Chương 99: “Wolves at Both Doors”

The terrain on Floor 16 had been a slow grind from the moment they arrived. Celestia and Paimon had been hiking for most of the day. The ground was a fine grey powder that shifted underfoot and found its way into every fold of clothing it could reach. It clung to the sweat on their arms and necks and turned the surface of their skin gritty. The air was heavy and dry, and each breath felt like inhaling beside a stove.

Vents dotted the landscape at irregular intervals, each one pushing a column of hot air upward that warped the view beyond. The caverns were the one mercy. Scattered throughout the floor, they were natural tunnels and hollows carved into the rock, most of them free of the vents that made the surface nearly unbearable. Inside, the temperature dropped enough to be considered a respite. The absence of direct heat on the skin was sufficient. Celestia and Paimon had been using them as rest points since they arrived.

The work itself was straightforward. They were mapping. The existing guild maps for Floors 16 through 19 marked the standard routes and the known hazards, but little else. The vegetation had never been charted properly because nobody had considered it worth charting; wild plants growing in sheltered pockets near volcanic soil. They grew low to the ground, their leaves thick and waxy, their roots deep. To anyone without Celestia's knowledge, they were simply weeds. Celestia marked each location she found.

She also marked the black doors. Whether they were new or simply overlooked, she could not say, but they went onto the map regardless. The trials on this floor they had already completed. What remained was verifying existing data and cataloguing what had been missed. They were not alone on the floor. Other climbers appeared in the distance from time to time—small parties and the occasional lone figure picking their way across the powdery ground. Nobody approached, and the distance went both ways.

On these floors, other people were unknowns, and unknowns were treated with the same caution. Celestia had seen one party stop and watch them for nearly half a minute before continuing in the opposite direction. The floor itself, beyond the heat and its monsters, offered little in the way of danger. There were no direct environmental threats like the ice floors, such as drowning. The heat alone was the obstacle, wearing climbers down over the course of their time here. The real danger came from the higher floors.

For example, Floor 20 was where the volcanic terrain became lethal. Flowing magma replaced stable ground, and lava-born monsters whose bodies were hot enough to melt steel on contact roamed around. The floor was considered a wall by many; without aura reinforcement and properly enchanted equipment, a climber could not progress past it. Some luck factored into the trials as well, but in general, that was the essence of the floor. Currently, Celestia sat in a cavern.

The space was wide enough for both of them and low enough that neither could stand at full height. The rock walls were bare and dark, and they held none of the surface heat. After an hour of hiking through the open terrain, the stale air inside felt close to luxurious. Paimon sat across from her, working through her post-march routine. She had pulled a towel from her bag and was wiping her face and neck in long strokes. Her hair was damp at the temples, pressed flat against her skin.

Then she peeled off her gauntlets. The leather lining inside was dark with pooled sweat, and the smell that came off them was pungent. She wiped down the interiors and wrung the towel out at her side, then drank from her water container. The cage-carrier sat beside her bag. Sir Ozy was asleep inside it, flat on his side and snoring, apparently immune to the heat that was making everyone else miserable. On their first break, many hours earlier, Paimon tried to wipe Celestia before herself.

Celestia had stopped her without looking up from the map. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Take care of yourself before you worry about me. If you collapse from the heat, we'll waste time.

"Drink your water and wipe yourself down. That is an order." Paimon bowed.

"Yes, my lady."

"Good." Celestia started to pull out her own towel to wipe herself.

"You are no use to me unconscious." Since then, every hour, they had a break of ten to fifteen minutes in the nearest cavern they could find. They had mapped most of the foraging sites by now. A few locations remained unchecked on the map. Just a bit more would be enough. She stood up from the cavern floor and wiped her neck with a towel, before throwing it away..

"Let's go." Paimon had already finished, her gauntlets were back on and her towel was back in the bag. She stood up quickly.

"Yes, my lady." They left the cavern and hiked back into the heat. A quarter of an hour was all it took since the remaining sites were nearby. That was enough. The foraging areas for this entire floor were nearly mapped, and she could send collection parties here with confidence now. The closest black door was inside a deep cavern. The entrance was a wide gap in a rock wall that opened into a deeper passage, wide enough for multiple people to occupy.

The temperature dropped as they moved inside, and the light from the surface faded behind them until only the faint glow of volcanic mineral in the walls remained. The black door sat at the far end, on a wall. A group of four was camped near it. Celestia slowed. Paimon matched her pace without being told. The two of them stood at the edge of the open space. The sight was not unusual. Parties often rested near black doors before moving to the next floor, especially groups running multiple floors in a single push.

One of the men spotted them first. He raised a hand and waved as the others looked up. They stayed where they were, seated or leaning against the cavern wall. One of them stood and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"You can pass through, we're safe!" His voice echoed off the stone. Paimon exhaled beside her. A small release of tension. Celestia and Paimon walked forward toward the door. Celestia's eyes stayed on the man who had called out. And once they got close enough for her to see him, her grip shifted on her spear. She pulled it free and imbued it with aura in the same motion. Golden light erupted from the blade and filled the cavern, sharp and blinding. The four recoiled, hands flying to their faces, heads turning away.

Before they could recover, Celestia swung the spear in a low horizontal arc, and the pressure caught the volcanic powder on the ground and hurled it forward in a dense cloud. For a moment, the entire back half of the cavern was a wall of grey. Celestia screamed, "Run!" Paimon did not hesitate. She turned and sprinted toward the cavern entrance, and Celestia was right beside her, the cage-carrier on Paimon bouncing with each stride. Their footsteps hammered against the powdery ground.

Celestia could hear shouting behind them, muffled noise due to the distance, but closing. The entrance was ahead, a sliver of bright heat where the surface light cut through the gap. They were close. Four figures were walking in through it. Celestia did not slow down. Neither did Paimon.

"Hey, what's going on?" one of them called out. He had a crossbow slung over his shoulder and was already reaching for it. Paimon's voice cut past Celestia's shoulder.

"Plunderers!" The two in front of the incoming party moved. The shieldbearer dropped his weight and surged forward, his tower shield angled to catch a body at full speed. The swordsman beside him broke into a sprint half a second later, blade already clearing the scabbard. Celestia twisted left. The swordsman's blade came in fast, aimed at her chest, and she caught it on the shaft of her spear. The parry sent a shock up both her arms. The impact drove her feet into the ashen ground, causing her to skid sideways.

Once she stopped, she shoved the blade off her shaft and pushed back, but the swordsman was already in motion for a second swing. Paimon was not as fortunate. Unlike Celestia, she did not keep her guard up; she had been running at full speed when the shieldbearer slammed into her. The tower shield caught her square in the chest with her own momentum behind it.

Her feet left the ground, and her back hit the floor with a heavy crack that echoed off the cavern walls, and the cage-carrier she was holding flew away, shattering upon slamming into a wall. Sir Ozy tumbled free and rolled across the ground in a ball of fur and outraged squealing.