by TurtleMe
Augmenting both my hands with earth attribute mana, I’m able to bury my hand into the side of the giant abyss-like hole, creating a handhold for myself. I position myself flat against the side with both my hands dug into the wall to keep myself from falling.
In a steady motion, I pull my augmented hands out of the side of the wall and allow myself to fall before I claw my hands into the wall again to stop. The amount of stress it put on my arms made me cringe every time but this would be the fastest way to make my way down.
Gripping, letting go, gripping, letting go, gripping, letting go. I had to keep my body flat so I don’t start falling away from the wall. I also couldn’t wait too long before I had to grip the wall again because it would be a lot more dangerous to try and slow down after picking up too much speed.
I let out pulses of wind every now and then to try and see how much farther I had to go down. Even after around 3 hours of gripping and letting go, according to my internal clock, I have yet to sense a floor anywhere close beneath me.
‘How long is this fucking hole.’ Without even the luxury to vent my frustration aloud, I was left to rant inside my head using words I think even the most vulgar of adults would find inappropriate.
I know everyone warns Adventurers about the dangers and unpredictability of dungeons but both the Dire Tombs and even this supposedly low level dungeon has proven to cause me more trouble than the times I adventured with Jasmine without the use of magic.
I mean, what are the chances that the time when I’m supposed to go into the D class dungeon filled with E class monsters, a freaking army decides to welcome us on the first floor.
The minion Snarlers weren’t even that bad, to be honest. We were stupid for using so much fire magic when we had no ventilation but I was handling most of them without even using mana.
That Mutated Queen was the problem. How the hell was she so strong? Was it because she ate the other Queen? Is it even possible to just get power ups like that?
As I continued debriefing to myself the events that occurred earlier, I kept gripping and letting go of the stone wall, falling down further into who knows where I was now.
As I let go of the wall and fell down, I timed myself before burying my augmented hands into the wall again. However, unlike before, my hand wouldn’t go inside.
“What the…”
I desperately tried clawing at the wall but even with the augmentation in my hand, I wasn’t able to make even a scratch into the wall.
The surface of the wall was different now. It was smooth; too smooth for it to be natural.
I was picking up speed as I persistently tried to bury my fingers into the wall, hopelessly.
‘This isn’t working.’
Careful to let out as little noise as possible while I continued falling, I rhythmically let out pulses of wind around me, as a sort of makeshift echolocation. Through sending out faint pulses and measuring how long it took before it hit a surface, I could locate, in my head, potential footholds and handholds to make my way down.
Easier said than done. The theory worked great in my head but trying it without practice proved to be harder than I imagined it to be. There were few handholds I could try and hang myself from but my makeshift echolocation technique wasn’t as accurate as I wished it would be.
I ended up missing a lot of the potential supports and it just became harder as I picked up speed.
Fortunately, I still didn’t sense the floor anywhere close to me so I had time, but if I fell down any faster, even if I could grab onto a support, I wasn’t sure if my arms would be able to take the stress from stopping suddenly.
As I continue fumbling my arms against the wall to search for anything that may slow down or stop my fall, I’m able to finally sense the ground.
Fuck… This isn’t good.
I had about 200 meters before my body becomes a puddle on the ground. That left me with about… 6 seconds?
Fuck.
Turning around so that the wall was to my back, I gather all of the mana I saved up ‘til now. It would take about 4 seconds to focus enough mana into the spell.
‘Wind Bullet.’ Stretching my arms out in front of me, I unleash a barrage of fist-sized bullets of compressed air to the other side of this giant hole I was in.
If I could create enough force to push myself back against the wall, I would be able to slow down enough to survive the fall.
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
As the air bullets collided into the wall about 10 meters away from me, my body began pressing harder and harder against the wall behind me from the recoil of the spell. I couldn’t do anything besides grit my teeth as I felt the back of my uniform and my skin burning off due to the friction.
I could feel myself approaching the backlash stage but I just desperately let out all of the mana I could muster up while using mana rotation. As the air bullets continued colliding against the other side, pushing me back harder and harder into the smooth wall, I approached the ground.
50 meters…
40 meters…
20 meters…
I see a faint light!
10 meters…
5 meters…
“AAHH!!” I feel myself slowing down as the burning pain coursing through my back becomes numb.
2 meters before I reached the ground. I let out one last, large pulse of compressed air straight below me.
*CRASH*
“!!!!!”
*Cough*
My eyes bulge and the only sound I can make is a painful cough as the jolt shoots straight up my body.
I roll forward as soon as I can try and spread out the pressure as much as possible but it wasn’t enough.
As I feel my head spinning, I struggle to stay conscious, my vision blurring.
My vision!
As I lift my head up from the ground, faint lights illuminate the area, allowing my blurring vision to get a sense of where I was. I seemed to be in a passageway of some sort, with small lights along the sides. Further down the hall came a brighter source of light.
“Wh-who’s there?” A female voice echoes.
*Cough*
I try answering the frightened voice but again, my voice fails me.
“Please… I need help.”
Again, nothing comes out as my vision continues to fade in and out. I try getting up but utterly fail.
“……hold…….on.” My voice comes out raspy and weak but she hears me.
I hear harsh, forced breaths from her before she replies with a weak “okay”.
Sylvia’s dragon will assimilated into my body worked wonders as I felt myself healing. My back was scorching from sliding down the wall and my legs feel like they’ve been torn apart and taped back together, but I’m able to stand up within thirty minutes.
Looking around to where I landed, I can’t help but shake my head at the complete darkness that loomed above me from where I came from. Around me were shattered stones and, I think, a limb of the Queen Snarler that exploded. Near the limb though, my eyes notice a reflection coming from under a pile of rubble.
Making my way there slowly, a smile creeps up on my face as I realize what it was. My sword! Good old Dawn’s Ballad, was soon retrieved and safely back inside my dimension ring after digging it up and pulling it out of the shallow pile of rocks on top of it. I put the torn limb of the Mutated Queen Snarler inside my dimension ring as well, hoping to study it if I ever made it back up.
Thinking optimistically, I realized I wasn’t in too bad of a shape. I managed to slow myself down enough so I didn’t have any broken bones. The shock went through the spine and rattled my brain, making me almost lose consciousness but considering the circumstances, I feel like it could’ve been a lot worse. My mana was now beginning to recover and with my legs functioning, I made my way to the voice that seemed to have gone silent.
“Hello?” I walk through the passageway, using the
wall as support.
“I’m… here.” The voice seemed even weaker than it was half an hour ago.
Making my way towards the growing light at the end of the hall, I call out to her again.
As I reach the end of the tunnel, my vision takes a few seconds to adjust from the change in brightness after being accustomed to utter darkness for so long.
“This… cough… way.”
“…”
Before I could respond, I almost fall back as I stumble in horror from what I witness.
The warzone created by the hundreds of Snarler bodies scattered and piled on top of each other seemed like it was from a children’s picture book compared to the scene that I can’t seem to peel my eyes away from.
Corpses. Corpses of humans, elves, and dwarves lay dead and some in pieces around the cavern that would’ve been considered beautiful.
The once green grass-like moss spread over the ground were dyed red while the stream crossing through the cavern had floating bodies with blood spreading around them.
There were around forty-fifty corpses, spread out in the cavern with their weapons next to them. The damage done to their bodies’ revealed torture as some had their limbs torn apart and others had cuts all over their bodies before being beheaded.
*Cough* “Are you… still there?” The weak voice came from my left.
“I can’t see… oh…” My heart drops and I can’t even finish what I say.
The woman that was lying against the wall of the cavern was probably in a worse state than the carcasses spread around, split apart.
The woman, elf, it seems, had most of her limbs torn off. Out of the holes where her right arm and both legs should’ve been were holes, cruelly sealed by burning the wound. Her eyes were gone as dried blood that streamed down from where her eyes were stained her cheeks. In the woman’s abdomen, right where her mana core was, a sleek black spike was impaled through her and once again, sealed.
“You… How?” I drop to my knees in front of her as I inspect her. Looking at her carefully, I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I recognize her face. Where did I…
The Six Lances… The Six Lances! She was one of the six strongest mages in all of Dicathen, chosen to represent the Continent.
“You’re one of the Six Lances!” I can’t help but sputter out.
“Indeed I am…” She lets out a ragged sigh.
“As for how… If you’re asking me how I’m still alive in this state, it’s because he left me alive.” Her eyebrows furrow and the dried blood crusted in between her eyelids crumble, letting out a faint stream of fresh blood from where her eyes once were.
“He?” I feel like I’m asking stupid questions but I was so lost.
“Yes, he. He calls himself Vritra.” With her left hand, the only limb she had left, she slowly reached for something behind her and pulled it out.
Inside her hand was a sleek black stone fragment of some sort. As I squinted my eyes and analyzed it, I was suddenly reminded of my time with Sylvia.
As the memory clicked and the pieces were put together in my head, my hand squeezed tightly around the black shard as my whole body shook from anger.
I remember why this black stone looked so familiar.
It was part of the horn of one of the black-horned demon that Sylvia first disguised herself as and also the very species that killed her.
Chapter 68: Widow’s Crypt V
“Can I keep this?” I realize my palm is bleeding from grasping the shard of the horn too hard.
“Pft!” The elven woman, despite her condition, let out a hearty laugh after my question, catching me by surprise. Raising an eyebrow while tilting my head, I couldn’t help but wonder what’s going through her mind and admire her ability to still be able to laugh considering the situation she was facing.
“You’re probably looking at me as if I’ve gone insane, right?” Her face isn’t turned directly towards me but she seems to know where I am.
“…I wouldn’t exactly say insane.” That was the only thing I could mumble out after she seemingly read my mind.
“You’re a weird one too, asking a dying soldier if you can keep something like that. Keep it. It won’t hold any value to me anyway.” She lets out a sigh and suddenly, her face looks like it’s aged 20 years from the expression she puts on.
“I don’t even know your name, kid, but I’m going to die soon. There’s no need to try and be sensitive about that fact.” The elven warrior, putting on a serious face, faces me directly when she states this.
“My name is Arthur, and yes, unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any way for me to save you. I’m sorry.” I put the black shard inside my dimension ring.
“Sigh… I guess it just wasn’t meant to be then. Since I don’t have a lot of time, I’ll tell you as much as I know.” My chest felt heavy when she so easily cast aside her hopes and accepted her fate.
“My name is Alea Triscan, as you figured out, I am one of the members of the 6 lances and those were my troops. Each Lance is in charge of a battalion composed of some of the top mages.” She lets out another heavy sigh, and for once, I’m glad she isn’t able to witness the gruesome slaughter scene that turned this once beautiful place into a grave of mangled corpses
“After the commencement of the 6 lances a few of months ago, we have been training to work as a team to clear dungeons and other unknown areas. The 6 Lances rarely go on missions together, unless we are to explore an S class dungeon or above.” She continues after catching her breath.
“From the direction of your footsteps earlier, it seems you came in from a different entrance. This place is actually connected to three dungeons. Which dungeon did you come from, Arthur?” Alea struggles to prop herself up more comfortably against the wall.
“I came, with my classmates and Professor, from the Widow’s Crypt. Everyone else was able to make it back out, but I guess I wasn’t so lucky.” I take a seat against the wall next to Alea as I study the carnage displayed before me. I’m able to vaguely imagine what happened by how the bodies are positioned and where they got injured.
“It’s probably really gruesome isn’t it? I’m not sure how old you are Arthur, but no one should have to see something like this.” Alea chimes in after a moment of silence.
“My age probably won’t correlate too well in regards to situations like this, but you are right. No one, regardless of age, should have to see something like this.” I can’t help but let out a sigh as well.
“…”
“My troops and I came from an A class dungeon named Hell’s Jaw. We were assigned to investigate the dungeon after getting reports of inconsistent sightings inside. The Adventurers that came back alive were ones who frequented the dungeon for training. The ones that made it back were barely alive and they all spoke about how the beasts residing within suddenly became stronger and fiercer. Was that the case for the dungeon you came from as well?” I notice Alea beginning to talk a bit slower.
“Yeah. Just on the first floor, an army of Minion Snarlers welcomed us. The minions weren’t bad but two Queen Snarlers showed up. One of the Queens, after eating the other Queen, turned black and its strength jumped a few fold. I suspected this was the cause.”
“What do you mean you suspected?! Are you saying you’ve seen that demon before?” Alea suddenly straightens up and looks towards my directions, surprise evident in her voice.
“I’m not sure if it’s the same one, but yes.” I respond frankly.
“The same one? You think there’s more than one?” Alea’s already pale face drains to an even whiter color as she asks me this.
“I don’t have definite proof, but I suspect that the one you saw, Vritra, is just one of the horned demons out there somewhere.” I reply as I can still recall that night where I got separated from Sylvia. The black demon with its horns curving downwards said something about causing them trouble. It was just a speculation, but I suspected that there were
probably more of them.
My mind begins to spin as I think of all the different possibilities and reasons as to why they’re doing this. Is this all for Sylvie?
I remember when Sylvia gave the stone to me that I had to protect it all costs. That “stone” turned out to be an egg, and of a dragon no less. Was Sylvie such an important existence that the horned demons would go this far for?
“What… are you thinking of, Arthur?” Alea lets out a strained cough as some fresh blood escapes from the sealed wound where her mana core once was.