Chương 7: Slight Overkill

The two adventurers were now well on their way into the cave, the light outside now fully replaced by the one made by the torches attached to the walls. Gloria found herself studying those walls closely, because the place felt both familiar and deeply alien at the same time. Banners hung from the stone in uneven rows, many of them torn or burned, their once-bright colors faded into dull shades of gray and red.

Barricades of logs and broken crates blocked side passages, some of them still blackened from old fires, while other sections of the tunnel showed deep gouges and bite marks. She was curious about this place now, because in the game at least, this cave had never held such lasting scars. Players could unleash the most destructive spells imaginable, yet the environment always reset itself by the next minute. Seeing the damage remain here, left a quiet unease settling in her chest.

The Archer walked a half-step ahead of her, with each of their steps not making a single sound. After a short while they spoke without turning around.

"I know the quest description was vague about what we are supposed to accomplish, but our actual task is simple enough. We are to keep any beasts from leaving this cave. For reasons unknown, at least to me, a large number of them are born here every year, and thinning their numbers has become a regular duty for the guild." Gloria's eyes narrowed slightly as she listened. It was becoming clearer by the moment that these people had no real understanding of what this place was.

And if even this much of the old world remained unknown or misunderstood, the chances of finding others like herself felt thinner than she had hoped.

"The source of all this chaos remains unknown to you?" she asked.

"Yes," the Archer replied.

"This cave runs unimaginably deep. The explored sections have been mapped well enough, and they produce a steady flood of monsters, so most people assume the deeper parts are simply more of the same. No one has ever gone far enough to prove otherwise though." They continued deeper in silence until the path opened into a wider chamber. There, sprawled across the stone floor, lay the freshly butchered remains of a large white wolf. One of its ears had been cut clean away.

Its fur was still mostly clean, except where blood had begun to soak through, turning white into a deepening red. Gloria's steps faltered for the briefest moment, though her face remained composed. The brutality of the kill was far more visceral than anything the game had ever shown her.

'Holy crap… that is brutal!' she thought, wanting to look away, but not being able to. The Archer did not even slow down.

"Looks like those two are already at work," they said flatly. A moment later they added, "I was here a few days ago, so I remember the path splitting not far ahead." Gloria nodded, her gaze still resting on the carcass.

"Yes. Roughly twenty meters in front of us the tunnel divides into two separate sections." The Archer slowed their pace just enough for her to draw even with them. Beneath the hood she could feel their attention sharpen.

"You knew that as well?" they asked.

"Have you been to this place before?" Gloria met their gaze without hesitation.

"Something akin to that." And sure enough, only a short distance further the tunnel opened into two dark mouths yawning side by side into the deeper dark. Gloria's eyes moved across both paths in a single glance and immediately caught the thin smear of blood trailing into the left-hand passage. It was fresh, still wet enough to shine under the torchlight, and it led straight toward the more twisting, labyrinth-like half of the cave system.

That route eventually looped around toward Echidna's true domain as well, but only after a long and deliberately confusing series of dead ends and false turns. There was that one secret passage though… But the right-hand path was cleaner, shorter, and far more direct, even with that little shortcut on the other side. Without hesitation she turned toward it. But the Archer's hand rose as if to seize her shoulder, then paused mid-motion.

Instead of the firm grip, they settled for a light tap against the edge of her robe.

"No. We take the other one." Gloria turned her head slowly, one eyebrow lifting in question.

"That blood trail is an obvious trap," they said.

"Rali must have left it on purpose so we would choose the opposite path. The clean tunnel is exactly where they want us to walk."

'… That actualy makes a ton of sense. Good job on catching that!' This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Gloria paused in place while her mind turned the Archer's words over.

"Yes… a good observation!" She said, and a bit more hurried than usual.

"I was waiting to see whether it would slip past your notice. I am glad to find that it has not." The Archer looked at her for a moment, only tilting their head in response. Then they simply turned and started down the blood-marked tunnel without another word. Gloria allowed herself to fall a single step behind, her gaze resting on the figure ahead of her with growing interest. There was something quite interesting about this character which drew Gloria in.

She did not know if it was because they were mysterious, protective, or simply the fact that no sound came from any of their movements. Now that she mentioned it, the enchantment clinging to their cloak and armor refused to yield its secrets even under the scrutiny of a dragon's eyes. The magic was dense, and of a quality far beyond what a Gold-ranked adventurer should have been able to wear. She wasn't entirely certain, but the enchantment looked painfully familiar.

If it truly was what she thought it was, then it was a craft she knew for all the wrong reasons.

"The Black Handed… It is quite a remarkable enchantment to possess. As a mage though, I must say I am not fond of it." An amused laugh escaped the Archer at her words.

"I would imagine so… Though I must say that I'm surprised you know of such enchantments at all. Most mages I have met are so thoroughly occupied with their own spells and the wards they weave around themselves that they rarely bother learning what the other classes, like assassins, rely upon. I did not expect that kind of knowledge from a Bronze-ranked adventurer." Gloria waved the comment aside.

"I have always been fascinated by magic in all its forms, and I consider enchantments a natural extension of that study. Besides, assassins are every mage's worst enemy, and the Black Handed is one of the more prominent enchantments used against us. It is rather basic knowledge, even if I do consider enchantments a natural extension of the magical study." The Archer slowed their pace just enough for her to notice, their hooded head turning slightly as though listening to something farther down the tunnel.

Even so, they did not drop the conversation.

"Is the study of magic something you pursue in your free time, then?"

"I like to think of it that way, yes." Gloria answered.

"It is a pursuit that has brought me a great deal of joy for many years." The Archer's reply came almost immediately.

"You could have fooled me. Bar is no small man, and you manhandled him as though he weighed nothing at all. As entertaining as that was to watch, I find it difficult to believe you spend all your time with books. Though… you are a Grounded. I suppose anything is possible." Gloria inclined her head slightly, accepting the observation without denying it, then turned the question back upon them.

"And what of you, Archer? Is there something that brings you similar joy?" The Archer stopped abruptly. One hand rose and closed around the bow that had been resting across their back.

"Yes. If you must know, I do have such a thing. For me it is far simpler. It is fighting!" In one fluid motion they drew the bow free, spun on their heel, and nocked an arrow, all in less than a second.

'Wait—wait wait wait! Are we really doing this here and now? Are you really gonna attack me? I thought we were allies!' The spin completed in a single heartbeat, but the Archer had turned fully away from her, facing the deeper dark of the tunnel. They then let the arrow free, which vanished into the shadows, and a heavy, wet impact followed an instant later.

A loud, cracking boom rolled down the passage as the shaft punched clean through the skull of another white wolf that had been creeping along the wall, pinning the creature's body against the stone with such force that its legs went completely still on the moment of impact. Before Gloria could fully process the first kill, a second white wolf burst from behind one of the broken crates along the wall, its jaws already open and its claws scraping against the stone.

The Archer reacted with even greater speed, throwing their body backward in a backflip that carried them cleanly over the creature's charge. The wolf's momentum carried it through the empty space where they had stood a heartbeat earlier, and the moment its paws touched the ground again the Archer was already swinging the heavy curve of their bow like a club. The impact landed solidly against the side of the beast's skull and sent it skidding several meters across the floor.

Before the animal could recover, a second arrow was already nocked and released, the shaft burying itself cleanly between the eyes and pinning the thrashing body to the ground with the same brutal force as the first.

"Impressive! Most impressive."

"Watch out, Gloria—above you!" the Archer screamed, looking directly at Gloria. She followed the Archers gaze, and soon realized that there was a third wolf, and it clung to the ceiling like a spider, its claws hooked deep into the stone. The instant their eyes met it released its hold and dropped straight toward her, jaws gaping for her throat. Instead of fear, this action made Gloria feel a spark of anticipation in her chest at the chance to finally test the strength of this new body.

The wolf crashed into her with its full weight, teeth clamping down on the junction between neck and shoulder— —and immediately the sound of cracking filled the space. Its fangs shattered against the hard, glossy scales as though it had bitten into diamond. The beast recoiled with a high, panicked whimper, blood already welling from its ruined mouth as it scrambled backward on unsteady paws. Gloria raised a hand in response to that.

A single finger traced a small circle in the air, then filled the interior with a rapid series of intersecting cuts. The completed pattern flared for less than a second before the spell activated. [Crusix] A storm of invisible blades erupted from the circle and slammed into the wolf from every direction at once. The first wave of cuts opened the creature from muzzle to hindquarters in a single continuous motion, peeling flesh and fur apart like wet parchment.

The second wave carved through the beasts muscles and organs, turning the body into a thrashing mass of severed meat as the third and fourth waves reduced everything that remained into a fine red mist. Bone, blood, and tissue were shredded so thoroughly that nothing larger than a droplet survived the onslaught.