(Friday, 23/10/1058)
(Henryk's PoV)
(6th floor)
I stepped foot in this floor with Futura. We observed as the walls suddenly cut to a light green color as soon as we got past the stairs.
'Well, what does the dungeon have to offer for us?'
I heard a crack somewhere nearby.
'I just had-' I heard a few more cracking sounds close to the first. '-to jinx it'
"Ready" I lowered the tip of my spear. I stood just behind the corner, trying to see if there was any monster trying to ambush me around it. Seeing as there was none, I looked further back behind the corner. There was a hazy shade trying to be still near the shadows of a corner. It was close enough to the new spawns that I could have been ambushed when I least expected it.
'Good one, dungeon. Good one'
'Futura, deal with the monsters coming out of the walls while I deal with the war shadow hiding in the shadows' I told Futura.
We sprang into action. As I rushed closer, I threw a knife at it to force it to expose itself. Avoiding the obvious knife, the war shadow stepped into a more lit part of the corridor. Before giving it a chance to regain its balance, my spear pierced its shoulder.
Using the spear's shaft as a leverage, I flung the war shadow around, smashing its head against a wall. Its neck twisted with a sickening squelch, killing it. I severed its head for good measure.
Noticing frog shooter in the corner of my vision, I barely had the time to put the spear between me and its tongue. I thankfully managed to put the spearhead in its tongue's path, cutting it in half.
'I need to be wary of frog shooters standing at a distance from me'
After making a mental note, I rushed at a war shadow that was heading towards Futura. I rammed it through with the spear, the wedges preventing it from sliding down to me. Lifting it up, I then slammed it into another one that was coming closer. The one that was stuck to my spear puffed into a cloud of smoke while the other one stumbled to stand up. I took the chance to stab its side and gouge the goo that makes its body away. It fell unmoving. I stabbed its head as I took a quick surveying glance around. I counted some magic stones from the monsters Futura and I killed and saw an additional, albeit living, killer ant.
'That shouldn't be here'
I squinted before flipping my spear so that I hold it butt forward to bludgeon the ant.
With its mandibles clicking, the killer ant advanced towards me as I was the closer one. Futura was now dealing with an ambushing pair of frog shooters.
I leapt above the ant, summersaulting above it to add the force of the spin to the butt of my spear. The spear hit its head. Landing behind it, the now concussed ant was scrambling to turn around to face me. Before it could call for aid, I used the chain of my body to put all the force I could into the ant's head. It got crushed.
'Tha-' "Krieeck!!" Mustering its remaining strength, the ant called for aid.
'Fuck'
I turned around to ready myself for the incoming ants. I also switched from the spear to a small mace I took especially to prepare for them. It was strapped to my lower back, sideways, so it doesn't hinder my movement by much.
"Come here! You damned insects!" I took the challenge in stride. It was very risky, but the thrill was just on the sweet spot for me. With the fantasy of monsters and falna, I can finally release my battle junky side, if only for some of the time.
I took a lower stance to able to hit them, calling Futura to stand closer to prevent the situation from escalating in a wrong direction.
The first to arrive were two ants. The first had its head smashed in as it rounded the corner while the second forced me to step back to avoid losing my stretched arm. I went back in to bash its head in like the first.
Just then, I had to step back because three more arrived. I took out my knife to act as a minor protection from the ants' mandibles. If push came to shove, I could put it in their mandibles instead of them biting off one of my limbs.
As I dashed in, I stomped one before it could raise its head to bite. I put the knife in the way of the mandibles of one, forcing them to close before they got any closer to my body, while smashing the head of the other.
Pulling the knife in, the ant was dragged along, adding to the force delivered to its mid-section. I avoided the head since that could misfire with me hitting my own hand. The ant's head was divorced from its body. It struggled to stay alive but puffed into smoke a few seconds later.
I looked back at Futura to see that she was taking on a few war shadows. They were not fast enough to out-speed her. I turned around to look into the corner, seeing the antenna of one ant.
'Poor choice!' I pulled the antennae with my knife hand and crushed its head with the mace.
Stepping back, I saw five ants coming in.
'Nope. Even for me, this is too much'
I turned around to run, only to see more ants coming from the other direction.
"Dungeon, I hate you" The dungeon seemed to answer to my words, as it spawned another dozen or so war shadows from the ceiling.
'Just my luck'
A sudden image flashed into my head. It wasn't a thought of my own, nor was it any of the minds mine is linked to. None of the wolves nor Fey tried to communicate something to me.
Also, with what the image depicts, the one sending it couldn't have been clearer. The image depicted the Arrow of Orion.
'Call upon me, my Orion' A voice resembling that of lady Artemis' own sounded in my head.
'Could it be...' The tone of the voice and its pitch, it all reminded me of when I first held the Arrow of Orion.
The ants were now close enough to cause concern while the war shadows stood up.
As I thought about the weight of the divine artifact in my hands, the cold touch of steel reached me as the Arrow of Orion appeared in them. It pushed out the mace and the knife as it was summoned in.
'Not much time to think it over. Survive first'
With the knowledge of being able to summon the thing, I threw it into the area with the highest concentration of ants. The Arrow of Orion glowed brightly, becoming little more than a spear made of light. It lit the corridor and drilled into the dungeon's walls as it annihilated all the ants in its path without losing momentum.
Trying to call the Arrow of Orion again, I found myself empty-handed.
I had no time to pick up a weapon when a war shadow ambushed me. Its finger blades dug into my chest, drawing blood as I felt my pecs being cut into. Luckily, I avoided complete tearing of the muscle. Unfortunately, that meant that I need to rely on my back muscles for most of what remained of the dive today. My mind went into overdrive to remember every motion I could still perform with minimal pectoralis major usage.
'I can lift my arms if the thing is light enough. I should bend forward so that I could anchor the weight on my latissimus dorsi. Then, going from there, I should be able to use gravity to have the weapon of choice move down for me to pull/swing it up or to the side. I can still use my biceps and triceps to close or open my elbow for more impact on swings. Let's start'
It was then that I felt the pull of the arrow's presence. I called it back another time and successfully pulled my arm to my side, extended half-way, parrying a strike aimed at my head. I then threw the Arrow of Orion using my wrist, its shaft still clutched in my hand. The pull of its weight helped accelerate moving it back to the front before the war shadow could attempt to kill me again. I pulled my arm back as forcefully as I could, unconsciously using my pectoralis major and flaring its pain, fully extending my arm to slash at the war shadow's chest. The Arrow of Orion started at its side and went up to its shoulder. I jumped back, reeling from the shock of intense pain, while it knelt weakly before it exploded into a puff of black smoke and ash.
'Could you get me a potion?' I asked of Futura as I lay down on my back.
I had two leather potion holsters strapped to my legs. Both holsters contained one mind potion and three health potions each.
'...' She looked at me, expecting me to move on my own. I couldn't be bothered to. She sighed before fiddling with one of the holsters, setting a potion loose. She then held it near my mouth, cork down. I bit on the cork, pulling it with my teeth. My mouth was already on the potion, leaving the liquid no room to spill out.
It stung like hell. Me chest started stitching itself back together. It returned almost perfectly. It was a wonder how minor scar tissue formation is when using a potion, as this injury alone should limit my range of motion so much that I would retire adventuring and hunting alike. Instead, my range of motion was left intact with no limitations. Well, bar the aching of ghost pain and muscle stress. It is still somewhat of a new muscle right now. I can't expect it to perform the same as before just because the muscle is there.
'I should experiment on how this is accomplished. At such a speed and such an efficiency, I could become practically immortal for a few seconds' I set on a new goal. 'I should also, depending on how potions work, alter my DNA so that a minimum amount of muscle is maintained even without training. Lazy but efficient. I could use it to spend quality time with my family, I could also just spend that time training my technique instead and so, so many more things as well'
"I'll gather the loot. You keep watch" I got to work.
While doing her job diligently, Futura asked me over-eagerly for a certain thing.
'Give me a magic stone' She said. I paid her no mind.
'Gimme' She said. Again, I paid her no mind.
'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!' She started pushing her snout onto my back.
"Okay! Geez!" I gave her one. She took it so quickly I barely saw her move. "Why didn't you carve one yourself, though?" I gave her a questioning side-eye.
'Child, you did well feeding your elder' Futura said smugly. Her face, incapable of forming human expressions, almost seemed to make a triumphant one as she looked down at me.
'Is this for calling you old?' I asked her as I went back to work.
'...' I could just feel it. She felt like a child who's caught red-handed.
'Please, continue to take care of me, grandma' I smiled softly, a provocative gesture that did its job well.
'You... Aren't you ashamed?!' Futura was flabbergasted. She didn't expect this reaction from me, it seems.
'What? You called yourself my elder. Knowing wolf packs, they consist of the parents and their children and extended family. Or what?' I looked at her with eyes most innocent. 'Will you abandon your child?'
'Ugh! Fine! You win!' Futura turned around to pay full attention to the corridor.
It was a good thing that she did so. She had to run at a lone war shadow that wandered in.
Just as I was done gathering the remaining magic stones, I started hearing some sounds getting closer. Futura was already watching that side with great focus, ears raised in alert.
"Quick! One escaped in that direction!" A person said.
"Futura! Come closer!" Just as I suspected, that war shadow was suspicious.
War shadows almost always spawn in batches. The only reason a war shadow is alone is one of three. The first case's when a war shadow or a different monster goes rogue and starts eating the magic stones of other nearby monsters. The second case's when adventurers slaughter every other one but fail to eliminate one, which escapes.
The third and last case's when a war shadow becomes an enhanced species. This one would have been dangerous, possibly a death sentence. However, seeing as Futura dispatched it quickly, I came to believe it was one of the other two cases. The adventurers' voices made sure to confirm for me which one it was.
"Come on! It couldn't have made it far!" I heard what seemed to be the leader's voice. It came off as commanding. Along with it, I heard the sounds of footsteps.
'Judging by the sound of their steps, there should be around five people. Let's wait and see if that's the case'
Rounding the corner, a group of 7 appeared. Between them, there were three elves, surprisingly. Two others were human while the remaining two were a werewolf and a catfolk.
They came to a halt when they saw Futura. They prepared their weapons and were ready to attack her.
"Ahem!" I coughed into my hand to alert them to my presence. With Futura's height and mane, she covered me completely by standing protectively in front of me. "Can we act like civil people?" I raised the Arrow of Orion, its runes shining particularly brightly.
'I thought only pure-hearted people could wield you, and now I see you complying to threaten them. Why?' I gave the arrow a quick glance.
'If the intent was to pacify them without a fight, the heart isn't stained from it. Yours is still pure' The arrow said to me.
'I hate how one-sided these conversations are, and to think they'd be our first talk after so long' I knew it wasn't the time, but I teased the divine artifact.
Regardless, the adventurers may have sensed something and took a step back with fearful faces.
"If you came here for the war shadow, its magic stone still lies there" I pointed a finger at its location. Only one looked away while the rest kept their eyes on me carefully.
"True. The size is consistent with that of a war shadow's magic stone from this floor" The guy looked like a bookworm more than an adventurer. He was inspecting the thing with care.
Seeing them taking careful steps back to where they came from, I concluded that they didn't mean harm and were careful of me.
"Futura, hide your teeth. They aren't attacking us" I told her audibly while lowering the Arrow of Orion, its runes dimming. 'Keep your hearing sharp. They may take an opportunity if presented with one'
'Are you sure?' Futura still looked their way, though she listened and closed her mouth. However, she kept the scrunched-up expression, an aggressive one, with her nasal bridge wrinkled.
Keeping an eye on their faces, one of them let slip an emotion aside from apprehension. She felt regretful, as if she wanted something but couldn't get it. That, in turn, made me apprehensive.
"You there, what were you regretting just now?" I said with a sharp voice, the Arrow of Orion raised again.
"What?! Me?!" She pointed to herself in shock.
"Yes, you" I said.
"I just wanted to pet the wolf" She said while bowing down in apology.
"Maybe if we meet outside" I accepted her answer on the surface. I assumed a relaxed stance and stepped back slowly with Futura directing her attention to the path behind my back. We were heading deeper into the floor. 'Accepting this answer now would save me the risk of them feeling pressured and retaliating'
The party disappeared back to the darkness of the corridor.
'Mama's missing Papa~' Fey's melodious inner voice sounded in my head.
'I need to help her reach this voice outwardly as well' I thought to myself.
'Good. Tell her that I'll be fine' I said to Fey.
'Fey'll~!' Fey cheerfully said before cutting off communication.
'My cute paralysis demon. I should hand feed her some magic stones when I go back'
When we reached the end of the floor, with the stairs down to the 7th right before us, I remembered Shira's face, her tearful eyes, afraid expression desperate plea. I stopped without a second thought, the thud of my boot forceful as I came to a halt mid-step.
'I think I should go back for today. Maybe bring more people with me the next time'
"Say, Futura, instead of exploring the 7th floor, why don't we try capturing a monster alive? I want to tame one" I said with a devious smile.
'I don't like the idea...' Futura stopped to think for a moment. 'They are mindless' She said with disdain. She seemed to look down on them for not having the basic survival instincts of an animal, or even those of their counterparts on the surface.
"No harm in trying, no?" I said as we went on our way.
'Which one should we aim for?' Futura said.
'I think of either a kobold or a war shadow' I said.
'What about goblins?' She looked at me questioningly.
'Not them' I said. I had other plans for those.
(3rd person PoV)
(4th floor)
Henryk and Futura did not have to spend much time or effort. Kobolds were common encounters down on the 4th floor. The spawn rates and the average monster count per spawn ensured a quick find.
"Good job, Futura. Just keep it pinned down" Henryk said before holding the monster by the snout, forcefully keeping its mouth opened using a loose rock. He then threw a magic stone down in its open mouth.
Henryk waited for a moment before the feedback of his skill came back negative. The monster rejected the skill's influence.
"What a rebellious monster" Henryk said sarcastically. He now wanted to break the monster's mental state and tenacity.
He started small, only pinching the kobold very painfully, but not causing any actual harm.
After some mild torture, Henryk fed the kobold another magic stone. This time, the kobold not only healed but also got stronger instead of submitting to his skill.
"Futura, we'll kill it after the next try" Henryk said with a somber demeanor. Enhanced species were born from monsters eating many, many magic stones. Even if this was not the same, since it is only the second stone, Henryk did not want to risk it.
After beating and kicking the monster half to death, Henryk tried again. Finally, he succeeded after waiting for more than a full minute for the kobold to respond. It chose poorly, as Futura instinctively thought that this might be the best chance to take it out.
"Stop" Henryk stopped her just in time. "We can flank it from opposite sides to overwhelm it"
'Don't regret this' Futura said. She relented and made some distance between her and the kobold.
'I won't' Henryk said. He, as well, made some distance.
Waiting for the kobold's answer for the skill, Henryk watched as it stood up, "Wo!", only for it to hold its head in pain and fall to its knees.
Time passed by. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. It was two and a half hours of watching the kobold writhe in pain before Henryk got a definitive answer. The kobold collapsed unconscious after finally accepting the skill's influence.
"Alrig-...!" Just as he wanted to celebrate, Henryk froze in place. The corners of his vision went dark at an alarming rate as he himself started falling unconscious.
'My daughter, bring Tiona with you and come to the base of Babel. Wait for me there' He barely managed to block the kobold's side of the skill and sent a message before passing out.
Futura was already bending over to sling Henryk over her back when fell over.
'Goodness' Futura sighed. 'He collapsed without the chance to celebrate his achievement'
After successfully putting Henryk on her back, and after adjusting him so he wouldn't fall, she turned to the kobold. It was not getting back up yet.
'Should I carry it as well?' She looked at the monster with conflicted eyes. On one hand, it was mindless up until a moment ago. On the other hand, it may display mental capacities closer to hers soon.
Futura shook off the idea.
'Even if it proved to be stupid and thoughtless, Henryk wanted it brought with him' She looked past her racism and carried the kobold by the back of its neck.