Chapter 11: 11 – Teamwork

After leaving and giving Ailine a few hours to herself, she finally reached out and asked to stay. Deep down, I was glad she agreed. As much as I enjoy being and acting alone, having another person would also be good.

I meant it when I said I was looking forward to this. I just hope that once the day comes for me to kill the church bastards, that she won't have something like flashbacks.

Heading back down, I meet up with Ailine. Looking at her, I'm quite surprised by the slight change I see. Before I left, she still seemed mostly dead to the world. Now, her face is still mostly emotionless, except for around her eyes. If I guessed, it would be determination or resolve for something. 

Maybe she found a way to help her move forward in life. I really hope she can piece together some happiness one day. It does seem like almost too quick of a change, though.

I sat down near her. "Well then, Ailine. If we're going to be getting stronger together, could you tell me what skills you have?"

She gives a small nod. "I have. Archery 5. Bowyer/Fletcher 2. Tracking 1. Dismantling 1. Stealth 1. Heightened Senses 1.  Sense Presence 1. Hide Presence 1. Cooking 2. Farming 1. Tailoring 2."

From the list, I can assume she was a hunter. And probably a good one. Still being at level 4 I would guess that most of what she hunted were animals and not monsters that would give EXP.

That archery skill though. How much has this young woman practiced to get that before whatever the fuck happened in her life?

There's no point in asking, 'how long has it been since you have made/shot a bow,' because it really doesn't fucking matter. Of course it's been a long time for her with the state she was in.

Knowing that she has some combat skills, I can at least begin to put a plan in place. "The first thing we should do is to make you armor and weapons. I can handle making the armor, that is, if you are alright with something like mine?"

She nods, so I continue.

"And as far as your bow, you're much more of an expert than me. Besides wood, which I could never choose correctly for you, I have no idea. After a day or two getting used to moving again, would you like to go outside together to find what you need?"

A more vigorous nod.

"Besides wood, what else do you need for a bow and arrows?"

She looks down for a moment. "Knife. Sinew. Feathers. And heads."

I clap my hands together and stand up. "Alright then. Let's look through some of the crap I have and see if you can use any of it."

We went over to where I do the leatherwork and I emptied out the sack from the wreckage. She ended up asking to use the knife I found,  the flat bat teeth as heads, some of the leather strips, and the resin glue.

"Then that leaves us with wood, sinew, and feathers," I think aloud. "I'll escort you while you find what wood you want. But what about sinew? Isn't that from deer tendons? But I haven't seen any deer around."

She shakes her head before answering, "I. Can use. Goblins."

"Use goblins for sinew? I guess that makes sense. A tendon is a tendon, and goblins are everywhere around here. 

"Alright then. What about feathers? Since we have to go out at night, if we find a nest or roost and I shoot an air blade at it, can you harvest what you need from the birds?"

She nods.

I think about what else could help us and ask, "Before we call it a night and rest up a bit, what about magic? Most people could use it, even if just barely I thought. Do you know what talents you have?"

She shakes her head and explains, "I was. From a. Small. Village. We. Never learned. Or tested."

"Alright," I said. "Hey, Navi. Can you give us a hand in how to figure out her talents?"

(It's about time you recognized the greatness of this Navi! Ohohohoho! Since you asked so nicely, I might be able to lend you my assistance this one time.)

"No! Bad Navi! Turn off the damn tsundere ojousama setting! Fucking Chaos." As I'm cursing the Goddess who's probably cackling with laughter, Navi begins helping Ailine.

(Okay, girlie. For the tests, tell me what your MP is, think of the image I tell you, and will it into being. Then tell me your MP after. The difference between your efficiencies will give us an idea of your talents. First we'll test fire. Now think of a candle flame on the tip of your finger-"

Like that, Navi walked through finding her talents. The scale was from S, A, B, C, D, and F. D means barely usable. F means absolutely no talent. S is for above what should be the highest. Like all of mine, apparently. Her talents looked like this.

Fire - D-
Water - D-
Earth - D-
Air - D
Light - fuck testing that evil shit
Dark - A+
Space-Time - A
Arcane - B+

Looking at the numbers, I have a question. (Navi, why does she have three high ranking talents?)

(When she became a vampire, it bumped every talent up by about a full letter. Dark got bumped much more since, you know, vampy vampy.)

That makes some sense. In that case, she was probably completely useless with magic, besides having decent space-time and alright arcane. Those would've been hard for her to learn on her own anyway. 

With this done, I add to my initial plan  "Starting tomorrow, let's train your magic as well. Dark and space-time could be an awesome combination for a stealth archer. For bedding, there're plenty of furs and you can set up a spot wherever you like."

After looking down for a few seconds, she looks back up at me. "Um… Then… Can I. Sleep… Next to you. Lia?"

What the fuck is up with an innocent question like that? Especially when she's such a cute girl.

I have no idea how to help a severe abuse survivor. There's no way she doesn't have plenty of mental and emotional problems. The least I can do is provide support for her, however she needs it.

I give her a gentle smile before answering, "Of course, Ailine. Let's get some sleep."

=====

POV - Ailine

I pull Lia to myself in the middle of the day while she sleeps.

Don't worry, my Lia. I'll keep you safe by my side. And one day after we train and become strong, I will kill all of those men for you. And anyone that tries to hurt you.

I won't lose someone dear to me again. Closing my eyes once more, I drift back to sleep.

=====

POV - Dalia

Waking up for the night, I just smile at the sleeping woman holding on to me. 

What must this woman have had to go through? How long did she close herself off from the world? If I can be her comfort, I gladly will. 

Her speech had even improved just with the little bit of conversation we had. It must've been a long time since she could actually have a conversation.

There's no use thinking about it right now. She's here with me now, and we'll get stronger. Having another person around and caring for her, forced me to realize I was getting a bit lonely. Although, maybe I've been lonely for years... Who knows. That's nothing to think about right now.

Slowly extracting myself, I grab my sword belt and spears. I want to show Ailine the first level today while we drink some breakfast, and these should be more than enough.

Once she wakes up, I tell her the plan. We go through our magic practice, including her starting to stretch a storage space, and we head off to the dungeon. We took the first level slowly, letting her get used to moving again. She used the spear while there, and was as mediocre with it as I am. 

Honestly, if I didn't have internet videos and an obsessive one track mind—as well as a friend that dragged me to LARP meetups for a year—I wouldn't know how to use any weapons at all.

Thankfully, that year of college wasn't nearly as wasted as some of the other tangents my video binging self went off on. I doubt I'll use knowledge about, 'how pre-modern ships calculated speed and position in the ocean,' anytime soon. Although, that video was a very logical and creative lesson.

Ailine also took well to the concept of drinking blood to sustain us. If anything, it didn't seem to phase her and she just went along with it.

After explaining how the iron door works, we ended up back at the stair room. 

After another day, it was time to get to work.

In order to make a human statue/mold of her, I needed more dirt. Grabbing my bag, we went out and decided to use this as a chance for her to see if she could find everything else she needed for her bow and arrows.

The trip went smoothly. It took us a few hours, but she did end up finding a couple different bow candidates. Additionally, she found one piece that was about twelve feet long and sturdy, as well as an armful of arrow hopefuls. 

Along our way, I killed a few goblins. After a snack, she then expertly butchered without any hesitation. This girl was definitely a fucking hunter. She quickly sliced up where she wanted, grabbed tendons from a couple areas, tossed it in a goblin cloth for holding, and off we went. 

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We didn't get as many birds as I thought we might need, but it was enough for her to get a good start. We can always come back out for more.

Once back home, I started covering Ailine with dirt to make the mold. Being better at magic and with more MP now, I was able to make a full body mold. Feet included, because I also wanted to make her some sort of boot. I kept the arms and legs detached for ease of use.

She had me teach her cleaning magic, and we used it on the tendons, which she then hung to dry. We ended up with quite the amount of them, too. At least fucking goblins are good for something.

While I got to work filling in, squaring off, and adding the extra space on her statue, she got to work on making her bow. I'm glad she knew what to do, because I was clueless. Every time I looked over, she was cutting here, shaving there, flexing it, and so on. 

Over the next few days, this became our routine. We would hunt on the first level, I would work on armor, while she would work on her weapons. 

When she would need something like water to soak the sinew, or a few iron arrowheads molded for specific purposes, I would help however I could with my magic.

I also did my best to prepare for our inevitable run on the third floor. Especially the armored body snatcher motherfucker.

Since swords didn't do shit against plate, Ailine had me magic what she called, 'bodkin arrowheads,' that might help if she got close enough.

I still didn't like the idea of our archer getting in the middle of a horde on purpose. That's why I took what iron we had left, along with some of the more useless iron daggers and Ailine's old shackles, and slowly molded it together.

On one of our bird runs for feathers outside, I found a thick and sturdy branch almost four feet long, after lightly shaving it smooth. Taking the iron I had, I used my magic to make a flat hammer head on one side. It was a bit larger than the head of a large sledgehammer. For the other side, I made a long, slightly curved spike.

It took a bit to get the balance correct between the spike and the hammer. Unlike blacksmiths that actually have skill, I just cheated with earth magic.

A fuck ton of mana was needed to mold, merge, and alter the fucking thing. Hefting up the completed warhammer, I really felt that if I can get a swing at the bastard's helmet, that this spike would end the fight. I'm really feeling less and less like my preferred rogue when I practice swinging this thing. 

I even had the chance to help Ailine make us each a new set of clothes, and a robe for her from the thin tent she was buried under. I really want to find some cotton someday. Even so, I'll take what I can get. 

She seems to have been opening up more as the week has gone on. She's started to hint at a smile, and has become used to talking again. Her words now match her mind [system] talking—fuck it. I'm calling it telepathy. 

Her voice isn't very loud, unlike a mind parasite we banter with. However, I'm really glad to see improvement with her. At night, she still chooses to cling to me. I've just accepted it as the way things will be for now.

Finally, after days of preparations, everything is complete. 

Ailine's boots aren't quite as nice as mine, but mine were from a god given starter kit. Plus, I'm not a cobbler. They're passable, though. At least I think they are.

Her armor is almost identical to mine, only she has a quiver instead of falchion on her back, with a short sword and dagger on her belt. Her armor was adjusted slightly from mine. Her upper arms and vambraces were made so as to make it easier for her archery.

She made two bows. One was a shortbow and the other a longbow. The only arrows she has for the longbow are the bodkin tipped ones. Until needed, she asked me to store it since she's still stretching her storage and raising her MP. The fucker is also damn near six feet long.

After telling her about the boss on the third floor, she asked for us to at least get her to level 6, preferably 7. Before we face the boss she wants to up her STR stat to draw the longbow easier.

With her main shortbow, she is fucking deadly. While getting birds a final time, she was testing it out, and would just drop a goblin instantly with an arrow to the head.

And so, like this, we enter the second floor—and finish it like it was nothing. 

"What the fuck?" I mutter to myself.

(Hahaha! Having two people ended up with you just curb stomping some goblins and wolves!) Navi just keeps laughing in our minds.

"I mean," I start, still a little stunned. "I know having multiple people would help. I just didn't realize how much. Damn good job too, Ailine."

"Thank you, Lia."

She shoots me a small smile as I just stand in the boss room and think over what the fuck just happened.

The entire floor was a joke with the two of us. Single targets? Arrow to the face. Multiple? Arrow, spear stab from me, arrow. Boss? Arrow to the torso before the spear trash could do shit. Fireball, arrow, spear thrust, repeat, dead.

"Is this how the humans normally run dungeons, Navi?" Maybe the auditory hallucination was keeping something from me again. 

(Nah,) she says. (The upper tier guys there have three to five people in parties that go through so that they don't fight anything under level.)

"And why am I hearing this now?" I question with slightly gritted teeth.

(Because who else did you have to run it with you, silly? Of course soloing a dungeon and taking on floors of matching level monsters coming in multiples each time would be harder! The only other option is accepting the EXP drop for  being over level.)

Damnit, she has a point. Before Ailine, what was I going to do with that knowledge? Absolutely fucking nothing. I'm just glad she's here now. This'll make us level up so much faster. 

Apparently, EXP gets split when you fight together. Even with the split, compared to the drop for being over level? Two people is a win, three is barely a win, four is a wash, and you're slowing down your leveling with five people.

With the new ease of this floor, let's get Ailine to level up some. We head through the door and decide to do some runs of the cave on the third level. Together, we make it to the boss room, and exploit the infinite spawn together while standing by the door. That way, when the boss started to move or we got to the point where we were overwhelmed, we could just leave. 

Spawns here gave substantially less EXP compared to the normal monsters of even the same type, but not having to travel once here helped make up for it. Still wanting to be better prepared before fighting the boss, we would leave and head back home afterwards.

The hardest monsters to beat on these runs ended up being the bats. And even then they weren't terrible. We start out with an arrow and fireball, then transition to sword and dagger. With the bats split between the two of us, we only ever got a few scratches.

The rock worms even became less of a threat overall. Ailine's arrows we're almost useless against it. And so, with a larger fireball in its throat, I tested my new warhammer by crushing its head. It worked really well, and this ended up being a good way to farm iron.

Against corpse stealers, arrows, magic, and the warhammer were all effective. 

After a few runs grinding EXP, we were finally ready to take on the boss. Our plan was to draw the boss's attention with arrow fire while I ran around trying to flank it. 

Regarding the horde of infinite skeleton spawns, there wasn't much we could do. I'd draw as much attention as possible by rushing, and that would hopefully leave Ailine mostly free to focus the boss. Last time, I had to push through the horde, anyway. There really isn't much we can do until the boss is down.

Taking out my hammer and Ailine's longbow, we entered the wooden door. Immediately I saw the same room setup as the times before. 

"Let's do this, Ailine!"

"Yes, Lia."

Ailine broke right, and I went left. She didn't go far and stayed by the wall before firing a few arrows.  To my surprise, they actually dented the plate. A couple ended up sticking in with just the tip breaking through the armor.

Fuck! I would hate to be hit by one of those.

As she began firing, I broke out in a run straight for the boss. The majority of the horde was starting to notice me and move in my direction. With a couple full swings of the warhammer, I cleared my way.

I won't mention that swinging a heavy ass hammer while running took me by surprise the first time, and I spun in a full circle before I got the hammer back under control. Nope. Never fucking happened.

Now clear of the majority of the horde and approaching the boss, I launched an earth bullet at its torso. With its shield turned towards the rhythmic fire of arrows, It blocked with the flat of its blade.

The magic pushed the sword back slightly, and immediately after it hit, the hammer I swung contacted the hilt of the sword. This flung it away and crushed some of the metal finger plates.

With a follow-up swing after twisting the hammer in my hands, the spike came down hard, impaling the side of the helmet and killing the corpse stealer. 

Pulling on the hammer, it was stuck in the plate. With no time to fuck with it, I left it and drew my falchion and dagger to finish off the rest of the horde with my magic and Ailine's arrows mixed in.

Much faster than the first time I fought the boss, we sat down for a second. I needed to catch my breath. Swinging a big fuck-off hammer takes a lot out of you. 

"Damn good job, Ailine. Those arrows are deadly."

"Thank you, Lia. Good job to you, too."

(Girls rule! Skellys drool!)

After our rest, we gathered the drops and went back to the stairs for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll take on the fourth floor.

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