NOVEL NEXT 237
Chapter 237 : The Spiraling Scholar
“This place is truly wondrous. I never imagined the inside of a shard could look like this.” Katrin said as she gazed about. It was true, Agni felt the same way. Led by Oliver Pagnal, the whole of Mystic Tower chapel had finally made their way inside the interior of a giant World Tree. What awaited them inside was like a whole new world.
The massive tree was even larger up close. At the base of it were several entrances which seemed to have been created using the same nature shaping magic evident in the city of Yggdrasil’s construction. Within any given entrance were hundreds of adventurers gathered, some standing about conversing and others busily headed towards the front of the lobby area.
The inside resembled a forest, so much so that everyone was doubtful about being inside a gigantic tree. Lush plantation, the likes of which they’d never seen reached upwards towards the sky -- even light was emitted from above that resembled sunshine.
“How is this possible?” Merri asked as she glanced upwards, taking in the sight for herself.
“No clue. But it feels like an open space, doesn’t it?” Agni responded.
In the distance was a wooden construct, a series of stalls built next to each other and at each stall was enough room for seven persons to sit. There was a rather large line before each person, no doubt this served as the registration area for entry into the Yggdrasil Dungeon.
At the back of this series of lines was where Agni and the others were currently.
“Everyone fall in line. Once you go to the registration desk, come and find me over there.” Oliver said, pointing to the far eastern side of the lobby area. There was an archway there which looked like a wood woven ornate masterpiece. It’s breadth was amazing and tall. Easily well over fifty meters in height (150 feet).
“Registration is little more than a formality and an extra safety precaution, so you shouldn’t have any trouble entering. The fee is already paid for by the chapel.” Oliver further stated.
The lines seemed to move fairly quickly, despite this the group found themselves standing around for several minutes at a time. This allowed them ample time to take in the sights and speculate about what lay deeper in the dungeon.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!”
The sound came from a feminine voice. It was small, rather mousy in fact. It caught Agni off guard, but not more than what happened next. She turned to look at the source of clamour, only to be faced with another person staring back.
“Gah!” Agni shouted, taken aback by the close proximity of an unfamiliar woman.
“I’ve never seen a Succubus in person. Remarkable. Truly remarkable.” The bespectacled woman said as she adjusted the round set of spiral glasses which slipped towards the edge of her nose.
Agni took a step backwards subconsciously, for she disliked her personal space being invaded. Yet the woman before her didn’t seem to notice and immediately bridged the distance again.
“C-can I help you?” Agni asked, feeling a bit put off by the woman’s ogling. She stared at Agni from strange angles, starting low and moving upwards. She changed positions and angles every few seconds, as if she was accessing every aspect of Agni’s physical presence.
“Yes. May I touch your tail?” The woman asked, her face coming dangerously close to the succubus’. Agni grimaced as she realized a faint musky scent emanated from the woman. Agni knew it was rude, but she couldn’t help herself. Her sense of smell was sharpened ever since she was reborn as a succubus. She grimaced and took a soft step backwards.
“W-why?” She asked, finally glancing over the young woman. Unkempt auburn hair, dust on her tanned cheeks, she dressed in flowing robes which reminded Agni of someone. After a second’s thought she remembered the old man in the demonic chapel.
[Allyenne Bellevue
“I am curious about the similarity between Demons and Grimlock. You see, my area of expertise as a Scholar is Grimlocks. Don’t you think they are absolutely wondrous and mysterious creatures?” The woman said, launching into a diatribe that was hard to ignore, largely because she flourished her hands as she spoke. Agni turned her head, finally pinching her nose shut as the scent of mildewed clothing, sweat and abject muskiness assaulted her nostrils.
“I..I guess?” This was the only answer Agni could muster. Partially because her eyes were beginning to water.
“Agni, what’s wrong?” Katrin asked, having finally noticed from her spot in line just ahead of Agni.
“N-nothing.” Agni said, though her furrowed brow and intense concentration betrayed her dismay.
Moments later the soft grip of a woman’s hands could be felt on her tail. It caused Agni to jump with a start. The sensation was both exciting and horrifying. She’d never had someone “inspect” her tail before. The physical sensations running through her body caused her heart to pitter-pat wildly. She could feel a peculiar tingle which ran along her spine and settled upon her nipples, then between her thighs. The result was arousal, almost instantly --however.
That smell!!
Agni was sure of it. She’d seen a thick layer of darkened grime beneath the woman’s fingernails.
“S-stop please.” Agni managed to protest as she begrudgingly wrested her tail from the womans’ grasp. Her cheeks turned a rosy color as she struggled to fight the urge to flick her tail excitedly.
*F-fuck my life. I’ve never been so turned on and repulsed at the same time. I-Is this some kind of new kink I’ve discovered?* Agni thought inwardly.
“Ah! A Scribe! My sister! My kin!” The smelly woman shouted as she took notice of Katrin. Katrin had the same bewildered expression that Agni did moments ago as the Scholar Allyenne rushed towards her, grasping her hands and clasping them together.
“D-do I know you?” Katrin asked. Agni noticed that Katrin was fighting to control the wild flaring of her nostrils.
*You smell it too huh? Good to see I’m not delusional.* Agni thought, feeling less guilty about her initial reaction.
“No, but all Servicemen are family. Us support classes have to stick together you know!” Allyenne said , her fervent excitement caused a strand of loose hair to fall in front of her face as she spoke.
“Right..” Katrin responded. Luckily the aromatic assault on her senses didn’t last long. Allyenne turned to Agni once more and stepped towards her.
“Ahem. Sorry. To answer your question from earlier -- as I mentioned, I study Grimlock. Grimlock Studies are an absolutely fascinating topic. Where do they come from? How are they born? Why does the phenomena of overlap exist? There are so many questions surrounding their existence. This is made all the more mysterious when you consider that no one has even thought to explore this sort of thing! It’s preposterous!”
*She’s very passionate about Grimlock.* Agni thought to herself.
*She should be more passionate about soap.* Shula chimed in. Even the Imp had begun to grimace as she floated upwards in an attempt to get away from the growing cloud of stink.
*It’s so pungent. M-my eyes are starting to burn.* Shula then said as she began to rub her eyes.
*Ugh. It’s worse the higher up you get. W-why is it wafting upwards.*
“Oh! Pardon me. I just left the first floor. Got a little too close to one of the bugs.” Allyenne said as she called forth a small vial of clear liquid. It was an item Agni had never seen before. Nevertheless, Allyenne used it, causing a shower of liquid light to rain down over her.
Almost instantly the smell (and intense burning of Shula’s eyes) began to disappear. Seconds later , the unpleasant scent was gone.
“Huh?” Agni asked audibly.
“Lingering status ailment. It happens from time to time. Ha ha.” Allyenne said as she waved off the incident like it wasn’t a big deal.
“That’s one hell of a status ailment.” Agni whispered to herself. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help it -- her mind wandered back to the woman’s hands on her tail. Agni shot a glance at the woman’s fingernails and was surprised to see that even the dark lines of gunk beneath Allyenne’s fingers had also disappeared.
*I guess it really was a status ailment. Huh.*
“Oh! An Imp! I’ve never seen a Sleep Daemon before! So rare!” Allyenne said as she moved towards a still recovering Shula. Agni felt a twinge of jealousy once she saw Shula’s face morph into sheer ecstasy.
*You’re almost drooling. Have you no shame?* Agni transmitted as she watched Allyenne have her way with Shula’s tail before moving onto the Imp’s wings.
*You’re just jealous. Hee hee hee.* Shula replied.
*Yes. You’re absolutely right. I am.* Agni said as she folded her arms in annoyance.
After a few more moments of excited chaos Allyenne the Scholar finally settled down.
“I want to visit the Red Line someday. So I’ve been traveling all over Adventia in hopes that I can see as many Grimlock as I can.” She stated.
“My dream is to one day enter an active Shard so that I can study Grimlock in their natural habitat.” Allyenne further explained. According to the talkative woman, a Scholar class adventurer was one of the few adventurer classes that could choose their experience modifiers. In her case, she chose the study of Grimlock. With a 500% increase in experience gained from studying her topic of choice, she seemed to have made it to rank 1 in less than a year.
According to Allyenne this was fast by anyone’s standards.
*What about those of us who are already halfway there? Like Katrin?* Agni thought inwardly, though she just listened intently. Now that Allyenne smelled less abhorrent, she actually wasn’t that bad.
According to her, the “Red Line” was a series of red shards on the eastern frontier. At this place, the bravest adventurers constantly grappled with the thread of expanding shards.
“They are our first and last defense against being overrun by Grimlock! It’s an amazing sight I hope to see one day!” Allyenne said, her eyes beaming with equal parts anticipation and excitement.
“Ally! Hey, I found her guys!” Another gruff sounding woman shouted.
“Come on. It’s time to go! And stop wandering off dammit. We’ve got to get back with these drops before the client cancels!” The armored woman said as she grabbed Allyenne by the arm and proceeded to drag her away.
“Wait! W- wait! I said wait dammit!” The Scholar said, wrestling her arm away from the grip of her apparent party member. She ran over to Katrin once more, surprising her again in the process.
“Take this! If you ever find yourself in Kirlunst come and visit the Craftsmen’s Pavilion--” Allyenne’s words were swiftly cut off by a violent yank to her arm.
“Show them that token to get in!” And just like that the Scholar had been dragged away into a sea of adventurers.
Katrin looked down at the small coin in her grasp. It was golden in appearance, though it was obvious that it was made of some other sort of metal. Upon inspection the item read:
[Craftsman’s Coin:
Allows entrance into the Craftsman’s Pavillion.]
“This is like my coin.” Agni remarked, recalling the black coin she’d received at the Demonic Chapel. She produced the same coin from her inventory so that she and Katrin could compare.
“That was weird.” Shula said.
“Yea. Kind of.” Agni said as she and the others neared the reception desk at the head of their current line.
With random events like this going on, Agni couldn’t help but wonder what awaited her once they actually made it inside of the dungeon.