Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

The six of us followed Jae-Hyun closely behind, still a little shocked at his earlier display of power. Only his sister’s expression was different, she showed off a proud look, clearly happy for her brother’s abilities.

“What the hell did you do, boss?” Vadeem finally asked, “It looked like you nuked the damn birds from orbit.”

He smirked, “I stored all that potential energy from your throw and unleashed it all at once in a concentrated cone. You have yourself to thank for the power behind that strike.”

“Damn…” Vadeem muttered, “I’m good!”

Noel rolled her eyes, “It was the boss who did all the hard work.”

“But I provided the muscles!” he smiled back, “I’d like to see you do that, Noel!”

The twins nodded approvingly as they flexed to show their solidarity for Team Muscle. I hope it was just a phase they were going through and they don’t actually end up Vadeem-sized in the future…

“How come you didn’t use that trick when we fought the six-armed guy or the golem back then?” Yoona asked, “It would have saved us a lot of time at the second Trial.”

“I couldn’t use it then,” he answered simply, “Just unlocked the skill after clearing that stage, and it has its limitations as well. Can’t use it that often.”

We waited a second for him to elaborate on what those limitations were, but of course, he didn’t choose to do so. Well, not that I blame him completely, the less we knew about his weakness, the less likely that kind of information could be spread to people he didn’t trust. The fact that we know that it couldn’t be used continuously was good enough, I suppose. But the fact that there were limitations at all was good to know, it meant that not even the Regressor’s absurd class was without its downsides.

“What about the cores from those harpies?” I asked as I finally remembered why we were here in the first place, “Shouldn’t we get some from the bodies you didn’t vaporize?”

“No point,” he answered calmly, “They’re not worth the effort; we’ll get more cores of that quality from the other Aspirants than we can ever harvest for ourselves. For now, we need to head in deeper, I’ll let everyone know when we need to be careful about how we dispatch our enemies.”

“Aye-aye boss!”

We followed the Regressor down seemingly random passageways and tunnels, occasionally having to bend down and even crawl when the passages became too narrow. Thankfully we seemed to have eliminated the entire harpy community around here and were not harassed further. Still, the dank network of cave passages made for dismal travel, which was made worse by how large Vadeem was.

I wasn’t sure how the Regressor knew where he was going, but his strides never faltered for even a second, and we eventually made it out of the increasingly narrow cave tunnels and into something that resembled a man-made passage. The rock walls and ceilings were still untreated and bare, but at least clear signs of excavation could be made out, and it only improved as we went further and further down the downward-sloped walkway.

Our group eventually reached the end of the passage. The tunnel had long since morphed into an industrial hallway, although not a very well-maintained one. Our journey down the creepy hallway ended in a large metal door, where a complicated-looking lock was used to seal the entrance shut.

“Wait,” the Regressor said as we stepped in front of the firm barrier, “there’s something else that we need to be mindful of when we’re working as a group.”

“Man, it’s like you’re teaching a bunch of kids,” Noel mumbled, “Can’t we just go in real quick-like and explain this stuff after?”

The Regressor shook his head, “No, this is probably our only opportunity to learn first hand the skills we’ll need for the upcoming Trials. Our main goal is to learn, so we do this the slow way.”

It seemed like Jae-Hyun was really reflecting off that disaster that hit us in the last Trial, and was pushing for us to learn the necessary information and ways of thinking that he undoubtedly had to learn the hard way in his past life. It wasn’t that bad, the Regressor made for a pretty good teacher, all things considered, and these were important skills that were necessary for our survival. I can’t say no to not dying!

Noel sighed but ultimately saw the wisdom in Jae-Hyun’s words as well, “Fine, we do it the boring way. What’s the thing we have to be mindful of, boss?”

“It’s how we deal with unknowns,” he continued as he gestured at the door, “for instance, how would you open this door?”

“Break through it of course!”

“Find an alternative passage?”

“I’d try picking the lock.”

Yoona, Vadeem, and I all spoke up at the same time, and I frowned when I saw that all of our answers were different. I’m pretty sure I was right though, Vadeem’s strategy left no room for subtly, and how would we even look for another passage right now? Waste all of our time going back and testing out random tunnels until we find the right one?

The Regressor nodded, “All three answers are fine on their own, but we won’t know which course of action is correct without more information. We will not act rashly without more information, especially in the future when we cannot afford to make mistakes.”

“So we need scout work! You should have just said that first!” Noel answered brightly, “Oh oh, let me do it this time, like we did in that creepy dark place!”

I raised an eyebrow, I hadn’t been with the Regressor’s group when they were separated back in the second Trial, and I’ve only been told the general information about what had happened on their end. Getting more concrete information out of Noel was a lesson in futility, and it wasn’t like the Regressor was the most social person in the world. This meant that the only person I could ask was Yoona, but I chose not to as she had been unconscious for most of the Trial and I didn’t want to stir up any uncomfortable memories for the girl.

Jae-Hyun nodded and gestured for his sister to do something.

The other girl took out an arrow and looked at the rest of us, “Um, you guys should stand back for a bit.”

We did so, unsure what she was about to do.

“Thank you.”

She held the arrow’s shaft and furrowed her brows in concentration; soon, the tip of her spear started to glow a bright red before turning white hot. The temperature around her grew steadily until it reached an uncomfortable degree. This process continued for about a minute before the girl was content with the progress, and she shoved the white-hot arrowhead right into the door.

The metal door sizzled as the area contacting the arrow melted rapidly. The door was thick, maybe several inches in width, clearly designed to keep things contained, yet it was no match for whatever Yoona did with her arrow. It took the high schooler almost no time at all for her to form a hole the size of a baseball into the side of the door. She smiled in satisfaction.

“Do we… peer into the hole?” Vadeem asked as he inspected the new opening, “I guess it’s one way of scouting.”

“No, Vadeem,” Noel answered with exaggerated annoyance, “Watch how Noel does things!”

Noel transformed into her strange flame form and squeezed her incorporeal body into the hole. It was a little strange seeing something human-shaped just flow through an opening that small, but then again, so is seeing someone melt solid steel with an arrow, or explode a group of supernatural monsters with a spear. You would think I would be used to such sights by now.

Noel emerged a few minutes later and gave us a thumbs-up before turning back into flesh.

“Situation looks clear on the other side,” the girl said, “the other side’s just more hallways, although there are abandoned jail cells and other locked doors everywhere. No people or baddies though.”

“Thank you, Noel,” the Regressor said, “No immediate danger on the other side, but we should still be cautious. Vadeem, would you do the honors?”

“With pleasure!”

We all moved back as Vadeem’s massive paws sank into the door, the force of his hold so strong that his fingers made dents into the metal. With a grunt, the door, and more concerningly, the entire foundation, shook before the hinges gave out and the huge metal object was lifted free. He gave us a smile of triumph and placed the door gently to the side.

“And that, Noel,” Vadeem said with a condescending grin, “is how Vadeem does things. It’s better than her way, right girls?”

The twins bobbed their heads up and down before flexing their own muscles.

“You’re going to rot their brain,” Noel sighed.

“Um, usually I don’t always agree with Noel, but you should correct their strange behaviors, Vadeem.” Yoona added.

“I will,” he answered, to which I am almost certain was a lie, “but let’s go in first, yeah?”

“Once again, wait,” Jae-Hyun said as he blocked Vadeem’s path with an arm, “Remember that this place was meant to keep things contained; it’s one of the exits to Tartarus. Do you think that the only safeguard in place was one door?”

“So what,” he answered, “expect traps?”

“Yes, although most of them should have been deactivated by now, but we must still be careful.”

Vadeem sighed, “So more scout work. I wasn’t built for this slow-going cautious approach.”

Yoona poked her head through the newly created opening, “Should Noel go again, brother?”

“Let the twins have a try,” he answered her, “It’s what they grew up doing, and it’s their primary role in our party, so let them practice in an unfamiliar environment.”

“Won’t that be dangerous though?” Vadeem added, “You said these traps were built to contain enemies of the literal gods, those must be lethal even with our abilities.”

“Like I said, most of the dangerous stuff’s been deactivated already, and these levels only house very minor entities, this isn’t even technically a part of Tartarus proper. Do you honestly think a metal door would contain Titans and Kraken?”

Vadeem grumbled but ultimately relented to the Regressor’s words. He was still protective of the two girls, having all but adopted them, but he also understood just what situation we were all in. He couldn’t shelter them, not completely at least, without stunting their growth, although I don’t think he likes that fact.

The twins looked at Vadeem and gave him a thumbs up.

“Alright,” the man sighed, “Just be careful.”

They skirted off into the entranceway, expressions of intense concentration, and entered the empty hallway on the other side. I sat close by so that my halo could illuminate as much of the interior as possible, which also gave me the best view of what they were doing. This was my first time seeing the twins work up close, they had always been with Vadeem or off on their own.

Now I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when it came to scouting, maybe they would inspect each floor tile for traps, or dodge laser beams like in the movies, but the actual thing was different. It was a lot more dull.

The twins just moved slowly. They would glance down every now and then, sometimes one of the twins would point at something before communicating in their unique, silent way, but there was literally nothing of interest to see as an observer. They just moved about. So I just sat there and provided light as the twins meticulously swept the area for traps, occasionally they would note something and avoid an area, but that was it.

They came back maybe half an hour later and did their best to report what they found. I could understand what they were trying to say thanks to Noe, but the others, even Vadeem in this case, seemed utterly lost.

“Uh, I can translate,” I offered, “I’ve been with them for long enough, and that skill that allows me to understand what those villagers spoke works a little with body language as well.”

“That’s useful,” Yoona said with a smile, “Wish I had a cool innate ability like that.”

I nodded, “Speaking of which, what innate talent do you have?”

“Just a better grasp on mana,” she answered, “I guess it’s nice to have, but I wouldn’t know what it’s like if it wasn’t there, so I can’t really say how useful it is.”

Yoona looked at me before quickly adding, “Not that it’s important to have mana, of course. Um, it’s not all that great, honestly.”

I smiled at her consideration for my unique situation before turning to Vadeem and Noel, “And what about you two? Don’t think you ever told us.”

Vadeem shrugged, “Yeah, ‘cause it’s not that impressive honestly. Just gives me more strength, not that I mind though.”

“I got one that focuses on endurance,” Noel answered next, “I guess all of these innate abilities are passives, huh.”

Come to think of it, she was right. My actual innate ability was that calm mind/awakening mind skill, which just sat there in the background doing its thing. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if it weren’t for how strange our last trial was. The more I learned about how Central and its stupid Trash Matrix worked, the more I realized just how structured things were. This was good, because structure means predictability, and predictability meant that I could predict what the Trash Matrix can do. But more importantly, I could find ways to exploit those limitations.

The twins were annoyed at the interruption of their report and nudged Vadeem to do something about it. I guess they were still a little too shy to bother me about most things. Vadeem gave me an apologetic nod, telling me to focus on the two instead.

“Oh, sorry,” I said quickly, “I got off topic, uh, tell us what you two found please.”

They made strange gestures, sometimes pointing at a wall here, followed by some hand signals. I’ve no idea how they came up with such a complicated communication method all by themselves.

“Alright,” I translated, “So here’s the areas that we should avoid…”

 

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