ALL NOVEL Advent – Chapter 52: The Village in the Dungeon
As soon as Aperio stepped through the portal, she was greeted by a sword pointed at her face. The only reaction the blade managed to get out of the winged Goddess was a slight tilt of her head. "That blade will do you no good."
While she might not yet have had the silvery-blue metal used against her, Aperio chose to trust the feeling at the back of her mind that told her that the weapon would do nothing. Only a God has managed to hurt me thus far… And some trees. I should test if they can still hurt me now.
With those thoughts, she pushed the weapon aside with the back of her hand and stepped to the side to allow Caethya and her daughter to pass through the portal. Ferio only raised an eyebrow at the agitated adventurer who had, yet again, pointed his sword at Aperio.
"What did you do to Caethya?" the armoured figure asked in a tone Aperio assumed was supposed to be threatening. "She never takes off her hood."
The Elf in question quickly rectified the mistake she had made and slipped the hood back on, the black veil forming a moment later. Aperio simply fixed her gaze on the armoured form and narrowed her eyes slightly. "I wished to speak in private. What we discussed is of no concern to you."
"I'm fine, Kermal," Caethya said, stepping past the winged Goddess. "It was something I had wanted for a long time."
Aperio could not help but tilt her head at the statement. She had never really thought about time, but thinking of anything below a few millena as long somehow seemed weird to her. But a few decades is long, she thought, shaking her head lightly. The change really shifted how I think about time, didn't it?
"While you discuss what you must with your group, my daughter and I will have a look around this… quaint little village." The eclectic collection of buildings had piqued her interest, if only because some of them appeared to be made from the same material as the dungeon itself. If they use it to build, then they can harvest it in some way. It is breakable. Why, then, do they get confused when I merely destroy some doors?
Caethya turned around at her words. "How am I supposed to find you?"
Aperio only cocked her head a little to the side and then tapped at her temple. With the movement, she conveyed her name and the instruction to pray when she was ready as gently as she could towards the Elf. Her attempt appeared to be largely successful as Caethya nodded, but Aperio was dismayed to see that the action had also caused her to stagger back a little. She only survives it because of my mana residing inside her, doesn't she?
The thought of her mana did spawn an idea in her mind, one that would require a bit more understanding of the System but could potentially solve her communication problems. The System itself obviously understood everyone, even monsters who spoke no language whatsoever, so why shouldn't it be able to act as an interpreter for her? Even if it just gives them a notification to read through, it would be vastly preferable to them dropping dead when I think in their direction.
While any use of magic was just an expression of her will, killing something with a literal thought was on an extreme level of oddity that Aperio would happily do without. Turning away from the group, she tried to ignore the whispered debate that the armoured figure — Kermal, apparently — had started. Still, she couldn't help but smile as she was being introduced as Caethya's old teacher, one that she had tried to track down for years. So I am an Elder of the Moons, a normal noblewoman, a priestess in service to myself and now also a teacher. ...I should probably figure out a single thing I can tell people.
Of course, that would only work for a short while until word about her true nature spread. Something she did not expect would take much longer. Also, there's not many winged Elves I could get confused with. It would appear that hiding her beloved wings would become a necessity for incognito travel in the future.
With a mental sigh, Aperio focused on the information her aura provided. The mismatched buildings that comprised the village were indeed of interest to her, but so was the number of people that actually walked its street. She had expected a small inn, perhaps, or a similar equivalent in which the mortals could rest and have a proper meal. Instead, this seemed to be a thriving village, one that rivaled the one she had found shortly after her return.
The building that truly got her attention, however, was a small, single story tavern with the Adventurers Guild plaque hanging proudly over its door. She wasn't interested in trying the food and drinks they undoubtedly had to offer, but the rather large open area behind the building where she could see a decent number of people sparring against one another.
After informing her daughter of her intent with a brief mental nudge, Ferio chose to follow as Aperio took to the skies and quickly closed the distance that separated her from her destination. Caethya's group did not react much to her departure, only furthering their questions for the Elven woman. The fact that flight was not that extraordinary but having wings was not normal still seemed weird to Aperio. It can't be just me, can it?
The thought was shelved for later deliberation as she very carefully opened the wooden door of the guild-run tavern. A few heads turned at their entrance, but they quickly turned back to what they had been doing. Aperio couldn't help but frown at the smell that practically assaulted her nose. So far she had never truly focused on what she could smell, her senses often already overwhelmed by the noise that surrounded her. The shouting and clanging of blades outside coupled with the animated conversations of the patrons inside was already threatening to do just that.
She could not place the smell. It was not something as simple as the combination of blood, shit, and alcohol – something she was, sadly, very familiar with through experience – but rather a mixture of something sickly sweet and, at the same time, something as rancid as a rotting corpse. What are they making in here?
With a shake of her head she pushed onwards, walking past the filled tables and dodging various servers holding way too many plates. Once she stepped outside again, her nose was treated to the much more familiar smell of blood and she could see, with her own eyes, the source of the shouting. It was the reason she had come here after all.
"Do you intend to spar with them, mother?" Ferio asked. "I doubt they would be much of a challenge."
"I simply wanted to watch them fight." That she did so in the hopes of potentially learning something was left unsaid.
Neither the crowd nor the fighters themselves seemed to care much for the two approaching Goddesses, too focused on the fight itself. While Aperio herself knew little of actual fighting outside of the instincts she still had from her apparent previous life, she could tell that the two who were currently sparring knew what they were doing.
They moved efficiently; everything they did was done to achieve victory. It reminded her of the bits of training she had seen the Royal Guards perform, they too only moved as much as necessary to deflect a strike or get close enough to deliver a blow of their own. The only difference here was that a seemingly disorganized blocked attack was simply a feint, a ruse to lure the other into false confidence so they could be struck at. Occasionally they would throw the odd bit of magic at each other as well, though most of what they used seemed extraordinarily weak to the winged Goddess. But is it really weak?
And yet, despite their obvious prowess, Aperio could not help but frown at the fight. To her, they still seemed to move slowly. Even when one of them managed to land a blow that seemingly blindsided the other, Aperio had somehow known it would come. A slight twitch of the attacker’s arm, the subtle step back they took was apparently all she needed to figure out what they intended to do. But, how?
She could not explain to herself how this was possible; it went past what instinct should be able to provide. The only thing that would give an explanation would be something bordering on precognition, an ability she would rather not have. Is there even a limit to what I can do? Her instinct was to say no. If she truly made everything there would be no reason to assume there would be any form of limit to what she could achieve. It did, however, give her an idea for speeding the rest of their journey to the core up. After they had walked through the first fifty floors, Aperio was not convinced completing the journey on foot would be worth it. I doubt anything in here will be a challenge.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a burst of even louder cheering; a winner had been decided. Aperio had expected gloating or mockery from the winning side, but instead they offered their hand to their fallen opponent.
"Better luck next time," the winner said, removing their helmet and revealing a raven-haired, black-eyed Human youth that did not seem to match the deep voice he possessed. The loser did not respond, simply vanishing into the crowd. "Anyone else want to challenge me?"
"Yeah, who wants to challenge my Kiro?" The voice belonged to a fox-eared Beastkin girl that wore something Aperio would not deem appropriate for anything outside of some very private endeavours. Well, I should not judge.
Nobody responded to the challenge, most people trying to appear as small as possible as the eyes of the youth wandered over them. His gaze stopped on Aperio who, unlike the others, saw no reason to hide herself. He will probably see that as a challenge, won't he? Her thoughts were proven to be correct by his next words.
"Do you want to challenge me?"
Aperio ignored the slight giggle of Ferio behind her, simply tilting her head at this question. "I did not plan to, no. Should you wish to challenge me, however, I would be inclined to humour you."
Her voice had more of an impact on the youth than she had thought it would have, as his eyes widened slightly and he took a half-step back. His vocal fan-girl seemingly did not like Aperio's choice of words as she started to mutter various insults under her breath that almost caused the winged Goddess to help the Beastkin into an early grave. The tiny voice in her head was screaming at her to kill the insolent mortal, and for once Aperio actually considered it, even if only briefly.
"You should teach your friend some manners," Aperio said, indicating the Beastkin girl as the friend in question with one of her wings. "Not everyone is willing to forgive such insults." Like Ferio. She could sense her daughter's anger at the comments, but she restrained herself as Aperio herself made no move to stop the flow of insults that came from the girl.
"How about I teach you some manners after I’ve won our duel?"
The smile that accompanied his words caused Aperio to twist her face in disgust at the comment. Whatever he had in mind he could do without and far away from her. With an unneeded motion, she retrieved her sword from her Void and stepped forwards. "You need a lesson in humility."
How he could not see the difference in their strength was beyond her. How can he think he can beat me if my voice makes him stagger? With a shake of her head, she lazily lifted her sword and pointed it at the Human youth. "You may start when you are ready."
The gathered people seemed to like their disagreement as they started their incoherent shouting again. A few of them even started to bet on who would win. Much to Aperio's surprise, most bet on the youth in front of her, seemingly not trusting a random winged Elf with a magical voice to be strong enough to beat the reigning champion. I guess they will lose some money, then.
With a smooth motion, the Human youth put his helmet back on and settled into what Aperio assumed to be a stance; it definitely looked more competent than her lazily lifted sword. Still, the moment he kicked off of the ground in a dash to close the distance, Aperio could not help but tilt her head at the lack of speed in his movements. Much like her first encounter after she had returned, the world seemed to have slowed down. This time, though, it was markedly more extreme. To her it looked like Kiro was attempting to dash through a thick layer of syrup instead of air.
She could have simply cut his attack short, appear next to him and introduce him to the ground, but Aperio chose to let him come to her. A few agonisingly long moments later, the youth had reached her and drew his sword back in what would appear to be an obvious attempt to attack. At least that is what it looked like and what she assumed he wanted for her to see. It would have worked if she could not feel the mana flow through him and slowly condense in his free hand.
Aperio let her sword vanish back into her Void; it would not be needed here. And, if he loses against an unarmed opponent it would be more humiliating, no? With that thought, she grabbed the sword that was now being thrust in her direction and pulled.
She had not used a lot of strength, but seemingly still too much. The sword came flying from Kiro's hand, its blade bent and cracked where Aperio had gripped it. The winged Goddess dropped the useless weapon and directed her attention to the youth's hand that was still gathering mana for what she assumed to be a bigger attack. At least for him.
Her assumption was proven to be correct as a moment later a cone of mist filled with tiny shards of ice was released in her direction. Neither the cold nor the projectiles bothered her in the least. The only effect it had was that a very small part of her attention was focused on fixing the dress wherever the frozen blades cut it open.The patches she had previously fixed herself showed no sign of damage despite the continued attack. Soon I will have a dress made entirely from my mana. It's probably going to be more effective than armour as well.
A thought later and the barrage from the youth fizzled away into nothing, revealing a rather bored-looking Aperio. "Anything else you would like to try?"
In response to her rather boorish taunt, Kiro removed his helmet and performed a weird set of motions with his hands that made no sense to the winged Goddess. Still, in response to his antics she could sense the mana in his body start to change. It began to flow differently, entering into a state of something that looked close to her passive improvement. Will the changes to my body ever stop? Even if they did, Aperio was not sure she wanted them to. The youths' actions did give her an idea, however.
Ira had said that the strength of her aura was determined by the amount of mana she held within her body. Aperio had never really tried to see how much mana she could draw from her well into her corporeal form, but now seemed like a good time to try. She did inform Ferio of her plan, telling her that, should it come to pass that it would be too much for the onlookers and she herself was, for whatever reason, unable to properly exclude them from her aura, it would be up to her daughter to shield them.
With an unnecessary breath, Aperio began to draw as much mana from her well as she could. No matter how much she took, the amount in reserve did not seem to change. Neither did she feel any resistance to how much she could keep in her body. The only thing that she did notice was that all the mana she took out of her well immediately set out to improve her body as best it could. Last time I tried to speed up that process I had to do it consciously. Why does it happen on its own now?
The way the colour was slowly draining from Kiro's face brought an unexpected sense of joy to Aperio's mind. Am I that vain of a person? She liked being strong, very much so, but she had not thought displaying that strength and showing superiority over others would bring her joy. Or does it simply feel good to use what I have? It was also an answer, one she would have to test once the 'fight' was over.
It only took a moment longer before Kiro fell to his hands and knees, the mana in his body returning to its normal flow. It was then that Aperio noticed an ethereal glow that was starting to emanate from her skin. Tiny wisps of blue and silver were dancing around her wings. She unfurled her feathered appendages and took a heavy step towards the downed Human. The floor broke under her feet, the cracks lighting up with a silvery-blue shine she knew came from her mana.
With each passing moment, Kiro's breathing became more laboured. Sweat started to drip from his form and his arms and legs started to shake under the strain of the unseen weight of her aura. A small echo in the back of her mind informed Aperio of her daughter's call to restrain herself, that she would not be able to shield everyone present let alone the entire village should she continue as she did now.
Aperio did not want to stop.
Using more than a tiny fraction of her might felt good. Freeing. It also felt disturbingly good to punish a presumptuous mortal that had dared to challenge her. The one who gave them everything they had. Gave him the very power he so foolishly believed would be able to stand a chance against her.
Aperio held out her hand, the wisps of mana dancing around her outstretched wings glowing even brighter. The ethereal light emanating from her skin had by this time also turned to tiny puffs of mana-smoke that now seeped out of her form to swirl around her.
She would show this foolish mortal what true power was.
