Chapter 64: Victory? (Patreon)

And when the white fur of their unwelcome guest finally appeared from the darkness of the cave, the world burst into motion. It took barely a heartbeat for the mottled green and crimson form that the intruder had seen in the center of the room to suddenly not be in the center of the room. Another, and he realized that that form was now in front of him. He wasn’t even given the time to settle his feet onto the floor, before having to dodge to the side and avoid the lash aimed to bisect him. Instead, the wyvern merely grazed him, leaving Aby shocked at how quickly the man could react.

But the man seemed equally shocked with how quickly the wyvern could react, using the momentum of the failed tail swipe to whip forward with a clawed wingtip. This too missed, and this too was quickly followed by an angry bite. This dance continued for a second longer, before the wyvern grew agitated, and with another burst of speed, was dozens of meters away. His golden eyes glared at the man, pupils narrowing into thin slits while his scales slowly turned red.

“You’re an angry one, aren-” Unlike his companions, the wyvern had no desire to allow this nuisance to speak. Not only did he detest him by virtue of not belonging, he was also the reason that the wyvern had spent the last few hours awake, unable to even enjoy his steamy perch. And so, the statement was cut short, forcefully ended when a wicked blade appeared where his mouth was mere moments ago, whipping forward and leaving a trail of steam and bubbles.

And although the man had dodged, yet again, Aby took pleasure in watching his eyes widen at the interruption. He was unable to renew his speech, too, instead having to dodge two more equally blistering strikes. The water around the wyvern had begun to shimmer by then, the heat distorting his outline faintly, as he took an even brighter hue. Crimson turned scarlet, and scarlet, rose tinted as he became increasingly worked up, and Aby was yet again fascinated by this, even if most of its attention remained fixed on its ‘guest’

Said guest was also fascinated, Aby could recognize that gleam in his eyes, but there was no satisfaction to be had. The man could dodge, that much was certain, but apparently he could not touch, and whatever it was he had done to the wyrm and to the drake, touch seemed crucial. The wyvern made sure that he remained untouched, pressing into the hunt, launching strike after strike. Even if none connected, either dodged or deflected by infuriatingly sturdy walls, he never slowed down, nor did he cool down, either.

In fact, as the water around him started to properly boil, bubbles rolling off of his scales and shooting upwards, his tempo only increased. An attack that took a heartbeat now took half, and half again as he was enveloped by a veil of steam, and his scales only continued to lighten. A pale pink, bordering on white now, and Aby had never seen him so heated, be it in the literal or metaphorical sense.

Things only devolved for the man from there, too, as that blue he had been pointedly ignoring grew ever closer. Rather than a single mass, he was subjected to many, the flagship’s fleet had caught up, and even if individually, they were nothing, they were not individual, not anymore. Fish more coordinated than any shoal ever could be dragged jellies over at the expense of their own bodies, only the constant healing of Aby kept some of them alive, and even that wore off when they were too close to the man. 

But it was worth it, watching the smile leave his face even for a moment had Aby ecstatic, and it seemed that whatever he did to freeze things could not be done on nearly the same scale when he was also busy keeping a three meter long mass of scale, fang, and claw at bay. For the first time, the wyvern and the hive weren’t focused on each other. Instead, one operated as support, making sure that the man couldn’t simply move away without risking entanglement or assimilation, and he had no time to test if either of those things were truly dangerous.

It was a dangerous balance for both; if they were harmless, he could decimate the hive, but if they weren’t, he had no desire to see whether his enchantments would hold out from an angry wyvern trying to tear him apart. He kept retreating back, forced to push aside the members of the armada harrying him and not letting the wyvern take advantage of that, still determined to not kill a single inhabitant for whatever reason.

However, that self-imposed restriction was working in the core’s favor, and even when the man spoke something, and a grand barrier sprang up around him, none of Aby’s denizens were even harmed, apart from a few jellies caught in the wyvern’s way. It was just a shame that the same could be said about their mousey guest, who also had a few thoughts on the matter.

“Really now? I must be honest and say, I had not expected this. A-plus, you.” He pointed at the wyvern which was still ripping and stabbing at the spell, finding no purchase. “And you,” his gaze shifted towards the flagship, which had already summoned its fleet back to it. “are odd. And really quite nasty, too. Honestly, were it not for the Oath I took, I’d rather try and keep you from fully realizing whatever it is you can be.” A few of the flagship’s many tendrils seemingly reached out to him, in defiance of that threat.

“It truly pains me how ill-equipped I am for the water. Honestly, what could be so quick and still so young surface-side? I can’t really do much because of it, either, since you aren’t even a yearling.” The man’s rambling continued from there, and Aby didn’t pay it anymore mind after he started talking about Oaths and Titles as if they were proper names. Instead, it encouraged the wyvern, and tried to wake the wyrm and drake. They may not be much use, but it would rather its favored not remain so vulnerable.

The wyvern, however, spared no focus for anything other than his single minded assault, trying to rip his way through the barrier and then tear his way through its caster. Aggression that only continued to build, as his scales became literally glowing now, a radiant white that sent the water he swam through into a frenzy of its own. Roiling and frothing, the shape of the wyvern could no longer be made out, becoming a cloud of glowing, steaming sharp to anyone bold enough to observe, even the flagship started to edge backward, and the invader was keeping a very wary eye on him.

“I suppose, if I am truly so unwelcome…” he sounded hurt, then, obviously trying to lie and play to a kindness Aby simply didn’t have. “that I must submit a partially incomplete report. Truly troublesome, but hopefully the rest of your floors aren’t so skewed against me.” Aby almost wished it could retort that it hoped they were, but was too busy watching the dome around him shrink, almost pressing itself to him as another layer of protection.

He waked to the center of the room, ready to descend into the sixteenth floor, paying no mind to the wyvern’s assault mere centimeters from his face. Whatever it was he was casting, it seemed to also block out temperatures, or the man was truly immune to being boiled alive. In fact, by now, even the water had started taking a reddish tint, the same sort that surrounded the spirit coral at all times. Aby still didn’t know why this happened, but it knew what it meant.

It was hot. Blisteringly, angrily, comically hot, wanting nothing more than to catch fire if it weren’t already water, to burn away everything around it, and, in this case, to amplify the wyvern’s attacks even further. And somehow, the furry dwarf was unphased. Either he was hilariously better at defending himself than he was at attacking, or he was, for whatever reason, pulling his punches, but not his guard. Aby didn’t know, nor did Aby care. All that mattered was the frustration, anger, indignation at being treated so casually, and how even if there was no effect, at least the wyvern could fight back.

The man was still infuriatingly nonchalant about him, but he couldn’t simply wave a hand or say some nice words and tame the beast, and even as he swam downwards into the tamer sixteenth, he was not allowed rest by the wyvern, even sent stumbling a few steps by a strike before he had regained his footing. 

“What are you doing, you little terror?” He said with a smile afterwards, the glowing cloud of scale still orbiting around him, impacts coming frequently enough to be a loud, gravelly hum. “You are frighteningly committed, and I am dreadfully restricted, so am I just going to have my own follower until you wear yourself out? I refuse to believe that you can keep this momentum going much longer.” He spoke, predictions falling on deaf ears even if they were entirely accurate. He could do nothing but accept his new partner, forced to keep a much more active pace since nothing he examined even stayed in one piece for more than a moment if he came too close.

It was almost humorous, watching how unaffected he was, and how much it bothered him to be unable to retaliate for whatever reason, and would have been if he wasn’t right about the wyvern wearing himself out. They had just descended to the nineteenth, another labyrinth of heat and red when it became apparent that his stamina was limited. While muscle strain could be healed, and mental fatigue helped to be overcome, Aby had nothing to do about the wyvern overusing mana, and even if he had a near infinite supply from his surroundings, he could only draw it in so fast, and was starting to spend it so much faster. Aby had found out a lot about him, though, and he would rather end things now than let this menace touch his wyvern when he exhausted.

And so, a very unwilling wyvern suddenly stopped his onslaught, and returned to his coral. One moment he was there, and suddenly he was not, and it seemed that his ‘opponent’, if one could even call him that, was unprepared, gawking at how rapid it was, and commenting on it. “You won’t even let me see him, after putting up with all that?” He whined, but he seemed anything but petulant. “Fine, that was still very enlightening” he chuckled to himself, dropping the barrier, and pulling out an artifact Aby had never seen from some hidden pocket.

Aby wanted it. It was gorgeous, an unadorned token that shone with mana more brightly than even the wyvern, and it could tell that this was hardly it. “That was quite the assault indeed, little one. What a wonderful showing!” He thumbed a few runes, ones that seemed weathered and battered in contrast to the immaculate appearance of the rest of it. “I’ll need to have this recharged, later. I suppose you’ve even got the materials for that right here, too!” He looked pointedly at the crystals lining the walls and floor.

And they were truly magnificent on these floors. Structures bigger than this man, with flowing curves or jagged corners, art finer than any sculptor could create and literally thrumming with power, the dregs of mana that Aby had no use for, which drove outsiders positively wild, for some reason. And in the case of this outsider, he was driven wild by everything, finally free from the maelstrom of tooth and nail that followed him, he could return to his apparent passion of subjecting everything in his path to his supremely uncomfortable ministrations, and slowly working his way to the final floor. 

This time, he had completely ignored the tunnel leading to the eighteenth, apparently intent on skipping the floor for the moment, and instead went right to Aby’s abyss, its final line of defense, and the core felt entirely unprepared. Nothing lived here but baitfish, octopus, and one chimeric union of the two. Why its doppelgänger had decided on twelve tentacles, each ending in the gasping, biting heads of fish, and why that needed to have five glowing eyes Aby couldn’t fathom. It did seem incredibly intimidating, however, and maybe that would matter. 

It would take time to find out, however, as the man was taking his time navigating the halls of the floor with the same excruciating focus as ever, winding his way through the myriad tunnels and accosting any hapless creature it came across, even mocking them. “I suppose this is one of your final floors? It seems so… incomplete. Did I catch you while you were creating? It would be truly awkward if I had.” Aby detested that attitude, and dearly wished to correct it, but there was only one chance at that, and that didn’t seem very likely when he turned a corner, coming face to face with the now-six eyes of his doppelgänger, only to stop and rub his eyes.

Rather than turn and run, or teleport away, he simply watched the thing, and the doppelgänger watched him in return. Many eyes locked, and the furry thing took a few tentative steps toward it, apparently expecting it to be frozen. Walking as he spoke, he started “I’m not even sure what to make of this. How did this happen, why did this happen?” He was staring at the core, now, just a dozen meters behind the boss, sunken deep. Sela hid behind Aby, desperately wishing for this to end.

“How does such a thing even come to be? I have so, so many questions, and I-” He didn’t get to finish that statement, when he picked up the doppelgänger, expecting it to remain utterly frozen. So, when the limbs wiggled and then locked onto his hand, he was confused. When he felt one of three beaks latch onto his hand, he was startled, and tried to shake it off, succeeding effortlessly. What he failed to notice, was that it also took a tuft of hair from his wrist, his regeneration apparently too fast to even notice such a thing. No blood was spilt, no skin torn. Just a small bit of fuzz the doppelgänger promptly swallowed.

And before the ever-talkative intruder could talk, he watched as the thing shifted before his eyes, becoming a black lump of stuff which churned and grew noiselessly. White fuzz, mirroring his own, began to sprout, and a pair of eyes emerged from the mess. His mouth hung open as salty brine tried to force its way into his lungs, repelled by some esoteric force, and his eyes were comically wide. He watched as this lump was moulded, by some outside force, slowly taking his own image as if it were a lump of clay in the hands of a master sculptor.

Finally, his own mirror image opened its eyes, staring back into his own.

And promptly collapsed in on itself. Surrounded by the weight of Aby’s entire dungeon, the pressure was simply far too great for a surface race to withstand without whatever it was the man was doing for protections, and so, it literally imploded, promptly returning into a mass of flesh as it was crushed. As it was twisted and pushed into shapes not meant for anything with a skeleton, the red pulp slowly returned to its original glossy black, as if it hadn’t happened in the first place. Another moment, and the man witnessed the return of that alien cephalopod, seven glowing eyes looking around and fourteen arms flailing as the fish anchored to them acted out. Only now, it was covered in glossy, white fur, and had many pairs of buck-teeth haphazardly sticking out of it.

He just watched on in silence a second longer as it waved menacingly at him, lumbering forward in some crude mockery of a charge. “That was… supremely uncomfortable to watch. I have no idea how to respond to that showing but please, never again?” Aby would never forget the face this man was making at that moment. Disgust, interest, humor, confusion so visceral that the core could almost taste it woven together to turn his mousy features into something beautiful. Something it would have admired, were it not for the fact that this thing was just meters away while it made the face.

The doppelgänger had reached him then, wrapping its tentacles around his legs and trying to gnaw through the fabric of his pants, and his leg itself. Neither effort seemed likely, even when it used the man’s own mouth to try. Instead, he looked down and said “Please, please leave me alone for now.” And with a hum of mana, it was so. The doppelgänger let go, turned around, and made a lot of motions which carried it towards the core very slowly. The man, too was heading that way, a smile slowly returning to his face while he very deliberately looked at everything but the doppelgänger. 

Meanwhile, Aby was pleading, bargaining, screaming for this to stop. “Sela. Please, stay safe.” That was likely the only coherent thought that traveled between the core and any of its bonds, primal fear much too overwhelming. Sela, too, was afraid. She had been watching too, or having Aby ‘show’ her, anyways, and she did not like what she saw. A crippled rifle shrimp, and three undines the only other hostages to this man’s whims now, she wanted to flee but she could never, not when Aby would be alone.

And so, against anything resembling sound judgement, and in spite of Aby’s stream of warnings, she swam out of the coral castle, taking her place before Aby in the vain hope that all fifty frail centimeters of her could intimidate him.

“Why are you doing this to us?” She spoke, her wavering voice betraying just how badly she wished this to end. This hardly changed when the man suddenly stopped just at the entrance to Aby’s core, and lost his smile entirely, a bit of surprise and wonderment evident as he looked at Sela.

“Many reasons, my dear. And I assure you, not one of them are against you. Forgive me, I have yet to even introduce myself. I am The Mapper, I had a name, but it doesn’t matter now, but I would still be delighted to know your name, and even more if we could converse.” Sela remained tensed up, that voice in her mind still deafeningly loud, with Aby saying exactly the same. And despite all that, she decided to take a leap of faith.

“I am Sela, and this is Aby.” She pointed towards the azure stone. At this declaration, The Mapper’s eyes bulged, more surprised at the simple statement than anything else. 

“Aby? You named your core after you bound it?” He was practically shouting, but still refused to cross the threshold into their room. Sela simply tilted her head and responded.

“Named them? No? When we bonded” She put emphases on bonded, not sure why the simple difference between ‘bonded’ and ‘making it bound’ irked her the way it did. “I introduced myself, and they did too.” She showed a wistful smile for a moment despite the pressure, and the apparent gravity of the situation was lost on her.

It wasn’t lost on The Mapper, though, who started speaking frantically, confusing the Nereid. “This is unheard of. You are a Nereid, are you not? Have you had no training on binding a Dungeon?”

“No.” She spoke matter of factly. “When I found Aby, it was stuck, making kobolds in a cave of sand and watching them drown. When I bonded with Aby, I was told I was the first Dungeon Nereid. And when Aby named themselves, I have never felt happier.” Sela kept speaking, words coming out unbidden. Were she not so passionate right now, she might have found it odd why she was speaking to this outsider so easily.

“You mean to say, with no training, no help, nothing but luck, you found a High Dungeon in the middle of the ocean? I’d call this a joke if I didn’t know you were absolutely serious. Instead, the only joke here is everything I thought I knew.” He was laughing now, a mirthful, joyous laugh, but the manic tone he had seemed rather frightening. 

“And why, Mister Mapper, is Aby a joke?” Aby was starting to calm down too, odd considering what was happening, but Sela was glad to see her companion slowly returning to who it was.

“No, no, that isn’t it at all Sela. It’s simply that Aby” he seemed almost uncomfortable saying the core’s name. “goes against everything I’ve known. The seas cannot house a Core, and the lands will never see a Trench, this was common knowledge. Named cores go Rogue, this was something I grew up hearing. A Core that grows too fast will go Rogue, a Core given too much mana will go Rogue, a Core with too many bosses will go Rogue, too large floors? Rogue. Too many, too soon? Rogue. Everything that I know says Aby should be a Rogue, so why hasn’t it started breeding nightmares and flinging their templated creations at the world with abandon?”

His body was trembling now, and were they above water, Sela had no doubt his chest would be heaving. But through it all, that spark, that hunger for knowledge only grew. “And it means that, either Aby is one-of-a-kind, or that everything I’ve ever been told is wrong, that my life’s work was built on a flawed creed.”

“Why couldn’t it be both? Aby is unique, but maybe they aren’t as unique as you were taught to think, what if, the ones who taught you, lied?” Sela idly suggested, more interested in playing the devil’s advocate, so when his body stiffened, frozen in just the same way he’d subjected their creatures to, she was surprised. The glazed over look, staring into nothing, he’d just experienced something, but she had no clue what.

“Thank you” he whispered. “Thank you, thank Aby, thank you both.” His voice was small, far smaller than even his stature now, at odds with the boisterous man moments earlier.

“You’re welcome?” She was confused, too confused to even be worried, and the aquamarine behind her felt the same.

“No, you don’t understand. Sela, I’ve got to go now, I can’t see that last floor today, I need to do something and you will suffer if I do it here. I will be back, to properly thank you. Stay safe, stay strong, stay unique.” And before she could voice her confusion, he was gone no flash, no noise, nothing. He was there, and then, he wasn’t, and everything was over.