Part One Hundred and Seven

How the hell did it come to this?

It was bad enough when Brad and his friends all dropped to the ground and began pleading with me, but then Alicia and Tavin had to go and show up to witness the whole thing. With them around, it would be harder to simply dismiss the idiot brigade and go on my merry way.

Ugh, this is gonna be a pain in my ass, isn’t it? Fuck.

***

My issue wasn’t with the numerous idiots I’d need to deal with. No, it was the fact that I’d told Alicia I was going to take a nap before. However, I was unable to fall asleep, and eventually decided to move onto something else.

In reality, what I’d gone to do was practice magic. Not Grudge Magic, oh no. I was going to look into Abyss Magic, but I needed help with it. Or rather, the two spells I knew of.

1st Grade Abyss Magic Spell [Soul Bind] – An Abyss Magic Spell that binds an item to the caster's soul. Bound items may only be used by the binder, and can be summoned and dismissed at will.

2nd Grade Abyss Magic Spell [Soul Link] – A Spell that binds two souls together, creating a powerful tie between them. Linked souls will be able to locate each other, and can speak via telepathy even at great distances, both physical and magical.

I still remembered Kalia’s reaction to [Soul Resonance], and it was troubling me. Something about her explanation hadn’t sat right with me. And that wasn’t even mentioning the three pages of warnings listed in the Grimoire about what soul ties could do. Messing one up would heavily damage your soul. I didn’t really get what exactly that meant, but I knew it wasn’t good from the way the Grimoire stressed not to do it.

Which is what led me to seek out a Dark Mage, something I probably should’ve done ages ago. It was just that there weren’t many of them. None, actually. There were only a handful of mages who had Dark affinities, which was probably why the Archmage never tried to get anyone to teach me control, and just gave me a Grimoire.

And as for those that were here, they apparently focused on other branches, letting their Dark affinities go to waste. It took me several tries before I could locate a mage who knew anything about Abyss Magic, and ten minutes of bargaining before he agreed to teach me a little of what he knew, after I parted with one of my Gems of Hatred.

I know I’ve been finding a few of them in my spoils, but it hurts to part with even one. I can’t use them yet, but I’ve got big plans for when I can. Well, at least I’ve still got the big one Finnél left behind.

The things he taught me could be summed up into four points.

Manipulation of the soul is highly dangerous, but has several safe-guards involved. The low-grade spells I had access to wouldn’t do any damage to my soul, even if I messed them up. They could inflict some serious pain though. A soul could only have so many ties attached at any one time. Putting more than what was feasibly withstandable would lead to the destruction of the target's soul. However, souls would grow along with the body, so this limit would eventually go up, though he didn’t explain how that worked. Soul bound items were considered to be an extension of their owner. They often developed in conjunction with them. Again. No explanation of what that meant. When two beings were tied together, they gained an intimate understanding of each other, and parts of their nature would rub off on one another. This part of the explanation was more esoteric than I could understand, so he ended up cutting it short.

After thanking him for his time, I went back to my room, fully intent on getting a little practice in. Little did I know that the idiot brigade was waiting for me there.

***

There, I think that catches us up to where we are. Now, how the heck do I get out of this situation?

I took a moment to take in my surroundings. On one side I had Brad and his merry band begging me for something I didn’t quite catch, and Alicia and Tavin on the other for some reason. I could only begin to guess how that particular pairing came to be.

Seriously, I doubt Alicia can tolerate that guy's bullcrap. Heck, I’m surprised she puts up with me so much. I’m well aware I can be annoying.

“So, I’ve got no clue what’s going on here. Would anyone care to fill me in?”

My rather sarcastic remark was met with silence, at least until Tavin dropped into the same pose Brad and the others were holding. The clunk his head made when colliding with the floor echoed through the hall.

“………Alicia? Help, please?”

***

We soon reconvened in one of the empty common rooms no one was using. Myself, Alicia, Tavin, and the idiot brigade were all gathered to talk. As for what the topic was, well, it was pretty obvious if I’d just stopped to think about it. The shock of the whole thing had caused my brain to shutdown.

“So you want fight with us during the suicide mission? Hm, I’m not sure I like this idea.”

“Please! We don’t know whether we can survive this on our own! And besides, it’s not like having more people on your side is a bad thing, right?”

Tch, he’s got me there. If they were still the same as when I meet them, I’d reject them immediately, but they’ve grown so much since then. They can definitely hold their own in a fight now, and since we’re being sent directly into the lion's den, we could use some extra hands to guard our backs. Haaah, I can’t think of a real reason to reject them. Craaaaaaaaap.

“Haaah, fine. If it’s okay with Cameron and Alicia, you can come along with us. Alicia?”

“It’s fine with me, and I doubt Cameron will object. Though I don’t see how this is going to help anyone here. Aren’t we all being sent out together anyway?”

You could just hear the crickets chirping after she said that. We’d all gotten so wrapped up in what we were doing, that not the single one of us had thought if it was necessary. I at least had an excuse since this was so sudden, but the idiot brigade had charged into this without really thinking through if it was necessary.

“Ahaha, I guess I got carried away. Uh, my bad guys?”

“No! Do not apologize for your aspirations! One cannot achieve greatness without striving for it! Reach for the stars, for they will never fall-.!”

Oh my God, since when was this guy a motivational speaker!? Look at poor Brad, he’s totally freaked out by Tavin’s intensity. This is completely weird, even for what’s happened inside this Dungeon.

“-And then, and then! We shall slay the Boss, showing everyone that we are a force to be reckoned with! That no obstacle shall stand in the way of human progress, that we are the apex race on this planet! Come young men, and I shall show you the ways of a true warrior!”

With that, Tavin practically manhandled Brad and his friends out of the room, leaving me and Alicia alone. However, neither of us knew what to make of what just occurred. I already knew Tavin could be eccentric, but that reaction was extreme, even for him.

“…Did they just leave us here?”

“Yep. That took a very weird turn that even I didn’t expect.”

“….Should we try to rescue them?”

“Do you really want to do that? I’m pretty sure we just got out of having to deal with Tavin in the easiest way possible. Going after them would just invite him back.”

“Yeah, but what about-? You know what, nevermind. I get the feeling that he’ll bring a lot of trouble if he comes back.”

“Ugh, ain’t that the truth. He’s like a living magnet for trouble.”

“Hm, pot, meet kettle. You’re a much bigger troublemaker than him. How many times have you nearly died in here? Aren’t we into two digits now?”

“Uh, we might be. But in my defense, trouble just seems to love me. I mean, this Dungeon alone has nearly killed me more times than I can count. Though the fight against the Cyclops went pretty well.”

“Well then, I guess we’re done here. I’m going back to the training grounds. I guess you’re heading for a nap?”

“Mn, probably. We’ve got….eight hours and change until the battle. A nap to pass the time sounds pretty good. That, or I’ll get fed up with being unable to sleep, and come join you. Who knows?”

“Ah, alright then. I’ll see you later.”

We went our separate ways after that, though I waited a minute for her to leave before I went into my room. Once I was alone, I opened up my Grimoire to the page with [Soul Bind] and began reading the instructions for the spell. Like [Soul Resonance], this spell was much more complicated than the Grudge Magic I already knew. I could cast [Rot] and [Seize] just by forming the glyphs and providing the requisite mana and Grudge for the spell.

Abyss Magic, on the other hand, required far more finesse to actually cast each spell. The glyphs needed to fit together in a very specific way in order to manifest the effects. And that was before you factored in the whole “soul" business.

Uh, do I need to target myself or my soul for this spell? Does it automatically transition to the target's soul, or is that something I need to do? Ugh! This is gonna frustrate me, isn’t it?

***

[Alicia’s POV]

He’s definitely not taking a nap in there, is he? Hm, should I peek on him. No, that’s a really bad idea. What if he was doing something that I didn’t want to see? Yeah, that would just ruin our relationship. I don’t want that.

After hesitating for a few minutes, she finally began walking back to the training grounds. As for why she was going back, well it was because Imbuement had reached E-Rank last night, and she now believed that she’d be able to Imbue more effects into her arrows.

Combining magic with Imbuement had led to a major breakthrough for her, giving her even more ideas for Imbuement. She now wanted to try adapting [Spark Burst] into an arrow similarly to [Stun Strike]. However, since that would take hours of experimentation and leave her with very little mana left, she would put it off until after the Dungeon. For now she would just prepare some more of the [Stun Strike] arrows, which could really use a better name.

Magic-Infused Arrow

Rank: Special

Description: An arrow Imbued with the Lightning Magic Spell [Stun Strike]. The enchantment is set to release the spell upon impact.

That last line was her prototype’s sole real weakness. She only had a single chance for the arrow to deliver its payload to her target. If she missed, the spell Imbued into it would harmlessly release. Which was why she wanted to work on [Spark Burst], since it was an area-of-effect spell. Though that one would come with the danger of friendly fire.

Well, at least I now know that this is an effective weapon. [Stun Strike] arrows should be effective on any organic monsters weaker than the Cyclops, though I’m not sure if the spell itself would work on it.

“Hup! One, two! One, two!”

Upon arriving at the training grounds, Alicia was forced to witness Brad and all his friends doing push-ups in the middle of the grounds. They all had sacks of sand placed on their backs, and Tavin was standing over them, setting their pace. Sweat streamed down their faces, and several of the guys looked to be on the verge of passing out.

Uh, what the heck!? I should get out of here before he notices me and makes me join them. Seriously, what’s wrong with this guy?