Chapter 37 – The Spiritualist

Rudy pushed through the crowd and met with the duo on the side of the road created by unending tent walls. She smiled at Miria and exchanged a strong handshake with Asterios.

“Fancy meeting you here. Trying your luck in the dungeon?” she asked.

“You can say that. It’s more in the form of training though. What about you? Where’s the rest of the squad?” he answered.

“That thing I mentioned before, they are currently taking care of it.” She spat to the side. “The commissioner said he ain’t taking a gorilla woman for the job, no way in hell. Can you believe that?”

Miria giggled. “He doesn’t know what he is losing”

“Right? Since it was a favour from someone on Tesser’s side, I decided to leave the room before his face ended up as a mush. While they are at it, I came here to earn some coin on the side, perhaps join a temporary party for a few short delves. Healer boy will send me a message when they are done.”

Asterios nodded. “I see. I guess you aren’t the type to just patiently sit on your butt whilst waiting.”

“That wasn’t too hard to guess, was it?” She chuckled deeply. “I’d much rather do something more active. Ya know, like cutting or smashing some monsters and filling our pockets with a bit of spare change. So, you going in? How far have you dived into this one yet?” Rudy crossed her arms over her chest and asked.

“We’ve only practised on the first floor. Before we got any lower, some… minor setbacks arrived and Master had to take... care… of them…”

Miria butted in to answer, but recalling the recent events made her blush midway. Rudy raised a brow and glanced at Ast who only shook his head with a smile. 

“As she said, I don’t think we are any deep for it to be worth joining.”

“Hmmmm… I’m really curious about you two, you know? To the point where I kinda don’t mind wasting a day or two just to see you fight. The quest will take at least a week. I have enough time to jump teams. What do you say? Even though you definitely know how to handle yourself, you still stink like fresh meat. It would be safer with the three of us as I’ve been here a few times already.”

Asterios glanced at Miria and she sent him a mental message saying she didn’t mind.

“Four of us,” he corrected Rudy.

“Ha?”

“There’s already three on my side. Is it fine with you?”

“You already joined forces with someone? I mean, I guess. As long as they agree too. Don’t wanna argue with some kid again. Ah. My bad.” She showed a wry smile after realizing that her remark could have been taken as a reference to their first meeting.

“Don’t worry. Speak freely. And no, she is another partner of mine. You’ll meet her later.”

Rudy frowned with a playful smile. “Another woman? Are you trying to build a harem party? Hahaha. If you have me in your sights then better forget it now!”

“You can rest assured, I don’t plan on trying to change your preferences. But, I can’t promise to not win over your future targets,” Asterios replied jokingly.

A weak punch hit his shoulder. “You little punk! Like I would let you!”

They bickered amongst themselves for a while longer and then strolled towards the entrance to the dungeon. Rudy barraged Asterios with questions about their fourth member, but he only answered those related to combat and such while avoiding all personal ones. 

Rudy knew he kept those facts hidden from her to raise her curiosity of how the person looked and she had quite the fun trying to make him slip up. Unfortunately, it failed. Nothing could break Ast’s defences.

Selene finished all her preparations and just waited for a good moment to step into their world, watching through his eyes as Miria had taught her. The brown-haired girl was amusing with her attempts.

“Alright,” Asterios spoke up after confirming with her that she was free already. “Before we begin, let me remind you that this is to serve as training, so I would like you to stay put unless asked or a situation arises where you deem it necessary to intervene. Got it?”

“Oh, come on. At least let me kill the trash. Please?”

“Fine. I’ll decide what is trash and what’s not though. Well then. Selene?”

A dark crimson portal opened and the foxwoman stepped out of it. She made a small bow with her head. “My Lord.”

“Got everything you need? Weapons or such?”

“Yes, I’m ready. The only weapon I need is my body, my Lord.”

Ast nodded. “Right. Okay. This is Rudy and she’ll be watching our backs today. Rudy, this is Selene, she’s my newest partn—”

He stopped after glancing at the muscular woman. Her mouth was slightly gaping and her eyes were open wide. 

“Pretty…”

“Ummm…” Asterios tilted his head and waved his hand a bit, but it had barely any effect on the warrior. “You okay there?”

Selene’s chuckle finally brought her back to reality. “Ah? Yeah. Yes. Pleasure working with you, Selene.” She showed the nicest smile they've seen during their time together.

Ast looked back at the foxgirl and shook his head with a chuckle after seeing her amused expression. It was quite obvious that she was right in Rudy’s strike zone. He guessed that the woman had a thing for exotic beauties. Not many dressed and looked like this outside of the Demon continent.

They descended the main stairs together and soon reached the safe zone. As usual, it was packed to the brim with people. No one was being dragged half-dead this time though. Most just recuperating or resting.

Asterios brought out a map and led everyone straight to the other end of the first level. They decided to start from the second one as there wasn’t much that could let either Selene or Miria show their full potential.

On their way there, Rudy was more than happy to sweep all the spiders and snails out of their way, making sure she did it in the flashiest way she could. The trio easily noticed the glances she shot back at them after performing an eye-catching ability. Especially those aimed at Selene. She was being just too obvious.

No significant threat to the party appeared on the first floor. The stairs down were pretty much the same as before and it took them a few minutes to make through the passage. The safe area on the second level was visibly bigger and the adventurers still filed it almost to the brim. No surprise. It was still just the beginning.

Hiding the map, Ast switched to his previous method of marking the path and they began their exploration of this floor. Rudy was still allowed to get rid of weak monsters until they encountered something that could pose as a sparring partner for Selene. The person in question was sending one or two lazy orbs of energy at the trash mobs from time to time. They already seemed to pack quite a punch and Asterios was happy to have someone with ranged abilities on board. She informed him that those couldn’t even be called basic moves.

It seemed that Rudy completely lost her interest in learning about how Ast and Miria operated. She didn’t pay the slightest attention to the panthergirl’s moves throughout their whole trip till this point, fully focusing on the foxkin instead. Any attempt to gain it back didn’t work, no matter what Miria tried, which left her pouting until Asterios came forward to pat her head. Even when Miria ostentatiously tried to get all lovey-dovey with him, the other woman skipped through them like they were air.

Finally, about an hour into their journey through muddy and stone tunnels and caverns, the party stumbled on something different. The space they entered was much more vast than the previous chambers and a curious, stone obelisk rested in the middle of it. Two passages ran out of the room on the other side. They walked closer to the weird monument while keeping their guards up.

“What’s this?” Miria asked when they were able to notice finer details.

From the first glance, it looked like an uneven, natural stone slab that could have broken off the ceiling or something, but Asterios and Rudy recognized a few runes engraved in it on the very bottom.

“Most likely a Trial,” the latter informed.

“A Trial?” Selene joined.

“It’s rare on this floor but possible to appear. We are in the fluctuating part of the dungeon now and this is what the core placed on the way of the adventurers during the last shuffle. But… a Trial appearing on the second floor… If I recall correctly, the last alteration happened three days ago. For it to not be cleared, which makes the obelisk crumble and disappear, it’s either just a trap or the challenge is deadly enough for all of the previous participants to get done,” Asterios shared his opinion.

“If it’s the latter, this weird stone can spawn or reveal monsters hidden here, and if we get rid of them, there is a reward. But since it’s barely on the second floor, it should be nothing much. I guess people skipped it because of that?” Rudy added.

“Ah. I see. We don’t have a name for those in our realm, but I have encountered a few in the past. Mostly on floors below tenth. The enemies are usually slightly stronger than common monsters on the stage. Shall I attempt it as a test, my Lord?” Selene walked closer to Ast and asked.

He pondered for a moment. If it was just a Trial, then it shouldn’t pose much of a threat to her, but there was always a chance it was some kind of a weird trap. But, in the worst-case scenario, Selene was able to escape to her world so it should be fine.

“Okay. It’s all yours. I’ll have Miria with Haste and Steel Skin on the edge in case something happens. Don’t be overconfident and just say if we should help.”

“As you wish, my Lord.” She bowed and stepped closer to the obelisk.

The rest of them backed away to not aggro the monsters that should appear and leave them all to Selene. Confirming that they were in a safe distance from the center, she pressed on the stone surface and leaked a bit of her mana into it. The sigils on the bottom glowed a little and a weak tremble enveloped the hall.

At a few spots on the ground, the flooring started rising like when a mole would dig the earth up. Moments later, some piles of dirt grew up to the size of an average person. Part of them gathered to be over two meters and about seven stopped at the usual Dwarf’s height. They all began shifting and morphing until they assumed the structure of a humanoid. The rumbling stopped and all the mudmen turned towards the center.

“Mud Dolls and Mud Golems. Now I get it. Those aren’t too dangerous, but without specific elements, or melee combatants specializing in blunt weapons, they can give people a tough time. Instead of wasting their efforts, most of the challengers must have just given up and fled, choosing to not damage their equipment and arms,” Asterios commented.

“Yeah. The cost of fixing my sword after such an attempt would most likely overcome the puny reward. Or I would have to slam them with the flat side. Ugh. I can already imagine the pain in my hands,” Rudy added. 

Selene bowed courteously towards the audience and waited until four assailants made their way to her and threw rock-hard fists from three directions. Before they reached, she extended her arm forwards with the fingers of her palm facing up.

*BOOM*

A loud thud was accompanied by a cloud of dust that got kicked up by the wave of pressure from the impact. When it fell down again, it revealed Selene standing in the same position. Four mud fists stopped on some kind of a spherical barrier around her. It was almost clearly see-through, having a tint of cyan in its shimmering surface.

The next moment, she snapped her fingers and the membrane burst outwards, sending the smaller dolls into the air and staggering the bigger one. Not wasting any time, Selene decided to showcase some of her ranged abilities first. 

She slapped her palms together in the middle and closed her eyes. One by one, orbs of the energy of the same colour as the shield, around fist-sized, started to appear behind her back while spinning in a vertical circle. Seven of them gathered quickly and she opened her eyes just to sense an attack from the big golem coming at her from above.

With a graceful spin, she made it out of its path, grabbed one of the spiritual balls and pushed it into the chest of the attacker. The swirling energy exploded on contact with a loud thud and ripped a huge hole in the golem’s torso. The force of the blast sent it flying back and crashing into a wall.

Selene’s ears twitched. A few of the smaller ones were clumsily heading towards her from behind as a group. She extended her hands over her shoulders and picked two more spheres. Positioned in front of her, with one hand over and one under them, she made them spin in a tight circle faster and faster until they became a smudge in the shape of a doughnut.

She then turned around and pushed both palms forward. The two orbs flew through the air while creating a helix trail and producing vibrations resulting in a low humming. The double projectile hit a doll in the middle of the group and the sound disappeared. The enemy’s body started glimmering more and more. 

For a brief moment, it seemed like it got uncomfortably quiet in the arena and then a huge, spherical explosion burst out from the point of impact and enveloped the whole squad. Thousands of little slashes of pure mana ground four Mud Dolls pretty much into dust and left an even funnel in the ground below them.

Four orbs were left in Selene’s arsenal. The previously pushed back enemies had already recovered and slowly joined the rest of the assailants. Even the big Mud Golem she hit at the beginning was now almost like new. Selene glanced around. It didn’t look like the ones she disintegrated were piling up again so she concluded that they most likely operated with cores like most Golems and she failed to destroy it within her enemy’s chest. It must have been in a different place.

Three small and three big ones remained. She grasped another energy ball from behind and broke into a run to the closest Mud Golem which was left pretty much alone. Noticing an incoming opponent, the small giant took a wide, horizontal swing, but Selene was too fast to get caught in it and dropped into a slide. 

While going through its legs, she held the orb in the left hand, which was extended upwards, and inserted the fingers of her right into it, beginning to pull back. The sphere shifted into a wide spike and began trembling the more Selene stretched it. She had done all of this in a flash and released the grip on the spiritual weapon as she was exactly under the center of her enemy’s body.

An intense vibration reverberated through the air, accompanied by another loud boom. A two-meter-wide pillar shot up from the place where Selene left the deformed orb, enveloping the whole golem in similar cuts as the helix attack, but more focused and all following a straight path alongside it.

She crouched and looked back. Only a bit of the middle torso remained. She clicked her tongue. Small stones were starting to get absorbed into it. Her gamble didn’t pay off as the core wasn’t in any of its limbs and the force wasn’t enough to completely wipe the Mud Golem out of existence.

The best course of action would be to get rid of the smaller Mud Dolls first as they were way more fragile than their bigger counterparts, and then focus the tough bunch. And that was exactly what she decided to do.

Selene curled her fingers in, leaving only the index and middle one extended, in both hands, and called the remaining three orbs to the front. She pointed her arms diagonally to the ground and a sphere accompanied one each. The last ball stayed near her chest.

In the next moment, she thrust both of her hands forward and the energy spheres flew at the closest opponent at an incredible speed. They went through its body with ease and stopped just behind it, leaving three gaping holes in their path. Selene made a pulling motion and the balls pierced the doll again, increasing the number of injuries. She then started pretty much dancing and spinning while directing their path like a conductor.

Her enemy got bombarded until one of the hits crushed its core and the mud fell down. She hastily repeated the technique on another one, but while dealing with it, her ears twitched again and she knew that the last Mud Doll was trying to pull a sneak attack while she was focused. 

Selene recalled one of the orbs and made it fly low above the ground. It arrived just in time and she stepped onto it, sending herself into the air. She made a somersault, having the energy ball follow her heel, and crashed it into the puppet’s head, releasing the swirling mana. The enemy got ground to dust in a spherical tornado of cuts and she fell into its former place gracefully.

Easily avoiding the bigger but slower golems, she finished off the last small one by throwing and crashing two balls together, which created two explosions swirling in opposite ways. Pretty much overkill at that point.

Meanwhile, the trio watched the fight from the side. Asterios was grinning the whole time, admiring the beautiful control and management of pure spiritual energy. He knew that Selene could most likely clean the whole chamber in a flash, but she was deliberately choosing more basic use of those orbs she created just so he could see her resourcefulness and years of practice put into even the simplest skills. Because he was sure those were some beginner level techniques.

“She is good. But she’s now in a tough spot. If she keeps applying the same moves on the big ones, it will drain her fast with how tough they are. But hey, great choice. A mage suits your current party setup perfectly,” Rudy commented, smiling widely, but for a different reason.

Asterios chuckled. “Who said she’s a mage?”

Selene, receiving a mental green light to show off a little, smiled to herself. It was time.