[You are now entering the dungeon - Rylas Lament]
The system screen popped up right as we took our first steps into the cave, or dungeon? Thankfully I had been told to expect this or I feared I may have let out a yelp given how tense I felt at this moment. Even with the warning I still froze up for a moment only to exhale and continue on.
I was at first worried that the cave would be dark but their was a omnipresent gentle light that had no apparent source. Dungeon fuckery at its finest I suppose laughing softly to myself.
The cave itself was fairly plain all things considered, it was both wide and tall around 4m in width and just over 2m high. Seeing this I now know why the bear was waiting outside, it's because it wouldn't be able to fit very easily within!
After carefully making our was into the dungeon for around 10 minutes with no apparent change I was beginning to get slightly bored. But refraining from acting up I tried to remain focused. After giving the cave another look I noticed that the shape of the tunnel has shifted slightly.
When we first entered it looked like any regular cave, with rounded edges. However, looking around now their are definitive edges to the room clearly delineating floor, walls and ceiling.
Another 5 minutes pass before I notice the next change the floor which was bare rock earlier has started to gain a texture to it reminiscent of tiles. Marveling at this gradual shift in aesthetics I pay closer attention as the drab cave we first entered has now become a well defined and graceful corridor.
"Hey Kana." I whisper. "Have you noticed how the tunnel is slowly becoming more.. refined?"
"Yeah I noticed it too." Kama replied. "Iv never been in a dungeon before so I'm afraid im as lost as you are." She grimaces at that slightly.
Still we soldier on and watch as the drab walls slowly morph into something resembling a mural, noticing this I draw Kana's attention to it as we continue down. The mural seems to be depicting a tale of sorts but one key piece of information catches my eye. The central figure in the mural is non other than an Elf.
The mural depicts the tale of a young Elf lady as she travels around the world, she meets new people, explores ancient ruins and fights with wild monsters. These types of scenes go on for some time indicating a long time spent on the Elf's wanderings. I am also assuming at this point that the elf dictated is the name sake of this dungeon Ryla.
In Rylas journey she eventually meets a young human girl who is being attacked by monsters, and chooses to intervene and save the woman. Wether out of pity or interest the woman joins Ryla on her journey. With the two getting closer together as they continued. However the human is shown to age rapidly whereas Ryla looks exactly the same as when they first met.
This seems to upset the human and she recklessly starts throwing herself into dangerous situations. Noticing this I pause my inspections and Thirntons to Kana who is also inspecting the mural. "Why do you recon the human is throwing herself into dangerous situations?"
Kana thinks for a moment before a spark of understanding dawns for her. "Ahh well the higher your Rank is the longer your life expectancy, so the human was probably trying to rank up so she could stay with the elf longer." She pauses for a moment before continuing. "Its a common enough thing, with humans having such short lifespans their only option to match the life expectancy of longer lived races like demons, and I suppose elves is to get to a high enough rank so that ageing becomes less of a worry.
I ponder that statement out wondering exactly how long do demons and elves naturally life for. But soon move on and go back to inspecting the mural.
The human is shown to throw herself into battles after battle with Ryla constantly at her side. But the battles take their toll and the human becomes injured and has to be tended to by Ryla only to bounce back and start fighting again. It is a vicious cycle until on one fateful battle the human no longer survives. Ryla is shown mourning the loss and unable to move on chooses to build a grand grave for her lost love only to seal herself within and ending her life to follow her lover into the afterlife. At this point the mural ends, as does the tunnel with a wall and door blocking their path ahead.
Taking a deep breath and wiping away any dampness around my eyes I turn to see Kana doing much the same. "It's a beautiful and tragic tale, worth of being called a lament." I say softly, unable to raise my tone in the heavy atmosphere after we finished the mural. Kana only nods at this not fully trusting her voice.
"But we need to finish this dungeon so we can only push on. Are you ready?" I ask Kana. And watch as she refocuses and gives me a curt nod before walking towards the doors and slowly pushes them open.
Holding my sword in one hand and with my other raised slightly whilst readying my mana I'm as prepared as I'll ever be. When the doors fully open I take a step inside and look around the grand hall we have stepped into with a ceiling easily 20m in height with the same in width the hall stretches on for what could be 50 or more metres before ending at a raised platform upon which 2 coffins lay with a pedestal inbetween. Upon this pedestal floats a black ball of some sorts.
Lining the hallway are 4 sets of large pillars spaced every 10m along the length. Getting a bad feeling about this I speak up quickly. "I don't like this I feel like as soon as we start walking down the hall those coffins are going to open up and we are going to have to fight Ryla and the human from the murals." Kana grimaces at the prospect but also seems to agree that is quite likely. With and arrow knocked and eyes looking for any traps we slowly advance down the hall.
Saddly for me about half way down the hall a loud crack echoes throw the space, swiftly followed by another. Readying myself for a fight I watch as both coffins lids slide off and hit the floor with one more resounding crack each. Nothing else happens for some time until a ghastly skreech erupts from each coffin, assulting my ears and causing me to drop my sword in surprised agony as I reach up to cover my ears in an attempt to stop the sound. But it's of no help as the sound seems to impact me soul deep and I can feel as if my entire being is being impacted by a feeling of such overwhelming grief that it takes me a moment to realise that I am actually crying. Eventually the skreech dies down enough for me to lover my hands but feeling wetness on the side of my face I brush it with my hands only to see red blood covering my hands. Seeing this I cannt help but think we may have made a terrible mistake comming here. As if to confirm my doubts a boom is both felt and heard from behind us and I swiftly turn around to see that the door we left open is now closed, locking us in with the creature that can seeming attack my very soul with a meer scream.
Turning back to the 2 coffins I quickly bend down to pick my sword up unwilling to not have it in my hands for the upcoming fight ahead. Looking back up I am just in time to see two figures emerge from the coffins. On the right is a slender and short figure carrying a simple sword, on the left is a taller bulkier figure holding a staff. With a quick glance at Kana to confirm she is ok I quickly speak. "I'll take the elf you take the mage ok?" Hearing Kanas affirmation I waste no more time and charge forward quickly using vine whip and trying to slap the sword from the undead elf's hand, however to my mild horror the elf manages to swiftly cut the incoming vine in two before locking gaze with me and similarly rushing to meet me.
Raising my sword slightly I prepaid to clash with her whilst also preparing a root strike aiming to block with my sword and hit her from behind in the same moment. As the elf swings down with shocking speed I raise my blade ready to block only to be utterly outclassed as I find myself thrown off my feet and landing in an undignified roll on the floor.thankfully however it seems it was unable to block my roots and it was impaled in its shoulder, to my horror though the elf simple chops the root in half and walks towards me letting the root fall out and onto the floor. 'Well shit' I think. 'This ain't going be easy.'
This time I try to go on the offensive summoning 2 vine whips one at each side and swinging in a vertical slash in an attempt to pen her in, I am instead forced to jump back as a wave of fire erupts from the undead elf, thankfully at least one of the vine managed to connect as when I steady myself I notice that the elf's offhand is now hanging limply at her side.
Regaining some confidence I move up slowly this time only to rapidly bring my sword up to block as the elf unleashes a flurry of attacks my way, I manage to block most but some manage to get through my unpracticed defence leaving me with some light cuts on my arms and one particularly painful one across my cheek. Stepping back I hope to gain some space only for the elf to swiftly follow with her blade raised ready to chop down.
I jump back and as fast as I can summon a root strike in front of her and manage to score impale her through the stomach, not wanting to waste this opportunity I dive in and swing horizontally only to be effortlessly parried. With my guard non existent the elf stabs forward aiming for my chest. Thinking quickly I throw my mana into my flower dress focusing my defence there, thankfully it manages to block the worst of the blow but I am still sent sprawling back with the wind completely knocked out of me and blood running down from where the blade managed to get through my defences.
Down on one knee I look up just in time to see her cut through the root and yank it out throwing it to the side before I watch in horror as a fireball is rapidly created above the undead before flying my way exploding into a ball of death right before my eyes.
———
👀 how will this one end up?