Chapter 10

While it was called a dungeon, what Axel saw around him wasn’t a cold cloistered structure. Rather, he had stepped into a cool expanse.

A cavern filled with light mist that smelled of grass after a spring morning’s rain. The walls of the cave were far enough apart that Axel’s eyes strained to see them through the mist.

The walls were covered in the same green moss that was beneath his feet. Vines long enough to swing from hung from a ceiling obscured by cloudy mist.

Rayner stood gaping at the sights around him. “Wow.”

Roddrick was unmoved by the dungeon’s atmosphere. “It is never what people think. Come along.”

They struggled to keep up with Roddrick’s steady stride and stopped trying, settling to follow behind him.

“How is it so huge? Does it manipulate space?” Rayner said.

“Maybe? I’ve heard of dungeons like this before,” Axel said. He didn’t mention those dungeons were only in video games.

“I kinda want to swing Tarzan style from those vines.”

Axel laughed. “Ha! Me too! Hell, why not? Could be a faster way to travel.”

Roddrick spoke, he had been listening to their fantasies. “It would be but there may be monsters higher up that you cannot see.”

Axel took Roddrick’s words like a bucket of cold water; he let the fantasy die. “Fine. So much for fun. How do we traverse this place?”

“By going up or down the floors. The higher or lower you go the more dangerous it gets, in theory.”

“We know that Roddrick, but why not have the stronger monsters right at the entrance?” asked Rayner.

“Again, in theory. Mana is thicker on the higher and lower floors so monsters that live off it are stronger.”

“But if mana is greater on the higher and lower floors—”

“Stop!”

They did. Roddrick kept walking.

When they started to follow him again, Roddrick continued. “You two are curious, good. But it is better if you let me finish my explanations or better still, figure it out yourself.”

And so they did, staying silent to contemplate what they knew and what they had learned. When Axel saw the miasma gather, it had swirled and gathered in one place. Then its power emanated to its surroundings, twisting it like it had the landscape and lifeforms of the area. At first glance, this would mean the center or the core of the dungeon would be the point of greatest mana.

Rayner answered before Axel could figure it out. “The core of the dungeon is radiating the mana outwards to its borders and it bounces back to the center. Both the end and the beginning of the dungeon are the places with the greatest mana.”

Roddrick, who had lengthened the distance between them, clapped. “That is right, Rayner. Axel?”

Oh, there must be more to it than Rayner had said. Roddrick suggested a question.

No, that’s not it, he had proposed an expansion to the answer.

If Rayner’s answer was correct, then shouldn’t the floor they were on be a location of strong mana? It would explain why it was hard for some people to even get in.

However, it was deeper into the dungeon that worshipers struggled to get past.

Then it hit him. “The entrance is not the beginning of the dungeon.”

Another clap from Roddrick rang out through the dungeon. “Good, now expand. Your turn Rayner.”

“Um,” Rayner hummed out like a schoolboy trying to gather the words for a presentation. “It’s not an entrance. At least, not in the way commonly known. It’s not a convenient way to get inside a place that was built to be entered. It’s a hole.”

Another clap.

Axel knew it was his turn again. If it wasn’t an entrance then how does that fit in with the idea that the dungeons are a malicious trap? “It, the dungeon, wants us dead or gone but the hole and the rules of the world limit its ability to kill us or keep us away. Soooo...” He trailed off to give himself time to think.

Roddrick turned to smile at him. “Nope, times up. Now you, Rayner.”

“The hole is created by another burst of mana that has gathered unevenly, like leaves blowing through a field but settling in a pile instead of scattering equally. The wind is not always equal so neither is the distribution of what it carries with it. The waves of mana spilling from the core stutter and maybe even stop.”

“My, my! I am impressed.” Not enough to slow down because now they had to jog to keep up with Roddrick.

“Why is this useful to know?” Darn, Axel had forgotten that Roddrick wanted them to stop asking questions.

“It helps to understand why exploring the dungeon is so difficult. As you can see space inside here is warped. Knowing this and understanding that we are not at the center, end, or beginning floors, then how do we navigate to the floor we want? There is not some ladder with a sign saying floor four or eight. We don’t know how many floors there are. Do you think up and down mean the same thing in this dungeon?”

Darn again. Axel looked to Rayner and he seemed downright cowed by the scale of the problem. A worshiper would be lost as soon as they stepped inside a dungeon if they were not careful.

They were right to recruit Roddrick to guide them.

“Oh, by the way. I will guide you, not lead you,” Roddrick said.

“What?” Axel and Rayner yelled.

“It wouldn’t be helpful in the long run, or even the short run. Even with my knowledge, I can get it wrong. You need to learn how to move through the dungeon by yourselves.”

A winding vine wrapped itself around Rayner’s leg and Axel bent down to cut it off. Roddrick still didn’t slow down. How much help would Roddrick actually give them then?

Cutting Rayner free he now ran to keep up with him, not wanting to get lost as the mist started to thicken.

The moss under his feet provided a poor foundation for his sprint. Each heavy kick against the green earth sank his feet to the ankle.

Rayner had an easier time but began to sweat with the effort to run in what was essentially mud.

The shape of Roddrick’s body began to disappear into the mist just when more vines sprung from the ground to entrap them. Stamina drained out of his body as he continuously had to haul himself out from the moss.

Unable to plow onward, Axel searched for something to help him up. Rayner had separated from him, the vines possibly dragging him away.

Axel no longer saw Roddrick. He’d abandoned them.

The moss now reached his knees. Not wanting to sink any deeper he stopped moving, guessing that it worked the same way as quicksand.

It worked.

As long as he didn’t supply force, he would stay above water—or mud—or moss.

The vines around him wiggled in place, teasing him but not binding him. To test a theory he waved his hand, then quickly withdrew it back to his body. The thin vine had tried to latch itself around where his hand was, even stretching to reach his body when he withdrew.

This was the situation Axel faced; movement spawned a reaction from the greenery of the dungeon. If Axel had paid attention when entering the dungeon, he would have realized the threat.

Roddrick was light on his feet but not so much as to completely outpace them as he did. His lightness of foot allowed him to avoid the natural defenses of the dungeon. It was them that were slow not him that was fast.

The corpseeater wouldn’t come back to save them. Axel had to figure it out on his own.

Thankfully, he wasn’t alone. Stamina trickled back into his body as he heard a Battle Cry from Rayner off into the misty distance.

Wasting no time, he launched himself out from his mossy sinkhole and headed in the direction of the cry.

Letting his mana flare, he formed a film between himself and the ground. He gambled the moss would not react to the force of his mana directly.

It worked, but the vines kept at him. The concentration it took to form the film underneath him prevented him from using his mana as a full-body shield like he did during the fight with Colin.

He should have brought Colin along; he hoped the man wouldn’t think they reneged on their deal.

The situation had moved too rapidly for him to remember such a detail. Once they were out of the dungeon, they would bring him along and share their information as recompense.

Wait, why was he thinking of this now?

It could be to distract himself from his worry over Rayner, whose large figure was noticeably out of sight.

To his right, the mist fled, running from the sound of Rayner’s Roar. Clever boy.

Dashing to his friend, who was neck deep into the moss, Axel dug into the earth to search for Rayner’s hand. Finding it, Axel heaved, shouting into the air from the strain of getting his friend out.

Rayner shouted too. The pulling of his arm must have hurt but the teen gritted his teeth and did what he could to aid Axel’s attempt to free him by leaning into Axel.

With great effort, Axel freed Rayner. They refused to pause and celebrate.

Axel covered Rayner in mana, not able to create a film under his feet like he did for himself; such control was beyond him. “This will have to do.”

“You can’t cover both of us.”

“Want to carry me?” Axel teased.

Rayner moved to him, getting ready to do just that.

Axel backed away. “No, I was joking!”

“I know. Doesn’t mean it was a bad idea.”

“It would leave us vulnerable to attack.”

“So will sinking into the dungeon floor.”

“ ... We never speak of this.”

Nodding gravely, Rayner picked him up in his big muscular arms and princess carried him through the cave.

Worse, Axel had to put his arms around Rayner’s neck to better shield themselves with his mana.

It did have the added benefit of increasing the power of Rayner’s Roar. The mist parted before his Roar and they got sight of Roddrick, standing in the distance waiting for them.

Oh, what a sight they must have been.

Axel, a tall black teen desperately clutching the form of Rayner who with his blond hair and blue eyes looked like a prince.

Axel’s hope that Roddrick wouldn’t find the humor in their predicament was dashed as he saw the blue man double over in laughter.

Rayner put him down gently. That only made it worse. Better the boy drop him than treat him like a fine lady.

“I want to punch you right now but something tells me this was some kind of training,” Axel said.

Wiping a single tear from his eye, Roddrick confirmed this. “Yes, it was. Your teamwork has improved.”

“Our teamwork is fine. We’ve been friends for most of our school years,” Rayner shot back.

“That’s all well and good. But would most friends let themselves be carried like that? Or instantly search for their partner when doing so would lead them to greater dangers?”

“Yes, that’s what teams do.”

“What a fine place you two must come from. That is not the case for most parties of worshipers. Once separated from one another, panic sets in, and an ‘every man for himself’ mentality dominates. Often what plays out is the party members each retreat, telling themselves they will come back for help. Then knowing that their party members are likely dead, give up the search, afraid to confront their cowardice.”

An indignant Rayner didn’t accept this. “Backstabbing for treasure I get but how can experienced worshipers do that? It’s counterproductive. Nobody would trust them with a record like that. How can they work together if everyone knows this?”

“They don’t. Not really,” Axel said. Rayner turned to him for answers. “They need a strong leader like Turin to keep them together. It is also why they moved together in such a large body. Everyone would know their cowardice if they abandoned an ally. As for why they are so quick to leave each other behind, think of why they avoid fighting dragons.”

“They fear dragons for their EXP-damaging abilities. The amount of work they put in makes them risk-averse. But then why become a worshiper at all?” Soon Rayner answered his own question after a heartbeat. “Because worshipers are the pinnacle that all people aim for. The rewards are too good to pass up. They roll the dice then regret it as soon as the dice hits the table.”

Roddrick nodded. “It causes no end of problems. The stories of bravery are mostly that, stories.”

More and more, Axel’s ideas of worshipers, the mirror to adventurers from fiction, got dismantled.

It made a sad sense, however. Worshipers weren’t soldiers even if, like Turin suggested, they can represent their nation’s institutions. Nor were they mercenaries as they served their gods first.

They couldn’t even be called treasure seekers, as most of their treasure would go into equipment if they were smart and not living in luxury.