The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith (28 page)

We moved forward towards
the pond together, each took a big breath, and dove in, Denise
following me as I swam through the path I saw earlier, until we came
up into a tunnel that had air in it.

Chapter
13

After pulling ourselves up
out of the water, we took a second to look around. Of course, this is
wholly unhelpful, as the underground passageway is pitch black. After
a moment, I pull out the illusion torch from my pack, letting it
light the way. “So.. this is a dungeon. It’s a bit
stronger than us, but we should be able to manage it. At the very
least, it will be great for your sword practice.”

Denise nods to me, pulling
out her scimitar and twirling it with one hand. “Right. Guess
that means I’ll lead?”

I smile, handing her the
torch. “I’ll keep an eye out for ambushes.” I
immediately activate my Scan spell, which seems to be my most often
used spell now that I think about it. It probably won’t be long
now before it hits Advanced level.

“
I’ll watch
for traps then… these damned glasses.” Denise mutters as
she puts on the glasses to spot traps. “Making me look like an
old lady…”

“
Now that is the
last thing you look like.” I smirked, looking ahead as the
darkness gave way to my green-tinted vision. “Looks like there
is a fork in the road a ways down. Still don’t see any enemies
though.”

“
Yeah.. well, don’t
let your guard down.”

Slowly, we proceeded
forward, with me able to keep my Scan spell active thanks to my high
mana recovery overpowering the cost of the spell itself. When we get
to the fork, there is a bit of writing on the wall between the two
paths. And… it seems to be written in runes.

“
Please tell me you
can read this chicken scratch.” Denise glares back to me, and I
step forward to look at it.

“
Yeah, just give me
a minute. There’s a reason mages don’t casually write
like this.” I slowly read over the message once, twice, and
then a third time. Since a rune has both a surface meaning and deeper
meaning, you have to grasp the entire thing to see it in context.
Like how ‘property’ doesn’t mean something you own,
but ‘a facet of an object’s nature’.

“
Hmm… ‘Those
who value justice and virtue, take the left path. May the rules of
the world, the heart of dominion, and the spirit of glory guide you
down the right path.”

Denise nodded, and turned
to the left before I reached out and stopped her. “No, we need
to go right. It’s ridiculous… but the rune they used for
right isn’t the one that means ‘proper’. It
literally means right.”

“
Oh… well say
that sooner!” She shakes her head and turns to the right.
“Though, does that mean that the left path is the easy one? Or
just that the right path has things that will make us question our
judgement?”

“
No idea. But let’s
make sure that whatever is down the left path doesn’t have the
chance to get out and attack Midnight while we’re here.”
I put my hand out towards the left path. “Guardians of the
earth, answer my call and become my shield. Wall of Clay.” A
wall of stone quickly rose up to seal off the hall, but I grimaced at
how unnatural it looked compared to the worked stone walls. “I
guess I need to make a spell for that…”

“
A spell for what?”

“
To carve earth,
would make that wall fit much more naturally.”

“
Is it really that
important?”

“
Well… it
would help other ways too?”

“
Yeah, yeah. Want to
quickly make one before we move on? Knowing your insane speed, you’ll
have a spell worked out before I can even relax.”

“
Alright…
just give me a minute.” I leaned against the wall and focused.
Sculpt. That should be the focus for the
spell. Then fill that with the magic of the earth.
I held the rune’s image in my head as I mentally poured earth
magic into it, aiming my hand at the wall I made. Gradually, lines
like bricks began forming on the wall, until it more closely matched
the surrounding walls.

“
Okay, that should
be good. Let’s get going.” I shook my head and sighed,
quickly investing my points before we turn towards the right side
path, where I immediately see something in the distance with my Scan
spell. “Damn… looks like we aren’t alone after
all.”

About ten meters off,
staring straight at us from just beyond where the torch lit, there
was a humanoid creature with dark skin, two columns of three eyes,
and long thick arms that had spikes coming out of the elbows. And
somehow, it slipped past my Scan spell earlier.

“
Way to go, scout.”
Denise glared at me as she seemed to spot it as well. “Plan?”

“
Plan A.”

“
Plan A?”

“
Kill it before it
kills us.”

“
We got a Plan B?”

“
Yup. But I like
Plan A.”

“
Plan A it is.”
Denise held up her sword and focused for a second as I gripped my
staff and began chanting.

“
Mother of all
things, that which rules the land, come forth to my call and seal
their movements. Nature’s Grip!” Roots quickly came from
all directions, bursting through the stone wall as they tried to
grapple the waiting monster. At the same time, Denise began slowly
walking forward, her sword in one hand and the torch in the other.

Given that this was the
first time I’ve used the spell, and the Talent behind it was
only effectively level three, I wasn’t expecting much. But for
it to just shrug it off like the vines weren’t even there and
charge forward left me a bit depressed. “Enchant Speed!”
A soft light emanated from Denise, and her speed quickly increased,
while at the same time she activated her own speed skills, surging
forward in a blink to appear beside the monster, her sword moving in
consecutive slashes.

The monster didn’t
seem that bothered by her attacks either, and I grimaced. “Alright.
Let’s try something bigger. Denise, get back as I finish!
Guardians of the earth, bestow upon me your spear!”

Immediately, Denise shot
back towards me, as spears rose up from the ground and stabbed at the
monster. This time, it seemed to be effective, causing it to
momentarily let out a shrill cry while its blood poured from the
wounds. “Not done yet.. Crimson light which burns all things,
come forth from my hand.” A small fire burned within my hand,
but I quickly put it out by grasping it. “Become!”

Before the monster had a
chance to break the spears, all of the stone stabbing through him
burst into flames, igniting the monster as well. “Your turn
Denise! Enchant Power!”

Denise shot forth again,
ignoring the flames wrapping around the flailing monster and slashing
one of its arms off. Then, with her next movement, its head followed
after it.

“
We did it…”
I grinned to her, and Denise nodded, with a somewhat worried look.
“What is it?”

“
It didn’t
attack, did it? That just seems odd.”

“
Maybe. I’d
like to think we didn’t give it a chance.”

She nods again, though
seems unconvinced. “Alright, maybe.. Let’s just be
careful. And don’t bother scanning, if this guy got so close
without you noticing.”

I nodded to her, and
canceled the spell. “Okay. Onwards and forwards.” We
continued a bit, passing down the wall that never seemed to change.
Soon, we saw a pair of the monsters from before. They seemed to be
called Sentinel Demons.

“
Let’s wait
for them to make the first move this time.”

“
If you say so…”
I gripped my staff, keeping my mind ready to recite a spell in an
instant while the demons just stood there staring at us. We kept this
standoff for what seemed like eternity, but was really only thirty
seconds or so before I pointed out, “They’re not doing
anything.”

“
Try talking to
them?”

“
And what am I
supposed to say? ‘Hey look, we don’t want to kill you?’”

“
Uhm.. yeah. Can you
say that in runes?”

“
...No… no I
can not. Runes aren’t a spoken language, just written.”

“
Okay… then
write it out? That message earlier was written in runes, so maybe
that’s how they speak?”

“
Okay, fine…
but if this backfires, totally your fault.” I pulled out my
grimoire with one hand and flipped to the spell page. “I have
read and understood the origin, and command it to shape to my
desire.”

“
Agreed.”
Denise nods to me as I cast the spell, before runes appear on the
floor in front of the demons, and on the walls next to them. Simply
put, the rune means ‘Peace’.

The demons begin letting
out a clicking and groaning sound, likely part of their own language,
before they fluidly slip into english. “What happened to the
first guide?”

“
Uhm… well,
he suddenly approached us undetected, so he seemed like a hostile.”
I responded to their question, assuming they used a spell to
translate.

“
Understood. You are
from the over-world, are you not?” Four of the six eyes of the
questioning demon narrow at us, and I thought it was downright creepy
that the other two didn’t join them.

“
Yes, we come from
above the sand.”

“
Good. Then you will
help us.”

“
Uh.. what exactly
are you wanting us to help you with?”

“
We require you to
fight god.”

…
.

“
Say again?” I
was absolutely certain I misheard them.

“
We require you to
fight god.” Nope, I heard right.

“
Sorry, I think
there is an error in your translation spell. You want us to fight…
god?” When the two demons nod in perfect unison, I shudder
slightly. “And… why?”

“
For the good of
your world.”

Denise sighed, shaking her
head. “I’m sorry, but could you explain further? Just
suddenly telling us to fight god… That’s not something
you ask a normal person.”

“
Nevertheless, it is
required.”

After the left demon
speaks, two red orbs appear in the darkness behind them, slowly
moving forward to reveal they are the glowing eyes of a more
human-looking demon. A succubus, if I had to guess, and the name the
Worldlore gave me confirmed it. Aside from the horns and the tail,
she looked like the picture of human lust, possessing an hourglass
figure that shouldn’t allow her to maintain balance, her assets
held in place by black layered armor which almost seemed to cover up
everything except what it should, displaying a vast canyon in her
chest. Like her eyes-which were now black instead of red- her hair
flowed down to her waist in long black strands. When she spoke, her
voice was soft, yet commanding.

“
You are the humans?
I see.. I had been hoping for more. Still, if you want a proper
explanation, you should come with me. Coming this far shows at least
you have the brains, though your skill is still in question.”
She turned on her heels, and walked back down the hall she came from.
Immediately, the two sentinel demons moved to either side of the
hall, putting their backs to it to grant easy passage.

“
So… follow?”

“
Sure… this
will be interesting.” I gripped my staff until I was white
knuckled, and walked behind the succubus. Denise followed right
behind me, never taking her eyes off of the two sentinels in case
they attack.

“
For the record,
I’ve got a bad feeling. If something happens, this time it’s
your fault.”

“
I can live with
that.” I nodded, fighting against the very nature of humanity
to keep my eyes north of the equator when I looked ahead to follow
the demon in front of us. I swear, she must have noticed and added a
little extra sway to her step to mess with me.

A bit further down the
hall, and we came to a large door blocking further access. It seemed
immensely heavy, and would likely require insane strength to open it,
but the demon guiding us just laid a hand on the door and pushed it
open casually. “Please, come in.”

She held the door open,
and light flooded into the hall. After letting our eyes adjust, we
slowly stepped forward. Inside was a vast hall, suitable to be called
a throne room, well lit by torches and stones scattered across the
ceiling that seemed to glow. At a glance, this place seemed far too
big to be underground, given how deep we should have been, but there
were no windows, nor did I remember seeing any formations that would
account for this.

Coincidentally, my mental
map had changed as well, suddenly expanding outwards to show a
network of caves and hallways, with rooms, and entire buildings
underground. “It’s a demon city…”