Chapter Thirty-Eight
They walked, camped, and descended for three days before they emerged on the next floor.
The entire time they’d seen nothing at all to tell them how deep they were going.
To Vester’s knowledge, few delvers in their area had managed to reach the twelfth floor of the Great Dungeon, and the Adventurer’s Guild hadn’t assembled more than a cursory brief on it.
But what lay before his eyes on arrival was definitely not the windy grasslands he’d read about.
Rolling hills, dense fogs, the smell of water, and omnipresent cloud cover hung over them. They’d come out on the top of a rise, and a bubbling brook formed a small, trickling path down into the crease before the next hillside.
“Any guesses how deep we are?” he asked Li.
“I’m not even sure we’re still in the dungeon at all,” Li Ra replied with a frown.
The oni was turning in a slow circle, and there was a look of intense concentration on her face.
Once she’d said it, Vester realized that the ambient energy around them did feel extremely different than the eleventh floor.
“If we’re not in the Great Dungeon, then where could we be?” Krysta wondered aloud. The pandali was leaning against Vester’s side, her head against his and her tail looped around his body like she was worried he was going to float away.
She’d been like that ever since they’d checked their rewards on the dungeon stairwell.
Opening their Grimoires had revealed a lot of growth for the others.
Reve had hit level 60, as had Kora, while Krysta, Skylar, and Li Ra were all sitting at level 57.
The bonuses for all those Heart Rot Quests had been huge.
Except for Vester.
He’d risen to level 54 and had gained some amazing boosts, but it hadn’t escaped anyone that his growth had been half of theirs. It made sense given how powerful his class was, but for Krysta it caused an anxiety that he’d be left behind if the trend continued.
But his worried lover aside, Vester was quite happy with his growth. His Quest rewards had seen Trickster’s Cunning rise to level 4, he’d invested his free points into constitution, and best of all—Vester and everyone else in the Party had gained a boon called Life’s Admiration.
His intelligence was now so high he could perfectly recall the pages of his Grimoire without even opening it.
Vester Gambit: Divine Elf
Trickster: Level 54
Profession: Enchanter
Strength: 30
Dexterity: 121 (171)
Constitution: 94
Intelligence: 140
Wisdom: 142
Charisma: 35
Skills: Trickster’s Domain, Phantom Form 5 Decoy Swap 4, Labyrinth 3, Chaos Cock MAX, Chaos Thief 2, Remove Divine Curse, Deprivation Cage 2, Unfettered. Trickster's Cunning 4, Life’s Admiration
Profession skills: Mana Manipulation, Inscribe Enchantment
Unique Ability: Nightmare’s Release
Gear: Avatar’s Raiment, Trickster’s Cane, A Father’s Approval
Free Points: 0
Trickster’s Cunning (SS-Rank): Level 4
Trickster’s Cunning is a boost to the Avatar’s wisdom based on their level. This skill provides a +1 bonus to wisdom per 2 levels of the Avatar of Chaos’ class. At SS-rank, this skill increases to +1 wisdom per 1 levels upon reaching level 5. This skill does not require mana.
Life’s Admiration (SS-Rank)
Life’s Admiration is a continuous blessing to constitution. At SS-rank, this blessing provides +1 to constitution per level. This is a passive divine boost.
My constitution is higher than most B-rank fighters at this point, he realized. My intelligence and wisdom are off the charts, and with my gear my dexterity is insane. I might actually have a higher stat average than Denny.
His arm tightened around Krysta’s waist while he considered his twin. To say he wasn’t happy with how they’d parted ways would have been a massive understatement, yet Vester couldn’t say he wanted Denny around while Peace’s influence kept his brother wanting to go for his throat.
Of course, if they tried to attack us again I feel like it would go very badly for them.
Vester’s eyes went to his Party members.
Each and every one of them was benefiting from Life’s Admiration.
The huge boost to constitution was going to take some getting used to.
None of them needed to eat or sleep the way they had before, they gained more from the food they ate, and Life’s Admiration stacked with all other constitution boosts.
Which made Kora and Reve absolute monsters.
Kora had always piled her points into constitution, and now she had another point per level; Reve’s body was strong from her origins in the Great Dungeon and evolving from a monster; Even Skylar could rival most tanks because she’d always invested in her physique.
There wasn’t a single member in their Party with a constitution under 80. According to Kora that was nearly unheard of, save among delving groups that specialized in slow, defense-oriented tactics. Endurance groups that simply wore down their opponents through sheer persistence.
There were other side effects to a high constitution, Vester had learned, and one of those was that certain physical appetites could be… enhanced.
Which brought him back to Krysta. Because on top of her worrying he’d fall behind in levels, she was also suffering from some extreme shifts to her hormones and, well, she couldn’t stop touching him.
Even now her hand was sliding from his hip toward his ass and he had to dig his finger into her side. “Stop that,” he whispered teasingly. “You’re insatiable, I swear.”
She turned her face to stare at him, her brilliant green eyes almost glowing through her glasses with the dim lighting bringing out their shine.
“I feel insatiable,” she admitted without a hint of a blush.
“I don’t get tired! I can just orgasm and orgasm and orgasm!
It’s amazing, Vester! I used to have to push so hard to last just a little bit longer, and now it’s like… mmmm… so nice. So easy…”
She wiggled while she spoke, and if Vester hadn’t had such strong composure from his wisdom he might have blushed. Part of the reason it had taken them so long to get down the stairs was that they’d all gotten a bit distracted once they’d read their Grimoires.
Which had led to a thirty-six-hour celebration involving very little clothing and a great deal of sweat… and so many good memories. Vester smiled warmly at the thought, then planted a kiss on Krysta’s forehead.
“I get it,” he said. “My constitution more than doubled, so I understand. But we still have to figure out where we are and what our next steps should be. If we’re on the nineteenth or twentieth floor, then we’ll need to prepare for some brutal fights to get to the next Safe Zone.”
To Vester’s knowledge, the Boss before the twentieth floor Safe Zone was the farthest they could have been sent. None of them had ever been in the Great Dungeon before, none of them had beaten any of the other zone Bosses—they should be stuck.
Elondolin or Purifier Ran might have managed to get past the twentieth floor while visiting some other Dungeon Gate, which meant they theoretically could have been cast past the Safe Zone; but those groups had been far higher level than Vester.
Since Vester and his group had only defeated Sargo, they shouldn’t have been sent beyond whatever was next—provided there weren’t hidden rules. Because Vester had caused a lot of chaos in the dungeon and dragged gods in repeatedly.
Part of him was convinced that there were special clauses coming into play because of how many times Non had visited him—not to mention Non’s father, who was apparently a deity of an entirely higher caliber.
How bad are the side effects of causing a god of other gods to show up? he wondered. Non’s dad basically said his time was limited because if he focused too much on Ordinal the entire plane would explode… or something like that. There must be a consequence for that.
“I am sure we are not in the Great Dungeon,” Reve announced firmly. “I cannot even guarantee we’re on Ordinal.” The bat-winged woman had thoroughly yanked Vester from his thoughts, and he saw she was conferring with Kora and Li Ra.
Between Li’s senses, Kora’s unique perceptions, and Reve’s Perception Aura…
well, if they couldn’t figure it out then Vester wasn’t even sure he should try.
The odd sixth sense he had through his Trickster’s Domain wasn’t giving him much feedback, not unless they wanted to know how many hills were within a few hundred feet.
“Wait, we’re in another dimension?” Skylar demanded. She’d been holding Dent’s core, probably brainstorming the next body design, but now she stared at the others in shock. “I thought Non said people had to be at level 100 to get deep enough to travel to other realms!”
“What a preposterous idea,” someone said, and it took everyone a moment to realize the speaker wasn’t anyone in the Party. The man’s voice was casual and lazily amused. “But sometimes there are other things at play than what you understand.”
“Who?” Krysta yelped, spinning and looking around. She wasn’t alone, since all of them were doing the same. Vester felt his skin pebble when he realized he couldn’t sense anyone nearby. His illusions weren’t framing a single living creature.
Yet despite sensing no one, there was suddenly a man standing among them.
He was nearly as tall as Reve and significantly wider.
The man looked like he could bend steel bars by staring at them.
He was far too wide to be human, with layers of dense muscles, a thick mane of hair around his head, and leonine eyes.
Wait, is that a tail? Vester wondered. He tilted his head slightly and looked closer.
Okay, yeah, that’s an actual lion’s tail…
which means this dude doesn’t just have a lot of hair, that’s a real mane…
and yep, lion ears too. Huh. A felid? Kimmie looks like a snow leopard, and Julius is just a giant housecat.
They must come in different flavors… or however that’d be said without getting me slapped.
The stranger who only existed for Vester’s eyes and not his domain awareness was staring back at him, and while they made eye contact, the man yawned lazily to reveal impressively large teeth.
“Getting a good look, boy?” he asked with all the lazy self-assurance of a man used to adoration. The guy even flexed.
“You’re not my type,” Vester said flatly, “and mostly I was just trying to figure out why you only exist visually. No mana signature, no scent, no vibration on the ground, no heat signature, nothing but light and sound. You’re not an illusion, so you either have some kind of amazing stealth skill, or this is a mental projection of some sort. ”
The felid blinked, clearly surprised. His big hands collapsed into fists and Vester could hear his tendons flex with how hard he was squeezing his hands closed. “You are a clever one, aren’t you,” the lion rumbled. “I am a god!” he roared.
“You are not,” Vester countered, shaking his head. The man’s jaw dropped open and Vester shrugged. “I have met several gods, and I’m personally acquainted with the divine pressure they give off. Even when they’re holding back they have a density to their divinity you lack completely.”
With a stranger among them, Vester found himself sinking back into the persona he’d portrayed for the Adventurer’s Guild on Ordinal. Which guided him to flick a bit of imaginary dust off the lapel of his suit and carefully step away from Krysta.
The lion-man actually backed up a step when Vester’s cane clicked against the ground, despite the fact he towered over the Trickster.
“You are, I imagine, some form of psionic manifestation,” Vester continued. “Perhaps a simple telepathy skill with a hallucinatory component. At best, you might be a demigod with a powerful mind… but I doubt you’re more than that. You lack bite, sir.”
Vester started to turn, pretending to be bored with the man, then he paused and turned back. “Of course, should you wish to cease posing and get on with whatever proposal you had in mind… we could be convinced to listen,” Vester concluded.
“Wha… how… what?” the man babbled. “How could you possibly know all that?” he demanded.
“My projections are perfect! No one can see through them!” The figure seemed to ripple for a moment, and that left Vester wondering what the guy might actually look like, because by that point Vester had decided not to trust his eyes.
“We’ve met gods,” Reve repeated in a bored tone, “and you stand before the Avatar of Life and the Avatar of Change. You overplayed your hand, and logic allowed us to unravel your boasts before they had a chance at credibility.”
“Trying too hard,” Skylar added. “Honestly that’s what it was for me. Every god I’ve met so far has just made it look effortless. They’re a lot more… normal than you’re trying to be.”
“You’ve all met gods?” the stranger demanded, and then he just seemed to crumble in on himself—literally: his entire being shriveled down and faded until what stood before them was a small, green, young-looking creature.
Wide, bat-like ears sat on either side of his head, and his eyes were huge compared to a human’s. His mouth also seemed to extend across his entire head in an unnaturally wide split. Combined with his button nose, it gave him a weird sort of ugly-cute vibe.
He was dressed in a simple blue tunic and matching pants with a red stripe down the outside seams. He also had a small lantern in his hands with a glowing crystal illuminating the area around them. All told, he was probably about three feet tall and maybe fifty pounds.
With the projection canceled, Vester could finally sense the small being, which was when he realized what had happened. “You were using that mind skill to block our senses selectively while replacing the feedback in other areas?” he asked.
“Yeah,” the small figure admitted, rubbing his hands against each other. “I heard you talking and just wanted to play a prank… I heard you wondering where we are when I found this dungeon entrance, and you all looked so confused when you popped out that I thought it could be funny. My names Glib.”
“You’re a goblin?” Kora asked. Glib nodded, and Kora walked over and patted him on the head like he was a pet.
“It was a very good display of mental prowess. Your skill must be A-rank, yes?” Once again, Glib nodded.
The guy looked completely enamored by the kitsune standing over him, and Vester finally realized they were dealing with a kid.
“Tell me, Glib,” he began slowly, “is there a town around here?”
“Sure. Misthaven,” Glib answered, barely looking at Vester. “It’s the only town in this whole area. We’ve never had any dungeons around, so we don’t get much trade. But now that we have an entrance, that’ll change!”
Vester smiled slightly. “You’re not wrong, young man, because this isn’t a normal dungeon entrance. You’re standing before the Great Dungeon itself.”
Glib fainted.