The Unwanted Tamer

When they exited the floor, they saw a group of people waiting there. The Guild Master and a group of her bronze ranks were there and seemed to be preparing to go in. When they saw Fauna, they were extremely worried since they were covered in blood. Gaia wasn't sure what they looked like, but guessed it wasn't the most reassuring sight. The others quickly moved to check on them and the Guild Master wanted to question them on what happened, but decided to wait. She let Fauna return to camp to clean themselves, eat, and decompress after whatever they'd been through. They appreciated the Guild Master's decision and quickly headed towards the camp.

Edrahni had been with the Guild Master and went with Fauna as they returned. They guessed it was likely for the best since without him entering camp would have been much harder. The last time a group of people who were bloody came, they had attacked and killed many defenders. They didn't want to be attacked so Edrahni's presence was welcome and they were quickly let inside without incident.

They immediately went to the inn and took over the baths. They meticulously cleaned themselves in the baths before going straight towards the mess hall. They were starving and hadn't eaten in a couple days, which they could do without many consequences aside from hunger. Edrahni had likely stopped by while they were cleaning themselves since there were cooks waiting for them with multiple plates ready. They thanked the cooks for making something even though it wasn't the usual time for food. They quickly grabbed the plates and everyone dug into the meals, including Gaia's bonds. They were there for a short while, but lunchtime arrived around a half hour after they started eating and people lined up.

This was when they heard something that they hadn't thought they would. The researchers had discovered a couple magic items that could constantly create hot water and decided to create a hot springs area for people to relax, and make a few extra cores. Fauna immediately asked about it and were told where it was.

They left the inn, now fully clean, and made their way to the hot springs. The area was guarded and magically protected to ensure no one was able to peep. They quickly paid the single core they were charging to allow access to the magical springs and entered. There were two doors just inside that were shut, but indicated that the guys were one side and the girls were another. They split as they should with Stephanie guiding Gaia, since the actual construction wasn't magical and she couldn't sense where anything was.

They undressed and entered the hot springs. They all relaxed in comfort the moment they entered the water. They had been stressed and on edge for the last five days, so the time was exactly what they needed. They just relaxed and Gaia nearly fell asleep as they soaked. They all just relaxed there for upwards of a couple hours. With their improved bodies from being stone rank, most of the dangers or inconveniences, like overheating or becoming dizzy from heat, weren't an issue. It would take much higher temperatures or for them to be in there for half a day before they needed to worry about anything.

A few others had joined them as they relaxed for a bit as well, but most left before the party did. Now that they were clean, relaxed, and more importantly their stomachs were full, the party moved back to the inn to wait until the Guild Master came to talk to them. The Guild Master came around an hour later and they moved to her house to report.

"What happened on the seventh floor?" She asked the party.

"A lot. As soon as we entered we were given a floor trial. It showed up on a screen and said we either had to survive for a week or kill the guardian. Once that happened it informed us that the floor would be sealed until the trial was completed. The floor was also a giant poisonous lake with a floating island on the top." Griff explained.

"Ok, that explains the scouts being unable to communicate to us. Did you see any of the scouts inside? What about the guardian?" She questioned.

"We didn't see anyone inside. All we saw was the island and the lake until Fergus saw the Basilisk." Griff said and motioned to Fergus.

"The Basilisk was massive. Nearly a mile long at least, and had eyes along its entire length. It was immune to poison and swam in the lake without any effort. It was also able to jump out of the lake and glide. It was horrifying." Fergus said with a shudder.

"What about any signs of the scouts?" Delilah asked again.

"We didn't see any. I don't know if they died or what happened, but there weren't any indications that someone had been on the floor when we were in there. My guess is either the poisonous atmosphere or the Basilisk killed them before they could do much. If they died due to the atmosphere they likely ended up in the lake and sank, if it didn't outright erode their bodies." Stephanie said.

The Guild Master was quiet for a little bit as she went over the information they gave her.

"Alright. How did you kill it?" She finally asked.

"Well, it was a bit of an odd situation. The Basilisk was massive not only in length, but was big enough to swallow us whole with multiple feet to spare. After being swallowed, we were able to stand on Malachite while he held himself up with a skill and start cutting into the monster's stomach. Then, multiple days later with copious amounts of stomach acid and blood the monster finally slowed down until it fully stopped and died. Finally, after that we started cutting our way out the side of it. Luckily, it floated to the surface of the lake and we hopped on the island from its corpse. Soon after it started sinking as we finally had time to breathe." Griff explained.

"So, let me understand this. You were swallowed by the basilisk and cut your way through it's stomach and a chunk of its body until it died. Then cut your way out afterwards?" Delilah asked them incredulously.

"Essentially, yes." Griff replied.

"You lot are crazy." She stated before mumbling. "How'd you even come up with that idea? I mean sure it worked, but I don't think I'd come up with that."

"To be honest, it wasn't the first time we'd been swallowed by a giant monster. So, we did what we did last time, only with a creature that was magnitudes larger." Gaia replied.

"I have so many more questions now, but that doesn't matter. Thank you for clearing the floor. I'll send some scouts into the eighth floor tomorrow. I'll give everyone the night to mourn the scouts that died." Delilah stated.

"We're gonna wait a couple days before we enter the eighth floor. I want to make sure we have enough supplies in case we're stuck again." Griff stated.

"Alright. Thanks for the report, enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll see you guys when you plan to enter the ruins again." Delilah replied.

Fauna got up and exited her house before returning to the inn and relaxing with their friends. Flora, having heard about how they killed the dungeon boss, laughed hysterically at their retelling of the Basilisk incident. Legion was more worried about them, but still couldn't help but laugh too. Fauna was laughing themselves, until Gaia said something they all knew would come to bite them later.

"I hope it doesn't become a recurring theme." She said aloud without thinking.

"Why?! Why did you have to put that out in the world?" Griff asked.

"Sorry. Wasn't really thinking about it and I'm not superstitious anyway." She replied.

At this interaction, Legion and Flora were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. They could only imagine them in a similar situation and resolving it the exact same way. They still worried about Fauna since they would be in danger, but the image of them cutting their way out was comical. Only Fergus and Stephanie would be able to truly cut so Griff and Gaia would be following behind like children. The image was hilarious when they thought about it.

After laughing and talking with the other two parties, and the Mighty Brigade who came in a little while later, Fauna went to their rooms to sleep. They awoke the next morning a little later than usual. They were luckily still in time for breakfast, but needed to run to get some. After their experience on the seventh floor, they were not going to miss any mealtimes, at least for a while.

They proceeded to rest for the entire day and mostly stayed in the inn. They only left to get food, shop a little bit, and for Gaia to check on her garden plot. She spent a couple hours there with her bonds before returning. They all relaxed and talked to the Mighty Brigade at lunchtime. The Jeffs' had the next day off and they all decided to hangout for the day. They got along well, and Fauna really liked the group. They decided to do some sparring the next day as a party. It would help both groups to understand their weaknesses while having a little fun and not risking injury. They also hadn't had much time to talk to each other since arriving at the camp. They had been on separate shifts for watch so they only saw each other for a couple hours while on the walls.

Now that they were the dedicated hunters for the ruins, they rarely saw them since they were almost always in the ruins. Outside of the few days they took off, they rarely saw the Jeffs and never really had the time to sit and talk or hang out with them. The rest of the day passed quickly with everyone doing their own things. They met back up for dinner and talked to Legion and Flora for a bit before heading to bed.

The next morning, they awoke and got breakfast, where they met the Mighty Brigade. They sat with them and talked for a bit before returning to the inn to grab their things to spar. They were able to get a training area and warmed up by jogging or stretching. Before the spar actually began, they laid down a couple ground rules. First, they would stop when someone surrendered so no one would get hurt. Second, since Gaia's aura was extremely dangerous, she wouldn't be able to use it. This was a rule everyone agreed on and that she suggested herself. Third, everyone would try not to truly harm anyone, scratches and bruises were fine but broken limbs or worse weren't. Lastly, since they were sparring sessions, they would gather to discuss what they thought they could work on.

These were the main rules since they wanted a decent spar, but not to go all out so nobody would be seriously hurt. They'd also gotten Fern to join them as their healer since Legion had the day off. With the rules made, they went to their starting positions and waited for Fern to start the match. She signaled its start, and the two parties rushed at each other. The Mighty Brigade was yelling out orders and encouragement, while Fauna was completely silent speaking using Griff's ability.

Jeoff started the fight by firing blunted arrows at Fauna, mainly Fergus, to try and take their bowman out. Fergus was able to dodge the arrows and fired a few of his own back, only aiming for the Brigades frontlines. Stephanie used her shield and musket, which she had fashioned what were essentially paintballs for the spars, as she advanced slowly. Geff was in an outright sprint and threw a few small wooden hand axes at Fauna. Geoff was nowhere to be seen by anybody but Gaia as he was directly behind Geff so he wouldn't be seen. Griff was already sprinting forwards and dodging any arrows that were aimed at him.

Jeff their leader and swordsman was close to Geff and had his sword out blocking any arrows from Fergus. Meanwhile, Gaia was in the back of Fauna's formation giving orders to her bonds. Malachite swiftly sprinted out and shell bashed into Geoff with Gaia's instructions. Liv was firing some trapped webs around in the way of the Brigade's advance, one of which landed just in front of Geff who barely managed to jump over it. Shadow was on guard duty prepared to be wherever she was needed. Antonio was Fergus' shoulder firing his phantasmal spikes at the incoming party.

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The first two to meet were Griff and Geff, training axe against a set of stone gauntlets Griff wore as he blocked the axe swing. Geoff had been launched from behind Geff by Malachite a couple moments earlier, much to Geff's surprise. As they clashed, Fergus and Jeoff were still sending arrows at each other while peppering the opposing group with arrows when they could. Jeff had rushed passed Geff as he met Griff and charged towards Stephanie, who had switched from her musket to a dulled version of her Multi-weapon. Jeff's sword slammed into Stephanie's shield which tried to grow around his sword, but he removed it before it could be caught. Stephanie used the moment when he was surprised to smack him with the side of her weapon, sending him off balance.

Gaia was a conductor for her bonds as she telepathically relayed her orders. They were moving and attacking where they were needed, partly due to her instincts and partly to Griff's commands. She not once ever doubted a command from him during a battle, since she had no reason to doubt them. Especially now that his ability helped him see the entire battle to issue commands easier.

Only, even with their abilities, the Mighty Brigade was well trained. They had obviously been together for a long time as they worked together almost as if they knew what the other would do before they did it. They put up a great fight, but with Gaia's bonds and Griff's ability they weren't able to keep up after a while. Geff was eventually stunned with a well timed counter, and Fergus hit him with a sandbag arrow that was used for "kill shots" during the spar. These were arrows with small bags of sand on them to prevent injury when firing at live targets. Fergus hit him in the forehead with one and he backed off, as he was "dead" for this spar. Griff, having not been paying attention to Jeoff, was hit in the neck and had to leave a moment later. Stephanie and Jeff were both blocking and attacking each other whenever they could, but it looked like Jeff had the upper hand at the moment as Stephanie was turtled behind her shield. Fergus was firing arrows at Jeoff who, thanks to a well timed trapped web was hit by one when he landed right on top of a newly formed web trap.

He was also out, leaving only Geoff and Jeff. Geoff after being sent rolling by Malachite had recovered to end up behind Fergus while he was focused in Jeoff. His training dagger was at Fergus' throat, so Fergus dropped out. Now it was only Stephanie and Gaia for Fauna. Stephanie and Jeff were locked in an even battle while Geoff was hesitant to attack Gaia since her bonds were close by. Shadow was incorporeal jumping in and out of Stephanie's fight to help, while Malachite was beside Gaia waiting for Geoff's attack. Eventually, it came. Geoff burst forward faster than Gaia thought anyone of their rank could, and slashed towards her. Only Shadow appeared and blocked the strike while Malachite slammed him with a shell bash. He went rolling and laid there for a moment.

Gaia was worried they'd actually hurt him, but he got up a couple moments later with a grunt. He yielded since the two shell bashes had left him really bruised and made everything sore. He didn't want to be hit again just in case it did deal some damage. He knew they didn't mean to hurt him so it was all good. Now it was Gaia, her bonds and Stephanie against Jeff. He had seemed to be in a trance and not seen what was happening until Gaia started moving towards him.

He looked around and a moment later yielded since he didn't want to be ganged up on by the group. They all met back up with Fern who was helping to heal any bruises or small injuries. Thankfully, no one had been really hurt and Gaia apologized to Geoff for Malachite accidentally hitting him too hard. He shrugged it off and pat Malachite's head when he noticed the turtle's head lowered a bit. After this they critiqued each others performance.

While they all knew none of them were going all out, it was close enough to it to not overly matter. Most of the Mighty Brigade's suggestions were small things as were Fauna's. The main thing for Jeff was not to go into the trance he did while fighting Stephanie. It had led to him ignoring everything else around him, essentially removing their leader from the tactics or commands. This was apparently something he did every so often but was worse this time than usual. They think it only happens when he's fighting someone similar in power to him.

After resting for a while they split into pairs to train. The pairs rotated and eventually everyone had trained with each other. They stopped for lunch and came back to have another full party spar, this time ending in the Mighty Brigade's win. Jeff had gone after Griff which had led to Geff focusing on Stephanie. While Griff was distracted by Jeff, Jeoff hit him with an arrow and the rest of the party crumbled slowly with the group targeting each of them one by one. Fergus was the last and while he was taking out Jeff the other three were too much and he surrendered.

They relaxed after this and talked until dinner time. They all ate together before splitting up to do what they wanted until heading to bed. The next morning, Fauna awoke and immediately got breakfast. They then went shopping for any items they needed or wanted. They spent most of the day shopping and stocking up on supplies. Then they went to the Guild Master to see if the scouts had reported back. A few had while others were exploring around the floor deeper in.

The eighth floor was called Malhavia and from the scouts reports, it was a floor with a massive fortress in the center, occupying around half the floor's space. The surrounding area was grassy with a couple fields and streams that flow trough the floor, and even the fortress. The gates of the fortress were open without any magic guarding them, but none of the scouts had dared enter them on the chance they were trapped by something they couldn't sense. The surrounding lands, close to the entrance, were mostly grasslands with a single crop plot that had some plants growing in it. The rivers they'd seen seemed to run from the center out towards the floor's wall where they passed through a small hole and disappeared.

The scouts hadn't been able to fully explore the lands behind the fortress yet, but it seemed that this floor was the smallest of all the ones before it. While the seventh floor had been small in width, it definitely made up for it in depth. The poisonous lake had to be extremely deep for a creature like the Venomsea Basilisk to swim. This one didn't have nearly as high a ceiling as that one and only had a shallow pond by the crop plot.

The scouts hadn't entered the fortress, so the interior was unknown. This was all of the information they knew so they decided to wait for the other scouts to return. Edrahni was sent in after this report came back to explore the fortress, since he was likely to be able to escape most things being a new bronze rank. Fauna waited for Edrahni and the other scouts to return, who ended up returning a couple hours after lunch time.

The other scouts reported similar findings to the earlier reports, aside from a forest being on the other side of the floor. It seemed to take up a third of the floor behind the fortress. The report they were most interested in, however, was Edrahni's. His was about the fortress and its interior, but he brought them some news that was not what they expected.

"Az I waz ordered, I zcouted out the fortrezz. The caztle'z owner iz a Draugr. Zhe inroduzed herzelf az Lyriana Valorgard, the Eternal Zentinel. Zhe welcomed me and let me look around, even fed me with her own zuppliez. Zhe zeemz to be the guardian of the floor. Zhe even azked if I waz to attempt the floor'z challenge. I replied truthfully with no, and zhe zaid to let whoever waz planning to, to know that zhe waz ready whenever. Zhe would even welcome them az zhe did me and have a feazt with them for a night before beginning the challenge. Zhe did not seem to hold any malize." Edrahni explained.

He also went on to describe the fortress' interior to them in detail. He even had a blueprint for it that Lyriana had helped him make. The Draugr seemed to have been waiting for an extremely long time for someone to attempt the challenge. She was ready to welcome any challenger and treat them kindly as she was taught was honorable. The Draugr explained her position on honor which was that it was to be held at all times and above all.

Fauna was surprised to hear the information, but was even more excited to learn about one of the so called "demons" that seemed to be a decent being. She didn't outright attack anyone and instead welcomed them. It would be a shame to not meet her and learn as much as they could. They would likely hate having to fight her afterwards, but they guessed that would be the case.

They still planned to be cautious since there was always the chance the guardian's actions were a ploy. They hoped not and figured they would be able to tell when they met her. The only thing they needed to do was go and meet Lyriana, for their eighth floor exploration. They didn't know what the floor's challenge was, but based on Lyriana's words, it was probably a fight of some kind with her. They would only know by heading into the ruins, so that's what they did. They bid the Guild Master goodbye and made their way down to the eighth floor. The travel didn't take too long because of the central staircase that reached all the way down to the seventh floor now, they only entered the ruins proper there.

The seventh floor also had a pillar, only this time it reached the floating island and the way down was on the far end from the floor's entrance. They swiftly entered it and walked the long way down to the eighth floor, Malhavia. When they entered the floor, they were met with grassy plains. Gaia could sense the grass and some kind of light from above, but it didn't seem to be very bright. It gave off a little warmth, but definitely seemed like it only lit the floor enough to see. For her companions, it seemed as if the floor was in perpetual twilight, not light enough to see perfectly, but also not dark enough to overly inhibit sight.

There wasn't much around the edges of the floor, and the thing that demanded their attention was an enormous fortress at the center of the floor. Gaia still couldn't sense it and wouldn't be able to until they were almost there. They made their way along a small path that started at the floor's entrance and ended at one of the open gates. The path seemed to be made of packed dirt as if it had been travelled extensively, but had patches of grass growing like it had been left to overgrow.

The walk only took about thirty minutes before they were at the open gate. There was a drawbridge over a small moat that they hesitantly crossed. When they entered, they were in a Bailey, the courtyard of the fortress. This one had bricks lain down as a floor and a relatively small fountain in the center. They continued forward, as Gaia moved around trying to sense as much of the area as possible. She loved mythology and along with that was an interest in castles and fortresses. She wanted to sense as much as she could while they were there.

Eventually, after she had moved to examine the entire area, they reached a slightly raised entranceway. There was a pair of closed double doors waiting for them, as they reached the top of the landing before them. As they approached to open them, they opened by themselves, and heard a voice from the opening.

"Welcome guests. I am Lyriana Valorgard, the Eternal Sentinel. Am I correct in assuming you will be the ones attempting the floor's challenge?" And elegant but deep female voice asked.

The figure the voice came from was a tall woman. Nearly six and a half if not seven feet tall. She was thin but muscular, similar to how Fergus was, but with slightly more muscle. She was a beacon in Gaia's aura. While still being stone rank she seemed to be closer to how Titania felt. She was likely on the cusp of bronze rank. As Gaia examined the woman with her aura, her companions replied.

"Yes, we are. Our party is called Fauna, and I am Griff." Griff started before introducing everyone.

"Nice to meet you all. If you do not mind, can we hold off on the challenge until tomorrow? I would like to invite you to join me until tomorrow." She asked.

"We would be happy to accept your offer." Fergus replied.

"Wonderful! Please let me give you a tour of Malhavia, the Fortress of the Draug." She excitedly stated as she motioned around them. Then she started to lead the party on a tour of the fortress. They were shown the other courtyards, an extensive garden, and all of the main rooms of the buildings. The most notable were the throne room, grand hall, banquet hall, and the armory. The throne was the third largest room and as Fauna guessed had a large throne that was on a raised Dias about two-thirds of the way into the room. The grand hall was the largest room and, from Gaia's guess, was the hall most balls would have been held in. The banquet hall was the dining room and had a gargantuan table that stretched for most of its length. The kitchen was just beside the Banquet hall and had multiple doors leading between them. The armory was an interesting place as it had many different types of armors and weapons. From magical cloth armor to full plate-mail to daggers and great axes. Finally, it even had magical staves and books. Griff was excited by the books on magic, but Lyriana dashed his hopes when she let him know it was in Malhavi, the language of the Draugr.

The tour ended with them being led to some rooms that had obviously been recently cleaned. Lyriana let them know these would be their rooms for the night and that they were free to explore the floor and the fortress as they liked. She just asked them to come to the banquet hall when they hear a bell toll. They agreed and they all split up. Stephanie and Griff went back to the armory to examine the items, while Fergus and Gaia went on a walk around the fortress. Gaia loved every second of it, she had always wanted to stay in a castle back on Earth, and now she was going to. Fergus enjoyed the art that was everywhere. There were paintings, sculptures, pottery, poems and even books. There was every kind of art imaginable on display throughout the halls.

Eventually, Fergus and Gaia got split up as Fergus' attention was focused on a painting of the fortress with the surrounding land looking well kept. Gaia was moving around enjoying every minute of exploring what was essentially a castle. She was soon brought from her thoughts by Lyriana's voice.

"You are Gaia, right?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am." She replied.

"I know this might be a weird thing to ask, but you're not of Draugr heritage, are you?" Lyriana asked.