63 Vol.3 Ch.58-The First Steps.

After our full-blown meltdown, Sylvia and I spent the next few days catching up on sleep and recovering. It was much easier to defend ourselves with our backs against a wall so we both decided it would be best to rest here.

I can't speak for Sylvia but I feel a hundred times better now that I've gotten some more sleep. Perhaps subconsciously I wasn't allowing myself to sleep fully because deep down I had misgivings about Sylvia. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I came back after defeating that first wave and waking Sylvia up. I let Sylvia drink some more of my blood and before I knew it I was face down and unconscious inside of a sleeping bag.

I stretched my leg out as I was walking away from the pile of gecko corpses. My leg was recovering quicker than I had anticipated. It seems having a young body has its perks after all.

I was on my way back to camp and today was an important day. It was the day we were leaving this little corner of hell and deciding on which part of hell to investigate next. Through our combined efforts of scouting the new side, we didn't manage to find an exit. I even blasted a few bits of rock in hopes of maybe finding a secret passage but to no avail.

Sylvia was actually up and moving around the camp when I returned. Now it was common for me to have to wake the vampire up from her deep sleep but I didn't mind. Comparing Sylvia from now to a few days ago is a night and day difference. Her skin is a few shades less pale and the deep bags under her eyes have all but disappeared. She seems much healthier and more mentally stable now that she has gotten some proper sleep and food.

Food, huh? Have I really gotten to the point where I'm starting to consider my own blood to be food? This is… concerning…

"How was it?" Sylvia called out to me with a small wave.

"Just another wave; that's all. How are you feeling?" I asked

"A hundred times better, thanks to you. I wasn't sure I was ever going to feel this good again," she said with an exhale.

I created two chairs out of earth magic and took a seat in one of them. I pulled my shirt off and went to work on repairing it. Buying extra material to repair my clothes was a smart decision. The replacement material might not be anywhere near the quality of the Goliath hide that saved my life from the Wyrm but having something protecting you was better than nothing. After all the time I spent with Mom I was glad I had picked up some skills. I was nowhere near my mother's skill but I could at least do this much.

"Good because we are heading out today."

Sylvia sat down in the chair next to me and crossed her legs. "So what are you thinking?" she asked me.

"I want to hear your opinion first."

Sylvia tilted her head to the side and said, "Well, I think we should continue following the wall. Most likely the exit is either on this wall or the next one. If anything I'm more certain it's on the next wall."

"Why's that? And if you think it's on the next one then why don't we just cross through the middle to save time?" I argued.

"The monsters have to be coming from somewhere and they aren't coming from the darkness so that only leaves the wall." Then Sylvia gave me a sly grin. "And why don't you want to go in the middle? Are you afraid of the dark or something?" she teased.

"Afraid? No, I just don't want to figure out what these monsters are running from and why they are avoiding the darkness like a plague. Also, I agree with you. Following the wall might be the longer path but it's the safest," I said.

I was somewhat testing Sylvia to see what she was thinking. It seems we are of the same mind.

"You got that feeling too? That they are running away from something, not towards us?" she asked seriously.

"Yeah, something isn't right. I mean some monsters are mindless creatures but the stronger the monsters are, the smarter they tend to be. And these things can sense mana so they must be stronger than the average monster. So the question is… why are strong monsters just continuing to throw themselves at us?" I said.

Sylvia shrugged. "We could just be looking too much into this. Trying to make sense of a dungeon is a fool's task. It was like that even before I went to sleep."

Part of me wants to ask Sylvia about the past but now wasn't the time or the place. She still hadn't admitted actually how long she had been asleep but that's fine. Trust was built slowly and I was still hiding plenty of things from her so it is what it is.

"True. But I'm just glad we are on the same page. Just give me… ten minutes to finish this stupid thing… then we can leave," I said in frustration.

"Who taught you how to mend? Or—I.. oh I'm sorry…" Sylvia muttered.

I looked up at Sylvina and raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What are you sorry about? My mother was a seamstress so I picked up a few things from her."

Sylvia massaged her face and sighed. "Oh… that's good…"

What's with that reaction?

—

It's been well over a month since the two of us have fallen into this hell. It took another week of constant pushing but just as we imagined, we made it to the end of the wall. It does seem that this floor is just one giant square and we are running around the outside of it. I could only hope that the other floors wouldn't be this big. If every floor was as large as this one we were going to have a serious problem.

Sylvia and I spent another few days recovering and resting once we got to the corner and headed out quicker than before. Our sleeping and fighting schedule has become second nature for both of us so it's been making this easier. Which has led us to our current destination.

Arc Bolt.

A flash of yellow lightning left my fingers and forked into the last two monsters, charring them.

"Your lightning magic has gotten better. I don't feel like you are accidentally going to fry me," Sylvia said while kicking one of the monsters over.

"Turns out practicing with your life at stake gives you extra motivation," I said with a shrug. "And I was never going to hit you. Unless lightning strikes vampires twice or something?"

Sylvia rolled her head back and furrowed her brows at me.

It was just a joke…

"Anyways…" I mumbled. "We are here, it seems."

"Mhm," Sylvia hummed.

I'm sure most people would have been excited at what we were seeing. It was a clear exit to this hell hole. But the direction it was heading was the one direction I wasn't hoping for.

"It goes up," Sylvia mused.

"So… what are we going to do?" I asked.

"I know I said it before but we fell for a long time, Voker. I fully believe we are hundreds of floors deep in this dungeon. We would run out of food if we had to ascend through a hundred floors."

"You mean I would run out of food?" I pointed out.

Sylvia stopped staring at the exit and looked over her shoulder. "If you die I starve… idiot…"

I was about to defend myself but I just decided not to.

I'm not some walking blood sack for you… you know that right?

"So our choices are going up and possibly starving or going down and getting teleported out. And if the crystal doesn't take us out of the dungeon... we die regardless. And aren't dungeon cores protected by guardians?"

Sylvia nodded her head slowly. "Yeah but I've got a feeling we already met the guardian of this dungeon."

"You think that Wyrm was the guardian? Then why was it on the fourth floor?" I questioned.

"Who knows. I don't think there is any rule saying a guardian can't leave the core. Maybe it thought we were serious threats or something? But if the fourth-floor monster was an adult Wyrm then the monsters on these deeper floors should be as strong or stronger, right?"

I could only shrug. That was the general rule, that the deeper you went inside of a dungeon the more dangerous it and the monsters that inhabited it became. These geckos were probably under 100 on a threat scale and even though most Wyrms were considered to be 150 that wasn't taking into account an adult. That adult Wyrm was probably closer to 200… Maybe even more.

"Does that mean this dungeon isn't as big as we think it is?" I asked.

Sylvia shook her head and said, "No, I just think that Wyrm is the guardian of this dungeon. I mean we can go up and check the higher floor if you want? Just walking up isn't going to kill us."

"Let's do it. Can't hurt to at least check."

Together the two of us started walking uphill through the dark tunnel. I had to make some light using fire magic to guide us but so far this tunnel seems just like the previous ones. Could it be that we aren't as deep as we thought?

Even with my leg getting better by the day, hiking uphill was still difficult. I had to stop occasionally to rest but the pace wasn't terrible. However, even with my stops, we reached the top in a short amount of time. I guess that crushes the hypothesis that we weren't actually that deep in this abyss.

Sylvia took the lead and shimmied herself along the wall so she could see onto the next floor. I wasn't sure why she was trying to be stealthy considering monsters don't tend to be near the entrance and exit to floors but I wasn't going to stop her. I mean we are both Elves so we would be able to hear monsters if they were this close… right?

Eventually, Sylvia came back down to me so I asked her what she had seen.

"And? What did you see?"

"Looked like a cave," she responded flatly.

I couldn't help but blink a few times. A cave… so helpful, Sylvia.

"A cave and…?"

"The same stupid gray cave we have been seeing since we got here. I guess those blue crystals were embedded in the wall so it's not the same as it was on the first few floors," Sylvia said while crossing her arms.

Was she getting annoyed with me? I just asked a simple question…

"In that case, I vote we go back down. I think clearing this dungeon and getting to the core is the right choice. What do you think?" I asked.

"I agree. It might not be a guarantee that we get teleported out but I don't see how we can clear this dungeon before your water supply runs out. And there is a low chance we will find any fresh water down here. Not only that if we do decide to go up floors we might run into the Wyrm again. Fighting that monster is going to be hard but I'd rather we be healthy and full than nearly dead from starvation when we do fight it. It's a gamble but it's one we should take…" Sylvia said despondently.

Not needing to argue and with both our minds made up we made our way back down to the previous floor. The tension had risen again but it was different this time. Both of us had agreed on what to do so thankfully there were no problems there but whether the choice we made was the right one or not remained to be seen. There was a good chance we were just marching to our deaths. And either choice hinged on the fact that we were going to be able to kill an adult Wyrm…

That thing managed to eat an entire White Fire Lance like it was nothing. I'll have to come up with something even stronger if I went to so much as scratch the bastard. When I read that Wyrms had a high resistance to magic I didn't think it would be to this scale…

—

We found ourselves back on our original floor. Being illuminated by the gloomy blue light both Sylvia and I were just starting out into the abyss. If behind us was the entrance to this floor then the opposite wall on the other side should have been the exit to the lower floor.

But since neither of us found an exit on that side, that means there are two possibilities. One, it's on the wall to your left which is the only side we haven't been to yet. But the more likely possibility is that the exit to the floor is in the center of that darkness.

"How many torches do you have? I have three and of course my fire magic for light. But if something happens to me and I lose consciousness then…" I trailed off.

Sylvia turned to me with eyebrows raised. "Huh? Don't worry about it, I have like… twenty torches ready to go."

"Wha—Why do you have so many? Can you not see in the dark? I thought vampires had almost perfect night vision?" I asked, half curious and surprised.

"I don't know what darkness looks like to other races but I've been told our night vision is even better than Dwarfs. But I still need some light to see. Pitch darkness is still pitch darkness," Sylvia said with a shrug.

But I felt like something was off. She sounded oddly defensive.

"And you have twenty torches because…"

Sylvia turned away from me and crossed her arms. "Pays to be prepared," she said quickly.

"I get that… but that's some serious overkill," I mused.

"Well, when you get your only light source knocked out at the bottom of a dungeon and you have to fumble around in the darkness… you just don't want that to ever happen? You know?" she said defensively.

Oh.

"You are afraid of the dark?"

Sylvia turned to me and pointed a finger at my face. "I am not afraid of the dark," she hissed. Then she crossed her arms. "It's like you said, I just don't want to find out what's in that darkness… Let's just go already!"

I shrugged and summoned a few balls of fire for light as Sylvia grumbled to herself while taking the lead.

So she is afraid of the dark. Well, that is unfortunate. At least she isn't letting it bother her too much.

—

"How long do you think it's been?" Sylvia whispered from beside me.

"Four days? Maybe five?" I guessed. "And why are you whispering?"

"I don't know!" she yelled.

"You don't have to yell either…"

"Can you just make up your mind?" Sylvia said seething.

Just talk normally… but I'm not going to say that out loud. She takes her anger out on me when she bites me and I'd rather not be in pain tonight… or is it day right now?

Either way, we have been walking in this darkness for what seems like forever. There is almost nothing out there besides the emptiness. After the first few days, we thought we had made a crucial mistake but a rogue gecko monster had found us and tried to attack us. It was alone so it wasn't much of a threat. But it was running faster than normal and it seemed to have come from the center. This means that must be the origin point for… something.

"Hey, Voker, you hear that, right?" Sylvia asked me.

"Yeah, we should move."

We picked up the pace and deviated from our original route and within a minute a loud crash boomed. Dust and debris got kicked up and even a small shockwave went past us. After the dust settled, a medium-sized crater in the floor was left where we had been standing a few moments before.

"Was that a giant rock?!" Sylvia shouted.

"Seems so…"

Normally you should be a bit more panicked if a giant rock came flying out of you but at this range, but it wasn't a threat if you had almost an entire minute to move out of the way. No, the more pressing issue was whatever managed to throw that giant rock at us.

"Get ready, whatever it is, it just threw another rock at us."

We had plenty of time to dodge the incoming death boulder and after some time the same crash and boom echoed throughout the abyss.

"Well? What are we going to do? The closer we get the less time we have to dodge and you can't run!" Sylvia shouted in panic.

"Relax, it's fine. It's just another monster that we have to kill," I said nonchalantly.

"B—But we can't see it! And—"

Ah, the dark. I thought Sylvia was getting used to the killing but it seems killing in the dark might be a new challenge.

"So what? We don't need to see it till we get closer," I said with a shrug. "Move again."

Another dodge and another rock mortar.

"Light a torch and go run in front of me. It will probably choose the closest target," I said.

"You want me to be the bait against the rock-throwing monster?!" Sylvia grunted in frustration as she glared at me.

"Well yeah, I can't run, remember? If I could I would already be running towards it. Oh, and we need to move again."

A few paces to the right and another missed rock.

"I could just carry you?" Sylvia suggested.

"Yeah, that seems like a bad idea. If you get hit carrying me then we both get turned into paste. At least you can dodge it and turn a fatal hit into a mortal wound. I won't be so lucky. Just draw its fire and I'll get close enough and blast it with magic. Shouldn't be too hard? And besides," I said while pointing out into the darkness. "We pretty much know exactly where that thing is. Once I get a bit closer, I'll start launching spells to give you some breathing room."

Sylvia didn't seem convinced. "You aren't going to mess with me, are you? Like, let it throw a few extra rocks at me?"

"No, we are fighting for our lives down here. We don't have to panic right now because there is no threat. But once we get— another one— once we get closer things will get serious. I don't plan on letting you die on me. We need each other, right?"

One mid-conversation dodge later followed by the crashing of another giant boulder.

Sylvia started nodding her head slowly. "Yeah, yeah that's right, no dying. Okay, let's wait for one more to land, then I'll run towards it. I can do this," Sylvia said, psyching herself up.

Sylvia faced forward and took out a torch which she held high. I lit the torch, then she turned and pointed it at me. "I swear if you are messing with me I'm going to turn you into an Elven wineskin," she threatened.

Her threat was partially playful… right? But, uh, I think she was being somewhat serious. And a wineskin? That's kind of morbid.

After the next boulder missed us Sylvia sprinted off into the dark like a blur. Her Blood Sorcery version of mana enhancement was even stronger. If she wanted to, she could easily double the speed of somebody of a similar level. She might be able to go even faster.

I might not be able to run but I could at least jog lightly. In front of me, I heard the explosions of rock on rock and the interval of the explosions was getting shorter. Even from here, I can hear Sylvia's shouts in between the explosions.

I swear I'm moving as fast as possible.

Eventually, I was close enough to where I could hear the whooshing of a massive limb as it cut through the air. I sent a flurry of fireballs towards the sound in hopes of giving Sylvia a bit of breathing room. I could also see the familiar gloomy blue light creeping out from the darkness.

My fireballs exploded but no screams of pain echoed out in response. I kept jogging forward with the assistance of my cane while launching spells periodically towards the noises. The monster was tall so all I had to do was aim high so I didn't accidentally hit Sylvia on the ground.

"VOKER! VOKER IT'S REALLY BIG! PLEASE HELP!" Sylvia was screaming at the top of her lungs as she ran around.

Now that I'd gotten closer I could finally see what had been tossing massive boulders at us. The monster was towering but not nearly as big as the Wyrm or even the Cave Fiends. Its inky black scales were marked with orange streaks running across its limbs and it was suffused in the gloomy blue light.

The monster was a giant version of the geckos we had been fighting. It was standing on its back legs and using its massive pink tongue to gouge out rocks from the floor. It had its back towards a stone spire covered in the large blue light crystals.

So fireballs haven't been working. Let's try something a bit bigger… White Fire Lance.

The second I started feeding mana to my spell core, the overgrown lizard rolled its head back to me and beamed at me with its red eyes. It seems the monster can sense mana as well, too bad it's already too late.

White fire burst to life as the heat lashed my arms and face. The searing bolt of white fire launched off with tremendous speed towards the giant lizard. The bolt of fire exploded into the upper half of the monster in a shower of white hellfire.

The gecko let out a roar of pain but did not topple over. The fire trickled down the beast and revealed a small portion of pink flesh underneath burnt and damaged scales. My most powerful spell had left nothing more than a flesh wound but it had succeeded in gaining the monster's ire.

The creature turned its body around with lumbering steps and a loud crunching sound emanated from it. It sounded like tons of rocks being ground into smaller chunks. The monster's hideous mouth was leaking salvia and rock bits as it chewed aggressively.

"Stay on the other side! Don't come near me!" I yelled at Syliva.

Already knowing what was coming I formed multiple barriers of stone and even dumped extra mana into the first two walls to strengthen them. I spread them out evenly in hopes that it would be enough. Just for extra protection I put a layer of earth around my vital organs and waited for the inevitable.

The monster took one giant step forward and with a sound that sounded like it was spitting something up, followed by the deafening whizzing of airborne objects, the monster's shrapnel blast blew into my stone walls and leveled the outermost walls with ease. Even though my face was covered I could still hear the rock projectiles barreling through my barriers like paper. In a blink of an eye, the rocks had already made it to my reinforced portion. The first barrier took the brunt of the damage but it too crumbled to dust.

I could hear Sylvia yelling off in the distance but the hailstorm of rocks overpowered her voice. The reinforced stone wall that was standing before me was the only thing keeping me from being turned into swiss cheese. However, the wall began to fail. I could hear the cracks forming as the storm buffeted my final line of defense.

However, the storm began to die out. The sounds of the larger flying objects had mostly died out and only small projectiles were still crashing about. And then as quick as it came the storm had stopped. I destroyed the layer of stone around my body and chuckled.

One less wall and I would have been minced meat.

I destroyed what was left of my stone wall and looked out on the carnage that had been wrought. Chunks of gray stone from the monster's attack were mixed with my earthy brown rocks. Some of the gray rocks were as big as a man or even car-sized. My stone walls were no more. It looked like a rubble pile got shot with a shotgun then tossed into a tornado.

The monster had already turned its attention back to Sylvia as she was running around about to dodge the next attack. If fire magic didn't work maybe earth or lightning magic would be better?

I formed a spell core for a handful of Earth Spears and sent it flying towards the giant. I aimed for its head along with the spot I had damaged in hopes of piecing its flesh. I followed up the Earth Spears with a quick succession of multiple Lighting Bolts just to be doubly sure I did some kind of damage.

Reacting to the influx of magic, the monster flicked around and brought its hulking arm in front of its face and injured chest. My Lightning Bolt hit first and elicited a guttural sound of annoyance from the monster as its arm shook slightly. But no visible damage could be seen.

The Earth Spears were next and they hit the black scales with tink sounds as they fell apart from the impact. The monster roared once more as long cracks formed on the scales that had been hit by the spears. The monster moved its arm from its face and gave me a death glare. My spell hadn't even drawn a single drop of blood.

My strongest spell barely burned away the scales. Most of my spells are just scratching this thing or pissing it off. I need something even stronger or…

Red spikes shattered against the monster and turned into a fine red mist. Seemingly putting me on hold, the monster finished its throw of another rock towards Sylvia. The vampire was already on the move and was running at ludicrous speeds. Her face was contorted in half panic, half frustration as she narrowly rolled out of the way.

"Sylvia! Can you get your sword into that wound on its chest?!" I yelled.-

She bounced up from the ground and glared at me. "Do you think I can fly?! How am I supposed to get up there!? Its tongue is way faster than its arms! It will just grab me!"

"I'll figure something out! Just be ready!" I yelled back.

Okay… I need to bring it to its knees somehow. I need a spell that is even stronger than White Fire Lance. That only leaves me with one option.

I've never used combo magic in a fight before. The mana cost just to combine two spells was immense. If I wasn't careful I would drain all of my mana and at best I would pass out and at worst I would die. Just another day I suppose.

Earth magic damaged the scales but did little else. My strongest fire magic spell had the greatest effect and it seemed that lighting magic might have shaken it up a bit. So what happens if I form a spell core for White Fire Lance and add the school of lightning magic to it?

I dumped mana into my most impressive White Fire Lance yet. The lance was dripping white flames as I breathed in the hot air. I quickly added lighting magic and envisioned something I wasn't sure was possible.

The white fire morphed and swirled and the heat reached new heights. A deep blue veil surrounded my spell and spread around it. The lance morphed from a jagged white inferno into a smooth orb of blue fire. The blue orb looked like glass that had managed to trap fire inside of it and its heat was triple that of fire lance.

Small bolts of white and blue lightning periodically broke through the glass-like appearance only to be sucked back in. The core of the orb was a whitish-blue color and it threatened to burn all the air around me.

I released my new Plasma Round spell at the leg of the giant gecko. The orb cut through the air and warped it. I fell to my knees from the amount of mana that just left my body. I started gasping, but the only air I was breathing in was superheated and it burned my throat and chest. I looked up with tears in my eyes as the blue orb was fast approaching the monster.

It had turned to me and was preparing another rock when my spell hit. It impacted the monster in a blink of an eye. The blue orb connected with the knee joint and severed the leg in two.

The creature let out a blood-curdling roar as it toppled forward. It tried to catch itself with its arms but its own weight brought the monster to the ground with a thunderous shockwave. Dust and debris were kicked up once more but that wasn't stopping the monster.

It was already propping itself up on one arm and using the other to grab a handful of rock chunks near its impact point. I could feel the monster's unbridled hatred towards me as it bathed me in its bloodlust. Its arm came rearing back to make another throw but it stopped suddenly.

It began to convulse and its whole body began shaking violently. The black scales on the monster looked about ready to burst from the inside as something pressed against it. The creature tried to give one more roar of defiance but no sound left its mouth, instead, massive red spikes burst out from underneath the scales and out the creature's mouth. Sylva's Blood Sorcery had turned the now dead monster into a giant pin cushion.

I got back onto my feet and stumbled away so I could get some fresh air but I just couldn't seem to catch my breath. It's taking far too long for me to get combo spells off and it's putting me in a bad situation. One of these days the backlash from holding a spell for so long is going to be my downfall.

Sylvia grabbed me and shook me around a bit. "Voker! Are you okay? What was— shit."

I didn't fight back as Sylvia turned me around and sank her fangs into my shoulder. I felt the cold feeling of her Blood Sorcery spread through my body. My throat stopped burning and suddenly the pressure from my lungs lessened and I immediately began sucking in as much of the cool cave air as I could manage. My pounding headache vanished and I didn't feel like I was on death's door anymore but I still felt completely drained.

Sylvia moved away from me and was holding me upright. My breathing settled and I managed to get some words out, "Thanks, you did well."

"You idiot! What did you do?! What was that?! I could feel the heat from that spell from where I was! What—"

"Relax, please… and stop yelling in my ears, it hurts," I said while rubbing my ears. "And it was just a little bit of fire and lightning magic mixed together, nothing special."

Sylvia looked me over with a blank expression. Her eyes darted around as if she was looking for something then she blinked. "Voker… how… even my master couldn't combine schools of magic. The amount of mana and skill it takes is unbelievable."

"I've been training for a long time. I cast my first spell before my fifth birthday," I said.

"Are you a monster or something?" Sylvia said with a small chuckle.

"Maybe."