Chapter 49: Ch 48 “Familiar Writing”

"The dwarven way of war is perfectly reflected by their weapons and armour. Prioritising heavy armour covering the user from head to toe in layers of steel to block the tight tunnels of their Under Empire and grind their enemies in a war of attrition. Utilising weapons designed to pierce thick armours like the thick hide of a cave troll or armour of a fellow dwarf.

Extract from "On Dwarfs"

 

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  The two undead walked inside the abandoned mine, finding only a pair of rusted rail tracks and the sound of water slowly dripping from the sealing forming muddy puddles under their boots. What surprised the elf was how high the ceiling above them was.

They followed the rail track finding a mining shaft at the end of the tunnel. Iris noted that whatever the humans used to transport themselves and their cargo was now rotting in the pile in the corner.

 

"Ideas how we can get down there?" The elf asked.

 

"Ehh..." The girl peeked over the edge as she thought. "Ahhh!" The ground beneath her slipped off, causing the girl to tumble down.

 

"Kia!" The elf quickly rushed to the edge of the mining shaft. Instinct urged her to jump after the necromancer. A loud splash sounded from below.

 

"Ouch," An echo reached the panicked elf, stopping her from jumping. "I'm fine, Iris!"

 

"Are you fine!?" The undead left on the higher level shouted into the hole.

 

"YES!" A slightly annoyed echo sounded again from below. The sound of something metallic hitting the ground followed after.

 

"How do I get to you!?" The taller undead shouted.

 

"Just jump in it will be the fastest way." A ridiculous sounding idea reached the elven ears. 

 

Iris shook her head slightly as her old reason roared at her, before jumping down. As she accelerated down a thought about how will they exit entered her mind.

The elf felt her joints absorbing the immense force travelling through her legs as her knees bent because of the impact. A metal shriek rang in her ears as she landed. As soon she impacted her body was thrown, causing the elf's one hand to hit the ground as her body was forced down.

 

"Awesome." A comment said in an angelic voice managed to reach Iris over the ringing in her sensitive ears.

  The risen glanced at her surroundings, her vision showed blurred shapes before quickly refocusing on a figure dressed in black standing in front of her. An involuntary smile appeared on Iris's face as she watched Kia watching her with awe. She hopped off and saw that she had landed on an overturned mining cart half sunken into the ground.

 

"Are you alright?" The elf repeated the question to the necromancer, trying her best to remove the sand stuck to her fair skin and her dress.

 

"Stop, I can do that myself!" Kia sulked at Iris, who tried to clean her.

 

"Done," The elf said, letting the sulking girl go. "Where do we go?" She asked not seeing any tunnels.

 

"Come," Kia motioned to Iris to follow her, leading the tall undead to a pile of rubble and pointing at a pile of rocks.

 

"I see a collapsed tunnel?" Iris crossed her arms before the leading undead disappeared behind two boulders. "Or maybe not." She commented as she saw a gap leading to what must be the other side.

 

  On the other side, Kia waited for Iris, behind her was an underground gorge with bridges and pathways connecting each side over the massive empty expanse. 

 

"How we will manage to navigate ourselves here?"

 

"I think I know where to go." Kia answered as she started to lead the risen.

 

"How?"

 

"I can "feel" it. "Kia answered. Iris noticed her mouth moved for much longer than she understood.

 

  As they got deeper the grey stone walls gained more colours as small ore veins started to appear.

Kia led her on another wooden bridge over the gorge the pale girl shuddered. Before Iris realised Kia glued herself to her, a quiet sigh of relief reached her, as she was hurried to quicken her pace by the girl.

  When they reached the other side they turned a corner before Kia stopped Iris and pointed her slender finger at a wall. 

 

"Yes?" The risen said approaching the wall.

 

"Let's see if I am high enough level for this." Kia said hesitantly putting her hand on the stone wall. The stone started to shimmer with a yellow light before it slowly became translucent, reviling a secret door hidden in plain sight.

 

Iris amazed at the feat looked at the girl finding her with a sad expression painted on her face. "What happened?" 

 

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"I can't open it." Kia said. The risen examined the solid stone door seeing no keyhole to open it.

 

[Mana Shockwave]

 

  The stone door crumbled into many large fragments which hit the wall behind them.

 

"Oh. I didn't think of that." The petite mage answered staring at the elf standing in front of a pile of rocks.

 

"Did not think it would be that easy." Iris responded.

   

  The two walked inside the secret passage stirring up clouds of dust, thickly covering the uneven stone floor

They came across a small cavern carved into the surrounding rock. Inside the pair found dozens of barrels stacked on wooden shelves. Some of the barrels which had fallen off had burst open, exposing a strange grey powder inside.

 

"What's this?" Kia ran the powder between her fingers.

 

"Never seen it." Iris answered. Upon using [Inspect] on the powder she learned the powder was called "Dwarven Blackpowder".

 

"Bleh!" The girl's face twisted in disgust. "Sulpher."

 

"Did you just try it eat the powder?"

 

"You put powder on food when you cook." Kia quickly explained, trying to get rid of the awful taste still lingering in her mouth.

 

"Hopeless~" Iris said, she noticed a clerk's desk tucked in the corner of the cavern. She approached the desk noticing the extremely thin human body curled up against the wall, the body was covered in strange plant-like growths, she noted.

 

"Kia, come here."

 

  As soon as the undead girl noticed the corpse her expression changed.

In an instant, Kia raised her hand casting a spell which decapitated the human leaving a stain on the grey wall.

The curled-up body tried to stand up as its arms blindly flayed around itself in search of the two before its body hit the ground with a dull sound.

 

"What was that?" Iris said not having an opportunity to cast [Inspect] on the creature.

 

"I don't know," Kia said standing beside the headless corpse. "But I don't like them."

 

  The two undead searched the cavern but upon finding nothing of use they continued walking deeper into the mine. They came across a half-collapsed tunnel. 

  

"That's uncomfortable." The tall elf complained as she bent her body in an "L" shape to be able to fit meanwhile, Kia only had to lower her head slightly.

  At the end of the long corridor, they had reached another set of doors.

Beside the door was more corpses of the unfortunate miners in the same state as the clerk scratching desperately on the door.

 

[Inspect]

 

[Failed Experiment Level 10-15]

 

  The idle experiments started to shamble their way towards Iris, snapping their teeth at her. The monsters closer to Kia seemed to hesitate as they snapped their jaws at the undead.

 

  Iris carefully dispatched the painfully slow monsters, thrusting her spear at the miners' centre of mass. Kia killed whatever monster approached her as she walked behind the elf leading the monsters around the cavern in a big line.

A red flame appeared in the elven hand before touching the bark-like growth on the monster's skin causing it to combust in a tower of flame. Its fingers scratched desperately on its own throat as the flame danced on it body. Muffled wails echoed through the cavern as a corrupted dwarf tried to scream through the seals sealing his mouth.

  A familiar chime sounded in Iris's head as she watched the gruesome scene. She turned to see Kia staring at the door blocking their way.

 

"Found something?" 

 

"I recognise these." The girl tapped on a string of letters written above the door.

 

"In search of ashen fruit. In the masters dead city, it grows." The tall undead read the transcript aloud. "You saw this before?" 

 

"I recognize the letters but I don't remember from where." The mage explained. Her fingers gently ran across the smooth surface of the door.

The door shook before it slid inside the wall. "At least I recognize the mechanism."

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