Chapter 41: Wiggler

Chapter 41: Wiggler

The trip out of the city didn’t take long and went easily. The only stressful part of their exit was the fear that someone might notice Rodrick’s armor, but he kept the cloak Anna had given him wrapped tightly around himself. Lillia kept to the shadows, the ever-present cloak of darkness wrapped around her preventing anyone from glancing in her direction.

Even though nobody had any way to tell what he had, none of them breathed easily until they’d stepped out of the city gates and were well on their way toward the dungeon.

“I need to get strong enough to conceal my equipment,” Rodrick grumbled, glancing over his shoulder at the city walls as they followed Reya. “That was horrible. I felt like every single person we passed was staring me down.”

“Well, we’re already working on that, so all you have to do is keep at it,” Anna pointed out. “I felt the same way, though.”

Makes me even happier I have [Arsenal]. Even if my equipment doesn’t have the property that lets it appear mundane, I can still banish and summon it at will as long as I bind to it. Speaking of which, I only have two pieces of equipment bound right now since my sword got chomped. I wonder...

Arwin activated [Arsenal] and bound the hammer in his hands. It wasn’t magical, but it still counted as a piece of equipment as far as he was concerned. A moment later, the black weapon vanished.

“Whoa,” Reya said. “That’s so strange to watch.”

The hammer reformed in Arwin’s hands. “It’s quite convenient, though.”

“You can’t do that for my stuff, can you?” Rodrick asked hopefully.

“Unfortunately not. It’s a personal equipment thing only. You’ll just have to conceal things the old fashioned way,” Arwin said apologetically. “Reya, how far are we from the dungeon? I want to make sure we’re all ready when we get closer. Your old friends might be hanging around.”

“About an hour away, I think,” Reya said after a moment of thought. “I thought you said they wouldn’t put up much fight, though. Didn’t we come to an agreement?”

“That kind of thing can fall through sometimes,” Arwin said with a shrug. He scanned their surroundings, but there didn’t seem to be anything other than grass. “Never hurts to be prepared, just in case something goes awry.”

Their trek continued on in silence. Minutes slipped by and, soon enough, they’d been walking for nearly an hour. The slope of the hills intensified the deeper they went, making it harder to tell exactly where they were.

Reya seemed to have a pretty good grasp of their direction, though. She kept glancing up at the sky, then slightly rerouting and continuing on with almost no hesitation. Just when Arwin was about to ask how she knew where they were, Reya held a hand to her lips and pointed down the hill.

From what he could tell, the only thing there was the bottom of a small, grassy hill and a small pile of large stones. It took Arwin a moment to notice what she was pointing at. Nestled behind the rocks was a thin rectangular outline in the ground.

He would have missed it completely if Reya hadn’t pointed it out to him. Arwin glanced around to see if there was anyone else in the area, but as far as he could tell, it was completely empty.

“That... almost seems too easy,” Rodrick muttered. “I thought you said there was a guild guarding this?”

“Maybe they gave up since we took the key,” Reya said.

That did seem a bit optimistic, but Arwin couldn’t find any traces of other people in the area. It really did look like the thieves’ guild had given up on the dungeon. He’d definitely made a pretty strong impression on their guild leader, so it was possible that they’d decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.

“Well, sitting around here isn’t going to make things any better for us. We’ve come this far, so let’s keep pushing forward.” Arwin said.

“Figure of speech,” Arwin replied. “I have no idea how big anything here is. Reya, Anna, both of you stay back. Let me and Rodrick draw their attention. Lillia – I’m not sure how your combat skills are now, but I imagine you can handle yourself without instruction.”

Lillia nodded. “I’ll hang back so I don’t draw anything’s attention too early. I’m not in the best spot to fight anything right now.”

Arwin crept further into the room. He could still remember countless other dungeons he’d plowed through, but the difference in strategy was so stark that it almost hurt. He could recall wading straight into dungeons, power rolling off his body as he sent waves of molten light into the dark, ripping through everything that stood in his way – often before they even realized they were under attack.

His party had been full of trained warriors that had done the dungeons dozens of times over already, and they knew every single thing about what they were facing. The dungeons almost never held surprises, and they’d certainly never held challenges.

Now, it was different. Arwin had no clue what was waiting for him in the darkness, and there was a very real chance that whatever it was had the strength to kill him and everyone behind him if they weren’t properly prepared to fight it.

I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but in a morbid sense, it’s actually more interesting. Sure, we might all end up dead, but it feels like we’re actually doing something, not just going through the motions that we have to go through to get stronger.

“Sneaky little cretins in this room, aren’t they?” Rodrick asked, spinning his sword in his hand and baring his teeth in a grin. “What do you think the chances are we’re up against some slimy creature that lives in the pool?”

“Considering we haven’t been jumped yet? Pretty damn high,” Arwin said. He tried to squint into the murky water, but it was too dark to make anything out. “Only one way to find out.”

His foot shifted across the ground until it found a loose stone. Arwin kicked it, sending the rock sailing through the air and into the very center of the puddle, where it struck the water with a sploosh, sending ripples running out and vanishing beneath the surface.

Almost instantly, the water erupted. A slippery grey form burst out, tentacles whipping through the air as a screech split the air. Arwin swung his hammer, batting one of the tentacles out of the air as it shot out for him.

The weapon hit the soft, fleshy appendage and ripped straight through it, spraying blue blood across the ground and drawing out another screech. The monster heaved itself fully out of the water, revealing a bulbous head and dozens of beady black eyes scattered across a blobby body.

[Landsquid – Apprentice 9]

“Gods, that thing is hideous,” Anna exclaimed from behind them. “Get it away from me, please!”

“That looks delicious,” Lillia said, running her tongue along her lips. “Arwin, don’t squish its body too much, please. I want it un-mushed.”

“I say we kill the damn thing and figure out what to do with it afterward,” Rordrick suggested, taking a step back as the monster whipped a tentacle at his head. “Any info on this ugly bastard, Arwin?”

“It’s a variant of a Landsquid,” Arwin replied. “They’re not very dangerous, but don’t let it grab you.”

“How do we kill it?” Rodrick asked.

“Stab it.”

“Lovely,” Rodrick said dryly, raising his sword and narrowing his eyes. The Landsquid let out another screech, its tentacles slamming into the ground around it like the beat of a dozen furious drummers. “One plate of chopped wiggler, coming right up.”