Drip-Fed

“It is said that, when the Omniverse first began, there was a race of formless beings that devoured to claim new shapes.”

Aclysia translated the pictographs on the wall calmly. The singular phrase took up the entirety of the wall that greeted them at the bottom of the staircase.

“That’s it?” Reysha asked. “That’s everything we get? A rumour?”

“We are talking about darling’s origin here,” Aclysia responded, her voice even despite her own disappointment. “If it was an answer that came simply, then we would have encountered it long ago.”

Korith looked at Apexus, who was entranced by the symbols before them, and cleared her throat. “I’ll be the voice of reason and remind you that we have no guarantee it’s even true.”

“The food was real,” Apexus responded. “It can be real.”

“…It can be…,” Korith responded carefully. She recognized that he wanted to believe it and did not wish to start an argument over it. “Just… don’t be too tempted by the answers.”

“I will be measured,” Apexus promised, then turned eastwards.

The wall was framed to either side by pillars that themselves were part of gateways. “If I was a bettin’ gal,” Reysha said slowly. “I’d say we’re about to experience a spike in difficulty.”

“Such would be my assumption as well,” Aclysia agreed. “Be ready.”

Korith led the way, slowly advancing with her spear in hand. To have Reysha scout ahead was a luxury the layout of the path did not allow. The angle of the path was too sharp. Only a face check was viable in this situation.

Immediately, Korith was assailed by a paw.

The Warrior reacted in time, locking her body up with the Steadfast skill. Sharp claws left only shallow marks in her reinforced skin. She was pushed back as one solid unit, like a statue skidding over ice, then released the locking magic in her bones and skin again.

“Semi-Sphinx!” she shouted and leapt back into the larger chamber.

The monster chased after her. A distorted human head set on the muscular body of a lioness. Heavy gold ornamentations covered her hair and the sharp teeth that filled the disproportionately large mouth of the uncanny face. It was close enough to human to be recognized as such, but the details did not quite match.

“Uruk ak urur mam!” the Semi-Sphinx shouted. Lances of golden light formed around the monster in response to the chant, flying forwards. Korith and Apexus blocked the lances heading for them, while Reysha and Aclysia were far enough away to dodge them. The lances exploded into scattering dots of golden sand.

“Kuru me mara ada!” A second Semi-Sphinx stepped out from the other corridor, differentiated from its partner by the black, glistening fur of a panther. Its chant consolidated the sand into shackles, wrapping around Reysha’s ankles and Aclysia’s wrists.

The two women began to tear at their magical bindings immediately. The grains stretched with incredible elasticity, then always returned to their original shape. “Shit,” Reysha cursed and glanced over to the panther-like Semi-Sphinx.

Sphinxes were among the most famous monsters out there. They were rarely found in desert dungeons and that made them so memorable. Sphinxes were fast, physically powerful, capable of using magic and, which made them so much more dangerous than most Dungeon monsters, smart. Of them, Semi-Sphinxes were the weakest variant, lacking wings.

“Uruk ak urur mam…. Kuru me mara ada…“ Aclysia muttered to herself constantly, trying to decipher the phrases. Every fight against a Sphinx was a riddle as much as it was a trial of combat. Their magic was vocal and could be messed with, if only one was capable of cracking the code behind the Dungeon Speak.

“SHIT!” Reysha shouted again. Not even cutting the sand with her new Runeblade severed it. The golden grains just flowed back together a moment thereafter.

While redhead and angel were incapacitated, Apexus charged to the other side of the room. Like Korith, he had no choice but to face a Semi-Sphinx in single combat. He charged across. Immediately, he was greeted by a descending panther paw the size of his head.

The attack was brutal. Apexus had not faced a strike like it in quite some time. Even with Ironskin reinforcing his limbs, his knees buckled. The creature’s swiftness was matched by his own, allowing him to bend out of the sideways swipe that followed.

The Semi-Sphinx was relentless, following each swipe up with another attack. Apexus dodged backwards, ceding ground rapidly. He kept his wings flared wide open, to dominate the field of view of the monster. He retreated another step when the black-furred chimera went for a bite.

It stopped in the wind-up. The pupils in its green eyes dilated, widening its tunnel vision. It spotted Reysha, floored but not helpless, and immediately realized that it was being lured in stabbing range of the Runeblade. The Semi-Sphinx produced something like an amused hiss.

Korith had a little more success. After weathering a storm of swipes from the lioness Semi-Sphinx, she found an opening and thrust her spear forwards. The tip of the weapon sliced across the neck of the enemy. A wound deep enough to cause an immediate pouring of blood.

“Ulug an umum mim!” the monster growled immediately. Fur around its neck grew, piercing its own flesh like thread stitching shut a wound. It was so tight and complete that the Semi-Sphinx could continue to fight without concern of bleeding out.

“Mim… Kuru me mara mim?“ Aclysia muttered to herself, putting magical power behind those words. The sand around her wrists swirled, rearranging themselves while remaining in place. The words had an effect. That was all Aclysia needed to solve the riddle of words. “Kuru ka ruru ama.”

The sand binding her and Reysha suddenly flew towards the two Semi-Sphinxes, exploding into scattering particles in their faces.

Korith pressed the advantage immediately. The wound had been sealed, but the gravitational enchantment of her spear slowed the enemy down all the same. A distraction for a singular moment was enough for the shortstack to slam her clenched fist into the cheek of the Semi-Sphinx. Sharp teeth were knocked out of the oversized mouth.

Reysha identified where she could make the bigger difference. She Overplayed the Shadowstep, combining a burst of presence-suppression with rapid speed. Even to the trained eye, what followed looked like teleportation. The True Silver Runeblade carved across the legs of the Semi-Sphinx, finding tendons and separating them, ruining the ability of the monster to stand and making it easy for Korith’s spear to deliver a mortal blow through the creature’s eye.

“Uruk ak kuru mam!” the second sphinx shouted.

“Kuru me mumu mam!” Aclysia responded within the same second. The lances of golden sand trembled in midair, before turning into thorns aimed inwards. The Semi-Sphinx tried to leap out of the way, but Apexus threw himself in the path. The Semi-Sphinx’s teeth sunk into his shoulder and the thorns of sand pierced black fur in turn.

Held in place like that, the Semi-Sphinx could not dodge when Reysha and Korith leapt into action, slicing the neck off with a two-directional swipe.

“Whew… yeah, that could’ve gone wrong real quick. No wonder they call these things the Filter Monsters,” Reysha said.

“I have never heard of that before,” Aclysia remarked. “I feel like you made that up.”

“Uh, no, I also heard of that one… might be part of standard adventurer education?” Korith suggested. “Anyway, how did you solve it so fast?”

“It was a relatively simple construction,” Aclysia responded. “There were a few rules. 4-2-4-3 letters. Spells that created something new had the vowels on positions 1 and 3. Spells that manipulated a medium already present had their vowels on positions 2 and 4. That rule was inversed for the last word in all cases. With that figured out, I only had to translate each phrase. Uruk and Kuru both mean sand. Ak and ka both mean fly. Urur and ruru both mean explode, and so on.”

“…By the Hellroots, it’s really hard not to make fun of how much of a nerd you are right now.” Reysha scratched her head with the pommel of her sword. “Guess imma be thankful that your brain is half the size of your bubble butt.”

“Why do you turn everything into an obscenity?” Aclysia asked with a sigh.

“Can’t get that butt out of my mind. It’s really nice.”

“It is really nice,” Apexus agreed and treated himself to a squeeze of it. Blushing intensely, the pointy-eared angel gave her darling a pouty, blushing glance. She did appreciate the gesture of affection, but she did not appreciate supporting Reysha’s lack of decorum.

While those three had their exchange, Korith gave the golden headwear of one of the Semi-Sphinxes a sniff test. After that, she gave it a lick. She grumbled, “Fool’s gold…” and backed off.

“Ya think the Dungeon would be nice enough to give ya not one but two solid chunks of gold to work with?” Reysha asked, amused.

“I can hope!” Korith shot back.

“Like you hope the Hoardcoin value will go up?”

“The Hoardcoin value is already to the moon and back down and back up again!”

“Not worth a whole lot if ya can’t exchange it for anything, is it?”

“I thought we had cleared up that Hoard is the best and the best is for the Hoard?” Korith complained.

“Hey, I agree your not-scam god can be pretty awesome.” Reysha pulled out a rag to clean the remaining blood off her oiled Runeblade. “Doesn’t mean I support everything to do with it.”

“Urgh… heretics, I swear to Hoard…” Korith grumbled.

Aclysia was closely pressed to her darling by now. She stood on her toes, indulging herself in just how tall and broad he was, something she enjoyed every bit as much as he enjoyed the flare of her hips. “I am beginning to wonder if this temple reinforces all temptations as we go deeper,” she swooned. “I find myself borderline incapable of looking away. Apexus is just so handsome.”

“That’s just your obsessive side coming out,” Reysha drawled. “’Cause if there was a notable temptation multiplier on all of us, I’d not be able to keep myself from sinking my teeth into that.” She sheathed her cleaned weapon, then gestured at one of the corpses. “And I can so… either it’s selective or you’re a bit cray-cray.”

“Mhm…” Aclysia brushed over Apexus’ jawline. He lifted her up, to put a deep kiss on her lips. Hugging his neck, she refused to be put down for a little while, before ultimately remembering that they were on a soft timer. “If my information on Semi-Sphinxes is correct, there should a magical cortex behind the sternum that is worthwhile harvesting.”

“Money?” Korith asked.

“Somewhere in the realm of ten gold coins.”

“Behind the sternum, ey?” Reysha asked and went to help Korith carve one of them out. Apexus did them the favour and ate around if for the second one. The Semi-Sphinxes did not have any Growths worth considering. They were big, powerful cats for the majority of their bodies. Their complex brains were something that Apexus could not usually get his teeth on, but he had no benefit from shaping one of those. He had tried before.

The magical cortexes looked like crystal flowers, attached to the bone by blue roots. Both material were hard and stable in storage, so they put them away to dry and then continued on their dungeon diving.

“Alright, so we can put Sphinxes on the list of famous monsters we have killed so far.” Reysha raised a hand on to count things. “What else is on it? We killed a dragon… and we were involved in killing a Deathhound… anything else?”

“What qualifies as famous?” Apexus asked out loud.

“Uhhhh… yeah, I dunno how to define that when it comes to these monsters, especially to you. Widdle hawlp pwease, Cwysiwa?”

The metal fairy regarded her comrade with something approaching disgust. “Had we not agreed that you will never do that voice again?”

“I agreed to not do it too much, everything beyond that is me being nice,” the redhead answered with a smirk. “Anyhow, can ya explain it to the big guy?”

“I do not believe so. Fame is, after all, a social construction born from a shared understanding of history and mythology. While our darling has enjoyed a satisfying degree of education, the years of stories told by parents were not part of it.” Aclysia pondered for a few moments. “As for the question of famous monsters we have killed so far, we have also squashed a few Parasytes.”

“Yeah, but for most of them that’s not an accomplishment. You just step on them as you go along.”

“Every crushed Parasyte is an accomplishment,” Aclysia stated harshly.

“Bit of a mood kill there, bubble butt… Korith, anything cool you killed before you joined with us?”

“A Living Graveyard.”

“You are shitting me!”

“Yes.” Korith managed a smug smile, then squawked when Reysha lunged to pull her ear. “I don’t get to make jokes?!”

“I’m the one who gets cheeky around here!” Reysha laughed, but let the kobold go after nothing more than a friendly tug. “Living Graveyards are terrifying. I only ever saw pieces of the things.”

“If we go to the Necro Lord’s Crypt, there is a good chance we will encounter one,” Aclysia said.

“Yeah, let’s not. I like my thrills, I don’t run into suicide.”

“What is a Living Graveyard, exactly?” Apexus asked.

“Its… kind of like the Deathhound of the undead category of monsters…?” Korith posed in a way that might have scared very little children. “They carry gravestones on their backs and have a thousand hands, flesh, soil, and ghostlike. Their teeth are the roots of hanging trees!”

“Something like that,” Reysha agreed.

Apexus found that description fairly unhelpful. Further questions on the matter were stopped by the appearance of two Warden Constructs around the corner, however.

The Dungeon always demanded priority.