Chapter 58 - Exit Dungeon Left
After the Sisterhood had freed the large, captive party from the extremely-sticky webs of metallic slik, Jessie and Mishone began to both create some baths and cook a massive feast, which the foods were mostly provided by their new, life-long friends.
The leader of the group, a short, stocky mid-thirties human man who wielded both a halbred and crossbow, took it upon himself to thank the girls dozens of times each, and once everyone sat down to a mighty fine meal, he began to recount their near-death experience.
It seemed they had journeyed down to the fortieth floor, where it was rumoured that a rare Boss had shown up. A highly-lucrative White Dragon.
These ice-type lizards were different from their kin, though. Instead of scales covering their bodies, they were supposed to have a dense fur that protected them from magic, blades of mithril and lower, and the leather of their wings was as thin as parchment, yet could defend almost as well as their hides.
Not to mention the fact that nearly everything about the beast could be harvested and sold for absurd amounts of money. Their meats were well-reknowned for being tasty and tender, their blood was used for powerful potions, organs could be dried and powdered for use in curatives, and the bones were carved by master artisans into intricate sculptures that were worth their weight in gold coins.
Basically, felling one of these monsters meant living a life of absolute luxury.
Unfortunately, by the time they got down there, the White Dragon had either already been killed, or had never existed in the first place, as all they encountered were a trio of Wendigo.
These monsters were demons born of greed and desire, holding an all-encompassing need to consume human flesh. And they could typically succeed in doing so, since they stood three metres tall, moved like the wind, and were as strong as any of the dragons that they were hoping to encounter.
The gaunt, emaciated beasts did succeed on breaking quite a few bones of their party, but one of their three healers was always able to put them back in the fight by the time the next briefly fell.
But their battle still raged for hours before they finally gained the upper hand. And from there, their victory was swift and merciless.
They didn't even take trophies from their kills, however, as it was a poignant superstition that all Adventurers followed. You did not take a piece of a personification of Greed, no matter how lucrative it might be.
Still, so as not to waste their trip due to a potential mis-understanding, they ventured down to the forty-second floor to take a peek into the Boss-room, but neither in there nor the floor above was there a White Dragon.
Dejected, but not entirely disheartened, the twenty-two person group slowly worked their way back up the levels, collecting as much loot as was safely possible, and once at the thirty-eighth floor, had finally managed to fill most of their porters' massive, enchanted bags.
Yet after stepping into an empty Boss-chamber, they simply thought that another party had just cleared this floor. They hadn't even considered the notion to cautiously look up at the ceiling.
As the leader tells it, half of their group had gotten coated in multiple strands of sticky thread while crossing the cavern, but they still didn't clue in to the fact that they were humped.
Though, once the first chittering could be heard, then they realized they were in trouble.
Unfortunately, only their scouts and vanguards had mithril weapon that would be useful in cutting through the threads... but those men had actually been the first to get completely coated in metallic silk, much to their chagrin and embarrassment.
They did attempt a valiant struggle, however. The still-mobile members arrayed themselves into a decent formation that seemed to keep the six huge spiders at bay while a few less-immobilized people attempted to free the others... but another half-dozen arachnids dropped from the un-seen ceiling, and, from there, they were all swiftly captured.
And after they were all plastered against the wall for later feasting... a small Cat-woman appeared out of no-where, apparantly responding to their cries for help.
At first, the feline Beastkin attempted to simply kill all the spiders with a mithril katana. It worked fairly well in the beginning, and she was able to put down a good half of their numbers... but more would immediately be born.
The parents would then quickly begin a tenacious assault in order to keep their children safe, and it bought those disgusting little creatures enough time that they could feast on the remains of the other corpses.
From there, the children rapidly grew into adults, taking perhaps only a few minutes to do so.
Then the former children would stand near the centre of the cistern and attempt to trap the agile Cat in sticky, metallic threads... but no matter how much fine goo they threw out, they simply couldn't touch her.
And once their reserves of silk had been exhausted, they would join the chase alongside their parents.
For the first few hours, the woman called 'Zen' attempted numerous different tactics, ranging from abrupt assaults with two katanas, to pulling out an orchialum dagger and triggering a dozen spells at once, or even tossing bunches of enchanted stones around to rob the beasts of their senses. But nothing she tried was able to put down the full dozen arachnids before more would be birthed.
From there... the captive party whole-heartedly believed that they would all perish, as soon as their unfortunate saviour ran out of energy.
After a half-day, they were certain that she couldn't last another few minutes.
When a full day had gone by, they truly thought that the next lap around the cavern would be her final one.
Once two complete days had passed... they started to have a small notion that they might be in the presence of a Devine Being.
And after three entire days were up... they were assured of the fact that they were watching a Goddess of War with inexhaustable stamina... though whom also held a penchant for lewd jokes, dirty limericks, and whom delighted in hearing fanciful tales of bull-shite from each of their past adventures.
Still... then whole time that the Goddess Zen was occupying the spiders' attention, she was resolute in her belief that her Sisters would come down to aid her.
The captive party didn't really care, by the end of it all. Every person in their group had long made their peace with the fact that they'd die. But at least being able to watch or converse with someone who tried so hard to keep them alive meant that they could joyfully pass on to their next incarnations.
So, the leader tells them, imagine their surprise when a bunch of beautiful girls came through the doors to put a swift end to the exhausting battle.
At the end of the huge feast, all the women in the Sisterhood, save Joanne and Zen who were still sleeping soundly side-by-side, start to collect the masses of mithril chunks and thousands of yards-worth of metallic silks while the other party begins setting up a camp-site.
The Scylla Scouts take turns as look-outs while everyone else sleeps like logs, and after nearly ten hours pass, each and every person finally wakes for another feast, including a grumpy Zen.
Though the rescued people around the improvised table all repeatedly attempt to thank her, the small Cat-woman just gruffly grunts while shovelling a mass amount of food into her stomache. She didn't want thanks, only nutrition.
From there its decided that they would travel as a single, huge group up to the surface, and the trio of female Scouts takes off ahead of the others to cause mayhem.
Rare are the occassions that the others have to fight anything after that point. Most often they'd simply pause so one of the girls in the Sisterhood could harvest cores or selected materials.
Luckily, a few of the rescued group are well-seasoned veterans, and are able to pass on a lot of little tid-bits of knowledge about the beasts that they encounter, alive or dead.
The pair of porters, too, give some good instruction on how to better scoop out organs to ensure that they aren't inadvertantly knicked, and each of the Scylla women learn a bunch of new tricks that they would share with their Sisters.
After twelve hours, another feast is prepared in the vacant Boss-room of the twentieth floor, then a four-hour rest commences so the Scouts can take a decent nap.
Then it's straight back to business, taking slightly over a half-hour to walk across each sub-basement and rip the cores from defeated monsters. But once they reach the tenth floor, all harvesting ceases, except for the Bosses and Rares.
Just five hours later, everyone steps out into the fresh night-time air and starts to either laugh, cry, sing loudly, or mutter thankful prayers to all known deities... including to the Goddess Zen, which only serves to inflate her already-sizable ego.
Instead of tracking down the bigoted administrator of Kileah's Dungeon, the small Cat-woman just leaves a lengthy note detailing her heroic efforts, as well as her Sisters' own, and even deigns to leave a white-gold coin tucked inside the folded piece of parchment.
As much as she hated that bastard, Bobby... she couldn't help but feel a bit thankful, herself.
But not enough that she doesn't take the white-gold coin back, and replaces it with ten regular-gold ones. Prick didn't deserve a small fortune.
Since it was so late and everyone was exhausted, the porters simply leave their packs in the good care of the Merchant Guild, and the entire gaggle of them head over to Kuro and Shiro.
Another, final feast is prepared by a number of happy, sleepy younger Sisters, and even more wake up to help serve their triumphant Master and their amazing Elders.
At some point in the deep middle of the night, all who can still stand shuffle to some free rooms, with each of the others having to be carried by Clara, and Zen herself happily dives onto her fluffy mattress made of a dozen super-soft pelts of her slain enemies. "Ah~hahaha! Finally!"
"T-take off your boots, at least!"
"I'm sure they stink... so... feckit."
Joanne rolls her eyes at the claim, even if it might be true, and glides over to the side of their bed to do it herself. "I'm so glad everything worked out... I don't know what I'd do if you died..."
"Nnnn... you'd keep bein' a wonderful person... 's who you are. Gods, my feet smell like goats..."
"Much better than goats. Though, yeah, still stinky."
"Ah, well... tomorrow I'm spendin' the entire day in th' bath."
"So will the rest of us. C'mon. Leathers, too."
"Hmph."
"Do it."
Zen lets out a heavy sigh, though still struggles to push herself up from her patiently-waiting mattress. "Might not get up 'til tomorrow night, though..."
"I probably won't."
"Feckin... over three days... feel like I'm dead, already..."
"Well... you did go down there for some intensive training, right?"
The small Cat-woman chucks her leather jerkin towards the door in an effort to get the stench of sweat and blood as far away as possible, then flops onto her back and arches her hips up from the bed to start slipping out of her trousers. "Goes beyond 'intensive'... was like havin' a full year of trainin' packed into a really short time."
The red-headed healer helps to tug off her wife's pants, then quickly lobs them towards the other piece of gear before stooping to do the same with the smelly boots. "That's good, then. Except I heard something else that was interesting."
"Whatever. No talkies 'til t'morrow."
Joanne snorts out a breath of amusement as she watches her cute kitten crawl a little towards the top of the bed, then just flop over onto her side. "I think I wanna ask you this, now, though."
"Already sleepin'. Snrrrxs..."
"You were using an orchialum dagger and casting magics."
Despite her sheer exhaustion, Zen snaps her eyes open at the thought that her super-special secret had been revealed, then hurriedly glances towards her wickedly-grinning lover before deciding to play dead.
"Mizuki." The red-headed healer reaches down to poke her wife's slender calf a couple of times, and, when that doesn't get a response, all she has to do is lightly trail her fingertip along the underside of a sole.
"BWAH!! S-stop that!!"
"Oh. So you are awake."
The short Scout issues a look of utter horror towards her abusive lover, and continues to hug her knees tightly against her chest in an effort to keep her very sensitive feet as far away from the sadist as was possible. "D-don't do that!"
"I won't... if you tell me."
"N... no."
"Then..."
"NO! Wait! O-okay!!" Zen scrambles back a little to ensure that her gorgeous wife couldn't assault her without a bit of effort, then clears her throat twice before glancing towards her discarded leathers. "I-I... found that a while back... same time 's I found Clara's trident 'n Elsa's shield..."
"That still doesn't explain how you could cast a dozen spells at once."
"Ugh... they... told you that, too, huh..."
"Mmhmm."
"Tch. Well... obviously I'd never be able to do that... if not for an odd tool I found. It's just this... ugly little clay jar... but it's able to... store the magic-power of defeated enemies...."
Joanne's eyes go wide at the revelation, and she immediately begins to think of what a glorious thing that would be to have. A highly-trained mage would be invincible for short periods of time...
"Yah. That's exactly why I didn't tell anyone. That look right there..."
"Huh?"
"You all have at least one element that yer good at. Even a shitty mage is heaps better than me."
"W-well, uhm..."
"Don't even try consolin' me. I get it." Zen issues a terse snort of annoyance while turning to look out of the glass window at the back of their spacious room. "At least with that tool I can finally act a bit normal... albeit for very brief moments. Takes anywhere from thirty to fifty monsters before it fills, then I can stuff it through my dagger an' cast a few spells of a single element... I've mostly been sticking to defensive stuff that'd help me out of a tight spot... wasn't really until those bloody spiders that I tried t' go all out at times... but then I'd have to slaughter a bunch more of 'em just to fill the stupid thing up again..."
"W-what, uh... how powerful are you able to make your spells?"
"Might get one thing like a vaccuum before it's completely drained... maybe a dozen crappy rock-spikes..."
"That's... that's good, though!"
"Good for me, sure. Feckin' great for me. It's still shite compared to everyone else."
The red-headed healer cringes against the truthful statement for a few moments... then suddenly issues a snort of amusement.
The small Cat-woman snaps an irate glare towards her wife as she descends into a snickering-fit, and while it continues, she seriously considers sleeping alone for the first time in many months.
"A-aren't you always telling the girls that they just have to train harder to make up for their shortcomings?"
Zen innocently blinks twice, then quickly averts her gaze in an effort to hold on to her indignity. "T-this is completely different. I don't have any natural affinities."
"Y-you honestly think that all of our Sisters are actually inclined to swinging swords around?"
"O-of course they are! Anyone can do that!"
"Okay... w-well... look at it like this." Joanne briefly brings a hand up to swipe at the forced tears clinging to her eyelashes, and lets out a soft sigh to rid herself of the last of her hilarity. "Most of our girls might be able to decently swing a sword... but after just a few months of training with you, even the weakest one is able to completely overwhelm any opponent... so why should that be any different from you and magic?"
The short Scout glances off to the side for a few moments while struggling to come up with a logical reason... but ultimately ends up failing.
"Why didn't you ask me for help? Or Jess and Mish?"
"'C-cause... you're all..."
"Experts? Like you are with the physical-stuff?"
"Well... I just... don't... have experience with magicky-crap... so I thought... if I got a bit better..."
"Then you still wouldn't ask us for help. You're too bloody stubborn." The red-headed healer allows another sigh to escape, and she whirls around on her heel to stalk over to her lover's discarded leathers. After freeing the enchanted hip-pouch from the side of the trousers, she returns to the bed and hands it over. "Lemme see somethin'."
Zen snatches the little bag away from her wife's fingers, then reluctantly brings out the clay jar and her sheathed orchialum weapon. After cracking her neck and rolling out her shoulders, she slowly draws out the captured magic-power, and stuffs it into the bright-blue dagger.
Joanne patiently waits until the beautifully-curved knife begins to brightly glow with a white sheen, then raises her brows in complete surprise as a tightly-packed magical-barrier immediately shimmers into existence around her kitten's body. "W-wow!"
The small Cat-woman continues to concentrate on steadily pouring in a small amount of additional magics to keep the defensive shield intact... but after only another six seconds the glimmering shield falters, then fades altogether. "And that's it. Now I've gotta slaughter another three-dozen monsters before I can do it again."
"T-that was an amazing barrier, sweetie!"
"Hmph... practically useless."
"Useless?! That could have defended against an assault from Jess and Mish, together! Using their most-powerful spells!"
After innocently blinking twice, Zen then tilts her head slightly to the side in a display of her confusion. "Yours is a lot better, though."
"T-the Hell it is!"
"Hah?!"
"At most, I might be able to withstand a couple of spells from Mishone... but Jessie would tear through my barriers like they were made of parchment."
The short Scout's gaze slowly slides off to the side as she recalls the sheer amount of times that she'd watched her wife practicing her magical shields... yet not once had their mages been able to penetrate it... "So, what... when you're practicing your witchy ways, none of you go all out?"
"Sweetie... Jess and Mish burned a hectare of forest near Jozejemi. With one cast each. Do you really think that I'd want them to test my barriers with those two at full power?"
"Y-yeah... well..."
"Mizuki..." Joanne lets out a long breath as she reaches over to grip one of her gorgeous kitten's knees. "If you're putting that much power into your spells... then it's no wonder that you can only use them a few times. A third of that out-put would be what I could manage without exhausting myself. But that's because I've got to draw mana from the space around me. Most of the time it's a struggle, and if I over-reach my abilities, then I'll simply pass out."
"O-obviously..."
"With that tool... you don't have to worry about being rendered unconscious. And that's a huge benefit." The red-headed healer plucks the unassuming clay jar out from her lover's fingertips, then immediately displays an expression of deep confusion as she can somehow understand the exact capacity of the magic-storing device.
"What?"
"Uh... I... uhm..."
"Weird, huh? Feels like an extention of your body."
"Y-yeah..." Joanne slowly rotates the squat jar around, looking for some outwards appearance that indicated the item was actually a fantastical magic-tool... but the flat-grey base and crude, jagged-yellow line winding around the exterior was just... ugly. Yet maybe that was the point. Something flashy would easy be recognized as a dangerous item. "How... do you normally fill this?"
"Uh... set th' lid to sit astray. Then y' jus' kill mobs."
"T-that's it?"
"Yah? I mean... that's what Wei told me."
"She knows about this?!"
Zen innocently blinks twice before offering a small shrug. "Shur? She's the one who appraised it. Kimberly appraised my little mirror at the same time."
"My Gods... no wonder you wanted to build Wei her own apartment on the roof... I'd do at least that to keep her quiet."
"Naturally. Why?"
"Because this is the stuff of legends. And your mirror is highly-illegal and immoral."
"I-it's not like I watch the girls fecking... all that much..."
"Exactly. Immoral." The red-headed healer flashes a wicked smile before looking back to the jar and pulling off the lid. "But... why would this only work on monsters?"
"Huh?"
"Well? It's a storage device, right? It shouldn't be so specific. Magic is magic, so..."
The small Cat-woman purses her lips for a few moments as her wife falls silent... though then displays an expression of shock as the jar begins to glow with a slightly-green hue, which was exactly what happened after killing a beast.
"Huh... so... well that's easy..." Joanne plops the lip back in place, then allows the small amount of residual magics around her to disperse. After watching the clay jar for a dozen seconds, waiting for the captured powers to escape as it should, she then gives a snort of amazement and passes the item back to her sweet kitten.
"I-it's half-full!"
"Easy, isn't it?"
"HAH?! EASY?!?"
It's the red-headed healer's turn to innocently blink a few times, and she quickly averts her eyes before clearing her throat. "Well... you'll learn."
"Learn to do that?! Impossible!"
"Sweetie... it's just drawing magic from your surroundings. You're not actually going to shape it into a spell at the same moment."
Zen slides her expression of abject horror down to the inconspicous jar in her hand, then rapidly starts to deflate at the realization that something was about to change in her life.
"Sooo... starting tomorrow..."
"The... day after."
"Starting tomorrow, Jess, Mish and I will be teaching you all about magic. Starting with the very basics."
"Tch."
"Don't you cluck your tongue at me, little missy. 'Cause starting to-mor-row, I'm going to be your instructor... and if you thought your punishments were harsh..."
"Hmph. That's exactly why I didn't want yer stupid help."
"You didn't let me finish."
"No need. I'll just figure all this crap out by myself."
"Oh." Joanne raises her brows in mock surprise. "So... you'll learn how to expertly draw magics from your surroundings, how to properly regulate the amount of power you put into your spells, and how to create a vaccuum that would kill a dozen Evolved Iron-Spiders all on your own, huh?"
Zen's right cheek twitches at the reminder that she needed her Sisters to come and rescue her... and quickly compares the sense of absolute shame she would feel about perhaps needing them to do that kind of thing a second time, versus enduring a small amount of embarrassment every day for the next couple of weeks.
"Exactly. So, first, some ground-rules."
"Hah?!"
"One. You will not call anything stupid, or idiotic, or anything of the sort. Not theory, not applications, not your instructors or the way we give you advice."
"Hmph."
"Two. You will not force anything. Do not try and replicate the out-put of a spell you've seen cast before. Without a proper handle on gauging your powers, it can only lead to disaster."
"Tch."
"Three. You will not be dismissive. Saying things like 'I can't do this' is bullshite. You can do anything that others are able to do. All it takes is practice."
The small Cat-woman issues a soft grunt in response.
"Four. We are not going to compete, so get that thought right out of your head."
"Aw, c'mon!"
"No. Five. Since we're still in dire need of physical training, we'll be rotating through for instruction, and you will not make snarky comments about our lack of progress. We don't need critisicm. We want positive reinforcement."
"That's-"
"Number one. Don't even think of saying it. Six. You will be training every single day. I will not allow you to have a day off. You will not complain about this, because it's extemely essential to keeping you alive."
Zen quickly averts her gaze at the potent reminder.
"Seven. We will be kissing you after you do something correctly."
"Why?"
"'Cause we want to." Joanne pops her shoulders up in a shrug before pointing to the dagger and jar. "Now put those away."
"I kinda want to play with them a bit more, though. Now that I don't hafta go slaughtering mobs just to practice setting shite on fire."
"Tomorrow. But first, we're going to teach you how to control water, just so you can put those fires out on your own."