Ebony's Fable

“It’s getting hot. And the gravity is annoying, tiring.” Dina complained.

“Should’ve taken my Heat Resistance bath like I always said right?” Rowent smugly showed off that he wasn’t even sweating in the hot dungeon forest.

“Enough. This forest shall do, level 80 to slightly over 90 is just about perfect for us.” Top said.

“I don’t really want to eat the weavers or the kobolds,” Fergus said as he scouted around.

“Saaame. So leopards? Will have to depend on you and Dina for them.” Rowent agreed with the sentiment.

They were an escort party with a caravan carrying all their stuff all the time. This was where they were not as prepared. Carrying all the cargo like food, camp gear and equipment was not easy. More importantly, they were not used to it with the exception of Top and Fergus.

Fergus scanned the entire first floor pretty easily and found them the way up as one of the first ones even though they entered half a day later compared to the opening time to let the dungeon stabilise a bit more. A little bit of Elf wisdom here. They were prepared for higher mana density but not the strong gravity like most parties.

The 2nd floor was perfect for their party to get used to the environment. With the weakened monsters even the level 90+ monsters were not much of an issue to their organised party.

Rowent always appreciated Fergus’s presence in the party. Something the young Dina and Chris wouldn’t fully understand due to their inexperience out in the field. It was a pity he was an orphan but Fergus wasn’t bothered by it, he was currently on the run from his aunt’s home. ‘No one is chasing me so I’m not on the run.’ is what he would say but that might be his remaining pride.

Elves were magical powerhouses. A 57 year old baby like Fergus was leagues above average 2nd order Great Mages in terms of their usage and flexibility with magic. Even excluding that, just their base mana density and other properties were higher and better than the other races. That meant that even if an Elf had the same Intelligence as anyone else, their spells still packed a bigger, heavier punch.

With Mana Compression and other similar skills that build on mana density, they would have harder hitting spells even with a lower skill level or in extreme cases, tier. Fergus had been controlling his levelling rate as much as possible to stay ‘Elf-powered’ but a new dungeon was too good an opportunity to gain Natural Potential to let go.

They hunted 2 or 3 groups of weavers and kobolds before getting too exhausted to continue and Fergus decided on a camp spot together with Top. The increase in gravity was horrendous and caused them to make calculation mistakes. Dina missed her throwing knives multiple times, Chris brought his sword up to guard half a second slow. All the minor mistakes in body control added up to the light cuts and bruises they received.

Rowent was all sore from moving so fast for the entire day. Mentally tired from the mana consumption too. Fergus and Top were in pretty good condition. Top recovered quite a lot which was really a blessing. They needed him to take the brunt of monster attacks.

The next day, they slowed down to adapt and saw Ebony’s group. To think he was in a party with the Xeng and an unheard of Quadra Elemental Mage. The overall levels of his party were higher than theirs too, except for himself and the Xeng woman. Not surprising with his power.

Chris changed. His berserker Sub-Class was violent and aggressive in battle, getting a large Strength increase as he got more agitated and more injured. He was usually silent now, keeping his emotions under and exploding out in anger and frustration when fighting.

The party didn’t look well to the choice but they were respectful enough not to push their opinions on him. Berserkers were not easy to work with in a party if they didn’t listen to the leader’s orders. The good thing was he was still Chris and took orders and comments without an issue.

They trained and hunted here for 10 days before leaving and returning back to Plainston to rest up. Reorganise themselves and plan accordingly. Resupply and maintenance of equipment was important. All of them safely reached over level 80. They needed to travel light but still have enough supplies, the gravity problems had roughly been adapted already but supplies were always problematic.

They were going to move up further after a good break for 2 days. Dina and Chris were not used to long periods of hunting, exploring and camping only to wake up sweating and hunting again. The night watches were fine since they did the same thing for their escorting.

Now it wasn’t just Chris but Fergus who was pushing for them to go onto the next level. Truthfully, the 2nd floor’s monsters were all easy hunts for them but Top stayed his ground to remain cautious. Rowent was all in favour of being cautious, they still had time. Ordina’s monsters wouldn’t just explode in strength suddenly or anything. Just like its expansion, it would take a few years before the monsters inside grow to normal strength of monsters at the same level.

Rowent admits that Natural Potential was really attractive but it was nothing worth more than his own life. Unlike the others, he had mana limitations since he was hardly a physical combatant.

They took another 2 days after their break to make it to the mountain range.

None of them expected them to see what they did.

“It’sss youu.” Obsius hissed. Then made a questioning growl.

“Wheere’s Ebonie?” The aberrant Cysaru questioned the stiffened escort party. Fergus was the most relaxed, he knew his life was not in danger but he was still locked in place as his party members were still present.

“What do you want with Ebony?” Top answered, and his chest started to sting. It was an imaginary pain that came up as soon as the aberrant showed itself. Top glanced at its scythe arms only to see one of them was no longer shiny black but whitened or greyed up till its elbow or where the sharp part ended.

“Ebony’s not here. He was only travelling with us temporarily at that time.” Fergus added, the aberrant was obviously intelligent. He was telling the truth and didn’t want to push trouble to Ebony by telling the monster anything. It might have a grudge with Ebony if it was true that he injured the beast.

Rowent didn’t like being anywhere close to the monster one bit. It already reached level 100. They were no match for it previously, perhaps because their full party wasn’t present but he doubted it. It played them and could most likely do the same again. Ebony might have injured it but that was because this thing never attacked them or took them seriously.

“Ohh…hoow disappoointtingg.’ Rowent thought that its speech improved a little. They slowly relaxed when the aberrant hopped off without a care in the world.

Rowent's most concerning thought was how the monster entered the dungeon.

“Rwarrhhhh!” Chris yelled in rage at being slighted and compared to Ebony again. He attracted a few Gale Leopards and Earthen Hide Bears. They fought and fought.

“There’s a spawning node somewhere close! It’s not letting up!” Fergus reported after he realised that the backup was sent from the same direction. They were being targeted by Ordina now. Unlucky considering the many parties there were.

“Stick closer! Rowent, how’s your mana looking!?” Top ordered as he slid the bear’s claws to the side and slashed at its open belly. It didn’t dig deep.

“15!” Rowent reported.

Fergus moved around to mountain peaks for height advantage, he didn’t need a vanguard to protect him with his quick feet. Chris managed to hold his ground and rivalled Top’s abilities with his increased strength. He took the opportunity to slash his way through the tougher bears. The High Kobold was taken care of by Dina and Rowent with overall support from Fergus.

Rowent tried to conserve mana as best he could but even his staff’s backup was running out. Fergus was just shooting weaker conjured wooden arrows as he ran out of his normal arrows. Dina was getting very exhausted too.

Chris yelled and pushed as his strength and speed got greater and greater in their crisis. He kept going, breaking out of formation.

“Chris! Come back!” Top called. He was defending Rowent from the High Kobold’s attacks. His moment of distraction caused an arrow to land on the weak and mentally exhausted fire mage’s right thigh and left shoulder. Followed by the mage’s screams.

Chris wasn’t listening, or rather, he couldn’t hear anything. He just kept going and going, killing and killing.

Rowent’s scream which also pulled Top’s attention caused him to turn around. Dina yelled for him to watch his back, but it was too late. Top turned to see the High Kobold’s oddly familiar scythe, Top froze. The scythe sliced at his chest, it didn’t stop as it lopped off Top’s sword arm along with cutting open half his chest. Fergus’s desperate wind arrows were stopped by the Earthen-Hide Bear’s tough and heavy body. It was too far a distance for Fergus to manipulate either.

There was no one to protect Top from the attacking High Kobold and his head was lopped off in a similar fashion before his body was taken by the Earthen-Hide Bear and directly bitten into. Devour.

Dina screamed as she didn’t make it in time to save her leader. Only stepping in within the small space they were surrounded by after Top’s head was sliced off.

“WIRE STORM!” Dina screamed. She had throwing knives between all her fingers, throwing them out. Mana raged forth, filling all the knives and wires before she wildly swung her hands around with seemingly nothing in them. The surrounding High Kobolds, Gale Leopards and even Earth-Hide Bears turned into a bloody mess. All sliced into pieces all the way through.

Dina fainted right after. The bleeding from her nose, eyes and ears didn’t stop yet. It was a skill she was playing around with and hadn't really gotten the hang of. Her anxiousness caused her to over dipped into her small mana pool and knocked herself out with the exertion.

Fergus, who started running down the mountain he was on once his arrow failed to knock the attacking High Kobold only just arrived to catch Dina and Rowent. Monsters over a gir radius were completely wiped out by Dina’s last ditch attempt. He took the chance to escape as he was light on his feet compared to any of them.

“Kek! Wh..what about Chris…” Fergus didn’t expect Dina to regain consciousness so quickly. He didn’t stop or even slow down to look back.

“...You’re too nice and naive.” Fergus said.

“Put. Me. Down.” Dina wiped the blood getting into her eye. She was wide awake again.

“You’re in no condition to help yourself much less someone else.”

“Why aren’t you helping him too?” Dina wanted to struggle but she had no strength left.

“Both of you are already full in my hands. I’m also not in the condition to help him, can’t exactly fight carrying the both of you.”

“You can put us down.”

“Compared to helping someone who didn’t listen to orders and caused Top’s death? I won’t risk either one of you for him.” Fergus was angry, sad and hurt. He had been with Top the longest, someone he considered a true friend and leader. The first real friend he made. He was still a child, he understood that Chris was like that because of his skills and Sub-Class but Fergus's body and mind didn’t listen to logic. Top wouldn’t have died if it wasn’t for Chris, is what his mind kept telling him. It might or might not have been true but Fergus didn’t care.

There were not too many monsters left, a few dozen at best. Chris had the chance of survival with his enhanced stats. Not killing Chris himself was the best he could do currently.

Fergus knocked out the struggling Dina and took both of them out of Ordina.

❅❅❅

Chris woke up groaning in pain. He couldn’t move at all, opening his eyes to a bright glare before his eyes adjusted. All he saw was red. He tried getting himself to a sitting position but failed multiple times. Why? His right arm from elbow down was missing, as was his left leg from the upper thigh down. Perhaps it was the remaining adrenaline, it didn’t feel as painful as he thought it would. He found himself surprisingly calm in the situation.

Chris didn’t know where he was but none of his party members replied when his broken, hollowed voice called out for them. He cut a suitable branch to use as a walking stick with his half arm, the other still tightly gripping his sword.

It was lucky he practised and trained but he was not good with one-handed sword styles. He walked for what felt like days due to how slow he hobbled. Following the trail of probably his own blood. He didn’t find his missing arm or leg He saw that his leg and arm stump was randomly bandaged, maybe and probably by himself but he had no memory of himself in his berserk state.

He fell and collapsed onto his knees. His leader’s armour piece. His heartbeat accelerated, quickly struggling to stand and follow whatever trail he could. Finding more and more of his leader’s armour but not a sign of him. Chris sat at a large blood spot where he believed Top was standing at and protecting Rowent. He sat there for hours, not moving at all. Till he heard some movements and leaves rustle. He instinctually ducked and dived for cover.

A pair of High Kobolds.

Chris' emotions stilled but his body didn’t. He hid and hobbled. Starving. He had nothing on him when he woke up and only found his bag after a long time. There were some rations left.

Chris hid and ran, hobbled and crawled. It was hell for him on the 3rd and then the 2nd floor. It took him 2 months of hiding and ‘running’ away to get himself back to the 1st floor.

Getting Greater Stealth was inevitable. He was constantly in a state of hunger, his rations ran dry long ago but thank goodness he had water. His injuries were already rotting. He even got the rare Rot Resistance and Hunger Resistance. There was likely no saving his arm and foot, he even wondered and imagined if the Life Queen could heal him.

Chris knew that help was not coming. Even though somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that only Top had proven dead. He didn’t see any signs of his other party members despite risking himself to look around for days. He didn’t trust the other parties and hid from them too. To freelancers or dungeon clearers, someone injured like him was just baggage.

The first floor was paradise for the first time in 2 months. As weakened as he was he could take down either Kobolds or Geoats with a little ambush. For one, there was not much cover. His Greater Stealth was impressive at level 46 for a General Skill, even without cover he was good enough to stay in a monster’s blind spot as long as they were not actively looking for him. He ate the raw Geoat with tears for the first taste of meat for a long time.

Chris moved much faster after some time as he was used to the missing foot and arm and balanced himself well. Even got himself a movement skill for his Class. He moved on all 2s, keeping his body close to the ground to centre his balance, it also helped him stay out of sight. His left hand on the ground together with his right foot, moving like a 2 footed dog.

His sword between his jaws when he moved, he would grab it when he had to fight. Chris learned to hunt like an animal, a predator. His injuries and pain kept him constantly powered up.

In another 3 days, Chris was back out. It was already autumn, the moonlight was orange. Not completely hidden by the light rain clouds.

His ragged appearance caught the guards' attention since they saw a shadow coming from near the ground. Only putting their weapons down when they realised it was a person.

Chris quickly pushed his working feet and arm to the side and hid within the shadows of the night. Dashing on 2s back to Plainston. Standing straight up without much trouble or loss of balance on one leg before entering Plainston. His bag still had the ores to pay for the entrance fee. Chris slowly hopped on one feet all the way back to Z&Z, his home here. He didn’t run or use any speed, just hopping slowly. Taking 3 hours to reach the doorsteps of Z&Z.

Chris paused for a long time before taking a deep breath and entering.

No one recognised him. He was a lot skinnier. Very, very dirty with caked mud and blood that didn’t get washed off in the rain. The stench on him was slightly washed away so it wasn’t all that bad. Comparatively. He had longer hair and all that.

He coughed and gathered his courage before asking for Fergus and the others. His voice was a lot hoarser than it used to be.

“Oh, them? They were transferred to another branch since 2 of their party members died. One of them was their leader. Poor guys, transferred after they got the chance to get into a new dungeon.” Lacy, the receptionist he used to talk and have meals with from time to time said. She didn’t appear disgusted with his appearance, perhaps already seeing people like that coming in from time to time.

“2…? I see. Do you know where they are transferred too?”

“I’m sorry. I’m unable to divulge such information to non-employees.”

“...” Chris looked down. Lacy really didn’t recognise him. That was fine, he was dead as far as they know.

“Okay okay. I can only say that they have been split up and are sent quite a distance away. They are all talents that the company treasure so they likely went to a bigger city closer to the Capital.”

“...Thank you Lacy. Goodbye.” Chris said before hopping out. Lacy returned to her work with other clients before looking out the door where Chris left. “Hmm? Did I tell him my name? He looks familiar.”

The moment Chris stepped out of the company he fell to the ground again. Onto his good arm and leg. It felt more natural to him now. He went back into the shadows and quietly left Plainston without anyone’s notice.