NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 396 – The Flames of Dispassion II
Chapter 396 - The Flames of Dispassion II
Claire collapsed as soon as she passed through the fifth floor’s door. Falling face first into a pool of lava, she closed her eyes and basked in the gentle warmth as it washed right off her scales. Physically, she was doing just fine; her exhaustion started and ended inside of her head.
One might have assumed from a brief glance that the lyrkress was simply weak-willed. But if anything, the lazy spat was a reward for her perseverance. It had taken three whole days of nonstop repetition to brute force her way through the maze. Even as she reached the destination, she hadn’t the faintest clue as to how one was meant to differentiate between the places that led elsewhere in the dungeon and those that marked the way forward.
She had tried everything from heightening her senses to freezing the whole floor, but it was to no avail. The dungeon warped everything the moment anything moved out of bounds, spells and other entities included. She even tried staying on the fourth floor while Boris and Starrgort went on ahead, but the seemingly logical solution produced the same illogical result. Everything between floors three and five would always be warped straight into a mimic. And if there were no mimics remaining, a fresh one would instantly spawn.
It was a nightmare. She had no choice but to map out the route and complete the maze precisely as its creator intended.
Claire had been deathly afraid that the sixth floor would prove itself just as ridiculous. After all, the previous sets had come in pairs. But thankfully, it was perfectly normal. She was greeted with the sight of a fiery alley, with pools of lava scattered all over its floors, walls, and ceilings.
Hence, the collapse.
Finally free from the living hell, she flopped into the first hole she found and allowed herself a brief moment of rest.
It was the first break she took since she left the fox behind. She had expected Sylvia to catch up within the first dozen hours, but three days later, she was still missing in action. Claire was almost tempted to go back to the second floor to check if she was still shell-shocked, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
There was a small chance that the fox had simply vanished in the wake of the event, and she would much rather leave the unknown in place than have the suspicion confirmed.
The concern only added to Claire’s discomfort. But while she wanted nothing more than to lay in the fire and temporarily cast her consciousness aside, she eventually rose from the dormant position and looked down the fiery hall.
Unlike many of the others that had come before it, it did not end in an ornate door. Only a few dozen meters long, it ended in an intersection that became a pair of branching paths. The way the sound echoed off the walls revealed a more labyrinth-like structure, and a single glance at the walls revealed a more natural structure than the artificial corridors that had lined the floors above. Lava dripped from the ceilings and walls, covering the path with fiery streams sure to prove hazardous to those whose feet were poorly protected.
Though she was awfully suspicious at first, she found not a monster in sight, not even any mimics hidden amongst the walls. She would have known if they were there. No matter how well they were concealed, they could never quite hide their hungry gazes.
Slowly, lethargically, Claire raised herself from the lava and began her advance. Still in her tiniest form, she snaked through the air, floating forward with all the vigour of a baked potato. Some of the lava still coated her scales, but she couldn’t be bothered to shake it off. It came off on its own when it eventually cooled and turned to stone regardless.
Though the first four had been packed to the brim with monsters, the dungeon’s sixth floor was oddly devoid of life. Even relying on her ears, it took twenty minutes to find her first encounter.
Half the fault was her own. Still in no mood to rush, she had cruised along at a slow walking speed—a speed that remained unchanged even as she set her eyes upon her prey’s back.
The monster in question almost seemed out of place. Like all of the other monsters on the evenly numbered floors, its nature was primarily aquatic. It had claws like a crab, legs like a crab, and a shelled body just like that of a crab—all traits that stemmed from the fact that it was precisely the end result of carcinisation.
It almost looked like it had been pre-cooked. Its shell was a mix of whites and reds, and someone had seemingly cut its back right open and replaced its insides with a homely soup. The ladle that sat in its body was accompanied by a thick, creamy broth, several giant leeks, and even a few blocks of tofu. She couldn’t quite see any meat or mushrooms from the angle she observed it—it stood almost ten meters tall and towered over her position—but her tongue picked up the scent when she flicked it through the air.
Neither its edibility nor its flavour could easily be trusted, but a brief glance at the walking meal reminded the lyrkress that she was in need of food.
She began by abducting her prey. Magically yanking its limbs off of its body, she brought a claw to her face, and inspected the shell’s interior. She had half expected to find the meat pre-cooked, but somehow, it was still raw and fishy. She did consider taking a bite regardless, but with a shake of her head, she recalled her pride and cast the limb aside.
Glancing back at the monster, she found it looking around in confusion. Though it struggled to turn around, its whole demeanour transformed as soon as it laid its eyes upon her. It furiously ganshed its mandibles while the soup that filled its body began to boil and bubble.
A fresh set of legs and claws suddenly sprouted from its broken stumps, and with a leap, it started dashing towards her. Though it certainly looked angry enough to pop a casket and a half, the efficacy of its charge was questionable at best.
Claire ripped its body apart with another set of spells, targeting everything that wouldn’t damage the integrity of the soup container. She was confident she did enough damage to kill it. And yet, somehow, it seemed almost unbothered by its lack of limbs. It grew them right back and resumed its charge, showing not a single sign of pain anywhere on its face. The nature of its recovery almost reminded her of a Cadrian warrior, so she dashed forwards and smashed Boris into the place where she thought its brain would be.
She had clearly crushed its head. Its soupy insides spilled from its broken body, but again, the crab began to heal.
At the very least, the previous attack had hinted at its weakness. It had brought its claws to its face when she struck it, seemingly recoiling in pain as it held its body together.
Claire, of course, did not miss the opportunity. She bashed Boris through its claws and into its skull, hitting it over and over, but it refused to collapse even as she broke its whole body apart. For some odd reason, it pressed its mandibles to the ground as best as it could. It looked like its body was healing as a result, but eventually, it fell limp, dying in a pool of its own seafood stock.
Log Entry 856854
You have slain a level 1193 Bisqurab Deluxe.
This feat has earned you the following bonus rewards:
- 25 points of strength
- 14 points of wisdom
Claire tilted her head. The kill made no sense. It almost looked like the creature was on the verge of recovery. But for some odd reason, it had suddenly decided that its life had come to an end.
She briefly glanced at its corpse, noting the vegetables and other soupy remnants that lay within its casket, before shaking her head free of the ridiculous idea. She invoked Llystletein Authority instead and summoned a basket of stale bread. It appeared between her talons almost instantly, taking none of the time that she was accustomed to. She hadn’t really used the skill much recently, and though she knew its process had accelerated, she was still caught off guard by its sudden completion.
The bread had formed so quickly that she wasn’t yet in the mood to eat it. The crab’s rancid stench still danced on the tip of her tongue, and it was not by will or necessity that she had summoned the meal in the first place. So, discarding the basket almost as quickly as it had appeared, she wrinkled her nose and continued on her way.
There was no point in stuffing herself with anything so disgusting when she could easily head into town and partake in a high-end restaurant. And once she was done with the dungeon, she decided, she would treat herself to just that. Cadria was close enough that a quality steak was no longer impossible to find.
Her motivation finally renewed, Claire gave her body a quick stretch and bolted through the halls, stopping only to destroy the monsters whose bonuses she had yet to claim. There were floating fish that swam through the air, barnacles that grew where the lava touched the stone, and octopuses that peeked out from within the molten rock, all attuned to fire over the water to which their shapes were adapted.
The boss that awaited her in the final chamber was a stone shark with a miniaturized volcano built into its snout and fresh volcanic fluids pumping through its veins. Its face erupted and flooded the room with magma every time she happened to strike it, but the gimmick did little to preserve the creature’s life. A brief delay was all she needed to see it readily dispatched.
From there, it was mostly smooth sailing. The seventh floor shared the sixth’s layout, only everything was underwater and the flowing fire was replaced by streams of air. The monsters, likewise, had their elements seemingly switched out at random. The halls were filled primarily with pterodactyls and spiders, only the winged reptiles somehow flew underwater while the spiders had traded their blazing threads for those made of ice and water.
Their levels were a bit higher as well. They averaged around 1300, with the boss—a skeleton wearing a wetsuit with a fishbowl over his head—another 200 higher. Even its signature ability was practically identical, though instead of besting it in a magicless duel, the condition was to win a race under water.
It almost felt uninspired. She was already bored of the dungeon’s silly gimmicks, and the outright repetition did everything but catch her interest.
Neither floor eight or nine proved themselves any less boring. One was set within a giant geyser, while the other was a beach placed beside a sea of fire. Because the floors were so open, and because she was sick enough of the dungeon to plough her way straight through, neither floor ate up too much of her time. The bosses were annoying enough to take up an hour apiece, but it was hardly because of their strength. Their gimmicks were simply annoying, with both demanding specific conditions for their deaths.
Whatever the case, she had reached floor ten by sunrise. Her expectations at an all time low, she stepped through the portal and prepared to accelerate, only to stop in her tracks and tilt her head.
The tenth floor’s environment was nowhere near as derivative as any of those to precede it. The theming was unchanged—it was both volcanic and watery—but the two disparate biomes had finally been seamlessly combined.
Claire stood on a cloud that overlooked the rest of the dungeon. Spread in front of her was a vast ocean whose waters were clear as the sky they reflected. She couldn’t quite see all the way to the bottom. At the very centre lay a massive hole deep enough to rob her vision, despite the pristine waters. It was surrounded by a full range of volcanic mountains. The tallest were scattered around the perimeter, forming a ring around the abyssal shaft. They sank deeper into the sea as they spiralled inwards, even though their horizontal footprints only grew evermore.
Because the waters were so clear, she could see the threats that swam within it.
The middle was particularly well protected, guarded by a shark of such a size that its fin could give the smaller spires a decent run for their money. There was nothing that flew high enough to reach her, but the skies too were dotted with beasts—sea-faring creatures with wings like the pterodactyls that had populated the floors before them.
But she had no chance to debate their deaths. The world began to shake. Suddenly, the depths came to life, revealing not only the massive land mass residing deep within the waters, but also a pillar of fire. The pyroclastic attack rent the ocean asunder, completely vaporizing the giant shark and carrying its remains beyond the heavens themselves.
The water flooded back from the surrounding space and filled the ocean again. And with it, Claire was taken as well. The cloud beneath her feet vanished as the dungeon shifted her coordinates. She was placed on a narrow stone path, set atop a cliff just a few dozen meters above the roaring waves. Its end split into two, presenting her immediately with a choice of paths.
She could either go left and enter the water, or she could go right and bask in the flame, but she did none of those things. Flapping her wings instead, she headed straight for the middle, straight for the place where the sea had been split apart.
If her understanding was correct, then it was her ultimate destination. The volcano’s caldera had to be open for it to be capable of erupting, and there was no reason to use one of the intended ways forward with such an easy shortcut in place.