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Chapter Thirty: The Beginning

  I whistled to myself and slowly turned towards the rest of the forest and took it in. The beast had been lying in the middle of a large clearing, and even though a lot of it had been dissolved or ruined by all of the acid it had flung and its final death throes, I could still see a lot of the underlying beauty. There were unbelievably colorful flowers coating the forest floor, and from underneath the thick petals crawled out a heavy plethora of winding vines. They stretched out and crawled around the trees surrounding the clearing, winding around them tightly. So tightly in fact, that if it hadn’t been for the clearly visibly branches and canopy overhead, I wouldn’t have been able to tell if the vines weren’t just the trees themselves. Though… that’s not to say the vines weren’t still trying to strangle the tree branches.

  I hadn’t actually been paying attention to my surroundings during the fight, so it was actually sort of really cool to see where the einha had chosen to die. I wonder how crazy that must have felt… just feeling like you were having a good day and resting in a field of flowers, and then suddenly you feel like your stomach was being clawed and destroyed from the inside.

  I shivered and shook my head. Damn… that was actually such a terrifying thought honestly. Since I was so focused on not dying for the second time against the dire bear, I hadn’t even considered it, but… yeah, maybe I was going to stop using this tactic for the future…

  I sighed and shook my head. Yeah, I had realized it when I had been training with the old man, and then when I was fighting the archer and that einha, but I definitely needed to get stronger. Honestly though… I felt like it wasn’t even a matter of having stronger, rarer, or more proficient skills. Experiencing how aggressively the old man had crushed me during each of our training sessions, well, it was humbling. I could tell by now when others would use their skills, but that old man… he never once used his. He just pummeled me into oblivion, using pure physical strength. And the same thing had happened with this archer, and the einha. All they had to do was use pure physical prowess.

  I clicked my tongue and cracked my knuckles. I guess it was about time I changed that, huh? Now… if I was heading back to the dungeon entrance to grab my bag and get some new clothes, why not just dive into it, eh? I mean, I was going to have to get stronger eventually, and how funny would that be? I make my magnificent return in a few months, show up the Richter’s, kick Darnell’s ass and take my cut, and then go back to that crotchety old man for my real training since I got through the first floor? Hell, especially if I was able to get through it in a few months! That’d show that old man! It was a perfect flow… and I was all about a good flow!

  I laughed and started off into the forest, humming to myself as I tossed the einha horn from hand to hand. It was going to be a bit of a walk back there, but I just had to follow the einha’s tracks back… or at least I was hoping they led back. If nothing else, I should be able to start finding some of the archer’s arrows. I doubted that the Richter’s cleaned them up after they captured them, and they should be able to lead me all the way back. Hell, I bet they might even be able to lead me all the way back to the town when I managed to make my way out of the dungeon.

  I sighed and dodged around a particularly low hanging branch. Well, that is, if I make it through the dungeon with my sanity intact… yeah… maybe this wasn’t the best plan. I imagine that the old man laid out those limits with the expectation that I would be adventuring into the dungeon over the course of several years, and all while learning more about how my skills and strength worked. So even if I did just nonstop push through the dungeon, there was no way this would take a year… but I didn’t really have any other options as it stood.

  Hell, I doubted that even the Richter’s were able to get through the dungeon in one go. Mostly because they would have to go back for food and supplies, but still. Even if I could survive without food and water like I had in the past, damn was this going to suck. And if I got to a crossroads that needed anything that I didn’t have in my bag? Fuck… yeah I really was going to be fucked.

  I groaned and hopped over a stack of rocks, lightly hopping on each of them. At the end of the day though, I didn’t really have any other options as it were. It was either, find my bag, try my best to make it back to town, try to get the Richter’s arrested, probably fail, and have no real way to prove that I had any stake in the archers bounty… Or, I dive the dungeon, get stronger and more powerful, and then hopefully find my way back to the town or find someone to help me back, kick Darnell and the Richter’s asses, and then claim my rightful cut of the pay through force. Then I could just make my way back to the old man's place and work on finding a way to get back at that asshole Hafi, Cylkia, and Baern.

  As it was, I was really leaning towards the second option, but there were so many problems with it. I grunted as I leaped over a small creek, my feet sinking into the soft earth into the other side. Damn, how far had this fucking einha gone before it died? I hadn’t even seen any of the arrows from that last fight with the archer, or even any of those damned traps. Ugh… Well, as my plan stood now, I guess the second option was my only real option. I was just going to have to try and just storm through till I was strong enough… or found someone who was. Though… I don’t know if I liked that option either, especially since the last time I had tried something similar, I had just ended up in this exact situation!

  I cursed and kicked a rock, muttering to myself as I continued on through the forest. I can’t believe that they had just left me like that. I mean, the least they could have done was just stab me in the back! But no, they couldn’t have been bothered to do some good ol’ betrayal, instead they just unraveled all of that hard work I had painstakingly accomplished! They just let that fucking coward free! Not even an hour after being caught for the first time since they had begun their rampage! Ugh! I assumed that they probably had some plan to recapture them, but still! Fucking hell… I was getting my cut at the end of the day, one way or another.

  My eyes scanned the forest, until finally, my passive skill picked up on something below me. I hummed to myself and looked more closely at the ground, laughing as what I saw reinforced what I had thought.

  I felt the edges of my lips twitch up into the ghost of a smile. Carefully, casually, and easily, I sauntered over the trap, humming to myself as I eyed the poorly hidden pitfall. Shoddy, rushed work. Hmm… yes, I must be close to where the einha had eaten me.

  I smirked and picked up the pace, ducking and dodging around the trees until finally, I saw the glint and glimmer of an arrowhead. Fucking finally! I laughed and skipped into the clearing, eyeing the torn and destroyed ground and trees. Damn… it really had been a hell of a fight.

  I eyed the edges of the clearing and then closed my eyes, struggling to remember where I had come in from, and where the entrance to the dungeon was. It took me a second to see what I had been looking for, but as I slowly walked around the edge of the clearing, my eyes rested on a deep cut on the tree. One that matched my claws… perfectly. I laughed and slashed into the tree again, carving a deeper groove into the bark. Perfect indeed, perfect indeed!

  I tugged on the void, and activated sprint, charging off into the forest and straining my senses so that I didn’t stumble into any other traps. I hadn’t been exactly trying to run in a straight line when I had been avoiding the archer, but the Richter’s had been. They needed to have set up some way to find their way back, and I just needed to find it. Or at least, I had been needing to find it. My senses suddenly pricked, and I couldn’t help but let out a loud whistle as my eyes landed on the sneakily hidden R high up in the branches.

  I smirked and dashed forward again, chuckling to myself, “Should’ve known they’d hide it up so high. It’s perfect for Spyr and Cryon to see isn’t it? Haha… well, I guess I got the last laugh in the end! Thanks guys!”

  I dashed forward, laughing as I flew through the forest again. I had to be careful of the increase in traps of course, but as I raced along I was emboldened by more of the R’s I saw, and an increase in the traps placed in the forest. Then, almost as if it was just spitting me out, I exploded out of the forest. There, in front of me was that same dungeon entrance that I had seen so long ago, and as my eyes searched near the opening, I let out a loud sigh of relief as I saw my bag hidden where I had left it. Oh thank the gods, I was getting sick of being naked!

  I flew forward and scaled the rocks, snagging a hold of the bag and tossing it up in the air, catching it as it fell down and ripping it open. There it all was, and as my eyes darted to the extra pile of clothes and jerky in the corner, I felt a smile explode onto my face. Good, I still had some gods damned food! Holy shit was I starving!

  I snatched them up and clothed myself, before tearing into the jerky cheerfully. I had been starving for years before, so I knew I could last a terribly long time before I needed to eat again, but I still felt the hunger. Still felt the thirst. Still felt the cold and the heat. I tugged the shirt and pants on and turned to the entrance to the dungeon entrance again with a laugh.

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  I considered it for a moment before shrugging and slinging my bag over my shoulder. Hmm… Well, I still did have only those two options left, and the second one seemed better and better the more I considered it. Eh, well, this was the whole reason I came to the town wasn’t it? To dive into this shit dungeon and get stronger. Yeah… it was just about time that I did some real dungeon diving.

  I eyed the dark, but shrugged and started in after a moment. I didn’t know what to expect, but still I walked on through the dark, heavily relying on my spatial awareness as the light quickly dimmed, and then vanished, making it so I couldn’t see anything at all.

  I pursed my lips, but focused back on my spatial awareness, allowing it to do all the looking for me. Though, it wasn’t like I really needed it. It was just more of the same, all around me. Just darkness and stone walls, continuing on seemingly endlessly in a straight line. On and on they went, and so did I. Simply walking forward through the dungeon until I finally arrived at an odd point in the dungeon. My senses reached out around me, but found nothing tangible besides the ground beneath my feet. No walls, no scents in the air, and not even the feel of the air on my skin.

  It was almost as if I had been dropped off into the middle of nowhere, and my heart raced as I froze still, my mind racing a million miles a minute. Nothing happened, nothing moved, and still I continued to simply stand there. Until suddenly, I felt it. A movement in the dark. A shift, or a rustle, I wasn’t so sure, but I lashed out at it, frantically trying to stop it or fend it off, but I was much too late.

  It snatched me up as if I was nothing and flung me through the air, smacked me to the side, and then spun me as if I was a top. Inertia flung me every which way and I felt sick to the stomach as I crashed into a pillar, and then a wall, and then the floor.

  I groaned and tried to get up, but once again the thing latched on to me and tossed me flying through the air. Then I was swatted to the side, flung upwards, and then slammed into the ground once more. I was expecting pain to be screaming through my body, but even with all of the ragdolling, I still somehow felt okay. Somehow still whole.

  My eyes were wide, and so when the darkness lit up with color, it instantly blinded me. As my eyes shriveled and stung, I cried out in shock, slamming them shut as fast as I could. Pain pulsed through me, forming an instant headache as afterimages of color flashed across my eyelids.

  I bared my teeth and shook my head as I felt tears sliding down my cheeks as my eyes struggled to heal and adjust. I panted and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and groaned in annoyance. Holy fuck that was so bright!

  I took a long moment, but slowly, ever so slowly, I opened my eyes and peered out, amazement screaming through my body as I looked around. The once dull and dark tunnel was full of color, bedazzling diagrams, shapes, and symbols. They morphed and flowed and changed, becoming one shape after another as I sat there and took it all in. It was just… too much. Too much color, too many things, and just too much… stuff! I frowned and let my eyes flick around my surroundings for an exit. I much preferred Grim’s, or hell even Verdant’s, realm over this.

  Almost as if it could hear the thought, I felt that same thing from before grab onto me aggressively. I yelped as it ripped me from the dungeon floor and flung me into the color filled expanse once more, before suddenly forcing me to stop and flinging me the other way. Then I was flipped, twisted, spun, and then slapped straight into a wall so hard I felt a massive bruise form.

  I yelped in pain, but it wasn’t done with me, and I was tossed back and forth even more aggressively, crashing into colorful wall after colorful wall. I groaned as my head went woozy, and I shook my head hard, struggling not to black out. What the hell was this? A trap or something?

  Panic coursed through me, and I slashed out with my claws in a whirlwind. I was hoping to cut any wires or monsters that could be around, but my claws passed through thin air, pissing me off even more. I roared and slashed again, narrowing my eyes to block out the colorful views around me, but it didn’t do anything. I was still getting dragged and thrown around by the mysterious entity, and the kaleidoscopic views refused to change.

  Then, it fucked up. It flung me hard at what I had figured out was the wall, and I spun, pointing my legs down. When they impacted, I allowed them to bunch up, and then I pushed off hard, slapping the void and activating leap at the same time. I exploded off of the wall, the entity weakly snapping at my heels as I flew through the wild section of the dungeon. I started to laugh, but was cut short as my body crumpled into a springy wall. I yelped as I ricocheted off of it, slamming into the ground and feeling my bones crack and crunch as I bounced along on the ground.

  As I slid to a stop I let out a long groan, pain filling my body as I laid there. Ow… what the fuck was that? I shook my arm and sat up, glaring at the space in front of me. It just looked like the same colorful walls around me, shifting and changing and swirling in that same wild and chaotic way. But as I reached my hand out, it slowed, stronger and stronger resistance pushing back against me until it finally stopped.

  But… that wasn’t entirely true either. I grinned and extended my claws out, the tips of them piercing through the field ever so slightly. I winced as I felt them vibrate from the resistance, but forced them to drag down anyway. The field resisted even harder, making my claws feel like they were going to rip out of my fingers, but I didn’t care. I could see the other side of this colorful hell, and I wasn’t about to just roll over and show my belly now.

  I roared and stabbed into the void, feeling it hiss and swirl around. I growled at it and tore out the sharp strength I needed, activating pierce and punching my arm forward even harder. It worked about as well as I was hoping, and the stubborn wall gave way to my hand and arm, which popped on through comically easily.

  I laughed as I realized that it worked, but then I realized that I had another problem on my hands now. I had been able to get through, sure, but unfortunately, that also put me in an incredibly comical and quite awkward position. I grunted, and wriggled my arm on the other side awkwardly, feeling around the odd wall. There was nothing that I could feel, and nothing touched or snagged it which was rather nice but also told me absolutely nothing about the other side of the wall.

  I pursed my lips, and then slowly pulled my arm back, feeling the wall resist me the whole way. Then it came unstuck with an odd pop noise, and I fell on my ass with a yelp. I grumbled and got to my feet, watching as the wall struggled to heal the hole in it. How odd… I would have thought the hole would remain, but maybe the wall was a living being? Maybe it had something to do with that odd entity from earlier…

  I exhaled, and then stabbed into the void once more, trying to do something I hadn’t attempted before. I ground my teeth together as I activated sprint, revving my entire body, and charged at where I figured the field was. Then, at the last moment, I slapped the void, causing my legs to activate leap and fly through the air, sending me headfirst into the field. It came up fast, and I screamed and brought my arms up in front of me, the resistance crushing my fingers as I desperately attacked the void again, demanding that same strength as before.

  The void coiled up and hissed at me, extremely displeased that I was asking so much from it so quickly, but as I continued pushing and stabbing deeper for the strength I needed, it relinquished it, albeit unwillingly, and pierce was activated. The resistance that was in front of me wavered and then tore as I flew at it and through it, aiming for what lay behind this colorful hellhole.

  I laughed as I sailed through the air into pure, blissful darkness, “Haha! Yes! That actually fucking worked! Fucking finally!”

  I kept on laughing until I slammed head first into the ground, cracking my head so hard that my vision went black for a moment. I groaned and writhed painfully on the ground for a long moment, cursing at the fact that I hadn’t been paying attention to my spatial awareness, which had been telling me exactly what and where the danger was.

  After I got my vision back, I dragged in a long, painful breath, and crawled to my feet, groaning. Damn… I was definitely not using that combination anytime soon. I could still feel the pissed off void coiled up inside me, and as I reached out to it, it hissed and snapped at me, emanating its intense displeasure. Shit… I’d have to make it up to it somehow later… Which would be interesting considering how I had no idea how to do that…

  I sighed and looked around, relying entirely on my spatial awareness. I’d have to give it a moment before I tried to use any of my skills, but thankfully that was a passive skill so I didn’t have to rely on calling upon the void. There was really no telling how pissed off it was, but… I would definitely have to call on it soon because wherever in the dungeon that I was now… it was not a safe place to be.

  I could tell that I was in the dungeon still, but it was… different. The walls oozed with contempt, and in the distance I could hear a haunting howl and the rattle of what could only be bones. My senses screamed out that I was in danger, and to get out of there as soon as possible.

  I pursed my lips and looked around more, the area still being lit up by the colorful abomination that was behind me. The walls were made of stone and dirt, and though they gave me a bad feeling, I could tell that they were natural, almost as if they had been dug out by a normal living creature.

  Though… even that was a bit of a stretch, since they would have had to have been at least fifteen feet tall given the height and width of the ceilings and walls. The cave had no other light besides what was coming from behind me from the colorful room, but at the same time, I could tell that there would be torches eventually. Or at least… there once was, since I could smell the traces of smoke and ash in the air.

  I sighed and cracked my knuckles and rubbed my side. My bones, cuts, and scrapes were almost healed, and I could tell that the void was uncoiling, silently forgiving me for my transgressions and getting ready to offer up its power once more. I eyed the darkness and hummed to myself, taking a cautious step forward. It was about damn time I did some real dungeon diving!

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