Chương 22: Into the Dark

They napped. The room was relatively spacious, with two beds in total. The pillows were made of linen and packed with feathers, and the mattresses were stuffed with straw. It was nowhere as nice as his bed back in the Ironwood manor, obviously, but for a tavern lodge in a small town, it was pretty decent. Levi had offered to get another room. He seriously didn't want to know how Montague would react if he ever found out Levi and Liliya had slept in the same room together.

Summon an archdaemon from another world to hunt him down? Though, Levi supposed there was always a chance the news would straight up send Montague into an aneurysm altogether. That, at least, would be one way of getting rid of him. However, Liliya had rolled her eyes and said it wasn't necessary, so Levi had shrugged and decided to just roll with it. Hopefully, Montague would never know. Liliya had fallen asleep quickly, the sound of her soft breathing filling the room.

Levi remained awake for obvious reasons, sitting in a meditative position on his bed as he cycled his magic throughout his body as he rested. It was a soothing exercise for him. Idly, he contemplated his situation in this new world. Up to this point, he hadn't cared much about the adversaries that he had encountered. He had honestly regarded Winthrop and the group that had ambushed him as little more than minor inconveniences.

In his past life, Levi had faced enemies that had committed the most ungodly atrocities and broken the most sacred of laws. He couldn't really find it within himself to be too overly bothered by schoolyard bullying. They hadn't even tried to kill him, only horrifically maim him a little. Levi paused. Okay, maybe his sense of perspective was a little skewed. But the point was, he hadn't really minded. Their attempts were so amateurish and clumsy, it was humorous, almost cute.

Like watching a tiny child charge at him with an oversized sledgehammer. He had been mostly content to just let them be. Until now. Heir Theodore Montague had sent an assassin after him. An honest-to-god Mythmaker-tier Grand Assassin. Levi's gaze hardened, something dark flickering across his face. His magic coiled tightly, reflecting his state of mind. He generally considered himself to be a pretty easygoing guy, but Montague had crossed the line.

Perhaps Levi should remind him why one ought not to mess with a former servant of Death. That was for later, though. Right now, he had to focus on the Ascension Trials in front of him. That, at least, should be pretty straightforward. Professor Merriweather was waiting for them at the gates of Farband. He led the way to the Grove of Embers, taking a well-beaten path through the forest next to the town.

"From what the guild surveyors could tell, one of the magical leylines had suddenly shifted, causing the dungeon to spawn," Professor Merriweather said.

"A minor fluctuation, nothing that could really be done about it. This town will likely need increased adventurer protection from now on – but thankfully, we'd detected the leyline shift early enough to not have to evacuate the entire town." Levi absorbed this knowledge silently. From what he could tell, in this world, small towns and minor villages rose and fell periodically due to the minute fluctuations of the world's magical leylines that caused an area's ambient magic to rise rapidly.

This swell of magic naturally drew monsters from all over. Larger cities had the manpower and wealth to adapt to the increased monster activity, but smaller settlements had far fewer options. Best case scenario, they could afford to hire more adventurers to guard and protect them. Worst case scenario, they were forced to abandon their homes and relinquish their land to the monsters. The government did what they could to help, but…

As Levi had learned from Liliya earlier, adventurers weren't exactly the most altruistic of people. The very opposite, in fact. A part of him was disappointed by that, but it wasn't like he was unused to it.

Even back in his old world, Levi had seen countless mages who scorned the general population for the sake of advancing their own research and magical ability, grandmasters who secluded themselves atop mountains to cultivate their own martial skills, and otherwise remarkably powerful individuals who refused to ever lift a finger to help others without gaining something in return. Adventurers had been rare. Heroes even rarer.

"Anddd we're here," Professor Merriweather announced jovially. He turned back to face them and spread his arms theatrically.

"Behold! The Grove of Embers." They emerged into a grove nestled away deep within the forest. It was like there was a physical line separating where the leaves on the trees changed from a deep green to dazzling, vibrant red, the colors so bold and vivid under the sunlight it practically shone. The scenery was striking, and Levi spent several seconds taking in the sight.

"The dungeon is located within a small cave further inside the grove," Professor Merriweather said.

"The guild surveyors think the two harvesters had ducked inside to take a break, or maybe to ditch work." He sighed.

"Unfortunate souls. If only they'd taken my class and learned from my wisdom, then they'd have known to never enter any cave without being accompanied by a seasoned adventurer. Caves. More like glorified death traps. Pah."

"What monsters are inside?" Liliya asked. Professor Merriweather chuckled.

"Telling you would be spoiling the surprise, lass. You'll find out soon enough." He led them through the forest, twisting and turning as he followed a memorized route. As they walked through the vibrant trees, Levi glanced around, noticing how the barks on some of the trees' exteriors had been stripped bare, revealing the newer wood underneath. After fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at the dungeon's entrance.

A mound the size of a small hill bulged from the forest ground, a jagged opening carved into the rocky surface like the maw of a beast. Levi peered inside, but all he could see was darkness. The ambient magic within felt noticeably stronger.

"Well," Professor Merriweather said.

"This is as far as I can go." He smiled.

"May the Goddess bestow Her favor upon you. Best of luck!" Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Liliya nodded.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Thank you, Professor," Levi echoed. And then they were inside. It was cold. And dark. And damp. Levi hated caves on principle. Dark sorcerers and nefarious evildoers alike had an irritating tendency of choosing caves as their main hideouts. Levi didn't understand why. There was nothing wrong with commandeering a manor, or even a nice garden to act as their primary base of operations. It was like they had something against fresh air and sunlight.

In his experience, he definitely agreed with the professor's opinion that caves were glorified death traps. Though fortunately for Levi so far, it had yet to be his death in question. Liliya led the way in front of them, holding a lantern in one hand and her sword in the other. Levi himself was holding a makeshift torch he'd fashioned from a decently-sized stick on the ground.

"How deep do you think this cave goes?" he asked. Liliya hummed.

"It depends, but presumably not that deep. The guild surveyors have a plethora of scanning tools and abilities to accurately gauge a dungeon's scope and strength. This is a silver-tier dungeon, so it should take us no more than eight to ten hours to fully clear it." Levi nodded. That explained their current pace; he'd half-expected Liliya to leap in sprinting, but instead they were moving at a moderate walking speed.

Which was good – it wouldn't do to tire themselves out at the start, and charging in impatiently never turned out well. He had learned that from experience. Water dripped from the ceiling as they headed further down, and despite there being little to zero visible light, a dark green moss covered the stony walls anyway in a display of life's tenacity to survive. Little dotted fungi grew at their feet, and Levi briefly bent down to pick one up–"Those are poisonous, you know," Liliya said without looking back.

"Unless you want to use the antidote potion your sister gave you this early on, I'd suggest not touching them." Levi coughed.

"I knew that," he said, gingerly stepping away from the fungi. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Levi knew of multiple ways to neutralize poison and venom with his magic. Still, purging his bodies of toxins was never pleasant. The process was… explosive, to put it simply. From both ends. Simultaneously.

"So… about Montague…" Levi began awkwardly. Liliya whipped her head around and shot him a look. Ordinarily, Levi would've taken the hint and dropped it, but the guy had kinda sent a fucking assassin after him, so he plowed onward.

"He knows that you and I aren't together, right?" Liliya looked visibly ill at the thought.

"I would hope so," she said. She paused.

"That said… With him, you never know. He can get a bit… zealous at times." Levi snorted.

"That's a way of putting it. Look, I'm just going to be real with you. I have absolutely zero intentions of getting caught up in some star-crossed noble love-cuckhold-triangle clusterfuck–" Liliya looked scandalized." Excuse me?"

"–so if you could just do me a massive favor, please kindly inform Montague after this quest that I have no interest in getting between you two." Liliya stared at him for several moments. Then she sighed.

"The worst part is, I can't even blame you for reacting that way. For what little it's worth, I truly am sorry about everything. Montague sending Qorbin after you was unacceptable – rest assured, my father will be having words with him." Levi nodded.

"I appreciate it." Of course, he himself would also be having words with Montague. Well. Less words, per se, and more a liberal application of his magic to, ah, reprimand Montague.

"I just don't understand why he decided to resort to this," Liliya muttered.

"This really isn't like him." Levi resisted the urge to raise his eyebrows. In his old world, he had seen nobles do far worse for far less–"Normally, he prefers to personally brutalize his enemies," Liliya continued.

"I guess he just didn't want to risk either of our fathers' ires." Okay never mind, that made a lot more sense.

"Why do you even want to marry him?" Levi asked.

"It doesn't sound like he has many redeeming qualities. Or any at all, for that matter." Liliya let out a derisive scoff.

"Want to? Do you really think–" She tensed up, abruptly cutting herself off as she raised her sword. With a twist of her hand, her lantern disappeared into her inventory, leaving Levi's torch and the faint silver-violet gleam of her sword to be the only sources of light in the darkness.

"Keep the fire lit," she said. Then, she vanished in a blur of speed. Up ahead, there was a hissing sound as something emerged from the darkness. It was massive, about twice his height, with an angular body covered in dark scaly skin and a set of leathery wings folded against its sides. A barbed tail covered in rough tissue scraped the stone ground beneath. Levi recognized it immediately. A wyvern, one of the lesser descendants of the mythical dragons.

The one in front of him probably had some more specific classification, but Levi sadly didn't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the bestiary. The wyvern's two slitted yellow eyes glared at them, gleaming slightly in the darkness – then it let out a screech of pain as Liliya suddenly appeared before it, driving her sword in deep with a devastating piercing strike. The wyvern swiped at her with its vicious claws, but Liliya had already disengaged, leaping back to a safe distance.

She wasted no time, immediately rushing in again and pressing her advantage. Levi watched with approval as Liliya thoroughly and systematically dismantled the wyvern. She first took out the tendons in its legs; then leaped high up, pushed off the cave ceiling, and stabbed out its eyes in two near-simultaneous thrusts; before finally putting it out of its misery with a powerful rotational slice across its throat. Her execution was textbook perfect.

The wyvern let out one last dying ear-splitting screech before it crashed to the ground, crimson blood spilling from its numerous wounds onto the rocky ground. The ghostly trails of magic in the air left behind by Liliya's sword dissipated as she gave it a flick, clearing off the blood.

"Well," Levi said.

"Good luck." Liliya nodded as she readied her blade.

"Thank you." Neither of them celebrated just yet. They both knew what was coming. Wyverns had exceptionally good hearing, and that final death screech would draw in every one within a mile radius. It began as a tremor in the ground, a rhythmic pounding that shook the walls of the cave around them. Louder and louder it grew until it became almost deafening, tiny bits of rock and debris falling from the ceiling.

"This is a decent place to fight, at least," Levi said.

"Could be better, could be worse," Liliya agreed. They were standing in a long cave passage, perhaps four meters wide and thrice as tall. It would serve as a natural chokepoint, only allowing a few wyverns to reach them at a time. The walls and ceiling looked solid enough as well, composed of solid limestone, which meant there wasn't much of a risk of a cave-in. At the end of the passage, around fifty meters in front of them, the first wyverns finally burst around the corner, hissing and snarling.

They charged at Liliya, barreling down the tunnel with astonishing agility for something of their size. More wyverns funneled in after them, a veritable stream of draconic beasts soon filling the passage. Liliya lowered into a stance, even more magic surging into her blade as its silver-violet gleam became brighter. Behind her, Levi raised the torch high up as he settled down on a small chair-sized rock, ready to enjoy the show. Then, Liliya moved.