Chapter 021 Tunnel Vision

"I don't like it! Not one bit! It makes us look like naive idiots! At least the show does. The book version almost makes us out to be naive, manipulative idiots! 

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'Protecthomemustprotecthomeourhome!'

'Blessedthreatshuntkillprotectkill!'

The stone walls of the tunnel bounced the sound around oddly, but there was no mistaking the approaching monster voices. They were still too far away to see. That wasn't saying much, as the twin Shine spells from Neron and Enzio were the only steady sources of illumination in the cramped tunnel. Both Luca and Belen wore small lanterns on their hips, but they did not give much in the way of visual aid with so many bodies packed so tightly together.

"Two more on their way!" Neron called out as he jabbed his staff from behind Luca, smacking the large mammal on the chest from under the Guardian's shield arm. Its grunt of surprise barely filtered into his ears.

There was still a distance from the other coati, so they needed to deal with this one while it was the only one visible.

"Fuck!" Belen cursed behind him. He could feel her hot breath on his back as she tried to get closer but all she did was get in the way of him trying to pull back and he almost smacked her with the butt of his weapon.

Her weapons were optimal for the cramped tunnels but she only had a semi-combat Nature and her skill wasn't much use at the moment, nor did she have armor or protection. She could deal damage but only when someone else was distracting the foe. It did not stop her from wanting to get in on a fight, even to her detriment.

"We need to back up!" Enzio called from the far rear. "At least to the room. Me and Bel are useless like this!"

If Neron was a touch more sarcastic, or not putting up the friendly facade, he might have made a biting comment to that obvious statement. 

"I can handle them. They can't come at me more than one at a time." Despite Luca's confidence, Neron was certain he was wrong. 

These creature had burrowed most of these tunnels to act as passageways to different parts of the forest for their entire group. They would not have made them so tight that if two of them ran into each other they couldn't cross.

"We need to think about their experience too," Neron cajoled without hurting the young man's pride. "Enzio, run back and set up. Belen follow him and I want you to grab Jorry and have him waiting. We will move in a fighting retreat."

The tunnels were tight, each wall brushing against Neron's arms at the slightest movement and his head touched the ceiling. The others, being significantly smaller than him, had more fighting room, but not by much.

"Will you be alright?" Belen asked as Enzio ran.

"We'll be-ugh- fine!" Luca said as the coati on the ledge in front of him leapt, its bulk slamming into his shield and it was only Neron placing his hand against the younger man's back that kept him upright.

"The sooner you go, the sooner we can too," Neron advised as Luca regained his balance. To incentivize her, he took a few steps backward, almost bumping into her again. It had the byproduct of giving their vanguard a bit more room. The coati had fallen to the floor of their tunnel and the man was juggling trying to keep it from ripping his legs to pieces or knock him down while keeping his shield ready for the monsters incoming from their original tunnel.

"Hurry it up then!" Belen called out as she swung around, her footsteps muffled in the dirt of the tunnel.

"When I say step, take two steps backward," Neron told the younger man. The voices were getting closer. "My staff will be to your right."

"Got it!"

"Step." Luca swept his shield down and the coati backed up to avoid it, giving him the time to take a few shuffling steps back.

"Step." The same actions repeated.

"Step." The coati, instead of getting closer remained a slight distance away this time.

"Step." As Luca backed up, the monster lunged, its bulky mass lumbering forward to smash into Luca's legs. Neron jabbed his staff down over the Guardian's shoulder, hitting the creature in its face.

"Step. Step. Step." Neron hadn't had the leverage to be able to do serious damage with his blow but it had dazed it enough to get them some more distance.

"Step." Neron banged the back of his head on a root hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't hard, he hadn't been going fast, but it was unexpected and he stumbled. Then stumbled again as Luca backed into him. Both of their limbs reached out for the wall, searching to steady themselves, and neither were guarding their front.

The coati, having regained its focus, swiped a claw low, cutting through the thick hide of Luca's boots and scoring a few red lines against his shin bones. It wasn't terribly damaging thanks to the boots being armored, and the young man only let out a hiss of surprise, but it was something that shouldn't have happened and would impact their fighting ability.

Neron separated himself from Luca by a few extra steps and crouched low, his staff pushing forward. He didn't hit the creature, but the threat did its job and it backed up, letting Luca set his feet in place once more.

Rising to his feet, Neron just noticed two more forms fall out of the chest high tunnel before his spell went out, leaving the pair in the faint, flickering light of Luca's lamp.

"Step." Neron ordered urgently. "They are here. Step."

"How far-" "Step." "-Are we?"

"Step. Close. Step. We need to speed up. Step. No more attacks. Step."

Luca didn't answer. The other two coati's had arrived and, to prove his earlier point, two of them could stand side by side if they didn't mind squishing together. They clearly didn't. One lunged at Luca and he placed his shield in the way, only for it to retreat and another to push past it toward the side the Guardian had left open. Neron's staff was there, pushing it away.

"Step. Step. Step." 

Neron continued to chant out the word in a steady rhythm, making sure he was covering the right side while Luca's shield hovered over his left. They were in a spot, barely able to see, outnumbered and being pushed back. Yet the cadence of the retreat, the push and pull with regularity, settled them into a slight fugue where there was no thought, only movement and reaction.

Neron very aware how useful drums must have been in histories past. The power of music, of a communal beat, to join together humanity in coordination not possible without it. Rowers on ships. Soldiers on the field. Farmers tilling the land. It was a way to synchronize with almost complete strangers.

He'd been aware of it. Now he respected it.

Not that he planned to keep this up for long.

"That's it... come closer... you are being led into the dragon's maw and you do not know it... shishishishishi."

It was a good thing Neron was the only Player who could understand Jorry. The malicious glee the snake got at finally being able to kill things was palpable, even from this distance. His voice echoing through the tunnel as Neron and Luca continued their retreat.

"Step. Step. Ste- Watch out!" The third coati took a chance, stepping on and over the one on their right as it retreated to attack at the same time as the one on their left. The disruption of the rhythm surprised Luca and he couldn't put his shield in the way in time and the creature got under his guard. Even as Neron batted back the one on the right, it stood on its hind legs, putting it eye level with the earthling and racked its claws across his torso with a hiss.

They were lucky. Its claws skittered harmlessly across the metal bands sown into the leather across the front half of his torso, dislodging one but causing no actual damage.

It startled Luca something fierce, however, and the young man let out a shout as he scrambled backward, sword swinging upwards and cutting slightly into the monster's arm as it fell back onto all fours with a growl. 

'Painhurtkilldangerousbodytough.' It was barely a scratch, but it did cause the creature to back away in wariness, 'communicating' its discovery to its fellows.

"Almost there," Neron encouraged, noticing the faint light of Enzio's spell coming from behind him.

"We're ready," Belen called down the tunnel, having heard them. "Just lead 'em in."

"Partner!" Jorry called out loudly. "Our minions are on both sides of the door. The male has a spell and a spear on the left and the female is ready to deliver me to battle!"

"We should create a kill box," Neron told Luca, thankful for the additional information the snake provided. Their pattern of retreat was disrupted and now they were just backing up quickly. "Once you get to the entrance, you need to stop about two meters from it and keep them in place so they can't spread out. Let the rest of us actually kill them."

"Got, urgh, got it!" As Luca swung his sword down in an arc to intercept a lunge, scoring a cut across the extended muzzle of the coati, he nodded. "I'll be able to use my skill once I have more room."

Neron wished to ask what that skill was, as despite having the common Guardian Nature skills could vary heavily, but there was no time as he finally backed out of the cramped tunnel and into the room they'd finished carving out this morning. 

The extra light from Enzio's Shine spell highlighted a four by four by three meter wide space, the ground covered in loose dirt that they hadn't completely shoveled out yet, and with compacted walls. Logs stood vertically at all four corners to help support the ceiling but it was still a tight fit for all of them at once. On both sides of the passage Neron had backed out of, Enzio and Belen stood in place. The former grasped his spear in both hands, an intense look of focus on his face, while the latter held Jorry like a rope, her dagger and cleaver on her belt.

No sooner did Neron cross the threshold did he throw himself at an angle to the back right, freeing up Luca to rapidly backtrack into the room.

The coati, like most animals, took quick retreat as a sign of weakness and lunged. Two compact bodies crashed forward, their cries for violence and death going unheard by everyone but Neron as they pushed into the room.

Luca, for all his struggles in the tight confines of the tunnel, showed the advantage of a combat Nature then.

"Defend!" He cried and thrust his shield forward. It began to expand, the metal widening and growing in each direction until the plate rested on the floor and almost touched the ceiling, blocking off half the small room by a metal wall. The coati, in their charge, smashed into the shield wall, their claws struggling for purchase and weakness yet finding none. 

In that gap of time, Enzio and Belen acted.

The mage thrust his spear forward, its tip digging into the dark fur of the creature right below its armpit and sending stumbling sideways in a cry of pain and surprise, yet the Player wasn't done. His spear holding the creature fast, the spell he'd been readying sparked to life in front of his eyes. A ball of fire, sparkling orange and the size of Neron's fist, formed right beyond the bridge of Enzio's nose and shot down the length of his spear to impact the side of the monster. There was no concussive force, the spell being a barely modified Spark, and instead it landed on dark fur and remained. 

The intense heat, enough to combust the air even if in a small area, set the fur alight. Flames spread across the coati's side and back. The creature screamed in pain and in fright, recoiling back from the flames and the spear holding it in place. Unfortunately for it, it could not move far, trapped as it was with a shield in front and its compatriots blocking the other avenues. The small room filled with the scent of burnt hair and sizzling flesh.

The coati to its left was not doing any better.

As Enzio had first lunged, Jorry flew through the air with a cackling laugh, landing on the back of one of the monster with an Oof and hurrying to wrap his coils around the creature's lower back. Despite being faster and stronger than a regular member of his species, this position did leave him vulnerable in those few moments before he could bind his prey's limbs. The coati, unable to get through the shield and with its back legs stumbling to the ground, sat down, its upper claws slicing downward toward the snake. 

Neron was there, staff jabbing forward to interpose itself below the arms of the mammal. He didn't hit it, instead locking his staff in its place and trying to force the creature's arms upward so it could not gain the angle to swipe at the snake that even now was beginning to tighten itself around the monster's midsection, squeezing its organs in place. The creature let a gurgling noise of pain, trying to force its arms down and Neron grit his teeth to keep the reinforced staff steady. Despite being taller, the coati probably wasn't too dissimilar in mass to him and leverage was not on his side. The point of application was simply closer to the coati than Neron and it was only the fact it was the joint the Player had targeted that let them remain in balance.

A balance that would not remain if the third coati had anything to say about it.

From the tunnel, half blocked by the bodies of its fellows, it scrambled between the wall and the monster Enzio was trying to burn to death. With a bit of wiggling, it squeezed its torso by and then its hind quarters and lunged at the young man.

"Enzio!" Belen yelled, trying to throw her dagger over the melee at the charging monster.

To her credit, she actually hit the third coati. Unfortunately, it was with the flat of the weapon, and it bounced harmlessly from its back. 

Enzio tried to back away, his spell fizzling as he scrambled back, yet his spear was still trapped in the flesh of his prey and he stumbled, tripping over the burnt coati's long tail as it continued to thrash from the still burning fur.

With helpless prey in front of it, the monster went in for the kill.

To Enzio's credit, he managed to get his spear shaft across his body and between himself and the coati's neck, preventing it from biting his face off and saving his life. He exerted all his effort, pushing the creature away as saliva dripped onto his face and jaws snapped furiously only a decimeter from his nose, and screaming for help. Unlike in vids, however, just because a monster was pinning you and trying to bite you, it did not mean its other limbs wouldn't take the opportunity to do their own damage.

Claws carved through Enzio's sides, the positioning and bulky upper arms preventing it from tearing at his center mass yet still carving long furrows of flesh from his ribs to his hips. Even with the almost complete pain mitigation Players had, a cry of pain still tore from Enzio's throat as he was savaged. The noise, as well as the lack of pressure on the shield, caused Luca to cry out a command and send his shield shrinking back down to its usual size in order to help.

It was in this state, with Neron holding a coati still as Jorry squeezed it, another burned and hurt but free, and the final on the brink of killing Enzio, that Belen decided to do something monumentally stupid to save her friend.

With a shout of exertion, her cleaver raised in her left hand, the young woman threw herself in a diagonal leap across the pile of bodies and crashed horizontally over Jorry, Enzio, and every coati. Even Neron lost his staff as the creature he'd been vying with fell from the unexpected weight. Yet her cleaver found its target, slicing deep into the back of coati on top of Enzio. With a screech of pain, it fell forward as its spinal cord was severed, the blade lodging fast and remaining stuck.

The move wasn't without consequences, however, and the two coati still able to move thrashed harder at the body laying across their backs. Belen went rolling backward, unable to pull her weapon from its gruesome sheath as her head and legs crashed into the wall behind the creatures. She let out a startled noise from the release of air and lay there for a moment, getting her breath back before curling up and scrambling backwards into the tunnel to try to get some distance between her and the monsters. The burned creature turned to face her, yet it was impeded enough by its injuries and fellows' bulk to give her enough time to grab her fallen dagger and get to her knees.

"Neron!" Jorry called from under the monster, his voice strained with effort as he continued to constrict. Neron, having lost his weapon when the creature fell, dove on top of it.

A black rat snake, even one on the larger size like Jorry, was not a massive creature. It could exert tremendous force for its size, to the degree a fox like Cuholy would even die if he managed to wrap her up, but he was still a 'small' snake in the grand scheme of things. Without venom, unless he managed to get perfectly lucky with an ambush to tie up limbs then he was more likely to die than not when facing a creature of her size, let alone one as bulky as these evolved coati.

If he was alone that is.

Knowing what the snake wished, Neron grabbed the snake's tail from where it dangled, threading it up and around the arms of the monster as it rose to all fours. It did not let him do so for free, snapping at him with jagged teeth and he was forced to knock away its mouth with his elbow as he threaded Jorry around the creature's last limb.

"Done," Neron called out, stepping away to pick up his weapon.

"DIE!" Jorry cried in joy as his coils tightened around not only the creatures mid section but also its arms. 

Organs were crushed, being pushed upward into the rib cage, and the coati screeched out another cry of pain . It tried to scratch with its hind legs yet they were to stout and could not reach. A disadvantage that had come with its bulky evolution. It curled itself into a ball, trying to bite at the snake but Neron forced his staff into its mouth, using it as a bridle to pull its head back.

It struggled. It thrashed. It tried to roll again, both to the sides and backwards, but with Neron locking it in place it could achieve nothing. Helpless the creature had no choice but to do as Jorry had told, slowly being crushed while Neron held it in place, staff locking its mouth open.

Breathing hard, Neron held Jorry's prey down and surveyed the rest of the room as it was crushed to death, its voice clamoring for aid from its fellows.

Enzio remained laying on his back, sides bleeding, yet the coati that had been pressing him down had been rolled off of him, half its face a mess of blood. Luca, probably the one who'd dealt the final blow to it, had moved on to helping Belen and trapping the final creature between them. Already injured and in pain, it could do nothing but swipe at Belen as she pretended to lunge with her dagger, leaving itself open to Luca running his short sword through its back. A few more cuts from the pair finished it off.

By this point, the coati Neron was holding down was frantic, its movements becoming more frenzied yet weaker with every passing second as less and less blood flowed through its body due to the pressure Jorry exerted. Then it went limp in his arms.

"Need a hand?" Luca panted as he limped toward Neron.

"Let me check," Neron said, raising a hand and giving a harsh tug to the creature's ear. The flesh tore, yet it remained unresponsive. "We are good."

Neron let go of the creature and it fell to the side limply. It was still alive, just unconscious, but as Jorry continued to squeeze, he'd eventually burst enough blood vessels to kill it by cardiac arrest. Unless it was a creature with fragile bones like the hawk, most of Jorry's kills followed a similar pattern. He, like most snakes, could feel when his prey's heart actually stopped through his sensitive belly scales and jaw bones. Incredibly useful since God's Nature did not provide a convenient kill notification.

Neron rose to his feet, still breathing hard and with adrenaline flowing through his veins. Combat was perhaps one of the most exhausting activities on a minute by minute bases. It had a way of tiring one out even if they were in great shape. Neron hadn't done too much that fight, but even he was feeling it.

Not enough for him not begin to make his way toward where Enzio lay prone though.

"Give me a minute and a I can start on your right side," Neron told the fallen man. "Can you do your left?"

"I can," the man nodded, brows furrowing in concentration. Despite being injured, it only took ten seconds for his left hand to take on the familiar pale glow of Scab. It took Neron closer to half a minute. "Shouldn't we disinfect it first?"

"Just a second," Neron paused, having a thought. "Cuholy!" He called out, his voice echoing in the small room.

It took five seconds for the fox to poke her head around the corner of the entrance passage. She kept half her body covered as she surveyed the room warily.

"Yes?"

"Keep an ear out for new arrivals," Neron nodded toward the tunnel leading deeper into the dungeon. The fox, realizing it was nothing dangerous, agreed and scampered over the corpses to position herself to hear anything approaching. Neron turned back to Enzio and asked him a question. "You put points in Body right?"

"No," Enzio denied as he slowly passed his hand over his bleeding side. The wound's weren't deep, the rib cage having done its job as a shield, but they were jagged and long. "Since I'm going to be a mage I put all my points in Spirit or Control."

It was only the fact that Neron was portraying himself as helpful, guileless newbie that he stopped himself from saying something sarcastic. Instead he switched tactics to what Clarence had called 'child healing.' 

Furu had called it 'moron preservation.'

"At low levels putting at least a third of your points in Body is for the best, until it is at least thirty. This keeps you from being victim to infection, some food maladies, and other common issues we need to deal with outside of the game," Neron advised kindly, using his non glowing hand to unfasten a water skein from his belt. He poured it over his side clearing blood and dirt. "Fifty is better once you get to the hundreds. You are on your second Step, so you should be fine so long as you put in your next fifteen points in it."

"How do you know that?" Belen asked, crouching on Enzio's other side and using her own water to tend to that side. Her voice wasn't accusatory or suspicious, just curious. Helping get a few kills here and there might have softened the trio to his presence but it seemed a struggle to death had done a lot more.

"Almost all Natives put their first twenty levels in Body," Neron explained, though he kept it vague. "I heard if from them while I learned some other stuff on how to survive in the wild."

"But, we're Players. We don't work like NPCs," Luca pointed out as he sat down, looking over his own injured leg. It was in a much better condition than Enzio's wounds, even if it still bled. Threads of torn cloth stuck to it here and there but it was also cleaner.

"Our Nature system is different from their Jobs," Neron nodded. Then shook his head. He also focused to recast the spell. "But fundamentally, our bodies are no different than those of other humans and operate by the same rules."

"Or Orcs, in your case," Luca said it with a smile, clearly intending it as a joke to clear the tension. 

Neron gave a light chuckle in response along with the other two, deciding against warning them just how deadly Orcs could be. Martians were large humans. Treating Orcs the same as a Martian was a great way to die when you tried to decapitate it and realized it had no neck and its shoulder blades could stop most weapons.

"We need to change our formation," he said instead, even as they continued to heal up. "I can not deal as much damage as Enzio with his spear."

Neron had chosen a staff as his weapon of choice because it gave him reach, with his size and its mass it could be used as a club, it didn't have any parts he needed to fear cutting himself on due to his unfamiliarity with a weapon, wasn't intimidating as far as weapons went, and could function as a decent walking stick. All good points but it lacked a certain degree of killing power. That was a detriment in that, unless he could get a good hit on a vulnerable part, it took a lot more effort to actually kill something than if he had a bladed weapon but it also contributed to the reason people were more open with him. He wasn't 'armed.'

"The ambush in the room worked though," Luca argued. "We can do it again."

"It is not a bad tactic," Neron allowed. "And we should consider turning this room into a forward base. But it would be better if we did not need to rely on it for every fight. If you two can kill an individual quickly, we do not need to drag them backwards and worry about reinforcements."

"Yes. Yesssss. Not even a creatures with as large as this can withstand a dragon's fury," Jorry cackled out a laugh as his prey finally died but Neron did not react.

"What if you use his spear," Belen suggested. Neron saw the flash of pain that crossed the injured mage's face that had nothing to do with his wounds. He tried to hide it by gritting his teeth and focusing on his spell.

"It would not work. A spear and staff might be similar, and if it were simply stabbing forward I might be able to do so, but it is more than that. I do not have the skill and expertise with it that he does." A subtle mollification at Enzio's pride, getting a faint smile from the man, and then Neron pointed out another issue. "Besides, even if I can use his weapon, none of you can use mine properly."

There was no argument there. They were all on their second Step and stronger than Neron in pure strength, even Enzio who hadn't put a single point into body, due to Neron spreading his points out evenly. But it was not the weight itself that was the problem. It was the length. They could wield it, but it would get in the way more often than not.

"But we need you to be our scout in case anything gets nearer," Luca argued.

"We have Cuholy," Neron pointed toward the fox and she, who'd been sneaking bites on one of the coati's legs, looked up.

"EH! Me!?" There was blood dripping from her fur but the wide, innocent and fearful eyes made it look cute rather than intimidating.

"How do you figure?"

"Instead of having her guard the entrance to warn us if someone is approaching, Belen can have her ride on her shoulders. She had much better hearing than me." The young woman made to speak but Neron foresaw her argument. "I would do it myself but," Neron gestured to the ceiling that he brushed with his hair. "Unless we want to spend even more time Sculpting it out of the way, it is better for you to carry her. She is not heavy and she will jump down when it is time for a fight."

"We shouldn't leave our camp unguarded," Luca argued.

"We will move it inside," Neron shrugged, as if it was obvious. "We can Sculpt a larger room here, with a vent for a fire, and hide the entrance. That way people are less likely to find it and, if one of the coati come in I will be able to tell." To demonstrate, Neron wiggled his serpentine tongue. Belen grimaced in disgust but didn't comment. It was far from the worst 'side effect' of a Nature's skills.

There was a beat of silence as the party tried to come up with other arguments and Neron let it stretch for a moment before tilting his head in innocent curiosity.

"Unless there is a reason I should be near the front, I think this is the best way to continue. But if you do not like it we do not have to. This is your dungeon after all." 

The truth was there was a very good reason they had set up their formation like this. 

They didn't trust Neron.

They weren't saying it, even leaving Luca's back to him, but there was no denying that at any point both Belen and Luca were able to kill him from behind if he tried to betray them. He also couldn't flee with them blocking the way. If he called other Players, or tried to sabotage them in some way, they'd see and be able to kill him.

Neron pretended not to notice their suspicion for the simple reason that knowing wouldn't fit the narrative he was creating about himself. They'd only been working together for a few days and he expected to be here for at least a few weeks.

Besides, it wasn't as if they did not have good reason to be suspicious. Neron had no plan on killing them or selling them out, but nor did he exactly have their best interest in mind. He did not particularly care about 'grinding' this dungeon and was simply setting things up to help fix Cuholy's issue. Her cooperation in the long run would help a lot more than a few levels or money from revealing the dungeon. For that to happen he needed the party to work with him and to do that the next step was proving that they could trust him with their backs.

"He's right," Enzio said, sitting up with grimace. His cuts had scabbed over, no longer bleeding, but it would take a lot longer to fully heal them with only the basic spell. At least he wasn't at risk of dying anymore. "It will only be for combat, me and him will still be the ones carving the tunnel while you two get rid of the dirt, but if we want to do this quickly enough to not get swarmed we need to pick up the pace."

Neron wordlessly got up and moved to Luca's side to begin casting his spell on the leg, studiously keeping his head down to give all three of them the chance to 'secretly' open their menus and pass chats between each other silently.

"Then let's go with that," Belen agreed and Luca gave a nod and a smile that concealed his unease poorly.

As for the other members of the party?

"We're staying underground all the time now?" Jorry asked as he wiggled over. He sounding inordinately pleased at the idea. Then, as if it wasn't because he wanted to stay out of the cold, he rose on his coil and spoke proudly. "As befitting of a dragon's lair, the underground is naturally superior to all other domains."

And Cuholy?

"I don't want to get close to a fight~." She was burying her head in her paws, pretending as if she couldn't see the world it wouldn't see her.

She still sneaked a few more bites on the corpses when she thought Neron wasn't looking.

******

"What are you planning," Jorry asked Neron as his hand slowly passed through the dirt and stone.

It was just the two of them at the moment with the younger party members being logged out. They weren't on retirement cycles, and thus had out-of-game responsibilities. In fact, Neron was almost certain they were still students of one form or another. Neron took these opportunities to either read, talk to his beasts, or, as he was doing now, continue to expand the dungeon's passages.

"Guess," Neron challenged as he continued his work.

The Sculpt spell, like all of the basic spells, was focused in the hand by default. Unlike the others, it had a dual effect. It caused a spiritual vibration on the fingertips and one side of the hand, while the other side 'reinforced' a material by seeping the spirit into it. Which side was which could change based on which side of the hand the spell was cast, but the basic use was for one to pierce a material with the fingertip and scoop it out with the vibrating side. The reinforced side would keep the material you were 'Sculpting' from collapsing.

It was the spell for dungeon clearing, more than even Shine or Scab. After all, monsters were not kind enough to set up their lairs in locations with wide, open tunnels easy to fight through. Those types of 'dungeons' existed, but only in ruins of Blessed construction or in homes of creatures larger than the average Blessed.

Right now, Neron was clearing a side passage of the dungeon, one they'd found that did not lead deeper but rather to another entrance. It seemed to be rarely used and, judging by the taste of river water in the air, Neron could guess why. It was still good practice though.

"It's the fox, right?" Jorry said. "You're setting up something to make sure she isn't so useless."

"Keep it down," Neron advised gently. Just because Cuholy had remained at the camp room to sleep didn't mean she couldn't hear them if she came deeper into the dungeon.

"That coward won't come this deep without someone there to protect her," Jorry said derisively.

"But sound echoes in these tunnels and she has good ears."

"You should have taken those ears already."

"Trying to re-calibrate two senses at once would be foolish. And hearing is tied to a number of other factors, such as balance. I will need to be in a safer environment for long enough to even begin to try."

"Still, we don't need her. She'll drag us down."

"I am working under the theory that she will not. It is up to her to prove me right or wrong."

"So you do have a plan!"

Neron gave the snake a proud smile. It was fairly amateurish as far a verbal manipulations went, but it showed that the little snake was trying to learn.

"I do," Neron admitted. "Though calling it a plan is too grandiose."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think of this little group?" Neron digressed and Jorry gave him a suspicious look, noticing it but choosing to go along with it.

"They're stronger than you but... they're... I don't know. Something about them just feels... weak? Or not there?"

"They are going to die," Neron said bluntly. "They can not handle this dungeon. Not alone and not with us."

"We can," Jorry argued but it was an empty bluster and they both knew it.

"We can handle the monsters," Neron corrected, passing another handful of dirt onto the pile he was building behind him. "In fact, if we wished, we could use this as a very profitable 'hunting' ground. They could too. But that is not what they want."

"They're not fighting like the weak!" Jorry exclaimed, smacking his tail on Neron's skin in realization. "That's what was bugging me."

"That is a good way to put it," Neron agreed. "But it would be more accurate to say they are approaching this as 'Players' rather than 'adventurers.'"

"They're trying to swallow prey that is too large," Jorry continued. "They haven't realized it even though it's half way in their mouth."

"And they might not even realize that truth even if they die. And they will die."

"But we wont!" Jorry proclaimed.

"...Maybe."

"Partner?"

"Depends how it happens," Neron said simply. "And it might not be the worst thing if we do."

"Of course it will be," Jorry denied. "A dragon cannot allow itself to die easily. And it would send us back!"

"Only a few days." Neron shook his head. "The greatest loss would be the risk of loosing my stuff." Specifically his cloak, his jacket and the Lees Lens his sister made. Just because he hadn't used the latter didn't mean he had forgotten their warnings about how valuable it was.

"And how does this help us with the fox?" Jorry deflected, unhappy at the prospect.

"I do not believe she believes me about coming back from the dead. Or if she does, she only knows it mentally, not emotionally. And beyond that, we need to give her a reason to fight."

"There is a reason. If she gets strong enough she doesn't need to worry about dying."

"But she needs to risk death to get stronger," Neron pointed out the catch twenty two and the snake looked at him blankly, as if unable to understand any other possibility. Neron did not let out the sigh he felt. "The point is, her goal is to 'live' not 'grow.' It is not wrong but it is short sighted in this world in a way that it is not in one like mine."

"What do you mean?"

"What if I told you that in my world, reproductive rates were at least triple what they were here?" Neron asked.

"Huh?"

"It is a long and complicated topic that we do not need to get into now but the by and large is that, due to the nature of how few creatures there are comparatively and how few of them develop Selves, makes you and her incredibly valuable."

"I know that," Jorry interjected, and he could tell the snake was annoyed that it seemed like he wasn't getting to the point. "That's why you gotta pretend not to hear us."

"You know that," Neron nodded. "Cuholy knows that. So does every Blessed. And every Player. And every monster or beast. They all know that killing you is worth way more than killing anything else of a similar level. So long as they are even slightly commiserate in strength to you, it is a practically guaranteed level." Jorry was silent and Neron pretended not to know he was thinking about. "So, what will happen when I 'accidentally' reveal she has a Self?"

"...You're going to let the other Players kill her," Jorry said slowly.

"Possibly," Neron shrugged. "It could be they do not see the value themselves, though I doubt it. Every Player longs to kill 'bosses' and 'elites.' No, the only reason they would not kill her is because it might alienate me. A cultural faux pas in games, as I understand it, is to avoid killing other Players' 'summons.'"

"But they still might," Jorry guessed.

"They might," Neron smiled down, grabbing the shovel he'd left leaning against the wall and using to push the dirt onto his newest pile. He was focusing more on making progress than clearing it so there were regular piles he'd left behind him that they could all clear together. "Just because it is stigmatized does not mean it does not happen. Or they might try and make it look like an accident. But, even if they do not, let me ask you this: Who says it is only them I will reveal it to?"

"Hmm," Jorry gave the idea some thought and it only took him a moment before he brightened. "OH! The monsters!"

"The monsters. There is at least one somewhere in these tunnels with a Self of their own, probably more. And, once we run into them, they will communicate with the rest of the dungeon through its Spirit. If they kill us, it will happen right away. If we kill them, it will happen later, but no matter what, eventually everything in these tunnels will know that there is a fox nearby, one that is weak, with a Self."

"...They'll hunt her," Jorry said lowly. "Even after killing her once, they'll keep looking for her."

"Exactly. And even when she resurrects with me, she will know it. She will be left with the choice of either getting stronger to keep them off of her while I am gone, or running away entirely. I do not think the latter is impossible, but I find it unlikely."

"...And if it doesn't work?"

"I am going to give her three deaths. I can find plenty of excuses to leave her alone for a bit and, if after three deaths she does not demonstrate the willingness to fight back then I will know she is useless in the long term. We will keep her around until I get the traits I want then drop her off with someone. Maybe my sisters, like you mentioned."

"...I... This is... That is to say..."

Neron paused his shoveling to stand up straight and look down at the snake whose head was poking out of his collar. It was unlike Jorry to stutter over his words. He was looking away, deeper into the tunnel.

"Do we... have to do it this way?" Jorry finally asked. "Isn't there another method to get her to fight back?"

Neron gave it the idea some thought, before realizing what was going on.

This probably hit a little to close to home for the snake. Even if he held the fox in contempt, he balked at the idea of inflicting what he went through on her.

"We do not have to," Neron admitted. "It is just the idea I had with the opportunity on hand. In my ideal world, I will let her foster her relationship with the other Players. She lets them pet her. Feed her. They grow close. Then, once I let it slip, they try and kill her. The feeling of insecurity that comes with that betrayal, even if they are not the greatest of friends, might be enough for our goals. If that happens, and she fights back even just a little, we can build on that. From there, we can kill them in their sleep, get some levels out of it, and make contact with the leaders of this dungeon with my skill. From there, I could gain another beast to get traits from and we can ambush the Players when they return with help. It will only work once before those three sell the location to a guild, but it will get us started."

"I like that plan," Jorry perked up. "Let's do that plan."

Neron shook his head and returned to shoveling.

"That is the best case scenario. We get more by working with the party right now than betraying them and the reputation that comes with it. If they turn on us first then I have my own justification in the court of public appeal. Neither of us can use the law out here in the wild, but it will prevent us from worrying about them gathering a party to hunt us down. Remember, we do not want to alienate society if we can help it. The only exception is if they can help push Cuholy along."

"I guess," Jorry pouted and began to pull back into Neron's shirt before stopping. "Hey?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you going this far for her anyway?"

"What do you mean? You are the one who said she would be useless if she refused to fight?"

"That's true, but I mean why not just toss her after you get her traits? Why the whole set up and all this effort? You just said she's worth alienating other Players." Jorry's tongue flickered in and out as he built up more steam. "And don't say its because you don't have other choices! There are other beasts with Selves in this dungeon if you wanted."

"I do not believe the leader of a dungeon would be interested in following me like she is," Neron pointed out and, when Jorry looked like he was going to argue, he continued. "I am still interested in getting a few of their traits. Their tails, snouts, and claws offer a different advantage than those of a fox, but not by much. I am actually more interested in asking them questions. Why they set up a dungeon here instead of in trees like I would expect coati to? Or what was here before that drew them in? They are not burrowers, and these tunnels are too long for the few we have seen so they likely were here before and I am curious about what was here before they found it."

"You are deflecting."

"Not deflecting," Neron shook his head with a smile as his spell coated his hand. "Tangenting. Brains do not work in straight lines. But to answer your question on why I am putting so much effort into our cowardly fox?" A hand scooped away rocks, clay, dirt, and sand. Then another and another as Neron widened the tunnel. "It is because I see a lot of potential in her."

"How?" Jorry asked in disbelief. "She hasn't fought once!"

"Not in a fight. I have no idea how she will do in those." The tunnel curved upward slightly and Neron shifted focus to the ceiling to make room for a better view. He didn't want to get surprised if he could help it. "I mean as a person. Cuholy, whether she realizes it or not, is at a critical moment in her life."

"You mean whether she'll fight or not."

"You must have realized, right? She is running from something."

"Running from something?"

"Why else would she be starving when we found her?" Neron asked as he pulled another fist full of sediment away. What that light down the tunnel? "We know she can hunt. We have seen her do so multiple times. So why was she starving?"

"She had that rabbit," Jorry pointed out. "Maybe she just had some bad luck hunting."

"Or, she knew that she had no choice but to hunt or starve to death," Neron said, squinting for a better view as he continued to dig. "That is why I know she has potential. When faced with starvation, with death, she chose to risk facing whatever she was running from instead. Now I just need to make her face that choice again. Consciously." 

Neron flickered his tongue, tasting the water on the air and letting the sunlight in. 

"I am going to offer her choices and force her to pick one. But the choice itself, and who she grows into, that will all be on her."

The river stretched out beyond the dark tunnel, its blue waters glinting in the sunlight.

A silent promise of bounty or damnation.

"I can not wait to see what she chooses."

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