Chapter 202

◈ Chapter 202:

The darkness ebbed slowly, and even when Rain opened his eyes his vision was blurry and murky.

To his surprise he didn't feel half as bad as he expected, and after a monumental effort he raised a massive paw and waved it in front of his face above where he lay. He had to bring it in quite close to see clearly, but it seemed he was no longer bathed head to toe in gore, in fact his fur was pristine clean.

That meant cleaning potions, which could only mean Lyra or Opal. That was a positive sign at least.

He turned his head to the side as something green caught his attention. Opal?

The blurry green figure was standing beside him looking extremely tense and worried. That Had to be Opal. Well he was awake now.

Not even thinking about it he stretched and in the same motion grabbed hold of her and pulled her into his lap as sat up with a yawn as he usually did in the mornings.

The green figure let out a terrified scream as they fell into his lap and began thrashing.

"Don't eat me, please gods don't eat me! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"

Rain blinked and squinted down.

That wasn't Opal.

An unfamiliar male goblin was throwing a fit in his lap.

In fact the goblin looked like he was having a full blown panic attack, his limbs flying all over the place as he practically foamed at the mouth.

Rain sighed and after a moment reached for the goblin.

The goblin saw the giant paw far bigger than his head coming for him and his screaming reached a crescendo, peaked, and his eyes rolled up in his head as he promptly passed out.

Rain took hold of an ankle and carefully lifted the now comatose and limp as a wet rope goblin from his lap.

He dangled the goblin in front of him.

Dirty. He had this filthy goblin on his pristine fur? It was a reminder of just how much Opal had improved in the hygiene and general not-absolutely-filthy department when compared to this monster, who looked like he took pride in artfully placing dirt and grime all over himself.

It seemed that the goblin had been left to look over him, and maybe to fetch someone if he woke up? Well that wasn't happening anytime soon. The goblin looked like he'd ascended into a fear coma.

He blinked a few times more and wiped at his eyes with the back of his other paw, trying to clear the gunk. His vision improved somewhat, and he laboriously climbed to his feet, the goblin still dangling from his paw by an ankle.

He was still in the arena where he had fallen. A clearer recollection of what had happened started to come to him and he shifted his leg uneasily. It twinged and he winced. Yeah that had definitely been broken, or at least fractured. Healing potions had also definitely been used on him while he was unconscious, although maybe the healing potions hadn't done as much as would be hoped.

He tried breathing in a lungful of air and winced. Gods it hurt to breathe. The cool air swirled around his chest over what felt like an open wound.

That was much worse and far more worrying than his leg. The healing potions had obviously failed to heal his burned lungs properly and had only partly healed them. He really really hoped the injury wasn't permanent. He was vaguely aware healing potions struggled with burns.

He carried the dangling unconscious goblin through the arena to where a break in the wall allowed entrance into the main structure. What was left of it anyway. Much of it had collapsed or been damaged because of Quistis's reckless abuse of her power.

With that he went in search of someone to speak to. The first room was… empty. And so was the next. In fact each room he passed through was empty. The only company being a scattering of corpses, small monsters and also levelers.

The bodies of the levelers were covered in injuries, small wounds, countless teeth and claws, and sometimes there would be one or two small monster bodies with them.

He wandered through the dark gloomy halls like that, until finally he came across someone who was alive.

They were sitting on the edge of a statue's pedestal with their head in their hands and looked quite miserable. A contrast to the statue itself which showed a leveler with their chest thrust out smiling as they rested a foot on a monster's head.

Rain recognised them to his surprise. It was Ravoure, the rotund leveler who had tried to fight him when he had first entered the Abattoir and then had his arm cut off by the Chimaera to be later reattached. In the arena he had been blasted by dragon breath and tried to battle Rain with a group of other levelers. Brave, but mad? Or maybe he was just a spoiled noble fool.

Either way, there was no trace of that now, the human looked truly miserable.

Rain took a step closer and he finally seemed to notice him, peeking between his thick fingers.

"Oh. It's you."

Rain blinked in surprise.

"Me?"

"Yes. You. The one who caused all of this, the one who—" he closed his eyes and drew in a steadying breath.

Rain was very surprised, the leveler's tone, and the way he was speaking, it didn't feel like the leveler was speaking to him as a piece of furniture that had mysteriously grown a mouth and started walking around, or a mindless threat to be scared of, but as a sapient living being. A real person.

Maybe the shock of so many deaths had really affected him? Or maybe he had won his respect through battle?

For some reason neither of those answers felt like they fit.

"What… happened here? To all of you?" he gravelled, looking down at the glum human.

"It doesn't matter. It's all over now, you don't know what they've done. They- they—" Ravoure shook his head and looked physically ill, then he glanced over his body and shuddered, his chin trembling.

Strange, very strange. Ravoure almost looked like he was afraid of his own body.

"That isn't an answer. Where is everyone? Why are there levelers dead from what looks like many small wounds? Dead from monsters?"

"They did that. The building fell in where we were all hiding. Then they gave those few of us who survived a choice. Most fought to the death."

"And you didn't?"

Ravoure made a grim expression and shook his head. "I took… the other option… I wish I hadn't."

What had been the other option? Rain found himself darkly curious.

"And that was?"

The leveler gave him a look.

"It's easier to just show you." He dropped from the pedestal and brushed masonry dust from his shorts before wandering down the hall almost in a daze.

Rain glanced between the leveler and the goblin still dangling from his paw. The goblin had begun to lightly foam at the mouth.

Well it wasn't like he had any other leads to go on.

He followed after the leveler and was led through the complex.

It was a bit of a maze inside, with much of the building collapsed. Some rooms were filled to the ceiling with rubble. Some were pristine. And some had their ceiling ripped open to the world.

But eventually they found a door in part of a broken wall.

As Ravoure fiddled with the door's latch, Rain peered through a hole high up on the wall which at his height was possible. He felt a strange moment of dejavu.

He could see that the room beyond had been designed as some grand hall for the wealthy levelers no doubt. The thing was a ruin with the roof ripped off and half the walls just piled up rubble. The rubble and trashed furniture had been cleared aside from the middle of the room, the middle, where there was a stone table.

On the table appeared to be a drake. The drake was not in any kind of normal state however. In fact, just like the chimaera being operated on Rain recalled stumbling across, his flesh had been cut and his rib cage had been folded open, exposing his internal organs. His heart and lungs could be seen beating and shallowly expanding and contracting.

Standing on the table and leaning over this exposed chest cavity was a familiar blue kobold wearing a leather apron. She had her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she carefully placed what looked like various kinds of needles deep within the drake's body. She placed the latest one against the drake's throbbing heart, actually sinking it into the flesh a few millimetres and then spoke in a clear clinical manner.

"Potion."

A certain also familiar fanged goblin leaned over and hurriedly sprinkled liquid from a glass vial, splashing it over the incision the needle had made and partially healing it into the heart.

"I think that's it," the kobold murmured, checking over the drake's insides. "Time to seal him up."

Rain glanced down at Ravoure who was currently leaning against the wall by the open door and trying his hardest not to vomit. He didn't succeed and a wet sound filled the air as he emptied his stomach.

Rain put two and two together.

"You've already been on that table, they filled you full of heart pins."

Ravoure glanced up at him, his face pale and sweaty.

"It feels quite horrifying to know you are filled with death, and the ones who control your fate are a bunch of weak little monsters. I must say it gives a rather different perspective on the fleeting nature of one's life and what monster's are capable of."

The drake's chest cavity was closed with copious amounts of healing potion as he spoke, the flesh and bones sealing together with the kobold taking over most of the work from the goblin. The blue kobold rebuilt the drake's body like that, making him nearly back to normal despite her invasive surgery. Easy, if you don't care if the patient lived or died Rain supposed.

The kobold really seemed to know what she was doing and by the time she was done the drake appeared to be in a perfect state of health, his sandy scales unmarked and clean.

Triskian was alive. But Rain doubted he would be very happy about it.

The drake let out a soft groan and his eyelids fluttered open. He didn't seem to know where he was for a moment, before recalling something. A stricken look came over his eyes darted down to his body, claws scrabbling at his chest.

The fanged goblin appeared in front of him and lifted something up. A small metal cube like a dice. The drake's eyes snapped to it, widening with fear.

"Yes, that's right. I hold your life in my hands."

Triskian reached for it instinctively and she pulled the object back.

"Don't even think about it. You think we put all of that inside of you to have only one control?"

"Th-theres more than one control?" rasped the drake, looking extremely unhappy.

"Mhmm! There's lots and lots! That way even if you steal one then another of us can just zap you dead just like that!"

The drake shuddered and paled. He licked his lip.

"Wh-what do you want from me?"

"Oh I'm sure the boss can think of something."

Triskian suddenly let out what sounded like a sob and flopped back, covering his eyes with his hands and letting out a long moan. "Oh Quis, what have you brought us to?"

He looked between his claws at the fanged goblin.

"Does she still live?"

"Who?"

"The one who brought you here. The Lamia."

"Oh. Dunno. You should ask that one…"

Triskian's head rolled to the side.

"What one—"

He froze as he caught sight of Rain who ducked down and emerged from the door, a goblin dangling from his paw.

A spasm of hate crossed his scaled face, then, after a moment, he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

"Things were never supposed to turn out this way."

"She's…probably alive. If it matters." growled Rain.

Rain did consider eating the drake, but the monsters had gone to so much effort to put him under their control, and he just knew this had something to do with Opal. Plus all that sharp metal in him didn't sound particularly appetising.

"I do wonder if that's something I should pity her for," muttered Triskian.

"Considering what she created here, no you shouldn't, and you don't get any pity either, by the way," said Lyra as she appeared beside Rain with Opal and Red at her side. The goblin girl was carrying a closed incense brazier that a little smoke was leaking from, and Red had his arms full of loot. Apparently he hadn't even waited for the bodies to cool before hunting for more gold to add to the hoard. He wandered over to the side and dumped the collection of treasure before pulling out a quill and paper to begin making note of his loot. The blue kobold had frozen where she stood and was looking between Red and the pile of treasure with round eyes.

Rain's attention was drawn to something more important however, the fact that Lyra once again had two arms. He set the unconscious goblin to the side before reaching out and touching her to make sure it was real, paw engulfing her entire shoulder and much of her arm.

"Hey, it's sensitive!"

"Was it hard to reattach?"

"Hmm, you act like this is the first time I've lost a limb. Where do you think I grew up? Here, that's what. Florens. With its awful dungeon where I rescued levelers from terrible situations involving very scary monsters. I did my reading, and have some Skills that help. I had to, not just for me, but to save the limbs of more than a few of my clients." She shuddered. "The jobs with panthara were the worst. They… enjoy playing with their food."

"I'm glad you're okay."

Lyra gave him a weak smile. "I should be telling you that, you looked half dead after everything. Opal was frantic, practically bathed you in potion."

Rain snorted air through his nose. "Capturing that lamia was probably… over ambitious." He paused and looked to Opal. "Speaking of which, what is any of this for? Why did you want Quistis?"

Opal glanced up from the incense brazier.

"Isn't it obvious? I was watching her the entire time I was in the arena. I saw what she could do. I saw what she did when she made spikes appear from that panthara with the little control thingy. She has the most useful leveler powers ever, and this place has a way to control a powerful monster like that panthara."

"Useful for what?"

"To build my monster town."

"...What?"

"You know, my monster town. The town for monsters? I was going to build one with those gobbos at the orc camp, but they stabbed me in the back because they wanted it to be gobbos only and that's never going to work because you aren't a gobbo and you obviously need to be part of my monster town and—"

To Rain the words she was speaking were alarming and confusing.

"What are you talking about? I'm not—

"Oh, and she can get you Brax and Myra with ease."

Rain frowned, then, a moment later, his brow rose in comprehension.

"The estate's barrier extends deep into the earth so we can't dig through it, but the barrier doesn't go down forever, it can't, the dungeon is beneath."

"Mhm! It would take no time at all to tunnel down to the dungeon, then tunnel straight up using the shouty lamia and come out at any point in their fancy house. You could be standing in their bedrooms within hours."

Rain could feel the fur on the back of his neck rising. Was he ready for this? His lungs were trashed but he was sure he had become stronger. Except would he even need that strength with the advantages the lamia brought? If he could simply assassinate the duo, a touch of predation to the back of the neck, this time he—

Opal raised a finger. "But you're going to have to wait until she's built my monster town first because she might get killed if we try doing that. Plus she isn't even pinned yet."

Rain paused in his excitement. "She's still in Lyra's wool??"

"Well yeah, you think I'd risk letting that crazy lamia out without you around? We've been waiting for you to recover," said Lyra.

"I see," said Rain. The thought of the terrifying leveler being so close, just behind the portal of Lyra's currently white wool was a little unsettling.

Opal lifted the incense brazier and shook the chains it was hanging from.

"This is full of feather powder from one of the monsters, a harpy with lots of wings. If you inhale the powder it knocks you out, it's what we've been using on the levelers, but if you burn it then the smoke knocks you out even better."

"Won't the flames burn Lyra's wool?"

Lyra shook her head. "I don't think so, my black wool seems, erm, fire resistant. When I fought  that Chimaera, its flames didn't affect my wool at all…"

"But why is it even needed if she will eventually run out of air in there anyway?"

"Not fast enough," said Lyra, "Your breaths are much much bigger so logically you would run out of air faster. It's impossible to know how long we'd have to wait, and then she might just drop dead if we wait too long, so Opal's right, it's got to be the smoke."

"Mhm!"

Opal turned to the fanged goblin and blue kobold. "You heard it Fangy and Blueberry, if you don't want to be near when we do this then shoo. I'm sure the shouty snake will be pretty mad at you two if she sees what you did to the drake."

The fanged goblin and the kobold scowled at her terrible nicknames but jumped down without protest. It seemed to Rain that they respected or at least listened to what she told them. He wondered how that had happened.

The kobold even got Triskian to stumble after them by waving his heart pin control, And shooed Ravoure out too. They disappeared with the clack of the door leaving only Rain, Red, Lyra, and Opal.