Published at 16th of February 2024 2:21 pm

Chapter 29. Reporting Casualties

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The delve couldn’t have gone any better. Nox foresaw Roque being the largest obstacle. Body reinforcement magic came with a minor resistance to natural and artificial toxins—often including sedatives. He worried that disabling and later putting down the aspiring Aether Warrior could potentially injure, if not kill, him and Lillin. The man was too fast, strong, and hardy. His axes were terrifying, too. If they didn’t get the jump on him, Nox was sure he’d find a handaxe in his chest. The two-handed weapon would separate his head from his body seconds later.

Fortunately, Roque had a foolhardy streak. A lifetime of success and praise had filled with overconfidence. No one thought to explain the importance of experience to him either. He fought with the recklessness of a fighter with much greater gifts and a planet or two dedicated to regeneration. If not for Victor frequently pulling him out of danger, Roque would’ve died long before the party encountered the elites.

Nox had counted on the chaos of the rift’s final battle to disable Roque and Annabelle. He planned on killing the first or leaving him trapped with no weapons. Mistress Maraka took care of him.

Sandman’s Slumber knocked Annabelle out in time for Lillin’s feeding. Nox had hoped to break her fall, but it was a good thing he failed. She hit her head on a rock when she fell. The damage wasn’t worrying, even though it sliced open her temple and drew blood. Nox woke her with smelling salts after taking a few minutes after Lillin finished her business. He fed her a healing pill before letting her take in the scene.

“I’m sorry,” Nox said, placing her dead twin’s arm at her feet. “We tried to save Victor. But you saw how reckless he got after Roque lost his head. There wasn't much we could do.”

“What happened to me?” Annabelle asked, rubbing the side of her head. She still appeared dazed.

“I’m not sure.” He felt bad lying to the woman. However, Nox’s contract with Lillin was much too valuable. Without it, Nox would never destroy Sundarshahar. “One moment, you were standing next to me. The next, I found you unconscious with blood leaking out of your head.”

She checked her manameter. “I used too much mana. Maybe I slipped when my Danger Sense faltered.” Her eyes focused on what remained of her brother and fiance. “I don’t know how I’ll explain this,” she said. “A dead heir will cause so much chaos.”

The ground trembled, and dust rained from the roof. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault,” Lillin said. “Roque got reckless and got himself killed. Grief made your brother lose his composure, and he followed his best friend.”

“That won’t be good enough. Can you put Roque’s body in your spatial storage? His corpse will help explain what happened.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Uncooked flesh rots and shrivels inside my pocket dimensions. That’s if we’re lucky. A purple fungus might cover and consume most of it, making Roque unrecognizable.”

“We need to take something back,” Annabelle said. She stirred at Roque’s body, poking it with her boot. Then much to Nox’s surprise, she pulled her leg back and kicked it with all her strength. “Let's take his arms. Then his brothers could benefit from his sigils.”

“Don’t you want to take one for yourself?” Nox asked. “After how the bastard treated you, don’t you reckon he owes you?”

“Wouldn’t it be suspicious if I return relatively unharmed and with one of his sigils?” Annabelle’s eyes focused on the left arm.

“They don’t need to know. You can put it somewhere they wouldn’t dare ask to look.” Nox grabbed the handaxe still attached to Roque’s belt. “We can say the rift was collapsing—which it is—and we couldn’t risk bringing back all of him. So we grabbed an arm and fled.”

“Better yet, you can say the boss ate one side of him,” Lillin added. “We chopped off whatever we could and fled.”

Annabelle studied Nox and Lillin for a moment. Then her attention returned to the remains. A minor earthquake spurred her into action. She picked up her brother’s arm and placed it in her satchel. Next, Annabelle took the handaxe from Nox and chopped off Roque’s right forearm. It carried the Sigil of Warrior, and she gave it to Nox to store. Next, she rolled up the left sleeve and pressed her right hand against the second sigil.

Nox recognized the tattoo. The innermost room in Queen Mercer’s vault had it on display. Sigil of Agility sounded humble, but its description said it could do a lot more. The base sigil improved the aspect it was named after but also increased speed, reaction time, and dexterity, making it perfect for someone with Annabelle’s abilities. The silver light flowed from the corpse into her. She held her left hand just under her navel. A soft wince escaped her as a glow leaked through her clothes.

“Let’s go,” Annabelle said when the light died.

Instead of backtracking through the rift, the trio descended through the hole left behind by the worm. Lillin detected thick essence leaking through it. The tunnel led them to an even larger cavern with a river running through it. Bones littered the edges, and a cluster of head-sized eggs sat in a corner. Best of all, a tear pulsed at the room’s heart. Nox and Lillin claimed an egg each before exiting the rift.

The world looked brighter on the other side, and red light leaked through the portal instead of orange. It had shrunk considerably, too. Nox didn’t doubt that it would disappear within the hour.

“Tell me exactly how Victor died,” Annabelle asked as they weaved through the thicket.

“I had the lizard slowed, and Lillin’s gravity orbs kept the beast off-balance,” Nox said. He and Lillin had practiced the tale before waking Annabelle. “Victor went in for the finishing blow when Mistress Maraka broke free of my spell. Her mouth expanded again, and she got all of him in one bite.”

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“Then where is his sword?” She raised an eyebrow.

Lillin pulled it out of her storage space. Slime and gore covered it. “I reckon the blade ravaged its insides. It gave me enough time to hit it with gravity spheres, and then Nox took out the head.”

“Right.” Annabelle’s lip twitched, betraying her disgust as she took the weapon. She wiped the hilt dry on the grass and carried it far from her body.

When the Wedge’s crew spotted the trio, they rushed to take Victor’s sword and Annabelle’s pack. They didn’t ask any questions. The steeled faces suggested they had already put the pieces together and knew the details. Nox didn’t know what future awaited the crew, but things would likely turn out better than they would’ve under Victor’s command.

The delve’s survivors boarded the longboat and returned to the City of Ygg.

Once back on the campus, the party sped to the mail office. Annabelle sent two packages using boxes with stasis enchantments. The first contained Victor’s hand and sword. It went to the Oakheart estate. She sent the second package to Singh House in a city-state near the Imperium’s border. It also contained Roque’s handaxe. Letters detailing the fight in the rift accompanied both.

Next, the tired trio reported to the Dungeon Studies department’s expedition office. They met with the diviner that had found the rift and her supervisor. Nox detailed the incident and how two of their party members died.

“It’s not your fault, son,” the supervisor said, falling for Nox’s fake grief. “Apprentices are fine in an orange rift, but we advise they take a journeyman with them. Master Oakheart led us to believe he had employed one for the delve.” He studied the chunks of flesh Nox had brought back, wrapped in grease paper. “The boss-class monster’s remains don’t match the worms’ at all. I reckon you were unlucky enough to happen upon a recently invaded rift. I wouldn’t be surprised if the dimension was on its way to reaching a danger level of yellow.”

“That’s possible?” Nox asked, feigning horror and concern. He didn’t know much about rifts. Beginner Dungeon Theory would possibly cover the topic eventually. The intermediate version of the course was compulsory, too. If Nox made it to the next semester, Kris would expect him to take it. “I would’ve insisted we get at least another apprentice if we did.”

“Dungeon and rift invasions weaken both sides.” He poked the worm chunk with a pair of long tweezers. “Given the environment you described, I wouldn’t be surprised if the worms originally owned the rift and the lizards were the invaders. You likely found the boss while it was still recovering after its battle with the former lord. I doubt you would’ve survived if both of them were at full strength or this—” The supervisor checked his notes. “—Mistress Maraka finished absorbing the worm’s essence.”

“The evidence speaks for you,” the diviner said. “You encountered a series of unfortunate events. It’s no one’s fault. Although—”

“It’s no one’s fault,” the supervisor reiterated.

“Although, what?” Annabelle shuffled in her seat and leaned forward. “House Oakheart will want to know if you suspect foul play. We’re allied with the City of Ygg. My father will send investigators and most likely follow soon after once he gets my letter.”

The supervisor and diviner shared a quick glance. They both appeared uncomfortable. The supervisor shook his head, but the diviner broke the silence. “We reckon some god’s cult has infiltrated the city. They’re abducting mages from the city. We’ve lost low-ranking delvers and students who wander outside the campus. Rifts as dangerous as yellows and greens have appeared around the city. Historically such occurrences are super rare, and we mostly see reds and oranges.”

“What about the city dungeon?” Annabelle asked.

Nox raised an eyebrow. “We have a dungeon?”

She and both university staff shot him a surprised look. “You didn’t know?” The supervisor spoke first. “We have the finest dungeon studies department on the continent because we have our own dungeon. It’s on the high-end of apprentice, and the floors are monitored, limiting student access.”

“I knew there were a couple of dungeons close by, but I didn’t think there was one directly under us,” Nox replied. “How is that even possible with Ygg?”

“It started in secret. We suspect a god and his followers started in the ruins under the city with plans to invade the city eventually and steal the world tree’s power. Dean Woodson has wards and defenses to ensure the barrier is never broken. It’s why we have so many non-student delvers in the city. Their constant efforts are necessary to cull the dungeon residents and drain the lord’s strength. We have the strength to destroy it, but the research and dungeon studies department keeps it around for academic progress.”

“And training students,” the diviner added.

“Why did we attempt a rift and not the dungeon, then?” Nox asked.

“We can only access the upper floors,” Annabelle answered. “They’re highly contested.”

“Master Oakheart wanted rewards that come with fighting elites and boss-ranked monsters, too.” The diviner sighed. She removed her glasses and massaged the bridge of her nose. “Your party would need at least two journeyman delvers before earning such clearance.”

“I suppose joining Woodson University at such a late age left massive gaps in my knowledge,” Nox admitted. He didn’t mind listing his shortcomings, especially when it cast him in a favorable light on the matter of dead party members. “I wish I knew more and was better prepared.” He sighed, holding the hands of the women on either side of him. He got a light squeeze from Annabelle. “We could’ve prevented two unnecessary deaths.”

“As far as your question is concerned, it’s a no,” the diviner told Annabelle. “We haven’t seen many changes in the dungeon besides regular creature evolutions and flora growth. Initially, we were concerned that a cult was sacrificing mages to the lord underneath us, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s a lot more at play, and we’re trying to figure out what." She looked at Nox. “Professor Kris is one of the mages leading the investigation. She’s in the dungeon as we speak.”

The staff questioned them a while longer, gathering all the details for the report. All delver casualties, especially student deaths, needed to be documented and filed to keep the city’s many allies placated. Dungeon cities were highly contested, after all. Ygg and Woodson University made the land even more desirable. The supervisor kept the trio for a couple of hours before releasing them. Annabelle wanted to be alone and left, leaving Nox and Lillin to have a late dinner.

The university appeared satisfied, but experience had taught Nox it wasn’t enough. Questions always arose when people went missing in the settlements the Golden Isles passed. Investigations were even more intense when it was a hunter or fighter that went missing—Nox always ensured Lillin went for unpopular or reviled individuals. This time, the scions of two noble houses had disappeared. Life was only going to get more complicated. At the same time, he felt pleased with what they had done. Annabelle probably felt differently about the matter, but Nox wanted to believe that they had made her life better. Her future would be a better one because of his and Lillin's actions.

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