Legacy World 4.11 Dungeon Clearance

"Hope you like this." He said while placing the plate of blue rare meat drizzled in some kind of red sauce in front of her. Although the red made the dish look terribly raw, it smelt and looked appetizing. Her stomach finally growled with hunger she did not know she was suffering from. The desire to hunt for much more arose within her.

/I see... I would only know when I'm craving for meat when I'm around prey. ... That'd be too late./ She stared at the generous serving on her plate then looked at him. "Do you not need to eat?"

"I'll eat whenever I feel like it. I do not suffer the same dependency on food like other demons."

"I see." Vanora returned her attention to her meal then cut off a chunk of meat. The moment the flavour and taste hit her, her eyes lit up a little and a sound of pleasant surprise escaped her. "Mm!"

She could tell that he gave her something of premium quality yet again. It tasted so good that she worried if she would no longer be satisfied with anything below this. /Mm... I can't be spoiled like this./

Seeing how much Vanora liked his food put Vlad in a very good mood. "Take your time to eat, I'll be back in a jiffy." He disappeared again the moment he was done speaking.

/He really just comes and goes as he wants./ Vanora stared at the empty seat while her mouth and hands continued to move by themselves. Without much control over her body and hunger, she did not take very long to wolf down her meal. Vlad coincidentally appeared back in the middle of the room. It was as if he had timed everything perfectly.

"Just in time." Vanora said as she stood up to walk to him. Vlad smiled and walked towards her as well then curled his arms around her waist. As soon as he made contact with her, the familiar grey fog filled the area around them.

This time when the fog lifted, Vanora found that they were on a vast barren land standing in front of a random cave entrance. "Fight to your heart's content." Vlad said while he extended a hand towards the cave.

Vanora looked at the cave with a raised eyebrow. /This looks like some dungeon quest in fantasy stories and games. Will the monsters slowly become tougher the deeper in I travel too?/

BaoBao took it as a prompt to check what was inside. [Hmm... The cave goes deeper and deeper underground, then leads you back to the surface. It's hard to see but it looks like there're different demons in there. I can't tell how strong they are though.]

/Hm. I didn't know hell was so... Organised./ Vanora thought as she stepped into the mouth of the cave. The tunnel was well-lit with the flame torches that lined the walls. The slope started off so gradual that it was almost imperceptible, then became steeper and steeper. Finally, the spacious tunnel opened up into an even bigger space that looked like an arena ideal for battle. The moment she stepped foot into the area, she felt eyes on her. Although nothing appeared or happened as she decisively made her way to the center of the arena, she kept her guard up. Her eyes darted all around as she thoroughly scanned her dark surroundings. The area was not as well lit as the tunnels. The walls and top of the cave vanished in the darkness.

The moment she reached the center with Vlad, several murky brown deformed winged creatures swooped down towards her from above. Her senses had immediately picked up their presence the moment they moved. /This feels so... Scripted./ Vanora frowned as she thought to herself. She easily jumped up and kicked the one directly above her. While it crashed into another winged creature, she moved on to deal with the others. As she got busy, Vlad skillfully stayed by her side without getting in her way. Despite their great numbers and insane speed, they were weak. Vanora easily blocked their attacks and knocked them out within two hits. As time passed, the winged creatures littered the ground in a way that reminded Vanora of spraying bug spray into a swarm of bugs. By the time she was done, she was only a little out of breath. Her body felt warmed up and ready for something more challenging.

/This is a perfect warm up.../ She noted to herself while she wasted no time in continuing down the tunnel on the other side of the area. Vlad happily and quietly trotted by her side like a faithful puppy. 

Before long, the tunnel opened up into yet another empty space, except that it was not an arena that stopped her from continuing down the tunnel. Light from the torches reflected off a smooth glossy dark surface. Vanora kicked a stone forward and watched it break the calm surface with a tiny splash. Nothing else reacted to it. The water quickly became still again. She could not make out the middle part of the water body or see how deep it went. She only knew that it extended to the other end of the area, where light reflected off its surface as well. She stared intently at the lake, debating with herself what the probable size of this demon would be. She did not want to dive in only to get swallowed whole.

She looked around again, this time with a more pensive expression. Suddenly, she squatted down and gathered a pile of tiny stones at her top speed. When there were not enough, she punched the ground to make more. After she was satisfied with the number of stones she had, she threw them into the water at a speed that made it fly like a bullet. Several stones after several stones, they got fired into the water bullets of a machine gun. Finally, the thing she was waiting for presented itself. Bodies that were a little smaller in size as compared to her broke the surface of the water. Some were still. The others cut through the water like jelly on their way towards her.

Light reflected off the shiny rainbow green scales on the arm of one demon that made it to Vanora first. As it pushed itself out of the water, its large black bulbous eyes were trained on her and its grey razor sharp teeth were bared at her. Vanora took a step back and studied the fins on the top of its head and the side of its limbs. /So it's some kind of fish demon?/

The ones making their way on land moved a lot more clumsily than those that remained in the water, seemingly waiting for their turn. Vanora quickly moved into action and dealt with the ones in front of her. However, the ones in the water did not slack. They backed up those on land with long and thin water bullets that they shot out of their mouths. In such a crossfire, she planned her positions such that every bullet she dodged would end up as a friendly fire. Just like that, the ones on land were completely taken out by her and its comrades.

As if having learnt their lesson, the ones in the water did not come up to the surface. They stayed in the water and fired a barrage of bullets that Vanora had to keep dodging. The tunnel had no turn, walls, or pillars that she could hide behind. Not knowing how many were still underwater, waiting for every one of them to make their appearance seemed like it would take too long. So, she decided to take up the challenge of fighting them underwater. It would also be a good time to test her enhanced body statistics and hellfire underwater.

Vanora lit herself on fire then charged straight into the water. Her fire seemed to startle the demons and they veered clear of her. As she dived into the dark seemingly opaque water, BaoBao secretly marvelled at her courage. [Or is it foolishness? Either way, I could never bring myself to dive into THAT.]

Like Vanora expected, her hellfire did not extinguish. Vlad had, after all, mentioned before that there was only one way to put it out. She immediately expanded the radius of her hellfire. However, no matter how many times she expanded it or moved it around, shadows just beyond the light casted by her hellfire darted away. Because of this, she realised how clear the water actually was. It was easy to make out the shape of the shadows. /Are they going to just avoid me now?/ Vanora tested out her hypothesis by swimming around. The way the creatures continued to dart around reminded her of fishing. The real size of the lake was also brought to her attention. It was wider underwater than what it showed on the surface.

Once she confirmed that they only intended to avoid her, she surfaced back up for air. Although she could easily advance to the next section now, Vanora felt that something was odd about the situation. This made her feel extremely unsatisfied and unsettled. /Could they not spit those water bullets underwater? And how can I consider this as successfully clearing the stage? I barely did anything. This won't be useful as training./

With that thought, Vanora took a deep breath, then went back underwater again. She swam as fast as she could towards the creatures. Finding that her lolita clothes added to her weight and to the water resistance, she decisively shed it off and let it sink to the bottom. In only her undergarments, Vanora did swim a lot faster. However, she still could not catch up to them at her top speed. Those creatures sliced through water like it was melted butter. Refusing to give up, Vanora and the creatures zoomed through the water like they were playing tag. Overtime, Vanora felt more like a dog herding sheep. /Wait a minute. Herding.../

Vanora went back up for air once more, then quickly dived back down. She extended her flames to its maximum reach then used it like her lasso and whip. She swam and cornered them, eventually forcing them to confront her head on. What Vanora did not expect was for them to push into each other and struggle so much that they passed out and floated to the surface. Refusing to believe that every one of them would do that, she cornered one school after another. However, Vanora never got the fight she wanted. When she gave up, there were enough dead bodies to cover the entire water surface. The sight of it made Vanora's skin crawl. She shot out of the water without holding back and knocked anything in her path upwards. While she landed gracefully onto the side of the tunnel that led her deeper into the dungeon, the other bodies plopped back down into the water. This encounter ended in this unsatisfactory way. Although she tried to make peace with it by telling herself that she could use her hellfire a lot more flexibly now, this underwhelming exchange continued to weigh on her mind.

"What happe-?"

"It was a burden." Vanora explained without waiting for Vlad to finish his question.

Although only Vanora's arms and legs were bare for all to see, he still felt that she was dressed far too skimpily for his liking. It simply disturbed him that others could see her this way. /That dress is no good! It was a bad choice after all. And I was thinking that it was good since she looked so cute in it! Goddamnit!/ His expression changed turned increasingly sour as his displeasure with himself mounted. While he silently sulked, he put his dry grey blazer on her shoulders. "Wear this."

Vanora halted and stared at him, thinking if she could return it. However, it was not just his tone. His sulky expression also showed her that there was no room for negotiation. At this point, it was his way or the high way. Vanora swallowed the words that she wanted to say then resumed her journey onwards. /Just humour him. Just humour him./