[DCI] Chapter 60 - In Time of Crisis (Patreon)

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Extra large for all the recent troubles. It's like almost 2 chappies in one :) Hopefully, no more skips.

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“Well… Shit…” Aisha scrunched her nose. “Things don’t look too well, chief.”

“You are saying?” I raised a brow at her as we were all staring at the illuminated segment of the cavern’s bottom.

At first sight, it might have looked like the floor was made of uneven, whitish rock, but there was one thing that gave the truth away.

It rippled.

And that ripple came from movement.

Rather than an uneven surface, it was a sea of closely huddled-up skulls. It was obvious that the motion we were looking at belonged to a full ocean of tightly packed Skeletons. We couldn’t really discern their specifics, but it was like watching a colony of ants from way above. If those ants were standing like humans in front of stores on Black Friday.

Of course, it wasn’t the Skeletons that had shaken us so much but their sheer number. If all those bastards somehow marched up these stairs and got to the upper floor, there was no fucking way in hell anyone would be able to stop that flood of bones. Not even the strongest, most legendary Defenders in a full raid party. The enemies at the bottom of this abyss seemed endless.

And to think what would happen when the Dungeon failed to be cleared? Oh gods, I didn’t even want to imagine the damage and losses. The people watching over the secrecy between the normal and supernatural would have to come up with a city-wide chemical leak or a virus outbreak to cover something like that up.

Wait, was the recent outbreak exactly that?

Shit, I was getting into conspiracies now. It wasn’t the time to dwell on pointless things like that. It wasn’t like I could have any say or do on the matter anyway. But, if I didn’t do something about this matter, we could be facing a similar tragedy in about ten days or so. And that was not an option.

“D-Do you think we have to get rid of them all?” Lulu asked with a slightly higher pitch than usual.

“Impossible.” I shook my head. “There is no way that four Defenders of our strength would be able to handle numbers like this. I have no idea how much data the companies that assign Dungeons to their Defenders can pull out of these places but I would assume that it’s enough to judge the risk and pick a proper rank.”

“Considering all the Dungeons I finished in my previous life, I am willing to agree with you on that.” Levia made a faint nod.

“Yeah. Things sometimes went south but it was never a lost cause right off the bat.” Aisha sniffed. “There has to be another way to clear this Dungeon other than turning all those bones into dust, right?”

“We are supposed to remove the source of corruption or contamination. Maybe that’s what is bringing up the dead in this place. Something like a bigger and more powerful version of the crystals we destroyed above. This cavern is enormous. Who knows what is hidden in the darkness,” I replied while rubbing my chin.

“It’s impossible to explore it in barely over a week!” Lulu whined in a distressed voice. “How are we supposed to find anything here?!”

Everyone looked at me and I matched their gazes with a slight shrug. “I don’t know. But, we will figure something out for sure. For now, let’s try to gather as much information as we can. The only issue is how exposed we are out in the open.”

“Can’t your Witch turn us invisible or something? I don’t think it’s a good idea to just run across these stairs…” The imp girl looked towards the other side nervously.

“Not my Witch, but the Witch. She isn’t mine but her own. Other than that, it isn’t that bad of a question.” I turned to our magical expert.

Levia looked back at me for a few seconds—her calm, misleadingly tired expression back on her pretty face—and started running the tip of her finger over the edge of her deck sitting in the currently open holder.

“Since none of the monsters we encountered so far had actual, working eyes, I would like to assume that we are being sensed by either our mana or lifeforce. I do have a spell that can mask both, technically turning us invisible if that assumption is correct,” she explained and pulled out a single, metal arcana. “Unfortunately, it is a continuous cast. I can uphold it for about two to three hours. I will not be able to cast stronger spells during that time. Lesser arcanas should be fine.”

“So, if shit goes down, it better happens when we are inside, got it.” I smiled at her, immensely glad we had her resourcefulness on our side. “Everyone agrees to do some scouting today?”

“That’s been the plan since the start. Besides, I would follow you straight to the pits of hell.” My fierce drakan mate smacked my back with an excited grin.

“It’s not like I have a choice here. Not teaming up is completely out of question at this point. I just wish we didn’t lose half of our team on the way here.” Lulu sighed heavily.

“Cheer up, kiddo. Give Lucas three days and he will come up with a way to abuse this Dungeon so hard it will be a breeze.” Aisha smirked at the shorter girl, who glared back at her.

“I’m not a kid, you musclebrain.” Lulu frowned angrily.

“Alright. Let’s get in formation and move out.” I interrupted them before things got too heated again and nodded at Levia.

The quiet Witch got into the middle while we surrounded her closely from three sides. Rose circled low around our heads too. The lithe, blue-skinned lady muttered a few almost silent words at the card she held between her fingers, and the laser-engraved pattern on its surface shone with rainbowy light. A see-through sphere pulsed out of the arcana and a shimmering, transparent bubble surrounded us, barely fitting us all inside.

When Levia took her eyes off the card and gave me a little glance, we began walking forward. At first, we tested the waters, moving at a slow but regular speed, to check if it had any effect on the supposedly covert barrier surrounding us. But, even as we reached our usual pace, things seemed alright. Of course, we would only know that for real after running into some monsters.

Everyone looked into the darkness past the narrow stairs we were making our way through. The last thing we needed was another flock of those creepy grabbers. We had like five hundred meters or so to cover. Having an almost endless pit on both sides wasn’t making this walk a casual and comforting trip.

But, we kept completely silent as we descended towards the middle of the first spire step by step. Nothing flew at us from above and nothing suddenly grabbed us from below. Perhaps Levia’s magic was working. Or we were lucky that the skeletal hands were the only monsters in the close vicinity of the ramp.

Soon enough, we stood in front of a massive double gate leading into the impressive structure.

“Creepy.” Aisha snorted. “But not unexpected.”

The gate was made entirely of bones. The entire thing. It was an artistic amalgamation of different skeletons belonging to what I assumed were beasts, monsters, some humanoids, and maybe even legendary creatures. It looked scary and that clearly was the point.

“Do we knock and see if they have a Skeletal Porter?” My drakan mate snorted quietly.

Levia stepped closer to the huge double doors and placed her free palm on top of a human skull protruding from the left wing. It was pressed in with an empty click and the gate began opening inwards.

“I guess we don’t have to when we have Levia.” Aisha smirked and readied her weapon.

“How did you know?” I asked the amazing Witch.

“I just… knew. I am not sure why,” she replied with a delicate frown.

“You won’t suddenly regain your lost memories from when you were the ruler of this place and turn into the final boss after we reach the end of this Dungeon, right?” I chuckled softly, which caused her to glance up at me. “Ignore that. I’ve read too many books. The plot twists are barely a surprise to me by now.”

“Summoning a Dungeon Boss as your Subordinate. That could make a decent story.” Aisha winked at me and we refocused on the space that had just finished opening in front of us.

A bunch of Skeletons meandered the circular chamber the size of an entire floor in an office building. In the end, these gothic spires could technically be compared to skyscrapers. Perhaps all these sacks of bones had once been equally tired and exploited employees working in these renaissance towers, now cursed to attend their workplace even after death.

Pushing that horrible but amusing thought aside, I scanned the chamber with my eyes to see if we had been noticed. Taking the fact that none of the resident wanderers had even so much as turned our way as a definite no, I exhaled in relief. The girls visibly grew a bit less tense too. With that out of the way, we could examine the room in more detail.

After we slipped inside, the gate began closing behind our backs. That was the last moment to back out but we chose to dig deeper. The place we had ended up in wasn’t anything special. The chamber was full of stone and bone furniture which had seen much better times. Things were chipped, bruised, scratched, or openly cracked. Some tapestries decorated the circular walls but they were so old, dirty, and dusty that it was close to impossible to make anything out of them.

We gave the room a quick tour to see if anything would catch our attention but since Levia didn’t point a single thing out, we decided to move on. I wanted to rely on her knowledge and mystical expertise. Plus, she’d said that she just knew something and that was our only lead for now.

There were two doors leading out of the room. One was clearly leading out to the spiraling staircase hugging the tower from the outside that went up, and the other to the steps leading down. We chose to go lower since that was where we’d seen the closest bridge connecting this spire to another one, a few levels below us.

We quickly realized that most rooms weren’t anything special either. They all seemed like ancient living quarters. There might have been an entire civilization living here at some point in the past. Maybe the upper floor was something akin to their burial grounds or catacombs while this cavern was where they had resided. Perhaps there were more of those long ramps around. Hopefully, we didn’t need to locate every single one and destroy all the crystals to deal with this assignment.

Our search didn’t bring any fruit for about ten floors. Then, as we were moving through the eleventh one, Levia suddenly stopped without a hint of a warning. Lulu, who was up in the front at that moment, almost stepped out of the secure barrier but I managed to grab her thin tail before it escaped my reach and yanked the imp back to us. Unfortunately, that brought a sensual moan out of her and the enticing note traveled through the chamber. She looked at me while sealing her mouth up with her hands, a curious spark dancing in her eyes, alongside a trace of something more.

Thankfully, while the Skeletons around us seemed to have noticed the moan, they failed to find us. The spooky figures turned their skulls left and right, clicking and clacking ominously. They calmed back down after a short moment and returned to their patrols.

~What’s the matter?~ I asked Levia mentally.

The Witch pointed to the side and I followed her gesture with Aisha. ~That altar emanates a familiar energy.~

Since there were no enemies close by, we moved to the waist-high bone altar the size of a sarcophagus, more or less. Plenty of sigils, runes, and what must be words in some ancient language covered the top surface. Levia brushed away a thick layer of dust and examined them from up close. I watched as she tapped some of them and they gave off a bluish glow for a second like she was pressing keys on an interactive keyboard.

~I think I know what this is. But, to confirm my guess, we would need to find at least one more in the other spires,~ she said through our bond.

~Good. Let’s do exactly that, then.~ I nodded at her and gestured at the stairs with my eyes for Lulu.

We descended two more levels before another bone gate appeared in the wall. After approaching it, Levia pressed a skull in just the same way as she had above and we had to step back as the massive doors moved toward us. Making sure that nothing was following us or blocking our path, we stepped outside and hastily jogged through the connector, reducing our time spent out there to the bare minimum.

Another opened gate later, we were back inside another tower. Avoiding the wandering Skeletons, we went up two floors but there was no altar in that chamber. We checked a few more levels but still didn’t find it anywhere.

~Can it be much deeper?~ Aisha asked after we walked into another lacking room.

~I am now able to sense them inside these structures. I wanted to be sure if that truly is correct, but I do not feel like there is one in this spire. They should be around the same height to work properly,~ Levia replied.

Therefore, we started looking for another exit instead and switched towers again. Levia reminded us to take note of how many floors we were moving up and down to keep the correct level in mind but I reassured her by bringing up my watch and showing the three-dimensional graph made by the tracking app. It was easy to see which floor it was after taking a peek at our initial entry point. But, just in case, we did pay attention to that detail, of course.

We didn’t stumble on a single altar before our fourth spire. Levia was sweating more and more and I was about to call the operation off for now before she pushed herself too far. We risked not just her overstraining herself but also suddenly popping up back into the monsters’ vision while in the middle of a small swarm. So, we were glad we succeeded in time and Levia quickly checked the bone pedestal.

~I think I was right. They are all connected to one place. I might be able to triangulate their spiritual link and find—~ She suddenly paused and her eyes shot open to their limits. ~Oh no.~

~Levia?~ I furrowed my brows and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Duck!” she shouted with a panicked tone.

Aisha reacted in a split-second and threw us all onto the floor, ignoring the pained grunt of protest coming from the imp girl. Right after, the walls around exploded into pieces. Something massive passed above us with a loud whoosh, cutting through the entire diameter of the spire.

For a moment, I thought the ceiling would come right down and crush us as there was nothing to support the floors above us anymore but whatever had smashed the tower in half did so with enough blunt force to tilt the upper section heavily. Part of the edge of our room broke off with a massive tremor as the other half of the structure hit it while falling and crumbled before continuing to descend into the abyss with an avalanche of stone and bones.

We shed all the rocks and dust off ourselves and hastily sat up. Then, we watched in horror as a massive skeletal arm shot towards the spire to our left and grabbed it with its giant hand like a pole. Another one grasped the tower to our right, almost crushing it in the process, squeezing the structure too hard. Using both spires for support, our attacker brought itself up from the depths of the cavern. A monumental skull and torso belonging to a humanoid Skeleton towered over us, staring at our group with its gigantic, empty eye sockets which were filled with a deep blue glow.

“You gotta be kidding me…” I spread my arms to the sides. “Does every fucking Dungeon Boss after the Tutorial have to be a fucking colossus?! Can’t we fight a fucking cat for once?!”

The gargantuan titan might have taken offense to my words as one of its palms let go of the spire it had been holding onto and started descending onto us with a clear intention of turning our fleshly bodies into four artistic bloodstains.

It arrived faster than we could escape but everyone tried to block it in their own way. Aisha set her greathammer vertically, Lulu summoned a cage of shadows around herself, and I rushed to grab Levia, aiming to throw her at their feet. Thankfully, I threw that thought away instead after noticing her calmly and confidently reaching for her cards. She hadn’t lost her cool even in such a situation, which made me even more impressed with the incredible Witch.

A single arcana slid its corner out of her deck and she yanked it out in a blink, throwing it at the ground right away. She seemed to have had enough contact with it to take care of the initial activation and slapped both palms together with a focused expression. Right before the giant hand the size of the whole fucking floor crashed into us, four intricate columns of golden light sprouted around us and a beautiful dome sat atop them, creating a tiny cathedral.

The hand smashed into it with a loud thud and lots of shaking but it bounced right away with a bright flash. The cave rumbled from the irritated and pained roar the gargantuan Skeleton let out of its nonexistent throat. Its ominous eyes glowed with even deeper animosity as it instantly started bringing its limb down again, this time in the form of a fist.

“We need to book it to the bridge the very moment it lands a blow!” I shouted and prepared myself for another earthquake.

There was no way Levia would be able to block more than a few of its attacks. She was already drained by the concealing spell and she hadn’t drunk any potions to rejuvenate herself or such. Thankfully, the connector was two floors below us and there was a chance that it was still in one piece.

A struggling grunt escaped Levia’s lips as the second attack smacked into her barrier. I instantly grabbed the Witch around her slim waist and bolted for the stairs. I knew I couldn’t look back and had to focus on running. I trusted Aisha, sure that she would easily handle herself like the badass she was, hopefully pushing Lulu forth too.

I ducked under the swings of all the Skeletons that could now see us, using my handaxes to protect myself and my passenger from any stray attacks. The hair on the back of my neck stood up with an ominous premonition, and the very moment I dove into the next staircase, the giant arm obliterated the floor above. I almost tripped but managed to catch balance with the help of the nearby wall, taking a quick peek over my shoulder to confirm that the girls had also made it.

With the answer to that being yes, I sprinted to the bone gate. Levia held out her hand and I let her push the skull, assuming that she had to be the one to do it since that was what she had been doing so far. I immediately squeezed us through the opening and raced over the bridge.

“Shit! The next one is five floors higher!” I cursed in between my panting. “We have to distract it or something!”

As I started racking my brain over how to do that, I saw Rose zooming away from us. Pride and gratitude filled my heart as much as dread and worry. If that bastard summoned more of those grabbers, she might be in deep shit. But, she still rushed headfirst into danger to help us in crisis.

God, I loved that beautiful Pixie so fucking much.

Closing my mind to all the negative thoughts, I refocused on my mad dash and reached the gate. Levia opened it right away and we rushed inside. Wasting no time, we got to the correct floor in a flash and slipped outside again. We had two more spires to go. One glance to our right showed that the colossus was busy demolishing the other towers with its mighty but chaotic swings like they were made out of legos. Rose had somehow captured its attention and annoyed the shit out of it.

Good fucking job! I will pat the shit out of you after we are back home! I grinned to myself.

The four of us made it past the few Skeletons present on the bridge without a problem. Aisha and Lulu actually passed me and Levia, starting to take care of the enemies to make it easier for me to carry the short, exhausted Witch. We got into the third spire, passed the necessary floors, and rushed onto the connector once more. Things were looking decent.

Perhaps a bit too decent.

The duo of badass girls was clearing up the path for me, already quite close to the gate on the other side, when a giant, skeletal forearm smashed into the bridge from above. I came to an instant stop before we plunged into the pits of darkness with Levia. The fucker was back after us.

“Lucas!” Aisha shouted from the other side and I could feel the worry in her voice.

“Go!” I shouted back, waving at her intently. “Get Lulu out of here! Now!”

She visibly hesitated, looking between me and the imp girl. I had no doubts about who she would choose if she had to.

“Go! Only you can bring her to safety in one piece! I’ll catch up!” I shouted again, weaving a faint Command and full-power Encourage into my words, starting to run back right away.

I hadn’t put too much force into that order so she could defy me without a problem. But, the booming howl that shook the air with the activation of her Piercing Roar told me enough about her decision. Aisha even taunted the bastard to take it off our asses.

Reaching the gate we had just recently rushed out of, I threw us both into the corner between the low ribbing of the bridge and the external wall of the spire, hiding us from the giant monster’s sight as much as I could. Going back in would be too dangerous with the normal Skeletons still loitering around.

Pulling Levia’s back into my chest, I held her close. “How are you hanging?”

“I am uninjured. Spent, but uninjured,” she replied with her usual, quiet voice, only slightly more tired.

“Our way forward is gone. What a shitty situation.” I chuckled wryly, pressing my palm into her solar plexus and casting Transfer Spirit to share some of my mana with her in the meanwhile. “What do we do? Go back and run through more spires to find connectors that create a way around? There might be another path to our staircase. Fuck. This is tough. And you almost fainted from mana expenditure. If you were my Bonded, I could have sent you home with Recall Bonded. That’s not an option now, though.”

“You would send me away to safety while staying here alone?” She glanced up at me over her shoulder.

“Without a second thought.” I smirked at her. “Don’t misunderstand, though. You aren’t baggage. You are a badass chick with powerful magic. But, in the current situation, I would rather have you recover there rather than unnecessarily risk it here with me.”

We stared at each other in relative silence for a brief moment, broken only by the strong tremors from the skeletal titan wrecking another spire, most likely the one in which our two friends currently were. I turned my attention to the issue of the broken bridge and started racking my brain for a solution.

“Can you make us fly?” I asked Levia.

“I do not have Fly in my repertoire right now. It is a quite powerful spell.” She gently shook her head. “At best, I can slow down our descent.”

“Hmmm. Does it slow down our velocity too? Or is it retained?” I glanced back at her face.

“It is operating on the gravitational force so I would assume that horizontal vectors are unaffected,” she replied.

“We can try jumping over it, then.” I nodded to myself. “I’ll borrow Aisha’s Launch and you cast your spell while we reach the apex. That should be enough to cross the gap. Can you use it?”

“I am lacking too much mana. Activation should be okay but I would not be able to uphold the spell for long,” she answered calmly, taking a peek at the distance we had to cover. “At the current rate of spiritual transfer, I should have enough in about fifteen to twenty minutes.”

I clicked my tongue. Staying still out here for that long wasn’t the best idea. I glanced down as I weighed the options and found Levia’s enchanting, violet eyes looking at me again. Our gazes met and I stared back at her as she awaited my further opinion. There technically was a quicker way to do this, but…

Ah, screw it!

“Can I kiss you?” I asked and immediately continued after noticing the faintest jolt of her adorable eyebrows. “The transfer will be much faster with intimate contact. I wanted to know if you are okay with it before throwing myself at you without your consent.”

A few seconds passed in silence as we gazed into each other’s eyes, though they felt much longer.

“I am,” Levia finally replied and a wave of relief washed over me.

“Great.” I smiled at her and quickly tried to tame it down a notch before I started grinning like a creep.

I helped Levia turn around in my lap and brought us close again. Placing one hand on her lower back, I rested my other palm on her pretty cheek and lifted her chin up a little. I tenderly brushed her smooth skin while leaning forward, watching for any signs of her changing her mind. But, they never came.

My head tipped her big, witchy hat a bit as our lips connected. It was just a gentle peck at first but I quickly deepened the transfer as much as I could. She let me brush my mouth against hers, though Levia wasn’t completely passive. She parted her lips gently and permitted me to turn it into a slightly more intimate kiss.

I tried my best to keep my mind out of the gutter as her exquisite taste was registered in my brain. Her delicious, soft lips tasted like forest berries. I wasn’t sure if I actually knew how wild forest berries tasted, but I was sure that was it. An image of the perfect, little, blue pearls hanging off a slim branch floated in my mind.

Soon, Levia’s lips opened up enough for my tongue to slip in and I carefully passed that barrier, wary of going too far with the quiet Witch. Our tongues barely tickled each other but it still felt like I took hers for a delicate dance while we pecked each other’s mouths affectionately. I really didn’t want this sweet moment to end.

But, I knew that it was not the time for daydreaming. I had to be a responsible adult and get us out of here. After we made it home alive, I would have a chance to think about maybe starting to take slightly more serious steps toward the charming, blue-skinned lady.

I hesitantly drew my mouth back and opened my eyes pretty much at the same time as Levia did. “Is it enough?”

Her lovely gaze skipped to my lips for a second and she nodded faintly. “It is more than enough. Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” I smiled at her. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

I held a hand out for her and we stood up together. Without wasting any time, I replaced the optic skill that I had been using this entire time with another one from Aisha’s list, namely Launch. Scooping Levia into a princess carry, I broke into a run towards the hole in the bridge.

Reaching the edge, I lowered myself to a crouch with the last steps and set myself off like a spring. The unexpected sensation of being flung into the air evoked a gasp from me as my legs dangled back and forth as if I was running. Levia waited for the perfect moment with the arcana in her hand and activated the gravitational spell as we hit the apex of the jump.

I felt lighter immediately and we continued flying forward while dropping down at a much lower pace than we should have. That was great news.

But, there was also not-so-great news.

The titan fuck must have lost Aisha and Lulu because it was moving back our way, clearly not forgetting that there were two more people to bully. It had obliterated the upper parts of the two towers on our path, destroying the other bridge too, but the stairs leading away looked intact. Perhaps it couldn’t cross the edge of the spires or something. The spire from which the steps ascended was missing the segment above them too so it at least had tried to smack our friends to death as they had been running away.

I landed on the other side of the gap and immediately ran forward. I used Launch again to jump over the necessary floors and landed on the spiraling stairs at the destroyed level. The colossus was already there and its giant slap was coming at us. Activating another Launch, I soared above its wrist and pushed myself off it even further as it was passing underneath us.

That managed to earn us enough velocity to reach the stairs at our first spire and I stumbled over my feet as we landed smashing into the stone wall. Before that bastard swung back at us, I ran for our dear lives and covered a few floors. Not wanting to risk it, I fueled my legs with all the mana I could without making them burst and launched us off the steps the moment the blessed ramp entered our sight.

We soared through the air as the giant fist obliterated the spire behind us, sending chunks of stone flying everywhere. The titan roared in frustration, watching us fly towards the stairs leading to our safety. Its punch destroyed part of them but they fortunately didn’t start crumbling, clearly made of something much less brittle.

I fell to my feet with a mighty oomph and we went down onto the steps. Levia grunted in pain as we both got a little roughed up by the landing but I would apologize later. Now, I hastily brought us back up and dashed towards the exit before we learned that the big daddy could actually beat our asses up here.

Rose appeared next to my face and I grinned at the cute orb, extremely glad that she’d made it out without a scratch. Or so I assumed.

Suddenly, I felt an unexpected rush of vigor and my legs launched me forward fast enough to beat Usain Bolt’s record at least by half. A quick glance down revealed Levia poking an arcana with a green glow at my chest. A tiny smile tugged her delicate lips as she met my eyes.

I chuckled lightly and dashed toward safety. Aisha and Lulu waved at me from the open exit in the cavern’s wall. Figured they would be waiting there for us. We all made it out somehow.

Thank gods. And these unbelievable women.