Chapter 10: Chapter 4.1

Truth be told we weren’t exactly ready to make our way back to Rivira but we had to at least get away from the clearing where we fought.

I still wasn’t thinking clearly but I managed to get one of the elf’s arms over my shoulder and, with Scott guiding me, hobbled away from the blood filled clearing.

We must have made for a sorry lot, Guile and Scott carrying two cripples like backpacks while I and my elf companion stumbled around like a couple of drunks.

I must have lost some time then because, next thing I knew, Scott was guiding me into a spot between tree roots where Mord and the elf male were already laid down.

It was a collection of roots from different trees that had twisted around each other and then dug into the wooden floor before spreading apart leaving a hollow spot between them almost like an underground cave.

My companion just mumbled incoherently as I guided her path towards our temporary resting place. With another groan she collapsed against the root, her eyes unfocused.

Laying against the wood of the ground I wasn’t much better, my head was still killing me, my right eye was aching and I was having trouble breathing.

Shit, I wasn’t certain I could focus enough to fight a 10 years old much less cast illusions and my shoulder was still dislocated. The bites on my arm and shoulder were also starting to hurt again despite the healing potions having closed the wounds.

“You alright there?” asked Scott as he crouched over my body and looked at my wounds

“Perfect” I lied, then stared at my limp arm “Can’t you at least put my arm back in place?”

“Well, I can try if you really want me to…” he looked over my arm again and shook his head “I don’t recommend it really, even if I do it right and don’t make it worse your arm is still broken, cheap potions aren’t that effective”

“Ugh…” I groaned and considered it but decided not to take the risk “Fine, you wouldn’t have another mind potion you were hiding at least?”

“No, never needed it” he patted me on the leg and got up to check on Guile who was breathing hard and massaging his wounded leg.

Laying my good arm over my eyes I tried to take deep breaths and relax my muscles to alleviate the pain. It wasn’t all that effective.

I hadn’t really noticed before, what with the life or death situation and the tension of just getting away from that clearing, but I was utterly exhausted, my body felt like I had just ran a marathon, every muscle was aching and complaining after each breath.

A few seconds later I just passed out.

Mord was the one who woke me up. He did so by throwing a roll of bandages on my face, making me jerk upward, jolting my wounded arm and causing my head to explode with pain once again .

“Fuuuuuck!” I groaned as I cradled my head with my good hand and tried not to throw up

“Shit, sorry newbie” came Mord’s weak voice with at least some amount of regret.

Taking another couple of deep breaths I finally managed to open a single eye and glare at the pale party leader, he didn’t look good.

Pieces of his neck and shoulder were still missing and he was pale like a corpse. Mord seemed barely awake, his body resting against the tree and his eyes struggling to focus on me, so I decided to drop it.

Taking stock of the situation I noticed some Ichor from a centipede at the entrance of our little resting place and the fact that Guile and Scott were nowhere to be seen.

My heart skipped a beat for a second causing me to hold my breath but I saw most of their gear laying against the tree at Mord’s side with the Vouivre’s drops poking out from inside the bag, at least they hadn’t abandoned us.

“What… happened?” Mord finally asked while trying to focus enough to look at my wounds, his voice was extremely worried despite the sheer exhaustion “where’s everyone else?”

“We killed the thing” I answered before registering what he was really asking about and smiling “everyone is alive”

“Thank fuck… ugh, always knew greed would do me in” Either that was enough to satisfy his curiosity or Mord was just too tired to continue talking because he let his head hang down on his chest and closed his eyes.

Damn bastard going right back to sleep after waking me up.

I continued to look around, the elf woman was also missing from the cave but her companion was left laying at another corner, wrapped in a cape, his chest slowly moving up and down with his breathing.

I snorted in amusement, legless the elf was still alive it seemed.

Pushing myself fully into a sitting position I finally wiped the blood from under my right eye, trying to open it caused me a lot of pain so I grabbed for Mord’s thrown bandages and wrapped them around my head until it was completely covered.

I tried to send some power into my eyes, the left eye was working alright but I felt some kind of blockage against my right one, some instinctual understanding told me I wouldn’t be able to activate the mangekyou on that eye for at least a few days and the Kotoamatsukami seemed to be permanently beyond it now.

Fuck, not even a week into this world and one of my greatest strenghts was already gone.

Why the fuck didn’t I let Scott handle the Vouivre? he’d probably be only a few seconds slower than me at reaching the beast anyway.

Searching my own backpack I found another stamina potion and drank it down before gathering my courage to stand up, even with the medicine my body still felt heavy with exhaustion.

The temptation to lay down and take a proper nap was strong but I just knew something worse would turn up if I closed my eyes again, probably a wild floor boss or something. I just had that kind of luck.

Another few minutes and I had finally recovered enough to push myself up, even if I had to use the tree as support. Making sure I still had a few throwing knives in my pants I grabbed one of the extra spears and used it like a cane to walk towards the entrance.

Looking outside I saw the moss on the floor was covered with spilled blood and ichor in various spots but there were no corpses or any signs of the rest of the party.

Lowering my head I walked through the entrance as carefully as I could manage only relaxing when I saw Scot, Guile and the elf woman sitting around a small fire, some kind of large plant burning on top of it.

Holding on to my spear/cane tightly I made my way towards the three of them “What’s going on?”

“Hey you’re awake!” greeted Scott while the other two just nodded “Come sit”

A few more steps, some loud groaning and some amount of pain later I was sitting besides Guile while the large man slowly threw yellow leaves inside the fire. “Why are we just sitting here again?”

You are reading story Dungeon Delving is Damn HARD (danmachi / kinda SI) at novel35.com

“Saelus and your party leader need rest” Answered the elf woman speaking for the first time, she looked both embarrassed and annoyed.

Looking at her eyes I saw a small amount of distaste for all three of us in her face, damn I forgot elves were kinda racist here.

“This is Remilia” introduced Scott while fanning the flames “she has some medical training and was able to help Mord and her own companion but we have to let them rest while the potions work or risk them dying.”

“It’s the least any adventurer should know when delving” she mumbled while stealing a glance towards the root cave and biting down on her nails “We should give them another hour at least”

“Excuse us if we’re not from a first class familia” Guile grumbled and threw another leaf.

A sudden noise to the right caused me to jump up, my spear held tightly. The sudden movement gave me a bout of vertigo and I almost fell down as my vision went white. A second later I managed to refocus and see all three of my companions relax and sit back down.

Looking towards the noise I saw an arm sized branch laying on the floor, signs of blunt force damage where it had broken from the tree.

“Ha, even burning so much monster repellent we’re all still jumping in fear like rookies” Scott mocked and received a venomous glare from Remilia

“If you haven’t noticed we had to fight at least three times since we stopped” the Elf comments while finally releasing her weapon, a short and thin sword.

“Come on, sit back down Roland” Guile pulled at my clothes and I relaxed, letting him help me sit down.

“Alright, what's the plan now?” I finally asked after a minute of silence.

Scott looked at the Elf but she didn’t even open her eyes to acknowledge the question so he shrugged and answered

“We guard the cave for another hour or so before Mord and the elf can take another dose of healing” he said while poking at the fire with the tip of one of his long knives “With me and Remilia back in fighting shape and Guile protecting the wounded our chances are much better”

Scott didn’t seem to be lying so I sighed in relief and felt a weight I didn’t know I was carrying lift from my shoulders.

I had a sudden impulse to laugh out loud but, looking at the stern figure of the elf sitting straight like I ruller I decided to hold myself back, I doubt she’d appreciate my good humor after losing most of her party.

“Here” said Guile as he threw me a water pouch and some kind of meat ration “you better eat something before we make for the village”

“Thanks” and nodded his way and bit into the thing, it had the texture of rubber and tasted even worse.

I made a face at ugly thing but, after the first bite hit my stomach, I finally noticed just how hungry I was so I forced myself to continue eating before washing it all down with big gulps of water.

“Don’t worry newbie, getting to Rivira we’re gonna feast like kings'' Scott leaned towards me and patted my shoulder while laughing at my distress “We’ve got the full loot from a Vouivre and the gratitude of the Loki familia, we’re set for… HEY!”

The rogue was fast enough to jump back as I almost spewed water all over his face. My face had gone white and I had to force myself to release my spear once again “Coff… coff… which familia did you just say?”

“Do you have a problem with the Loki familia supporter?” asked the elven woman while looking to see if any water had hit her armor with disgust in her face.

“Nope… no problem at all!” I quickly denied “just to be certain you’re talking about norse god Loki right, son of Odin?”

“I don’t know what the norse are but Loki sama is one of Odin’s daughters, yes” the elf answered looking at me suspiciously.

I was hoping that wasn’t the case. Damn I knew it would be impossible to not get involved with some god or another but did it have to be one of the worst ones out there?

I mean, I had only watched Danmachi up to season 2 so I knew very little about the Loki familia besides the fact they were strong and had Ais but, if they aren’t some kind of evil mastermind last boss, I would eat my shoe.

Come on their head was Loki, shapeshifter god of lies and fire. The guy, or girl here I guess, was the father/mother of the worst monsters in norse mythology and the one to cause Ragnarok, no way she wasn’t planning to destroy Orario behind everyone’s back or worse.

Noticing all three of my companions were now giving me odd looks I gave them my best innocent smile “Yeah, when you guys go talk to the Loki familia for a reward can you, maybe, not mention my name?”

“Why?” asked the elf, hey eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

Before I could answer Scott jumped up from his sitting position sending us all into alert “Who’s there!”

Oh thank god, a distraction!

Everyone went quiet for a few seconds as we waited for an answer, or a monster to rush in.

The silence lasted long enough that I was about to try and change the conversation when the answer finally came.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” said an arrogant voice from between the trees, it seemed to be slightly disappointed.

I briefly let myself relax when everyone turned away from me, then I noticed the way they had all straightened and were holding on to their weapons and swallowed hard.

Grabbing the shaft of my spear I took stock of my situation, my head was still pounding and my right arm was useless but I felt better after eating something, nowhere near fighting shape but mobile at least.

From the forest I saw three men walking towards us, they were large and built like Guile, massive and filled with muscle but also wearing thick, cloth armor that made them look even bigger.

“Greetings” Said Scott getting up and looking up in the trees behind the men searching for something “We’re just taking a rest before making our way back to Rivira, our friend got hurt early own so we did not have much luck this delve”

Seeing as Guile and Remilia followed Scott’s example I tried my best to get up without showing just how wounded I was, no need to show more weakness than what was already obvious.

“Really?” Said the one in the center while scratching at a thick beard “Interesting, because my friend here just heard something about a Vouivre, a very rare monster isn’t that right?”

Well shit.