Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Ow...," Groaned Raven, as his back firmly thudded against the ground, right before Celia landed butt-first onto his stomach, eliciting a winded grunt from him.

"S-sorry! Are you okay, Raven?" She responded, as she quickly got off him before reaching down and helping him onto his feet.

"Y-yeah, I'll live...more importantly, what the hell just happened? That was an insanely elaborate trap," Frowned Raven, as he stared up at the ceiling.

After they got pulled into that room and ended up falling down one of the holes that opened up, they found themselves sliding down a steep tunnel.

The space within the tunnel was too narrow for Raven to spread our his wings, so they had no choice but to keep falling.

After several long seconds of sliding down, they then fell out of an opening, which closed up once they shot out of it and landed in a heap on the ground below.

"Yeah, it exerted that powerful pulling force to drag us in right after my brother used his Magic inside the room, then sealed us inside the space, then the entire floor opened up into three sections, we ended up falling down that looooong slide, and who knows where we are now? Not to mention the Magic-blocking effect in the room and those fake weapons...Ancient Magic is scary stuff," Replied Celia with a sigh.

"Tell me about it. Any idea how far down we ended up?" Inquired Raven, dusting his back.

"Not a clue...but considering how long we were sliding for and how steep the slide was, we're definitely several levels deeper into the ruins. What do you think we should do? The opening we fell out of has closed up, but we could try busting through by force and then fly up the slide back to the thirtieth level," Suggested Celia, as she stared up the ceiling.

"I don't think that's a good idea...these ruins are ancient, damaging the ceiling could result in a cave-in, and I'm not particularly keen on that. And even if we do manage to bust that spot open, the space is too narrow for me to fly through, it wasn't wide enough for me to spread my wings," Raven shook his head after briefly mulling it over.

"Yeah, that's a good point...otherwise, you could've just flown us back us while we were falling."

"Another thing, that room...when we all fell down the holes, the ceiling came plummeting down. So even if we could make it back up there, I'm doubtful that we'd be safe in that room," Added Raven with a sigh.

"So, then what do we do? Do we head back up on foot? Or instead, do we head down?" Celia asked him.

"Hm...we have no idea whether the others landed above or below us, I think it's safe to say that each of the three holes that opened up led to a different part of the ruins. If nothing else, I think we can at least be certain that we're currently closer to the bottom of the ruins that we are to the surface. In which case, we should probably keep heading down, right? What do you think, would the others come to the same conclusion?"

"I'm not sure...I feel like Aster might. He fell with Tacitus, right? As for Lexia and my brother...I have no idea," She replied uncertainly.

"Hm...you know them a lot better than I do, but if I have to picture what they'd do, let's see...I can see Aster considering the possibility that the rest of us fell lower than he and Tacitus did, and he'd therefore determine that they'd need to head down. Tacitus would probably protest a bit but give in once Aster explains his reasoning. As for Colt and Lexia...I can see Colt wanting to go lower since that's the option more likely to expose him to greater danger. Lexia would then call him an idiot or something, which would only please him...she's pretty logical though, so I could see her determining that heading down would be the better option. What do you think?" Raven asked her.

"Hm, you know what...yeah, I can definitely picture them doing that. There's another problem though...even if we all do end up heading in the same direction, we could end up missing each other thanks to the Teleport Spells," Pointed out Celia.

"Right...okay, how about this? When we get to the end of this level, let's etch our names or some kind of sign into the wall by the entrance of the tunnel leading down to the next level. Plus, if we do end up somewhere close to the others, or even somewhere they've passed through, I should be able to pick up on their scents," Replied Raven, after mulling it over.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Alright, then, let's go. But, uh...which direction do we go in? Which way leads to the entrance to the next level?" Inquired Celia uncertainly.

"So far, each level has had a slight incline in the direction heading to the next level. We've had to head north for every odd-numbered level, and then south for every even-numbered level. Let's see...okay, I think this level is inclined in this direction, I think that's south, if I'm not mistaken. Which means we're on an even-numbered level," Surmised Raven, after looking around.

"I can't really see an incline, but your eyesight is way better than mine, so I'll trust your judgment. And it's no big deal if you're wrong, we'll just need to turn around and head the opposite way if so," Nodded Celia, before the two of them began heading in the direction Raven had determined to lead to the next level.

They moved steadily and cautiously, well aware that they may well have fallen into uncharted territory, meaning that any traps in this area wouldn't have been previously triggered.

Before long, Raven picked up the scents of Monsters and sensed that they had strong Mana signatures, so the pair used their Teleport Spells to skip ahead.

They'd fallen somewhere around the middle of this level, so it wasn't long before the tunnel entrance leading to the next level came into sight...however, they had fallen much deeper down than they'd realized.

They were a lot closer to the bottom of the ruins that they might have guessed...all the way down at the sixty-second level.

"Nice, looks like we did go in the right direction...there isn't a big room though, just the tunnel, so we're not in a level that's a multiple of five-...," Began Celia as she started to head to the tunnel, before Raven raised his arm to stop her.

"Wait...there's a massive Mana signature in there," He remarked, right as a deep, ominously threatening growl rang out from the tunnel.

Heavy footsteps echoed out as six distinct red gleams shone out, before a large, looming creature with three heads emerged from the tunnel. It was a massive, dog-like creature, with jet black fur and crimson red eyes.

"Shit...that's a Cereberus! It's a Critical Level Threat!" Exclaimed Celia in alarm, as all three heads swung open their jaws with snarls, spheres of swirling flames forming in their mouths as they took aim at the pair...

Meanwhile, further up in the ruins, in the forty-fifth level...

"Are you sure we should keep heading down? The others might have fallen somewhere above us for all we know," Frowned Tacitus, as he dragged his feet behind Aster.

"It did seem like we fell a fairly long way down, so that's possible...but it's also possible that they ended up below us. I'm not sure exactly which level we're in, but we're definitely past the fortieth level, we've come across a lot of traps and Monsters, so the Knights probably haven't ventured this far in. And besides, we're here for the Relic Armaments...so the trap that sent us down here might actually have been a blessing in disguise," Pointed out Aster optimistically.

"Sure, except for the fact that it split us up..."

The two of them had fallen to the middle of the forty-second floor, and after a brief discussion, they decided to keep heading down the ruins. They'd been using their Teleport Spells sparingly and mostly been moving on foot, and ended up triggering a few traps along the way.

They were fairly simple traps though; pitfalls, hidden snares, stepping on tiles that trigger arrows, things like that. They were both on high alert, and had been able to respond in time to evade the traps they triggered.

They had also encountered a number of Monsters, they'd avoided some of them using teleportation, but they had to fight any Monsters that were lurking around the entrances to the subsequent levels.

"Wait...I just realized something. Why...why haven't we been teleporting down? As in, point the Teleport Cards downwards and teleport straight down to a lower level," Suddenly realized Tacitus as he came to a stop.

"Well, uh...that did cross my mind, but I decided against it. That method would make it tough to keep track of which level we're on, after all, since we wouldn't know how many levels we skipped by teleporting a kilometer down, we could have ended up teleporting right past a level in which one of the Relic Armaments is stored in. I was going to bring up that suggestion after we reached the bottom, we wouldn't need to worry about which level we're on when we're heading back up, after all," Replied Aster sheepishly.

"...fine, I guess that's a good point," Admitted Tacitus with a grumble.

"Glad you agree, I-...hm? Hey, look! It's a large doorway like the ones we saw on every fifth level! And unlike the previous ones, this one's unopened...the level we landed on, it looked like a few of the traps had been triggered there. This is the third level since then, so if I had to guess...we fell into the forty-second level, which means we're currently on the forty-fifth level!" Surmised Aster correctly.

"Ugh, those doors look so heavy...you go ahead and push them open with your telekinesis," Replied Tacitus, as he took a step back.

"Yeah, fine...," Sighed Aster, moving closer to the doorway before raising his hands towards one of the doors and chanting, "[Telekinetic Push]!"

A loud grating sound echoed out as the door skidded back a few centimeters upon impact, before Aster fired the Spell again, opening the door a bit further.

"Yeah, there's no way we could've opened these doors with brute strength," Remarked Tacitus, as Aster repeatedly fired out his Telekinetic Push Spell, cracks appearing across the door from the repeated impacts across the same spot, pushing it open bit by bit.

"Okay, that should be wide enough for us to slip through, let's-...," Began Aster, before trailing off as a vicious, threatening snarl rang out, before a large set of claws poked out of the partially open doorway, pulling the door open and emerging.

It was a large, reptilian creature covered in dark blue scales, with wings on its back and long, wide jaws filled with curved, razor sharp teeth, and a row of black curved spikes down its back.

"That's a Lightning Wyvern...don't these things usually live on high mountaintops?" Frowned Tacitus, right as a second one emerged from the doorway.

"Yeah...they must have been placed here by whoever sealed the Relic Armaments in these ruins. They're High Level Threats...shouldn't be a problem for the two of us. I'll take the one on the right, you go for the one on the left," Suggested Aster, as he drew out his twin blades.

"Yeah, okay," Sighed Tacitus, bringing his axe out of his Storage Ring.

"[Telekinetic Slash]!" Chanted Aster, unleashing a rapid, vertical slashing wave in between the Monsters, forcing them to scatter before he shot towards the one to the left, which let out a snarl and swung its jaws open, firing out a crackling blast of lightning at him.

As the blast closed in on him, he coated his left blade in swirling telekinesis before whipping the blade across, deflecting the lightning across as the Monster spread out its wings and took off into the air, opening its jaws and charging up a mass of lightning in its mouth, the air around its head sparking and crackling intensely.

It then fired out the lightning in a powerful, rapid bolt, Aster leapt across to evade it, before jammed his right blade into the ground and raising his right hand towards the Monster...

"[Telekinetic Pull]!"

The Monster let out an alarmed snarl as it found itself being rapidly pulled in towards Aster, before raising its right arm as lightning intensely crackled around its claws, starting to swing them across at Aster's head as it closed in on him, right as he swiftly unleashed a powerful horizontal telekinetic slash at the Wyvern's neck with a rapid swing of his arm.

His attack cut through the Wyverns throat and sliced its head clean off its shoulders, the lightning around its claws dissipating as its body crashed onto the ground, its severed head rolling away as blood poured out of the stump that was left of its neck, forming a puddle on the ground, as Aster looked around, before spotting Tacitus.

He was racing across as the Wyvern he was fighting hovered up in the air and unleashed powerful streaks of lightning at him, the lightning dancing across the ground and charring the dirt black, before Tacitus swiftly halted as the Monster's attack petered out, lifting his axe up high before flinging it straight at the Monster with a rapid spin.

The Wyvern quickly began to fly out of the way, but it was too slow to react, a deafening roar of pain ringing out as the axe sliced across the top of its right shoulder before cutting off about half of its right wing.

Tacitus then shot forward as the Monster plummeted, streaks of blood flying out of its shoulder and damaged wing, a loud crash echoing out as its body slammed onto the ground, before Tacitus leapt forward as he brought out a large hammer from his Storage Ring, tightly gripping the handle with both hands before swinging the heavy weapon down towards the top of the Wyvern's head.

The head of the hammer slammed onto the Monster's skull with a crushing impact before it could react, sprays of blood bursting out of the sides of its head as Tacitus caved its skull in and smashed its brain, killing it.

"Nicely done, we both managed to take down a High Level Threat each unscathed. Alright, then, let's check out the room, they were nice enough to open the doors wide for us, after all," Remarked Aster, as he began heading for the doorway.

"Hey, we've been encountering stronger and stronger Monsters the further we've progressed through these ruins...if the others really did land deeper down, there's a chance they could come across Critical Level Threats," Pointed out Tacitus with a frown.

"Yeah, you make a good point...that's exactly why we need to find them and regroup as quickly as possible," Replied Aster with a slight grimace, as the two of them entered the room and looked around.

"Hm? Are those...? Yeah, those are eggs...I see, those two Wyverns had been using this room as a nest. No wonder they were so aggressive," Said Tacitus, as he spotted three large eggs in the corner of the room.

The room was littered with bones and a few fresh Monster corpses, an unpleasant stench wafting through the space.

"Damn...now I kinda feel bad for killing them. Well, it was kill or be killed, so we didn't have much of a choice. Now, then...," Trailed off Aster, as he approached a large stone coffin in the middle of the room.

He lifted the lid off with his telekinesis, a loud thud echoing out as he dropped it onto the floor, puffs of dust bursting out, eliciting a slight cough from him, before he peered into the coffin with bated breath, a wide grin spreading out across his face.

"Based on your reaction, I'm guessing this is one of the Relic Armaments?" Surmised Tacitus, as he walked over and glanced in, a gleaming, curved dagger resting in the middle of the stone box, with a stone tablet next to it.

"Let's see here...," Muttered Aster, as he picked up the tablet and read the writing inscribed on it, "It says 'Venom Fang, a dagger that injects a potent poison when it cuts a living creature, it takes about five deep cuts to kill an average person, or stabbing them and leaving the blade lodged in for several seconds'. Hm, and I think this is the name of the weapon's creator at the bottom, the hero summoned from another world who created all thirteen of the Relic Armaments.

His name is...NaruGokLuffIchiGuts.

Huh...kind of a weird name, but he was from a different world, maybe that was a normal name where he came from. More importantly, no doubt about it, this is one of the Relic Armaments...the fact that there isn't so much as a speck of rust on it despite having been down here for centuries is proof of that."

"A dagger, huh? Then it'd be best suited for either Colt or Lexia...hope they don't fight over it," Sighed Tacitus, as Aster picked up the dagger and inspected it.

"We can worry about that later...here, put this in your Storage Ring, I don't have any empty slots in mine. Let's keep moving, we still have a lot of ground to cover..."