Chapter 62: The Dive Continues (Patreon)

Aby had only a few moments to prepare the denizens of the eighth floor for the systematic invasion and inspection that seemed inevitable now, and it made the most of every moment. There was a flurry of activity as the white-haired menace approached the end of the seventh, and as he navigated the winding mess of halls Aby was left with only a short time to ponder just how this creature was so familiar with its own layout.

Frustration continued to mount within the gem’s mind as the tiny man finally began descending the entire length of the eighth floor entrance, seeming to draw out every impossible step down some nonexistent spiral staircase that he apparently willed into existence. The fact that he never once ceased his one-sided discussion after leaving Carmine to scramble away in terror was just another slight by this point, one the core was trying so desperately to pay back.

Aby made sure he continued to be met with as much resistance as its creations could muster, and the invader’s entrance to the vast arena of the eighth was an almost jarring departure from the treatment he’d received up until then. Gone was any semblance of strategy, of organized group assaults or attempted stealth strikes, now he was simply met with a swarm of teeth as the nearest dozen sharks practically flung themselves his way. 

Watching three meter plus mounds of streamlined muscle launch themselves at an invader that they utterly dwarfed was almost enough to brighten Aby’s mood. It really would have been, if the diminutive nightmare would have done more than raise an eyebrow in the face of a bull shark near four meters tip-to-tail, only for the thing to come to an abrupt halt directly before him, not even glancing at the budding feeding frenzy he’d shut down along with the beast.

It didn’t matter to the invader that the poor critter was locked in place, mouth still open wide and teeth barely centimeters from his face, nor did he seem to be concerned with the fact that the remaining thirteen or so were locked in equally menacing positions on all sides. The wide grin was especially upsetting for Aby this time around, too, because it never left him even while the man quite literally reached his arm into the mouth of the largest shark present, not once did he look even mildly concerned nor did he ever stop practically shouting to himself, still continuing to ignore the constraints that water has on his kind.

It was utterly absurd to the core, and genuinely unnerving to the sole resident of the eighth that could think past her own instinctual drive to eat the small invader. Only the ennedi shark was able to rely on the information her Creator provided to do more than rush after the miniscule intruder and take the biggest bite out of the thing, and watching her lesser kin continue to try, and fail, to do just that seemingly without end reassured her that she was making the correct choice.

That wasn’t to say she had an easy time of hanging back, even with the examples of those who tried and continued to try and take a bite out of the unusual creature. Something about it seemed to be so hard to resist, it seemed so out of place, so weak and vulnerable, most importantly, so small. She knew that it would take just a single bite, if one could even call it that, to make the interloper simply disappear. She’d even chipped off her teeth earlier that day, the agonizing procedure just another part of a routine she’d fallen into, and she was plainly aware that this creature would simply vanish into her maw if she could get close enough.

But she also knew that the budding rationality in the back of her mind, and more importantly, the Creator, were warning her that simply rushing and hoping to take such a bite successfully would be futile. And so she listened, and hung back near the center of her arena. She did her best to conceal herself in the largest cluster of coral. Her vivid crimson skin and inky black stripes were stunningly effective for this, too. She was well aware that to any observers, her near seven meter frame simply faded away, and though she didn’t have much space to stay hidden in, nor was maneuvering with any proficiency something she could do considering how she seemed designed and purpose-built for overwhelming power. 

And as she watched this strange, tiny thing simply stride across the bottom of her arena with a gait she’d never seen before, leaving a trail of immobilized kin in its wake, she started planning, as best she could. The patch of coral was not large at all, but it was dense. Soft coral shuddered as she gingerly crept through, and even though it towered above her it didn’t seem to impair her senses. She swam in a sloppy circle through the patch, always aware of the thing approaching her, until she saw her chance.

Most of the remnant sharks on the floor had long since been subdued by then, despite Aby trying to emphasize just how poor an idea it was to confront the tiny man head on not many seemed to pay its suggestions any heed. It was watching as the bloody red hulk of a shark burst free of the patch of coral it had grown just for her concealment, mouth already open wide as she rocketed forward with a speed that seemed at odds with her bulk.

It watched as her mouth pulled open even further, the countless razor sharp teeth and the broken roots of her two saber teeth completely displayed in all their brutal glory. She was shooting upwards, trying to catch the man off guard and, with any luck, take a leg or even a life.

And then the core watched as none of this happened. It was only a fraction of a second between her launching her attack and reaching the small invader, and her jaws had already started closing, threatening to take hold of his leg when the man gave a small harrumph. He looked down at her, casually stepping aside before he turned to look at her now frozen frame.

“Well now, I was wondering when you would decide to say hello, but I wasn’t aware you’d be so enthusiastic to meet me.” The man spoke, taking on a tone that could only be called jovial, and Aby felt deflated yet again. As a dungeon, it could handle monotony, and it could handle repetition, but it was ill equipped to handle whatever this creature was putting it through. 

The core went on to ignore the rest of whatever he had to say for this floor, knowing that with the ennedi’s failure, both the eighth and ninth floors were out of native defenders. It hoped that maybe the sheer size and number of bodies that the ninth floor could send his way would prove him wrong, but the core had already been thoroughly taught the value of hope when dealing with this man, and it was barely half an hour later that he was standing near the center of the floor, the pleased grin he wore still plastered across his face.

He was talking at someone again, loudly debating amidst the stiff bodies of ninety percent of the ninth floor’s inhabitants. “I’m quite torn, little one. You have two paths forward and yet I can only travel one at a time. So which do I pick first? The path to what is most certainly your tenth floor, or the delightfully ominous hole in the wall that leads to parts unknown?”

And like that, the menace talked to himself for another ten minutes before nodding once and turning on his heel towards the tenth floor entrance. He strode forward in an exaggerated march, the giddiness he felt at terrorizing the core was growing palpable as he continued progressing deeper.

This time he didn’t walk on his imaginary stairs the entire way, choosing to simply drop downwards while he looked around, his pace a fair bit quicker now that he wasn’t just leisurely walking along. Apparently he had noticed something, and nearly leapt out of the multi-meter tunnel into the frosty waters of Aby’s tenth, heatedly talking about how, if his assumption was correct, he was about to be the happiest man alive. 

When he finally stood up and took a proper look around, there was a short lull in activity. The man took a few seconds as he went through a wild series of expressions, before he took a deep breath, and returned to his apparent default state of ecstasy. That he managed to do so under seven meters of water without disturbing the small current in the slightest confused the young gemstone, but the sheer intensity in the small man’s gaze was far more shocking to the core.

Aby found the passion and burning curiosity contained in that man’s attention uncomfortable, and it was genuinely relieved when he was broken out of his reverie by a harpoon that came hurtling at his head. It even caught the man by surprise, it seemed, because the weapon didn’t simply freeze in place as it approached. Rather, his body jolted, and he waved his hand while blurting out a word the core couldn’t understand, and suddenly the weapon was gone. 

His head snapped to the side, eyes narrowing at the creature that had launched the weapon. For the first time in his ‘visit’, the core watched as his face became a bit more serious. His smile seemed a little more forced, and his posture a little less relaxed. The dragonkin who threw the thing was now acutely aware of what his Creator had been going through a moment earlier, and even though he was halfway across the floor his body still seized up.

He tried his best to move, and as the small man walked his way he’d even begun chewing his lips, the small trickle of blood being wiped away by the gentle current before it was even visible. But he could do no more than that, whatever it was that was holding him down simply wouldn’t release its hold on his body, and he was glad that it was him alone being held down. He felt his companion somewhere in the fields of coral, obscured by the sheer amount of life that separated her and this danger.

He knew she was planning something now, what exactly he wasn’t sure but he was very much aware of when a certain patch of coral started growing even colder, the gentle snow that fell upwards started becoming a hail of glittering ice. Unfortunately, this intruder seemed to figure it out, too. He clicked his tongue, turning towards the growing storm by the edge of the clearing and spoke to his eel.

“You can come out now, there’s no need to run from a guest.” 

Obviously, neither he nor his companion would be so easily fooled by his honeyed words, especially considering the dragonkin was still stuck in his invisible prison. That didn’t stop this invader from continuing his futile attempts to coax her out, though, and in the end she was forced to oblige.

The dragonkin wasn’t sure how she was dragged to his side, neither she nor the terror had moved once, but there she was, right beside him, obviously just as distressed as he. Neither had much faith in his assurances that they’d be fine, they were both keenly aware of what happens to the weaker party once they’re caught, and the dragonkin was growing frustrated that he was spending so long toying with them.

He had no desire for the last words he ever heard to be the taunting of some strange scaleless, and the praises and compliments the being heaped onto him and his companion were obviously just that. Unfortunately, neither were in a position to ask for mercy, or even force his hand. His companion’s magic had long been dispelled, and even though she was still positively buzzing with mana, she simply couldn’t get it to listen to her.

After spending five minutes under his mocking gaze, being forced to endure his pointless pleasantries, the end was finally coming. The man walked even closer to the duo, and then walked past them. It actually took them both a moment to realize that they weren’t frozen in place any longer, and another to realize they were now bound by something, held in some net that refused to loosen.

Even Aby had been stumped by it, this was the third time now it had seen the man use this strange thing, and each time the net refused to loosen, refused to budge even, and most importantly, the core couldn’t break it down. It was completely at a loss on what to do about it, the core couldn’t even tell what it was made of, much less how to remove it, and in the end, Aby was just as powerless as his boss duo to set them free. They were all left to watch helplessly as the menace continued his supposedly harmless rampage through Aby’s halls, and watching the man simply stroll around like this was only making Aby feel worse.