Re: Butterfly (Reincarnated as a Butterfly)

The level was meant to be full of undead, all controlled by that guy you just killed, Adon sent. These ones that I was just fighting—and the ones I destroyed before you got here—were his half-finished prototypes.

"How do you know all that?" Rosslyn asked, not doubtful but curious.

Adon fluttered through the air in front of her, flitting back and forth over the body of the creature, as he communicated. His colors had switched to a bruise-like blue-black, copying the unnatural skin color of the creature they had just killed. Rosslyn found the butterfly's movements almost hypnotic. Following his wings through the constant back and forth reminded her that she was slightly sleepy, though she told herself that she could—and would—push that down. She needed to continue functioning and fighting until they reached the core. There was no time to waste.

Because the guy you killed, the draugr, was completely intelligent and able to form coherent thoughts, Adon replied. I was reading his mind the whole time we were fighting and even before he attacked me. Honestly, that was the only way I could keep up. Knowing his intentions in advance and conserving my energy. Dodging attacks when I could avoid needing to block, striking when he was slightly off-balance or trying to come up with a new plan of attack… and looking into his thoughts was very informative, too.

Rosslyn tilted her head and stared down at the dead monster for a long moment. Despite being headless, the body still looked fairly intimidating. It was a shirtless male figure that she estimated stood over six feet tall even without its head. The blue-black skin, she saw now that she was closer up, had pale blue-gray runes tattooed all over it—she guessed with some mystical effect that only the Dungeon Core would understand. Every inch of exposed flesh was covered in impossibly thick muscle that looked so ridiculous that she thought they might have been grafted on somehow. The burns that she had noticed before were even worse than she had thought, though they only touched selected patches of skin—mainly the chest and the upper legs, while the magic-wielding arm and the neck were untouched.

If Adon had burned a human like that, they probably would have had to surrender, though Rosslyn suspected this monster did not feel pain or experience the other effects of injuries—debilitation, intimidation, fear of further injury—in quite the same way a human would.

But the other arm, the missing one, hadn't been part of the damage the creature suffered in the fight. The stump around the elbow was not cauterized or even scorched noticeably at all. It bled with an ugly purple goo. The edges of the flesh where the limb had been severed appeared to show signs of crush damage, which told Rosslyn it had probably been torn off in the collapse.

The monster did not look particularly intelligent, but she supposed it must have been. It had been wielding some kind of magic in its duel with Adon.

This could have gone much worse, Rosslyn thought. If this "draugr" was not debilitated with a lost limb, if there were more functioning undead when Adon and the monster began their fight, if Adon had chosen a more confrontational fighting style instead of playing defense—even if I just arrived a few minutes later… what would I have found? The levels are still getting more dangerous the further down we go, and the monsters are not all gone just because the floors were destroyed. They will still defend their territory… Can the two of us alone really do this?

"Was there anything else we can use?" she asked.

The spider from the level that collapsed was here, Adon replied immediately. The one who made the illusions. This web—he gestured at the silk netting lying on the ground—was his work. The draugr was hostile to any outside presences at first, but the spider appeared and brought him the net as a gift, to enhance the security of the draugr's workspace. I gathered from the memories the draugr revisited at my prompting that it was something the Dungeon Core specifically wanted. From their conversation, it seemed like maybe the spider is the only monster in this place that the Core is in regular contact with. My guess is that the Dungeon Core wanted the draugr to be prepared to face us when we passed.

Rosslyn swallowed. The news that the illusionist spider—which had given them so much trouble on the floor with the ants—had survived was discouraging. She and Adon would never know when they came across the monster again, until they found that they couldn't trust what their eyes told them. By then, it might be too late.

Perhaps just as importantly, the spider already knew a lot about what they could do.

The idea that it might be out there, aiding and warning an assortment of other monsters preparing to fight them was daunting.

"I hoped that thing fell and smashed against something hard," Rosslyn said bluntly. "Where is the vile creature now?"

He kept moving, Adon replied. He was hurt—he fell all the way down here—but the draugr used its magic and some webbing to patch the spider up. Then the spider continued climbing down. The Dungeon Core wanted the spider to protect it directly. I would guess that's its most trusted monster. By the time we run into him again…

"He will be fully recovered," she finished.

Unfortunately, Adon agreed.

"What else do we know?" Rosslyn asked.

If the spider is protecting the Dungeon Core directly, it is inevitable that we will face it again, she thought. Hopefully it will go directly to the Core and not keep helping whatever creatures remain in our way.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The good news is that this floor was unfinished, Adon sent immediately. The implication I took from that, though I didn't get this from the draugr directly, is that the floors beneath us should be either empty or unfinished too. And I don't think the Dungeon Core can do anything about that right now, or it would have done more to help prepare the draugr to face us. The Core is as vulnerable as it's ever going to get. We will have to face the spider again, but I think you had it pretty much dead to rights before. If that's the only thing we have to worry about, we should be all right.

Rosslyn smiled slightly. Adon was responding to the concerns she had only voiced inside her own mind. It was a strange thing, having someone always know what you were thinking, but she did not find it unpleasant.

"Thank the Goddess," Rosslyn said. "We should continue the climb, then. Get further down before the Dungeon Core has time to try to recover."

Agreed, Adon sent. The quicker we move, the less likely the Core is to have a chance to fix what it broke. I still don't understand why it was willing to collapse that floor, just to try and get rid of us. The fact that we know how much damage it did to its dungeon now just confirms what a strange choice it was.

We do not understand it now, Rosslyn thought, but there was certainly a rational calculus involved. It will become clearer to us eventually. Hopefully not for reasons that will make us regret continuing.

She opened her mouth to say something aloud, but a yawn escaped instead.

Adon tilted his whole body slightly as he looked at her.

Maybe we shouldn't continue just yet, he transmitted. You've been pushing yourself pretty hard, despite injuries from your first fall—plus the second one that I told you to do. You must be tired.

"If my father was here, he would not rest—"

Your father isn't here, Adon interrupted. You are. We can only do the things you and I are capable of. I think that's enough to beat this place, but not if we insist on trying to do the impossible. If you're half-asleep, who's going to save me the next time some monster tries to kill me?

He sent the words in a humorous tone, but there was also a firmness to his telepathic voice that Rosslyn did not recall ever hearing in it before. A resolve.

The Princess thought about arguing, but the truth was, that was a waste of energy. He was right. She needed some kind of rest, or she would not be useful much longer.

"Just for long enough to recover a bit," Rosslyn muttered. In a sharper tone, she added, "Do not let me sleep through a normal night cycle. We do not have time for that. Every day, every hour, every minute we spend down here, the Empire is closer to conquering the Kingdom—and potentially even worse."

What does "even worse" mean in this context? Adon sent.

Rosslyn did not answer Adon, not directly. She simply allowed her mind to go to the fears that she was keeping buried—the speculations that she had suppressed through their journey so far, about what might be going on outside. They had taken a long time getting as far as they had, since this dungeon had turned out to be incredibly deep, much more so than she had expected. Rosslyn had no way of knowing exactly how long, but it did not give her a good feeling, knowing that she had lost count of the days—that she was only vaguely keeping track of sleep cycles to have a general idea of the time they had been gone.

I see, Adon sent somberly. She knew he had seen the specific worries she had been trying not to think about.

Rosslyn simply nodded.

"We should get closer to the cavern entrance," she said. "Better position for you to keep watch on what is going on, assuming that you do not need to sleep."

I don't, Adon replied. My body will recharge mana, but I don't need to rest my mind right now.

Rosslyn nodded. "Thank you in advance for keeping watch," she said.

Then she turned and started walking back, without looking to see if he followed. Her expression was troubled, and she did not want Adon to see—though she also did not want to feel as if she was hiding it. She had gone from worrying that something would happen to Adon, to thinking about the situation back home.

My father, my siblings, my stepmother…

She shook her head. She had allowed herself to ruminate a little, just to remind Adon, without verbalizing it, what exactly it was that she was worried about. But she knew that it was best not to worry about things that one could not control.

Until and unless she and Adon emerged from the dungeon, her family's and the capital's fates were in the hands of the Goddess—and, Goddess forbid, the Empire, if the worst should happen.

Adon caught up to Rosslyn and perched on her shoulder. She found his presence there comforting, but she did not say anything. They continued the walk in silence.

When they finally got within ten feet of the entrance, Rosslyn took a seat with her back against one of the stone walls. She opened her mouth to speak, but she found herself yawning again. She really did need a rest.

"Remember," she began.

Don't let you sleep too long, Adon finished. I remember. Get some rest!

He fluttered up from her shoulder and settled in her hair. Rosslyn just smiled and tried to get comfortable against the hard rock behind her.

It took some time, because of the uncomfortable position she found herself in. The stone was obviously not made for sleep.

But it helped that she found herself safe—guarded by Adon, located on an apparently empty floor, and having been informed that the only monster they knew for certain was out there had departed for lower locations.

Eventually, and sooner than she expected, Rosslyn slept. She dreamed of what the rest of the dungeon might hold, what the spider might be up to in its continued descent—and, against her will, what might be happening outside, to her family…