A Devil In The Dungeon: An Eye For An Eye

[An Eye For An Eye]

“ARTUS!”

Licia's ragged scream pierced past the almost deafening thrum of Tanya's own heartbeat in her ears. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Artus fell into a steadily-growing pool of his own blood, clutching at a wound that simply wouldn't stop dumping more of it onto the cold hard stone. His eyes caught Tanya's briefly on the way down, pained and confused as he slumped over.

​Time resumed with a cacophonous bang. The man who had stabbed Artus fell away as a good chunk of his brain and skull was expelled from the side of his head alongside the bullet Tanya sought to embed in it. Everyone in the cavern flinched at the sound, including Azalea, who Tanya still had attached to the edge of her sword.

​Tanya swiveled, her blood singing as hotly as the casing her Luger expelled onto the floor. She pressed the barrel of her gun into the woman's head, finger already depressing the trigger, but Azalea jerked away at the last minute and the shot meant to end her life instead took her in the side of the jaw.

​Blood splattered across Tanya's face as Licia staggered away, clutching her own. Tanya could have finished her off then and there—should have, even—but her brain reminded her of the active threats still in the room and so she turned away instead.

​Her computation orb glowed hotly against her chest as she spooled up several formulas at once. The Analgesic Formula kept her a step ahead of her enemies and dulled the pain produced by her little spat with Azalea, while the Observation Formula sought out her targets for her, cherry-picking the threats out of the bunch and marking them for termination.

​Tanya's Luger barked twice in quick succession, the thunderous sound only pausing just long enough for the next bullet to find its way into the chamber. The bullets tore through the air as a screaming mass but did not stay that way, bursting apart into glowing shrapnel guided by her magic and a deep desire to put an end to this farce.

​The six men and women still standing were turned into Swiss cheese just as quickly as their friend was divested of his grey matter. Two of them managed to remain standing under the assault as their armor weathered the hail of bullet shrapnel, but that was fixed by a quick swipe of Tanya's sword and a line of green magic cutting its way across both of their throats.

​As they fell to the ground, Tanya turned to reengage Azalea, and just caught the tail end of the woman's cloak disappearing around the corner. Tanya's eyes hardened and she stepped after her, fully intending on following the trail of blood that the woman had left in her wake and finishing this. A wound like that would make her borderline delirious once the adrenaline wore off; Tanya figured she couldn't have gotten far.

​She set off after her, following the blood staining the stone. Licia called her name but she ignored the girl for the moment, determined not to let the nuisance get away this time.

​She didn't have to go far.

​The trail of blood was erratic, smeared against stone in wobbly lines where Azalea had stumbled and caught herself against the walls. It led through a narrow gap between two crags and into a small alcove off the main path where the cave came to a dead end.

​Azalea was slumped against the far wall, one hand pressed uselessly against the wound in her ribs while the other lay limp across her lap. Her breathing was ragged, each exhale accompanied by a faint bubbling. Blood dripped from her chin in a steady patter, pooling on the stone between her boots.

​She looked up as Tanya approached, angling what remained of her face toward the girl. It was a grotesque sight. The bullet had carved a path through her jaw and torn her cheek into shreds. White bone was visible through dripping blood, alongside a good chunk of the inside of her tongue. Her nose was intact, but barely. The bullet had carved a furrow through the skin just beneath her left eye on its exit, close enough that the socket itself had likely been fractured.

​Most importantly, her eyes, glazed brown interspersed by flecks of green, lacked any semblance of the divine power they once held.

​Tanya lowered her saber, though she didn't sheath it. “Your god has abandoned you.”

​Azalea stared at her for a long moment, blood bubbling between her lips. Then she laughed---a wet rasp that quickly devolved into a coughing fit that sprayed crimson across her own chest.

​“Looks like it,” she managed once the fit subsided. She spat a wad of blood and another tooth, baring what remained in a mockery of a grin. “I guess that makes two, huh? Soma threw me out, and my new dealer cut me off. Maybe I shoulda just been like you and told 'em all to go fuck themselves from the start.”

​Tanya's expression didn't change. She stepped closer, leveling the edge of her blade toward Azalea's throat. “Or perhaps you should learn to choose your patrons more wisely. Now before you go, why don't you do me the courtesy of telling me the name of the one who put you up to this.”

​“Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you a thing, Little Bitch,” Azalea spat, her grin widening even as blood poured from the wound in her face. “Gods are gods. They give, we take. I don't give a shit about who he was or what he wanted; I just wanted what he could give me.”

​Tanya scowled and Azalea let out a laugh that turned into a hacking cough. “If I'd had more... more power... I would've gutted you like a fish,” she said weakly. “Maybe next time, right?”

​“There won't be a next time.”

​Tanya stepped forward and drove her saber through Azalea's chest with one thrust. The woman's body went rigid, her remaining eye widening as the blade punched through leather and muscle, only stopping when it hit the stone behind her.

​She seemed fine for a moment, her mouth working soundlessly, before she shuddered and let out a raspy death rattle. She slumped, the last of whatever strength had been holding her up fading away.

​Tanya held the blade in place for a moment longer, watching as the light faded from her eyes. Once she was sure the woman was dead, she yanked the saber free with a wet sound and wiped the blade on Azalea's cloak.

​“Good riddance,” she muttered.

​She stood over the corpse, breathing slowly, letting the adrenaline leach out of her system.

​How many more, Being X? she wondered. How many more lives are going to be thrown away just to try and ruin mine?

​No answer came, of course, and Tanya clicked her tongue and turned and left the alcove and Azalea's corpse behind without a backward glance.

​Tanya returned to the original cavern only a minute or two after she left. She found Licia on her knees beside Artus, cradling the teen's head in her hands.

​“Artus!” Her voice was full of tears as she held him. Her eyes slid over the wound in his stomach, then to the blood that was pooling on the ground around him.

​The blade was around sixteen inches and slid to the hilt. Internal bleeding is a given but he's probably also ruptured quite a few organs. He won't live for more than a few minutes like that, Tanya thought cynically. The thought was accompanied by a small prickle of guilt in the back of her mind, and it was that that kept her rooted as Licia tried in vain to stabilize her friend.

​“He's losing too much blood,” Licia swallowed, then turned. “Rann, give me a potion.”

​Rann was already at her side, reaching into his pack to pull out a small glass bottle with shaky fingers. Licia uncorked it and poured it over the wound and Artus lurched upwards, gasping loudly.

​Licia pushed him back down with gentle but firm hands. “I know it hurts, but it'll make you better so please... Just bear with it.”

​“Lic...a,” Artus gasped, his face ghoulish and his lips a deep purple. Licia just hushed him, laying his head on her lap as the wound in his abdomen knitted itself closed.

​But even as the wound disappeared, it was clear that the damage hadn't been completely undone. Artus grimaced and tensed as a wave of pain passed through him, jerking away from Licia to clutch at his abdomen as his friends looked on with worried eyes.

​“What's wrong with him? Why didn't the potion work?” Rann demanded. Licia just looked lost, staring at her friend curled up in pain.

​“I-I don't...” She whispered, looking hopelessly lost. Tanya sighed and sheathed her saber with a sharp click.

​“The blade was poisoned.” Licia looked up with teary eyes as Tanya stepped closer and crouched down, examining Artus' complexion. His face was sallow, though that could just be attributed to the blood loss. The sweat steadily soaking his face and neck and the strange hue to his lips spoke of something deeper.

​Licia's face went pale. She licked her lips, glancing at Artus and saying softly, “We don't have any remedies.”

​“They wouldn't do you much good unless you knew what kind of poison it was anyway,” Tanya said, leaning down and placing three fingers on Artus' slick neck. His heartbeat was quick but irregular, clear signs of arrhythmia. His heartbeat also had no business beating as fast as it was with how much blood he had lost. His blood pressure should have been much lower than normal.

​Licia licked her lips, looking unsure and frankly, on the verge of a panic attack. “Tanya, what do we do?”

​Tanya sat back on her heels, glancing around before turning to the corpse of the man who had stabbed Artus in the first place. Anyone who commonly used poisons usually had the common sense to keep the antidote on their body as well.

​Unfortunately, it didn't seem like they had enough decency to label them, as Tanya quickly discovered as she came across a small pouch filled with a random assortment of vials and small bottles. Each of them were unlabeled and half of them looked completely identical to the others. They'd be just as liable to make Artus' condition worse if they fed him one of these.

​Even so, Tanya took the pouch and stowed it in her own. She turned, looking down at Artus who had settled onto his back, breathing shakily.

​“We need to get to Rivira. Hopefully someone there can determine what poison he's been afflicted with.” She glanced at Artus who was clearly not going anywhere anytime soon. “Licia, can you carry him?”

​Licia nodded and gathered the tall teenager in her arms. Artus groaned and she winced, trying to position him in such a way that he wouldn't fall out of her arms at the slightest flinch. Rann grabbed his fallen spear, strapping it to his back with a clenched jaw, before turning to Tanya and narrowing his eyes.

​“What are you doing?”

​Tanya looked up from where she was binding the arms of a silver-haired chienthrope. The woman was clearly alive, judging by her groans, and Tanya did not intend on letting such a resource go to waste. “What does it look like I'm doing?”

​“We're not dragging her with us.”

​“I beg to differ.” The chienthrope's eyes fluttered open as Tanya yanked the last knot tight around her wrists, and the first thing she saw was Tanya's face above her. She let out a squeak of alarm and thrashed against the bindings.

​“Be still,” Tanya ordered. The woman didn't listen, of course, so Tanya grabbed a fistful of silver hair and pressed the woman's head into the stone floor until she did. Wide golden eyes stared up at her, the ears on her head pressed flat in terror.

​“Leave her here to get eaten by monster.” Rann's eyes narrowed, his hand resting on his quiver. “Better yet, let me put an arrow through her skull.”

​“No,” Tanya said, releasing the woman's head and standing. “She's my only lead at the moment. She's going to tell me what I want to know.”

​Rann's expression darkened. “What the fuck was that, by the way? You mind telling me that?”

​“Rann, please,” Licia said, adjusting Artus in her arms. “Not now.”

​“The hell? Yes now,” Rann rounded on Licia, growing more agitated by the second. “That woman was waiting for us and you two clearly knew her! Did you know this was going to happen and just decided to leave us in the dark about it?”

​“No!” Licia insisted, aghast at the very insinuation. “I-We've met her before! She's the one who ambushed us when I was still in the Apollo Familia. She has some kind of grudge against Tanya or something.”

​“That doesn't explain anything,” Rann shot back, his voice bouncing off the cavern walls.

​Growing annoyed by his childish temper tantrum, Tanya rounded on the Pallum with hard eyes. “It's the best explanation you are going to get,” she said, her tone clipped. Rann opened his mouth to argue but Tanya cut him off. “No. Be quiet. I killed Azalea so she doesn't concern you at the moment. What does concern you is the fact that your friend is actively dying and you are trying to pick a fight. Shut your mouth and help us get him the help he needs, and then you’ll get your answers. Is that understood?”

​Rann's jaw worked, his eyes blazing as he stared Tanya down. He looked at Licia who couldn't meet his eyes, and then Artus. Slowly, he deflated.

​“Fine.” He shrugged his bow onto his shoulder in a rough movement and began walking deeper into the chamber. He didn't even stop to loot the corpses.

​Tanya grabbed the back of the Chienthrope's armor and lifted the woman to her feet with a rough jerk. The woman swayed, seeming like she was about to bolt, but Tanya pressed her Luger into the woman's back and said in a hard voice, “Start walking.”

​The chienthrope stumbled forward as Tanya shoved her ahead, her bound wrists forcing her into an awkward, hunched gait. After a few steps, the woman craned her head around, golden eyes wide and desperate.

​“Look, I don't… I didn't want to—”

​“Be quiet.” Tanya's voice cut through the stammer like a blade. She pressed the Luger a little harder into the woman's spine for emphasis. “You'll speak when I ask you to, but until then, keep your mouth shut and your feet moving.”

​The woman's ears flattened against her skull and a small noise of fear came from the back of her throat. She walked on, shoulders hunched, and didn't speak again.

​The party continued forward in silence that was only broken by Artus' labored breathing. They didn't encounter any more monsters on the relatively short walk through the cavern which was a small mercy. Licia hadn't been lying when she said the entrance to the Eighteenth Floor was just ahead, and soon enough, they came across it.

​A short trek later, the Under Resort opened above them. Tanya paused at the threshold, breathing in the surprisingly fresh air as she took in the sight before her.

​It felt as if they had stepped back onto the surface. A sky stretched overhead—not a true sky, but a convincing enough imitation that glistened in twilight hues. Grass and trees spread across the cavern in rolling stretches of vivid green that swayed peacefully in an unseen wind.

​A massive tree stood in the center of the sprawl, with branches reaching as high as any skyscraper and a thick trunk just as huge. Its leaves fluttered down from above, cascading over the whole floor like gentle rain.

​“Where is Rivira from here?” Tanya asked, her eyes still scanning the scenery. The sky above was made of glowing crystals the same as any other in the dungeon. It was just as she had read up on; this entire place seemed designed to mimic the world above and provide some sense of comfort. Though Tanya was anything but.

​Licia adjusted Artus in her arms, shifting his weight against her chest. The boy had gone quiet, which they all found more concerning than his groaning. “It should be just ahead. We follow the tree line and we'll hit it before long.”

​“Then let's not waste time standing around admiring the scenery.” Tanya nudged her hostage forward. The woman stumbled but walked on.

​They trekked across the impossible meadow, the grass whispering against their boots as they walked. With the twilight glow and the lack of insects, it would have been peaceful if not for the dying boy in Licia's arms.

​Tanya glanced behind her at the Pallum bringing up the rear. Rann hadn't spoken since the argument. Tanya caught him glaring holes into the back of her head more than once, alternating between her and their hostage.

​Tanya couldn't blame him for being angry, but she'd prefer if he controlled himself. Anger was all well and good when it was directed, but he'd do nothing but hinder them if he let it flow freely.

​They come upon the city half an hour later. Though, calling it a city was certainly generous.

​Tanya gazed with disappointment at the ramshackle town that had been set up in the shadow of the great tree. She had expected something substantial, but was instead met with a shantytown. Wooden walls, rough-hewn and uneven, encircled a collection of drab houses that looked like they barely kept the wind back. A few were painted in faded colors that might have been cheerful once but had since been reduced to grimy suggestions of their former hues.

​Tanya hoped that their resources weren't as dry as their taste and decor.

​They couldn't go in while actively holding a woman hostage so they took a quick detour before the gate, making their way a bit into the forest where there was a small clearing. There, Tanya tied the Chienthrope to a thick tree and stuffed a gag in her mouth.

​“Keep an eye on her,” she ordered Rann. “Do not kill her. She has information we need.”

​Rann's expression soured, but a weak groan from Artus drained the fight out of him.

​“Fine,” he said, settling himself against a nearby rock with his bow across his lap. “But you'd better make it quick.”

​Tanya nodded and turned toward the gate, Licia falling into step beside her, carrying her friend and the hope to save him.