DreadWolf

◈ Chapter 127:

A black cloaked figure paused by the shelves, the dim flickering of an enchanted light creating pools of shadow amongst the ragged fabric.

The hem raised and a yellowed bone hand emerged from a sleeve. A single bony index pressed against a book nearly as ragged and crumbling as the cloak, the binding lit by a low green from beneath the hood.

"Dungeonic encyclopedia, canidae analogous monsters, edition one ninety three." came a strong yet somehow ancient voice from the hood. "And truly only thrice updated in all these centuries? Pathetic. These modern scholars are lazy, lazy and useless, lazy and useless and incompetent."

"Why don't you update it yourself then you dumb Boner?"

The hood turned and looked down. A Goblin stood there. One that was unique amongst all other Goblins. Not because she was some peculiar evolution that he didn't recognise, nor that she was pregnant with some monster spawn he didn't know, no, it was because she somehow managed to get under his skin, or rather, bones, like nothing else.

"I'm not going to sit down and write out hundreds of analogous monster species and paragraphs of notes on all of their intricacies."

"Why?"

The bony hand twitched.

"You are asking me why I don't simply sit down and write several large entire books right now?"

Opal tilted her head in question, as though she genuinely wanted to know.

It took a moment for Vash to recall that she couldn't actually read let alone write and she likely really did not know what she was asking.

"Believe me when I say it is just not... feasible. And in any case that is not what I am here for, I am here to research. Research..."

"I thought you said this 'research' was going to be easy." gravelled a terrifyingly deep voice.

Vash turned his head to the side. The enchanted lights further down the corridor had died, likely a long time ago, just as the flickering one above his head was destined to. A pair of yellow eyes was watching him from that darkness.

"Yes, well, I may have slightly... miscalculated, by a small margin... of magnitude."

The truth was that the number of rat, mouse, and lizard skeletons that were scouring the library was stretching Vash's weakened state to its absolute limit. Hundreds of bony creations were scurrying through the walls and shelves and corridors, checking tens of thousands of books, dragging back those that showed some promise for him to check over properly, or being crudely fumbled through by the skeletons themselves.

His confidence at the start had been absolute. Stacks and stacks of books were brought forth, and with the help of his army of skeletons he had made quick work parsing and working his way through their contents.

But then the number of books the skeletons brought had started to slow to a trickle, all the easy and promising targets already taken.

His reading speed eventually caught up with the pace of the new books arriving and then as it slowed he found himself twiddling his bony thumbs in awkward silence as an increasingly unimpressed giant wolf monster watched him.

He'd gotten up and started looking himself just to get away from those accusing eyes, but then they had followed.

"Fine, I can admit it. Your species is not... common."

"I did tell you that they had last been around over a thousand years ago."

Vash sniffed. "Yes, well, your academic source on that, a 'goblin spider witch' is not considered a quality reference in academic circles."

"You haven't found anything that suggests it isn't true though."

"It's more likely that your kind exist in the deepest darkest depths in some godforsaken dungeon somewhere and only rarely encounter levelers to make a note of their existence."

"Not once in over a thousand years? I think I believe the word of the spider goblin more, my species is extinct."

"What I said is not impossible, although over a thousand years of such a state would make it rather, hrmm, improbable."

"Either way this library must have something, even it has been so long, this place is endless."

Vash nodded. "Yes, it is vast. My search isn't so much a problem of running out of books but that all the easy obvious places to check have been used up in this disorganised mess. Thus I have come here."

He suddenly turned and strode into the darkness, passing by the mass that was Rain, Opal following in his wake as bony feet clacked against stone.

As he passed by the cloak shifted and the things that were inside were momentarily made visible to Rain. A human skeleton. But more than that, a human skeleton swarming with smaller skeletons, rats and mice and lizards. The ribcage and the space below it had become something of a construction with floors and a spiral staircase all made from bone. Many small skeletons worked within, pouring over decrepit library maps and the many defunct classification systems that only ever encompassed a couple of percent of the library.

The cloak moved and the bones were once more hidden from sight.

Acquiring a full human skeleton had been surprisingly easy. Extremely old people wandering through a vast maze of books had a habit of dropping dead in some forgotten corner and his rat scouts had found a number of differing skeletons to choose from. The one his skull was currently perched atop of had been found jammed behind a shelf, the owner in life apparently having gotten stuck and left to die in obscurity. Which seemed a fitting end for the clumsiness of life in Vash's mind.

He stepped into a dark dust filled space beyond the shelves.

"So you aren't giving up?" gravelled Rain.

"Hardly. My credibility as a scholar is on the line and I find myself taking some... personal interest in this matter. As much as it galls me to say it you are a different kind of monster, a different kind of monster of some scholarly interest."

A mouse skeleton clambered from his shadowed hood and crawled onto his head. A small candle was produced and after a moment of fiddling with a tiny flint and steel, the mouse skeleton managed to light it.

It held up the candle over its head and a dim light was cast over the rectangular hall, a room lined with steel doors. Door after door on either side. Most of the doors were open, the barren vaults inside laid bare, dunes of centuries old dust washing up against the walls, the remains of fragmented furniture and bookshelves sticking from the dust like broken teeth.

"I came to this particularly well hidden part of the library for a reason. In my time you could rent this space. Family dynasties stored their secure records and scholarly works here in case their estates suffered an attack and were burned to the ground. Which was a wise thing to do, although it seems it is no longer practised."

Every door in the hall was open and empty, except for the last door at the very end.

Rain approached, struggling not to sneeze from the dust kicked up by their every step. The door was like a normal door, if a little larger, and much more secure with heavy steel reinforcement. Eager to be out of the dusty space Rain stepped forward and took hold of the iron handle. Obviously it was locked and they didn't have a key.

"It's locked."

"Clearly," said Vash acidly. "But I hardly think that is-

Rain punched his paws into the stone surrounding the door frame and curled his digits. With a grunt he heaved backwards and the entire door frame with door still in it was ripped out of the wall and sent flying across the room where it crashed against the opposite wall with a screech of twisted metal.

"-a problem."

Vash looked over the remains of the door. It was a lot thicker than it had appeared from the outside, ten inches of solid steel and likely many very very old enchantments. It hadn't mattered of course, as far as the enchantments were concerned the door was still closed.

It was more than a little concerning how much stronger this monster had gotten in the short amount of time since he had first met him in Lynthia's dungeon. How much stronger would he get?

Rain ducked inside the hole in the wall and after a moment Vash followed.

The interior was dark, but, surprisingly, there was only a little dust.

The mouse on Vash's head lifted the candle and a spill of yellow light illuminated the rows and rows of bookcases

Behind the necromancer a swarm of rats poured through the broken hole and into the vault, climbing the walls and bookcases and dragging free book after book, flipping them open and pouring through them.

Vash paused as he noted a bronze bust by a set of reading armchairs.

"The Woldgut dynasty appears to be the ones responsible for this vault. In my time I did wonder, access was not allowed."

"And they are?"

"A powerful dynasty of minotaurs. Their ability to level was remarkable, even their children became high levelers. Judging by how this place hasn't been touched for many years they are either no longer using it, or... they are all dead."

Most of the shelves had been checked over by this point, a swarm of rats furiously scanning through hundreds of books at a breakneck pace, occasionally turning over a book to Vash to be read properly.

"How curious."

"You've found what Iwant?"

"No. But this is the oldest book in the vault by far, maybe even the oldest in the library. I can't date it exactly but it speaks of events and peoples I have never heard of. A species of wooly elephant leveler called a mammoth? It sounds fantastical but according to this they once supposedly existed in ancient times."

Vash put down the book on a reading desk and flicked through it showing Rain, Opal scrambled up onto a chair to see. The book had dozens of illustrations including a picture of the wooled elephant like people, a kind of strange jellyfish creature, a giant dragonfly person which was distinctly disturbing to look at, a frilled lizard wearing an intricate gown and holding a mages staff, a mole like-

"Wait, go back!" said Opal.

The skeleton paused but then flipped back a few pages.

"Hey, isn't that... Bean?"

Rain and Opal stared at the illustration, an aquamarine scaled lizard with an imperious look, its neck frilled, its clothing clearly of great value, and the staff it held black and encrusted with gold and jewels.

It was as if there could be no different an example of a lizard thing from Bean, it depicted a mage at the height of their power and wealth, even their fangs were capped with gold.

"This book is flawed, this species still exists. We've seen one in Florens."

"Hmm, well that is not terribly surprising. I believe I recognise that jelly species from when I was alive. It is likely that the species did not go extinct, just hidden away in some far flung corner of the world, it happens more than you would think, the world is a chaotic place, I suspect your case is similar and that your kind is out there somewhere. If anything this proves that my theory is likely the correct one."

"Is there a book like this but for monsters? That would be perfect."

"Unfortunately no. Some interesting books on monsters deep deep in the dungeon that I was not aware of, but nothing that even begins to describe your particular species."

"Then this was another waste of time?" said Rain, his shoulders slumping.

"Hey, what about that?" said Opal. She pointed toward a metal box at the shadowed end of the room.

Vash and Rain stared at it. How had they missed that?

They approached.

It appeared as if someone had tried to break into it at some point as it was marked with scars across the metal. There were some odd stains over the metal and across the floorboards too, and... a pile of bones. A minotaur skull lay under the nearest bookcase as though it had rolled after decapitation.

"It appears the last to try and access this fell victim to its traps, fortunate for us it appears the act has degraded the enchantment. I doubt this will be of little relevance beyond some treasure or other. The kind of academic book we are looking for isn't particularly worthy of a safe."

Rain took hold of the handle and then pressed his foot against the top. He strained, muscles bulging, and with a shriek of tearing metal the door came free, ripping from its hinges and leaving him holding a heavy rectangular slab. He let it fall to the floor with a thud.

Rain and Opal peered inside eagerly. Vash despite himself leaned in too, although he acted as though it was only a casual glance, nothing serious, of course.

Inside there was only one thing, a plain small wooden box.

Opal reached out a hand and flipped the lid open revealing...

"A potion?"

"Well that was disappointing."

The potion was a slowly swirling orange and white flecked with metallic red. It glowed ever so slightly illuminating the safe it was in.

Opal snatched it with a scoff. "This isn't a weapon, this is useless."

"Be careful it could be of great value, you might be holding a new kind of special cleaning potion," said Rain, eyes glittering with interest.

The snort of laughter from Vash caused his rats to pause in their work.

Opal held the potion up to the dim light coming from Vash's mouse.

the red metallic red flecks sparkled.

And then the potion moved.

A tendril of orange touched up against the cap, exploring.

The three of them stared at it.

"Hey hey hey, are potions supposed to do this? You know, try to escape?"

"I do not believe that is the case, no. That is not a potion, it is a very small slime monster that has been placed into a potion bottle..." murmured the skeleton.

"So, uh, should I drink it?"

Rain gave her a flat look.

"No, I guess that would probably be a bad idea."

"Yes, it would be. If I had to theorise as to why this slime has been bottled and placed in a safe. I would say it is some manner of extremely poisonous slime, a slime poisonous enough to kill even a high leveler. What would you keep in a safe like this? An assassin's weapon."

"A weapon?" said Opal squinting at the glass glinting in the light.

"A one-use weapon most likely." grumbled Rain "Take care of it. We may need it if a high leveler comes after us."

A scuffle came from behind, the sound of mounds of dust being kicked through, and they turned to find Lyra making her way toward them through the hall, being guided by a rat skeleton, and then entering into the vault.

A spooked looking Red followed behind her but kept his distance, eyes locked onto the bag on her hip.

"Are you unharmed, did everything go okay?" said Rain, approaching to check her over.

"No it freaking didn't go okay, I was attacked! By a gang! Even though it was a wealthy posh super rich area!"

She flopped down in one of the dusty reading armchairs and a cloud of dust flumped into the air.

Rain sneezed violently and her hair blew around her head as if in a gale-force wind.

She gave him an offended look and tried to restyle her mussed hair. After a moment she realised it was hopeless, gave up, and slumped back with a sigh.

"You said it would be fine."

Lyra put her hands over her eyes.

"I did say that, didn't I... But what saved us, that thing you put in the dimensional bag, is somehow more unsettling than nearly being killed."

"Why? It's just a house cat."

"Just- don't you know what the hell it formed??? What came out of that bag??"

Rain blinked. "A chimaera cat and some random things I threw in?"

"No, actually, it formed a- a- I don't have words for it, so look for yourself!"

She tossed the bag to the floor and the noose of the bag slipped free. Darkness quickly poured out, a cat's head and then more. The darkness grew and grew, things spilling and coiling and twisting in a monstrous mess of disturbing shapes that plucked at instinctive primal fears.

It kept growing to Rain's surprise, until it was up to his chest, the tiny cat's head looking up into his eyes, a pleased expression on its face.

The thing was most certainly not the chimera house cat he had put into the bag.

"This isn't what I intended, this is something else. I... might have been a bit careless."

"A bit?! What in the abyss did you give me?!"

"It seems to have mixed with the less stable stuff I poured into the bag... An amalgamation from being squeezed together in a small space?"

As they spoke something had caught the cat amalgamation's attention. A mouse skeleton crawling over the book shelf. Its eyes twinkled, quite literally with stars, a centipedal tentacle whipped out and the bookshelf was instantly obliterated, an explosion of shattered wood and books filling the air as the tentacle ripped through it.

Lyra yelped and covered her head as she was pelted with splinters.

"You gave- you made a regular house cat with- with a body that came out of my deepest worstest nightmares! It acts like a cat! If I had cat treats it would try and eat out of my hand and likely eat my hand by accident too!"

Rain lifted a paw and made petting motions at the creature and then made pspspsps sounds, rubbing his thumb and index together.

After a moment the cat amalgamation blinked at him, seemed to understand, and came closer, looking to rub its head against his paw.

Of course once the darkness touched his black fur it sank into it, disappearing from sight, dissolving and breaking down as it flowed into him.

"I'll be more careful next time."

Lyra let out a long sigh.

"It's... fine. As completely out of control the whole situation felt it was still better than being killed by that horrible gang. And I did find out a little of what you wanted to know. They are all there on Brax's estate. You could probably go after them now, although there might be a better opportunity, a much better opportunity, one where you can guarantee getting them all without any escaping and without calling the city down on you."

"How?"

"They are going to throw a party. Normally it would be very hard for us to get past the estate's defences without causing alarm, but an open party like that anyone with a bit of panache and fashionable style could slip by. Meaning... me. I could walk into the party, with you in my wool space, and you can corner and get the three who murdered you one by one. Get them to follow you around a corner, in the bathrooms, or in a closet and you can... drag them inside wool space, like you did to those Lapine."

Lyra looked extremely uncomfortable as she said spoke, wincing, her legs drawing up. She was clearly struggling to get the words out.

Rain studied her worried face.

"I don't think you want to do that. If you don't want to be so involved then it's fine, I'll find some other way."

"It's the easiest most guaranteed way to get them without any escaping. You need to do it. I don't want to do it... but."

But?

"I'll do it- I'll do it if you help me kill Lord Wranvryre. They're coming for my Family Rain."

"Okay."

"They're going to find them and use them as bait to get at me! And- wait, okay?"

"Yes, I was thinking of doing that anyway. It's much harder for you to find out about Brax and the others while you are being hunted, and if I am honest you are the only one of us who can go and talk to levelers as normal. The levelers in this city aren't going to pay attention to a Goblin or a Kobold, that is if they don't casually kill them, and they are going to be more than a little bit upset if a walking talking skeleton talks to them, and they will for sure shit their pants if I appear. So it needs to be you, but you can't do that properly, so the bounty has to come to an end and the only way to do that is to kill this Lord."

"That's... accurate. Yes, it is the only way... Uhm..."

"So when can I kill him? When will he return to the city?"

"Ah, s-soon, maybe very soon, he travels by monster pulled carriage, that's actually how he, uhm, took me to Lynthia to search for his wife."