FINAL CORE - Chapter 19 (Patreon)

“What it’s like to be down that deep in a dungeon?” he asks me, narrowing his eyes. “I’ll tell you what it’s like to be down that deep in a dungeon.” His hands rise up and grasp my neck.

I lift a hand, gesturing for my secretary to continue transcribing the scene.

“It starts off like this. Not so bad, right?” he asks. “Sure, it’s a little uncomfortable, being on floor one, but we expect that, don’t we?”

I nod.

His fingers squeeze my throat tighter.

“It isn’t just that the dungeon is a place that gets more difficult as you go deeper into it,” he explains, staring into my eyes. I notice that he has not blinked yet. “It’s not just that there are bigger rooms or bigger monsters, no…”

He leans in towards me. His breath smells of lavender smoke.

“— It knows. It’s alive.”

His fingers squeeze tighter around my neck. I maintain my composure, but my throat lets out a reflexive squelch as he compresses his grip. I feel my face turning red and flush.

“It can feel you, walking around inside of it, the dungeon,” he says. “Like a worm, wiggling in your guts. It can feel you and it hates you. The deeper you go, the angrier it gets.”

My vision at this point becomes blurry.

The guards step forward, but I lift my hand, stopping them too.

“By the time you get to floor thirty, you’re not just some nuisance. You’re an active problem and it knows you’re there. It can feel you, it can watch you and it does. It does, with eyes that you can’t see.” He leans in. “They’re in the walls, you know? The eyes.”

He squeezes tighter. My vision fades and my arms tremble. I undertake great effort to stop my body from instinctively fighting back to free myself.

“— And then, when it notices you, then the rules change. Things change. The walls, the floors, the patterns. It’s like you can feel it, smashing a fist against its belly over and over so that it can kill you from the outside and shit you out.”

He lets go.

I gasp for air, clutching my throat. My vision is filled with stars and I feel deeply light-headed and nauseous.

The man looks down at his hands, bound in shackles. “…You’re never alone,” he says, holding himself. “You’re never alone. Don’t ever trust the walls,” he says, stroking the wall of his cell.

~Post edit transcription from an interview with A-rank adventurer [Redacted], made a ward of the nation under mental health concerns in the high security prison [Redacted], conducted by court evaluator [Redacted].

Ten days prior before his unexplained escape

_______________________________________________________

[Upgraded Area]

Graveyard {Level 2}

• 25 bodies
• 6 [Will o’ the Wisp]
• 2 [Mourning Spirit]

A well kept, fenced in, holy graveyard. The bodies of the slain are put to rest here, but their spirits remain in faith. This is signaled by the strong, clean headstones that fill it.

Level {1} Effect: Summons {1} [Will o’ the wisp] for every {4} slain combatants buried here.

Level {2} Effect: Summons {1} [Mourning Spirit] for every {12} slain combatants buried here.

[Mourning Spirit]

• Class: Monster (Non-Aggressive)
• Element: Holy
• Type: Enchanter
• Category: Spirit*
• Level: 06

Born of the undone soul of a person who has suffered a terrible loss, mourning spirits are the ghosts of the dead who have refused to move on to the other world. Not out of malice, but rather, in the hopes that their sorrowful lamentations will one day return the one they lost to them here, in this plane.

[Morrow Prayer]{Toggle}: While alive in the graveyard and mourning , all UNDEAD and SPIRIT entities in and outside of the tower will receive +1 LEVEL for every active mourning spirit

*Spirits do not pay SOUL to use spells. They are weak to HOLY.

All [Will o’ the Wisp]s are now LEVEL {03}

All [Mourning Spirit]s are now LEVEL {08}

All [Spirit of Light]s are now LEVEL {05}

“Excellent,” says Isaiah, looking at the graveyard. Gray has provided metal for strong, blackened, spiked cast-iron fences that surround the graveyard. “This is good work,” it praises, touching the fence and trying to wobble it. It holds firm.

“Thanks,” says Crystal. “The metal’s been a big help.”

[New Area Added]

Floor {9}

The ninth floor of the tower dungeon. It is currently empty.

Capacity: {18} Monster-Points

1 TRAP

 (The next sub-boss/challenge room will be available in {7} floors!)

(The next boss arena will be available in {1} floors.)

“Oh!” says Crystal. “Green must be working without me. Gotta go!” says the uthra, before flying up towards the top of the tower.

“Gray,” says Isaiah. “How is the bell coming along?” it asks. “I would like it done for floor ten.”

Gray nods. “It’s not coming as fast as I’d like. I need some more lighter metals than iron.”

Isaiah nods. “See what you can do.”

“Sure thing,” replies Gray and flies off.

Isaiah flies off too and looks to the side, looking at a bunch of loudly squawking creatures. The large birds, the anqas, that the dungeon-inspection team rode in on. They’ve been fenced in, because Isaiah didn’t really know what else to do with them.

Rorate is there, tending to them.

Isaiah lands on the post of a fence. The large birds, seeing it arrive, squawk and shriek loudly, scrambling away, leaving a surprised Rorate standing there, her hand still outstretched from trying to pet one on the beak.

She looks back towards Isaiah.

“I suppose that I am frightening for them,” says Isaiah, looking around. “It is dangerous outside the tower,” he explains.

“Yeah,” says Rorate. “Sorry. I was just thinking about a lot of stuff and I like these guys, you know?”

Isaiah tilts its head, looking at the cluster of birds, standing off on the far side of the fenced in space. “They’re worth a lot. If you want, I can trade them to somebody for you?” asks Rorate.

Isaiah looks back towards the anqas.

“For what?”

Rorate shrugs. “Whatever, really. I can go to the city and get a bunch of materials and ingredients,” she says. “Red told me you need an alchemy set up.”

“Red spoke with you?” asks Isaiah.

“Oh yeah,” replies Rorate, thinking for a moment. “I could also go to the east, into the deep-forest. The witch there will definitely want them. She can make some really powerful things for sure.”

Isaiah shakes its head. “The deep-forest is a bad place,” it warns. “There are things there that eat birds.”

Rorate points at the anqas. “They’re pretty big and mean. They can handle it.”

“Can you?”

“Made it through twice so far,” she replies. “Plus I’m not a bird.”

Isaiah thinks for a moment. On one hand, it needs Rorate here. Her presence and her prayers help the uthra greatly. Without her, Teal will likely vanish until she returns.

On the other hand, these new resources could be a boon. An alchemy laboratory needs sensitive, hard to produce equipment and a witch could have all sorts of interesting things, like…

Hmm…

Isaiah lifts its gaze towards the sky.

“Of the five, we will keep two,” it says, lifting its talons. “Take one to the witch. Take two to the city.”

“Sure, I can do that!” says Rorate excitedly, seemingly glad to have something more concrete to do than praying. “What do you want with the two?”

“Eggs,” says Isaiah, rising back up to its feet and looking over towards its old nest. “I want them to make eggs,” it explains, rising into the air. It looks back down over its shoulder. “Return to me soon, Rorate. I still have need of you here.”

Rorate nods and sets to work.

“Red,” says Isaiah, flying up to the top of the tower.

“What?” asks Red, appearing.

“Follow Rorate as far as you can. Make sure she does not drown.”

Red groans. “Why do I always get the shitty jobs?” she asks.

Isaiah shrugs. “You are the favorite. Go.”

Red rolls her eyes and flies away.

______________________________________________

[Prayers]

A prayer has been said at the shrine.

+2 EXP

567/750

Isaiah watches from its roost, as the two children from days before arrive once again on the tower grounds. As before, the girl has pulled the boy back, scolding him for not paying his respects at the shrine.

A good child.

Isaiah nods, pleased.

It isn’t exactly sure how they got past the wisps, though. Especially now that they’re higher level. But perhaps the road is just safer to traverse than the forest?

Hmm…

Yes. The road has to be safer. They need it to be safe, after all, so that people can access the shrine.

Isaiah watches them run around and explore. They never head into the tower, rather, they explore the hot-spring and play in the water for a time. Then they explore the graveyard, the girl pulling the boy along by his wrist and scolding him at the slightest hint of disrespect towards the dead and then they move towards the river.

The river is dangerous.

Isaiah returns to its vision and sets to flight.

______________________________________________

The melusine sits half above the water, brushing her long hair with her hands as she sings to herself.

Hearing them approaching, it stops and then quickly vanishes beneath the river, peeking out to see who has come her way.

— Her eyes go wide as the two children stop to look at the river.

In an instant, she lashes out, her long, half-serpentine body shooting out of the water like a tendril. They barely have time to scream as she lunges towards one of them.

Isaiah swoops down, spreading its wings and the melusine’s fangs pierce into its shoulder. It winces, recalling the feeling of something piercing its body from its old, human life.

[Damage Negated]

Your own monsters are unable to hurt you

Water splashes all around the area, dampening the sounds of screams.

Isaiah looks down at the two figures, clutching each other beneath its shadow. “Do not go near the water,” warns Isaiah. It turns its head, looking into the surprised face of the melusine. The instant it realizes that somebody is making eye-contact with it, it releases, splashing back down into the river. “It is unsafe,” finishes Isaiah, standing back upright and lowering its wings.

The two children continue to scream and then run away, stumbling over themselves as they go.

— But at least they help each other up, before they keep on running.

“Good kids,” nods Isaiah.

It turns its head, looking at the river, where a face is peaking out half-way above the water.

“Do not eat children,” it warns.

The melusine blows bubbles beneath the water and then vanishes.

Isaiah stands there in silence for a time.

Its stomach growls and it sighs.

Red is the only one who can cook here and she’s gone now too.

Isaiah lifts its head to look at the sky, wondering why the gods would make life be this way?

It just doesn’t make any sense.