, the pools of water are much deeper but not larger. On most rooms there's at least 1 or 2 Moon Turtle, a few have even more. And then our prize is visible. s.h.i.+ning in the nearly completely dark cave a completely white patch of moss is hanging on the back of a turtle, it lights the surroundings and the figure of the target turtle is completely visible.

The Moon Turtles turtles are just literally giant turtles who have a sh.e.l.l completely covered in blue or green moss. They have small little spikes growing out of their sh.e.l.ls, like a certain famous kidnapping turtle. When angered these spikes thrust out at anything dangerous, somewhat like a porcupine, I guess. Fortunately they are not aggressive and will only attack on their own if you stand in front of them.

We take a break to let Roxanne fully recover the mana she used during [Firestorm]. Then when she's ready, the ma.s.sacre begins.

We move fast and ignore most turtles. Once we spot a target turtle. Alissa uses [Muscle Explosion] and fires two arrows at the eyes of the turtle. It goes blind and tries to rage, a few randomly breathe fire.

I approach carefully and slash the throat of the turtle. It bleeds profusely, pa.s.ses out, and dies after a few minutes. This is kinda bad for me, it's making me uneasy. I guess the stress of the trip and the danger of this dungeon keeps me sane but I still feel sick seeing the slow death of these turtles.

Once I slash and see the bleeding is satisfactory I go away and stay near Alissa. Roxanne waits until it dies then she prances towards it and starts working.

She has to first spread a drying powder on it, then she checks if it's not too much powder or too little. Then finally she brings out a silver sc.r.a.ping tool, it has a long flat horizontal blade. The moss is corrosive and absorbs a fine layer of silver when cut, this layer of silver makes it capable of keeping much of its power during transportation. Once sc.r.a.ped Roxanne carefully puts the moss sheet in her jar, she has to wear thick gloves to touch it.

The process takes a few minutes. By running from room to room we manage to kill 9 turtles an hour. We do 3 hours then rest then another last 3 hours and Roxanne's jar is filled.

"Contract complete!" She says and jumps while holding her jar.

"Uh… we still have to escort you back," I say.

"Oh yes, that's right, eheheh."

Why are you so carefree?

Exhausted, we camp on a room without any turtle or corpse.

­

Roxanne hums while she bathes behind the tents.

"It feels like we have been so long down here," Alissa says.

"It's because we can't see the sun, our notion of time is messed up. Now that I think about it, is there a shop where we could buy a clock?" I ask.

"I have seen a few at the Flea Market once. The Crafter's Corner must have one, at least on the magic tool shops."

"You think it's expensive?"

"Yes, that's why not many people have it. Looking at the sun or the sun dials is enough already for most people."

"We should have some good money after this, I'll buy one and we should rest for some days."

"That would be nice. I want to learn more about tea and I want to practice cooking again," Alissa says and smiles slightly.

"Oh yeah, you have cooking skill but never cooked for me yet, I would like that. I used to cook too."

"Oh? Then let's cook together, you haven't told me what dishes you ate at your homeland yet."

That's right, let's cook together, like I used to cook with Lily...

Bath goes the same. Alissa holds her voice better this time so I tease her and increase my speed until she tells me to slow down.

Then we eat the same dinner as yesterday and go to sleep again in turns. I get to sleep 3 hours while hugging Alissa but we can't do it while naked, we all sleep while armored. Well, Roxanne's robe can barely be considered armor though. Well I'm not sure but I think Roxanne might be hiding some leather armor bellow the robes.

­

We wake up, eat and prepare to leave. Roxanne looks longingly at the nearby room where the turtles might be. If she wants to go she will do it alone, I wanna go home.

We get to the stair and the rope is still there. Makes it worth it to have spent so much money on rope.

Then we move through the rooms with a hurried pace. We know where the traps are, the Spriggans take a few days to change the trap layout and they are far too scared of us now to attack again. We blaze through the floors and leave the dungeon before it's even noon, I think.

After a light snack we wait a little for digestion and start to stretch. We are going to run, f.u.c.k sneaking about again. The moles won't chase us into the arachne territory so we can just run past them because they are way too dumb and slow to react fast enough to block us. I keep Roxanne in front of me this time, can't let her s.e.xy slow a.s.s fall behind now.

I tell to Alissa the order of markings for the correct tunnels we should take. Then I have her memorize them, now we are ready. RUN!

­

We ran past by 4 moles, literally. Alissa threw arrows, me and Roxanne both used small [Fireb.a.l.l.s] and they all scampered away, intimidated by us.

"5 more markings," Alissa says. That means about 10 more minutes of running. "Wait, something is coming."

"What is it?" I ask.

I get in front and pull my s.h.i.+eld.

"Three are coming. It's not monsters that's for sure, it might be adventurers but… They are running?"

"Running from what? Actually it's pretty obvious, get ready to fight an arachne," I say.

Just my luck, the trip didn't have any real incident so far so it was about time.

We wait a few seconds and we start to hear footsteps. I get anxious thinking that the moles are gonna come running from behind now that we stopped and warn Alissa, sorry you have to work so much.

A line of adventurers come from the tunnel ahead. A black man in a hauberk and chausses with a large kite s.h.i.+eld and a sword sheathed on his waist. A blonde bearded archer with black leather armor and a red feather cap, it's kinda tacky, I see a white thin furry tail coming out of his back. A short haired redhead woman with a black robe, a wand in one hand and a small round iron s.h.i.+eld on another.

They all look pale and are sweating profusely.

"SYMBOL OF HATE!" Screams the chain mail man and we all shudder.

We are f.u.c.ked, it's a threat level 7 monster.

­

The Symbol of Hate is an aberrant legendary monster that appeared about 200 years ago. It's a 5 meters tall arachne. It has 12 hairy legs that can break the skin with their sharpness, a hard as steel spider body, a hard as ogre human body, a frightening large mouth with hundreds of sharp teeth that shred anything it eats, and nails as large and sharp as a dagger. Her human body is black with black straight hair and pure black eyes. And finally, she has an incessant thirst for inflicting pain and misery.

It literally feeds on pain. It captures any living being, brutalizes it, nurses it back to health and brutalizes it again until it's mind breaks apart, then it eats its prey alive. There's only one report of it's nest and the only words to describe it is "a h.e.l.l where the only sound is the cry of pain of tortured souls". It's the embodiment of misery, it's a berserking, cunning monster that eludes extermination task forces as long as it lived. It's aberrant nature means not even the Monster King controls it, it's grown too powerful and too twisted to be considered the same as a normal monster. That f.u.c.king nightmare is coming to us.

We are going to be sandwiched. We are still inside mole territory, if they come they might attack us without hesitation until the Symbol of Hate catches up to us and if it reaches us it will attack from behind, then we are doubly f.u.c.ked. The Symbol has no mercy and will not hesitate to attack anything that moves. We have only one choice, we have to fight it.

"YOU 3 STOP NOW, THE MOLES ARE COMING BEHIND US!" I scream.

They stagger, stop, and almost fall. The woman and the chain guy freeze, the archer grabs his own head and falls on his knees.

"WE HAVE TO FIGHT! You, mage! What are your spells!?"

"Hiiii..." She s.h.i.+vers and lets out a small scream, "F-f-fire, b-ball, arrow, w-wall. W-wind bld-de, hhammer, armor," she stutters.

"Ignore wind! Focus only on fireball and arrow. Don't miss, take your time, don't waste mana!"

"You, archer! Focus only on hitting the eyes, the skin is too thick for anything else!"

"Y-yes!" He responds. Good, he's not completely done.

"You, s.h.i.+eld! We stand in front. Block and protect, cut legs only if we have a chance!"

"YES!" He screams, a little too eager.

"Roxanne! Same as the mage, save half your mana for an explosion!"

"Understood!" She trusts me, that's good.

"Alissa, same as the archer, we need those eyes popped!"

"Count on me!" She says and clenches her fist near her chest. Reliable as always, marry me please.

I'm f.u.c.king lucky. I saw the entry for Symbol of Hate and it spiked my curiosity, I spent a long time searching for tales of it and now I know the best way to deal with it. It's skin is tough but it's still skin, fire is effective and if we burn it enough it will run away, that's our only chance.

We get in formation, the chain mail guy is shaking.

"Yo, it's okay, we will survive," I lie. I give him an exaggerated smile and a thumbs up, hopefully thumbs up means the same thing here.

He lets out a nervous laugh, his shaking reduces a little.

A few seconds later we hear a stampede coming. A maniacal laugh fills the tunnels.

I grit my teeth. I feel mana charging from the mages.

We are in a large room, it's tall and long but not very wide. It's our battlefield.

On the entrance to the tunnel ahead a large shadow appears.

Its 12 legs are as sharp as a spear, it leaves small holes wherever it steps on. The Symbol of Hate charges towards us with frightening grin. Normal arachne have the body growing out of its face, this one the naked woman body is stuck on top of the thorax of the spider. It has eyes on it's human head and on the spider's face. Quite a lot of eyes to pop.

Immediately when it appears two [Fireb.a.l.l.s] fly towards its body. It blocks one with its dagger fingers and another grazes the right arm and burns it a little. The other arm deflects an arrow aimed at the face and the spider body loses one of its 6 eyes.

It tries to trample both of us at the same time but we hold our s.h.i.+elds and properly hold back the attack. My arm explodes in pain and my feet are dragged a few centimeters backwards. I see a small b.u.mp appear on my s.h.i.+eld. The charge is stopped.

It raises 2 of its forwards legs at the same time and tries to fight us as if it were spears. It's arms block more fireb.a.l.l.s and a little bit more of skin is burned. Another spider eye is lost.

I dodge, parry, and block. Even my sword arm hurts with the force of this monster. I can't counter properly, its too fast. The s.h.i.+eld guy is doing better than me, I don't have enough "Strength" for this fight.

Arrows miss and both [Fireb.a.l.l.s] are blocked. The s.h.i.+eld guy gets lucky and one leg loses its pointy tip but it can still be used as a blunt tool.

My breath is fast and my arms are heavy, I will be the one to lose first on this battle. The fire damage is too little, the monster is too heavy.

Another spider eye goes away, 3 more to go. The eyes lost are all on my side. Its attacks slow down and I can get a small breathing room. But I have no room to breathe, I counter and cut the tip of another leg.

"URAAAAAAA!" The s.h.i.+eld guy screams. He cut another tip. A [Fireball] hits the chest and one of its saggy ugly b.r.e.a.s.t.s is carbonized.

"AAAAAAH!" This time the spider is the one who screams, she's enraged.

The attacks gets wilder and heavier.Another spider eye goes away, 2 more. Then she jumps sideways away from me, she falls down nearly on top of the s.h.i.+eld guy. With 3 legs she does a sideways sweep and he flies away towards the wall.

This is bad, she turned around the situation, I can't hold her on my own.

I take the chance. I dash towards her and slash one leg of completely. Heh, easy, only 11 more to go.

She turns to me and does the same sweep. I can't dodge, I fly away backwards but I land on my knee. She turns towards Roxanne.

Oh f.u.c.k, no no no and no. NO YOU WON'T.

I dash with all my all. My tired legs don't exist anymore, my arm doesn't hurt anymore, the only thing I feel is the pain in my heart while looking at Roxanne.

A shadow appears in front of Roxanne. She's standing still, muttering and defenseless. A spider leg pierces her stomach, I can see the point coming out of her back. Then the leg stops, I jump and sever the leg.

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" The spider screams, I look up and see an arrow coming out of its right eye. GOOD, ALISSA!

The spider thrashes about, it screams in pain.

Its legs are open, this is an opportunity. I dash under it, raise my sword and open a wound below the thorax of the spider. Blood flows down from it and a piece of intestine dangles about.

My head hurts and I lose my hearing, the spider screams so loud it makes my body shake. It looks at me and fear fills my spine. A huge amount of mana is gathering behind the spider. Roxanne is still standing leaning on her staff, she's still muttering something, she's going to use her last card.

I have to do something, I have to keep it still. I only know one way.

I run away. I change my skills in desperation, I hear the spider start moving.

"STOOOOOP!" The s.h.i.+eld guy screams. He dashes, cuts a leg, and gets blown away again by another leg.

A [Fireball] hits the spider's back and now she turns away from towards the mage girl.

Like I'm gonna let you do that! I turn and dash, charging my spell. I have to put all the mana I can on it.

I'm ready. There's no other way, no second chances, this is my best bet and I'm gonna see it through the end!

The spider isn't too fast to notice me. I jump on it, I use a leg as a stepping stone and lunge towards the head.

The spider turns and swings its arms. The right arm hits my s.h.i.+eld and I deflect it. Then mid flight I stop in the air and an extremely uncomfortable sensation penetrates my left flank. I drop my sword and s.h.i.+eld, I can't move my left side.

The spider looks at me. Instead of throwing me away it brings me closer. It smiles and opens its disgusting mouth, the smell of rot makes me want to puke.
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Thank you, you dumba.s.s, get f.u.c.ked.

I grab the top of her head with my free hand and release [Shocking Touch].

She freezes and twitches, lighting sparks run through her body. Her dumbfounded face is the last thing I see of her. I kick her body, fall down on the ground, and her upper body explodes.

"You are now level 15," says the comforting female voice.

I feel something warm and hot rain on my body followed by a blast of hot wind.

­

I cough blood. I can't move anymore, it hurts too much. I hit my head when I fell. My ears are ringing and I can't hear again.

Something soft touches me. My vision is blurry. Something cold touches my lips, my mouth is opened. Something warm and tasty enters my mouth. I almost choke but try to I drink it, my throat is dry anyway.

Something is happening on my body, its uncomfortable. I hear a buzzing high pitched noise and my hearing returns.

"Master! Can you hear me!?"

"Ye..." I let out a rough sound.

I focus my eyes and a crying Alissa is looking at me. The pain pulsates but it reduces a little. I can move my right arm now.

I raise my hand and cast [Regeneration] on myself.

I start to notice what happened to my body. My leather jacket is opened, my s.h.i.+rt is ripped and the archer guy is holding down cloth on my flank. Red glowing liquid is being poured on my wounds. I'm bleeding a lot, this looks bad.

"Rox… an?" I ask.

"She's unconscious but stable… We have done all we could right now."

Well s.h.i.+t, Roxanne might be dying. I can't waste time with [Regeneration]. I put my new 12 points into [Light Magic], let's see if that piety gains were worth something.

I cast [Heal] on myself.

I see a flash of light, my vision goes dark and pain explodes in my head. I can't move again.

I hear a lot of m.u.f.fled sounds, I'm barely conscious from the pain.

I feel something cold touch my lips and my mouth is opened again. A different warm and tasty liquid enters my mouth. I drink it eagerly.

My headache subsides and I can hear what's going on again.

I hear sobs.

"Alis…?" My voice comes out a little better.

"M-master?! You are awake!?" Says a female voice.

"Yes… what, happen… can't… see," I mutter.

"You overused your mana! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"Sorry…"

"AAAH! ," she screams in anger.

I wanna laugh but it hurts too much. Oh s.h.i.+t, I can't laugh, I gotta heal myself and then heal Roxanne before something bad happens!

"Will… meditate…"

"You wanna meditate? Yes, please do that you gotta rest!" She says.

I need mana. Roxanne is in danger, no potion is gonna close a wound like that fast enough. I can't let Roxanne die, not after she killed that insanity, not after we went through so much trouble to get that moss, not after I actually started to like her obnoxiously happy personality.

I can't see, I can't move, now I will block my ears. Meditation helps to gather mana? Well, I will steal mana from this f.u.c.king place just like the dwarves do, just like the monsters do, if someone can do it I can too!

Well, saying is easier than doing. I can sense mana around me, I need to get it! I will engulf it and grab it and eat it. I can feel the mana stronger if I concentrate hard enough. I concentrate harder and it feels like I'm "pus.h.i.+ng" myself out towards the mana. It feels weird but it seems it's doing something, I gotta keep doing it more!

I feel like the air in this room is my body and I feel the movement of mana within me as if it's currents of hot air. I concentrate on one stream, its moving fast and strong. I can't touch it but I need to grab it, I need to divert that stream towards me. Come to me.

I focus on that. "Willpower" lets you brute force spells, I need to use that to my advantage even if its just a little twitch I have to notice it change. Come to me!

My body hurts again, I'm doing something I'm not supposed to but I know its the right way, I know there's a way. Just a little… COME TO ME!

I feel a breeze, a change, a piece of hope, a stream of mana is coming to me!

I let it come, it's not stopping now, there's no other outside influence. It's mine and it fills me up! COME FASTER!

The stream stops and I open my eyes.

"Roxanne...?" I ask, my voice is still hoa.r.s.e.

"She's here, we brought her. What do you need master?" Says a female voice.

"Let me… touch her…"

"What?! Master you need to meditate to gather your mana!"

"I got it… let me touch her…"

"That's not possible, please rest, master."

"Alissa… that's an order…"

I can't see her because my view is blurred but I can hear her squirm in desperation.

"Wound…"

She grabs my hand and moves it sideways. I feel something warm, hot ,and slightly sticky. I also touch something cold, hard and p.r.i.c.kly near my hand.

"Remove… spike…"

A few seconds go and I hear something fleshy going on and something drip.

"Done…"

I focus hard and cast [Heal] with all my power. This time I pa.s.s out for good.

­

I feel something soft on my back.

I open my eyes and see a [Spirit Light] floating above.

"Hey..." I let out a small voice.

"He's awake," a man says.

My view focus again, it's the s.h.i.+eld guy.

I feel something warm and soft touch my cheek, it's a disheveled and red eyed Alissa.

"How are you feeling?" She says on a hoa.r.s.e voice.

"Better… Heavy, but better."

"Stay still, the bleeding just barely stopped."

I cast [Regeneration] on myself. Alissa looks at me with exasperation but she doesn't say anything, she knows I have to do this.

Minutes pa.s.s and the feeling on the rest of my body returns. I smell a strong scent of blood. I look besides me and Roxanne is unconscious in a bed. Her robe is completely bloodied below the waist, I can see a b.l.o.o.d.y bandage on her belly. She seems to be breathing though.

"She's bleeding?" I ask.

"The wound is almost closed but she's still bleeding."

I wait more time until I can sit. Then I cast [Regeneration] on her until my mana runs out. Her bleeding stopped, let's hope she doesn't have any internal bleeding. I drink another mana potion.

"Can you bring me to the spider's body?" I ask.

The s.h.i.+eld guy looks at me dumbfounded. Alissa nods and asks for help. They carry me on the sleeping bag, they let me down near the Symbol. I grab one leg, open my "Items" and store it. The body is gone and only a huge pool of blood remains.

"Carry us back," I say. Then I go to sleep.

­

I wake up and I'm shaking slightly. I open my eyes and see Alissa in front of me. I'm in a makes.h.i.+ft stretcher while she and someone else carry me. We are moving through the brown tunnels.

Alissa looks at me and smiles. I try to smile back.

"Roxanne?" I ask.

"Stable and sleeping. She woke up once but now she's asleep again," she says.

I cast [Regeneration] on myself again.

"What's that cloth?" I ask. Alissa is wearing a red cloth armband.

"The spider's blood, it scares away the monsters. I knew it had a characteristic smell so I put it on an armband for all of us."

"Smart."

I asked to be carried because I was afraid of the moles. We might have a better chance against arachnes than a mole rush. If the blood scares monsters away we might just go all the way to the entrance then.

Alissa smiles. Her blood-eyed and disheveled appearance was heartbreaking.

We move like this for a long time. I cast [Regeneration] and meditate twice until I can walk slowly again but Alissa doesn't let me walk so I just meditate again and cast [Regeneration] on Roxanne one last time.

The health and mana potions are still working but they are slow, basically the same speed as [Regeneration]. My head is hurting too much and I'm losing the energy of my body, I must be using too much mana again. I will need to rest a long time until I can cast again.

We stop for a break and Alissa gives me bread. I look at the others and they are ghastly, I wonder how I look then. Roxanne is pale but she's sleeping peacefully.

After a break then I convince Alissa to let me walk so the others can rest their arms.

We move forward slowly and I regret my decision, my legs are lacking energy but I endure and move on.

It feels like an unending tunnel. Alissa is guiding us through our way in so there's no webs or traps. I start to lose consciousness and become a walking zombie.

­

After an eternity I see the light of the sky.

"AAAAAAH!" Cries the mage girl and the archer guy. The s.h.i.+eld guy hugs the archer and Alissa pats the back of the mage. Roxanne wakes up and Alissa scolds everyone.

We wait here until I have enough energy to walk again.

We meet a goblin duo but Alissa kills them before they react. I heal Roxanne while walking and she wakes up, she barely has force to mutter. Then we reach the road.

We stay there until a wagon appears. It's a local farmer carrying a small amount of alcohol barrels. He turns pale when he sees us but agrees to help. Alissa gives him a few coins for his trouble. Now the worst is over and I doze off on the rocking wagon.

­

When I wake up there's people carrying me on a proper stretcher. I look around and recognize the temple priest's robes.

I'm put into a comfy bed in a room with Roxanne besides me. Then Ciel rushes inside.

"S-sister!? What's wrong?" Asks one priest.

"I know him. Please let treat him."

"If you wish so," the priest says and goes towards Roxanne.

"Just what happened to you!?" She rushes besides me.

She touches my wounded flank and starts muttering something.

"We met the Symbol of Hate," says Alissa from my other side.

Ciel stops chanting and stares at Alissa.

"S-sister… please continue healing him," asks Alissa.

"Y-yes! But can you say that again? Explain it to me, please," pleads Ciel.

While she chants Alissa retells our encounter starting from us deciding to run through the mole territory.

Ciel casts [Heal] twice on me. I don't feel anymore pain, just tiredness. Then she just stares at Alissa dumbfounded.

"Why was the Symbol there? That's way too far from its territory!"

"Gunther and the others don't know, they were hunting a White Arachne when they met the Symbol. They ran towards the moles because they wanted to hide inside the small rooms of the Spiral Springs," explains Alissa.

The White Arachne is a twisted version of the arachne, it can create undead so the extermination of it is very important. The idea to hide in the Spiral Springs was sound until we came. If they ran towards the entrance they would get tangled in the tarantula's webs.

"Of all things… Mr. Ryder, please pray to the G.o.d of Luck, your life is too eventful."

"Hah… I have a feeling praying won't really help though," I say.

"Why would that be so?" Ciel asks.

"I'm still alive right? For an adventurer you could say it was only bad luck if I die."

Ciel express a mix of laughter, anger, and defeat. Alissa sighs, I think she agrees with me. I hear a chuckle from the side and I see Roxanne looking at us with a tired face. The priest casts [Heal] one more time on Roxanne and then leaves.

I see it's dusk now. I feel my stomach is empty and it growls, before dinner Alissa takes me to the bath nearby and Ciel takes Roxanne. Even while using healing magic it doesn't replenish the lost energy, it also takes some time for the body to get past the stress of the wound and then it has to adapt to the new flesh. There's the spell [Refresh] but it works as if you only took a short rest.

The temple gives us a simple vegetable soup with some tasteless goblin meat. Then we are taken to another room, this one has two beds. Thankfully they let Alissa sleep on the same room as me but they don't have a double bed for patients. Roxanne is taken to another room.

We huddle together and I finally get a good night sleep with Alissa in my arms.

­

Intermission 2

­

How am I still alive? I still don't know how to deal with this situation. In a split second he made the decision to trust me, even though I was wounded and half"dead, even though we barely know each other he has the bravery to jump into the claws of the enemy just to give me the opportunity to finish this battle. The old and experienced me tells me he's insane, the young and impressionable tells me he's a hero. All I know is that he's dependable, he's not someone you let run away, even though he's young he's not a boy, he's a man.

What I truly feel is difficult to say. He acts like a newly"wed with her and yet does not admit his love. What kind of relations.h.i.+p is that? Such trust and dependability on each other actually made me jealous. If even after all this he's unsure of his own feelings towards her how am I going to be sure of mine? All I really know is that I want to stay close to him.