Chương 83: 1-82 A path through dust

They were not ready for this, not at all, Josef concluded as they emerged onto the next floor. Or rather, when they accidentally stumbled into it, as the stairwell suddenly gave way to a much more open area. Things appeared to be much more deteriorated down here, and he suspected that it wasn't a feature of the dungeon's own design.

The walls had cracks all over, the brickwork now looking closer to a wall of gravel, and the sewage inside the channel looked like pale green gelatin, crawling along at a snail's pace, almost frozen in place. Up above, the ceiling no longer existed at all, replaced by a void that appeared to stretch on endlessly, broken up only by specks of glowing white, dotting it like stars in the night sky.

Like the Milky Way, they painted a path across the dark, the mesmerizing sight almost distracting from the flowing movements of the lights, or the specks raining down. Unfortunately, the phenomenon was much more dangerous than what one could observe in nature, and he immediately began to wipe the canvas clean. Using his chaos mana, he swallowed the lights one after another until there was only inky darkness above their path.

At least this appeared to be the main distribution pathway of the dangerous white mana, and the remaining haze that permeated the air was quick to dry up after it was cut off.

"This looks pretty neat. Shame it's so dangerous." Zippa commented as he followed the human.

"You will find that nature's most beautiful sights often bear lethal threats." Linda's eyes were glued to the ceiling as she stepped into the hallway, her words sounding like a memorized line as she remained transfixed on the lights.

"Something Aifreed told you?" Bezzo asked right beside her. That had her eyes drop back down to the floor before finally returning to being level after a moment of contemplation.

"He did, though it is a wisdom taught to all elven children raised around the glades. If a creature there is mesmerizing enough to take your breath away, then, in all likelihood, it is strong enough to kill you."

"Those creatures get more beautiful as they grow in level? That seems to be the opposite of this dungeon." Josef grumbled, thinking back on their encounters. A fleeting smile touched Linda's face as she answered.

"That does appear to be the case, doesn't it? Although, in case of the glade's inhabitants, it is also because of their inherent charm magics, which grow alongside their strength."

"Your critters come with mind magic? You couldn't pay me to head into a nightmare like that!" Zippa exclaimed, eyeing the elf in disbelief. She huffed in response.

"Your ilk would not be allowed passage anyway." The reptile exhaled a puff of smoke at that, seemingly turning away in anger. Josef, however, could tell that his friend's eyes were still squinted in a slight smile, holding no heat at all. Apparently, he enjoyed stoking the elf's emotions. Maybe he wanted to stop her from falling back into sadness by drawing out something else?

It clearly worked, as the two of them were soon exchanging quips, with Bezzo occasionally flanking their argument, without mercy for either of them. Occasionally, he tried to join the trio, but found himself mostly occupied by the task of clearing out the mist in front of them, as well as observing the path for danger. He knew the others weren't fully distracted either, as the younger lizard's eyes still dutifully trailed their surroundings, but he couldn't help himself from giving in to the tension.

The longer nothing barred their path, the more nervous he became. Was this how walking into a ghost town felt, seeing no signs of life where one had become expectant of it? It was only thanks to his manasight that he finally spotted a prospective enemy. Or at least, it might have been one before the white mana got to it. Submerged in the gelatin, he found a large shape suffused in the suppressive energy.

A closer look revealed something like fins jutting out of its form, suggesting it was a fish, or at least something partially aquatic.

"Should we try to kill it?" he finally asked after sharing his discovery. His next level couldn't be far off, so killing a defenseless monster sounded surprisingly appealing. It wouldn't be too hard to jab his chaos mana down into it, which should either kill or release the creature.

"I'd rather we didn't dally." Linda stated matter-of-factly.

"We might as well see how it reacts to Josef's mana," Bezzo suggested to her.

"We might encounter more that are right on our path." As Zippa agreed with his brother, they decided to give it a try. Redirecting his mana streams to penetrate into the gelatinous mass, pieces of it immediately became runny and flowed down the canal. Not that the liquid got very far, as it soon rejoined the stillness of the remaining sewage further downstream. Once his mana breached the creature's location, though, something unexpected happened.

Instead of thawing out of its frozen state, like everyone else before, it instead started to crumble. White flakes broke away, floating into the excavated parts of the canal. Finally, when his chaotic mana touched the figure itself, it simply fell apart, turning into a powdery mess. He wouldn't be getting levels from this, would he?

"Well, at least the local monsters won't cause us any trouble, will they?" Zippa tried to be cheerful, though everyone looked a little pale after seeing that reaction. That could have been them without Dusty and his affinity. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Pretzel even went up to the remains and carefully smelled them, her tongue waving back and forth.

"It's no good," she hissed sadly, "there's absolutely nothing tasty left." After that, she slithered back to him, wrapping around his torso before silently demanding to be pet. He could tell, even without using their link, that something about this revelation had disturbed the snake deeply. Her opinion was seconded by Sprout, who climbed down from his shoulder, sniffing at the dust before letting out a rueful whine. She would not be growing any roots over that monster.

Then, as if deeply offended by the dirty floor, she quickly jumped back onto her summoner. Neither familiar fancied traveling through their own efforts on these floors, sticking close to him instead. Proceeding down the path, they continued in silence, observing their bleached surroundings with a growing sense of discomfort. At times, there were heaps of powder covering the path, suggesting more creatures had fallen to that mana, only to get destroyed by something. Or someone.

The tracks left in the white substance clearly indicated the latter.

"We're right on their tracks." Linda clenched her fist, her pace picking up.

"Easy there. You can't exactly rush ahead on your own now, can you?" Bezzo gripped her shoulder, only to be shaken off immediately.

"Even if the armor works, that wouldn't end well. Now that we're this close, Sanctum's not gonna get rid of us anymore." The elven lady acquiesced quietly, though her grumbling was anything but calm. Even so, the dungeon demanded their patience, as the floor continued with no target for her to vent her anger on. It wasn't until the floor after, when they finally spotted some more monsters, or what remained of them.

"Some kind of elemental, maybe?" Josef idly scratched at some newly grown skin around his shoulders. He had used the time they had to travel unimpeded to fix some more of his skin, wrapping up all damage visible beyond his clothes, except for his face. That one regrettably had to wait until he no longer needed to hide his identity.

"Looks like it," Zippa agreed, before poking at the powdery sphere right by their path, using a claw wrapped in fire. He wanted to reprimand his friend for his carelessness, but this wasn't the first time he had poked at the white mana. As it turned out, quantity was an important matter when it came to predicting the reaction between the differing energies. A small amount of fire mana, when brought in contact with the stuff, would just freeze on the spot, before slowly falling apart.

With this much, on a mostly inert mass, however? The structure quickly collapsed, joining the dust covering the floor. Although not without taking some of the fire mana with it. It was an unnecessary move.

"Don't waste your mana, Zip. It's a lot harder to regenerate down here." Unless one could forcefully drain it from their surroundings, of course.

"It feels weirdly fun, though," the reptile chuckled, watching the structure disperse. That it was, like tearing down sandcastles, and with none of the guilt that would come from it. If whatever force was behind this mana was upset about their actions, he would consider it a boon. Try to kill us? We'll break your stuff! Sweeping through the remainder of the dust, clearing a path using his chaos affinity, Josef continued on with his companions following close behind.

The amount of dead, frozen creatures they encountered seemed to increase the further they got, though that was still an altogether small amount, incomparable to the numbers they had faced before. By the third floor of this bizarre adventure, he noted with some concern how more of the dungeon was breaking away. It wasn't easy to spot on the one before, but the walls surrounding them had become smaller, revealing more inky darkness around them.

"It's like this whole place is coming down," he mumbled, drawing concerned nods from his companions. Apparently, not even Linda felt entirely comfortable rushing into a dilapidated ruin that could break apart around them.

"Dungeons are not supposed to be like this," concern finally drowned out her anger.

"At least, none that I have ever heard about. Sure, some contain ruins and other broken vistas, but for the structure itself to fall apart like this?" A little voice of doubt in Josef wanted to question just how well informed the sheltered noble lady could be on a matter like this. However, if another dungeon acted like this, then it would probably be a big enough matter to turn into common knowledge.

That, or the results of an event like this were so severe, the people in charge were doing their best to suppress the information. Neither boded well for this mess.

"Hold on, do you hear that?" Zippa raised a hand, head tilted sideways. Seconds passed, nobody daring to move a muscle. Just as he was about to break the silence, however, he heard something too. The sound was almost inaudible, but they had encountered something similar before. The clang of metal striking on metal. Sending his mana streams into a frenzy, Josef charged ahead at a speed that would have once been his limit before he gained attributes to improve his body.

"It's a fight," he shouted over his shoulders, informing everyone about the metallic sound. This caught the immediate attention of Bezzo and Linda, who had been left wondering about his reaction. There was only one probable cause for such a noise at this depth of the dungeon. There were knights of Sanctum up ahead. Rounding another corner, worn down enough to almost allow them to look across, they unexpectedly ran right into their target.

Apparently, the white mana also had a dampening effect on the sound, reducing its spread. What had seemed far away was actually nearby! It was an almost familiar sight, as one knight stood protectively in front of another that had fallen to the ground, fending off a third that seemed dead set on hacking them into pieces. His swordsmanship certainly seemed much better than that of the defending one.

"Who goes there?" The assailant demanded, briefly pausing his attack to address the encroaching group. Linda stepped up, like a predator that had locked in on her prey.

"Are you another loyal knight of Sanctum?" she asked, her tone calm as a grave. If he didn't know her, Josef would have probably bought her act, but he already knew that seething heat waiting to erupt from her.

"As the light commands! All shall heed its order!" the man barked zealously.

"They're all raving mad!" the downed knight shrieked in a feminine voice.

"I didn't sign up for this! No coin is worth this!"

"If you can run your mouth," her companion bit back, "then you can move your legs. Get the fuck up and help me!" Linda, after glancing at each of the armored individuals, finally settled on her target. Facing the lone assailant, she slowly unsheathed her sword, bringing the edge to bear against the knight. Without another word, she charged.