Reborn Healer Chapter 25

In the end, it took more than a few days for us to actually enter the dungeon. We were all focused on rebuilding the clinic first, which was a fairly involved task given that Vallis had purchased the building from a previous owner and thus had no blueprints of any sort for it.

The time required also wasn’t helped by everyone trying to make the clinic better than it had been. By the time we were done, we’d gained an added storage room alongside multiple rooms and a common area that we could relax and eat in.

Afterwards, there were other preparations to make. There were a number of ways to enter the World Dungeon, many of which were unofficial. The manner in which I’d first gone in—dragged miles beneath the ground by venomous spiders—certainly fell under that category. There were too many entrances to regulate all of them. Most of the time, they were simply marked as a place that lower-tier people should avoid, like much of the Ayasi forest.

The way Matias did it, though, was through a kingdom-approved route. In Liaren itself, there were some seven entrances into the World Dungeon, five of which were controlled by guilds at any given time. The last two were public entrances, but they required having an official registration with the city in some way, shape, or form. Guild members could also get there by way of the guild representing them, but for someone with no guild like us, we had to get a badge with our mana signature tied to it.

There were a few obvious problems with that. Mizuki was laying low from the elf kingdom, but she had been pursued this far and had even had an attempt on her life made by city guard who’d been following her.

There was no telling how many others in here had similar instructions. She had a restriction on how far away she could get from the elf kingdom for some reason she couldn’t mention to me, so just running away wasn’t an option. Mizuki wanted a guild to offer her protection from being exposed, but she needed to expose herself to get into a guild.

I also wasn’t terribly keen on identifying myself. After the events of my twelfth birthday, I had experienced a rapid loss of trust in the city’s stability and motives as well as an increase in reasons to keep my own identity private. There were now two people with connections to the Nightmare in my family, a connection that if revealed meant we were subject to the execution orders all the great kingdoms had signed with respect to the sect.

As a result, we had to wait a while to find a workaround. The good news, fortunately was that there was indeed a loophole. Since neither of us were formally registered with the kingdom already, a product of the circumstances of our birth, there was no identity to compare us to. Less discerning officials could be paid off to overlook a few details.

Matias, a veteran solo diver, knew where to go looking for exactly that. It did require some time and preparation, though, so I spent the time in between training.

With Aria gone as she so frequently was, I ended up doing a lot of my sparring with Mizuki instead, practicing my new skills out. She was an unrelenting training partner, and practicing with her was eye-opening in multiple ways.

She never held back. Even accounting for the fact that I was smaller than her, younger than her, and just generally less powerful in terms of mana capacity, Mizuki treated every spar like it was a battle to the death. Every time we practiced, my Sixth Sense screamed at me as loud as it had in every actual combat situation I’d been in. When she won, which she almost always did, the tip of her whip-sword would freeze after it made contact with my skin.

That thing was a legitimate terror to fight against. Unlike with the relatively simple spears, swords, bows, and other typical weapons of the sort that Aria had trained me to fight with and against, Mizuki’s unconventional magic weapon functioned like a whip that could get around cover and make sudden, sharp movements before suddenly transforming into something I would have to parry or dodge lest I risk my head getting taken off.

“You’re getting better at this,” she told me once after knocking me to the ground, weapon in sword form with its tip pressed just close enough to draw blood.

“I don’t feel like I’m getting better,” I grunted, holding a hand out and calling my lifeline to me.

My awareness of my own body felt different now that I had the lifeline. I’d heard of the sensation of a phantom limb before, and while I didn’t know exactly what that was like, it fit the description of how I perceived my lifeline. The difference was that while those with phantom limb syndrome couldn’t just grow their arms or legs back, I could pull the lifeline back to me. Its speed, I was growing to learn, depended both on how much mana I was manipulating with the skill and how precise that manipulation was.

Mizuki offered me a hand, which I took, getting to my feet with a grunt. I caught the spinning lifeline in my other hand, comforted by its perfect grip.

“You really are,” she said. “You got a few glancing hits on me during that. Your form is beautiful, but the speed that you’re adapting is even more impressive. You were trained by your mom?”

“Mostly,” I said.

“She must be proud of you. Sparring with you makes me feel like I’ve been slacking.”

“You’re kidding, right? I’m still not even close to your level.”

“Nope. Not kidding. Let’s go again.”

We had a lot of conversations like that.

Even though it was taking a fair amount of time to set up an appointment with an unscrupulous city official, I was happy for the time to train. Getting used to the mechanics of Call Lifeline and Nightmare Forged inside the World Dungeon would have been awkward. While I still wanted a lot more time practicing with my lifeline skills, I had established a pretty solid understanding of both.

The day eventually did come about two weeks after meeting Mizuki. The day before, Matias had shown up to the clinic, uncharacteristically uninjured, to give me a letter with a time, date, and location.

The next day, Mizuki came with me into Liaren. Though Vallis had noble patients to get to today, he made room for us to come with him. On our own, we were sure to be searched or at least questioned at the gate, which wasn’t a problem when I was alone but certainly was when Mizuki was with us. Vallis’ status was enough to get us through with no problems.

We hopped off the carriage way later than we usually did. Dungeon diving was a lucrative if dangerous profession, which in Liaren meant that the districts built around the entrances to the World Dungeon were a fair bit wealthier than the one the new and improved clinic was in.

We were in Northside now, across the river that bisected the city. The difference in the energy here was palpable. Everything was built with stone or brick instead of wood, the facades were well-kept and new-looking, and the roads were paved instead of dirt. More people were outside and milling about, each of them wearing outfits that probably cost a month’s salary in our district.

Mizuki and I caught strange looks, though I was pretty sure that was because we were both on the younger end with no guardian. She had a long, hooded cloak on that indicated vague affiliation to the followers of the Sage, one of the lesser deities. It covered enough of her for people to not bother trying to get a second glance at us.

Matias was waiting for us in front of a building that resembled something of a cross between an American governmental building and a cathedral, stained glass windows and all. Even he was dressed better than usual, out of his armor and in formal wear that closely resembled a bespoke suit.

“There you are,” he said, waving to both of us. “Right on time.”

“Hope we didn’t keep you waiting,” I said, waving back. “You dressed up nice.”

He was talking different, too, suppressing his normal speaking pattern so his manner was more “proper.”

Matias wasn’t the only person getting a little self-conscious about Northside. I suddenly felt much more aware of my own dress and posture.

The people inside the facility were dressed in formal uniform, wearing the grey colors and brass seals of kingdom officials. They seemed to be familiar with Matias already, nodding respectfully as he presented a lacquered wooden badge.

“I’m here to get these two registered,” he said.

A brief exchange of forms later and a short walk through the opulent halls later, we found ourselves in a small room with a nondescript official who Matias greeted.

The uniformed official barely even looked at Mizuki or me, just handing us each an uncharged mana crystal. “Push some mana in.”

We did as requested, me using my healer core. After that, the city officer disappeared for about twenty minutes and came back with two badges.

“Thank you kindly,” Matias said, passing over a coinpurse. “The rest of the payment, as agreed.”

“You’re on the record,” the officer said, accepting the purse and quickly stuffing it away. “Good luck out there or whatever.”

And with that, we were out.

“You didn’t say you were going to bribe him,” I said.

“It was assumed,” Matias replied. “Also, keep your voice down.”

“How much was it?”

“Don’t worry about it, doc. Check your identification. We’re going in soon.”

The badges were nondescript reinforced wood, painted black with a standard preservation enchantment etched into them.

My name was listed as Red, or the equivalent of it in this language. Mizuki’s was listed as Blue.

“Is this really going to work?” Mizuki asked. “These aren’t very believable names.”

“Divers can choose their own names,” Matias said. “Their checks will only be to see if your mana signature matches your badges. Oftentimes, they won’t even bother to do that. You’ll see.”

We made our way to the closer public World Dungeon entrance directly after that, Matias still wearing the suit. Just like the registry where we’d gotten our identification, the facility was shockingly castle-like, and it was humming with activity.

“There’s more people here than I thought there would be,” Mizuki said. “Are there really this many trying to enter the World Dungeon?”

“It’s a living,” Matias said. “For some people, it’s fun. Everyone here has their own reason for diving. There not many where you come from, little lady?”

“Not particularly, no,” Mizuki hedged. “Though maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right places. How do we do this?”

The answer, as it turned out, was to get in line. It took us about half an hour to get through, most of it waiting outside under the blazing sun. There were even vendors selling water and snacks for a couple silver apiece strolling about the line, offering refreshments. I had to admire the hustle, though I didn’t buy any.

Eventually, we made it to a checkpoing where bored-looking officials took our IDs, briefly scanned us, and waved us through. I was a bit nervous that we’d get stopped, but it took less than half a minute before the lady at the checkpoint waved us through, opening a magical barrier and giving us access to the inside of the entrance.

I’d been wondering if Matias was going to go into the dungeon in the samefind clothes he’d worn to the registry, but the building surrounding the entrance wasn’t just a checkpoint. There was a cafeteria, a library, a training area, and a storage area resembling a modern locker room, the latter of which our companion accessed so he could change out of his suit and into his leather armor.

At length, we were ready to enter the World Dungeon. My previous experience with it had been involuntary, so I had no idea what to expect for a real entrance.

It turned out to be much more grand than I thought it would be. A wide, gilded hall slowly slanted steeper and steeper downwards until marble walls turned to limestone cave tunnels and split off, all of it lit artificially. There were a few dozen people walking with us, each group steadily splitting off in different directions at intersections, taking side tunnels and the sort until we were alone.

Matias had two pieces of paper with him.

“City contract and a map,” he explained. “Map’s enchanted, of course. Picked it up a few years ago. Keeps record of everywhere I’ve been.”

“You’ve been to where we’re going today?” I asked. 

“Not the exact area, but close,” Matias said. “The dungeon shifts, y’see. What’s there one week might not be there the next, n’ places that were safe before might be hellholes now. Should be ‘bout half an hour down, couple miles in. Got some scanners saying there’s deep obsidian down there.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ve heard that’s valuable.”

“Should be,” he said. “Lookin’ to make a pretty penny of this. It’s a two-man quest, so they’re sayin’ there’ll be a few monsters, maybe Initiate-tier, maybe one or two Adept.”

“Sounds reasonable,” I said. “Though I haven’t really dealt with monsters before. It’s mostly been humans to this point.”

“It should be,” he said. “C’mon. The path is pretty clear most of the way down. Bunch of the main dungeon paths here have been pacified and such.”

It had been a while since I’d been in the World Dungeon, but it was still familiar. Even with all the additions made by the city to make the upper levels more palatable to casual adventurers, the same eerie quality that permeated the entire place remained here. The absence of the mana crystals I knew would have been in this place normally was unnerving, I had to admit.

Closer to the public entrances, it seemed, there were few to no hostile creatures, but that would probably change when we went deeper.

Sure enough, Matias eventually directed us away from the “main” path of the branch we’d taken and sent us down a twenty-foot vertical drop that we shimmied down with precision I would have called inhuman back on Earth. Olympian-level movement, but all three of us considered it normal.

“Stay on guard,” he said, drawing a mace from his belt. “An’ be careful where you swing that thing, little lady. Dungeon tunnels get small.”

It did indeed narrow to the point where we had to essentially walk single file. Artificial lighting faded, giving way to the natural dim light of the mana crystals surrounding us. I remained tense, even though my role of healer meant I was sandwiched between the two fighters.

Abruptly, my Sixth Sense triggered, a spike of cold adrenaline stabbing through my brain.

“Below!” I shouted a quarter second after Mizuki called out the same.

Both of us were already in motion, but the ambushing creature was under me so I was closer. I leaped as the dirt under me shook fiercely, giving way as I thrust my lifeline into the tunnel wall.

I applied Nightmare Forged to the weapon as I moved, sending dark energy into its spearhead. Already a deep black, the spearhead somehow grew even darker as it pierced through the stone like it was butter. Shadow sloughed off of it, setting its tendrils into it and stabilizing me.

A hollow maw rose where I’d been standing, sharp teeth closing on nothing.

Before the creature could get away, Mizuki snapped her whip out into a curved sword shape, locking it in place and slashing straight upwards. The arc of her strike ended right before my nose, splashing the blood of the creature in my face.

I screwed up my nose, yanking the lifeline out and daintily dropping on the disturbed dirt next to where the suddenly thrashing creature was. It still had the shadow reinforcement in the tip, so I planted it in the open maw, darkness spreading from the fleshy point of impact into the body around it. It spread like an infection in fast motion, giving me a point to exercise my mana with.

Nightmare Forged lvl 2 -> lvl 3

My hapless ambusher was dead within moments. Matias hadn’t even lifted a finger.

“I told you,” I said to him. “I can take care of myself.”

“Cataclysms, where’d you learn that?” he asked, taken aback.

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” I said glibly. “That thing might not be the only one of its kind, right? Any sign on where the rest will be?”

“I don’t see anything else,” Mizuki said, tapping her temple with a couple fingers. “No pings nearby. This might’ve been a straggler.” 

I poked at the worm-like thing that had been under me with my lifeline, piercing it and dragging it out. It was longer than I was tall and wide as my arm from wrist to elbow, its skin a dark rough patchwork of camouflage that had kept me from noticing it in combination with the dirt over its body.

“Rock crawler,” Matias said, kneeling down next to it. “Beginner-tier, but don’t let that fool you. Tiers talk about how much mana a guy’s got. They aren’t the whole story, see?”

“A swarm of Beginner-tier forest fairies killed a prince once where I’m from,” Mizuki said. “He was a Master, but he didn’t have the skills to take down a swarm that small and furious.”

“Like the little lady says.” Matias grunted, sawing at one of the longer teeth deeper in the rock crawler’s maw with a hunting knife. “They’re nice to see if they’re not trapping ya, though. They got four fangs deeper in their mouths with some poison that sells for a gold a pint. Powder of it fetches some coin, too.”

“How are you going to carry them around?” I asked, watching him as he extracted four hand-sized teeth. “Especially if you’re going to be looitng other monsters, too.”

“Ah, now look at this,” Matias said, unclipping an armband from his armor. It glowed, the empty center of it darkening until it was entirely black. “Storage band.”

“You don’t know about storage devices?” Mizuki asked, surprised. “I thought you and Vallis used them.”

“I know about the boxes that hold more than it looks like they should,” I said. “They make them in different forms?”

“Mhm,” Matias said. “If you’re going to dive, then you’re going to want to have one of these.”

The fangs vanished one after the other as he put them into the band. Once they were all gone, he deactivated the armband and clipped it back on.

I whistled. Despite seeing magical items and spells aplenty by now, seeing stuff just disappear into seemingly thin air was still a novel experience. I need to get me one of those.

We continued on afterwards, leaving the corpse behind. I knew from my readings that the World Dungeon would slowly consume the bodies of those left inside it, integrating their mana back into the cycle present within the place.

All three of us were on higher guard after that incident, but we were ambushed by no more monsters as we descended. I wondered how much of that was thanks to the passive effect Mizuki had on our surroudnings. Though the pressure that she exuded wasn’t the same kind of threatening that Aria Kane’s was, she still gave anyone and anything in her immediate surroundings a distinct sense of unease just with her presence alone.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Matias was clearly also affected by her, but he didn’t seem to have a distinct sense as to where the effect was coming from. “Feels like we’re being watched.”

That said, when I paid closer attention, I did get the faint impression that something other than Mizuki’s aura was in the area.

Empathic Insight lvl 3 -> 4

“Someone else is ahead,” I said. “People, I think.”

“Really?” Mizuki asked, surprised. “I’m not sensing anything.”

“I think so,” I said. “Is our path intersecting with anyone else’s?”

“Shouldn’t,” Matias said. “I checked the other assignments for the day. Even if I missed somethin’, there aren’t many paths crossing through here.”

“Maybe it’s just my imagination.”

The veteran diver shook his head. “Trust your instincts, kid. ‘Specially when you’re in the dungeon.”

“Oh!” Mizuki exclaimed. “I think I sense what you were mentioning. They’re too far out for me to get a proper sense, but… there’s a few of them. Do we keep going?”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” I said before Matias could get a word out. “We’ve barely run into anything so far. If someone else is here, it’s probably a good idea to check out why.”

Though Matias seemed reluctant, we continued forward anyway. The tunnel eventually widened enough for us to adopt something a triangle-like formation, the two bruisers in front while I, ostensibly the healer, stayed a little bit behind.

Eventually, we came to a point where the ground abruptly dropped again, this time into an open clearing with a dead end and a sinkhole in the center, which was where the deep obsidian deposit was supposed to be.

Gathered around that hole was a group of four, dressed in similar bright colors. They were chatting without a care for their surroundings, looking occasionally down into the sinkhole and discussing what they were going to do.

“Oh, fuck me,” Matias whispered. “Those people are guild.”