The Chronicles of Dwynveia – A Slimeling LitRPG

Aki

Between Lilyth's connection with the forest and Rennie’s newfound abilities, we were able to baiyanguleit, at least that's what my Jelly called the process, the location of our destination.

I wonder if this baiyangulating stuff has something to do with me being this baisexual thing. No… it can’t. Lilyth said it meant I liked both boys and girls, but she and Ren are both women. Then again… my Jelly used to be a boy.

‘Bi means two, my child,’ Irmen chimed in, barely containing laughter. ‘Biangulation refers to the two of them using their respective abilities to hone in on your destination.’

Wouldn't baisexual then mean I like having sex with two people at the same time, then? I mean… I do… but…

‘Not in this case, no. Tell you what… ask Lilyth about that. She is a linguist after all. And her trying to figure out “why” in real time could be fairly entertaining. You can even do an experiment and ask Savri later. See which of them will lose it more.

While tormenting my poor Jelly felt mean… I was really tempted.

Still… this baiyangulation thing was effective, even if, at times, it did result in Lilyth and Rennie bickering like an old couple again. That really made me wonder what their relationship would look like if I or Caei never came into the picture.

And speaking of…

‘I’m telling you!’ Ren shouted and pointed north-east. ‘The centre of the web is that way!’

‘Right!’ Lilyth spat back. ‘Let’s go to the centre of the fucking web. You know that spiders use those to trap their food, right? If we were next to a large carnivorous plant, you would also go, “Tasty nectar, let’s try it?”’

There is such a thing as meat-eating plants? Cool!

Yeah… I definitely had to track one. I added that to my list of things to do.

I looked at Caei, but she shrugged and rolled her eyes, which seemed to mean “let them hash it out”.

What made Lilyth distrust Ren even more was that one time we followed the latter’s direction, we almost fell down a scarp, and by we, I mean everyone but Lilyth, who wasn’t so lucky. My Jelly wasn't paying attention as she was talking to me while we were crossing some bushes when she suddenly disappeared from my sight. I hurried over to see what happened to her when Caeileera stopped me by grabbing the collar of my shirt.

‘Let me,’ she said and leapt into the sky. She quickly dove to the ground… or what I thought was the ground.

‘Lilyth… you okay?’ I heard her shout. ‘Watch out, guys! There is a drop!’

To make the long story short - Lilyth was pissed but only just slightly hurt. I doubted any of us would fare as well as she did after faceplanting on the ground after falling down a two-metre scarp.

In general, Ren’s direction tended to lead us into dangerous areas, either due to the terrain or the hostile actions of the trees. Mostly, this was limited to sudden trip hazards, though one time I could swear a branch hit me despite there being no wind. Judging by my Jelly’s suspicious look at the tree… she wasn't sure it was an accident either.

Of course, Lilyth's directions weren't foolproof either. Whenever we followed just her directions, we would end up in impassable areas OR ones with really bad vibes. Hence why the baiyangulation became a compromise. In some of the cases, anyway. In the others…

‘Oh… and what are your tree buddies telling you, Lilyth? Another dark ravine ahead?’

‘No… which is a problem given how the issue appears to be somewhere below us.’

What? How… Oh. There must be a cave system below us.

I called the attention of the two “lovebirds” and outlined my observation. Lilyth concurred with my assessment.

‘My job is done then,’ she said. ‘At least until we need to figure out a way around those. So, birdie… can you point out where we should look?’

Ren looked unsure.

‘If I may…’ Taros chimes in. ‘What Lilyth said about the web makes sense. We don't want to find the centre. If memory serves, spiders wait outside the web?’

‘Yeeeeeeeees?’ Now Lilyth was unsure. ‘At least I think so? So what you mean is… look for dark zones in the web or just outside?’

‘Precisely,’ Taros nodded. ‘Miss Ren… I know this may be difficult, but would you be able to look for such places?’

‘I don’t know how…’ she said. ‘I just perceive the web around me and see how it is formed. It is getting… narrower… that way.’

She pointed in the same direction as previously.

Taros nodded.

‘And where is the source of the “cancer”?

Lilyth pointed north.

‘So the entrance to the cave must be somewhere between those two points?’ Caei asked.

‘Not necessarily,’ Deirdee shook her head. ‘Remember… This is not an actual spider’s web. So whatever is causing this doesn't need a quick way to get there. ‘

Ooooh. Then… that… oh…

‘So… is it possible that the web and cancer are two separate but linked phenomena?’ I asked. ‘One fueling the other, but not necessarily in the same place… I mean… without Lilyth’s ability to hear the trees, we would have never known about the real source of the problems here.’

Caei nodded.

‘That makes sense. Anyone looking too closely at things would just see the web. Meaning… Lilyth is right… If for the wrong reason. Going to the centre of the web would be dangerous.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘Meaning the entrance is most likely in the opposite direction from the “cancer”. A distraction wouldn't work if you could run into whatever you were looking for while investigating it.’

Taros shook vaer head.

‘While I agree with the general direction, I am not sure whether you have the right premise… I mean, whether you are basing those on the right facts. Namely, the web isn't just a distraction. It requires a lot of magic to maintain…’

‘... meaning it serves some other purpose.’ Lilyth concluded. ‘Hmmm…’

My foxy cutie picked up a stick and found a patch of dirt.

‘What shape is the pocket?’ she asked. ‘Circle?’

‘No one ever checked that, I think,’ I replied.

‘A circle it is,’ Lilyth shrugged and drew it in the dirt. ‘Where would the river be?’

‘I think here,’ I made a gesture cutting off maybe a tenth of the circle.

Lilyth handed the stick over to Ren.

‘Can you draw the web?’

Rennie nodded and started with the spokes. If you drew a square where the river was on the left side of it, the spokes intersected in the upper right corner, about a third of the way from the edge of the pocket. Then Ren drew three concentric ovals, all “centring” at the intersection node.

‘Of course, there is waaay more of those,’ she said apologetically, but Lilyth waved her concerns away.

‘Good enough. Thank you, love. Now where are we?’

Deirdee pointed out a point on the map roughly in the centre of the square.

‘Here… I think.’

Ren nodded.

‘I think so too.’

Lilyth then made a cross in the middle of the upper base of the square.

‘And that's where the cancer is.’

‘So what's the point of this?’ Caei asked with furrowed brows.

I could see Lilyth was on the verge of some realisation. I felt there was something here, too.

My slimy cutie positioned herself so that she stood directly next to the node and looked at the “map” from that perspective.

‘Fucking hell,’ she finally spat. ‘It’s a sensor grid.’

Oh no.

‘Like the [Ward] spell?’ Caei asked, her eyes wide.

‘Yes,’ Lilyth sighed. ‘Whatever set it up, has probably been tracking our every moment. The closer we get, the better the coverage.’

‘But why?’ Taros wondered. ‘Why have one around the distraction?’

‘Because it is not just a distraction. You see… when I first came into contact with the forest, I felt that the “cancer” was feeding off the pain and misery. So those are probably used to harvest and transport that. Presumably, there is one leading from the node directly to the source with all the “nutrients”, likely masked by a normal spoke.’

‘Where is the entrance, though?’

‘The node,’ Caei sighed heavily. ‘Where else? There would be no point in setting it up in a place without easy access to it.’

Something struck me then.

‘Also…’ I said. ‘If you could see the web to begin with, you would likely be like us and assume it was a trap.’

‘How can we be sure, though?’ Deirdee asked.

The forest suddenly grew dark and oppressive, and judging by my companions' reaction, it wasn’t just my imagination.

‘That’s how,’ Lilyth simply replied and drew her knives.

The Painter

As she watched the discussion of the Returning Ones, the Painter tried to control her growing panic. They figured it out! Immediate action had to be taken. The Painter hated having to waste her best supplies for this, but hopefully the Returning Ones would provide sufficient replacements. The Fae would make for excellent materials. The Painter was less sure about the other four, but she was happy to experiment. Yes… Maybe she would be able to create a work worthy of giving to her Lady.

No time to daydream about it, though. There is work to be done.

Transcript of intercepted transmission ASC/Z5721733/03

X2-01: Command, we are nearing the objective.

ASCCOM: Roger that, X2-01. Please be advised that…

X2-05: Ell-tee, something is happening.

X2-07: Why did it get so dark?

X2-02: Calm down, re..

X2-06: We have movement!

X2-03: So-

[REDACTED] note 1: X2-03 is cut off by a roar, followed by sounds of gunfire and screams of pain. No identification of the assailing creature was ever acquired.

This is followed by a series of panicked utterances from the rest of X2, as they rush to assist X2-03 - Corporal Devan Harrer. While this is happening, the screams of pain from X2-03 grow ever quieter and then go silent. Sounds of wood creaking and what seems to be chewing are audible from his feed. Eventually, there is a crack and the transmission ends.

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