Corroding caverns

"So yeah, I'm gonna have to try again."

Its kinda pointless adding that at the end after the previous conversation. I just want to end it here. We'd been going on and on about quest rewards and economics for what felt like hours now. And its pretty obvious that the Quest giver didn't like me much.

"If you think you can manage. You're lucky that quest is so special."

"Is it? I thought it was kinda plain.."

The thuggish guy just shook his head and grinned. I'm really starting to get annoyed with being so unversed in Alius lore…

"Repeating quests ain't too rare. Even ones that go right back in your inventory, but that quest there ONLY works on this plane."

I'm giving a nod like I understand to get this over with. Honestly, who cares about details like this?-Wait. No. No matter how IRRELEVANT it sounds, I already missed out on way too much info here. Even if I have to stare at his smug stupid face for longer...

"I bet you're wondering why it was so easy right?"

"Yeah, it did seem kinda.. Pathetic."

He's glancing one way, then the other. Who would even be listening in? I think there's only 3 people left to hear it, including us 2.

"I ain't a weaver. But that quest has some serious weirdness around it. I don't do em myself. But I've heard that the monsters there are all awakened, with life abilities. I've got a hunch there's a bonus reward in there that no ones ever gotten before. And if its locked to this plane, it's gotta be something special."

Hmmm… Well damn, that's interesting. I'd be happy with a healing item at this point. But if there's some super rare equipment or something…

Whap!

"Haha. We'll see rain before you manage something like that though. Your just a fledgie after all."

Asshole. Who just beats on someone's back like that? What If I'm bruised? I don't know why this wifebeater is such a dick to me.. Actually, that was some pretty important info..

"Well, I guess I'll try it at least. See you around… Still not gonna give me a name?"

"Nope, against the rules."

Maybe if I let it slide enough times someone will finally explain the rules to me. Though that old lady, Cast tutor talked about stuff I'm better off not knowing. Whatever. Keep moving forward. Just get the sticky quest scroll and get out of here.

---

Just as muddy and humid as last time. 50% on if I just wanted to get out of the dryness of the dessert for a bit. Especially since it seems like my bad arm stings really bad whenever the wind picks up out there. Maybe sand was getting in my arm or something..? Hopefully not..

Obviously the fighting here is uneventful. I should probably work on my rot spells too, but Epsi arc is really convenient dealing with these easy target practice mobs. and hitting still wasn't a sure thing for this. Not jostling around my whole body to smack a boar-slime to death after a poison spell fails also seemed like a worthwhile boon.

I guess I could have tested if killing all the boars is really necessary… Maybe the bonus objective to get a healing item had to do with not killing them..? Shit. I should have thought of that.

Well, if nothing else I was grinding XP. And proficiency. And literal mechanical experience using my only real attack spell. Honestly using magic was excessively fun, getting to play around with the only really rewarding and engaging fantasy element in this new world did wonders for moral, even if it took a hit for being completely drained of energy after every single fucking cast.

So time for the boss again. I'm thinking about asking her to let me win again, just to confirm that this kill everything strat doesn't work asap… Getting a restart to try my pacifist run seemed pretty prudent. But at the same time I wonder if I get XP for that, and the boss shouldn't be THAT tough right?

I was already standing in the boss room, kinda zoned out there. The floor is echoing with my heavy, laborious steps. Courtesy of the of casting constantly spells.

Okay, last time the boss didn't appear until I touched the big center handle thing.. But in theory, she's just up there right? Maybe I can get a sneak attack? But that would probably ruin my chances of getting offered the free win..

||Confluent thought skill acquired!||

Another skill where I have no idea what it does. Wonderful. I'd love to make sure the shitty UI designer of this reality gets whats coming to them. But I guess it's better than nothing.

I was standing in front of the handle now. Still considering how to play this. Don't forget about what the Quest giver said. A bonus reward no one has ever got before…

It can't be that easy..

Or maybe because it doesn't seem easy that's exactly why it makes sense?

"There is only regret to be found down there Otherworlder."

Yeah yeah same dialog. But how does this thing work? It doesn't seem to push back or pull forward. Its kinda just a wide T shape.. Maybe it pushes down..? No, that doesn't do anything.

"Stop! Before you put yourself in grave danger-"

Ah pulling it up works! Kinda? I mean it didn't budge a bit, but suddenly the floor is shaking. Ah the floor is shaking. Book it for the room entrance!

The boss, as it turned out, was running right in step with me. Being a giant boar and all I'd expect her to overtake me in a moment but no, we are about the same speed running away from the deep, gonging floor towards the cavernous maw of the only exit.

"Why.. Why now..?! Why are you suddenly trying to escape?!"

The smoothness of the boss's voice had gone, it was more like a pigs squealing, I suppose I shouldn't hold a monster's opinion in high regard.. But I am starting to regret my actions a bit.

Dirt rumbled and fell from the floor as it turned, rusted, brown black metal falling to pieces as it was lifted up, crumbling trails of dust or rust falling into the dark void underneath, a smooth sloping curve forming at the edges of the room into a narrow necked hole within.

And as the seconds passed, that smooth metallic sheen is swallowed up by dark shapes, trailing sickly yellow trails so dense it's practically a flood rising up from the hole. Unfortunately for me, I see well in the dark.. Spiders. Frogs. Lizards. Scorpions. Snakes. All missing parts, heads or legs or entire halves moving by themselves, some cleanly cut while others were rotting and falling apart, unbothered by their mutilation.

A swell in the vermintide pushed up from the center of the hole. The narrow darkness spitting out a churning mass of animals like a dark tower. And there's something much bigger moving underneath, every so often a bit of it poking out from under the chittering and croaking and hissing. Sharp scythe like legs in the dozens, bits of shell a dark lilac color.

I couldn't quite explain to you what it meant to be afraid before I went through the rift. And before this moment, I would have swore I learned better. Facing the darkness and death and even kinda horrifying creatures. But that wasn't being afraid. Not really. That put a fire in you, instincts kicked in and you used everything you had. It was like being a pebble, kicked along the road.

This was different. I wasn't kicked. I wasn't spurred. I was paralyzed. I was stuck. I was CRUSHED. My brain wasn't working. No logical assumptions could formulate what was going on. There was nothing. It was like being choked over every inch of my body. Stapled to the dirt I stood on. It was a category I wouldn't even try and describe as fear, it was something grander, a mythological terror I had only ever read about.

||Fear stalling skill acquired!||

No. That wasn't helping.

The tower of vermin spread out. Flooding the dish of the floor more full as the thing they had shielded.. Or contained. Started to be exposed. The very tip of a wide beam of wood breaching out of the flood, then tips of Liliac antennae. Flowing down over a more… Humanoid shape. It was hard to tell at first, the long ponytail of platinum blond hair seemed to glow in this gloom, while a veil over the face of the… Woman. Was threaded with some kind of fleshy, wet material, looking almost like shredded meat.

Her clothes.. I think they're clothes. Are covered in scales, something halfway between a set of armor and a dress, metallic scales running along the forearms that straddled the wooden pillar, similar to the heavy looking skirt that covered the merging of humanoid into the body below, segment after segment of dusky purple chitin, supported on leg after leg sprouting from every independent section. Rimmed with luminescent pricks of yellow light like some deep sea creature.

It shifted around in the air, floating.. No. Supported by the massive stalk of its lower body, yanking the pillar of wood out of the pile of flesh underneath with a single hand and sliding the huge piece of lumber up with practiced ease. Stabbing it down with earthshaking force to the edge of the chambers floor. Right in front of me.

I'm on the ground now I guess. I don't know if the impact was that big, or If I just didn't stabilize myself. It really didn't matter. This centipede woman thing.. It was stronger then the boss without a question. The boss itself was making squeaking noises like a pig, shaking right next to me. I was already dead. Or dead the moment the centipede decided to kill me. Same thing.

"W-why! After all these years.. Why have you decided to challenge me now?! Did you think I would succumb with age..?!"

"How could you? You started looping centuries ago. There's no aging with the curse."

"W-what?! Are you implying that you haven-"

"Quiet please. I never intended to resist my judgment in the first place. But this curious creature has a right to the knowledge it seeks doesn't it?"

It seems like that shut up the boss. Or It just didn't dare say anything more as the Centipede creature started to walk.. Slither.. Clamber.. Up towards us. Even with the veil I couldn't really mistake the direction of her head. Staring directly at me.

I closed my eyes. It was stupid. Childish. But what was I gonna do? Nothing obviously. I just screwed my eyes closed and hoped somehow, against everything they had faithfully reported. That I was gonna live.

"Well? I don't know what you expected to find in that vessel. Does it fit your imagination?"

I could hear her, the voice was creepy.. Not in any measurable way, but just how smooth it was, pouring out without a spill. It didn't fit a monster. It didn't fit a human either. But words wouldn't harm me. So I choked out a reply.

"Hykkkk.."

Okay so reply is a strong word. But choked is an accurate descriptor…

"Am I something to be afraid of? I wouldn't hurt you even if I could stranger. I'm simply curious as to who would think to release me after all this time."

It was too sweet. Too tempting. Exactly what I wanted to hear. I wasn't in danger. I was just overreacting! This was a starter quest after all. Its not like I was going to run into anything I couldn't deal with!

BULLSHIT!

"[E-Epsi arc]!"

Somehow I managed to work the words out for a spell, and aim it through squinted eyes and a jerking body. And by that same miracle It curled right where I needed it too. Into the huge boar-slime!

What? Cowardliness? Wheres my pride as an adventurer? Fuck off. There's no way I was gonna contend with that massive centipede! I needed to get out of here yesterday!

Crrrlzzk!

The bosses whole body jerked to the side as electricity exploded off its left eye. Burning flesh and boiling the slime underneath. But not enough. She was still staggering backwards, not dead yet!

I didn't have it in me to use that spell again.. But I had too! There was no other way out.

"[Epsi-]Mphh!"

"You'll kill yourself you idiot."

My mouth was covered, and my hand was seized. I didn't even know you could stop someone casting a spell like this. But I felt it like a rubber band snapping back at me as my anima returned from its nearly detached swell.

It was the Centipede woman, I caught a glance of amethyst eyes underneath the swaying of her veil. And I just went limp. Thoughts about fighting to the bitter end just drained under clear evidence of hopelessness.

---

Okay, Nerian who's still alive here. I've been trapped for the time being. But I'm starting to suspect that might not be a problem…

"Are you ready to speak?"

"...If I say yes can I leave?"

"I'd prefer you didn't."

She framed it nicely. But It's not like I have the power to just walk past her and go finish the boss. Who was now residing in their chamber while I had been brought near the spawn point. I don't think I'm in danger so much anymore… But come on. It's a giant Centipede woman. Every trope in my brain told me something bad was gonna happen.

"Okay. I messed with the handle thing cause I thought it might be a path to a bonus reward for some kind of equipment or at least a healing item to help fix my messed up arm. And then I shot the boss cause her dying completes the quest… Is that everything?"

I couldn't read what she was thinking under the veil, it was a quizzical silence judging from her hand moving to clasp her chin though.

"Bonus reward? Boss? Quest..? I'm not familiar with those things… Even the passive weave doesn't make sense of it…"

Was this… A language barrier? No no, that doesn't make any sense. I still understood what she's saying. And clearly it goes both ways. So I guess it's something that can't be translated… Quests are normal parts of this world right? The boss seemed to get the concept at least..

"Ah. I really don't know that much either.. I guess it's simplest to say I come here from a different place entirely, and once I do a certain thing I leave, and sometimes if I do other stuff I get things out of it..? Actually. Thinking about it, it doesn't really add up…"

"No. I think I understand… The mechanism of the loops relies on invaders from outside.. And the jailor's life is the end of the loop.. Well. I'm sorry to have disrupted you so rudely then."

She just got it like that? I definitely wasn't doing the best job of explaining.. Well I guess all's well that ends well… As if.

"Huh…? That's it?"

"Like I said, I just wanted to understand why you sought to release me. I'm certainly no one to pass judgment or jail you here against your will."

That.. doesn't make sense. Doesn't she have literally every reason to? I mean. my best guess is that if I complete the quest now she would just get stuck inside that thing under the boss room again… Not a fate I'd wish on anyone.

"..Don't you want to leave?"

The smooth train of her departure paused for a moment. It probably wasn't meant as a threatening gesture, but my heart jumped into my throat anyways.

"You ask hard questions, stranger… But I guess the first person to release me deserves an answer to that much. I suppose its not my place to… No that doesn't quite answer the question.. Ugh. Yes. I want to leave. Please don't ask any more of me."

She's a… Monster right? Granted. I really didn't know what qualifies a monster in this world from an animal, or a person. But now that seems like a relevant question. The way she's talking about this, avoiding the topic like she doesn't DESPERATELY want to talk about it. Trying to run this whole strong quiet type persona... That's pretty pathetic for a monster.

"I mean. It might be in my interest to get you out of here anyways.. I'll probably get a bonus reward. Maybe.."

"Do you even understand what the 'here' your trying to free me from is?"

Well damn. She called my bluff. I had a little experience with it from my first quest. But quests kinda don't expand beyond their borders. This little cavernous mudhole is probably all that exists here. So if it's all getting reset when I finish a quest I'd have to take her out of the quest entirely to get her out in a meaningful way... But still, there's no way this doesn't reward me in some way right? She obviously wants out.. so I'm sure she can do... Something, to make it worth the time.

"Yeah. I might as well give it a shot."

"I suppose I'm in no position to refuse. Do you have an idea?"

Yes. Just not a good one.

---

The boss isn't nearly as sneaky if you know where she's hiding. Especially since the injury I shot at her earlier didn't seem fully healed, she's dripping bits of slightly discolored slime towards the sloping hole in the floor while sticking to the ceiling. The bugs and stuff at least seemed to be dead for real now, so at least there isn't a carpet of crawly things underfoot.

Fumbling with a few thoughts for a second I bit my tongue, it's super awkward to walk in here holding hands with the Centipede lady. But I mean. It might work? I don't think things currently in my hands get taken away when I finish a quest, my weapon was still in hand after both previous quests. So this might work. That's enough of a reason to ignore how normal her huge hand felt in mine.

"Are you done with questions..? You shouldn't be out of your prison in the first place Orphea.."

The bosses tone was more whiny than reprimanding. It was kinda hard to take it seriously after seeing it shit itself as much as I did.. Well. almost as much.

"Yes. The questions are finished. I will return to my place shortly… Probably."

"What does that mea-"

"[Espi arc]"

I actually intended to shoot the boss as soon as we walked in, but its hard okay? I'm kinda distracted holding a hand with my bad arm, and also I've never tried to hit something so far away with this spell, its crazy curve made it kinda not great for it. In fact as the lightning shot out it had to dip into the basin of the floor to curl completely upwards and strike the boss. I kinda shot for the fences here and it paid off. a little flash of flame appearing in the instant before a fresh UI window opened.

||Quest complete! Penalty applied: No rewards||

God, its always so fucking dry here.

Aaand I wasn't holding a hand anymore… I'm going in again… Fuck.