Abyssal Effigy

Multiple footsteps echoed throughout the dungeon’s stone brick walls as the party of three made their way from room to room, corridor to corridor. Priscilla took the front as she was far less encumbered from carrying supplies as the other two. Reinhardt kept a close eye on the map while Elaine was on the watch for possible ambushes from behind.

“I have to say.” The royal knight spoke while straining her eyes at the darkness in front of her. “You two really know about this dungeoning business like the back of your hand.”

“Almost five years on the job.” Reinhardt spoke as he was jotting down notes on the weathered map. “We’re bound to pick up a thing or two about it. Turn on the right here.”

She did as instructed and there was a faint bit of blue light coming from the end of the stone hall.

“What is that?”

Priscilla asked without taking her eyes off the corridor.

“The way down.” Reinhardt answered while he folded the map and put it inside the rucksack. “We should be on time.”

Elaine pulled her pocket watch for a brief moment and nodded to herself.

“Nine. We’re on time.”

“We just took two hours to get here? I spent an entire hour when I came here for the first time and made zero progress.”

Reinhardt walked up to her side with both the sword and shield ready.

“We think the dungeon reacts to us. That being said, it’s always good to assume that’ll be the standard going forward. The second floor onwards is always messy.”

“In what way?”

“In every way.” Elaine answered, her voice tired. “Ambushes, even the monsters, are more troublesome.”

Priscilla glanced over her shoulder, asking.

“More than properly armed goblins?”

“Properly armored kobolds.” Reinhardt said. “Those pests also know a thing or two about tactics.”

“You’re telling me we have to deal with armored foes now?”

“Assume you’ll fight a squire. They don’t wear plate armor but it’s close to it.”

Priscilla looked at the tip of her rapier and clicked her tongue.

“Great.”

Minutes later, they reached the end of the corridor where the staircase leading down was located. Two blue torches illuminated each side of the entrance.

After a silent exchange of nods, Priscilla was the first to climb down the new set of stairs.

Just like before, it felt strange. The dampness of the previous floor was replaced by a heavy, stagnant air and it grew thicker with each step along the way. She clutched her rapier tightly as she noticed the end of the descent.

Contrary to what she expected, Priscilla was now inside a castle’s maze of corridors, marble pillars erected high, platinum chandeliers holding ever-burning candles that illuminated the windowless halls in a faint, dreadful light that cast neither warmth nor shadow.

The surreal sensation made the royal knight uneasy. The uncanny similarities to the Arcadian castle’s halls were not missed. In fact, it was as clear as day that those walls and opulent decorations were a simulacrum of the royal palace.

Even the black granite and white marble floor tiles beneath her feet were polished to a mirror-like degree. Yet the simple act of looking at herself made her instinctively swallow dry.

Where her face should have been, there was but a blur of skin-toned color.

“Don’t think too much about it.” Reinhardt spoke as he finished climbing down the stairs with Elaine in tow. “I too was distressed by this place.”

“Just don’t look down.” Elaine shrugged as she remained with her back against his. “The worst part isn’t even the mirror, it’s these lights that don’t make sense. I can’t even guess if there’s something around a corner thanks to it.”

“Yeah.” Reinhardt added. “Elaine was wounded once because she didn’t notice an ambush before so be careful, Priscilla.”

“I will.”

After taking out the map for the second floor from the rucksack, Reinhardt pointed the way forward and Priscilla kept leading them. She always kept her rapier in front of her body, but the similar looking halls and muffled echoing of their shoes clacking against the granite made her feel on edge.

“Take a left here and continue forward.” Reinhardt was looking on the map before Priscilla suddenly stopped, making him look up. “What’s wrong?”

“Reinhardt, didn’t you say that the monsters that inhabited this place were kobolds?”

“Yes?”

“Why is there a fully armored knight over there?”

The armor towered above her. A gleaming steel longsword and large kite shield hung at its sides, both smeared with blood and bits of flesh that still clung to the metal. This was no decoration.

It wasn’t any knight, Priscilla knew exactly who that knight was meant to be.

‘Commander Leonard…’

Reinhardt didn’t recognize it but a glance at its stance was all it took for him to drop the rucksack on the floor and pull his sword out of its sheath.

“Elaine, front!”

On his call, the elf pivoted around and drew her bow to the maximum before letting go of the arrow. The projectile was aimed at the chainmail near its neck, but it was easily blocked by its shield.

“Tsk.”

Elaine pulled multiple arrows from the quiver in front of her body before ditching the two extra arrow-holders on the ground.

The simulacrum suddenly broke into a sprint with its shield raised up. Priscilla snapped out of it and lifted her left hand forward—shouting.

“Fire Bolt!”

The mote of fire slammed against the shield with enough force to break its sprint—but not halt it. Its boots scraped against the floor as it pressed forward. Elaine lowered her bow and pulled the sword short out of its sheath.

“This is why I hate knights.”

The simulacrum kept closing the distance with terrifying competence, shield tight, sword ready, offering no gaps for her to exploit.

That didn’t stop Priscilla. She concentrated again and chanted.

“Wind Shot—Fire Ball!”

This time, instead of a mote of fire, an orb the size of an orange started to swirl in front of her palm and a vortex of wind wrapped around it before it was released at the speed similar to a loosened arrow.

The simulacrum lowered its stance and angled the shield—making the spell rebound off its surface and explode behind it in a cloud of dust and debris.

‘It can deflect spells?!’

In that same instant, it surged forward again with the intention to stab Priscilla’s left hand. Reinhardt stepped into its path. Steel rang through the hall as the simulacrum’s sword slammed into his shield, sparks skittering across the marble.

“Ngh!” Reinhardt knocked his opponent’s sword to the side and locked his arm around its armor. “Now, Elaine!”

She dashed from the flank and the moving armor tried to slash at her, but Reinhardt grabbed its sword by the blade with his gauntlet and kept struggling to keep it in place.

The elf jammed the tip of her short sword into the gap in its left leg armor and threw her full weight behind the thrust. She felt it hit something, but it didn’t feel human.

The creature’s legs gave out and Reinhardt was ready to slam it down against the floor, but it used the knight’s own weight against him as it tossed Reinhardt over itself—freeing from the man’s grapple.

“Ugh!”

Reinhardt landed with a loud thud on the floor behind Elaine, who was now face to face against the creature. It raised its sword to slash her but Priscilla quickly grabbed its helmet and shouted.

“Fireball!”

The point blank spell detonated in her hand as she forced the flames into the simulacrum’s armor. The recoil of the explosion hurled her backwards onto the ground. Steam, heat and the smell of burnt flesh started to come out from the gaps of the armor as it remained immobile.

“Ugh…!”

Priscilla groaned in pain—her eyes turning to her left hand. Her palm had a nasty burn originating from the center as it gradually spread throughout her fingers.

She couldn’t even close it as the initial numbing sensation was being overtaken by a terrible sting until the pain drove her to clutch her left forearm with her right hand.

With her short sword, Elaine grabbed the armor before tossing it on the ground and slipped her blade through the visor of its helmet to make sure it was dead. In the meantime, Reinhardt stood up and went over to Priscilla, who was still on the floor.

“I’ll heal you.”

“T-thanks…”

He kneeled and placed both of his gauntlets above her injured hand.

“O graceful goddess of light, bestow your mercy upon this child, Heal!”

Golden particles unraveled from his fingers, but unlike when he healed her back at the inn, the miracle felt… lacking. The golden hue softly landed on Priscilla’s hand and started to slowly make her burned flesh emit a strange milky sheen.

At first she thought it wouldn’t be so bad, but once again, the uncanny itch, followed by something writhing just beneath her skin assaulted her senses.

In a short while, small patches of pink skin started to emerge from the center of the charred mess, but then it stopped.

Reinhardt glanced at his own hands with a confused expression under his helmet. One that Priscilla didn’t see, but she could feel the unspoken tension in his sharp breathing.

“Reinhardt, why did you stop?”

“I didn’t. My miracle simply fizzled out.”

“I never heard of miracles failing like magic.” She looked at her left hand and attempted to close it. While she managed to move her fingers, her skin still felt tight as if it were stretched over her hand like dry rubber. “But, this is enough to keep me going. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome…”

She stood up with his help and grabbed the rapier off the floor. As she turned to Elaine, she noticed the high elf stripping the armor off their dead foe.

“Wha- what are you doing?”

The elf stopped for a brief moment as she raised the short sword over the charred remains' torso.

“Getting the crystal, what else?”

Priscilla approached her and looked at the corpse’s figure. It had the shape of a human, but where the face should have been was nothing but an amalgamation of holes and orifices that was in no shape or form, human.

Part of her was shocked but also relieved—aside from his swordsmanship, the simulacrum didn’t bear any resemblance to her commander. She let out a quiet sigh before turning again to the elf.

“You… really are not fazed by this huh?”

“I can’t.” Elaine spoke as she drove the short sword through the corpse’s stomach. “Else I lose the only thing I have. Control.”

She reached inside its ribcage and with a forceful yank, she pulled out a blood red crystal the size of a fist.

“Woah, this is a big one. Red too, lucky.”

Unlike the many times Elaine had done this in front of Priscilla, the corpse didn’t seem to turn to dust. Instead it remained there—flesh and bone slowly sloughing apart.

That unsettled her.

“Why is it not turning to dust?”

“No clue.” Elaine stood up and retrieved the quivers she’d left beside her longbow. “What matters is that this is worth way more than the standard purple crystal.”

She glanced at the corpse—just once.

“And we don’t need to share.”

“Priscilla, Elaine, do you want to rest?” Reinhardt asked as he was rummaging through the rucksack. “Might be wise to take a break before continuing.”

They both nodded. The group backtracked to the entrance of that floor and set up around the rucksack in the middle of the hall—each watching a different corridor. Priscilla pulled the hard tack, cheese and jerky out of her satchel and started to munch on them while looking at her left hand. There was still a dull throbbing pain, but it was manageable.

The slightly sour, salty taste of the cheese and jerky calmed Priscilla down as she kept chewing the hard tack that was now slowly dissolving with her saliva.

The fight didn’t take very long, yet her heart was still pounding against the ribs of her chest. Her mind couldn’t understand the meaning of that enemy. Even if the dungeon itself was alive, how could it have known about her commander?

The more she tried to make sense of that place, the less real it felt. Cold, shadowless light hung overhead. The floor reflected no identity. The halls mimicked a place she knew all too well. It all fit together—and none of it made sense.

Her heartbeat was echoing inside her skull, like her body telling her to leave that place behind. But duty compelled otherwise. Her right hand crunched the hardtack in its grip as her molars sank deep into the jerky.

She felt a bump against her left arm. When she turned, Elaine was offering her a waterskin. Without too much thought, Priscilla took it, drank, and handed it back.

“We should be extra cautious from now on.” Reinhardt said, finishing studying the rest of the map while chewing jerky through the open visor of his helmet. “Whatever that thing was, if we fight more than one at the same time—it will spell the end for us.”

“What are the odds of finding another one of those things?” Elaine shrugged. “From how powerful it was, I don’t think the dungeon can throw another one so quickly.”

“I hope so.” The paladin grunted as he stared at both of his gauntlets. “Miracles don’t work well down here…”

Just as he finished speaking, Elaine’s long ears twitched as if they picked up a sound. She halted all motion and reached for the other two with her hands to also make them stop.

Silence permeated the air until even both knights started to hear the distinct sounds of footsteps approaching them.

From the corridor Priscilla was watching, she noticed an adventurer stumble and fall on the intersection of the hall. The royal knight stood up and pointed at him, both Elaine and Reinhardt followed her gesture and also saw a familiar young man.

“Isn’t that the scout that was with us a few days ago?”

Reinhardt squinted his eyes to see if he could confirm his identity, to which the elf shrugged her shoulders.

“That certainly is that clown. What do we do?”

“We help him, of course.”

He replied while closing his visor and unsheathing his sword to lead the way.

Priscilla followed behind the Paladin, unease marking her every step. She didn’t want to risk it—but they knew who that man was. It would be unbefitting for her to not lend a hand.

Thankfully her worries were unfounded as the collapsed man was indeed of flesh and bone and not some other abomination created by the dungeon. But at the same time, helping him only served to cement Priscilla’s fears further.

“T-thank you.” The young scout bowed his head multiple times. “Thank you for saving me. I… I didn’t know what I would’ve done.”

“What happened?” Reinhardt asked as he finished praying for another miracle to heal the man’s bruised legs. “I thought you had a team after the last expedition.”

“We did, but everything went wrong on the third floor.” He stared at his own shaking hands. “That… that thing… it killed everyone.”

“Thing?” Elaine raised an eyebrow while gesturing with her hands in confusion. “What are you talking about? The third floor only has-”

“Undead, yes! I know! We all thought the same! Until that- that monster came and killed everyone in the blink of an eye!”

“Get a grip!” Elaine shouted atop of her lungs. “What was it that killed your party?!”

“An assassin! It- it was an assassin!”

That suddenly made Priscilla’s chest tighten and she clutched her left hand against it while trying to hold her breath.

“Calm down, kid.” Reinhardt helped him stand. “Do you have your comrade’s plates?”

He nervously shook his head.

“N-no I… I ran away as soon as they started to fall one after the other…”

The paladin took a moment to organize his thoughts before saying.

“Then, are you able to return to the surface? You might need to tell the guild about what happened down here.”

“W-what about you people? You’re not… you’re not thinking about going down there… are you?”

Both Reinhardt and Elaine turned to Priscilla. The royal knight stared back at them both and uttered a single question that would shape their future.

“Can we continue?”