A Devil In The Dungeon: End of Respite (Patreon)

[End Of Respite]

There was a small procession held for Artus that night. Food was made and drinks were toasted in the name of the warrior gone too soon. Tanya quickly gathered that the Loki Familia were the type to celebrate their dead, rather than openly mourn them. Stories were spread across the camp about the teen, and though they were few, they were acted out as though they were the greatest feat any had ever heard of.

Tanya herself kept some distance from the merrymaking, or at least she tried to. She was sought out several times by familia members wanting her to share in their revelry, and quickly found herself nursing a drink that she didn't care to partake in.

Licia shared a few words under the light of a campfire. The speech was perhaps the most somber moment throughout the entire experience, and tears were shared between her and people Artus had known personally, but Tanya didn't.

“---and he was the kind of person who'd trip over his own feet trying to help you up. You all know that.” A small, wet laugh rippled through Licia's throat, washing over the crowd. “He wasn't the strongest or even the fastest, but he was getting there and he never stopped trying. Never once complained about being left behind.”

Licia paused, her gaze drifting toward the cart at the edge of the firelight.

“When I first joined the Loki Familia, I was a mess. My entire life had just come to pieces; I didn't trust anyone, and I didn't want to. But Artus helped me out of my shell and showed me that things wouldn't be like they had been.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, a self-deprecating smile on her face. “He looked up to me, which was ridiculous, because I barely knew him. But he believed in me more than I believed in myself, and I…”

Her voice cracked and she pressed her lips together, breathing hard through her nose until she steadied herself. “I won't let that faith be wasted. Even though he's gone, I'll keep trying to live up to whatever he saw in me.”

She sat down to quiet applause and gentle hands on her shoulder and back. Tanya watched from the periphery, and said nothing.

The celebration continued well into the night, slowly fading from revelry to quiet conversation and eventually to silence as the fire burned low and the crowd dispersed. Tanya retreated to her borrowed tent, lay on her cot, and stared at the canvas ceiling until sleep finally dragged her under.

The next morning, the camp was busy with movement as the Loki Familia packed their things for their imminent departure. They'd only stopped in Rivira to rest for a day or two and now that they were, it was time to resume their journney to the surface.

Tanya found a few new faces in the crowd. One of which, she was quite shocked to see.

“Hestia?”

The diminutive woman in question straightened and turned, blinking wide blue eyes. She seemed as surprised to see Tanya as Tanya was to see her. She glanced around, before quickly hurrying over, clearly making an attempt to draw as little attention as possible while doing so.

“Tanya,” she said, her voice just a hiss as she looked up at Tanya. “What in the world are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” Tanya tilted her head at the goddess’s demeanor. “I was under the impression that gods weren't supposed to descend into the Dungeon.”

Hestia's face went pale and she lunged forward, clapping a hand over Tanya's mouth with surprising speed for someone her size. Tanya stepped back but she followed, swiveling her head as she tried to see if anyone had heard.

“Shh!” Hestia hissed, her eyes darting between the busy adventurers. “Don't say it too loud!”

Tanya grabbed her wrist and peeled the hand away from her mouth, giving her a flat look. “I doubt anyone was listening before you did that.”

“You don't know that,” Hestia muttered, wringing her hands as she stepped closer. “And you're right, we're not supposed to come down here, but I… I needed to see Bell.”

“He seemed fine when I last saw him,” Tanya offered. “Banged up and bandaged, but in good spirits. His party is alright too”

“Yes, thank the gods,” she breathed, pressing a hand to her chest. “I was so worried about him and his little friends, I just had to come down here too.”

“As respectable as it is to bend the rules for someone you love, the rules are still in place for a reason. You are lucky you weren’t caught.”

“I know, I know.” Hestia waved a dismissive hand. “I'll head back up before anyone important notices. I just needed to see him with my own eyes.” She paused, looking up at Tanya with a somewhat curious expression. “But what about you? Don't tell me you're with Loki, now.”

“It's a long story.” Tanya shook her head. “Suffice to say, circumstances aligned. I still have no intention of joining a Familia.”

Before Hestia could press further, a voice called out from across the camp.

“Hestia! There you are!”

Both Tanya and Hestia turned to see a man approaching with an easy stride and a disarming smile. With golden hair and a travelers' hat setting atop his head at a jaunty angle, he seemed a touch too put together for another adventurer.

“Hermes! Keep it down!” Hestia hissed.

“It's fine, it's fine,” the man waved her off with an airy gesture. “You need to lighten up, Hestia. We're among friends here.” His eyes slid from Hestia to Tanya“Speaking of which...”

He swept into a bow that was just elaborate enough to border on theatrical, one hand sweeping wide while the other tipped his hat.

“Hermes, at your service. And you must be the famous Tanya Degurechaff.” He straightened, fixing her with that disarming grin. “I've been wanting to meet you face to face for quite a while now.”

Tanya eyed him. “Is that so?”

“Of course! You're making waves in Orario—both among the public and the gods.” He tapped the brim of his hat with one finger, tilting it down over his eyes. “I make it my business to know the business of the city, you see.”

“I'm flattered by the attention,” Tanya said, though it was clear to all that she meant none of the words she'd just spoken.

“Don't be,” Hermes said cheerfully “I'm simply a fan of interesting people. And you, little miss devil, are very interesting.”

Hestia patted Hermes on the arm, shooting Tanya an apologetic look. “Hermes.”

Ah, yes. Duty calls.” Hermes tipped his hat to Tanya one final time. “Until we meet again, Tanya Degurechaff. I look forward to seeing the next spectacle you bring along. I'm sure it will be quite something.”

With that, he turned and strolled away, Hestia hurrying after him with one last glance over her shoulder. Tanya watched them go, her eyes narrow as the gods disappeared between the tents.

The main force of the Loki Familia departed Rivira shortly after noon, which was impressive considering the amount of alcohol consumed between them a short sixteen hours prior.

Tanya watched themfrom the same spot she'd watched them prepare Artus's body the day before. The column of adventurers stretched a good distance down the main path leading out of Rivira, their numbers swelled by two or three parties' worth of adventurers who had decided to join them for safety in numbers.

Tanya's eyes tracked across the group, picking out a few familiar faces including the likes of Finn and Gareth. Mary was there as well, still bound and watched carefully by a group of men near the center of the column. Loki would have questions for her, though Tanya knew she'd be held by the Guild until her part in all this was properly sorted out..

Tanya herself remained with the remnants of the camp. She'd join the trailing party once they were sorted, following the main body back up after they cleared a path.

Surprisingly, she wouldn't be alone on that journey. Both Licia and—surprisingly—Rann, had stayed behind to help her cart her shipment up to the surface. Tanya figured that Licia would be willing to help her after everything that had happened, but Rann's continued support came as a surprise.

During a lull in the preparation, Tanya found both of them a little ways outside of the camp, talking quietly among themselves. Rann had Artus's spear strapped to his back. It seemed he had finally decided to accept it.

They quieted as she approached. Licia looked up at her from where she was sitting on a tree-stump, eyes tired and hands clasped in front of her.

“I'm not interrupting anything important, am I?” Tanya asked.

“No.” Licia offered something that might have been a smile, but came out as more of a grimace. “We were just talking.”

“About?”

Licia glanced at Rann, who let out a slow breath. His arms were crossed over one another, his fingers digging into his biceps hard enough to leave small imprints in the fabric.

“About what happened,” he said after a moment. He tilted his head, eyes locking with hers. “And about you.”

Tanya had figured as much.

Licia glanced at Rann, then back at Tanya. “We should probably all sit down for this.”

Tanya settled onto a nearby root, crossing one leg over the other and resting her hands on her knee. Rann followed her lead, sitting equidistant from both her and Licia. The silence stretched, and he seemed unable to look anywhere but her. Tanya met his eyes without blinking, and was surprised at the lack of anger on his face.

Licia spoke first. She shuffled her feet a little bit, running her thumb over the back of the opposite hand. “I... I told Rann about your past. Everything you explained to me. He deserved to know.”

Tanya glanced at Rann who was still staring at her silently.

“That's fine,” she said after a moment. “I was planning to tell him as soon as things had time to settle. I didn't feel like it was my place to approach him so soon after Artus had passed.”

“I probably would have broken your nose before I listened to a word you had to say,” Rann admitted without shame. Tanya merely nodded. She'd expected that, at the very least.

“I appreciate your honesty,” Tanya said. “And your restraint.”

Rann snorted, running a hand over his face. He looked exhausted. His eyes were haloed by dark circles, and his skin was pale with fatigue. Despite that, his voice was strong as he said, “Don't get me wrong; I'm still pissed at you. Say the wrong thing and I'll lay you out right here.”

“Rann.” Licia gave the Pallum a hard look and he just shrugged.

Tanya held a hand out. “That's more than fair. I'm sorry for withholding information from you. Though, in my defense, I didn't realize that it would come back to bite me quite like this.”

“I didn't even stop to consider Azalea might have made it out of that monster horde,” Licia admitted, her face looking troubled. “We barely made it out, and pretty much her entire party got slaughtered the moment they appeared. I never thought she would manage to survive where Dorian didn't, and then it turned out Dorian survived and... I guess I didn't really care.”

“She was more competent than we thought.” Tanya agreed. “It doesn't matter now though; she's dead. I made sure of it.”

Licia nodded, a dark expression crossing her face. “Good.”

Rann shook his head, spitting. “Yeah, that's great. But what about her god? He's the one behind this, right? He brought her up and gave her the manpower to try and hunt you down. If it wasn't for him, Artus wouldn't have...”

He cut himself off, clenching his jaw angrily.

Tanya understood his anger. Though Being X had been responsible for several hellish moments over the course of her life, this was the first time she could say he was directly responsible for the death of someone so close to her. Mary Sue had killed many imperial soldiers during their various spats, but Tanya didn't know the names of a single one. She knew Artus. And that made the loss sting quite a bit more.

“If something isn't done about him, I'm afraid this will just happen again.” Tanya bit the nail of her thumb. “Being X had a pawn like Azalea before; I have no doubts he'd replace her in a heartbeat, even if nobody else has a vendetta as powerful as hers.”

“Lady Loki will definitely take him and his familia down for this,” said Licia. “That woman you grabbed already confessed to the whole thing and she's provably a member of his familia. There's no way he'll get away with doing this, even if he didn't explicitly ask for it to happen. There's going to be some kind of repercussion.”

“I doubt that will be enough to stop him. That man is obsessed with me. It's quite worrying, actually.”

“Then what will?” Licia urged. “What can we do to make sure this won't happen again?”

“We could kill him,” Tanya suggested. Blank faces met her words. “At the very least, that's what I intend to do.”

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut with a knife. Her companions simply stared at her, like they weren't sure if they'd heard her correctly or whether she'd just gone insane. Tanya didn't grudge their reactions. suggesting the murder of a god was not exactly a light topic of conversation, and she was under no illusions about what such an act would entail, nor its consequences.

Luckily, she was past the point of caring.

“You're...” Rann shook his head. “Nuts.”

“That's putting it lightly,” Licia muttered.

Tanya steepled her hands. “Let me make this plain. Being X has been the bane of my literal existence for multiple lifetimes, and that is in no way hyperbole. He's narcissistic to a fault, and fully willing to throw me to the wolves when he doesn't get his way. Had Azalea succeeded and actually managed to kill me, I have no doubt that I'd find myself in the exact same situation as I am now. He's relentless, and he won't give up until I bend the knee of worship.”

She spread her arms wide, laughing a bit madly. “I have nothing to lose and everything to gain here. My life here means nothing as long as he's looming over my shoulder, ready and willing to snatch it from me at a moment’s notice.”

Licia and Rann shared a look. An entire conversation passed between them, words that Tanya was not privy to exchanged in the meerest of glances. After a moment, Licia turned to her, and there was a steel in her eye s that wasn't there before.

“I want to help you.”

Tanya raised an eyebrow. “You don't have to. I'm fully willing to undertake this little crusade all on my own.”

“I know. But even now, I can't help but think of Artus and what he'd think of your... frankly suicidal plan. He'd probably tell you it's a bad idea and try to get you to move on.” “ Licia took a deep, shuddering breath. “But he can't. Because he's dead. So I'm going to help you.”

Rann got a complicated look on his face. He looked away when Licia turned in his direction, fingers rising to caress the spear fitted to his back. Tanya knew what he was thinking, and so did Licia. “Rann, you don't need to—”

“Shut up, I'm thinking.” He held up a hand, cutting Licia off mid-syllable.

The silence that followed was mercifully brief. Rann's hand dropped to his side, and he let out a long, slow breath through his nose. His fingers drummed against his bicep once, twice, before stilling.

“Fine,” he finally said. “I'll help too.”

Tanya was stunned. Licia's support came as a surprise, but she'd never imagined that she'd have Rann's as well. It was clear from the Pallum's expression that he wouldn't be dissuaded from this course of action, whatever his reason, and she wasn't one to turn down the assistance.

“That's more than I expected,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Not doing it for you,” Rann shrugged. “But sure. You're welcome.”

Licia smiled and Tanya felt a small smirk crossing her lips at his reply. Rann doggedly refused to look at her, his eyes fixed on some point off in the distance.

He squinted, a confused expression crossing his face. “Hey... do you guys feel that?”

Tanya exchanged a confused glance with Licia. “Feel what? I don’t—”

A pillar of blinding light burst out from the forest less than half a mile away. It was accompanied by a wave of pressure, soft and almost feather-light as it washed over the settled group. It made Tanya's skin tingle where it touched her, and not at all in a good way.

The light lasted perhaps a second before dimming, and the sensation lingered perhaps a minute more before dispersing, leaving Tanya shaken, and the others confused.

“What was that?” Licia asked. Tanya didn't answer, staring off into the distance with a clenched jaw.

A minute later, the entirety of the Eighteenth Floor began to shake.