Duty Demands No Less

“This is suicide.”

Elaine complained to Reinhardt—who was still carrying the rucksack and going behind Priscilla to give her directions.

“This is duty.” He answered her. “You know as well as me that they would rather close the dungeon for a few weeks rather than slay whatever wiped out that party.”

“This is not our fight! We promised to help her go down to the fourth floor, not go into a monster slaying quest!”

He stopped in his tracks, making the entire party also halt. He then turned around and looked at his companion’s eyes.

“Elaine. You are free to turn back, I won’t have you question this mission’s objective any longer.”

“Rein… you…”

Before it could turn into a full blown argument, Priscilla stepped in.

“Neither of you need to follow me any further. But I will continue this on my own, this dungeon—no, this place is distorting everything I’ve known about Arcadia.” She turned around and took a deep breath before moving forward. “I know my father is down there somewhere.”

“You are not even certain of it are you?” Elaine’s words stopped Priscilla on her tracks. “You’re just saying this because it’s convenient to have two others that can cover your back.”

“I may not be the leader my Queen is.” She replied without looking back. “But I know she wouldn't allow a subject of her kingdom to simply endure endless suffering in a dreadful place like this. Even if it is just a possibility.”

Reinhardt didn’t even say a word, instead he turned around and also kept walking. Elaine watched their backs as they moved forward without her. The elf clenched her hands into fists and muttered under her breath.

“Damn it all.”

Priscilla quickened her footsteps. It wasn’t to the point of jogging, but she was gradually going further and further away from Reinhardt. The dread and expectation were both crushing her soul as she wanted to see it for herself. What was this dungeon doing with the memories of those she held dear in her heart.

‘Is this all just a terrible nightmare…?’

First was the Arcadian castle halls, then the unmistakable imitation of her commander, and now the realization that another grotesque abomination was taking the shape of another fellow Royal Knight.

She couldn’t let this stand. Her peers, her mentors, her heroes, she wouldn’t let a dungeon desecrate their image any further.

“Priscilla.”

Reinhardt’s voice made her stop and turn around—realizing she was way further than she should.

“Sorry, what is it?”

“Was that knight, someone you knew?”

There was a brief hesitation as she swallowed hard.

“Yes, it was my commander, Leonard.”

“I see. Who are you expecting to be your next foe then?”

The way he spoke made it clear that he knew the next floor wasn’t going to be anything like he had experienced before. She was a bit nervous, but she eventually forced herself to say.

“Phoebe Hawkeye.” She then turned around once again—trying to avoid looking at his face. “I think she’ll be the next one.”

Contrary to her expectations, Reinhardt responded.

“Understood. I’ll make sure to not be caught by surprise.”

“Do you know who Dame Phoebe is?”

She asked without looking back.

“I’m quite aware. We fought briefly once.”

“And you lived to tell the tale?”

“Well… to say the truth, it was thanks to Leona—pardon me—it was thanks to Queen Leona that we didn’t draw each other’s blood.”

“So you met her when she was a Princess.”

“Yes. It was one of the moments that changed my life.” He glanced at his right gauntlet before closing it tightly. “She gave me another chance—so I’ll use it to make things right.”

“I see…” She smiled quietly to herself. “I appreciate your help, Reinhardt.”

They kept walking along the quiet corridors of the dungeon until they came across a pile of kobold corpses littering the pristine floor.

Their simple armor was either dented or had been bypassed by a strong enough strike of a blunt object that made sure that it would kill. Some even wore chainmail that was punctured through a thick blade.

“Whoever did this was a skilled swordsman.” Reinhardt stopped to observe the monster’s wounds. “Didn’t even bother to retrieve the crystals either.”

He turned his gaze to Priscilla, who was also inspecting the kobold’s equipment.

“Do you think it could have been your commander?”

“Aren’t they on the same side?” She looked back at him with skepticism. “They are, technically, the dungeon’s monsters.”

“Hmm… I don’t know… I never heard of monsters of the same floor attacking each other, but I have seen kobolds and goblins fighting amongst themselves once.”

The way part of chainmail was punctured through and the shape of the dent in the monster’s armor did tell Priscilla’s subconscious that it was the work of her mentor. But the idea of a monster attacking another seemed surreal.

“But either way.” He adjusted the rucksack on his back and looked ahead of the decaying corpses. “Let’s keep moving, it’s better to not trouble the mind with these things.”

“Yeah… you’re right.”

Priscilla hesitated to tear her eyes away, but she forced her legs to move and face forward towards their destination. The next set of stairs.

It didn’t take long for them to find the next way down. The similar blue torches illuminated the next set of stairs going down. Reinhardt prepared the oil lanterns and gave one to Priscilla.

“The next floor will be pitch black like the first.” He spoke while also finishing hooking a lantern to the belt on his hip. “Be careful where you step. There are traps all over the place in there.”

“Traps? Which kind?”

“Pressure plates that look like floor tiles, pitfalls, spikes that come from the walls, every sort of nasty trap is laid in there.”

“I-I see.”

She took a deep breath and swallowed hard before descending through the stairs. Once again the dark set of stone steps left her feeling overwhelmed. The heavy, stale air slowly became moldy. The distinct smell of the dead came from the floor below and it was starting to twist and turn Priscilla’s stomach in a very discomforting way.

The moment her foot hit the ceramic tile—she heard a distinct thump and instantly jumped back up the stairs, bumping into Reinhardt. Not a second after she did so, an arrow splintered against the staircase.

“Priscilla, what was that?!”

“An archer. I heard the sound of the string echo as whatever it was, fired at me.”

“Alright.” He readied his shield in front of his body while gently passing by her. “Let me take the lead on this one.”

“I’ll count on you.”

The moment he stepped foot on the floor, his shield was also met with an arrow that splintered against his shield. Whatever it was, it wanted them dead.

He carefully advanced forward with his shield raised up, but no more arrows came his way. Priscilla was right behind him and also couldn’t hear anything beyond the sounds of their breathing.

“Reinhardt, I’ll throw a fireball down the corridor.”

“That’s fine, just don’t expose yourself for too long.”

“No need, I can hurl it from above.”

She took half a step back and prepared her spell before using Wind Shot to lob it in the corridor. An explosion of fire momentarily lit up the walls and Reinhardt noticed a human figure flee from the corridor into an adjacent hall.

“I saw it. It went to the right.”

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye out.”

The walls were much closer than the previous floor. Where six people could easily fit side by side before, the third floor’s halls could only accommodate three. That coupled with how their enemy was behaving made Priscilla take a nervous deep breath as she approached his back.

Reinhardt looked over his shoulder for a brief moment and said.

“I will need to take this extremely slowly. The pitfalls here don’t have a way back up.”

“Understood.”

Instead of normal steps, he moved his leading foot alongside the floor before stepping hard on the edge of the next tile. If it was clear of traps, he would simply walk over to the next tile and that repeated itself until they covered a few meters from the entrance.

‘Too quiet…’ Priscilla thought as her eyes were inspecting her immediate surroundings. ‘If Phoebe was my opponent, when would she strike?’

The eerie silence broken only by Reinhardt’s boots scraping the ceramic floor made her mind try to anticipate the danger which only left her even more on edge.

The paladin suddenly stopped—prompting Priscilla to ask.

“What’s wrong?”

“A body.”

She carefully peeked beside his shield and noticed the corpse of a woman still clutching a longsword tightly. Color had drained from the victim’s tanned face and there was a single stab wound on her neck—not big enough to be from a longsword, but not small enough for a knife.

‘A dagger.’

Reinhardt moved past the corpse and Priscilla kneeled down to inspect it. The dead woman’s eyes were still wide open, her jaw was a bit open as if she had seen the threat before dying. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the woman was also stabbed under her left armpit, where there was no armor to protect.

“Typical.” Priscilla muttered. “Do you see anyone else?”

“Another corpse up ahead.”

With careful steps, they advanced further. The body Reinhardt had originally seen had two arrows protruding out of the back, one in each lung and he had fallen over in between two tiles. Looking directly to his left, there was another corpse hung by a metal spike coming from a hole in the wall.

Priscilla looked at the man dangling from it and noticed he was hit in the right arm and the trap remained stuck with his arm holding it from retracting inside the wall. That same body also had a similar stab wound in its neck.

Looking back, the royal knight noticed the bodies were just a few meters apart with a trail of blood going towards where they were walking.

“She attacked this guy first with the bow, got the woman at the back and then made the guy leading the group go struck by a trap before finishing him off…?”

She flicked her hand towards the entrance and fired a simple Firebolt. The mote of fire traveled down the corridor—iluminating the floor and walls until it slammed harmlessly against the set of stairs.

‘If there were any hidden passages, she would’ve been behind us already…’

“What was that, Priscilla?”

“Just checking. You don’t know if there are extra or hidden corridors in this room, do you?”

“Not that I know. Most groups don’t come down here because of the traps.”

“I see.” She looked around the immediate vicinity, but the lack of other corridors near the entrance made her feel a tingle of anxiety. “Then… she didn’t need to get behind them…”

The blood beneath her feet was draining towards the next tile. For a split second, she shouted.

“Trap!”

Suddenly there was a click coming from one of the floor tiles and a metal spike shot through the right wall. Thanks to Priscilla’s warning, Reinhardt only suffered a small scrape on his armor’s backside. But at that moment it was too late. Arrows came flying again at Priscilla, who was now far enough from the paladin’s protection to avoid them.

She turned sideways and raised her left arm in front of her throat and a split second later an arrow head came protruding from the back of her biceps through her entire arm, stopping just shy from hitting her neck.

“Argh!”

“Priscilla!”

She snapped the shaft of the arrow to shorten it and quickly ran behind him while avoiding the trapped tile.

“Dammit.” She quickly pulled out a piece of cloth and bandaged it around the arrow to keep it in place. “She must have prepared other traps—be careful.”

“Aye.”

Reinhardt stepped forward, aiming his shield toward the right side of the corridor where there was an intersection. Priscilla looked back at the corpse with arrows stuck in its back and realized the blood came from its throat.

‘So the arrows were just a ruse…’ She clenched her teeth in anger. ‘That is Phoebe’s method alright.’

The paladin glanced over his shoulder as he asked.

“Do you think we’ll be able to fight her?”

“Not in the conventional sense.” She replied, finishing the knot on the bandage. “Phoebe always fights dirty.”

“Using traps against her?”

“She probably already knows the layout of them. The only way I see to force a ‘fair’ fight out of her would be either making her run out of arrows—or bait her into attacking me in the open.”

“Unlikely.”

“Yeah, she would just pelt me with arrows.”

“How about we try to move? This floor isn’t exactly big. We can get to the next one rather quickly.”

“How far away is it?”

“About a three minute walk, six if we are going at the pace we have been.”

“Hmm…”

“Just turn off your lanterns.”

A sudden female voice prompted Reinhardt and Priscilla to point their weapons at the source, but upon turning around they noticed a serious-looking Elaine staring at them.

“She’s a high elf isn’t she? She can’t see in the dark like I do.”

“Elaine… I thought you went back.”

Reinhardt said, which only made the elf frown.

“I would have, but your stubborn attitude wouldn’t be fixed otherwise.” She answered while pulling out her own longbow and leaving the extra quivers on the ground next to Priscilla. “Turn off your lanterns, I’ll scout ahead.”

Both knights nodded as they snuffed their lanterns. It suddenly became pitch black. It wasn’t like being outside at night where moonlight could briefly illuminate the surroundings. They were inside the earth. The darkness was blindingly absolute.

Priscilla and Reinhardt stayed put while Elaine moved with very subtle steps. She didn’t know where the traps were, but she could see what others wouldn’t. The dusty floor had distinct footprints, small, but not unnoticeable for a trained assassin such as her.

The intersection ahead split into three paths, the center, left and right. The left side was completely dusty, while the center and right side had distinct footsteps coming and going through them. Elaine peeked around the corner and noticed a shadowy figure just a few meters ahead with its bow loosely ready with an arrow.

In that absolute silence, even the act of pulling the bowstring back was liable to do enough sound to give away her position. Instead, she grabbed an arrow and tossed it low across the intersection.

At the first sign of sound, the shadowy figure drew its bow towards it, but as the distinct sound of lightwood clattering against the floor settled down—the figure also slowly lowered the bow.

‘I see…’

Elaine readied an arrow on her bowstring and started to draw it behind cover. The sound of wood tensioning made the simulacrum draw its bow as well—rising it towards where it came from.

The elf stamped hard without advancing and in less than a second later, the sound of an arrow whistled right past where she stood. In that instant, she pivoted around the corner and shot the simulacrum’s chest with an arrow of her own.

She knocked it down for a brief moment and the simulacrum threw its bow aside before breaking into a sprint. Vanishing further into the darkness.

“Lights!”

She shouted. Priscilla lit them up with a bit of fire magic and both knights pushed together to where Elaine was standing.

“Did you get it?”

The royal knight asked.

“I wounded it. It was a direct shot to the chest.” She lowered her bow and looked back. “If its anatomy is anything close to humans, it should die in a few minutes from blood loss.”

“Assuming it’ll be close to a human.” Priscilla said worriedly. “The last one didn’t have anything resembling human anatomy aside from the body shape.”

“Its insides were.” Elaine took the lead, checking for traps with her foot as she walked. “Ribcage, guts, flesh, it all looked the same from the inside.”

“I… see…”

The royal knight was a bit disgusted but decided not to talk about it further.

The way to the next set of stairs was rather uneventful. With Elaine looking past the light in the front and Reinhardt covering them with his armor and shield from behind, they made sure to not be ambushed by the assassin simulacrum.

They also found bodies of undead piled in a pitfall trap. A few unsprung traps and a couple of slow shambling undead later and they found themselves standing at the blue torch stands.

“Fourth floor…” Elaine spoke as she looked around before staring at the way down. “Are you two sure you don’t want to turn back?”

Priscilla looked over her shoulder for a moment before being the first to set foot on the stairs leading down.

The elf shrugged and sighed before following her. The group proceeded downwards. The heavy stale air slowly became cold—dry, as if they were walking into a lair of ice.

But what awaited them below was a crystal palace. Instead of walls, there were crystal pillars that were so tall they vanished into the darkness of the ceiling. Strangely, there was no need for lanterns as the floor gave off an eerie light blue glow.

It was the first time Reinhardt and Elaine stepped foot on that floor. The endless horizon of crystal floors made them feel small.

Priscilla felt strange, that place was eerily familiar… yet she had no memory of ever being in a place like it before. Terrible chills ran down her spine as she turned around to face Reinhardt.

“Can we rest here?”

He nodded briefly.

“It should be safe enough.” He lowered the rucksack on the floor. “The bull-man remains deep in the fourth floor. We’ll keep someone standing watch just in case.”

Elaine smirked quietly to herself.

“Get some rest, both of you. I’ll-”

Her speech was cut short as she let out a quiet gasp. Priscilla turned to her and from her side, she noticed a bolt sticking out from Elaine’s back.

The royal knight turned around and saw the simulacrum standing hunched over by the staircase while holding a hand crossbow. Her instinct was to charge with the rapier, but the moment she took one step forward, the simulacrum fell over in front of the stairs, dead.

“ELAINE!”

Reinhardt shouted as he caught the elf before she fell forward. The bolt was sticking out from the left side of her back, right on top of where her lung was.

“Ha… that bastard…” She muttered with a bitter smile. “Shot from the back… what damn way to go…”

“Elaine, stay with me!” He looked at Priscilla. “Help me remove the bolt! Quick!”

“O-on it.”

She grasped the metallic shaft and glanced briefly at Elaine. At her silent nod, she yanked it out of her back. Blood rushed out as Reinhardt desperately started to pray for a miracle.

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

The usual golden glow was but a faint light against the blue glow from the floor. Elaine’s flesh writhed, struggling to knit itself together.

“Stop…” Elaine muttered—her voice had a distinct whistling sound each time she breathed. “Save it for… yourself…” She looked him in the eyes—Reinhardt was still trying to perform the miracle, but his goddess didn’t answer. “Rein… thank… you…”

“No! Elaine! You can’t die here! Not like this!”

The elf didn’t reply, she couldn’t. Her chest felt like it was exploding, frothy blood started to drizzle out of the corner of her mouth, before she eventually closed her eyes.

Another had been claimed by the dungeon.