Chapter 20

Between a Rock and a Rock

The darkness made it difficult for Janus to tell when he slipped in and out of sleep. His dreams and nightmares melded with reality, subjecting him to a surreal collage of everything that had happened in the past few days.

It was thirst that finally brought him to full wakefulness. He had not managed to get a drink before he had fallen asleep. His mana sense extended outwards and immediately detected Lenny’s corpse. The sudden realization of what had happened hit Janus. His stomach churned, and he threw up what little food had yet to digest.

He pulled in his mana sense, restricting its range to hide the corpse from view. Standing, he slowly walked towards the ledge and the water below. He had been somewhat numbed to the sound, having spent so long near the stream. Finally, Janus cupped his hands and lowered them into the rushing water.

The cool liquid caused a euphoric sensation as it traveled down Janus’ throat. It may have been the longest Janus had ever gone without water. The understanding shined a light on how easy it had been to live in Crow Station. Having no supplies this far into the tunnels had been eye opening.

I should eat, too.

Janus didn’t feel very hungry, but it had been a while since he had eaten anything. He backed up from the ledge and shuffled around until his mana sense revealed his pack. It was propped up against Lenny’s own pack. The guilt returned as Janus reached into his own pack.

Everything within his pack had been jumbled around, and Janus spent nearly a minute scrounging to find a compressed bar of oats. Some of his earlier anger returned as he searched. It did not last long, though, when he remembered just what had happened to the man who stole from him.

Pragmatism demanded that Janus search Lenny’s pack, too. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He sat in the darkness and finished eating the oat bar. A decision had to be made.

It did not seem like a difficult decision to make, but at that moment, Janus agonized over each detail. Should he continue onward? Should he simply subject himself to the beasts back at the station? Was there any justice for what he had done?

Eventually, Janus settled on moving forward. If not for his own sake, then for his father’s. There might be people wondering if he had even made it out alive. He could at least bring them some kind of closure.

He filled every container with water and started pull himself up the ladder. It was a struggle with both his and Lenny’s pack. He would have searched the [Hermits] corpse, but Janus had nearly vomited once more at the idea. It did not matter how he tried to frame the fight. Even though Lenny had stolen from him and attacked him, surely the man hadn’t deserved to die?

Janus had time to wrestle with his morality in the darkness. He wanted to make distance between himself and the stream where he had left Lenny. After walking for about half an hour, he sat down again. He thoroughly examined his pack, noting that only a bit of food was missing.

Lenny’s own pack was a mess of fabric and poorly wrapped food. After a few minutes of searching, Janus’ hand closed around a small pouch. He took the pouch out and opened it. A bright light shone from the opening, revealing a few [Torchstones] within.

At least I can actually see what I’m looking at now.

It impressed Janus that the [Hermit] appeared to live on so little.

Lived. Janus corrected himself.

There may have been food to last only a week in Lenny’s pack. Perhaps his class or skills helped him with survival. Janus did recall the man claiming to have grown his own mushrooms. Although, in hindsight that may have just been to put Janus at ease with whatever Lenny had given him to eat.

It must have been that fungal mush that put Janus to sleep in the first place. He knew he hadn’t felt tired enough to simply fall asleep mid conversation. He stifled his anger once more, reminding himself that Lenny paid the ultimate price for what had happened. Whether or not the man had deserved it.

Janus cleared out Lenny’s pack. It was surprisingly clean and hardly worn out. Janus wondered if it had belonged to another unfortunate victim. The pack was larger than his own, so he moved his food and water over. He opted to keep a tightly wound blanket from Lenny’s pack, leaving most of the other knickknacks on the ground.

He checked his map, noting which direction to travel and what landmarks would help lead him. It felt like he had already been walking for an eternity, but so little progress had been made. He shifted the newly filled pack on his back and started on his way down the tunnel once more.

-

The days, or at least what Janus imagined must be days, slid by. So far, the map had been accurate. The appropriate landmarks would always appear, eventually. The variety of tunnels fascinated Janus. Some were braced and lit, some were simply smooth stone, some had rough, rocky walls, and others were steep, with stairs carved into the ground.

The variety helped break up what would otherwise be an incredibly monotonous journey. The soreness in Janus’ muscles faded to the background as a dull ache. The one thing he truly missed was a good shower and decided that would be the first thing he did when he finally reached Bear Station.

The worst parts of the trip were always caves and caverns. They lacked the smooth walkways of the tunnels and could take hours to crawl, climb, and otherwise maneuver through. He feared that one of these caverns was a newer addition and that he had been led astray by mistaking it for a cavern labeled on the map.

He couldn’t be certain, but everything he saw still seemed to line up. The only thing he could do was assume that he was on the right track. That was why it was surprising when a cavern appeared, but he had been expecting an intersection of tunnels.

The cavern didn’t necessarily mean he was off course, but the unexpected cavern would have no directions listed for it on his map. A lot of the time, that wasn’t an issue. The other side of the tunnel was often directly across. In many of those cases, Janus could even see the tunnel on the other side of the cavern.

This tunnel wasn’t lit, however, and his [Torchstone] only revealed an abyss below and nothing across. Climbing down would be dangerous. The stone was rough and Janus was sure he could find hand holds, but that still didn’t reassure him.

After a few moments of deliberation, Janus tightened the straps on his pack and lowered himself over the side.

[Your Bravery skill has gained 1 level]

Janus ignored the notification and prepared himself for the climb.

It wasn’t a sheer drop, but it was steep enough to cause worry. The climb down took over ten agonizing minutes. It was the longest Janus had to climb at any point in his journey thus far. As he neared the ground, a terrifying notification appeared in his mind.

[You have entered the Deepstone Ravine dungeon]

Janus immediately cupped his hand over his [Torchstone], hoping that he hadn’t been discovered yet. The ravine was eerily silent. He had gotten little time to examine his surroundings before covering his light. He scattered the nearby mana and his mana sense told him there was nothing within range. The ground was only about a meter further, and he lowered himself to it.

He wondered if he should simply climb back up the tunnel and was about to do so when he heard something shuffle to his left. Whatever it was, it still hadn’t come within range of Janus’ mana sense. He opened his hand, letting the [Torchstone] shine out. He would rather risk further discovery than fight a monster with only his mana sense.

The creature’s appearance nearly made Janus drop the [Torchstone] in shock. It was an enormous snake. Momentarily frozen, Janus could only think of the [Uktena] from the last dungeon he had visited. The snake suddenly lunged forward and latched onto Janus’ arm. He didn’t even have a chance to identify it before tripping backwards. He flailed his arm in an effort to detach the creature. But the snake still had a vice-like grip on his arm, and he could see the layered wool of his sleeve beginning to stain red.

The remainder of the snake’s body coiled around his torso as he struggled on the ground. Janus created bars of reinforced mana between his own body and the serpent and pushed them outward. They were not much of an obstruction, but gave him some time to breathe. Uncertain what to do, he tried to form another reinforced bar of mana between his arm and the snake’s mouth. The effort was taking longer than he thought it would and his earlier bars of mana were pressing against his torso as the snake constricted.

The reinforced bar of mana finally poked out between the snake’s mouth and Janus’ arm. He made it longer and used [Spell Weaving] to push down on the mana towards the end of the rod. The levering force bruised his arm, and he had to suppress a scream as a hot flash of pain surged from the bite. The gambit had forced the creature’s mouth open and freed his arm, though. With his newly freed arm, he grabbed at the base of the snake’s head, pushing it back as far as it would go.

The creature released much of its grip on Janus’ torso when he had dislodged its jaw from his arm. He rolled and pushed himself up with his undamaged arm. After getting on his knees, he grabbed at the snake’s tail, doing his best to unravel it from his body. It was still massive for a snake, but not nearly on the scale of the [Uktena]. Janus held the creature by its head at arms length. Its body undulated in an attempt to free itself.

Janus tried to catch his breath and identified his foe.

[Rock Constrictor - Level 20]

Not even higher level than me!

Janus tossed the creature away from him and onto the hard ground. He constructed multiple replica arrow point spells surrounding it. He was worried that the narrow body of the snake would avoid only a single array. After a few seconds, mana arrows had taken care of the enemy.

[You have defeated an enemy: Rock Constrictor]

He waved his light around, keeping on eye out for any other monsters. The name of the dungeon was accurate. Janus found himself at the bottom of a narrow ravine. Climbing out would be difficult with his wounded arm, but Janus was certain he could manage it.

The choice was whether he should continue up the other side of the ravine or simply return to the tunnel he had come from. If he was lucky, climbing the other side of the ravine would bring him to the other end of the tunnel. From there he could simply continue on his journey. If he was unlucky, it could just lead to other parts of the dungeon, or he could miss the tunnel exit completely.

Erring on the side of caution, Janus slowly began to climb back up the way he came. It became quickly apparent that his arm was not up for the job. Blood from the snake bite was making his hand holds slippery and each time he attempted to grip at a piece of stone, the pain made him clench his teeth.

Setting his light down, he pulled off his pack and grabbed his blanket. Using a small knife, he cut strips from the fabric. Rolling up his sleeve, he did his best to bandage the wounded arm.

Janus unclasped his quarterstaff and pulled his pack back on. He made certain the put the knife in one of his robe pockets instead of in the pack this time.

Don’t panic, Janus. Delvers aren’t supposed to panic.