I took a deep breath, wiping sweat from my brow. The rest of the Lotus Fang party stared at me and Orin as we stood at the back of the group, two sweaty, exhausted messes covered in wounds and torn clothing. I could tell by their glances that, while we both are injured, mine still look fresh while Orin's are scarred over.
The hallway we currently stood in was brightly lit by glowing crystals embedded in the walls. They didn't seem like tower crystals, as they had a different color and shape. As we walked, I instinctively tried to avoid any looks or questions, but it was useless. Karlton strode toward us, his face a mix of confusion and concern.
"Where the hell have you two been? And what happened to you?" he demanded, his voice a low rumble but with a hint of concern. "We just finished clearing the ninth floor!"
"Ninth floor?" Orin asked, bewildered. "Karlton, we just came from the maze on the second floor."
A murmur of disbelief rippled through the rest of the party. Juliet, her pink hair pulled into a severe bun, stepped forward, her sharp blue eyes scanning us. "Don't be ridiculous. The second floor was hours ago. Even so, we've been making steady progress, so there's absolutely no way you just skipped eight floors."
"Seriously!?" I blurted out, my voice shaky. Seeing Juliet's shocked expression, I took a deep breath and calmed myself. At least Karlton noticed we disappeared. I should probably tell them what happened... "We got turned around in the maze, and we thought we found the way to the next floor. Obviously, it wasn't."
Karlton's eyes widened. "Like a secondary staircase?"
"Yeah, it was like a secret staircase in a clearing," Orin explained, gesturing wildly. "It just kept going and going. But when we got to the next floor, we got attacked by a pack of hellhounds!"
"Hellhounds?" Juliet's voice was sharp with skepticism, but it did have a hint of curiosity. "In a D-rank tower? That's impossible."
"But they were there!" Orin insisted, his face pale. "You have to believe me! Why would I lie about this?!"
Everyone looked at me for confirmation. I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry. "He's telling the truth," I said, my voice shaking, pain throbbing along my wounds. "We fought them... all ten of them. We almost died…"
A stunned silence fell over the group. My words linger for a moment longer than they should've. However, the silence was only broken by the soft, cynical chuckle of Claude in my head. However, I don't think anyone noticed my annoyance on my face.
"Ten?" Karlton muttered, his low voice laced with shock and disbelief. "Tristan, you're an F-rank support. Orin, you're a mage. You're telling me you two took on ten C-ranked hellhounds and made it out alive?"
My palms started to sweat even more. Shit. I'm going to have to tell them, don't I… Ugh! "My spark," I blurted, my mind racing for a plausible excuse. "I... I think it's more powerful than I thought..."
"A powerful spark, huh?" Juliet said, her voice dripping with suspicion. She walked over and stared at me, her eyes stabbing daggers into mine. "You're an F-ranked support, yet you just took on C-ranked monsters with a combat spark? You didn't happen to lie about it in the interview, did you?"
"I didn't lie!" I insisted, my voice a bit harsher than I intended. "I just…" I retook a deep breath, the pain making it shaky. "I didn't think it was that powerful. Plus, Orin did most of the fighting anyway."
"Huh?" Orin perked up, now getting the daggers from Juliet. "Eep!" he jumped back, startled.
Karlton held up a hand, silencing Juliet. "Alright, that's enough for now. We'll discuss this later. For now, we need to focus on the raid." He turned to the group. "Everyone, stay alert. If these two are telling the truth, we don't know exactly what to expect from future floors, and we should stay together."
Karlton's command hung in the air. The atmosphere was still and cold as the party began moving down the crystal-lit hallway, but the tension was palpable. No one spoke; they just looked at me and Orin, their gazes a mix of curiosity and suspicion. I kept my head down, focusing on the rhythmic ache in my legs, stomach, and the fresh throbbing in my wounds.
"Hey, you two," Karlton called out after a small while, gesturing for us to stop. He waved a young woman over from the middle of the group. She had short, cropped hair and a soft-looking face. "Sakura, patch these two up, please. And Tristan, I'd like to speak with you afterward."
I nodded, grateful for the chance to relax. Sakura knelt before me, her hands hovering over the gash in my arm. A gentle, warm light emanated from her palms, and the burning pain of my wounds faded into a numb tingle. However, the aching in my stomach didn't leave.
As Sakura turned her attention to Orin, Karlton pulled me to the side, away from the others. He kept his voice a low whisper, "Look, I'm not going to grill you here, but I need you to be straight with me. I knew you had spirit, but I need to know what your spark truly is and how you survived."
"I told you," I mumbled, avoiding his intense gaze. "It just happened. I guess I'm stronger than I thought."
"That's a load of bull, and we both know it," Karlton said, his voice firm but not angry. "I want to know what it is, not just your thoughts on it." He sighed, running a hand through his beard. "Look, I said I won't grill you, and I won't. People have secrets. But I need to know if you're a danger to my team. That's all, just be honest with me."
I gulped, my mind racing. "I-I… I am not really sure. That's the truth. At least, I didn't. I just got my Spark recently, and I just figured out how to use it." I said a risky half-truth. "It is a lightning element, which is strong but hard to control."
He stared at me for another long moment, his piercing gaze seeming to look right through me. "Alright," he finally said, a note of weary resignation in his voice. "I'll take your word for it for now. But you're staying close to me. I need to keep an eye on you."
I nodded, a small wave of relief washing over me. "Thank you, Karlton."
He just grunted in reply, giving me a gentle smile. We rejoined the party, and for the next few minutes, we were all in motion, heading for the next set of stairs.
The rest of the tenth and eleventh floors felt almost normal, which was a lot better than nearly dying. All I did was watch the group fight D-rank monsters while I stood with Karlton and collected tower gems and other loot. The hours blurred together. Floors twelve, thirteen, and fourteen passed by in a monotonous rhythm of combat, looting, and walking. The monsters grew slightly more difficult, from emerald-shelled giant Beetles to silver-fanged jackalop, but the team was a well-oiled machine.
My physical wounds had mostly healed, but my internal state was growing dire. The hunger, which had been a low, gnawing ache, had now become a burning, consuming poison in my stomach. My head pounded, and my vision seemed to tunnel at the edges. While I could probably hold on a little longer, I knew it was only a matter of time before this ticking time bomb explodes.
"Just a little longer…" I told myself, trying to push the feeling down. Though, unfortunately, I was hitting my limit. I'm terrified, but it feels inevitable that I'm going to lose control.
"Just a little longer and you'll collapse," Claude's voice hissed in my head, not helping one bit, "Look at you. You're pathetic. The mortals are tired from a few hours of exertion. You, with a body more powerful than theirs, are collapsing from mere hunger. It's a disgrace to our kind. Just eat already!"
"Shut up!" I whispered a scream, trying not to have Karlton hear. However, I stumbled slightly as a wave of dizziness hit me.
"Why should I?" he purred, his voice mocking. "I'm simply stating the truth. You're starving yourself out of some misplaced sense of morality."
"I'm not…" I sighed, remembering Axel. "Not again…"
"You don't have to," Claude whispered, his voice now a smooth, tempting suggestion. "Just don't save them. Isn't that simple?"
His words wormed into my mind, a seductive and terrifying logic. My body was screaming in agony. The idea of relief, of a moment without this unbearable pain, was almost too much to resist.
Just then, Karlton's voice cut through the air, pulling me back from the brink of my dark thoughts. "Alright, team!" he boomed, his voice echoing in the large staircase just before the door to the fifteenth floor. "We're almost at the top. The next floor is where the boss will be. Take a moment to rest and get ready. We're going to hit this thing hard and fast. Make sure your weapons are ready, and your sparks are at full capacity."
After a moment of everyone eating, getting healed, and getting ready, it was time. The door groaned open, marble grinding against marble, and the air that seeped out was… nice? Cool, Moist, Heavy, still, as if the room had been holding its breath for centuries.
We stepped into a cavernous chamber, far larger than any floor we'd seen before. The walls glistened, smooth and pale like marble, and as the crystal light flickered, watery reflections rippled across the surface. The whole place looked serene, almost holy—yet the silence pressed against my skull like a warning.
The floor… wasn't floor.
Almost the entire room was flooded, a great expanse of dark water stretching out ahead. Only a scattering of marble pillars, spaced unevenly like stepping stones, broke the surface.
"Great," Juliet muttered sarcastically under her breath. "Water. My favorite."
The others moved cautiously, testing the edges. Karlton ordered us into formation, blades ready, sparks primed. But my stomach turned at the smell that wafted from the water; it smelled of salt but also chlorine, like this was one large pool.
Then I saw it.
A ripple first. Then the shape beneath the surface—something long, sinuous, and unnatural. A head broke the waterline, horse-like in shape but also not.
"What the fuck—" I muttered.
The thing dipped suddenly, disappearing into the depths, and the next instant, water exploded upward. It launched from the pool, arching toward one of the frontliners. A scaled body, front half horse, back half thrashing fishtail, scales flashing with an oily sheen. Blue scales shimmered instead of fur, whiskers trailing like streamers mimicking a mane, gills fluttered along the long neck, and glistening fins flared along its body and fish tail.
A kelpie. But not the fairy-tale kind. This one was big enough to swallow a man whole.
"Spread out!" Karlton barked, shoving the nearest member aside as the monster crashed back into the water with a roar and a wave.
I staggered back, heart pounding. My eyes followed the creature's thrash. My breath quickened as my stomach tightened. The water fell along the marble with a sharp splat.
"Stay sharp, Tristan," Karlton's voice snapped me back for a moment. "You'll be on support. Keep your spark ready."
Right. Spark. Lightning. Not blood.
The kelpie vanished into the water, silent, and then erupted upward without warning, snapping its jaws at the party front liners. Missing them, it fell back into the water, slamming its tail, causing a large water wave that splashed with an impact so brutal it cracked against the marble walls like a collapsing dam, the force churning the surface into a whirl of frothing white. The pressure of the displaced water punched outward in violent bursts, spraying the air like shrapnel and pulling at their legs with a drag that threatened to unbalance them.
After a while of this cycling, the party fought desperately to read its pattern. Orin's spells crackled uselessly as the beast ducked beneath the surface, and our frontliners had to time their strikes for the few moments its body broke the water.
I was useless at first. My lightning spark sputtered in my palm, a faint static fizz that I held till I got the signal. I cursed under my breath, dodging a splash of water that would've pulled me in.
"Pathetic," Claude's voice hissed.
"Not now," I growled under my breath, ducking behind some of the frontline. Karlton glanced at me, a flicker of concern in his eyes, before focusing back into the fray, shielding another party member.
Another roar, another spray. One of the newer recruits wasn't quick enough—the kelpie's jaws clamped on his arm and dragged him screaming into the water. The others shouted, blades slashing at the surface. But he didn't come back up. The water stilled, rippling only faintly.
And then—there it was.
Along the surface of the water, crimson red spread. My whole body went rigid. My hunger ignited, singeing along my skin. I could taste it already, warm, sweet, …coppery…
The Kelpie came up once more and lunged its maw forward at one of the recruits. It was a younger man about my age with slick black hair and blue eyes. He tried to block it but got knocked back, and while he was dazed, the Kelpie took the opportunity to take a large bite out of him, taking his right half, leaving him to flop back and scream.
He clutched his side, blood gushing through his fingers. He staggered back against the marble wall, face pale, eyes wide with shock. His lips moved soundlessly. He wasn't going to last, and he was scared.
The scent overwhelmed me. My fangs ached. My chest burned. My hands trembled as my Spark fizzled in my palms, useless sparks of static hissing out. Not now—don't do this now—
"Stay back!" Karlton shouted, blade flashing as the kelpie reared up. Everyone's eyes locked on the monster; no one was watching the boy slumping against the pillar, sliding toward the ground.
Perfect.
I swallowed hard. My feet moved without me. I knelt beside him, hands pressed over his wound as if I were trying to help. His blood was hot against my palms, soaking through my clothes and skin. His eyes fluttered, glassy, unfocused. "Help… me…" he rasped.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, leaning close. My mouth found the mangled ruin of his shoulder, my fangs slipping into the torn flesh where his arm had been. The rush was instant; a jolt of warmth, living heat, surged through me. I felt it. The flavor is intoxicating, rich, metallic, and smooth on my tongue. It went down like the best wine I could ever have. On instinct, as the pleasure of the taste consumed me, I tore away a piece of already torn flesh, savoring the taste on my tongue as I swallowed it whole. I barely even realized what happened, as my mind focused back on greedily drinking. I closed my eyes, encapsulating myself in the moment, relishing the flavor.
But even as I drank greedily, a different kind of liquid fell from my eyes, hot and clear, tracing a path down my cheeks. I opened my eyes just slightly to see a strange, ethereal mist, a mix of silver and ghastly white, as it began to seep from him, not as a separate entity, but as a part of his very being. It wasn't absorbed so much as it fused with my own, a gas-like essence that settled a profound calm over me, chasing away the weary ache of my wounds. I felt even better than if I had simply healed; it's as if I gained vitality. I felt rejuvenated.
The young man's body went limp in my arms. I closed my eyes once more, as tears swept down my cheeks. When I finally pulled away, my breath was a ragged gasp, my lips wet and red. My heart felt conflicted, both satisfied and ashamed.
Thinking back to the mist, I remembered what Claude said before. That was… his soul?…
"That was the goal, wasn't it?" I asked myself, my voice a whisper.
"Better," Claude purred, satisfied. "Now, you can get stronger~."
I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve, forcing my expression flat, steady. When I stood, the boy's body slumped lifelessly to the floor, blood pooling quietly beneath him. His eyes stared lifelessly like dull glass.
The others were still shouting, still fighting, their attention locked on the kelpie thrashing in the water. The kelpie lunged again, jaws snapping like a guillotine. Karlton shoved Juliet aside just as teeth clamped onto the marble pillar she'd been standing against. Stone shattered, shards flying, the whole pillar crumbling into the water with a hiss.
"Move! Don't let it corner you!" Karlton barked.
The party scattered across the stepping-stone pillars. Water churned, black and silver in the dim light, the kelpie's shadow circling like a shark beneath them.
I felt… alive. The boy's soul burned in me, filling veins that moments ago had been hollow husks. My body hummed with energy, clarity, and the hunger was briefly sated. I took a long, deep breath, feeling almost new. I tried to activate my spark once more. Now, flickers of violet lightning licked down my arm, impatiently waiting.
The kelpie burst upward again, this time for Orin. He froze for a half-second, eyes wide. I lashed out instinctively.
Snap!
A whip of lightning cracked across the air, wrapping around the kelpie's muzzle mid-leap. The nauseating smell of burnt, searing fish instantly overpowered the air. The Kelpie shrieked, twisting violently and crashing back into the water, though it couldn't quite get further under the surface as I reeled it in. Sparks danced along the water as the lightning electrified the pool.
"What the—Tristan?!" Orin shouted, blinking at me.
"—I-I've got it!" I yelled back, a bit of strain on my voice as I tightened my grip on the whip.
The kelpie thrashed, diving under again. With the pressure of mine and the Kelpie's pull, the whip snapped, lightning flying from it and dispersing into the air. I stumbled back, catching myself before slipping. I turned toward everyone, and they seemed to be bracing for it to resurface, weapons raised. A tense silence stretched, broken only by the sound of dripping water.
"Where did it go?" Sakura whispered, looking around at the other members of the party.
Then the water behind her exploded. The beast shot upward, faster than before, its massive form surging from the depths, gills flaring like crimson fans, and its jagged teeth flashing in the air as it lunged.
"SAKURA!" Karlton screamed for her attention.
She stumbled back, freezing in shock for a moment.
"Ice Wall!" Orin's voice cracked with desperation. A wall of jagged ice erupted from the water, smashing into the kelpie's snout just as its jaws would have closed on Sakura. The impact rang like a bell, shards exploding outward, the wall shattering—but it bought a heartbeat.
As Orin struggled to hold his stance, a series of quick, targeted arrows flew from the backline. Each one struck with a sickening thud, embedding themselves deep in the kelpie's flesh, causing it to shriek and thrash in pain. It was just enough to stall it, giving Orin the moment he needed to fully erect another wall of ice, this time much thicker and more stable.
"Again, Orin! Keep it still!" Karlton ordered.
"I'm trying!" Orin shouted back, summoning another spiral of frost in his hands. Sweat drenched his brow, his legs shaking. His Mana still hadn't fully healed from the previous floor, so he wasn't going to keep this up for long.
Enraged by the relentless assault, the kelpie shrieked and turned its focus from Sakura, launching itself toward the frontline instead. A warrior with a broadsword stepped forward, timing his strike perfectly. As the beast lunged, breaking from the ice wall, the fighter's blade arced upward in a mighty swing, slicing deep into the creature's neck. A geyser of thick, vibrant green blood erupted from the wound, splattering across the gleaming white marble of the floor. The kelpie shrieked in pain once more before vanishing into the depths of the multicolored, blood-stained pool.
"Behind!" Juliet screamed.
The monster erupted from the far side, but this time its body arced fully onto a pillar. Water crashed off its scales, its massive fishtail whipping like a club, knocking one of the recruits clean into the pool. His scream cut off in an instant as the kelpie's jaws snapped shut underwater, and crimson burst onto the surface.
I froze, gulping down the fear of the sight. However, I stole myself and flared my lightning whip again; it crackled and buzzed in the air. Unsteady, it lashed across the kelpie's flank, leaving a charred scar. It shrieked, its body spasming wildly as it thrashed from the continued electrification.
"Now!" Karlton roared. He leapt forward atop the stepping stone pillar, blade glowing with stored energy, slashing deep into the kelpie's neck. Blood sprayed, dark against the marble. The beast reared, foam gargling from its mouth. After a few more slashes and moments, the Kelpie stopped moving, its eyes bleeding green onto the marble.
The chamber fell silent.
Juliet lowered her blade slowly. Orin collapsed to one knee, panting, frost evaporating from his hands.
"…Is it dead?" Sakura whispered.
The water stilled. Calm. Glassy.
Karlton frowned. "No. Not yet. Stay sharp."
And then the entire pool convulsed.
The kelpie erupted one final time, larger somehow, swollen, its body glowing faintly from within, veins of sickly blue light coursing through its scales. Its eyes burned with an unnatural brightness. It opened its maw—wider than before—aiming for Karlton himself.
"Karlton!" I shouted.
I didn't think. I moved. The lightning whip surged from me. It split into three branches, coiling around the beast's throat, muzzle, and gills. My body screamed as the power tore through me, similar branches wrapping along my arms and searing my skin.
"NOW!" I screamed, voice ragged.
Orin slammed his palms together, ice spikes erupting along the kelpie's trapped form, piercing between scales. Karlton leapt, blade plunging straight into its glowing core at the chest. Everyone in the Party struck the beast with all they had left, arrows shot out, swords slashed through the scales, and spells of every color erupted into a barrage of final, desperate fury.
The monster's final, guttural wail ripped through the air, a sound so sharp and filled with despair it felt like the shriek of a Banshee from one of those grim fairytales, a sound that vibrated deep in my chest and rattled my bones. Its immense body then began to convulse, its gaping maw, its empty eye sockets, and the cracks along its armored hide, all exploded with aggressive, blinding light.
In a single, blinding flash, its form unraveled. It didn't explode so much as disintegrate into a swirling plume of black mist, the sound of a thousand shattering glass panes echoing in the sudden silence of the chamber. Where the behemoth had stood just moments before, only a faint, green-ish blue core now remained, sitting along the marble.
Silence.
The only sounds were the ragged gasps of the party and the soft drip of water from the pillars. I collapsed to one knee, chest heaving, my lightning whip flickering out into sparks that faded in the damp air. My arms felt numb; only a faint buzzing sensation was left. The rest of my body ached. The others were just as spent. Orin was a crumpled heap on his hands and knees, head bowed, while Karlton just stood there, staring at the small, glowing core sitting on the marble floor.
No one spoke. We were all just… looking. The water, once a roiling death trap, was still and calm, the red of party members' blood swirling with the murky blackness of the kelpie's ichor. I looked away from the stains. The weight of the air felt heavy, and a chill ran down my spine.
"You did it, Tristan. You really did it." Claude's voice, usually laced with sarcasm, held a genuine note of surprise and pride. I slumped against a marble pillar, pushing the last dregs of strength from my legs as I wiped the sweat from my brow.
"Not just me," I whispered, my voice rough. "Everyone. We did it together."
"Oh, come now," Claude chuckled, a low, smooth sound in my head. "The mortals did their part, yes, but you were the one who broke the beast. You're the one who found its weak spot and held it until they could finish it.. You should take some credit."
"I mean-," I muttered, trying to think of an excuse, but my ego was getting the better of me. Yeah.. I do kinda deserve some credit… "But what if I know the Lotus Fang are suspicious of me? Isn't taking credit bad now? Deserved or not."
"That's where you're wrong," Claude's voice hardened. "It is all about credit. It's about demonstrating your strength and proving you're more powerful, which should inspire fear. To show you could've ended this fight on your own."
Claude sighed, "Also, I can't deny I am proud of you for taking at least one soul- even if you could've gotten more." I could hear his smirk, "Maybe you'll be a good vessel yet…"
Claude's laugh faded into the back of my skull as my eyes drifted to the core. It pulsed faintly like a heart, greenish blue light bleeding into the marble around it. Nobody moved for a long breath; even Karlton's broad shoulders rose and fell with visible effort. I forced myself up, legs trembling, and walked toward it. My hands shook as I crouched and picked up the core. It was warm, slick, and heavier than it looked. The glow reflected off the faint smear of dried blood on my sleeve.
I pulled open the bag. The first-floor core rolled gently at the bottom like a glass marble. This one, though, thudded when it landed beside it, light dimming as I shut the backpack, placing it on my back, trying to ignore the faint warmth seeping through the fabric.
I walked back, near the entrance. Nearby, Orin groaned and pushed himself upright. "Is it… actually over?"
"Yep," Karlton said, scanning the water again. He turned to the party, "Everyone, regroup on the stairs!"
I followed, keeping to the edge of the group, head down. The scent of blood clung to my hands no matter how hard I tried to brush it off.
As we reached the staircase, Karlton slowed to walk beside Juliet. They thought they were far enough behind of the group not to be overheard, but their voices carried just enough over the echoing steps for my supernatural hearing to catch.
"…This was supposed to be a D-rank tower," Juliet hissed under her breath. "A kelpie is C-rank minimum. And hellhounds? Secret staircase? What the hell are we walking through, Karlton?"
"I don't know," he muttered back. "But after what those two described, I believe them. It lines up too neatly."
"That makes me more suspicious, not less," Juliet said. "First, they disappear for hours, then come back claiming secret stairs and rare monsters, and now they're both conveniently alive after fighting a C-rank pack? Doesn't add up."
Karlton exhaled through his nose. "I've thought the same. But right now, they're our only firsthand source on what's going on in here. We'll figure out what to do once we're out."
"Fine." Juliet's tone softened slightly. "But we need a story for the guild. They're going to ask how a D-rank run produced two dead recruits and a C-rank boss."
"We'll tell them the truth," Karlton said, though his voice didn't sound convinced. "Mostly."
I swallowed my breath, trying to pretend I didn't hear that. Though I guess it makes sense. After all, half-truths are less suspicious than the truth and lies. But even knowing that didn't make the knot in my stomach loosen. Why does this always happen to me?