Vol.3 Ch.60- The Withered Forest.

After our fight and Sylvia's injuries, we decided to take another break at the end of this floor. Thankfully there weren't any more lakes filled with mysterious clear liquid and stone sharks swimming about them. But still taking a long break after we just took one wasn't ideal. Then again, taking advantage of any real safety this dungeon offers us isn't a bad thing either.

I was also worried about Sylvia. She hasn't spoken much since she lost her leg to that last shark. I also think our conversation about her coming to terms with killing has gotten in her head somewhat. I didn't mean for it to negatively affect her… but then again I should have figured it would have. I need to be more careful about what I say to others in the future. Just when things started looking good as well…

I remember the conversation I had with Grandpa way back when about Cerila. He told me that she would hang on every word I said. Makes me wonder if maybe people put more weight into my words than I think. But I think that's just reaching. Sylvia and Cerila's situations aren't the same. Surely I'm just looking too much into this…

The two of us were sitting around a small fire to the entrance to the next floor. Sylvia had just woken up and was staring into the fire listlessly. Her purple and black hair was matted down from all the sweat and blood.

Over a month of constant fighting and most of that was during our more… sour time together. Even though we mended our fractured relationship and we have been getting along far better than I imagined… stress is still stress. What do people normally do in situations like this?

"Was it like this for you? When you lost your hand?" Sylvia asked me quietly.

On this side of the lake, the blue crystals were absent so the only light was from our fire. The fire made Sylvia's crimson eyes glow. I once looked upon those eyes with hatred but now I saw something different.

"For my hand? No. I was hyped on drugs and the adrenaline of escaping so I didn't feel anything. I hate to say it but I've just gotten used to the pain. I woke up every day for six years in pain. I've nearly died… three times now… no four? Seems I've lost count…"

I looked back at Sylvia and she was just staring at me. She didn't seem annoyed, more… unsure? I guess.

"That's awful," she responded dryly.

I rubbed my head from the awkward silence. Seems I'm not very good at this type of stuff after all. At least when it matters most…

"I'm afraid, Voker… I don't want to die down here, alone in the dark… I'm scared of the pain…" Sylvia said in a quite shaky voice as she curled her legs up to her chest.

"I see… that's good, I think."

Sylvia gave me a look as if I had just killed her family.

"No! No! That's not what I meant… sorry… It's just there was a point in my life where I wasn't afraid of death so I understand somewhat," I said with a wave of my hands.

"What?" she questioned.

"There was a time where I didn't fear death. I just didn't care… there were even points where I wanted to die and points where I wished I wasn't even born."

Sylvia was listening to me in silence so I just continued filling the silence with words.

"But I look back at those times now and I realize they are some of my darkest moments. My life… It's important. I have people out there who care about me and I want them to know I'm okay, that I'm alive.

"Yeah, but I don't have anyone anymore. Nobody is waiting for me to make it out of this dungeon," Sylvia said coldly.

"I'm waiting for you. I need you, Sylvia. You said it yourself. If you die, I die. You know you asked me if I was afraid of fighting monsters and the truth is I'm not afraid of most things anymore. But that's why I think I'm afraid of dying because it means I would leave my loved ones behind again. And if I die first, then you will too, so I guess you wouldn't be dying alone. But I'd rather have both of us live through this."

I don't want to die again. And I don't want Sylvia to die either. I've been alone before. Lost in the darkness of despair. I know what it's like and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that. Not by themselves at least.

"I'm not sure what I can do for you, Sylvia. I want to help you but I can't… So at the very least, I'll make you a promise," I said.

"A promise?"

"Yes, I promise we are both going to make it out of here. I'm not sure what we are going to do when we get out… But if you want, my village has plenty of land in it. The weather is a little on the uncomfortable side but it's not all that bad. Food is pretty good too. The sweet bread is—"

"You would really take me to your village? I thought you hated me?"

Now it was my turn to be confused.

"Huh? Didn't we already go over this? I don't hate you, Sylvia."

"Then you are just saying all this to make me feel better…" Sylvia huffed in annoyance.

"Partially," I admitted.

"See I knew it! You—"

I interrupted her before she could go on a spiraling downslope of self-loathing. I also didn't want her to say anything she would regret.

"I am being serious, you know? I'm not lying to you when I said I'd make and keep that promise. And I really am serious about my offer to come with me to my village, not that you have to accept it or anything. I might be a lot of things, Sylvia, but I'm not a liar."

Sylvia looked down at her feet and seemed to sink even further into herself. "What if I'm just lying to you? That this is just all one big game for me and I'll kill you the second we get out of here, huh?"

"Well… I don't think you are lying to me. I think you might be keeping a few things to yourself but that's fine because I am too. But if you are lying to me then… keep doing it, I guess? You got me convinced and I plan on continuing to trust you until you give me a reason not to. Of course, I would prefer it if you weren't lying to me," I said with a small shrug while I stoked the fire with my cane.

I don't think Sylvia is playing me for some kind of fool so I feel confident in saying I can trust her. I do believe her story of waking up in a dungeon thousands of years in the future. Her eyes are proof enough as it is. Any doubt got washed away when I saw her use her Blood Sorcery for the first time.

But more importantly, she isn't some ancient vampire menace. Just some fourteen-year-old girl lost in time and afraid of dying alone. Not too far off from me, I suppose. Maybe we are more alike than I would care to admit…

"You trust me?" Sylvia mouthed out slowly.

"That's right, I trust you. I trust you to watch my back when I sleep. I trusted you to finish off that giant monster when I couldn't. I trusted you to heal me and save me yet again. And I trusted you a little while ago when you carried me across that nightmare lake. I don't know what else I can do to show you just how much I trust you, Sylvia."

"You know talking to you is one of the weirdest things I've ever done. I'd put it right under waking up in a coffin in the future…" Sylvia half chuckled.

"Really? Why's that?" I asked.

"I don't feel like I'm talking to some kid that's supposed to be a year younger than me. But I guess you had to grow up a long time ago, huh?" she asked.

"You're aren't the first person to say that to me…" I awkwardly chuckled back. "And yeah… I guess I did."

Well not really. I'm not sure if I ever was a kid. Maybe just some weirdo trying to act like one. I guess all I can do is try. I tried to be the best son in the world at one point. But I'm pretty sure I failed at that and all I've ever done is cause my parents grief.

But I wonder what she would say if I told her I had lived a previous life as a super soldier that traveled the stars and committed mass genocide on a galactic scale in the name of Humanity?

Nevermind. I'd rather not know. Hopefully, nobody will ever know about that. I wish I could just forget about those times. Maybe just not the people in them.

The people… Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Suárez, Heimdall, and Nyx… your faces… have I really forgotten what you all looked like? You all seem so blurry to me now…

"Thanks, Voker, I feel a little better now. And… I believe you. Your promise? Thanks for that too, and well, I'll put some thought into your offer. But we need to get out of here first," Sylvia said with a stern look.

"Of course."

I'm going to try and get some more sleep, is that okay with you?" Sylvia asked me.

"Sure thing. I don't mind one bit."

I spent those quiet hours delving deep into my old memories so I could see the faces of my old squad members. I was happy to know that I hadn't forgotten them completely, but it was getting harder to remember. But I'd never forget the promises I made to them.

I wonder if I would have thought like this if I was still Kronos? If I hadn't been killed would I have continued to grow as a person as I do now? Would I have yelled at somebody? Cried over the people I missed? Would I even have been capable of missing someone so much? Would I even care about somebody else's life that wasn't a part of my squad? No, probably not. And oddly enough that notion makes me both sad and scared. Going back to the old me would be a nightmare but…

This current version of myself? Am I happy with who I am right now? Am I becoming the ideal version of the me I want to be? Sadly I think I'm coming up short in that department as well. But I am getting better, right? Even if just a little? I would have never talked to somebody like this before being reborn so maybe I am improving. Guess I can't get any worse than what I once was…

Sigh… Thinking is hard. Emotions are even more difficult to tackle. I see why they chopped those bits of our brains to pieces now. Things were simpler back then, but I wouldn't go back.

No, in a weird way, I guess I'm kind of happy.

—

With both of us rested and Sylvia in higher spirits, the two of us descended another floor in this hellhole. Once again we took a flight of stairs that was carved out of the gray Dull Stone. I've seen a lot so far in this dungeon, a winter hellscape, a bridge of stone over an infinite abyss, a lake filled with stone sharks, and a mysterious liquid. I don't even want to imagine what other horrors await us.

On the bright side of this eternal dungeon run, my leg was doing better. I've gotten a majority of my strength back and I could walk freely without the need of a cane. I could even manage a light jog but running was still a ways away. Even going down the stairs didn't bring a burning pain with it anymore.

After an hour or so of going down the staircase, we finally reached the landing. And the scene before us was new and concerning. It was a similar style of caves but the ceiling was much lower than normal. Of course, five or six people could stack on top of each other and still not reach the ceiling but it was something different compared to the infinite abyss when you looked up in some of the other floors.

Syliva had walked over and was inspecting what looked to be a withered tree. Its trunk was twisted and gnarled and the wood looked like it had been burnt to a charcoal black. At the top of the tree instead of leaves, the dead branches converged onto a single blue crystal that was giving off light. It almost looked like the tree was grabbing and dangling the crystal with burnt fingers.

"I definitely don't like this…" Sylvia murmured while looking out into the cave.

These twisted trees were spread out through the cave. Large patches of nothing but darkness lay between each separated tree. But that wasn't the only weird thing about this floor.

"What's with the ground?" Sylvia asked while kneeling. "Looks like somebody scooped out a massive chunk of the rock and made it into a bowl."

"No… that's not right…" I said while joining her to inspect the rocky surface.

Sylvia turned to me and tilted her head to the side. I was still running my hands across the stone when I looked up to see her slightly annoyed face looking back at me.

"It's more like an impact crater," I mused.

That's right, it looks like impact craters but not from explosions. The rock is smooth as if something has been repeatedly smashing the surface and the size of each crater is significant. It's sort of the same smoothness the Cave Fiends did on the second-floor walls but different. I looked around but I couldn't see anything that was making these indentations in the floor.

"Now that you mention it… these weird tree things are growing from the middle of the craters," Sylvia added.

"You are right. We should be careful. Look up frequently and be careful in the darkness. I'll do my best to light the way." I stood up and did a nice long stretch then extended a hand to Sylvia. "You ready?"

Sylvia gave me a faint smile and took my hand as I helped her up. "Let's do it. Just another floor, right?"

"Yeah, just another floor," I nodded.

With that, I sent a group of small flames in front of us and around us to light the bouts of intermediate darkness while we traversed the floor. We must have been walking for hours seeing the same scene.

Burnt trees dangling their gloomy blue crystal, then darkness followed by another tree. The trees seemed to be the path straight through the dungeon so we decided to see if we could find the sidewalls, which we actually managed to do. This floor was on the smaller side when compared to the other floors we have been on. At least it was in scale, the end of this floor still seemed far off.

"You hear that, right? Something like a scraping spinning sound?" Sylvia asked quietly while taking out her sword.

"Yeah. And you see that spot over there? There isn't a tree where one should be and the sound is coming from there."

Sylvia nodded and the two of us slowed down to a crawl as we approached the sound. It was a grinding sort of sound but it was difficult to place.. almost like something was spinning around and grinding away at the stone like a drill. Once we reached the spot I extended my fireballs into a ring and turned up the light.

"What the hell is that?!" Sylvia yelped.

Even I was confused at what I was seeing. It looked like a pair of four stumpy legs sticking out from the ground. The legs were connected to what looked like the underneath of a gray stone shell. It was spinning around like it was trying to dig itself into the ground. Then the creature stopped spinning.

I wasn't sure what was coming but we collectively took a few steps back. I had been expecting the creature to start spinning wildly around so I was preparing earth spells to stop it but what I had not been expecting was for the creature to break free of the crater then start floating.

With frightening speed, the monster lifted itself out of its hole without the use of anything. The creature was airborne then its speed increased as it landed on the ceiling with a thump. Such a large creature shouldn't be able to fly. Let alone one that vaguely resembles a monstrous snapping turtle.

Is it… manipulating gravity?

The turtle monster was now on the ceiling and its neck was craning out of its shell as it stared at us with unnatural golden eyes. Its shell was a grayish blue color and had varying patterns running across it.

Welp, time to kill it.

I sent a barrage of Earth Spears at the monster but the second I started forming spell cores it retracted its neck back into itself then started crawling around the ceiling. My spells impacted the shell but either broke upon contact or reflected off the shell. I upped the power and started tossing Fireballs and a few Lightning Bolts but they met much the same fate.

The monster was moving slowly across the ceiling despite its early display of speed using whatever magic or ability it has. But it looked like it was trying to position itself above us.

I nudged Sylvia and brought her away from the monster. Whatever it was trying to do it wanted to be above us. Wait… those craters… it's from this monster falling from the ceiling, isn't it? It's going to try and crush us.

One light jog later and we had evaded the landing zone of the monster. And as I imagined, the turtle monster had put itself into a position above where had been. Then it looked as if gravity started making sense again and the monster fell to the rocky surface below with a loud boom.

Not only is the monster manipulating gravity to allow it to float to the ceiling it's also increasing the gravity to make it fall faster. Amazing… does that mean gravity magic exists? And is this monster capable of using magic?

"Should we just avoid this monster? It's pretty slow and it doesn't seem too aggressive. We can probably just walk around it, right?" Sylvia suggested.

"We can… but what if there are more? If we get surrounded it might not go as well as it did with the Cave Fiends," I countered.

"They are pretty slow. I can outrun them if need be. And I don't hear anymore unless you do?"

"No, I suppose I don't hear anymore."

"Then let's go. We just need to be careful," Sylvia said while taking charge.

We avoided the monster as it dug itself into the ground some more but before we raced off deeper into the dungeon, I noticed something at the bottom of the hole the monster was in previously.

"Wait, I'm going to check that out," I called out to Sylvia.

I slid down the crater and made my way towards the center. Laying in a fine powder was some kind of greenish white substance. I made a stick out of earth magic and poked around the powder and it made a crunching noise. The powder shone in the light coming from my Fireballs and I deemed it safe enough to touch.

"Huh, it's like powdered crystals…" I said while running the dust through my fingers.

I had the thought that maybe it was the same crystals that gave off the blue light but this crystal powder was more of lime green with a bit of white in it. It seems like it also came from the ground so I wonder…

"Hey, what are you doing?! Is digging around in that monster's hole really a good idea?!" Sylvia whispered loudly.

"No, but I want to see what that monster is trying to find. And I'm nearly there…" I huffed. "Also why are you whispering so loudly? What's the point?" I asked curiously.

"Just shut up…" Sylvia groaned.

Okay…

Using earth magic to manipulate this Dull Stone stuff was a real pain. It took nearly double the amount of mana just to dig out a small hole in the stuff. But my labor was rewarded with the uncovering of a green crystal of some type.

"It's pretty…" Sylvia said while looking over my shoulder.

I nodded and touched the green crystal. It was warm to the touch and its formation seemed to be flatter than I had anticipated. Visually, it had nothing in common with the blue crystals besides the fact that it was a crystal. And it didn't give off any kind of light.

"Was that monster trying to eat the crystals?" Slyvia asked out loud.

"Seems so."

I had a curious thought and I poured mana from the center of my chest to the tips of my fingers. Once the mana gathered at my fingertips the green crystal hummed slightly then it began to collapse in on itself. It looks like the crystal structure was sliding over itself to open like a moving tunnel. The crystal moved away as my hand sank deeper and deeper into the crystal until it left only the gray stone underneath. I retracted my hand and the crystals started slowly forming back together.

"How interesting… it's reacting to my mana. I'm gonna take some of it."

"Huh? You are just going to take this stuff? What if you piss the monster off and it comes for us?" Sylvia argued.

"I'll put it into my ring so it won't be a problem. Just cover me for a little bit while I mine a chunk of this stuff."

"Fine, just hurry up…" Sylvia grunted in annoyance.

Sylvia made her way to the top of the crater but made it very clear she wasn't happy with all her mumbling. I wasn't sure what use this crystal would have but having a material that reacts to mana must be useful for something. I've never heard of a crystal like this before so it might be unique to this dungeon.

I was struggling from exerting so much mana but I had a feeling it was going to be worth it. Besides I was used to moving around so much of my mana at this point. I wasn't sure how long it took me to dig out the crystal but it was long enough for Sylvia to get even more annoyed with me.

"Voker!? Why are you digging so much out?! Can't we do this somewhere else?" she hissed.

"The monster isn't coming this way, right?" I asked while finishing the last portion of digging out the stone.

"No, it's still in the other crater."

"Then I have time. Besides, I'm already done…"

I had dug around the crystal instead of digging the crystal itself out. I was glad I did that considering that this crystal was much bigger than I had expected. The only thing left was a small portion of stone still connected to the crystal that I had left for the express purpose of putting it into my ring. The crystal being connected to the stone makes it one big entity that I can't store. But if I separate it then I should be able to store it.

Instead of using earth magic I just sliced the stone apart with a bit of fire magic and the crystal broke free. In the same second, I dropped the crystal I had my hand on the crystal and willed it into my ring. The crystal chunk, which was nearly the size of a small compact car vanished and I could mentally gauge that it was now inside my storage. The crystals took up over half the bedroom-sized space but it's not like I have anything else to put in there.

"Done?" Sylvia asked while looking down at me.

"Let's go."

Now that I had my crystal, the two of us continued onwards through this new floor.