The Chronicles of Dwynveia – A Slimeling LitRPG

Aki

‘You know,’ Lilyth sighed as we were taking a breather a small distance away from the corpse of the monster,’ We keep punching above our weight class. Sooner or later, this will come back to bite us.’

I didn't know what a “weight class” was, but I got the gist of it since the sentiment echoed my own thoughts.

‘I wouldn't pay too much attention to the level this thing had,’ Taros sighed. ‘For things like this, the system usually calculates the level based on its physical and magical attributes.’

‘Should you be telling us this?’ Caei asked.

‘Worried I am gonna get into trouble?’ Vae laughed. ‘Don’t worry. Not gonna get spanked for this. It is not exactly common knowledge, but I have learned it on my own after I left my mom’s realm.’

‘Wow,’ Ren said in awe. ‘I would imagine that of all people you would be one with access to information.’

‘Alas, as you well know… things aren’t that simple, and I only have a slightly bet…,’ Taros suddenly paused, probably realising vae almost said too much. ‘Circling back… did you honestly think that that thing got level fifty the usual way? I can’t say for certain, but I would guess this thing was quickly cobbled together just before we fought it. Why else one would use rotting corpses for a minion this strong?’

That did make sense and answered a lot of questions. Still, there was one very pressing one.

‘Still… doesn't it mean that whatever created it is also high level?’ I asked while massaging my recently healed ankle.

While I wasn’t the only person to level after the fight - Lilyth made it to level nineteen while both Ren and Deirdee were level nine now; as my foxy cutie pointed out, sooner or later, we would meet a challenge we couldn't overcome. Hell, if it wasn't for my “grandfather” we wouldn't have lived through the Akh’ret's Mercy. Caei, who got relegated to being our team healer again still needed some more experience to get to level fifteen, and while I had hoped Taros would be crazy high level due to vaer being a demigod and all, but no - vae was only level ten. So I wasn't that hot about our chances against whoever created the amalgam.

‘Not necessarily,’ Lilyth said. ‘If memory serves, Löwe was level eight, and he was insanely powerful.’

Not helping, hon.

‘Yes,’ Deirdee agreed. ‘Level is a poor indicator of overall skill. Don’t take it the wrong way, Lilyth, but you are the best example of that. If we fought on even terms, you wouldn't stand a chance. This is not your fault of course, but you need training. Bad.’

‘Train me then,’ Lilyth said with a smirk. ‘You are the expert knife fighter here.’

Let's just say I will treasure the memory of horror dawning on Deirdee’s face for the rest of my life.

‘I walked into this one, didn't I?’ she finally sighed.

‘Yes!’ we replied in unison.

Lilyth

Even though staying silent on the next leg of our trek was my idea, the silence was seriously creeping me out. By then, I got used to pockets of quiet but well… none of the previous ones were actively malevolent. Me using [Enhanced Acoustic Processing] only made it worse, as it felt like our merry band of misfits was walking through a void - a place that, if it wasn't for us, would be completely still and lifeless.

All of this made me seriously concerned about the other pockets. I added thoroughly investigating the one near Mer-Cas and the other one here to my list. My two homes needed to be safe.

Homes…

I wondered if this is what Ere meant when she told me to live on Dwynveia a bit. Back then in the dungeon… I had nothing. Now I had two wives, whatever Ren was to me, I was fairly respected in one village and would likely soon be in another. Hell… that meant I actually had communities I wanted to protect. In a way… I was no longer just Lilyth of Terra, but also Lilyth of Ror-Bhyk. I would always be a Terran, first and foremost, but now I was a creature of both worlds.

‘That’s correct,’ I heard her say. ‘You now have a connection to the land. What you do with it is up to you. After this mess is done, focus on recovering. Other issues can wait.’

Even Löwe?

‘Do you know where to look for him?’

I don't think we even have a good idea where not to look for him. I guess we could ask Anika to lead us to the place she was kept at, but then again I doubt she will be able to retrace her steps.

‘You can ask, but don’t stress about it. The Viscount is looking for him. Probably, other states and the Church will do it, too. Necromancer Cabals tend not to be tolerated.’

They are going to lay low for a while, I realised. Wait… if there are going to be a bunch of paladins and inquisitors running around it might be best if we also don't draw attention to ourselves.

‘I knew I picked the right person for the job. Before I leave you to it, have a final piece of advice: remember the powers I bestowed upon you.’

Aren't they dangerous?

‘Yes. But since you are in far better shape than previously they may be less devastating for you. Particularly if you use them right. Shape your tools. Don’t let them shape you.'

Aki

I could see something started bothering Lilyth as we walked. She seemed to drift off at times, and shortly after that happened, a wave of cold would briefly radiate from her. There was a weird, somewhat familiar mix of comfort and fear to those sensations, but they weren't exactly unpleasant. I could see on the faces of others they were similarly confused by this. Well… all except Taros. Vae were straight-up terrified. That made me wonder whether this was due to vaer nature as a demigod that caused vaer to have a different reaction or whether it was Lilyth who, consciously or not, didn't soften the blow for vaem as, the best I could tell, my foxy cutie wasn’t terribly fond of Taros. It didn't seem to be a mutual dislike, but I would have to watch the situation develop. I really didn't want to step in, but if push came to shove I just hoped Irmen wouldn’t be mad at me for taking Lilyth's side.

During one of her cold waves, Lilyth stopped us with a hand gesture. She turned towards us, and I saw her eyes faintly glowing blue before they turned back to green, the temperature coming back to normal almost immediately.

That's new.

Still… there was something very wrong with Lilyth. She looked absolutely exhausted, almost as if she hadn't slept for days, and the shadow patches on her face and arms became wet-looking again.

What are you up to this time, my love?

Seeing she had our attention, Lilyth pointed slightly to the right of the way we were heading.

‘There is something there,’ she half-whispered.

‘Something alive?’ I asked, but Lilyth shook her head.

‘I don’t think so. There is something… off about the magic there.’

Taros and Ren looked in the direction Lilyth was pointing at but neither of them saw what Lilyth did.

‘Interesting,’ she muttered, took out a stamina potion and downed it in a single gulp.

Some life returned to her features.

‘I guess we can check it out,’ I said carefully. ‘It is not like we have a better direction.'

Everybody except Caei nodded. My alabaster beauty was too busy staring daggers at Lilyth.

‘Better tell us what the fuck you were doing, you stupid Jelly,’ she snarled. ‘I know this cold. Why were you messing around with the powers Ereshkigal gave you?’

‘You noticed that,’ my stupid Jelly said under her breath. ‘Fuck my life.’

She sighed deeply and simply said:

‘Ere told me to keep those in mind as we go deeper into this mess. I never looked at them after the… encounter with Kojiro so I was trying to figure out what exactly I can do.’

‘Which is?’ I pressed, trying to hide my excitement.

I remembered hearing that Lilyth turned into some sort of angel and was kind of bummed out I never got to see it.

‘I wish I knew,’ Lilyth laughed weakly. ‘There is the full transformation, but that one is really a last resort kind of thing. Not sure I would be able to control that.’

‘You said full,’ Taros said, still sounding terrified. ‘Does this mean you can activate parts of it?’

‘Maybe,’ Lilyth shrugged. ‘It worked for the eyes.’

‘Wait…’ Ren interrupted. ‘You have access to [Divine Sight]?’

We all looked at her confused. She must have realised that she said too much as she squeaked and covered her mouth with her hand.

Lilyth waved her concerns away.

‘Don’t worry. I think we all figured that what happened to you in the Corridors could have… side-effects.’

Ah… so I was right.

‘It’s not only this,’ she said weakly. ‘Remember… whatever is running this place can likely hear us.’

‘Fuck…’ Lilyth spat. ‘I forgot about that.’

‘We all did,’ Caei said. ‘So allow me to rephrase my question: Will whatever you can do be usable in the fight? Wait… no. Don’t answer that either.’

Lilyth nodded.

‘To answer your question, Rennie… I don't know whether this is that specific ability. None of this is visible on my character sheet. At least not yet.’

At first, I wasn’t sure what we were looking at, but as the realisation slowly sunk in, I realised why it was Lilyth who detected this place and not Ren or Taros. You see, we were standing in front of the largest tree I have ever seen. Or at least that was what I assumed it to be. It was easily over two metres in diameter and seemed to tower over other trees in the area. I was surprised I never noticed it away, but Lilyth pointed out that we were several kilometres away from the village, and you likely needed a really good vantage point to see it from a distance.

The weirdest part of the tree, however, was the massive jagged hollow located a metre or so above us. It almost resembled a mouth filled with sharp teeth, and, to my horror, I noticed mangled bones wedged between them.

Lilyth crouched next to the tree and pointed at a small pile of yellowed bones that looked to be the upper part of a chest, the right arm and the skull. There were still remains of something that looked to be armour on it and a smooth and spindly-looking ornate carbine the colour of steel next to it. It seemed ancient and there was verdigris on some of the ornaments. Even to me, it was clear that it was a magitek weapon.

'Is it just me,‘ Lilyth began, ‘but did we just come across a skeleton of some poor SOB who was eaten by a fucking tree?’

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