Chapter 209: 85: Trials – Roxanne

I wake up coughing horribly and with my chest hurting like rough anal. I roll over onto my side, and I puke out the water from my lungs.

I search for Wolfy's and Hana's warm presences inside my soul space, but I don't find anything in there except the dark and cold void.

Wha-…?

I cough and shiver in the cold, then realization slowly sinks in, and I start crying in panic.

No…

I'm alone, again.

I curl up into a ball and cry.

The cold seeps into my bones, and I start to shiver uncontrollably, so I turn around and slowly crawl away from the shore.

I grab one of the glowing crystals that's lighting up the green sand, but it's as cold as I am. It's just giving off pure light without any warmth.

With a groan of exhaustion, I cast a very small [Fire Wall] in front of me and curl back up into a ball as the spell warms me up.

The padding under my armor doesn't dry so easily, and after spending a long time wallowing in discomfort, I finally get the motivation to get up and take it all off.

I pull out a sleeping bag and wait inside it while everything dries.

I'm in a green, sandy cave, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible to go back through the rapids that brought me here.

"Hana…" I let her name escape my lips wistfully.

If only I was able to move my body back then, perhaps I could've held onto her.

Nah… who am I kidding? The Dungeon Master did this deliberately. He wanted us to be separated, and that means… that something bad is going to happen to each of us.

"Wolfy…" I cry his name and beg for the Gods to allow him to summon me away from this place.

I wake up feeling a little better, and quite hungry.

I cast [Conjure Bland Meal] and groan.

"Hello, my old friend…" I whisper bitterly and take a bite out of the bar of dirt. "Ugh…"

I pull out some edible anal lube and dip the bar in it. Now it tastes at least slightly better, but anal lube wasn't a gourmet ingredient to begin with, so it isn't much help.

Awn, I wanted Wolfy to use this on Hana and me.

I jerk my head to face the illuminated path in the sand and observe it while I eat. I can't see shit, so I take out my glasses and put them on. Now I can actually see further than Wolfy's cumshot range.

Ah, [Mana Genitals] is a bit silly, so he might be able to shoot it farther than a few meters, now.

I see a trail of white light in the green sand snaking its way through the small dunes until it becomes small glowing dots, then it suddenly disappears. Perhaps it goes down a hole or something like that.

I also notice that the ceiling becomes higher and higher further in, which is kind of nice because I don't really like small and enclosed places.

There isn't any other path but to continue forward… and I bet Arreira will fuck me-… I mean, fuck with me over there. I swear I didn't think that on purpose, Alissa.

I miss her stern presence inside my mind keeping us in line more than I'd like to admit. I miss them all more than I'd like to admit.

I curl up again and hold back my tears.

Would you look at that, Wolfy? Just a short time apart from everyone, and I'm already a broken, crying mess.

I pull out the Lithograph and the Emergency Rings, then I try to send a signal with them.

Well, I've always been like that, though…

They all seem to have been unlinked because none of the tools manage to send out even a single particle of mana.

Or perhaps they were destroyed.

I facepalm with both hands and groan.

Wolfy…

I jerk my head back to face the illuminated path again.

I'm not alone. Everyone should be moving forward already, and I should do the same.

I pinch my cheeks to psych myself up, then I finish my meal.

Keep moving forward, Roxanne, you crazy bitch.

I give my body a quick wash, then I put my armor back on and look ahead. I pull out my staff, cast [Spirit Light] and [Water Spirit], then I start following the crystal lights.

I use my staff to help me walk on the soft sand. My body still hurts a bit from using my HP to fuel my spells, so I drink a red potion to help dull the pain.

The sounds of my footsteps echoes through the cave, making me nervous that something might be listening. The whooshing of the river behind me gradually fades away, and the silence only grows more deafening.

Before long, the illuminated path comes to an end, leading to a circular hole. I see yellowish stone bricks that make up the wall holding the sand away, and some small stone steps have created a stair without railing going down.

That does not look safe.

"Down…"

I blink and sigh, then I increase the brightness of my [Spirit Light] and look around. I can't see anything but green stone walls all around me.

Keep moving forward. Or, in this case, down.

I carefully make my way down the steps while leaning against the wall. I can float, but after our ship crashed from the dungeon's [Disruption Field], I've become a bit wary of falling.

The clacking of my heeled boots against the stone steps echoes even further than the shuffling of the sand did. I've never wished so hard before to know [Quiet Steps], or at least for Wolfy to have given it to me before all this happened.

The little blue mermaid nestles on my shoulder and keeps an eye out towards the darkness. I must really be out of it if my Spirit has taken up a defensive stance before I have.

I really appreciate your job now, Wolfy… and Hana, too. Being the one to head into the darkness first is just terrifying.

The yellowish bricks become rougher and mossier as the air becomes more damp and hot than before.

I put more care into my step because I don't want to spend a single point of MP right now. There's just so little ambient mana here that a sniffer monster would be able to easily follow my mana trail if I were to cast anything again. Thankfully, the [Water Spirit] and my [Spirit Light] don't leak any mana after being cast.

My light shines on the bottom of this hole, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I get off the small steps and reach the solid ground, then I continue forward through an unnervingly low and narrow tunnel.

"Continue on…"

I'd like to send the Spirit to scout up ahead, but I really don't want to be alone right now. I don't do well with being left alone.

When was the last time that any of us were truly alone?

The air temperature rises, making it a bit difficult to breathe.

What is this ambient mana…?

"Forward."

My legs start to hurt from walking for Gods know how long. I wish I had Wolfy's pocket watch right now. I wish I had a lot of different things, actually. The rest of the harem, to begin with.

I sit down and take a large bite out of my bar of chocolate.

"Haaaaah~…" I let out a long sigh of satisfaction. This is really edible happiness.

I sound like a low-level old hag.

"Don't stop…"

Alright, alright.

After finishing my snack, I use my staff to get back up and continue my long walk down the creepy tunnel.

My light reflects off of something different, and I freeze up in fear. It takes me a few seconds to understand what I'm seeing, and I realize that it's just a circular platform of gray, smooth stone.

The tunnel suddenly opens up into a large room with the platform in the center, and I can see two exits out of here. One seems to just be more of the yellowy and rough stone, and the other seems to have some sort of blue moss growing from the seams.

Suddenly, the gray platform starts to glow, and I jump back while the Spirit gets in front of me, ready for battle.

The white light flashes, and I wince. The Spirit doesn't even react, so it means that nothing hostile has appeared.

I open my eyes again, and someone wearing our wooden armor is curled up on top of the platform.

I immediately rush forward and recognize Alissa's face under the helmet.

"ALISSA…!" I shriek and let go of my staff.

The smell of blood enters my nostrils, then I see her hand clutching her belly, and I notice that it's completely covered in her own blood.

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah…! FUCK!

My hands start shaking as I panic, then I push Alissa onto her back so that I can see her wound properly, and a [Regeneration] magic tool falls out of her bloodied hand.

I immediately grab it and activate it, then I press it against her wound. With my other hand, I pull off her helmet and inspect her face.

She's passed out, and her skin is nearly as pale as mine.

"Diagnosis: blood loss. Treatment: pressure on the wound and [Regeneration]," I imagine Ciel's voice in my mind.

I start to shake her shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"Alissa, Alissa…! Did you drink an HP potion yet?" I try to interrogate her.

She groans, and her eyelids flutter, but she doesn't respond.

Fuck, fuck, fucking goblin dick on a spike. Fuck me in the ass!

For her to have bled this much, the wound must've been massive. I check it and find that it's still bleeding, and I can't even check if there's internal damage.

I click my tongue and decide to risk it. Some toxicity is nothing when compared to the risk of her dying from blood loss.

I take out two Fast-Acting HP potions and empty one of them onto her wound.

I've never done this before… but here it goes.

I pull her up and make her sit, then I hug her and rest her body against mine. I open her mouth with my finger and push her tongue down, then I pour a small amount of the potion into her mouth.

She swallows it reflexively, then I pour some more and repeat that until it's all gone.

She coughs and nearly spills it, but even if it gets into her lungs, the healing will still work, so it wouldn't be that bad.

"Forward."

I can't stop here.

I look at the floating mermaid sternly scanning the room for enemies and get an idea.

I wrap the [Regeneration] gem in a large amount of cloth and press it against her wound to staunch the bleeding. I take control of the Spirit, then I have it apply pressure on the gem while also feeding it mana.

The cute Spirit obeys and frees me from having to constantly hold her, so I store my staff away and pull out my sleeping bag and tent, then I start to assemble a travois stretcher.

I need to get her to safety.

I set her on the sleeping bag and feed the Spirit some more mana, then I grab the handles of the travois and lift it. This way, even someone as weak as me can carry her onward.

I'm sorry, Alissa. I wish I took Hana's training more seriously.

I enter the mossy tunnel, dragging the travois behind me.

A weird smell starts irritating my nose, but I ignore it and keep moving forward.

The air becomes a bit more damp, and the blue moss gradually becomes more prominent, taking over the yellowy stone.

The clacking of my heeled boots become muffled as the blue carpet covers the floor, then the weird smell intensifies, and I cough. Damn moss must be shedding spores.

Alissa's wound finally closes up, and the [Regeneration] effect starts working on her marrow, speeding up the replacement of her blood.

I glance back at her and try to be comforting, "You'll be fine, Alissa. Just a few more hours, and you'll wake up, okay? Now… forward."

Even with the travois, I eventually tire out and require some rest. I check on Alissa in the meanwhile and play with her ears a bit, but I frown in worry.

"What happened to you?" I ask without really expecting an answer.

Her fur is matted, and her hair has lost some of its luster. Her armor also seems to be pretty damaged and dusty. I have no idea what happened to her, but it's like she was in the wild for a day-cycle.

I apply some [Clean] to her face and her body, and she moans happily.

If I remember right, Wolfy liked to massage her ears like this.

She immediately lets out another pleased moan, and I choke back my tears.

I'm so pathetic.

I pat her head and whisper reassuringly, "I'm sorry. I need to keep moving forward to bring you to safety."

I get up and raise the travois again.

"Letting her rest a bit would be better," I recommend.

I glance back at her.

I shake my head and reject my own counsel, "No. I need to move forward and bring her to safety."

The tunnel gradually rounds off into a more circular shape, then the floor becomes rough and bumpy. The ends of the two shafts dragging behind me start to rip up the moss from the floor, releasing a visible cloud of spores, and I have to give both of us some antiallergenic medicine so that we can stop coughing.

Alissa starts to stir, clearly uncomfortable because of something, but I can't stop yet. Her internal wounds must finally be closing up, so there's nothing else I can do but continue forward.

The tunnel weaves up and down, left and right, and it even opens up a little, but it still retains its circular shape.

I start to hear a faint, pulsating beat. Its deep tone and slow cadence feel hypnotizing to me, and when I finally realize it, I notice that my stomach is suddenly rumbling again, nagging at me for another meal.

I stop and cast [Conjure Bland Meal], then eat the dirt bar with another flavor of anal lube. This time, it's Ranja. For some reason, the elves love to have sex while smelling that fruit.

The pulsing sound grows louder, and I realize that there are two distinct beats to it, like a heartbeat.

"We're almost there, Alissa," I mumble

"The moss is irritating her. It'll be better if we go back," I disagree.

My head jerks from side to side, also disagreeing. "I can't go back, it's dangerous."

"It'll be safer to continue when she wakes up because she can detect monsters," I advise myself.

My head jerks from side to side again. "We have to get to safety before she wakes up. We're almost there, just hold on for a little longer."

I get back up and continue pulling the travois.

The pulsing increases in intensity, and the moss vibrates along with it.

The walls gain long, vertical, white protrusions that stretch for meters, like ribs poking from underneath the skin. The moss darkens and hardens, then it starts to hold some kind of liquid, becoming fleshy and a bit rubbery.

The heartbeat becomes perfectly recognizable, and syncs up with my own, then the flesh of the walls pulses along with it, as if it were all part of a heart. The environmental mana gains an even weirder flavor, as if this place wasn't weird enough already.

"It's fine. Just a little more," I murmur.

My legs burn from the strain, but I must not stop. I have to protect Alissa. I have to. I have to!

I grunt and continue pushing on.

The tunnel suddenly opens up into a wide room with a large, pulsating mass of dark blue flesh at the other end.

The tunnel ends here, and so does our journey.

"We're safe," I whisper in relief.

I lower the travois and stare at the mass of flesh.

"I shouldn't turn around," I casually tell myself.

"I need to check on Alissa," I retort.

"I can use the Spirit to do that," I suggest.

I frown in annoyance. "I need to check on Alissa!"

"I shouldn't turn around," I worriedly warn myself.

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I pout and relent. "Okay…"

"Alissa will be fine, so leave it to me. I'll take care of her," I comfort myself and pat my own shoulder.

I roll my eyes. "Okay…"

I reassure myself, "I'll take care of her."

I sigh and nod. "Okay. I'll believe me."

I pat my head like Wolfy does for Lina as I gently whisper, "You don't need to worry about her."

I nod obediently and hum in agreement.

Alissa will be fine. I should have faith.

Or should I…?

Hah…

Hah.

"Hah."

"I need to check on her," I insist and frown.

I complain tiredly, "Didn't we already go through this…? Can't you just leave her alone for a second?"

I grin mischievously. "I'm a clingy bitch, I know."

I raise an eyebrow. "Weren't we a slut? Are we calling ourselves 'bitch,' now?"

"I'm both," I proudly admit.

"'Dumb' bitch, more like it," I growl.

"Shut up. I'm not dumb," I protest.

I sigh. "And yet… You know what? Just fucking stay still, alright?"

"I still need to check on Alissa," I insist sternly.

"Why…?" I tiredly ask myself.

I shrug. "Because I need to. I can't let anything happen to her."

I growl in annoyance and repeat, "She'll be fine, so leave her to me, you annoying slut."

I shake my head and assert serenely, "I just can't. My heart won't settle down until I see her safe and sound."

I grumble, "She's already safe and sound."

"She hasn't woken up yet," I counter.

I facepalm. "She will, soon."

I cross my arms and smile smugly. "And I won't rest until she does."

I roll my eyes and groan, "Godsdamnit, you annoying slut."

"'Bitch,' please."

I scowl angrily. "Alright, you annoying bitch. Let me do my job, and she'll be fine."

I dial up my bratty smugness even higher. "No."

I facepalm again. "Do I even want to ask why…?"

I knit my eyebrows in confusion. "Uh… No…? Yes…? I don't know."

"Will you stop if I ask why…?" I bargain with myself.

"Nuh-uh," I continue being bratty.

I massage my temples and release a long yawn. "If you're not going to stay still, we're going to have to wait here for a long time."

"Right…"

A silence settles in.

I cough. "But would you hate it if I told you why?"

I snort and shrug. "Well, just go on, then… it'll at least be better than the silence, and there's nobody else here to talk to, anyway."

I awkwardly scratch a floppy horn. "I can't leave her… because she's important."

I casually play with my tail. "Well, duh."

I smile a bit bitterly. "Nobody can replace her… Aside from Wolfy, she's the only one that's irreplaceable in the harem. If she's gone, everything will just fall apart."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, you value yourself and your sisters quite a lot, huh?"

My smile turns wry. "I can't lie to myself. We can't lie to ourselves. If we want Wolfy to fulfill his destiny, then we can't be selfish."

"So, you'd sacrifice yourself for him?"

"I'd sacrifice myself for myself. I said that I'd become a better person, and I can't do that if I'm not ready to give up something for what really matters."

I take my gauntlet off to check on my nails. They're cracked…

"And you're ready to give up your life for your righteousness?"

I nod energetically. "Always."

I grin wryly. "Well… It's certainly true that we're crazy bitches."

I also grin wryly. "Everyone is a bit crazy in the harem, and that's what makes it special."

"Every marriage should be special," I calmly educate myself.

"Yes, but ours is… 'specialer.'" I hold back a chuckle.

I smile warmly and gently shake my head. "That's… a play on English words, right? I always loved it when the peasants played with language like that."

What…?

An awkward silence settles over us again.

"So… why don't you want me to turn around?" I ask… me…?

But the silence remains

"Hello? Other me?"

Silence.

I pull out my staff and turn around, then I point it forward threateningly.

"Who are you?!" I demand.

There's nothing there.

There's nothing here.

"There's nothing everywhere."

What are you looking at?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

"Nothing."

Nothing.

"There's nothing in this room. NOTHING!"

"Roxanne…?" Alissa moans.

I'M HERE! I'LL KEEP YOU SAFE!

"[EXPLOSION]!"

"SKREEEEE!" A horrible shriek brings me back to reality.

"[LAVA JET]! [LAVA JET]! [LAVA JET]! [LAVA JET]! [LAVA JET]!" I fill the entire area around me with lava, and the dark-blue flesh burns while horribly shrieking.

Smoke rises up from below, and the smell of burnt flesh makes me feel hungry.

The [Water Spirit] spews water at the floor and controls the smoke and steam, opening a path towards the exit, then I cast [Telekinesis] on the travois and make a run for it.

"Good talking with you! Though you could leave Alissa behind as a courtesy for our therapy session!" The voice inside my mind exclaims.

I let Alissa's travois fall to the ground for a moment, then I aim towards the mass of flesh at the end of the room. "FUCK YOU! [EXPLOSION]!" I blow it up and raise the travois back up again with [Telekinesis].

"Ouch. That was rude…"

The ground starts to rumble, and the burnt flesh suddenly bulges behind us at a frightening rate, swelling so much that it closes off the tunnel.

AAAAAAAH! FUUUUUCK!

I run as fast as I can, and all the shaking wakes up Alissa.

"Roxanne…? What's going on…?" I manage to hear her sleepy voice while frantically trying to escape the flesh chasing after us.

"FUCK IF I KNOW! BUT WE NEED TO RUN!" I yell and laugh maniacally.

She tries to get up, but the Spirit presses her down onto the travois again, keeping her from falling off.

"W-w-what is that…! Roxaaanne…!" She suddenly exclaims, panic clear in her voice.

I don't even want to look back at that horrific thing. Seeing it once was more than enough for me.

"Something bad! And it wants to eat us…! Or maybe just you!"

"[FIREBALL]!" She starts casting random spells to keep it away, and the Spirit tries to help.

The horror starts falling behind, and the flesh walls gradually transition back into moss, then the ground starts to rumble again.

"T-the sand! It's falling!" Alissa desperately warns me.

"Not again!" I groan.

I almost lose my footing as the blocks under the moss start to break apart.

"Almost there!" I exclaim when I see the yellowy stone peeking out from underneath the blue moss.

Small rocks fall onto me, and I'm thankful that I'm wearing a helmet. Alissa isn't, so she has to protect herself from them.

A large rock impacts my shoulder, causing me to trip, then I fall face-first and skid along the stone floor.

"Roxanne!" Alissa desperately exclaims.

Can't stop, won't stop!

"RAAAAA!" I jump to my feet and continue running.

More rocks fall onto me, but I shrug them off and soldier on.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT OF HEERE!" I scream, then I trip onto a platform of gray stone.

Just as I rise to my feet again, I see a huge slab of rock falling towards me.

I don't have [Muscle Explosion] or [Dodge], so it hits me right in the face.

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