[DCI] Chapter 55 - The Hunter and the Prey (Patreon)

We returned to Levia’s workshop and found Aisha sitting on a small stool in front of the testing appliances. She rested her elbows on the counter and watched the colorful tubes from up close. Her long, thick tail swayed gently from side to side as its tip grazed the floor with quiet swishing. I wasn’t sure if she was bored out of her mind or just so entranced by the alchemical reactions.

When her ears registered our arrival, her tail stopped abruptly and she raised herself from her position to take a peek at us.

“Finished with your toiletries?” She grinned mischievously.

“Yes. My hair is now perfectly dry. Thank you for waiting,” Levia replied matter-of-factly, effectively shutting down any chances for the drakan lady’s mischief.

Aisha clearly hadn’t expected such a bold statement and was thrown slightly off course as she stared at the calm Witch approaching the appliances right in front of her. I chuckled quietly and joined them by the counter.

“So, do these tell you anything?” Aisha asked as Levia began collecting the test tubes.

“That is exactly what I am going to check right now,” Levia answered and we followed her to a different corner of the workshop.

She set the tubes down on the side and opened a cupboard under the counter to bring out a few clay plates with complex formations carved on their surface. She placed them next to each other and touched every single one, making the patterns light up in different colors. We spotted orange, blue, green, and purple.

The two of us observed as the wise Witch hovered each tube over every single plate, examining the substance inside with utmost focus and attention. After the first round, we realized that those plates were supposed to create different environments with various conditions above the arrays. Orange was heat, blue was cold, green was some kind of nature, and purple was some weird energy that caused the contents of the tubes to glow like under ultraviolet light.

We waited patiently for Levia to finish her work and she turned to us after about fifteen minutes of observing the samples and noting down her observations.

“First of all, I can rule out the possibility of the use of poison,” she stated calmly. “I tested for various types of harmful substances and did not get even a single reaction out of them.”

“Wait. Does that mean there was no poison on the weapon that killed the Assassin dude?” Aisha furrowed her brows.

Levia nodded. “That would be my assumption. There is still a chance that it is something out of the range of my tests, but it is highly unlikely at the current level of the Dungeon that we are clearing. The assigned Defenders would have a hard time financing the purchase or even production of the stronger substances at this point in their career.”

“Damn. So he died just from the stab?” My fierce mate frowned even harder.

“I did not say that.” Our blue-skinned friend shook her head. “Even though I did not find any traces of poisonous and toxic elements, there still was something that did in fact give me a reaction.”

“Sounds like we have a lead. What was it?” I rubbed my chin while curiously watching as Levia picked up one of the test tubes.

“The tests showed the presence of foreign mana in the deceased man’s blood. In simple words, it means that the weapon was coated with enough of it for the energy to make it into the target’s circulatory system. That usually means the use of magic. Some kind of a spell was cast onto the dagger, which prevented the victim from being able to treat the wound or seek help. It might have been something that can cause paralysis, perhaps,” she explained.

“Well, that doesn’t bode well for our priestly friend, does it?” Aisha chuckled wryly. “I don’t think the techniques Lulu uses can be categorized as spells. Even I know that abilities that use mana do it differently than actual magic. There is still a chance that she might know something on the side, of course, but we do have a specialized mage on the list.”

“What if they are actually both in it? If it’s two killers and not one?” I spoke my thoughts out loud. “The first case might have been an attempt at getting rid of the Priest by Lulu, failed because he noticed due to his intentions being the same. Then, the second case being him targeting Ashmel to direct our attention away from him and onto her. Both know that each other is a killer and are wary of making any more attempts, plotting to use us to deal with their rival.”

“It is not impossible.” Levia twirled a lock of her mesmerizing hair in her fingers. “Albeit very unlikely, I can not deny that possibility. It would both complicate and make things easier for us at the same time.”

Aisha sighed heavily. “Why do people like them have to exist? As if we couldn’t just all happily cooperate and earn riches together. It’s not like we will ever go out of commission with what our profession is. There will always be another chance at striking gold as long as you survive.”

“Nothing we can do about such greed.” I patted her on the shoulder. “But we will have to do something about this situation we’ve found ourselves in. Do we all agree to try and bait the killer or one of the killers out into the open?”

“It’s our best shot. Having a drop on them will be an immense advantage. They are so slimy that we might not get another opportunity and will have to continue dealing with the Dungeon while constantly watching our backs for sneak attacks,” my drakan mate replied.

“Yes. We should strike as soon as we are able to make a proper judgment.” Levia nodded lightly.

“To hell with that, honestly. There’s so much doubt. It might be inevitable to go after them both. The Dungeon is no joke. As barbaric as it might sound, in the end, it’s them or us. We need to steel ourselves for that possibility,” Aisha added.

“We shall cross that bridge whenever it comes. I can only promise you that I won’t hesitate. As your master, I’m responsible for your current lives, not just my own. I can’t consciously put you in intentional danger just so my morals can remain perfectly clean,” I replied, taking a glance at each of them.

A big grin curled Aisha’s lips up and she stepped closer to me, brushing her fingers under my chin, angling it up a bit as she hovered right in front of my face.

“I’ve said it many times but you are so sexy when you are all protective like that. Or maybe it’s possessive?” She chuckled breathily.

“You can pick whichever you like more.” I smirked at her and pecked her lips. “Now, let’s wrap things up with the arcanas so that we can go out hunting without any remaining worries.”

“Sure, boss. I’ll leave the two of you to it, then.” Aisha winked at me and sauntered away with a clearly seductive step, wiggling her ass and tail as she walked.

I sighed and brought my attention to Levia. “Shall we?”

“With pleasure.” She made a faint nod.

I felt like she stared at me for a little while after I turned around and started cleaning the appliances up. She soon joined me and we made quick work of it together. Perhaps I was just imagining things or something.

After everything was back in its place, we began talking business. Since she was much more knowledgeable about the magic cards of her invention, Levia suggested the initial price per piece. We would also offer them in packs of either the same spell or containing mixed sets of different, decently harmonized magic.

Just to make sure, we of course scouted the D-Market and D-Shop again to see how our pricing compared to available alternatives. This time, we weren’t targeting the very beginners so the final price ended up notably higher at about a hundred D-Dollars per card. That value varied depending on the spell imbued into the arcana, of course, and could oscillate greatly. It was just the average.

With that thing set, we began printing copies of the arcanas our artist had sent back to us to ascertain quality. After it was confirmed, we adjusted the engraver and let it slowly do its job while we moved to the side and started drawing more designs together.

I was more or less familiar with the inner workings of the circuit creation and could actually offer suggestions, observations, and insights to Levia. With my knowledge of modern coding languages coming in decently handy, we were able to streamline some of the patterns to increase their efficiency and power. It was a bizarre thing for the weird lines and symbols to relate to functions and algorithms so much, to be perfectly honest.

It felt a bit unusual being able to teach the expert new ways of doing things she had perfected over many years but Levia didn’t show any discontent or envy. She often praised my solutions and absorbed the points I made like a sponge. She was a true artisan with an open mind. Thanks to that, we created more arcanas side by side faster than ever.

That entire day and the next one were spent exactly on those things. We sent out more designs, received more formatted files, printed more arcanas, tested them, created more patterns in the meanwhile, and prepared market pages for each product. The last one was mostly done by me but Aisha volunteered to have a try, wondering if she could be of use after seeing me take care of it during our previous little scam. It turned out that she could imitate my writing style decently well, with me only needing to edit it a tiny bit afterward.

Whenever she wasn’t involved in the grand operation to earn us a shitload of money, Aisha wandered the Dungeon in the close vicinity of our apartment with Rose by her side. I didn’t want to let her out any further just on her own and she didn’t argue. There was a high chance that the killer knew where we lived anyway so she could potentially lure them out by that and gain more intel.

On the evening of the second day, we agreed that we’d done enough and started up the giant earning machine before going to sleep. Depending on the demand, we would keep setting our engraver to print more arcanas of the ones that were out of stock whenever we would be around. I’d trained both girls in the use of all the devices so that any of us could take care of that. We’d also added a note on every product’s page that the restock would happen in waves since the production was supposedly very complex.

Then, we went to sleep and let the business nature take its own course. We didn’t really have the leeway to worry about results. Even if they weren’t that good, we didn’t lose that much. The stainless steel didn’t cost millions and only the ingredients needed for the ink would eat at our budget after we ran out of the liquefied pylon crystals.

Before we dozed off, we discussed all the details regarding the murder case from start to finish. Freshly after going through everything, each of us shared our opinions on each possibility we had come up with yesterday and chose who we believed to be the culprit and why. The girls brought up a few strong points and our picks were pretty much unanimous. We just needed a piece of proper evidence to fully confirm our guess and fully get rid of any doubts.

In the morning, we washed up, ate well, warmed up, geared up, and headed into the Dungeon without looking back. Utilizing the information provided by the tracking lines drawn on the canvas by the app Zeke had made for us, we made a few guesses as to where the remaining pylons could be located and were on our way to smash them, hoping that our prey would approach us in the meanwhile.

Levia was slowly finding her perfect place in our previously two-man team. The more we fought together, the better she understood our mechanics and inserted herself in the gaps to enhance them without actually disturbing our flow. The two of us also learned how to operate around the Witch for the best possible outcome. It truly took a load off our shoulders with the spells, curses, and hexes that Levia brought into the play. We barely struggled against various different versions of Skeletons.

Then, about two hours into our expedition, we heard the sounds of battle that definitely weren’t caused by us. We shared a look and warily moved forward, inching towards the entrance to a chamber at the end of the stone corridor. Making sure to cover our backs, we peeked into the room to see what was happening.

It turned out that the Priest that we knew all too well was clearing it out of Skeleton Soldiers and Skeleton Archers. There was also one Skeleton Wizard amongst the monsters. But, our friend stood inside a golden, glowing circle that seemed to ward off any enemies from approaching them, rendering the efforts of the melee Skeletons futile. A shimmering barrier surrounded his body, blocking arrows and spells too.

While protected by those quite strong techniques, he shot a ray of light into the skeletal crowd, coming out of the tip of his priestly staff. After the holy radiance fell onto his target for a few seconds, it burned through the monster’s body and caused it to fall down and scatter, most likely disabling its nucleus too. It didn’t look like he needed any help and he seemed to be in his element, so we didn’t intervene, watching from the sidelines.

A few minutes later, he was done. Lowering his defenses, he sighed heavily and wiped the sweat off his forehead. That motion brought his eyes to the entrance near which we stood and his eyes widened in surprise before a smile arrived on his lips.

“It’s you guys! I was hoping we would stumble on each other soon! Thank gods it happened!” He waved at us and jogged our way as we closed to the distance too. “Things aren’t looking good. I stumbled on the body of another man who was part of our clearing group. I don’t know if you did too. It was a slightly edgy guy dressed mostly in dark shades like black and gray.”

“Ashmel is dead? Damn. We destroyed one of the pylons controlling the undead on this floor together not that long ago.” I feigned shock to see where it would lead us.

“So that was his name, huh? Well, not like it matters anymore since I won’t be able to use it properly due to his current circumstances.” The Priest sighed dejectedly. “On the good side of things, the culprit is obvious now. He was killed with the same dagger that struck me. It might have been covered with some kind of poison this time since there were no other wounds on his body. It seems that I was lucky the killer underestimated me back then.”

“The same dagger that struck you, you say? And poison? The killer must have wanted to avoid the repeat of the first attempt,” I replied, stroking my chin and trying my best not to share a look with my companions.

“Exactly my thoughts. But, they are out of luck now. If we team up and go everywhere together, she won’t have it so easy to pick us off one by one anymore. I assume you know who I am talking about, right?” He raised a brow at me.

“Yes, we met the imp girl too. She acted very friendly and even expressed her interest in me.” I nodded.

Stophen chuckled while shaking his head. “Same. It looks like she is trying to use her racial stereotypes as a cover for assassination. She certainly knows how to be a seductive vixen. That over-the-top cordiality of hers is so obvious.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah, she seemed to pay lots of attention to me.” I scratched my head.

“We’ll have to come up with a plan to catch and deal with her at some point. Possibly soon. After she notices that we know, she might get desperate and more crafty. Or just hide away and wait for the Dungeon to be cleared. But, her type rarely decides to sit back and relax.” He winced.

“I agree. It’s better to take care of the issue as soon as possible. Right?” I crossed my arms and used that chance to glance at the girls.

“Of course, Master.” Levia made a polite bow.

“We are ready to act anytime. Just give us an order.” Aisha rested her Woodman hammer on her shoulder.

“Great. But before we get to plotting, we might as well take care of part of our assignment.” The Priest rubbed his hand with a smile. “There’s a pylon nearby. You mentioned them earlier so I’ll assume you guys figured them out too. You showed up while I was clearing the neighboring corridors and chambers to avoid getting flanked by the monsters that could come rushing in to protect it. Most of them are gone now but there seems to be an additional hindrance around this crystal. Perhaps because at least one more has already been taken down, this pylon was reinforced with a barrier blocking access to it.”

“Shit. I bet we had to take them down all at once for that not to show up.” I scrunched my nose.

“Maybe, but luckily, I found a way to disable it. The shield is connected to an array in a separate location. Destroying it is impossible, I tried, since it regenerates after a moment. But, an attack or spell strong enough is still capable of disrupting it briefly, bringing the protection down for a few seconds. Obviously, it’s impossible to reach the pylon during that time, but now that you are here, we can split into pairs and be in both places at the same time,” he presented his genius plan.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked, trying to act uncertain.

“I know it might sound risky, but at least no one is going to be left alone so the killer won’t be able to get a perfect drop onto us if she is in the area. And I’m confident about disrupting the array. I already did it once. I just need someone to escort me and would appreciate your presence by my side. You seem the most fitted for the role while your companions can focus on dealing as much damage to the crystal as they can as soon as we bring the shield down. They seem strong,” he assured me.

I turned to the girls. “What do you think? Can you handle it without my help?”

“No sweat. I’ll make quick work of any monsters inside the chamber while she throws her strongest spell at the pylon, Master.” Aisha smirked at me, proudly puffing her chest out.

“Perfect.” The Priest clapped his hands. “Wait for a second and I’ll draw you a map of how to get to it from here.”

He knelt down and brought out a piece of medieval-looking paper, starting to make lines on it with a piece of coal. After a short while, he stood up and extended a hand with it toward Aisha.

“I charted the turns you have to take starting from the exit behind me. Don’t go in recklessly. The most important part is for you to strike the pylon while its shield is down. We won’t know if you succeeded so you have only one try. Make sure to be ready for it at any moment. If necessary, avoid revealing yourselves until that moment.” He gave her the map and turned to me. “Ah. I apologize. I didn’t mean to sound like I was giving them orders. It was just a friendly suggestion.”

“It’s alright. Your instructions were spot on.” I smiled at him and patted him on the back, shooting a quick glance at Aisha. “Alright. You go in first. It’s better for you girls to wait for us rather than the other way. Don’t disappoint me.”

They both nodded and started walking toward the exit that he’d pointed out. Just as they were passing by us, Aisha suddenly gasped, tripping on a piece of bone. She lurched forward to regain her balance, forgetting that she still held onto her massive hammer. It swung towards Stophen and barely missed his body, grazing the side of his waist.

One of the two hammerheads hit the dagger strapped to his waist and sent it flying out of its sheath. Aisha tumbled awkwardly over the ground as the small weapon hit the floor a little bit away from us with a metallic cling. I sighed ostentatiously and placed my hands on the Priest’s shoulders.

“Are you alright, man? I swear she is so fucking clumsy for someone this strong.” I looked him over with a concerned gaze.

“I’m good. I was lucky her weapon only grazed me. Things like that happen. It’s partially my fault since I created this mess.” He laughed awkwardly and noticed that Levia had arrived by our side while holding his dagger. “Oh, thank you. I appreciate it.”

Our eyes met for a split second as she returned the dagger to the owner and I didn’t need words to understand her perfectly.

Aisha bowed and apologized to us and they were on their way. We departed immediately too. While he wasn’t looking, I asked Rose mentally to see if Lulu was home, and if not, to try to find her and bring the female imp here. The cute Pixie had been hiding inside me from the moment we’d started approaching the battle we’d heard and she bolted outside when we were sure Stophen wouldn’t notice.

The guy led me through a bunch of corridors with some monsters littering our path. We fought them together without that much of an issue, though those battles of course slowed us down a little bit. We took multiple turns and I kept sneakily checking the line made by the navigation map to see our progress. We were heading straight away from the direction he’d sent the girls in the fastest way possible, making a few circles around a point or two.

Then, about half an hour later, he stopped and gestured at me to be quiet. I watched him touch the wall in a few spots and it suddenly clipped through the stone surface like in some kind of a buggy video game.

He smiled at me, waving his hand through the illusion. “It’s here. Clever, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Very easy to miss.” I chuckled, for a slightly different reason.

“There’s a tiny room at the end of the corridor on the other side. I dealt with the monsters the last time but they might have returned by now. If they are there, you take them on and I focus on casting an offensive spell at the formation. Are you ready?”

Sensing a certain very familiar presence in close vicinity, I smiled at him. “As much as I’ll ever be. Let’s go.”

I stepped through the illusory wall and entered the tunnel he’d mentioned. Stophen joined me immediately and we walked through it without an issue. In just a moment, we stood in front of the small, square chamber with a wooden chest in the middle. It was slightly open and plenty of broken and burned skeletal remains littered the floor.

“Good. Nothing is here. The array is on the inner side of the chest’s lid. The entire thing seems indestructible. Care to hold it open for me?” he asked while shuffling behind my back.

“Sure. Let me see.” I knelt down in front of it and started reaching out for the lid.

The shuffling became louder and a single step echoed through the chamber right before a loud clang followed it.

“What?!” Stophen shouted in shock behind me as I slowly stood up and turned around.

His right hand holding the dagger was raised into the air after being knocked back and multiple shadowy tendrils bound him up, restricting the Priest’s movements completely. Right between him and me, crouched Lulu, with one of her weapons drawn out. Rose flew out of her chest and started cheerfully making loops above my head. More footsteps echoed from a distance and my two dazzling companions showed up at the entrance to the secret chamber.

Stophen moved his head as much as he could to take a look at everyone and turned to me. “How the hell did you know?”

I shook my head while crossing my arms over my chest. “You certainly are smart, but you aren’t as smart as three people combined. Especially including two long-time veterans. I commend your craftiness though.”

His face twisted in a snarl. “Don’t bullshit me and just tell me how. You shouldn’t have any reasons to suspect me.”

“Do you really think I will blabber every single thing out after catching you?” I sigh and rub my forehead. “Actually, scratch that. I always wanted to play the villain monologuing in front of the captured hero. It’s never too late to fulfill your dreams, no?”

Aisha snickered from behind him and I winked at her.

“You see, your plan was almost perfect. You could have easily fooled everyone. If not for a few crucial details that worked against you from the very beginning.” I chuckled mysteriously. “The first thing. Our meeting. For some reason, you started moaning right after we cleared the chamber out of all the enemies. We’d approached it quietly and scouted the monsters before going in, and guess what, we haven’t heard a single noise in that pure silence, almost as if you had been waiting for the perfect moment to make yourself known.”

I spread my arms to the sides and made a sad face.

“The second thing. Blood. You were supposedly stabbed in the middle of a fight, but miraculously, there were no bloodstains anywhere around, and they certainly didn’t lead to the storage you’d hidden in. It didn’t look to us like you perfectly stopped the bleeding when we saw your wound. Are you perhaps so pedantic that you would clean your own blood as you go even while you are in a critical condition?”

I laughed at my own joke, trying to act like a TV show villain.

“The third. The mentioned stab. You were struck from the front, right in the guts. What kind of an assassin approaches their target from up ahead? If they had a drop on you just as you said, they would have definitely gone for the back just like they did with Ashmel, no? Or are you going to say that a Priest like you has better senses and reaction time than an actual Assassin or a Rogue?”

I snorted at him.

“Next up, the fourth. The wound. It was way too clean for the struggle you mentioned. It was way too precise, avoiding every single crucial organ. It was so fake China tried to copyright strike it. You inflicted that one upon yourself with your own dagger, which my friend examined earlier just to fully confirm that theory. You really should have used different weapons between your targets.”

I sighed in a disappointed manner.

“There were a few smaller points along the way, like the fact that we met the other guy before you and he saved us instead of using that opportunity to get rid of us without anyone even knowing we existed. Or that obviously a Priest would be the last one to suspect, especially after orchestrating the spectacle the way you did. It was a good plan, but you failed with the execution. Never assume people are as stupid as they seem to be.”

I wrapped my monologue up with a boastful smirk.

He clicked his tongue. “So now what? Are you going to kill me? Good luck trying to finish this assignment without a healer. I’ve seen what lies below. You won’t manage it without me. And I ain’t telling you a thing no matter what you do to me.”

“You don’t need to dirty your hands, Master,” Aisha joined in, slowly walking closer.

“It’s alright. I won’t be able to escape those situations forever. As I have already told you long ago, it’s better to experience it in a safe, controlled environment,” I replied as we glanced at each other and I noticed a reminiscent smile on her face. “Besides, technically speaking, I won’t be using my hands.”

I snapped my fingers and the bonded handaxe flew up into the air. It twirled around my wrist happily and awaited further orders.

“Any last words?” I raised a brow at the vile man.

“Fuck you! I should have started with your gang of bitches!” he snarled and spat in my direction.

“Have a good night, then. And pray that I don’t find your profile in my gacha ever.” I flicked my wrist and the handaxe cleanly beheaded him with a swift swing from the side.

His body hung limply, upheld only by Lulu’s ability, as his head fell to the ground with a soft thud. I did my best to observe him for a while longer to make sure that I wouldn’t be repulsed or flinch in the future when met with a similar issue.

Soon, his body hit the floor too as Lulu released her technique while sighing loudly and sliding down on her legs to sit down.

“It’s over… Thank gods you took the murderer down…” she whispered tiredly. “Eh?”

Her eyes shot wide open as a silver formation suddenly glowed underneath her. Levia stepped closer while holding an activated arcana between her pointer and middle finger.

“It’s a hex binding you to a spiritual catalyst. You won’t be able to move out of this circle by any means without destroying the relic,” she explained calmly.

“Now, it’s your turn.” I squinted at Lulu just as she glanced up at me with disbelief.

★━━━━━━━━━━━━Author's Notes━━━━━━━━━━━━★

I might squeeze one more today I hope. We'll see.