Chapter 94: Twenty-Three vol.2

Rose was reminded of Mare. The info-broker of the slums who could change her form into a Shadow Wolf. She blinked her eyes at the image of a wolf flickering back in place before her and grinning.

"What do you think?"

It was odd to hear the voice of her friend come out of the thing. As far as she knew, wolves shouldn't have the vocal cords necessary to speak their language. Yet, well, someone did just turn into a wolf before her.

"I think, I want to ride you." Rose spoke as the mana orb disappeared from her hand.

". . ." Lilias and Elsa glanced at her.

"What?"

"You're awfully innocent."

The wolf nodded twice. "Yup."

Rose ignored the two, reached her hand, and grasped a lock of fur, then tugged, pulling them out.

". . .?" Elsa tilted her large head.

The furs quickly became dots of blue light in the homunculus's grasp.

"So her current body is made of mana. . ." Rose muttered, realizing how Hollows became beasts, and why it didn't matter whether they were creatures and could still talk. If the body became a construction, a representation, of the spirit they had etched on them, then it wasn't impossible for that construction to have been changed in some way to suit intelligent creatures more uniformly.

Lilias glanced at the drifting spots of blue which soon became invisible. "Indeed. But, if she's damaged enough, her body will break into mana, and she'll forcefully revert to being human."

Rose nodded and stared at Elsa's blue eyes. Did all Hollows gain blue eyes when shifted? She supposed it differentiated them from the crimson eyes of actual mana beasts.

"What else can you do?" She asked.

Elsa grinned.

Her figure flickered back.

"This."

Lightning crackled and rumbled around her, frying an area of three meters. It shrunk to 1 meter and their power increased. It ballooned to 5 meters and their power shrunk. Rose imagined that was her minimum and maximum radius.

"And this, the last one," Elsa grinned.

Her jaws opened and the lightning in the surrounding receded before dancing within her throat. Seconds passed. Rose counted to five and the rumble rang.

A flash of white passed in front of her, shooting, but she could track it.

A bolt of lightning blasted through the air.

The rumble of thunder echoed.

Then there was a crash.

Rose turned her head at falling rocks.

A part of the cliff above them was shattered, completely broken through as chunks of earth fell, but that wasn't where the attack ended. No. Further behind the fried mass of brittle black rock, a hole had been bored within a cloud in the sky, as if turning it into a donut.

Evidently, the range and destructiveness of the attack was asinine. Yet, as it had been a bolt of lightning, it was less that the attack had a lengthy reach, and more that it was fast, and it could fly across distances.

"Fuck, I missed," Elsa cursed.

Its accuracy, however, was to be tested.

"Wait, what the hell?!"

Rose turned her attention back.

Elsa had reverted to human form, glaring a hole at her abs. Chastising the tattoo of the wolf.

"Just one shot, and I'm out of charge?!" The girl yelled. "Wait a minute. . .that one attack uses all of my remaining charge?!"

Rose chuckled as she ran through her mind.

"Hmm."

The girl could coat any part of her body in lightning at the base, normal, activation of her spirit. It should, going by the visuals alone, and the result of her stomp, increase her power, and add a layer of shock and burns to her physical attacks. Seeing as it could also come out of her foot, which were covered by shoes, then anything in contact with her body would be counted as an extension of it as well. Perhaps, holding a sword would form lightning around it?

'Powerful already.' At the very least, just that alone had made her significantly more dangerous to fight without proper equipment or counters. Her bane would be ranged weapons, and armor or other spirits, or Gears, which could make lightning useless. Not to mention, some people still had Gene Advancement which could make them resistance to stuns through healing.

Yet, Elsa was also a Hollow.

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Shifting into the beast, she gained its flicker ability—able to move meters near-instantaneously—its area of effect storm ability, and its final ability it failed to use fast enough against Rose. If someone could survive everything, she doubted they could go completely unscathed by a full blast of all its remaining charge molded into a terrifying bolt of lightning.

She glanced at an Elsa who finally came to terms with the fact that one attack could suck up all her remaining charge.

"Do you know how long it takes you to recharge back to full?" She asked.

"Huh? Hmm." Elsa spoke, thinking as she walked closer. In her mind, she connected with the tattoo and felt its energy rising as it continued to suck mana from the world around her. She wasn't dumb, so estimating the rate was easy enough for her. "Looks like it goes up by 1% every 10 seconds. 100% in 1,000 seconds?"

Rose nodded. "So, if you fully extend yourself, you only need 16 minutes and 42 seconds of rest to return to full fighting condition."

". . ." Okay, Elsa thought, this girl was way too fast at calculations.

"If she had more spirits, she would be able to switch to an already recharged one while the former rested," Lilias added, "Or, if she wished to, combine their powers."

"Then," Rose said, "Let's make part of our goal in this dungeon include getting Elsa to her maximum number of spirits. After that, it will be us. Is that plan fine with you two?"

Lilias and Elsa nodded.

"That's fine."

"Sounds sweet."

In the end, Rose retrieved her satchel, checked that her charge was at 25%, and that she had 6 mana orbs in it. That was a worry of the past, however.

She opened the glowing door besides the corpse of the wolf and the three stepped in.

They found themselves in a bright, white, room. At the other end of which was another door.

"So, the dungeon has 'rest points' between floors," Rose noted, "This looks like a good place to stop then, right?"

"Aye."

"We've done what we came for."

Rose nodded and raised her right hand.

"Dungeon - Access - Leave."

Of course they were leaving the dungeon. After all, they had only entered the first dungeon to test things. They hadn't brought any supplies, nor planned to stay for long. The real climbing would begin tomorrow.

They needed funds.

And, now, Spirits.

But, today had merely been registration and a familiarization.

The back of Rose's hand glowed as a white circle descended upon the trio.

[Authorizing access.]

[Authorization completed.]

The back of Rose's hand glowed as a white circle descended upon the trio.

[Beginning transmission.]

Once more, Rose thought she recognized that voice.

[Do try and reach the top, Rose. Please reach the top of this dungeon. Reach and collect it all. Climb, grow, regain your strength. Then claim it all back.]

Again, it was that same one that had first clued her as Rose Igris Blake. It was that same voice that had first welcomed her into the dungeon. And, this time, it was sending her off with a new message. As if it could only contact her within the gaps of its announcements.

It seemed to know her.

And it seemed intimate with her.

And, now, it was telling her to climb the dungeon to claim something. Something it spoke of as if it rightfully belonged to her.

'By the sound of it. . .is the dungeon an inheritance?' She couldn't help but ponder. 'If so, is every dungeon an inheritance?' That made little sense to her. Surely, no one would build 9 massive dungeons and fill them with beasts just so they could pass something on to another person, right? It sounded quite silly to her.

[I bid you farewell from Asura's Legacy. Until next, Rose.]

". . ."

Rose stared at the roof above them, recognizing that the dungeon had a name, and they disappeared from the space.