The Chronicles of Dwynveia – A Slimeling LitRPG

Savri

Each step across the courtyard felt as if heavy lead weights were attached to my legs. It took all of my Willpower to not just fall down to my knees and weep.

Fucking… hell…

‘I think the plant underestimated us the last time and didn't apply as much power as it could have,’ Persephone winced.

‘You don't say…’ Lilyth spat back.

Neither of them seemed to be that affected. At least not to the extent most of us were, though I could see Rennie was mostly fine too.

I get her and the Furball, but why ‘Phone?

‘Should we re… retreat?’ Aki said through gritted teeth.

I considered our options.

‘Lilyth!’ I shouted. ‘C-can y… you d-do anything?’

‘Not from the outside,’ she said with a sour smile. ‘If I get inside? Assuming I can make it to the trunk, then yes.’

‘C-can you get inside?’

‘Maybe. Right now the pressure is manageable for me, but I imagine it will get worse the deeper we get.’

‘And wh-what if… if you g-go all out?’ Each word was beginning to hurt.

‘Undefined. I never had a chance to test that in field conditions, and I have no idea how either the [Storm Form] or my… Hellborn form will affect you. Or whether I can even fully control that.’

That pause. Is she hiding something?

Ultimately, she was right, however. Unleashing an untested superweapon was a very bad idea if other options could be possible.

‘We could try poisoning it,’ Phosi suggested.

We were huddled in an area we had chosen to set up camp at, way outside of the plant’s psychic range, and, boy, was it easier to think and strategise there.

‘Without access to it?’ I asked.

‘I imagine its roots reach far beyond the borders of the facility. It wouldn't be the most effective, but better than nothing. Might give us enough of an opening to get inside.’

As far as plans went, it was a decent one. Except…

‘Where will we get poison strong enough?’ I asked.

‘We do have a Rot mage with us.’

‘Rot magic was never my forte,’ Persephone shook her head. ‘It’s a mix of Plant magic and Death magic.’

Death magic…

I turned to Lilyth, but she shook her head.

‘Ere imbued me with Shadow. I suspect Rot isn't pure Death, but I am not risking another heart attack.’

Persephone simply nodded at that.

‘Rot does indeed require you to channel Death, especially while learning it. A godling or not, I imagine there is a decent chance for Lilyth to die during the process.’

That leaves one person. Well, two, but I don’t want to burden Caei with this. A follower of Akh’ret shouldn't learn something that is an antithesis to their patron.

‘You would be surprised, Savvie,’ Nyx said softly. ‘Akh’ret does not oppose Rot. In fact, in his own way, he embraces it. After all, death and decay are a natural part of life. It is their corruption that's the problem.’

Still… I will take that burden upon myself.

‘Teach me then,’ I said. ‘If we don't have a Death mage available, then a Life Mage will have to do.’

It was late at night by the time I felt comfortable casting [Rot Bloom], so we’ve decided to postpone the op until morning. It was extremely risky, but so was stumbling around in the dark. My friends managed to locate a decently sized root by looking around areas which looked to have been the most devastated when the “Sprouting” happened.

‘We’ve uncovered as much of it as possible,’ Phosi explained. ‘You can examine it tomorrow for the best spot.’

‘You are the botanist here, Phos,’ I replied. ‘You pick one.’

‘But I never was that much of a mage.’

‘It really is the blind leading the blind here, eh?’ Anika chuckled.

‘This actually is more planning than we’ve ever done,’ Aki said under her breath.

‘I am beginning to regret signing up for this trip.’

‘Just now?’ Lilyth laughed. ‘Sister, you really should have paid closer attention.’

‘Oh, I have been. It is just that… well… the fact this is likely a one-way trip is really starting to sink in.’

‘Life of an adventurer is no longer that appealing, eh?’ I said grimly.

‘Yes… Back then in Denyr, it felt like a normal day in the fourth. The tree though… the tree is too much. How can you guys take a tree god in such a stride?’

‘Been there, done that,’ Lilyth shrugged. ‘We are only here because we blew our first shot.’

With the corner of my eye, I saw Ren and Aki gesticulating at each other and whispering something.

‘I thought you were a soldier, Anika,’ Phosi mumbled. ‘I would assume risking your life was your bread and butter.’

‘There is a difference between risking your life and obvious suicide.’

‘Sister,’ there was an edge in Lilyth's voice. ‘I have been doing this for over a year. This “obvious suicide” is one of the very few quests where we could retreat to figure out a different approach. Twice even. In the Tower of Trials, Akh'ret’s Mercy or the Extrinsics Corridor, it was either go forward or die. So it was with our fights against Kojiro, my exile to Varlia, the battle for Ror-Bhyk and what happened in Denyr. At this point I will not let an opinionated weed stop me.’

Anika looked at Lilyth incredulously, causing the furball to shrug.

‘Don’t get me wrong. I am no adrenaline junkie. But… someone has to do it. Might as well be me. At least that way I know it is done right.’

I want to say that what Lilyth had just said raised all sorts of red flags, but at the time I assumed it was just her expressing the good old “if you want something done right” sentiment.

Anika was about to say something, but Aki walked up to her and shoved a coinpurse into her hands.

‘Pack your shit and go,’ she said. ‘We need everyone on their A-game. No room for doubts.’

Anika looked at me for support, but found none.

‘Sorry, Ani,’ I shook my head, ‘but Aki is right. If you are having any doubts about this, you will only get in the way.’

‘But…’

‘Things are unlikely to get any easier after this,’ Aki stressed. ‘No hard feelings and we don't blame you. We are in too deep to quit, but you still have an option. ‘

Anika looked very conflicted for a moment and then nodded.

‘Can you get me to the boat? I’ll guard it until you get back. Then I suppose I can be support personnel for you.’

‘You are a good shot,’ our blue-haired leader nodded. ‘We will always need a sniper.’

‘Yup. That would work for me. I will always be happy to help with tech shit too.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Aki smiled.

All credit to her, the decision didn't actually cause Aki to stress vomit this time around. At least not until Anika was gone.

Still, it is progress.

I was woken up in the middle of the night by the faint change in the air next to me. Alarmed, I opened my eyes and saw, judging by the silhouettes, Lilyth, Ren and Persephone, whom I began to think of as “the God Squad,” standing over me.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked, checking the hour on my interface.

It was three in the morning.

‘We did some scouting ahead,’ Ren said, cautiously

Ohhh… boy.

As it turned out, it wasn't as bad. Since it was just the three of them, Persephone and Lilyth could fully let loose, and the God Squad was able to waltz into the RMAI facility unbothered. Even Rennie hinted about being able to test some things, but she was mostly there as a minder.

‘What things?’ I asked automatically.

‘Sorry, Sav,’ Lilyth replied. ‘Us gods… We work in mysterious ways.’

I groaned at that and said:

‘God or not, I can still shove up a boot up your mysterious ways.’

‘Point taken,’ the bloody Furball chuckled.

My initial instinct was to ask them why they go off on their own without informing anyone, but then I realised that in their eyes this was likely one of those cases where it was better to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

This was the first time I had been on the receiving end of that, which made me really understand why the brass always fucking hated it.

‘So… how deep did you get?’ I changed the subject.

‘We managed to get close to the creepy-ass trunk two levels below the ground,’ Rennie explained. ‘Lilyth began zapping the living shit out of it, and Persephone joined her with fire, but then the tree cast some weird barrier spell - all silver stars and weird sigils.’

Oh… oh no.

‘And you can't pierce through it?’

‘We can,’ Lilyth shook her head. ‘But we don't know how much mana it will take. Which means someone will have to finish it off.’

That means me. And maybe Aki.

‘There is also another way,’ Persephone said. ‘We can try to find the source of the barrier and fr… destroy it.’

Fr… Free?

‘What are you not telling us?’ I tried to control my voice.

‘I think I recognise the type of the barrier. It is Light Arcana. Specifically, the type used by Angels.’

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