Chapter Four
Vester got away, mostly because Skylar couldn’t feel her legs, and once she’d conceded defeat, he helped her wash off. When they were clean, they slipped out of the bathroom together and went to cuddle in Vester’s room.
After some enjoyable alone time, the pair snuggled up and summoned their Grimoires.
Because Vester had shared the repeatable Quest he’d gotten from Non he wanted to remind himself of the details.
He was absolutely certain that their fight with Denny had qualified for it…
and would continue so long as Denny was Peace’s puppet.
Quest: Fuck the Police! (Repeatable)
Requirement: Ruin the plans of the Church of Light.
Look, I don’t really do the whole politics thing… Just throw a wrench in their plans and give them a hard time. Don’t let them use the Hero to do bad shit. Think of something. You’re smart, I trust you. Oh, but don’t think a minor inconvenience qualifies, you have to really damage their plans.
Special: This Quest is shareable through a deliberate kiss.
Reward: Variable. Progress toward next level. Favor of your goddess.
Punishment: No punishment, be a bad bitch. We all know bad bitches do bad stuff!
The language of the Quest hadn’t changed, which was something he’d seen happen to Quests Non handed out. Every so often the System reacted to the way she’d tweak the variables, and then she’d get in trouble. But nothing looked different, so he quickly flipped to the page with the contributions.
Quest: Fuck the Police! (Repeatable)
Contributions: Defeating the Hero and Party has earned you the following:
Reward: +1 to strength. Progression to level 46 Nightmare Weaver.
I suppose I should be glad she didn’t boost my charisma even higher than it already is, he thought.
And it looks like I was right: I can farm these confrontations with Denny for growth.
Being the Hero must make him so important to Peace that every time he loses it counts as messing with her plans.
Okay, so, where do I put my free point? Constitution, maybe? Or double up on the strength gain?
Perhaps it was because he had the Unfettered skill now, but Vester chose to drop the point into strength so he could make better use of his fighting abilities. Even though the skill was limited, having the option to engage in real combat was too useful to neglect.
Once he’d done that, he turned to his character sheet to confirm his growth.
Vester Gambit: Elf
Nightmare Weaver: Level 46
Profession: Enchanter
Strength: 23
Dexterity: 58 (108)
Constitution: 32
Intelligence: 62
Wisdom: 62
Charisma: 31
Skills: Freeform Illusion (MAX), Phantom Form 3, Decoy Swap 3, Labyrinth Ward 3, Chaos Cock MAX, Chaos Thief 2, Aura of Illusion MAX, Remove Divine Curse, Fantastic Reality MAX, Inconvenient Illusions MAX, Deprivation Cage 2, Nightmare Field 2. Unfettered. Trickster's Cunning 1
Profession skills: Mana Manipulation, Inscribe Enchantment
Unique Ability: Nightmare’s Release
Gear: Avatar’s Raiment, Trickster’s Cane
Free Points: 0
He closed his book and rested his head against Skylar.
She glanced over at him, offering him a small smile, then went back to examining her own Grimoire, which was blue with green metallic gears all over the cover.
Vester had no idea why everyone’s Grimoire looked differently, but he supposed it had something to do with the soul of the person.
A knock at the door drew his attention. “May I come in?” asked Li from out in the hall.
“Go ahead,” Skylar called. She closed her book, letting it dissipate, then pulled the sheet a bit higher up along her naked body.
None of them were particularly body conscious, and they’d all bathed together by this point, but Vester appreciated that Skylar still took Li Ra’s comfort into consideration.
The oni popped open the door, slipped inside, and closed it behind herself. She offered them a small smile, then came over to plant a kiss on Vester’s cheek. That done, she pulled a chair out from the desk near the bed and reversed it so she was leaning forward to face them.
“Kromm sent a courier,” Li said. She’d crossed her arms over the back of the chair she was straddling. “The Church of Light has passed along yet another message demanding the Adventurer’s Guild surrender you.”
Vester let out a snort and shook his head. “Because of course they did. More trumped-up charges or did they actually think up a reason the Guild might have to acknowledge?”
“Assault,” Li Ra said, “on the Hero and important religious figures. They didn’t bother naming those ‘important figures,’ so it’s probably Emma and maybe Davis. Kromm’s letter assured us that they’re not going to entertain the charges.
It’s hard to claim someone was attacked unprovoked when they went to a person’s house.”
“Hard but not impossible,” Skylar countered with a frown.
“Back in the orphanage, we had a bully who was a master at needling people until they hit her. She’d just push and push, and when the other kid snapped she’d run to the staff. It took over a year before someone finally believed us that she was starting it.”
Vester let out a grunt, because Skylar had a point.
“Denny’s not normally the type to lie, so ordinarily I would say that he’d confess to throwing the first punch. But Peace’s bullshit has been messing with Denny’s head more and more, so… if the church can get him to lie,
they could make the claim he came over to talk and we attacked him without cause.”
He turned his eyes from Skylar back to Li Ra.
“Is Kora thinking we should leave for the Great Dungeon now?”
he asked. Vester was technically the leader of their Party, but that didn’t stop him from taking advantage of the experience other members had.
Kora Dol and Li Ra had both spent a lot longer delving than him, and Kora had quite a bit of experience dealing with politics.
“I think she’s considering it,” Li admitted. “None of the gear we’re waiting on is critical. They were mostly quality-of-life purchases—except for the antidote kit. We know the eleventh floor has a lot of venomous insects and arachnids, and while Krysta can cure those issues…”
“It’s still a drain on her mana,” Vester finished.
The order they’d put in was for a special antidote kit that would allow them to add samples of the venom and tailor each dose to the specific poison.
It was an expensive alchemy set, and it’d only work because Krysta had taken the profession.
But theoretically, they could survive without it if they needed to.
Theoretically.
Vester hadn’t forgotten that nasty debuff he’d received from the assassin in the Safe Zone. Despite being fully healed, he’d felt like lead weights had replaced his muscles. Every movement had been draining, and he’d barely been able to walk under its influence.
Krysta’s Sanctuary could probably cleanse most of those effects, but there was always the chance they’d run into something outside their knowledge.
“Let’s not risk it,” he finally decided. “Tell Kora, Reve, and Krysta to get ready to go. We’ll be out in a few minutes.” Li Ra rose to her feet without a word and slid the chair away. She swept out of the room with her coat billowing around her. Vester couldn’t hide his grin.
“She looks so badass when her coat does that flappy thing,” Skylar whispered. He glanced at her with an upraised eyebrow and she blushed, shrugging. “What? Li Ra might not like playing in groups… but she’s still pretty to look at.”
Vester let out a laugh. “She is that,” he agreed. It was fun teasing her, and he gave her a kiss to show her he’d agreed with her completely.
He slipped out of the bed and picked up the Avatar’s Raiment from where he’d folded it on the table.
A moment of concentration changed the suit from its normal blues and silver to a deep, rich black that seemed to absorb the light.
The vest and tie were blood red and the buttons were silver, but the rest he kept dark.
Trickster’s Cane simply appeared in his hand. He tapped it against the floor a few times while he looked to see if he’d set anything down in the room he didn’t want to forget, but the place was spotless. “I wish I’d gotten more blanks for my trap cards,” he murmured.
“You said that you didn’t know traps strong enough for the monsters we’d likely be facing,” she pointed out. “Your blade traps barely work on the ninth floor, remember? And the nets were barely better than that. You need stronger blanks and more intricate enchantments.”
“Yeah,” he agreed with a sigh. “I’ve been focusing so much on enchantments that boost attributes and durability that I haven’t really had the time to work out more-efficient traps. I just hate feeling like I can’t contribute to a fight.”
He realized Skylar was staring at him, and after a moment of exasperation she rolled her eyes.
“You stole the senses of most of your brother’s Party and left them screaming in darkness, Vester. Not to mention you completely mask the battlefield in illusions and can create a trapped labyrinth that leaves people fighting their worst fears.”
“Okay, fair point.” Vester felt rather sheepish at her lecture. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten his skills—he’d just grown up reading books and watching movies that left him with a bias on what counted as fighting.
His tricks weren’t quite the glorious action sequences his fantasies had promised him.
Skylar was ready to go, so the pair filed out of the bedroom and found the others standing around in the sitting room.
Reve was the only one with any visible supplies, and the pouch at her hip had cost them a pretty penny.
It was one of the smallest spatial bags on the market, but it let her carry enough supplies to survive for a week on her own.
The others carried far more, but Reve hadn’t wanted to be completely dependent on anyone for her gear, and Vester didn’t blame her for that. He’d helped her purchase the bag via one of the Guild couriers with his share of the delve profits.
“It looks like we’re ready,” Kora said. The kitsune was wearing chainmail from her neck down to her ankles.
The dark links were made of a metal Vester didn’t recognize, and he found himself wondering how she got her tails out the back.
She had armored boots that came up to her knees, reinforced bracers, and plates that protected her shoulders and hips—all made from a lighter metal.
Combined with the wood and steel kite shield that practically glowed with enchantment, Kora looked like a certified badass.
Reve’s black-enamel bikini top, thong, and silk-ribbon skirt contrasted sharply with Kora’s armored form.
The Avatar of Life looked like a Sith, or maybe a succubus.
A Sith succubus. Her wings were spread behind her, a sign of her anxiety, and Vester realized she’d polished her horns as well as the metal arm and leg that dominated her left side.
His eyes went to Krysta, whose combination of chainmail corset and long skirts put her in a middle ground between the two.
She was currently choking up on her shepherd’s crook staff like she wanted to disappear behind it, and her fluffy tail was half wrapped around her lower body.
She offered him a nervous smile, so he walked over to kiss her.
“We’ll be okay,” he reminded her. When she nodded, Vester met the gazes of the rest of his Party. “Denny showing up at the house may have accelerated our plans, but we always intended to head back down into the Great Dungeon. Just because we’re leaving a day early doesn’t mean we’re not ready.”
All of them had passed level 45. At this point the Party didn’t have anyone who couldn’t be considered a solid, powerful Adventurer, and that was before their skill rankings were taken into consideration.
Where D-rank delvers made up the majority of the harvesting teams that worked dungeons, C-rank and B-ranks made up about fifty percent of all active Adventurers. A-ranks were considered peak.
Vester and his team had all averaged into S-rank.
That’s how we’ve grown so insanely fast, he reminded himself.
The sheer power difference between a C-rank skill and an S-rank one allows us to fight well above our level.
This area of the Great Dungeon has steadily shown itself to be a high B-rank to high A-rank, which is why the regular delvers are struggling.
But for us it’s just been a matter of earning the levels we needed to reach the next challenges.
We’ve got this.
They filed out of the room and set the keycard in the box outside the door, then made their way to the courtyard that held Dungeon Gate 5.
Ordinarily a delving group would never be allowed to jump the line and head into the dungeon without having registered their spot, but Vester’s Mithril badge silenced any protests before they could arise.
The portal flashed and deposited them in the heavily walled compound that had been built around the mouth of the Great Dungeon.
Armored firing ports gleamed with mana-fueled weaponry, and the ceiling’s thick stonework loomed above them to cast the entire area in shadow.
Vester took a moment to breathe, then began walking toward the cavern entrance.
Once again delvers parted to allow his team by, and Vester made sure to offer grateful nods to any he locked eyes with. These people didn’t have to offer him respect, so he wanted them to know he appreciated it.
I might have a somewhat… villainous reputation, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a dick about it.
The question is whether the Great Dungeon will allow us to make it all the way down to the Safe Zone the normal way, or if it will decide we’re too strong and throw us somewhere deeper the first time we use a skill.
Together they passed through the stone teeth of the cave mouth, where energy swirled around them. The moment the Great Dungeon swallowed them, Vester felt a subtle difference to the magical energies pulling them into the interdimensional pocket.
“Something’s diff—” he began to call, only to have reality lurch around them and spit them out in a pile in a completely unfamiliar location.
He didn’t have words to describe how massive the cave around them was.
They’d fallen in a heap on a ledge of stone overlooking a basin that had to be miles across.
Several rivers and canyons wove through the area below, and Vester also saw a number of stone pillars rising to meet the ceiling above.
Glowing crystals emerged from the rocks in several places, but they weren’t nearly enough to illuminate the gloom.
Before he could really register more, screaming monsters began dropping off the walls around them.