Defeat the Abysmal Shaman it said? How the hell am I supposed to do that when we can't even touch the ground!?

As soon as our group entered the Dungeon, we were surrounded by the sky. It was like the world was flipped on top of its head. Rather than ascending into outer space, we were walking on the sky itself. "Alice?" Jade speaks up, looking to Alice for some answers. Alice shrugs.

"Lulu, give us guidance," Alice speaks sternly to Lulu who's sticking a bit close to me. Lulu's class is [Pathfinder]. I don't know the specific details of that class but I'm convinced that it does as its name implies. Maybe even greater than that at A-Rank.

Lulu closes her eyes and extends both of her arms out in front of her, exposing her palms to the vast sky around us. Beneath her skin, I can see unsettling movements, like a worm was trying to escape from inside her body. I was going to say something about it, but Tulod must've felt the same way as me since his large hand ended up on my shoulder, stopping me before I can even get the words out.

That's right, we're the ones who are supposed to be learning here. Despite Lulu being a child, she is technically still my superior.

"Hey, Leopold." I speak to the large brute who has yet to actually talk to any of us. He's standing tall, his arms folded in front of him. He turns his head in my direction to let me know that I have his attention. "Do you know what the 'Abysmal Shaman' is?" I ask him and he shrugs.

What's up with everybody and shrugging? Does nobody have answers around here!? 

Lulu's hand explodes open when I turn back around. My eyes almost bulged out of my skull when I'd seen it — just like the eyes that bulged out of her hands. The eyes were odd, showcasing a cracked black sclera and red arrows for pupils. The arrow in its pupils was pointing up, but it didn't remain that way for long. Like a compass trying to find a magnetic pole, the arrows were spiraling around fiercely.

There's pure silence for a moment, I can even hear my own heartbeat during the silence. Then, Lulu taps her foot against the invisible floor. Alice must've been able to see which direction the arrows were moving because suddenly we were all being dragged by some sort of invisible pull. "Stay close to me!" Alice shouts as we all begin rising... descending? I'm not sure at this point; we're being thrown to the ground!

The shouting among us newcomers was louder than anything I'd heard before. "WE'RE FAAALLLLIINNNNG!" Zaiden screams out loud, his hand reaching down to grip the handle of his sword that was waiting in its sheath. "JADE, HANG ON!"Jade was holding on to one of Tulod's arms while we fell down, the world appearing to flip around at the halfway point.

While we approached the ground, something massive rises out of the ground faster than I can keep up with. I'm not sure how, but my body moves on its own and drags me off to the side away from the massive mouth that approached me as I feel. "Woah!" I scream, watching as everyone was scattered chaotically by the unexpected emergence of a towering worm. The worm was massive, it was probably more massive than a skyscraper! In its open, round mouth, there were protruding spikes and blades that probably belonged to previous adventurers. 

I can see Alice shouting something, Tulod and Jade suddenly being yanked towards her. Everything kind of went south the moment that the worm came out of the ground, was it waiting for us? No, thinking about it, isn't that worm technically flying? I should focus now.

My body is moving on its own, the massive worm seems to have been hit with something since I can see a massive explosion appear beside it. A loud roar is unleashed into the air and I can feel the vibrations against my skin, if my skin weren't so smooth I bet I'd feel my hair stand up straight. 

Collecting my composure, I can finally feel what's been tugging on me. Lulu has her hand on my back, guiding me down to the ground as the worm turns in the direction of Alice who must've been fighting it. "Lulu?" The look on her face is both scared and concerned, but she's clearly thinking faster than me. 

"We have to get down!" Lulu shouts while she's dragging me down. It takes me a few seconds to realize that we aren't flying either! We're actually crashing down to the ground! "Lulu! We're going to crash!" I try to warn her, but she only gives me a thumbs up in response... Eh?!

"Eh?!" This girl is absolutely insane! Nevertheless, I have no alternative other than to give her my trust.

SPLASH! Water spurts into the air and drizzles down as my head resurfaces from a pool of water that Lulu guided us to. Thankfully, this tracksuit is enhanced to be waterproof, but that didn't actually help the rest of my body from becoming soaked. Especially my undergarments — which are now utterly soaked to the brim. 

I gasp for air as Lulu resurfaces beside me, her hand attached to my arm. "Come on!" Wasting no time, Lulu is suddenly dragging me through the pool of water before I even have time to gather my thoughts. Was this a result of her [Pathfinder] class? It felt like she knew where to go at all times, even in unfamiliar places. We'd just gotten here and she should definitely have no idea how to navigate through this place, but she somehow knew exactly where to land.

Eventually, the two of us find ourselves on the grass panting, me more than her. She really saved me there, I guess that's what it means to be an A-Rank... but how did a girl this young get to a level that should theoretically be on par with Toy? On a level that's probably even greater than Alice's. Using my brain, it's obvious that this isn't the time to ask questions about that though.

"Roshia." Lulu sits down beside me, probably sure that there weren't any monsters around. "Do you have..." Lulu cuts herself off, rubbing the back of her neck nervously before she continues. "Do you have a 'Quest'?" She asks me hesitantly.

What's the big deal? "Yeah, I got a quest telling me to kill the 'Abysmal Shaman' or I'll die," I explain to her casually. "Do you have one too?"

"N-No, I've never actually seen someone with a quest before." Shit... then that thing I got was something special? I might've made a mistake, telling Lulu about that. "My ability is telling me to help you." 

"Your ability?" What could Pathfinders do anyways? Alice seemed to rely on Lulu in some way when we got here, telling her to guide us. "Oh, we didn't go over abilities...?" Lulu seems genuinely confused. I'm convinced that she and the other two are aware of all of our abilities, and we have no idea what theirs are. "One of my abilities is called [Pathfinder], like my class. It shows me the perfect path to take and the details about each ally's route." 

That sounds pretty terrifying in a way. "So your ability's telling you to help me with a quest?" Lulu nods, earning a sigh of relief from me. I'm a bit nervous, but at least I'm not alone with this. Actually, I was a bit worried that Anaphiel would step in if anyone found anything out about my [Returner] ability. Thankfully, it looks like the quest itself doesn't expose too much about my ability except for the fact that I have a quest in the first place.

"Okay, Lulu. I'll take your help, but I don't even know about this quest to tell you how dangerous it is." 

"Don't be silly, Roshia!" Lulu giggles at my concerns. "I'm a lot stronger than I look!" Lulu walks over to me, placing her hand on top of my head while I'm sitting. I can feel my face heat up as this child pets me on the head, embarrassed by my rashness.

"Heh... Yeah, you're a lot stronger than me." Even though she was a child, Lulu was still A-Rank. That's a bit below the strongest Awakeners in the world. Maybe it's easier to level up as a Pathfinder than other classes. That'd be an insane cheat in hindsight... Nope, I don't have the right to talk about cheat abilities. I've only died once but I don't want to die again to try the ability out. It'd be a waste to lose the skills that I've gathered in the past few days.

"So where are we supposed to go first? Judging by the size of that worm, we're probably pretty far away from everyone else." I'll have to rely on Lulu to lead me to where I need to be. This is only the second dungeon I've ever been in since I started working as an Awakener. It felt like something natural to me even though I'd never fought up until I entered the first Dungeon.

As I stand up, Lulu takes a moment to think, probably using her skill to assist that little brain of hers. She looked adorable with that serious face. "It's a bit risky, but we're going to go in the opposite direction of the group. Don't worry though, we can contact each other with the [Party Chat]!" 

Party Chat was a feature in the [AAS] that lets party members communicate with each other through chat or voice. We normally wouldn't need to use it since parties are meant to stay together, but this dungeon is much larger than the one from before. The worm attacking us the moment we came in must not have been part of the plan, assuming that we even had a plan when we entered.

We begin walking further from the rumbling, which I can only assume is the worm that'd nearly eaten us. "What kind of dungeon monster attacks you as soon as you walk in anyway?" I complain as we walk, unhappy about the way things turned out. Lulu places a finger against her chin, thinking. 

"There are a lot of monsters that can attack you or even track you throughout their dungeons. Some monsters will continue to chase after you the moment that you enter a dungeon, leading to a lot of Awakeners dying in dungeons since they got too comfortable." A frown spreads across Lulu's face, rightfully so, no sane child would be happy speaking about death. "This is only the second dungeon I've ever been in." Taking the talk off of death, Lulu's face shows her surprise at my statement. 

"You're serious?!" She shouts out, not believing a word I'd said. "Seriously! That fiasco from before was my first experience!" I tell her with a toothful grin on my face. The look of shock never disappears while we head in whatever direction she leads us.

According to Lulu, the layout of this dungeon is boundless, continuing further than the eye can see with different landscapes. Right now, we're in a forest, but we could probably end up in a desert if we make it far enough into the dungeon. The worst part is that there's always believed to be a single entrance to each dungeon, so if we get lost, we'll have no way of finding our way back. Well, that goes for the other group. With Lulu by my side, it's impossible for us to get lost in this place.

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

While we're walking, somehow, we aren't attacked by any monsters. I asked Lulu about it and she tells me that her ability can inform her about the approach of any monsters on the route that they're headed in. When I asked her why she didn't know about the giant worm, she told me that she couldn't detect it... Weird.

I'd equipped my [Twin Daggers] while we were walking, just in case something else popped up that Lulu wasn't aware of. It feels like we've been walking for the past 20 minutes, which we have. I guess it's because of my Awakener status, but I can't feel myself getting tired. But my brain is telling me that I should be uncomfortable. I'm content with not believing my brain right now, I should just go with the flow.

Lulu, who's been walking in front of me, stops suddenly; I halt too. "Lulu?" I ask her curiously, curious as to why we'd stopped in place. 

"Something's here." The words shock me, looking around to see if I can catch a glimpse of what she's talking about, but I can't find a thing! "Are you sure-" I feel an aching pain in my backside all of a sudden, my body moving forward on its own. Lulu's hand reaches out and catches me by the arm before I can be launched away. "Roshia!" Lulu yells my name, my eyes diverting up to see behind her at what kicked me away.

Behind Lulu, I can see a weirdly shaped tree, the legs spread apart to form what I can see as a pair of legs. At the center of the stalk, I can see a carved face with sharp white teeth buried deep in the mouth. "What in the world...?" Lulu looks out in pure horror, bemused by the appearance of the creature. I probably have an even worse face, viewing something that seems straight out of a horror tale.

Stretching out at either side of its body are massive branches which are what I can only speculate are its arms. 

Only after the creature begins to move one of its legs forward did I realize that there was no sound to its movements whatsoever. "Lulu-" I cough in my attempt at speaking. The daggers in my hand begin to vibrate alarmingly, Lulu too distracted by the monster in front of us to notice my attempts at speaking. I was going to ask a dumb question — clearly, Lulu hadn't detected this monster — but that made it even more alarming.

Sucking in my fear, I stand up and begin to question what to do. My [Danger Sense] hasn't detected anything either, and it's clear why. Not even Lulu's ability, which shows her the safest route detected these enemies, and her detection skill is leagues higher than mine! "Lulu we have to fight!" Recovering my breathing, I dash ahead past Lulu with both daggers at hand.

I didn't expect much, but as my daggers crash against the stalk of the monster, and despite my expectations of failure and being counterattacked, the dagger continues forward to saw through the massive tree monster, cutting it in half. My eyes go wide, my jaw dropping some as I watch the monster roar one last time before collapsing to the side. "H-Huh?" I stare down at the daggers for a moment, reveling in the power behind the dagger. "These things feel different..." For some reason, the daggers feel stronger than the first time that I used them against Mind. Maybe Mind was a lot stronger than this thing, actually. Maybe I've just gotten a lot stronger.

"Roshia, we need to keep running!" Lulu suddenly warns me, causing me to become aware of the excruciatingly painful fact that we were surrounded. Around us, there more monsters have begun to gather around, just like the one I'd just faced. Their movements were completely silent, not even rumbling the ground with their massive movements. It was like every tree in the forest suddenly became a living creature aiming to kill us. 

Deciding that Lulu's advice was the best thing in this situation, she and I begin to dash away from the surrounding monsters, leaving dust behind us. Since Lulu was faster than me, she took me by the arm and dragged me along behind her, nearly taking my feet off of the ground entirely. All around us I can see the smiles of the trees, silently laughing at us as we rush away.

Lulu and I end up tumbling down a hill, grunting and groaning until we reach the bottom of the hill. Adrenaline rushing through me, I push myself off of the ground and take a look around me, Lulu following shortly after. "Where..." Examining our surroundings, we found ourselves in a green clearing. At the center of the clearing is a throne made of sticks and twigs, presumably one that you'd expect an ogre or goblin to sit in. But, what occupied the throne was much worse than either.

✦ You have discovered the [Abysmal Shaman]! Beware, his wisdom is overwhelming. ✦

"Abysmal Shaman..." I say out loud without realizing it, coaxing a glare from Lulu. "Our destination... we've reached it," Lulu says hesitantly, glaring at the being that occupied the throne.

An entity garbed in a black cloak, a hood over its head that concealed its entire being. Beneath its hood, an astral darkness loomed, attempting to look at the face of the Shaman was like trying to see the depths of space. "You've come, [Candidate]." A deep yet elder-like voice is heard, coming from the Shaman in the center of the clearing. "And the [Twin Spirits] are already at hand as well." The Shaman does what can be made out as a nod, his gloved fingers locking together as he sits confidently on his throne.

"I must give you a fair warning before we begin our talks," the Shaman begins, unlocking his fingers. "Do not lie." 

We wait a little longer to see if he has anything more to say, but he doesn't. Then my brain begins to function, thinking of what I was supposed to do. I was told to defeat the Abysmal Shaman, but it doesn't look like he wants to fight at all. Lulu is sweating in nervousness, and there's no way for me to say that I'm doing much better myself.

"Lulu, I think I should talk to him," I whisper to her, unable to take my eyes off of the Shaman. His presence is leaving us unsettled, but from the corner of my eye, I can see Lulu nod in response. "Please stay safe, Roshia." She whispers back, and I endow her with a complimentary nod.

Taking a few steps forward, I attempt to have a conversation with this thing. The warning said that 'his wisdom is overwhelming', meaning that it should definitely be able to speak with me. "Hello," I begin, "My name is Roshia Qinlen." I don't even get to the second part of my sentence before I'm interrupted by the overwhelmingly powerful laughter of the Shaman, his gloved hand slamming into the armrest of the throne as he bursts into a hysterical fit from a sentence alone. "BAHAHA! Roshia Qinlen you say? Interesting, interesting indeed! Continue!" 

Something's changed in the celestial sheet that obscured the Shaman's face. I could not tell what, but something told me that he was grinning, though I can't be completely certain. "I was given a [Quest] to come here to..." I think about it for a moment, would it be smart to tell this man that I came here to defeat him? He may just downright kill me if I say the wrong thing. No, more specifically, the quest told me to slay the Abysmal Shaman. There's no point in hiding it, I don't think I can get around it when it warned me about his wisdom.

"I was given a quest to come here to slay you." Finishing up my sentence, an amused 'hm' is dragged out by the Abysmal Shaman. He continues to look in our direction, lifting his hand up loosely to beckon me to continue speaking. "I'm... not sure what else I can say." 

. . . . .

. . . . 

After a prolonged silence, a gall is let out by the Abysmal Shaman who shifts his posture on his throne. It's amazing that it's still standing after the powerful slaps he gave to it, especially when it's literally made of sticks and strings. "Such a quest is uncommon, but you are a [Candidate]. But you're premature." My ear twitches, hearing something new. "What do you mean by that?" I ask, hearing something completely unexplored, being 'premature'.

"You don't even know of your own power, do you? Well, I suppose not even I myself do — but, the [Administrators] told us about you — so I guess I have no choice but to play along." My eyes nearly pop out of my skull at the mention of the Administrators. I'd heard Anaphiel speak of them before, but I never really questioned them too much. As far as I'm concerned, they're like a stronger version of Anaphiel herself. Speaking of which...

The world around us shifts to black and white, losing its color and becoming a bit colder than before. I was used to this sort of thing by now, her appearance stopped time itself. But, this felt different. Whereas Lulu was completely motionless behind me, the Abysmal Shaman's celestial 'face' continued to actively move around, even as Anaphiel appears at my side.

"Oh...? I was warned of your interferences as well, [Moderator]." The Abysmal Shaman continues to speak, despite time itself being brought to a halt. Anaphiel releases a scowl that I did not think she could employ. A look of anger that I can't help but call uncharacteristic was on her face, a vein nearly bursting out of the side of her head.

"You're supported by an [Administrator]?!" My body trembles at Anaphiel's voice, bringing me down onto my knees without the pressure behind her words even being directed my way. I'd always considered Anaphiel to be stronger than most people, but I did not think that she'd actually be this strong. "This cannot be, this won't be. The [Founder] would never allow the [Administrators] the act freely and grant their support to a [Monster]."

The atmosphere becomes even colder than before — no, it's not just the atmosphere — I'm freezing. Anaphiel's cold words seem to strike even the Abysmal Shaman with what she says next. "Who is the [Administrator] supporting you, [Monster]?" The space around us begins to rumble as Anaphiel hovers just a bit further ahead of me. Something's telling me that she's purposely sticking close to me.

The Abysmal Shaman seems to collect himself faster than expected, giving a visible shrug to Anaphiel's assertive question. "It wouldn't be wise to tell you, would it? But, I'll tell you what," Anaphiel gives a much louder scowl, but the Abysmal Shaman continues, "If your serf can defeat me in a battle, I will tell you everything you'd like to know."

Anaphiel's head turns in my direction, inadvertently letting me view the concern in her eyes. "Fine, what is your proposition?" Judging by how Anaphiel accepted his proposal, it seems like she cannot use her [Moderator] abilities. That's become clear, judging by how the Shaman can still move around despite time being stopped. 

I have a terrible feeling that things are going to get a lot more difficult for me from now on...

 

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