◈

 

Rain set his claws against the boulder and leaned his muzzle around it just enough to peek his yellow eyes and observe the levelers who were emerging into the cavern. He was wary of Lyra’s invisibility not holding up, mostly because the sheep girl seemed to lack confidence in it. That turned out to be a wise decision as he quickly spotted an Elf amongst the group of levelers, the Elf had a pair of violet lensed spectacles hanging around his neck on a chain.

“That Elf, he can sense the use of magic, and those spectacles, the instant he looks through them we will be completely visible to him. We- we might be in a little bit of trouble…” said Lyra, peeking around the boulder above him, her hands held tight on his ears.

“Why isn't he wearing them now?”

“They continually drain mana, and not a small amount of mana, I’ve seen people faint after just twenty minutes of wearing them. It’s kind of a thing to give them to Elves since they can sense if any magic is being used and it’s a good time to put them on. Traps, invisibility, illusions. Truth lenses can see through all of it.”

“Wow, that makes your magic invisibility totally useless! I didn't know you could be any more terrible sheepy but you continue to surprise me,” said Opal.

“H-hey! They aren't that common and if you don't know to look then they aren't very good! I- I think!”

As they watched a large-bodied leveler emerged from the dark of the tunnel. It took Rain a moment to process what he was looking at. A Centaur, except their upper body was that of a muscular Gnoll. A cloaked figure wearing a wooden mask sat stiffly on their back. Their lower body was that of a wild horse, powerful and rippling with muscle, their broad hooves flared with fur. Rain narrowed his eyes. This leveler felt different from the others. Strong, yes they seemed very very strong. The way they held themselves, casually strolling across the frozen grass as though they owned the place indicated a confidence in their own power. She had the look of a high leveler, someone used to looking down on others and squashing monsters with ease. 

“O-oh, it’s that person…” mumbled Lyra.

“You know them? Who are they? I didn't know there was such a thing as a half Centaur half Gnoll.”

“She is just a Centaur, not a half, just a rare bloodline that you don't commonly see outside of the plains. Centaurs have a thing for Humans and discriminate against Centaurs who aren't the Human type. I’ve heard they won’t even let bloodlines like hers into cities that have a large Human type Centaur presence.”

“Is it like Gobbos and half Gobbos?” said Opal. “Half Gobbos are a threat to regular Gobbos so we don't like them very much.”

Lyra shook her head. “I don’t know why they treat them that way, Centaur clans do their own thing.”

“You didn't say who they are.”

“I only saw them in passing when I rescued Lady Glyrieth and took her to the leveler’s camp. That Centaur was there, she spoke to, uhm, the town of Lynthia’s Ranker! The town’s Ranker is in the dungeon right now!”

The stone beneath Rain’s claws suddenly shattered as his paw tensed, his claws shearing inward. Stone fractured across the boulder sending splinters of stone flying. Lyra yelped as stone peppered her legs. 

Rain blinked and looked down to see the broken stone beneath his paw. He slowly removed his digits, stone dust coming away with his fur. He flexed his claws. The Ranker was here? In the dungeon? So close?? He didn't know how he felt about that. Dark and terrible memories began to stir, like a great bear waking from winter hibernation.

“Y-you don't like the Ranker that much?” squeaked Lyra. 

Rain remained silent. 

“What was that?” said one of the Human levelers, turning toward them.

“Oh no! The stone splinters went outside the range of my skill!”

The Centaur turned her head. “What is it?”

“I thought I heard something, Like small stones hitting something.” 

Rain looked at the levelers and then looked back at the fractured boulder. Already the stone was reforming, shifting and blurring into place. If he squinted he could see that there was some kind of illusion over the rapidly filling crack, a temporary disguise while the skill repaired the stone. Unfortunately, it was a little too late.

The Centaur crossed her arms. “Hrm. Keep in mind that there are, supposedly, Panthara around here. Drawing in the unwary with a sound is a trick they like to use. One wrong move and,” she curled her hand into a fist, “you’ll be eviscerated and lose your guts.”

“You’ve fought one of them before mistress, uh, Drassi?”

The Centaur traced a scar that ran down her arm, her fur had grown over it askew. 

“No, I didn't fight one, I fought a pack of ‘em.”

The group of levelers all snapped their gazes to her, their backs straightening, suddenly a lot more conscious and aware of the power level of the Centaur.

“Y-you d-did?”

“I wouldn't recommend it. I’d rather avoid fighting any ever again if I can help it, horrible nasty shitters that they are.”

“I don’t believe it was a Panthara unless Panthara’s have taken to using magic,” said the Elf of the group. He squinted at the boulder by the entrance and his fingers reached for his violet lensed spectacles.

“You sense something?” said Drassi

“Hmm, I’m not sure, there’s something… Some strange magic...”

He raised the spectacles to his eyes and furrowed his brow. He removed them and then put them back on, comparing.

“Someone used magic here, I’m just not sure what. I’m not seeing anything unusual.”

The Elf closed on the boulder, looking over it carefully, rounding its side. 

“I can feel it, something happened here very recently.”

He put the spectacles to his eyes and… nothing, there was no one there and the stone looked perfectly natural and whole. He frowned. 

“The lenses show nothing. Whatever it was that was using magic is no longer here.”

“Perhaps our erstwhile Rescuer is nearby. I wouldn’t mind getting my mitts on all the gold that filthy rich snake asshole is offering,” said the Centaur, her eyes roaming around as though looking for a sign of the Elf-sheep. She turned to face the chilly cavern. “Keep the lenses on for now, see if you spot anything amongst the trees.” She strode forward and the group followed.

Rain stepped back further into the shadows of the tunnel from whence the levelers had emerged.

“Phew,” said Lyra. “Elves are real bastards you know, I get caught out by them more than any other species.”

“Aren't you half Elf?”

“Yes, but only the good bit, the bad half missed me, I’m all good.”

“Could have fooled me!” said Opal, her words dripping with smugness.

“What? You’re a monster! You're all bad! You don’t know anything!”

Rain scratching his jaw thoughtfully. “Anything your Skill leaves behind is natural and completely non-magical… That does make sense I suppose, if what was left behind was magical that would just be another kind of track to follow.”

“Yes, like footprints in the snow. My invisibility needs to be so complete because injured people I rescue from dungeons aren't very good at being stealthy, mostly they just bleed everywhere and stumble into things and cry a lot.”

Opal guided them away from the cold cave and through several side passages, the endless stone pressing in on all sides. Rain had to breath in and turn sideways to fit through one part, it was a very tight fit.

Eventually, they came to a stop by a large rock. The Goblin jumped out of Rain’s arms and wiggled around a gap beneath the stone where it pressed up against the wall. She disappeared behind it after a moment and then a muffled voice called back.

“Okay, you can move the rock, this is it!”

Rain’s paw came down atop it and he set his feet and heaved. The rock pulled away from the wall far more easily than he expected and he stumbled backwards as it fell with a crash and rolled away. He had to shift his foot to avoid the rock rolling over it. 

Opal was standing on a worn smooth looking set of stairs on the other side, her hands on her hips.

“Oh you are getting strong,” she grinned.

Rain set Red and Lyra down and examined the revealed stair.

“These stairs seem old, like the big stairs that go between floors.”

“Mhm! It's the same!” Opal hopped up the first few steps and beckoned Rain to follow. Rain eyed the small space sceptically. The stair was cramped, very cramped. It seemed more like something that was used for maintenance or that a servant might use than a main passageway, and it was in far worse repair than the main stairs of the dungeon, the steps uneven and cracked, dipping in the middle like they had been eroded by water.

“Oh come on you’ll fit, besides you can always force your way through.”

They began to climb, Red, Opal, and Lyra ahead, Rain bringing up the rear.

Rain had to hunch over to fit, his shoulders scraping against the walls, his ears squished up against the ceiling. They climbed up the dark spiral stair, ever higher. 

At one point there was a break in the wall and a tiny stream merged with the stair, waterfalling down its steps. The steps became slippery and wet and algae covered and Rain found himself having to dig his claws into the stone to remain standing. 

Red wasn't quite so sure-footed and the Kobold suddenly slipped on his rump and gracelessly bounced down the steps, his metal filled packs making a racket in the small space until the Kobold crashed into Rain. He looked up at the hulking wolf, eyes wide with fear. 

“P-please! It was an accident! Have mercy!”

Rain didn't reply but grabbed the Kobold by one of the packs and put him back on his feet. He then placed a paw on the back of the pack and applied pressure, surely but steadily pushing the terrified Kobold upwards.

At last, after what seemed like thousands of steps the spiral stair ended. Opal slipped through an exit in the wall and out of sight. 

Calling it an exit might have been a bit generous, it was more a small deformed hole crisscrossed with stalactites and stalagmites touching from wobbly uneven edge to edge.

Opal waved back at him through it. 

“Come on, what, are you not strong enough to break it?”

“I can break it, but I feel like you might have a bit of a blind spot when remembering how big I am and if I can actually fit through small spaces Opal. I’m not small anymore.”

Opal put her finger to her lip. “Mmm, nah! You said you’d always fit remember! You just need to push it in hard and stretch out the small space until it’s used to you! You showed me really well!”

Rain squinted at the Goblin unsure if she was still referring to the stone kind of small spaces.

He wrapped a paw around one of the stalactites and ripped it free. It came away easily, or maybe that was just him. In any case it only took a few moments to tear down the stone from the hole and make a space that he could maybe fit through. He let the others go first and then approached it.

He fit his head through. Opal was on the other side watching him with a strange expression on her face. 

He put one arm through and shifted forward but abruptly came to a halt as his chest got stuck. He scowled and pushed, his back feet scraping and slipping against the slick stair behind, trying to force himself through the too-small hole, his muscles straining.

“You’re just so big and huge and massive!” said Opal, her breathing getting heavy.

“Opal this really isn't the time for that.”

The Goblin swallowed, a little drool on her lip, and nodded.

Rain shoved forward with a grunt and the stone began to crumble and break apart around him until with a crash part of the wall fell down and he stepped free, chunks of stone clattering across the cave floor as he stood.

“How close are we to the dungeon exit? There will be a lot of levelers around here since it’s the first floor you know,” said Lyra.

“Oh it’s not far, the secret way out is across the floor, we’ll have to pass by the main exit to get there.”

“O-oh…” said the Lyra, suddenly looking around nervously, as though expecting an attack at any moment. She squeaked as a huge paw wrapped around her hip and lifted her up, placing her atop Rain’s shoulders. She gripped his ears.

“I- I can do that on my own! I don't need you to pick me up!”

Rain ignored her and gathered up Opal into his arms and then put a large paw on the Kobold’s shoulder. Red’s eyes bugged out in fear.

“This is it, we get one shot at this,” said Rain. “We make it out completely undetected and we’ll be free, at least for a time.”