They both look excitedly at me, their eyes brimming with awe and respect.
"That's amazing, master," Alissa coos as her tail wags excitedly.
"Not unexpected," Roxanne calmly states with a nod.
And I awkwardly rub my neck. "But what does this blessing do?" I shyly ask, a bit embarrassed about my own ignorance, but it seems they don't care or notice it this time.
Roxanne assumes a teaching tone and excitedly claps the tip of her hands as she explains, "It means the Goddess has her eye on you and will influence your Fate to help you. If you continue to follow her path, then you'll certainly become a famous scholar one day."
The way she said "Fate" sounded suspicious, as if it was a capital "F."
Well, anyway, that's fortunate for me, I guess. Maybe now I should look to see if I can join the University. After this job, we'll have some money saved, so I can probably spend some time studying.
--
We dismantle our camp after breakfast then move on, and 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 a lot more anxious.
Like planned, I pull a metal spike, a spool of rope, and a hammer, then I hammer the spike on the ground and tie the rope on the spike. I use the bowline knot to tie the rope just like the dungeoneering book taught me.
This dungeon "heals" itself, but it doesn't do so immediately, so the rope will stay here for at least two days if the Spriggans don't mess with it, but if the little shits do, there's always the alternative of using Roxanne since she can materialize two small bat wings on her back that allow her to magically float around, so she can fly up here and then put the spike and rope for us.
We tie the rope to our belts and carefully go down, but the descent is slow because the steps are wet and worn. Roxanne also uses the rope because her wings consume mana, so it's better to preserve her MP.
"What's that thing?" Alissa whispers as she points.
I look more carefully and notice that there's a vine loop on the floor, and the rest of its length goes down over the edge.
I pull a small wooden bowl that we use to eat soup and throw it on the vine. The loop immediately tightens around the bowl, gripping it tightly, then pulls it over the edge.
"Well, first trap successfully dodged," I announce with a wry smile.
We continue down and reach the floor unmolested, then we remove the rope from our waists and move on.
This time, the rooms have no identification, so I have to pay attention to the map, forcing Alissa to take the front of our little column.
We cross a few rooms, then she stops all of a sudden.
"There's an enemy observing us," she announces with a chilling tone.
"Can you take the shot?" I whisper.
"Yes, but I'm sure the monster will dodge it."
I give her shoulder an assuring squeeze. "I'll leave the decision up to you. We have to be aggressive towards the Spriggans, so killing them is the best option, but scaring them is also an alternative. We can't waste too many arrows, though."
She nods diligently. "Understood, I'll wait until I have a better chance to hit."
"That's fine."
We cautiously move on, and after a few more minutes, Alissa suddenly stops and lets an arrow fly.
We wait a couple of tense seconds in silence, then she reports without looking back, "I smell blood, but it must've done little damage as he ran away quite fast."
I nod and smile kindly. "That's okay. Good work, Alissa."
Her tail wags once then immediately stops.
I should praise her more often.
It's good that we engaged the Spriggan because if we'd ignored him, the little shit would've likely tried to sneak up to us to steal something.
That's the only enemy we find on this floor, but we also find an iron bear trap, making me wonder where they'd get one of these.
--
Another stair, another vine trap. Fourteen more levels to go.
"Now there are two Spriggans," Alissa apprehensively reports.
I grab my chin in thought as I ask, "Is it the same one from last time?"
She nods positively. "I smell blood, so it's possibly the one I've wounded."
"Let's wait until we can see them, then Roxanne will launch a [
Fire Arrow
] at them."
From what I understood, the Spriggans are staying one or two rooms away from us. They can see in the dark, so they have no problem seeing us, and Alissa only knows about them because of [Sense Presence]. It's actually impressive she managed to fire an arrow accurate enough to harm a Spriggan while only using the skill to guide her.
We cross three more rooms, then Alissa points to a small shadow peeking from the doorway ahead.
I narrow my eyes in thought and hold back a grin as I point out, "Miss Roxanne, can you see that? On the right side of the doorway, there's a small head peeking."
Roxanne squints her eyes and adjusts her glasses, but then she shakes her head as she denies, "I don't see it. Can you point my finger towards where I need to fire?"
I get close to her and she crouches slightly, lining up my head with hers and our cheeks so close they almost touch, then I delicately grab the hand that grips the staff and point it towards the shadow. I sense a very faint smell of sweat and something sweet coming from her, the cheap anti-scent not enough to hide it all. Her pale hand is also very soft and thin, as if she never had to do a day of rough work in her entire life, though Alissa's is also like hers, so I believe magic might be involved.
I have to hold myself back from inhaling deeply. Call me whatever you want, but I enjoy moments like this.
Then I swallow heavily and focus back on the now. I make a stern expression and order, "Alissa, shoot your arrow the moment Roxanne releases her spell. Hopefully they're bad at sensing mana."
Alissa nods obediently and Roxanne starts chanting the spell quietly.
She grips her staff harder, and I sense mana gathering at its tip, then Alissa pulls back her bow.
"[
Fire Arrow
]," Roxanne casts.
A flame shaped like an arrow suddenly appears at the tip of her staff and immediately shoots forward, illuminating the room as it flies alongside Alissa's, but the magical arrow passes the doorway and continues on along the tunnel, a miss.
"Got one," Alissa whispers, her tone with a hint of joy and pride.
"Nice," I coo with a grin.
"Impressive as always, Miss Alissa," Roxanne praises her earnestly.
Alissa squirms and her tail shivers, threatening to wag.
Ah, such cuteness.
We move towards Alissa's quarry and find a thin green man collapsed on the floor with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. His eyes are of a pure white color with a green web pattern covering nearly half of it; his chest and arms are partially covered by pieces of mossy, dark bark, and, thankfully, so is his groin; his hair is made of a bunch of small pieces of bark protruding upwards; and the soles of his feet look disgustingly filthy.
"Let's take his head," Alissa happily suggests, and I glumly nod.
She draws her sword and grabs the head by the bark hair, then starts sawing the neck. Warm blood pours out as the meat splits open, but I find myself unable to look away. While Alissa calmly works, I glance at Roxanne and see her wrinkle her nose then sniffle.
"I dislike the smell of blood," she admits and smiles wryly, but I'm too tense to reply.
Alissa quickly finishes the job and I immediately store the head in my "Items." This is the proof of extermination, so I'll have to watch this horrifying scene again a considerable number of times.
I'll be fine…
--
We quickly move on again to distance ourselves from the pool of blood we left behind, and we soon reach another stair down. At least there were no bear traps on this floor.
I pull out another spool of rope, and we do the same thing we did before.
As we go down, Alissa suddenly stops and points out, "Master, this moss is suspicious."
"What do you mean?" I mumble as I try to look over her shoulder.
She kneels on the floor and touches the step. "The stone is cracked under the moss."
I hum in understanding and suggest, "Oh~… Let's hit it with the hammer and see how it goes."
With a *poof*, I pull the hammer out and hand it to Alissa, who immediately slams it on the mossy step, then we take a step back as a hole suddenly opens up on the steps.
I pat her shoulder and smile. "Well, this trap wouldn't be dangerous since we have these ropes, but it'd certainly be scary. Thanks, Alissa," I kindly praise her, and she starts acting cute again.
"Yeah. I'd rather not be thrown around by a rope. Thank you, Alissa," Roxanne piles on, just making Alissa even happier.
--
We continue down the stairs and reach another floor. Only thirteen 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 impassable purple bedrock? Maybe it just "ends" at an infinite hole.
Focus.
On this floor, the shallow pools of dark, dirty water are much bigger, leaving very little dry land. There's barely enough room for one person to walk in between them.
"I smell something funny in the water," Alissa warily reports.
"Let's not touch it," I immediately caution.
Roxanne sniffs the air and walks closer to one of the pools, unnerving me, then she crouches and ponders, "I guess the water is corrosive. I don't think it's poison because it'd be really hard to poison every single pool in this dungeon unless the Spriggans have an unbelievable supply of it."
Corrosion is even worse than poison. It hurts my soul to even imagine something hurting Alissa's cute little feet.
"And there's another vine ahead," Alissa points out.
"Alright…" I mumble as I search my "Items" for the bowl again, then I pull it out and throw it on the vines. They immediately tighten around the bowl and pull it into the water, then we hear sizzling.
Roxanne nods in acknowledgment and states, "Corrosive. It wouldn't kill us, but it'd hurt."
We find no Spriggan on this level, so maybe the corrosive pools are dangerous for them, too.
--
Another stair, another vine trap, and now the pools are back to normal size. Twelve floors to go.
We cross a few rooms, then Alissa stops us again. "There's a small mound below the moss over there," she soberly reports.
I remember something from the dungeon reports and frown worriedly. "I don't even want to trigger this trap, so let's just go around," I firmly suggest.
We take a small detour around the room and circle the pool.
"There's another mound ahead of us," Alissa reports, starting to sound worried.
I let out an annoyed sigh and mumble, "Well, shit."
I pick a spare iron spike because it's heavier than the bowl and throw it at the mound, then a white flash blinds us. I immediately push Alissa back and pull up my shield in front of us, getting ready for an attack.
Only our vision was taken, not our hearing, so I focus on any footsteps approaching, but the only sounds we hear are the ones we produce ourselves.
A few seconds pass, and our vision returns, but nothing else happens.
I lower my shield and sigh. "They're just messing with us," I grumble.
"Just like the book said," Alissa remarks, her tone a little tense.
We encounter a few more mounds, which trigger a few more flashes, but 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!" Alissa exclaims warily.
The vine slithers towards us like a snake, but it isn't particularly threatening, so Alissa and I awkwardly slash at the ground a few times to kill it. The vine stops moving after a dozen chops, but using a sword this way isn't good for the blade
"The Spriggans can control vines, the first real attack is coming soon," I warn them, and they nod obediently.
Then we reach the bottom of the stairs without another incident. Eleven floors to go.
There are no traps, so we grow a bit restless.
"Three hits, it's the Spriggans," Alissa suddenly reports.
Finally.
I immediately strategize, "One for each of us. I'll take the middle, Alissa the left one, and Roxanne the last."
We continue forward, and when we enter the corridor, we see something blocking our way. It's a wooden chest-high wall.
"They're behind that," Alissa whispers.
We brace for battle and slowly move closer, but then I get an idea.
I smirk and turn to Roxanne. "Uh… Miss Roxanne, [
Fireball
], please," I politely request.
Her expression lights up and she grins evilly. "Yes, sir!" She energetically replies. She was rather quiet all this time, but now that there's an actual enemy in front of us instead of just traps she seems a lot happier.
I turn forward again, then I feel a lot of mana gathering behind me as Roxanne chants softly.
"[
Fireball
]!" She suddenly casts.
A ball of fire bigger than my head flies past me, then it hits the wooden wall and explodes, leaving a large hole in the middle.
"Erm… they're moving… downwards?" Alissa confusedly reports and cutely tilts her head to the side.
"What…?" I grunt reflexively.
Alissa scratches her fox ear. "Yeah, they ran away... downwards. There must be a stair or something there."
"So, another feint," I whisper tiredly and drop my shoulders dejectedly.
"Ugh~..." Roxanne groans and rolls her eyes.
The numbers of stalking Spriggans are increasing, but they're not attacking. Scaring works, for now, but it won't last, so I want to kill some to set fear in them already.
We walk up to the flaming wooden wall and see a dark hole in the ground behind it. There are vines hanging from the hole like ropes, which is what I believe they used to climb down, and the hole goes down a few meters, then opens into a dark room.
"This must be how they sneak about the dungeon," I guess.
The room below seems claustrophobically small, so nobody feels like exploring it.
--
We move on and soon reach the stairs down. Another stair, another vine trap.
"Master, the stairs are slippery," Alissa cautions me.
We take extra care and reach the bottom of the stairs without a hitch. Just ten more to go.
--
As we cross a narrow corridor, Alissa suddenly stops me, then she kneels and observes something close to the floor.
"I see… oh, it's a wire," she curiously mutters, and only when she runs her finger along the wire that I finally notice it.
Now, wire traps are a mind trap too. This trap could trigger something that makes the whole corridor collapse, or it could just be a faint, a dud to make us tense, or there could even be another, different trap right after this one as our mind becomes hyper-focused on finding wire traps. It's right up the Spriggan's alley to play mind games like these to tire us out.
I look at the walls and narrow my eyes in suspicion. "Are those slits?" I notice.
Alissa follows my gaze then nods in agreement. "Yes, Master. It's likely there's an arrow trap behind the walls," she concludes.
Triggering this trap will cause uncountable arrows to come flying out of the walls. Don't ask me how it works, it's just "magic."
I grab my chin in thought and guide her, "Alissa, look ahead of the wire, is there any other trap nearby? Like, a pressure trap, a mound, or another wire?"
Her eyes carefully scan the mossy corridor. "Let's see… there's a suspicious square tile over there," she points out.
Heh, I knew it.
And I calmly order, "Then let's slowly move across this corridor. If you trigger something, immediately drop to the floor."
We cautiously get past the traps, and Alissa spots a
second
suspicious square tile, then she suddenly stops.
"There's one watching us," she tensely whispers.
Just one? And this corridor is rather long… This is suspicious.
I sternly order, "Alissa, shoot an arrow at him, then we should all increase our speed."
An arrow flies, and I hurry us forward, then we feel a small tremor that lasts a couple seconds.
"Run!" I immediately yell. I don't even care whatever it is, we just need to fucking
run
.
I glance behind us and see the floor starting to split, opening into a deep, dark hole.
"FASTER!" I scream and look ahead again.
I can't see Roxanne behind me, so I just hope she exercises regularly.
Alissa and I reach the end first, then I look back and see that Roxanne is still some distance away.
Dammit, girl!
I desperately open my "Items" and pull out a spool of spare rope, then Roxanne's footing disappears under her and she jumps.
Bat wings suddenly appear on her back, then they lazily flap, and she starts to float. She crosses her arms and legs as if she was sitting in the air while she slowly flying towards us.
I forgot about that. Thanks for the heart attack.
"So… I'm really thankful I can float," she casually remarks while giving us an embarrassed smile.
I facepalm and massage my eyes. "I'd have thrown you a rope if you couldn't," I wearily reply.
She giggles softly as she steps on the floor before us. "That's a little reassuring, but I'm still pretty pissed at the Spriggans. That was some major trap! We evade a dozen of them, and then a little shit comes here just to trigger one last trap himself," she irritatedly remarks.
I nod as I coldly explain, "That's why we need to brutalize them. If they attack, then we leave no survivors, and that puts some fear into them."
She holds her waist and strikes a sassy pose. "Then I'll use [
Melt Skin
] to make them terrified of us!" But 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 come first," Alissa soothes her.
Thank you for being so reliable.
Roxanne crosses her arms and pouts. "Hmph, alright," she grunts back.
Then we reach the stairs down. Another stair, another… moving vine, and we easily cross it. Nine to go.
"There's one on the left corridor and two on the right," Alissa tensely whispers.
And I strategize, "Hm… If we chase them, they'll run away, and if we ignore them, they'll come from behind and ambush, so I want to force a fight..."
But there's no time to think.
"Master! Three coming from the front! Ambush!" Alissa frantically shouts.
I grit my teeth and grip my sword harder. "Shit. Alissa, right! Roxanne, left! Kill sides, then support me!" I immediately bark orders.
I draw my sword and ready my shield, then I charge a heavy [
Fireball
].
I notice something being thrown. It's a crude wooden spear, but it just clangs against my shield, not sharp enough to pierce it.
"Projectiles! Watch out!" I warn them.
Roxanne is bad at dodging, so she's the one in the most danger. I need to kill that spear-thrower since there's no cover here.
Shadows come into range of our light, revealing three skinny green men. Two of them are wielding crude metal swords and crude wooden shields while the third has a spear in his hand and a dozen more on his back. The shield users have a large amount of bark covering their arms and legs, but their chest is still vulnerable.
I charge forward. The spear-thrower must die.
The shield users stop and brace themselves.
I bash the one on the left, and he staggers backward. A spear flies and hits my shield, 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, then I hear a masculine scream. His voice is similar to a human's, but it's like there are two voices overlapping each other.
My spell hit!
The spear thrower's arm and part of his chest burst in flames, and he starts running around, too stupid to put out a fire in the middle of a damp room full of pools of water.
I immediately back off 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, but Roxanne is sprinting towards them, dagger in hand.
Fucking no, no, and no!
I dash towards the one on fire, then he drops his flaming shield and moves towards the defenseless Alissa as her sword is on the ground, out of her reach.
I don't have time to stop, so I tackle the Spriggan and my sword pierces his back, then we both fall on the ground in a messy way.
He thrashes about, trying to hit me with punches and kicks, but I can't finish him off since my sword is stuck in him, so I draw a dagger from my back and stab his chest multiple times, right in the heart.
After a few stabs, he slows down and quickly loses strength, then stops resisting entirely and becomes limp.
"[
Melt Skin
]!"
A chilling, guttural scream fills the room. I look towards its source and see a Spriggan rolling on the ground while white steam rises from his body while Roxanne stands near him, holding her dagger threateningly. Luckily, I can't see much more than that due to the steam.
Alissa is beside her, clashing swords with a shield user Spriggan. His attacks suddenly slow down, and he starts to retreat, so I dash after him.
Like hell I'm gonna let you go now, you shit stain.
He's not fast enough, so we manage to surround him. Roxann's hair is disheveled, making her look very angry and stabby, while Alissa faces him with a serious, murderous look.
I come from the side and slash at his flank. He doesn't react in time, and blue blood is drawn from his ribs.
Roxanne starts chanting, so the Spriggan turns around to run again, and Alissa slashes at his back, making him fall from the pain, then I kick his face, stunning him.
Alissa's boot presses down on his chest, then she beheads him with a clean chop. [
Sharp Blades
] can make swords become frighteningly sharp.
I look around and notice that the spear-thrower is already far away, though he's still burning. There's also a Spriggan with an arrow poking out of his forehead, a carbonized body, and a passed-out one with his skin melted.
I don't even want to look at the last one right now, but then Roxanne walks up to him, and I hear the wet sound of flesh being sliced open.
Jesus.
Alissa starts collecting the heads, but she stops for a moment to stare at one with a mohawk made of bark, then she laughs and stores it. I just spend the whole time staring down, cleaning my sword and shield while Roxanne pats her robes and brushes her hair.
Once she's done, Alissa comes to me and regretfully apologizes, "I'm sorry, Master. I got caught in a vine trap and dropped my weapons."
I shake my head and give her a kind smile. "Don't apologize for this. Mistakes happen, and we deal with them as a team. It was good acting by Roxanne to come and free you, but I was also a bit far, so it was partially my fault you were so close to danger."
She frowns concernedly. "T-that's not-..."
"Don't argue. We're companions," I assert with finality. I don't want her to apologize like this for every mistake.
She bites her lip and nods. "… Understood, Master," she reluctantly relents.
I store my rag and stand up. "Now let's go, I don't like this smell."
It's the smell of barbecue.
--
We reach the stairs down and take a small break to eat an early lunch. At least it seems so since we have no idea of the time.
I drink my tea with my lunch, which isn't customary. Though I like to drink tea during the afternoon snack, there's no time to take another break after this, so it has to be right now.
Alissa is content to make tea for us, which also soothes Roxanne's bloodthirst, so I guess this was the best choice, after all.
We only hear the faint sounds of running water and our quiet chattering, making this place quite a nice spot for a picnic. The atmosphere is also nice, and the girls are happy, almost making me forget the imps planning our deaths nearby.
--
Another stair, another vine trap. Eight to go.
This floor has a few wooden walls blocking the way here and there, but no enemies, so we can just blow them open if they get in our way.
It seems we scared them off with the last fight, which is excellent to us. Perhaps that attack was a test to see how we react, and it doesn't seem unlike monsters to sacrifice a few for the "greater good."
--
Another stair, another two moving vine traps. Seven floors left.
Mounds and bear traps appear again, and this time, I have a bad feeling about them, so we throw a spike from far away, then it blows up.
Finally, the mines have appeared.
We move extra carefully on this floor, but we reach the stairs without any dangerous encounter.
--
Another stair, another… empty stair?
No traps. Suspicious.
Six floors left.
--
Pitfalls, pitfalls galore. We have to keep looking for cracks in the ground and hammering anything remotely suspicious. Alissa has the best eyes by far, so I tie a rope around her waist, then Roxanne and I hold it from a bit far behind while she explores.
Another stair, another no trap descent.
Five floors to go.
--
"A Spriggan is watching us," Alissa soberly reports.
"Hmm…" I stroke my chin as I think of a nefarious plan, but the Spriggans are too slippery for what I have in mind. "I want to chase him and give him a scare," I tone down the evil.
"There have been quite a lot of traps on these floors, so it's better that we don't rush forward and stumble upon one," Alissa counters.
"Let me try a small explosion near him," Roxanne evilly suggests.
"Isn't that a waste of mana?" I question her skeptically. I know this spell's mana efficiency is kind of bad.
"If it's small, it'll only startle him, so it won't waste too much mana," she explains as she adjusts her glasses.
And I shrug. "Fine, then."
Roxanne claps the tips of her hands excitedly and turns to Alissa. "Please, point me towards the Spriggan, Miss Alissa."
I savor the sight of a cute girl and a hot woman rubbing cheeks and holding hands. I want a picture of this scene.
Roxanne grins evilly as she casts, "[
Explosion
]!" And I hear a boom, then I feel a faint breeze.
"He actually got pushed away quite a bit, so I think the explosion wounded him," Alissa reports, sounding quite impressed.
I nod in approval as I hum, "Hm, nice. We should use this spell more often, then, because it seems that he couldn't detect the spell until it was too late."
--
Alissa finds another Spriggan, but he runs away immediately when we stop to aim.
Heheh. They're scared now.
A mix of traps appears on this floor, which is quite annoying since it slows us down.
Then we reach the stairs. Another stair, another no vine trap descent.
Four floors to go.
--
Vines, vines everywhere. We walk forward slashing at the ground repeatedly, but I fear my poor sword will get ruined like this. Vines try to grab us from multiple angles, but they're too slow to be effective now that we're wary of them.
They're not like the Bush Babies that can strike hard and with weight, these vines can only move and entangle us then push us towards the pools. If a vine catches us and we fall, as long as we have a sword or dagger at hand there's nothing else they can do.
Honestly, this is the most annoying room so far. I almost feel like just running past all these vines.
But we eventually reach the stairs.
Then I look at Alissa, and she looks at me.
"Something is odd," she points out.
"Even I think so," Roxanne agrees, squinting as she stares at the stairs intensely.
The stairs look… too well done. All the other stairs looked worn out and uneven, but this one? Every step is
perfect.
I ponder for a moment, but I eventually just give up, "Hm… If something happens, we always have the rope, so let's just go."
We start descending, and we don't meet a single vine trap.
But once we reach the middle, we hear a *clunk* sound.
Ah, shit, here we go again.
The stair suddenly changes into a slope, then a large amount of water gushes out from the walls in jets.
There's no time to react, so we're pushed towards the edge and start losing our balance.
I slip and slide down, so the rope pulls on Alissa, making her slip, and Roxanne follows a second after, then we're all pushed over the edge by the strength of the jets.
The rope holds, and we dangle above the pit a good ten meters above the ground, but right under us, I see dozens of pointy shadows at the edge of my light.
"These fuckers…" I grumble.
"My robe…" Roxanne whines.
"Annoying…" Alissa growls.
We slowly crawl down the rope and land avoiding the spikes embedded on the ground, then we use [Fire Magic] to dry ourselves.
Three floors to go.
--
Another floor full of wooden walls, and it also seems empty.
But Alissa eventually finds one. "One monster hiding ahead," she calmly informs us.
"Hm… have they all not ran away?" I think out loud as I squint to discern what's up ahead. At the end of the corridor, I see the outline of a chest-high wall. "Well, whatever, he's behind that wooden wall?"
"Yes, Master," Alissa obediently replies.
I turn to Roxanne and grin. "Miss Roxanne, you can see that, too, right? Do you think you can cause an explosion right where his head would be?"
She matches my grin and adjusts her glasses as she chuckles like an evil lady, "Ohohoh! I like that!"
Then Alissa helps Roxanne point her finger again, scoring another hit on my heart. The two beauties together are truly a sight to behold.
Oof.
"[
Explosion
]!"
I hear a boom followed by a wet, fleshy sound, making me giggle.
We walk up to it and see a headless Spriggan laying on the ground with his back against the chest-high wall. The surroundings are completely covered in blue blood and small bits of brain matter and bones.
Roxanne leans down to inspect the damage closer. "Ohoh~… I'm quite satisfied with the result, though it's a shame that I destroyed the proof of extermination."
But then I start chuckling.
"Master, what's so funny?" Alissa asks concernedly.
I can't control myself, and the chuckling grows into laughter.
I try to speak, but I'm so distressed that I can barely keep it together, "I'm not… ahahah… going insane… hahah… it's just that… hah… it's just so… AHAHA… ridiculous…"
Both of the girls look at me worriedly as I bend over and wheeze, but then my stomach starts to hurt, making me even more agitated.
"L-let's go, Master," Alissa hurries us, and the fit of laughter quickly subsides.
I don't want to think about what just happened.
Soon after, we reach the stairs.
Oh, look it's back. Another stair, another vine trap.
Two floors to go.
--
We're thankful the journey across this floor is short. It's filled with even more traps, but the small distance to the stairs down means we only have to deal with them for a short time.
Another stair, another vine trap.
Last floor.
--
"The smell of Spriggan is really strong here," Alissa warily points out.
"Perhaps they actually live here?" Roxanne wonders.
I look around and notice small mushrooms and bushes with fruit, so I cite, "This floor has food for them, so while it's not known if they actually live here, they do come often."
There are forty more floors after the one of the Moon Turtles, and it's thought that the Spriggans are hunter-gatherers who don't live in a single place for long.
We quickly move on, eager to reach the end of this stretch of our journey, but after a few rooms, Alissa stops us.
"I smell burnt wood," she whispers, sounding puzzled.
"Oh? So they do use fire," I mumble back.
"Well, this means they're close by," Roxanne explains, and it puts my curious mind back on track.
I smile wryly. "Yes, right…"
Then Roxanne looks at me with an eager glow in her eyes, just waiting for the order to fight.
"Let's not fight them," I stop her immediately.
"Awn…" She moans cutely, contrasting with her sexy style.
I give Alissa a worried glance, but she doesn't seem to understand. "You can only blow their heads if they're standing still, you know," I try to appease Roxanne.
"I can still use [
Melt Skin
]," she casually replies, giving me a shiver.
I'm surrounded by sadistic women.
"Miss Roxanne, that spell is only for emergencies because it's too dangerous to be used so carelessly," Alissa warns her, finally coming to my rescue.
"Hmm~..." Roxanne groans with a pout, seeming a bit vexed.
Alissa isn't wrong. That spell has quite the short range, and I'm not letting Roxanne get close to another Spriggan again.
"Oh! Master, there's nine of them right ahead!" Alissa suddenly exclaims.
Then I notice that the room they're supposedly in is quite small.
I suddenly get so giddy I start to grin evilly, "Heheheheh… Miss Roxanne, [
Firestorm
] please..."
Roxanne's expression turns crazed and murderous. "Yes… yes… YES!" She shouts hysterically.
The Spriggans thought they could ambush us again. They thought they could outnumber us. But they've underestimated our power.
You don't fuck with a Fire mage.
"They aren't coming, they're waiting to ambush," Alissa declares, confirming their death sentence.
Even the kind and forgiving me is pissed at these imps, and 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's waist, and she rests her head on my shoulder, then we watch the show.
"[
FIRESTORM
]!"
In the distance, we see the room lighting up. Wisps of flame appear from nothing, creating lines in the air that twist into spirals. The number of flames suddenly explodes until they cover the entire room in just a few seconds, creating a hellish tornado of fire.
A strong gust of hot wind blows on us, bringing the smell of burnt wood and flesh with it.
"GET FUCKED!" Roxanne screams triumphantly, then she pants and leans on her staff.
"They're all dead. Good job, Miss Roxanne," Alissa praises her cheerfully.
The last stair is a few rooms ahead, so this was our last encounter with the Spriggans. After this, the journey back will be simple since the way is clear.
We inspect the damage, but no corpses are left behind. The entire room is completely black and charred.
--
Then we reach the stairs down. Another stair, another vine trap.
And we finally reach the floor of the Moon Turtles.
"MOONLIGHT MOOOOOSS," Roxanne lets out a long scream as she falls on her knees, her eyes watery, and her hands on her cheeks.
Our prize is finally within sight. Shining in the nearly completely dark cave, a glowing patch of white moss covers the round back shell of a monster, illuminating the surroundings, and revealing the figure of the huge turtle.
The Moon Turtles turtles are just literally giant turtles with a shell covered in either blue or green moss. They have small little spikes growing out of their shells, like a certain famous kidnapping turtle, that thrust out like a porcupine when it's angered. Fortunately, they aren't aggressive, and they'll only attack on their own if someone stands in front of them.
We take a break to let Roxanne recover the mana she used for [
Firestorm
], and once she's ready, the massacre begins.
This floor is damper than the others, and the pools of water are much deeper, but not wider. The Turtles like to hide in the pools, thinking they're safe since nobody wants to touch the filthy water, but that just makes them more vulnerable to ranged attacks.
We move fast and ignore most turtles since only a few of them actually have the Moonlight Moss. Once we spot our target, Alissa uses [Muscle Explosion] to shoot two arrows in quick succession to blind it. Knowing that it's going to die, the Turtle becomes enraged and shoots fire everywhere in hope of scoring a lucky hit.
Though it's lashing out wildly, it's still a slow-moving turtle, so I put on tall, thick boots and enter the shallow pool, then I carefully approach it from behind and slash its throat. Once I confirm that the bleeding is satisfactory, I return to Alissa to recharge my mental energies while we wait until the Turtle dies from blood loss.
It dies after a few excruciatingly long minutes, then Roxanne happily floats towards it and starts working.
The only problem is that all this blood is bad for my heart, making me queasy. I guess the stress of the trip and the danger of this dungeon keeps me sane, but it's not easy to watch the slow death of these Turtles.
Roxanne's work is a bit fascinating, though. She first spreads a measured amount of a drying powder on the Moss and waits as it reacts until it becomes crumbly to the touch but not enough that it becomes like sand, then she finally pulls out a silver spatula-like scraping tool and collects the Moss.
The Moss is quite corrosive to most materials, forcing her to use thick gloves. The only thing that can resist the corrosion is silver, which is absorbed by the Moss when they touch, creating a fine layer that shields it from touching other things. This layer is what allows the Moss to be safely transported, and it also helps that silver is already an ingredient she wants to use in her potions.
The process takes a few minutes, and by running from room to room, we manage to kill nine Turtles in an hour. We work for three hours, rest, work another three hours, and Roxanne's jar finally gets filled.
"Contract complete!" She exclaims and happily bounces around while holding her jar.
"Uh… we still have to escort you back," I point out.
She stops and grins embarrassedly. "Oh yes, that's right, eheheh."
How can you be so carefree?
Exhausted, we set camp in a quiet, empty room.
--
Roxanne takes a bath first while we keep watch, and she happily hums a cute little tune as we hear the splashes of water.
Alissa and I both smell of sweat, but we still sit on the floor right next to each other as we hold hands and stare out of our secluded room.
"It feels like we have been so long down here," Alissa suddenly comments wistfully.
I gently caress her hand as I admire how perfectly smooth her skin is and explain, "It's because we can't see the sun, so our notion of time is messed up. Now that I think about it, is there a shop where we could buy a clock?" I raise my head to look at her.
She looks at her hand and smiles at my loving touch. "I've seen them a few times at the Flea Market. The Crafters' Corner should also have them, but the magic tool shops are more guaranteed to have it in stock."
"You think it's expensive?"
Her tail lazily wags as she thinks for a moment. "Yes, that's why not many people have it. Looking at the sun or the sun dials is enough for most commoners."
I start to feel mesmerized by the movement of her fluffy tail. "We should have some good money after this, so we'll rest for a few days, and I'll use the leftovers to buy one."
Her tail wags faster and I smile unknowingly. "A few days with only us would be nice," she whispers with a dreamy tone. "I want to learn more about the local teas, and I also want to practice cooking again."
I raise my eyes back to her face and stare at her orange jewels. "Oh, yeah, you have the [Cooking] skill, but you haven't made anything for me yet. I'd love to eat something you made." -She gushes adorably and gives me a sly glance- "I used to cook, too, so let's do it together."
She tilts her head cutely in surprise as she hums, "Oh? Yes, let's do it together." Then she squeezes my hand lovingly. "You also haven't told me what dishes you used to eat in your homeland."
I hum absentmindedly as I reminisce about the past, about how Lily and I used to cook together…
--
Bath time goes the same as before with gags, fingers, and oral only. Alissa holds her voice better this time, so I put a lot of energy into eating her out, gradually increasing my speed until she tells me to slow down, then she orgasms on my tongue.
After having my taste of her, we eat the same dinner as yesterday and go to sleep again in turns. I get to sleep for three hours while hugging Alissa, but we have to do it while armored, which dampens my enjoyment a considerable amount. Well, Roxanne's robe can barely be considered armor, but I think she has some light gambeson under it.