FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 40

Sometime later Rain opened his eyes, or at least tried to, the moment he did he was hit with a blinding headache and he immediately snapped them back shut. He groaned and rolled over, pulling his paw from Lyra's lap.

The pain wasn't going away and he clutched at his head in the fetal position. This wasn't a headache, it was a full on migraine. He belatedly realised he was healed as he was able to move his lower legs, though judging how his body felt it wasn't a complete healing. It felt like someone had taken a meat tenderiser and gone bananas beating every inch of his body.

"Oh gods, never again, healing is the worst."

He managed to crack open an eye and saw Lyra next to him. She was slumped against the throne, asleep with her mouth slightly open. A line of drool had run down her cheek.

He turned his head to see Opal approaching him. She carried a tin bucket in one hand.

"Hey."

"Hey." Rain gravelled back, his teeth gritted through the pain.

"I tried to find something for you to eat but," she shrugged her shoulders, "nothing seems to live here, I guess most monsters are savvy enough to stay away."

Rain grunted in response.

"It's all empty rooms and cobwebs and bones, I think this place is too old to have anything left but stone apart from what the boney bitch boy took from his victims. I did find a working well though, here I brought you water."

Rain reached out a paw gratefully and took the bucket. He put it to his lips and gulped down the water in one go, the bucket being more like a large cup at his size.

"Thank You. I needed that."

"Old Gobbo trick for headaches, drink it away with lots of water."

"Mm, it helps, I think."

Rain was feeling a little better and managed to sit up.

"How long was I out?"

"Dunno. A while."

Rain squinted at the Goblin. She had changed her wear since he had fallen asleep. She now sported an ornate looking gold gladius underneath where her cutlass was strapped to her belt, and an emerald pommeled dagger beneath the rapier on the other side.

Sharp metal things just seem to sidle up to the Goblin and beg to be with her, she really was a Goblin shaped magnet for weapons.

She'd also found a couple of bejewelled gold rings as well as three earrings which now bedecked her knife ears. She'd clearly scoured the ruin for everything not nailed down, and probably some things that were nailed down too.

"I have to ask Opal, how are you going to use five blades?"

"Options, it's about options, the right weapon for the right situation."

If Rain could squint harder he would have.

"...Sure." he deadpanned.

The Goblin turned away in a huff.

"I'm guessing you looted all the levelers who had become undead."

"Well, I'm not going to leave all that stuff there."

"Did you get any coin at least?"

She pointed at the Kobold. Rain's eyes drifted over to him. Red was squatting on the ground with a slightly manic look on his face. In front of him were stacks and stacks of gold, silver, and copper coins that he was happily shifting around, and another mound of unsorted coin next to that which his claws greedily picked through and carefully sorted.

"I think Kobolds like money."

"Oh."

He looked at the Kobold's digits which were crammed with rings.

"And the rings?"

"I figure I need my fingers mostly free to fight with and he has nothing on his claws. He's my jewellery box." She grinned.

"With that great big pile of coin we're rich you know."

The Goblin shrugged. "I can't wear coin, even the shiny ones."

"If we make it out maybe we can get Lyra to go into town to buy you some stuff with it. More swords perhaps."

The Goblin's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Rain rolled his eyes, though doing so caused him another jab of head pain.

He rubbed his brow irritably.

"Get Red to pack up, I don't want to spend longer than we have to here. If one group of levelers found us then so can another, the sooner we can use Lyra's ability the better."

The Goblin nodded and turned away to yell orders at the Kobold.

Rain sighed and turned to the sleeping Lyra.

He shifted over to her and poked her in the shoulder with a claw.

"Don wanna, jus' one mo hour," she murmured incoherently.

Rain poked her again and this time she blearily opened her eyes to see Rain's big yellow eyes staring into hers.

She screamed and leapt upward like a frightened gazelle, somehow defying gravity to go from sitting to instantly leaping through the air.

"Don't eat meeeeee!"

She landed on her butt with a whumpff and scrambled away hyperventilating in fear.

Rain just watched in amusement.

"You, you bastard!" she said between heaving breaths. "You did that on purpose!"

"You said you wanted to get used to being around me."

"Giving me a waking heart attack is not that!!"

Rain tilted his head to the side.

"Oh screw off." She scowled and tried to stand. Her legs immediately turned to jelly however and she sunk back down to her butt.

"You and Opal have at least one thing in common. Unreliable legs."

Lyra set her lips in a line and glared at him.

Rain growled out a laugh and climbed to his feet. He stepped over the still sitting Elf-sheep and looked down at her. Sitting she only came up to his thigh. She looked up at him with round eyes.

"It doesn't help that you are so damned huge, on top of part of me being blood line scared of you. You're like part giant or something."

Rain leant down and opened a paw. After a moment she raised her hand for him. His paw engulfed her arm and dragged her into the air. He set her upright and let her find her feet. She immediately began to sink downward again and Rain had to hold her up. Her legs shook violently, fluffy knees nearly knocking together.

"I c-can't stand straight with you right next to me, holding me."

"You're going to have to get used to it, how else are you going to make me invisible."

"Damn you!"

He walked over to where Opal and Red were busily packing bags. Opal's rucksack was there, but it was joined by a new slightly mouldy and very old looking one seemingly taken from the undead levelers. The both of them were stuffed and overflowing with loot. He held one paw up in the air as he walked which Lyra dangled from, desperately trying to find her feet and keep herself upright under her own power.

Opal was busily slotting swords into gaps in one of the bags. The pile of fancy looking swords she was taking from wasn't getting much smaller.

Rain raised an eyebrow.

"I need them!" said Opal, noticing his expression.

"For what army?"

She held up an arm and slapped her bicep fiercely.

"These armies!"

Rain almost said something but instead let her get on with it. He couldn't stop the corner of his lip from twitching with amusement however.

Soon enough everything was packed, both Red and Opal carried large well filled packs on their backs that rattled with metal obnoxiously with every step.

Rain took one last look around the hall. The stone remained as it would no doubt for centuries more. An empty shell with nearly all signs of its ancient inhabitants lost to the ravages of time. The people who had created it gone and dead with only himself a sole lone life centuries after their light had been extinguished. He wasn't going to give up on figuring out what had happened, what these mysterious wolf people were, but he'd need to find some other approach. This ruin was clearly the nexus of the dungeon for the people who had built this place and it had given him nothing, he needed someone who could read their script, tell him of ancient history, he needed a scholar.

His eyes paused on the rags of the bone creature. A thing that had given up on revenge because it was too hard, instead choosing to indulge in its amusements and hobbies, hiding itself away from the world, choosing to forget. The very idea repulsed Rain, he had no interest in giving up, hard things were the things most worth doing, the most gratifying... A small thought seeped into the back of his mind, he instantly jumped on it, locked it away with the rest of the memories of his death. That thought had said the only way he could get rid of his trauma was by crushing its root, an uncomfortable thought with sharp edges, one that inspired fear, because what would he do if he could not?

Lyra glared up at him from where she half dangled from his paw.

"Can you let me down now please?"

Rain experimentally lowered her. Her legs wobbled, a look of hope crossed Lyra's eyes, and then her knees folded and she sunk down with a groan.

"How are you going to use your ability if you can't walk?"

Lyra didn't reply.

Chapter 41

Rain took his first few steps back out into the grassy plain. A light rain was falling from the clouds above. Lyra scowled at him from where she hung from his paw.

"I can stand now! I promise! My legs aren't afraid anymore!"

Rain lowered his paw a little, letting her take her own weight. Her legs held for a moment then she began to sink earthward. He pulled her up again.

"This isn't fair! You're not even doing anything but you're still so- so!"

Rain interrupted, "You need to fix this fear thing, but for now we're going to have to do something you won't like."

"Wha- Wait, hold on! N-no!"

Rain wrapped his large paws around her hips and lifted her, then ducked underneath her legs and put her on his shoulders. The sheep girl trembled in fright.

"Oh, oh gods, this is such a bad idea!"

She looked down, the ground was suddenly very far away. She swallowed and her legs shivered and shook out of her control. She sat over his shoulders, her thighs spread by his neck, her hooves hanging down over his pecs. She was literally riding this terrifying beast! Her breathing accelerated.

"P-put me d-dooowwnn! Oh goddssss!"

"No. And if you pee yourself up there I'll go with the simplest solution and eat your legs."

"Nuu! Don't say that! You'll make it worse!"

She tried to curl up on herself, make herself smaller, but found herself getting closer to Rain's head. Her trembling hands found his ears and she clutched at them desperately, one large warm ear held in each hand. She could feel Rain's powerful heartbeat through her thighs. She was so close! So close to him!

She let out a cute little helpless whimper.

"You're fine see? There's nothing to be scared of."

"I'm riding an eight foot tall super strong wolf monster who loves to eat people! There's a lot to be scared of!"

The sheep girl clutched her thighs tight as she could around Rain's neck, her hooves drawing together. She couldn't get away, everywhere she looked was predator! There was only one answer. She closed her eyes... Yes, already she felt a bit better, there was only the huge muscular mass between her thighs, the rise and fall of his breathing and- oh gods this didn't help at all!

"J-just g-go! The sooner we are done with this the sooner I can get off!"

"Hold on!" said Opal. She was looking up at Lyra with her arms crossed, clearly pretty annoyed. "Why does she get a ride? She's taking my spot! I should be riding you!"

Rain paused and looked down at the Goblin. "She can't walk so she can't use her ability to make me invisible without being carried."

"So? Who needs that shitty power. Just attack anything that approaches!"

"You don't really mean that Opal."

"Hmphh!" the Goblin huffed and turned away. As she turned Rain saw her lip tremble slightly. He tilted his head. Was Opal... jealous of Lyra? Well, he wasn't about to let her stay feeling down. He reached out with his paws and scooped the surprised Goblin up into his arms, cradling her up against his chest, relieving her of her rucksack in the same motion. Opal looked up at him with round eyes then snuggled into his fur.

"This, this works..." she murmured softly.

Red gave the now girl-covered wolf a worried look.

"I'm not doing that! You're not carrying me!"

"I was never going to," said Rain flatly.

Opal waggled the Kobold's chain. "You're the vanguard Red, you meet the enemy head on, like a hero."

Red put a claw to his chin, thinking. "Wait a second, that's just a fancy way of saying I'm bait!"

"Really heroic bait yes," murmured the Goblin.

"I've changed my mind, please pick me up!"

"No."

"C-can we go now?" said Lyra, her legs clutching ever tighter around Rain.

"Yes, make us invisible... This will hide our tracks right?"

"Oh, um, yes, well you'll see." The sheep girl shifted her hips and steadied her grip on Rain's ears. "Okay, on one, two, three!"

Rain looked down to see that the Goblin held in his arms appeared as though she was cast in shadow. He glanced at Red who was staring around where Rain stood, a wary look in his eye, seeing straight through him and into the distance. Rain looked down wondering how Lyra's ability dealt with the chain. It didn't seem to, or at least that is what he first assumed, then he noticed that the length of the chain hanging from Opal's fist that dipped below the grass was more shadowed than the length of chain that led up from the grass to the Kobold's collar. Partial invisibility. Imperfect but he supposed it wouldn't be that noticeable considering the length of the chain.

He experimentally shifted a foot, then lifted it up. The grass beneath his paw fuzzed and then seemed to unfold and slip back into an unflattened state, the blades straightening and arranging in such a way that it was indistinguishable from the rest of the grass around it, it was as though nothing had ever touched it. He pressed his broad foot pads down on the grass experimentally squashing it down then lifting away watching the grass blur and fuzz and shift back to normal.

"Is this an illusion or is it actually happening?"

"It's uhm... Well I don't understand it fully if I'm honest, when I got the Class, Rescuer, I went to see a Class scholar. They said it was only the third time they'd come across the Class and then they told me lots of complicated stuff about true manifesting illusions which went over my head. What's left behind, in the end, is real I think."

"...Could you use this to repair things?"

"Mmm, I don't think so, not unless you broke the thing you wanted repaired yourself while under the effect of my skill and it would have to be something that suggests you were there when left behind."

"What happens if you accidentally drop something? Like a note that has your destination written on it?"

"I dropped a sandwich once. The Skill vaporized my sandwich after I took a few steps. It was really traumatic. Uhm, other times I have dropped coins and the skill buried them in the ground, it took forever to find and dig them up. There's also, well this is a little embarrassing, once I dropped a pair of panties and the skill merged them into the carpet!"

"What a strange Skill."

"Suits her, she's strange and weird," grumbled Opal, her face buried in Rain's fur.

Red politely coughed into his fist. "I can't hear you three, how am I supposed to know what to do?" He looked around warily. "That is if you're still here and haven't hopefully abandoned me."

"Silly Kobold. He thinks I'm going to abandon my walking jewellery box."

"How do we leave the dungeon Opal? Tell us where to go."

"Oh? Oh yes, it's that way."

The Goblin pointed and Rain began walking. After a moment the chain went taught around the Kobold's neck, tugging him forward with a lurch. Red spluttered and scrambled to keep up with the invisible trio, having to jog across the grass to keep up with Rain's long stride.

With Rain keeping pace it didn't take them long to reach the edge of the vast cavern and step into a dark crack in the wall. The cave was tall enough that he didn't need to duck with Lyra on his shoulders. He felt Lyra tense up as darkness engulfed them.

"You don't like the dark? I thought Elves had good night vision?"

"I'm not an Elf, I'm a Half-elf!"

"So you can't see in the dark?"

"I... I can, mostly, but..."

"You find it intimidating don't you."

"..."

"Do you find the dark scarier or me?"

"You! Wait, that's just my legs!"

"Well I'm on your side so you don't need to be afraid of the dark anymore."

"I- I-..."

Rain felt her fingers tense up on his ears for a moment.

"I'm not afraid, really!"

Her legs fluttered against his chest as she spoke belying her words.

"Sheepy is lying, she's scared of monsters and the dark and big bad wolves," murmured Opal, her eyes closed and her head resting against Rain's chest.

Lyra's breath hitched and she tried her best to still her trembling legs and compose herself. She took in a few deep steadying breaths.

"I'm not afraid of anything."

Rain didn't reply to her although he felt Opal silently laughing in his arms.

After a time he felt Lyra relax a little bit, getting used to the dark perhaps.

"I've been thinking," said Rain as he walked. "It seems likely that there will be levelers watching the stairs between floors if they are looking for me and you."

"That might be true by now, yes, if they have any sense at least, but they weren't when last I checked."

"That's not a problem," said Opal. "Levelers like to camp the stairs because they think they are being clever so monsters know plenty of ways to go between floors without using them." She pulled on Rain's fur to get his attention then pointed down a side tunnel. "This way will take us up a floor without using the main stairs."

She led them into a network of caves, the tunnels quickly became more cramped and starting to lead upward.

"I can't fit while carrying you both..."

"Yes, please put me down!"

"Carry me more please Rain!"

They climbed upwards, ascending onto the next floor of the dungeon through the secret ways of monsters. They eventually came out on a different floor where Rain picked the girls up and Lyra made them invisible once more.

They traversed the tunnels carefully until they emerged out into a larger cavern. The grass on the ground was frosted over and Rain's breath steamed in the air in great billows of white. A cold biome. He watched Red wander out into the cold cavern, the Kobold looked around nervously, his breath coming in short little fearful puffs. He shivered in the cold, his arms crossing and his tail wrapping around his hips.

"A-anyone th-there? U-uhm?"

Rain walked straight past him completely unseen and the Kobold had to hurry to catch up with the snaking chain that coiled through the icy grass seemingly of its own volition.

Red watched as the chain passed between the sporadic trees and he carefully picked the same path, wary of getting caught going the wrong direction and getting himself wrapped around a trunk. He was so focused on looking down and following the chain that he was caught completely by surprise when a large mossy green furred boar with frost coated bone nubs on its back tried to gore him. A yellowed tusk glanced off his shoulder as it charged past sending Red spinning like a top to land on his butt.

He blinked, the attack was so sudden he hadn't quite processed it. He turned his head to see the boar had turned around and was pawing the ground, its breath huffing white.

The Kobold scrambled backwards on his rump, his clawed feet pushing at the ground until his back bumped up against a tree.

"H-Help! S-save meee!"

The boar's beady murderous black eyes locked onto Red. It lowered its head, readying to charge. It leaned forward, front leg lifting, stepping-

Rain suddenly materialised behind the boar and fell upon it, Opal leaping to the side, hacking at its leg even as Lyra rolled off Rain's shoulders and ungracefully landed on the icy grass with a yelp.

Rain linked his arms around the boar's neck and used his raw muscular strength to crush the boar's windpipe. The monster struggled desperately, bucking up against Rain's weight, trying to kick him, but it was hopeless, its hooves bounced off of Rain doing nothing. He forced the boar to the ground as it began to slowly weaken, the lack of oxygen making it sluggish.

"Lyra, do it now!"

The sheep girl scrambled to her hooves and held out her hand. A black knife appeared. She grasped the hilt in both hands and charged toward the boar Rain was holding down. She plunged the blade into the boar's neck with a cry, then again, and again, panic and fear and memories of using the knife to kill, washing over her, overwhelming her, sending adrenaline roaring through her mind.

At last the boar lay dead and still and Lyra slumped backwards onto the grass, her arms outstretched, her blue eyes staring at the cavern ceiling far overhead. She let the knife fall from her fingers.

"It worked, I leveled up."

Chapter 42

Rain took a huge slavering bite from the boar's side, gulping it down eagerly. He had been getting hungrier and hungrier, the dual pressure of being wounded and time passing since his last major meal making him increasingly ravenous so the relief of devouring the boar was immense.

It wasn't the first boar. Using Lyra's power they had baited and drawn out over a dozen green-furred boars, piling up each kill until Rain had a small hill of pork waiting for him. He hadn't waited on ceremony, once they'd checked the cavern was empty he had instantly leapt upon the delicious mound, indulgently gorging himself. He was hungry enough that he didn't even stop for a moment between eating, letting the intense backed up feeling of coming growth build up inside of him, edging the release by continuing to stuff more and more meat into his underfed maw.

The pile of boars rapidly disappeared, warm blood spilling across the icy grass as he fed, steam rolling off it in thick foggy waves. Lyra blinked as the mist rolled over her, it didn't stop her from looking though, the sight of such a monstrous primal endless hunger stunning her, making her feel faint and weak at the knees. She understood Rain ate a lot, but actually seeing such an incredible amount of mass disappear inside of him so quickly was a sight to behold.

Rain gorged on the boar until there was nothing left but a slick layer of steaming blood across the frosty grass. He leaned back and belched, curling his digits as the delicious feeling of growing larger and stronger rolled through his body, he arched his back in pleasure, his claws scrabbling across the ground, leaving furrows in the dirt. Oh gods how he had missed this! He needed more! More! He let out an involuntary groan as his joints popped, adjusting to their new size, his limbs lengthening, muscle swelling. He grunted as Opal made a flying leap on top of him and hugged at his torso as his ribs creaked outward, his chest and pecs broadening, his feet shifting across the ground, kicking instinctively.

"Beeger! Yess!" whimpered the Goblin as she rolled and humped her hips against his abdomen.

At last, the final bit of growth was done and he slumped back breathing hard, a faint glowing satisfied feeling filling his body, like an after sex glow without the sex.

Lyra stared at the pair with big round eyes.

"C-could you grow f-forever? Eat forever?" She swallowed dryly. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to this," she said queasily.

"Don't worry, it becomes the new terrifying normal after a while," said Red beside her, his tone flat, that of someone who was long jaded by the sight.

"How could this ever be normal!"

Rain checked his body over, Opal still hanging off him, and was pleased to see his remaining minor wounds and cuts were shrinking and healing. Still some ways to go but he was rapidly returning to full physical health.

He glanced up at the sheep girl. His gaze made her flinch.

"You killed these boars you know, all of them, you held the knife and stabbed them until they died while I held them down, so why do you feel that way about me eating them?"

"I- I know I did! That's not the problem!... I'm a leveler, I've always had to hunt monsters to level up, it's always been this way. When I was a low leveler desperate to find a way to make ends meet and not be stuck as a bottom feeder I managed to scrape together enough money to get cheaply power leveled. It... it was rough, only two of us made it back alive, I had to kill so many monsters just to survive. I'm used to killing monsters..."

"Then there's no problem."

"There is! You're eating them!"

"What would happen if a leveler had come across them and killed these boars? They might cook one part of one of them, or hack off some valuable part, but most of the time they'd wastefully leave the rest to rot. I'm actually making use of what's left behind. It's a good thing."

"That- that's different! You're- It's just different okay! Levelers don't eat everything!"

"Good thing I'm not a leveler then." He grinned at her, showing his bloody teeth.

The sheep girl shuddered.

"Tell me, what level are you now?" said Rain looking over her trembling body.

"I- I was level fourteen, after k-killing that first boar monster I became level fifteen, I don't know how many more I'd have to kill to reach level sixteen, it feels like a lot, levelers need to kill more monsters or more powerful monsters as they level up, we need that much more experience."

"Did you get anything for level fifteen?"

The sheep girl hesitated then nodded her head. "Leveling doesn't always give something, but I got a climbing Skill, so I can rescue people who have fallen down ravines or something..."

"How lame!" sneered Opal.

"It's not lame! Gosh!"

"Mm, no it's pretty lame."

Lyra glared at the Goblin, uncertain if she was just trying to annoy her, she was pretty sure it was the latter, but her pride still stung.

"Just watch this!"

The sheep girl turned to the nearest tree. She looked up at it. It was a fairly barren winter tree with a few branches high up. It was a bit more of a challenge than she had been anticipating. She furrowed her brow and glanced back at the Goblin. Opal was looking at her, a mocking smile pulling at the corner of her lips.

Lyra curled her hands into fists. She wasn't going to let that Goblin laugh at her, she was just a stupid little Goblin! Lyra was a leveler!

She drew in a breath, readying herself, then brought the Skill to the forefront of her mind and triggered it. Energy flooded through her body and she leapt at the tree, her hooves digging into the bark with ease, her fingers somehow finding unnoticeable crevices that gave just enough grip to let her swiftly ascend the tree. She popped up on top of one of the larger branches sticking from the trunk, wobbling from a moment before getting her balance. She looked down smugly at the Goblin who was staring up at her in disbelief. Then she noticed just how far from the ground she was. She gripped the tree trunk extra hard as blood drained from her face.

"S-s-s-see! It-It's a g-great S-Skill!"

"Interesting," said Rain looking up at her. "And you can use this often?"

"W-well until my mana runs out, and I can't use it consecutively lots of times or I'll get exhausted."

"Goddam levelers have it so good..." grumbled Opal.

Lyra turned and shakily activated the Skill again, she climbed down from the tree, this time significantly more slowly.

Her hooves touched down on the icy grass and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Levelers get stronger as they level right?" said Rain.

"Yes! Whenever a leveler levels up it improves them physically and makes their existing skills slightly better."

"And when you get a Class or an advanced Class it comes with key Skills...Too bad the secrets to acquiring good classes are hoarded by family dynasties."

Lyra blinked at him. "How did you know that?"

Opal opened her mouth to say something but Rain suddenly plugged it with a paw pad. Her teeth bit down on him harmlessly and she glared up at Rain.

"It's just something I heard somewhere," graveled Rain.

Lyra narrowed her eyes at him. She couldn't say what it was but Rain was... different from other monsters. Not just that he was scary and growing larger but the way his mind worked, it didn't quite seem... She wasn't sure how to explain it, it was like he wasn't all monster.

"We should move, sitting out in the open like this is inviting trouble."

Lyra was jerked from her pondering and looked up to see Rain standing, the Goblin girl in his arms.

"Er, right. I am looking forward to getting out of this dungeon. If that's really possible as Opal says."

"Course it is, you'll learn, Gobbo scouts know the way."

As Rain stepped toward Lyra, his heavy feet crunching the icy grass underneath, Lyra was taken aback by his significantly more bloody state after eating the boars.

"W-wait! Wait a second!"

Rain paused. "You're going to get carried whether you like it or not."

"G-gods, okay fine! Just let me... let me get on your shoulders myself!"

Rain gave her a puzzled look.

"If you think it helps, okay, we can do that."

He turned around and sat down on the ground cross-legged, his back facing Lyra, Opal in his lap.

"Climb up."

Lyra stared at his broad back. She really hadn't thought this far ahead.

"O-ok-kay I'm g-gonna climb up."

She remained standing where she was.

Rain looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

Lyra screwed her face up and slapped her pink cheeks, drawing in big breaths as though readying herself for something impossibly hard. She was ready. She was really ready.

She took a step forward. And immediately fell over. But she caught herself! But now she was stumbling toward Rain out of control! She squeaked as she fell against his back, her hands pressed against his fur, she could feel his powerful muscles shifting beneath her palms. Her legs shook wildly, knees turned inward, barely holding her up, her breath coming in desperate gasps. She- She could still do this! Probably.

She set her jaw and activated her new climbing Skill. Her hands slid up him, her fingers curling into his fur. With a yell she launched herself upward, slamming her body into his unyielding back, her fear weakened legs kicking, her hooves pawing at him, slipping and sliding. She clambered up his back shakily, until she was awkwardly holding his head. Rain didn't make comment as she clumsily shifted her body, her large breasts pressing up against the back of his head as she lifted her leg, missed, slipped back, managed to recover, then slipped one leg over his shoulder and then the other. She leaned over his head breathing hard, her hand hanging off the bridge of his snout, her head hanging over his, her chest tight against his head.

She opened her eyes to see Rain's yellow eyes looking up at her. She squeaked and snatched her hand away.

"I- I did it!"

"Congratulations." deadpanned Rain. "Hold my ears so you don't fall."

He shifted his legs and stood up, Lyra letting out a little whimper as the ground dropped beneath her.

To his right something rattled and Rain turned his head to see Red. Opal had decided she didn't want to carry the second rucksack anymore and had spent time while Rain was busy eating fixing her rucksack to the overburdened Kobold. The Kobold's torso was now comically sandwiched between two over stuffed packs, his arms sticking out to either side and his head resting atop the pack attached to his front. He gave Rain a confused and concerned look.

"I'm not sure about this!"

"You'll be fine," said Opal lazily from Rain's arms.

"I will?"

"Yes, those packs are full of metal things, It's like really good armour!"

Red gave the Goblin a 'you can't be serious' look.

"Let's go, Lyra, make us invisible."

The sheep girl twitched at his voice but gathered herself and Rain sensed shadow falling over them. The Kobold looked around, suddenly alone.

His chain shifted across the ground and he hurried to follow it, uninterested in being jerked off his feet while his body was surrounded by bags full of sharp pointy things.

He waddled furiously forward, the packs clanking around him obnoxiously. Soon they had made it to the edge of the cavern and the chain started shifting toward a nearby cave entrance. They were about to enter it when a huge paw suddenly came down on the pack on Red's back and lifted him into the air. He was whisked away behind a massive boulder to one side of the cave entrance.

Red looked at his arms to either side of him. They were unnaturally shadowed. He looked up at Rain who was holding him up.

"What's going on?"

"There are levelers coming."

Chapter 43

Rain set his claws against the boulder and leaned his muzzle around it just enough to peek his yellow eyes and observe the levelers who were emerging into the cavern. He was wary of Lyra's invisibility not holding up, mostly because the sheep girl seemed to lack confidence in it. That turned out to be a wise decision as he quickly spotted an Elf amongst the group of levelers, the Elf had a pair of violet lensed spectacles hanging around his neck on a chain.

"That Elf, he can sense the use of magic, and those spectacles, the instant he looks through them we will be completely visible to him. We- we might be in a little bit of trouble..." said Lyra, peeking around the boulder above him, her hands held tight on his ears.

"Why isn't he wearing them now?"

"They continually drain mana, and not a small amount of mana, I've seen people faint after just twenty minutes of wearing them. It's kind of a thing to give them to Elves since they can sense if any magic is being used and it's a good time to put them on. Traps, invisibility, illusions. Truth lenses can see through all of it."

"Wow, that makes your magic invisibility totally useless! I didn't know you could be any more terrible sheepy but you continue to surprise me," said Opal.

"H-hey! They aren't that common and if you don't know to look then they aren't very good! I- I think!"

As they watched a large-bodied leveler emerged from the dark of the tunnel. It took Rain a moment to process what he was looking at. A Centaur, except their upper body was that of a muscular Gnoll. A cloaked figure wearing a wooden mask sat stiffly on their back. Their lower body was that of a wild horse, powerful and rippling with muscle, their broad hooves flared with fur. Rain narrowed his eyes. This leveler felt different from the others. Strong, yes they seemed very very strong. The way they held themselves, casually strolling across the frozen grass as though they owned the place indicated a confidence in their own power. She had the look of a high leveler, someone used to looking down on others and squashing monsters with ease.

"O-oh, it's that person..." mumbled Lyra.

"You know them? Who are they? I didn't know there was such a thing as a half Centaur half Gnoll."

"She is just a Centaur, not a half, just a rare bloodline that you don't commonly see outside of the plains. Centaurs have a thing for Humans and discriminate against Centaurs who aren't the Human type. I've heard they won't even let bloodlines like hers into cities that have a large Human type Centaur presence."

"Is it like Gobbos and half Gobbos?" said Opal. "Half Gobbos are a threat to regular Gobbos so we don't like them very much."

Lyra shook her head. "I don't know why they treat them that way, Centaur clans do their own thing."

"You didn't say who they are."

"I only saw them in passing when I rescued Lady Glyrieth and took her to the leveler's camp. That Centaur was there, she spoke to, uhm, the town of Lynthia's Ranker! The town's Ranker is in the dungeon right now!"

The stone beneath Rain's claws suddenly shattered as his paw tensed, his claws shearing inward. Stone fractured across the boulder sending splinters of stone flying. Lyra yelped as stone peppered her legs.

Rain blinked and looked down to see the broken stone beneath his paw. He slowly removed his digits, stone dust coming away with his fur. He flexed his claws. The Ranker was here? In the dungeon? So close?? He didn't know how he felt about that. Dark and terrible memories began to stir, like a great bear waking from winter hibernation.

"Y-you don't like the Ranker that much?" squeaked Lyra.

Rain remained silent.

"What was that?" said one of the Human levelers, turning toward them.

"Oh no! The stone splinters went outside the range of my skill!"

The Centaur turned her head. "What is it?"

"I thought I heard something, Like small stones hitting something."

Rain looked at the levelers and then looked back at the fractured boulder. Already the stone was reforming, shifting and blurring into place. If he squinted he could see that there was some kind of illusion over the rapidly filling crack, a temporary disguise while the skill repaired the stone. Unfortunately, it was a little too late.

The Centaur crossed her arms. "Hrm. Keep in mind that there are, supposedly, Panthara around here. Drawing in the unwary with a sound is a trick they like to use. One wrong move and," she curled her hand into a fist, "you'll be eviscerated and lose your guts."

"You've fought one of them before mistress, uh, Drassi?"

The Centaur traced a scar that ran down her arm, her fur had grown over it askew.

"No, I didn't fight one, I fought a pack of 'em."

The group of levelers all snapped their gazes to her, their backs straightening, suddenly a lot more conscious and aware of the power level of the Centaur.

"Y-you d-did?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. I'd rather avoid fighting any ever again if I can help it, horrible nasty shitters that they are."

"I don't believe it was a Panthara unless Panthara's have taken to using magic," said the Elf of the group. He squinted at the boulder by the entrance and his fingers reached for his violet lensed spectacles.

"You sense something?" said Drassi

"Hmm, I'm not sure, there's something... Some strange magic..."

He raised the spectacles to his eyes and furrowed his brow. He removed them and then put them back on, comparing.

"Someone used magic here, I'm just not sure what. I'm not seeing anything unusual."

The Elf closed on the boulder, looking over it carefully, rounding its side.

"I can feel it, something happened here very recently."

He put the spectacles to his eyes and... nothing, there was no one there and the stone looked perfectly natural and whole. He frowned.

"The lenses show nothing. Whatever it was that was using magic is no longer here."

"Perhaps our erstwhile Rescuer is nearby. I wouldn't mind getting my mitts on all the gold that filthy rich snake asshole is offering," said the Centaur, her eyes roaming around as though looking for a sign of the Elf-sheep. She turned to face the chilly cavern. "Keep the lenses on for now, see if you spot anything amongst the trees." She strode forward and the group followed.

Rain stepped back further into the shadows of the tunnel from whence the levelers had emerged.

"Phew," said Lyra. "Elves are real bastards you know, I get caught out by them more than any other species."

"Aren't you half Elf?"

"Yes, but only the good bit, the bad half missed me, I'm all good."

"Could have fooled me!" said Opal, her words dripping with smugness.

"What? You're a monster! You're all bad! You don't know anything!"

Rain scratching his jaw thoughtfully. "Anything your Skill leaves behind is natural and completely non-magical... That does make sense I suppose, if what was left behind was magical that would just be another kind of track to follow."

"Yes, like footprints in the snow. My invisibility needs to be so complete because injured people I rescue from dungeons aren't very good at being stealthy, mostly they just bleed everywhere and stumble into things and cry a lot."

Opal guided them away from the cold cave and through several side passages, the endless stone pressing in on all sides. Rain had to breath in and turn sideways to fit through one part, it was a very tight fit.

Eventually, they came to a stop by a large rock. The Goblin jumped out of Rain's arms and wiggled around a gap beneath the stone where it pressed up against the wall. She disappeared behind it after a moment and then a muffled voice called back.

"Okay, you can move the rock, this is it!"

Rain's paw came down atop it and he set his feet and heaved. The rock pulled away from the wall far more easily than he expected and he stumbled backwards as it fell with a crash and rolled away. He had to shift his foot to avoid the rock rolling over it.

Opal was standing on a worn smooth looking set of stairs on the other side, her hands on her hips.

"Oh you are getting strong," she grinned.

Rain set Red and Lyra down and examined the revealed stair.

"These stairs seem old, like the big stairs that go between floors."

"Mhm! It's the same!" Opal hopped up the first few steps and beckoned Rain to follow. Rain eyed the small space sceptically. The stair was cramped, very cramped. It seemed more like something that was used for maintenance or that a servant might use than a main passageway, and it was in far worse repair than the main stairs of the dungeon, the steps uneven and cracked, dipping in the middle like they had been eroded by water.

"Oh come on you'll fit, besides you can always force your way through."

They began to climb, Red, Opal, and Lyra ahead, Rain bringing up the rear.

Rain had to hunch over to fit, his shoulders scraping against the walls, his ears squished up against the ceiling. They climbed up the dark spiral stair, ever higher.

At one point there was a break in the wall and a tiny stream merged with the stair, waterfalling down its steps. The steps became slippery and wet and algae covered and Rain found himself having to dig his claws into the stone to remain standing.

Red wasn't quite so sure-footed and the Kobold suddenly slipped on his rump and gracelessly bounced down the steps, his metal filled packs making a racket in the small space until the Kobold crashed into Rain. He looked up at the hulking wolf, eyes wide with fear.

"P-please! It was an accident! Have mercy!"

Rain didn't reply but grabbed the Kobold by one of the packs and put him back on his feet. He then placed a paw on the back of the pack and applied pressure, surely but steadily pushing the terrified Kobold upwards.

At last, after what seemed like thousands of steps the spiral stair ended. Opal slipped through an exit in the wall and out of sight.

Calling it an exit might have been a bit generous, it was more a small deformed hole crisscrossed with stalactites and stalagmites touching from wobbly uneven edge to edge.

Opal waved back at him through it.

"Come on, what, are you not strong enough to break it?"

"I can break it, but I feel like you might have a bit of a blind spot when remembering how big I am and if I can actually fit through small spaces Opal. I'm not small anymore."

Opal put her finger to her lip. "Mmm, nah! You said you'd always fit remember! You just need to push it in hard and stretch out the small space until it's used to you! You showed me really well!"

Rain squinted at the Goblin unsure if she was still referring to the stone kind of small spaces.

He wrapped a paw around one of the stalactites and ripped it free. It came away easily, or maybe that was just him. In any case it only took a few moments to tear down the stone from the hole and make a space that he could maybe fit through. He let the others go first and then approached it.

He fit his head through. Opal was on the other side watching him with a strange expression on her face.

He put one arm through and shifted forward but abruptly came to a halt as his chest got stuck. He scowled and pushed, his back feet scraping and slipping against the slick stair behind, trying to force himself through the too-small hole, his muscles straining.

"You're just so big and huge and massive!" said Opal, her breathing getting heavy.

"Opal this really isn't the time for that."

The Goblin swallowed, a little drool on her lip, and nodded.

Rain shoved forward with a grunt and the stone began to crumble and break apart around him until with a crash part of the wall fell down and he stepped free, chunks of stone clattering across the cave floor as he stood.

"How close are we to the dungeon exit? There will be a lot of levelers around here since it's the first floor you know," said Lyra.

"Oh it's not far, the secret way out is across the floor, we'll have to pass by the main exit to get there."

"O-oh..." said the Lyra, suddenly looking around nervously, as though expecting an attack at any moment. She squeaked as a huge paw wrapped around her hip and lifted her up, placing her atop Rain's shoulders. She gripped his ears.

"I- I can do that on my own! I don't need you to pick me up!"

Rain ignored her and gathered up Opal into his arms and then put a large paw on the Kobold's shoulder. Red's eyes bugged out in fear.

"This is it, we get one shot at this," said Rain. "We make it out completely undetected and we'll be free, at least for a time."

Chapter 44

"This is it, we get one shot at this," said Rain. "We make it out completely undetected and we'll be free, at least for a time."

Lyra swallowed, suddenly feeling the gravity of the situation.

"Just be careful not to break my invisibility okay."

She activated her Skill and the group dematerialised.

They slipped out of the small cave the spiral stair had emerged into and into a side passage. They passed through winding passage after winding passage until Opal suddenly elbowed Rain and pressed her finger to her lips.

"Just past here is the entrance to the dungeon. Scary place for monsters, there are always loads of levelers around, lots of weak levelers especially, they like to attack in mobs, very dangerous," said Opal.

"I'd be willing to bet that Inquisitor set a guard for me," said Rain

"And the people after my bounty too, but it's not just a guard."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

Rain slunk down the tunnel, careful not to accidentally kick any stones out of range of lyra's invisibility. Ahead a light cast across the tunnel from a break in the wall, noises could be heard coming from it.

Rain slowed as he approached

"Let's throw Red at them to bait them," said Opal with an evil grin.

"Wha-! No, please don't! I'm carrying your stuff, you going to throw that too?"

Opal snorted in reply. "I'd take that off first, obviously."

Rain ignored them and stepped toward the edge. He slowly peeked his head around it and the dungeon entrance came into view. He recalled how it had looked when he had first entered the dungeon in a different lifetime. A twenty foot tall arch constructed out of heavy block stonework worn and weathered and broken down by time, covered in moss and crawling vines.

This time however it was different. The entrance was not open, instead a pair of monumentally thick and heavy doors had been closed, blocking the exit. Each door was a solid block of stone over a meter thick covered in scars and pockmarks as though they had been attacked many many times but weathered all. Rain looked at the stone with a new understanding, the stone was damaged in the same way that the castle in the center of the dungeon city had been damaged. Whatever had been done to them had been done with the intent to destroy.

A few inches above the surface of the two stone doors a huge glowing circular fractalgram hovered, a maze of complex symbols and curlicue scripture running around the circle in concentric lines very slowly spinning in opposite directions. In the center of this amazingly complex and powerful piece of magic was a bright glowing icon that looked like a crowned dragon's head.

"That's why nobody can leave, the Inquisitor used a gift of the Royals to enchant the entrance. She alone controls when the dungeon reopens and goes out of lockdown," said Lyra leaning over his head.

In front of the huge sealed door a large wooden palisade had been built, like a minor fort, behind which were a group of levelers camping out and watching all the many tunnels that led from the entrance cavern.

Two elves stood on the outside. One was smoking some kind of roll up while the other was nervously fiddling with a pair of violet lensed spectacles in his hands.

Rain pulled his head back.

"Two elves. One with a pair of spectacles."

"Hrmm. That's bad. Two elves will be difficult to get past without them sensing my magic."

"You should just kill and eat them both," said Opal.

"I can't. If I do that then they'll know we were trying to leave."

"Did they look alert?"

"Not really."

"Then we should watch and wait and hope they get distracted, I can hold the invisibility for a while yet."

Rain crept forward and peeked around the corner once more. The Elves hadn't moved.

"Stop fiddling with it. You'll go blind," said the smoking Elf.

"Haha, very funny. Do you have any idea how to work these?"

"Pshh naw, this shit is for guards and merchants trying to stop thieves. I kill monsters for a living. The fuck would I use one of those for?"

"Rich people use them."

"Yeah and If I was rich maybe I'd have a use for one. I should be down there in the dungeon hunting whatever this monster is the Inquisitor bitch wants us to kill, not up here like some shit level town guard."

"SHH!! You can't say something like that! She'll publicly castrate you if she hears!"

The nervous Elf looked around as though expecting the Inquisitor to jump out of thin air brandishing a pair of testicle scissors.

"Bah."

Rain pulled back.

"I want to go now. While they are distracted."

"Uhm, we could still wait?"

"I think this is the best time. They aren't going to move from the entrance and they'll just pass the spectacles to the next Elf who comes to guard. Going while they haven't figured out how to work the spectacles is the least risky."

"I suppose you're right. Okay I'll- I'll try my best to keep us invisible, just remember, no sudden motion or anything!"

Rain nodded and slipped into the entrance cavern, his broad feet padding carefully across the stone cavern floor, his toe pads spreading as he eased each foot down flat.

He neared slowly, watching the Elves carefully.

"You should probably stop messing around with that you know, if you break it the cost of it will come out of your own hide, those things are unbelievably expensive."

"Well I gotta know how it works, what if that Rescuer girl tries to come by here? Fifty K, fifty thousand big fat gold coins! Are you kidding me? Of course I want to be the one to catch her."

The smoking Elf grunted. "Alright, that's fair. Have you tried pushing your mana into it? There's a bit on the side that looks like it would make a good mana focus."

The Elf blinked. "Huh, so there is."

Rain took his chance before the Elf worked out what he was doing. He padded across the entrance cavern to a dark tunnel on the other side. The nervous Elf squinted at the spectacles until one of the lenses suddenly let out a whining sound and smoke began to whisp off its surface.

"What are you even doing?" said the smoking Elf with a scowl. "You broke it! Look give it here."

The smoking Elf snatched the spectacles from the other Elf's hands. Unfortunately, the second Elf fumbled it at the same time and the spectacles clattered to the ground. An awkward tinkle of glass broke the silence. The two Elves stared down at the spectacles.

"What did you dooooooOOOOO!"

As the two Elves started yelling at each other Rain drew further and further away.

"You could kill and take them with us you know," whispered Opal.

"No, there's more levelers behind the palisade, look."

The pair of angry Elves who had started throwing punches at each other were joined by several more levelers who instead of trying to separate them joined in the scrum.

Rain finally made it to the tunnel and felt Lyra let out a held in breath above him.

"They didn't see us, we actually did it! That couldn't have gone better, they weren't even aware of my magic!"

"These levelers were nearly as dumb as the ones I set mushroom monsters on," said Opal crossing her arms.

"The Inquisitor must be very confident in that seal to not put better people on it..."

Opal guided them away from the main entrance of the dungeon and down increasingly narrower and narrower side passages that wound up and down in a tangle. Rain was beginning to worry that Opal had gotten them lost when they came across a cavern filled to the brim with mushrooms and fungi. Every single surface was coated in the things, some fungi had even grown on top of mushrooms. Mushrooms grew tall and thin across the ground like a layer of grass. Rain had a sudden flashback to a certain traumatic mushroom taste. He firmly decided against eating anything in this cavern.

Opal walked up to one wall that was particularly crowded with fungi and put her hands on her hips and stared at it.

"This is the way out?" said Rain.

"Yup!"

Opal continued to stare at the fungi wall.

"Well? Don't your tribal memories show you what to do next?" said Lyra

Opal looked a little uneasy.

"Well, it was more of a story..."

"Wait, what are you saying?"

Opal tapped her index fingers together nervously.

"It's a uh, a story, uh told around a campfire, the memory is of listening to it."

Rain and Lyra and Red stared at the Goblin.

"Hey, it was from a really respectable Gobbo!... in the memory."

"Oh my god we're all going to die down here!" said Lyra.

"What did the Goblin telling the story say?" gravelled Rain.

"Erm, that there's a worn knob on the wall under a small blue unique fungi and if you twist it you can get out of the dungeon through a special secret passage."

Rain turned to the wall. The wall was covered from top to bottom in blue fungi.

"This might take a while..."

"We can't take a while! This floor is full of levelers!" said Lyra.

She stomped up to the wall and grabbed one of the fungi and began pulling it.

"This will take forever and these fungi are attache-" She suddenly lurched backwards with the fungi in her hands. A worn down smooth stone nub was revealed on the stone behind it.

"..."

Opal slapped Lyra on the ass causing her to yelp and drop the fungi.

"See! I told you I was right!"

"W-well even though we found it the thing might not wor-"

Opal twisted the stone and the air was filled with a grinding stone sound. Rain took a step back. A set of seams appeared on the wall around a central point, fungi getting torn and ripped apart in the process as sections of the wall slowly drew back revealing a dark dank passage behind it. Dirt and dust fell from the ceiling in thin streams.

Wary of a leveler stumbling upon them he bustled the group inside. The door slid shut behind them.

"This isn't going to work," said Rain. "Those fungi were all torn up by the door opening, it will look suspicious. Lyra, use your skill."

"Oh? Oh uhm right, that's a good idea!" The sheep girl concentrated and nodded her head.

"Okay it's working, I think. Any sign we were here should be being repaired, all the fungi set back where they were."

Rain had them wait a minute just to be certain. He noted that there was a certain familiar set of claw gouged runes on the wall as he waited. No question who had built this passage.

Once he felt confident that the fungi were repaired on the other side of the door they moved on and began making their way down the passage. It was long, longer than he expected, twisting and turning and dipping and diving. After some time walking he noted that the ceiling had white tree roots curling and growing from it as though they were below a forest, and more concerningly in some parts dirt had spilt through the walls where the stone had crumbled.

They eventually came to the end of the passage and Opal fiddled with a stone nub on the wall. Rain realised that an angular paw shape had been carved onto the stone, the nub at the entrance had likely had the same design at one point but had been worn away.

After some effort she managed to twist it and with a grinding rumble the wall split apart and they stepped through into a cave on the other side.

"I can't believe this passage actually exists, I think I understand why no ones been able to find it magically, any spell must be reading the door as part of the dungeon," murmured Lyra, looking on in wonder as the door slid shut behind them.

"Come on, we're nearly out!" said Opal rushing ahead of them to where a beam of sunlight filtered down.

They emerged out of a hole in the ground into a wide grassy glade on a rise overlooking an endless forest for miles and miles. As Rain blinked in the bright sunlight and looked around he realised that the hole he had just crawled from was amongst the roots of a gnarled old tree in the middle of the glade.

Overhead the vast vast sky was an azure gradienting up to a royal blue. Cumulonimbus cloud mountains towered tens of miles into the sky, incredible cloud scapes that moved languorously in the warm summer breeze. After being underground so long he had forgotten how wide the world was.

He stumbled to a halt as he walked into Red. The Kobold was staring up at the vast sky, pure unbridled terror in his eyes. The Kobold flinched, squeaked, and then immediately fainted, falling flat on the grass with his tail pointed skyward.

Rain looked down at the spread eagled Kobold and furrowed his brow. Was it the sky? It suddenly occurred to him that a monster that had lived their entire life inside a cramped cave might not be prepared for the sheer endlessness of the outside world.

"They've never been out of the dungeon before, they're overwhelmed..." said Lyra to his side.

Opal was ahead of him, standing frozen, her hands limp at her side, her head raised up at the sky. As he watched she started to lean and then stumbled to the side as though struggling to keep her balance.

"Wh-what is this? I never thought... H-how!? H-help!"

Opal cried out, her eyes reeling from side to side, it was so big! So endless! The ground suddenly felt like it wasn't holding onto her, that she was falling into infinity! Her stomach dropped and she fell to all fours as everything became dizzy, the ground shifting and tilting beneath her, she couldn't breathe, it was like her childhood fear of heights, like being held over an immense drop about to fall to her death! She held onto the grass with a white knuckle grip like her life depended on it, sheer terror blanking everything, her whole body tensed up and trembling in fear.

Huge furred arms suddenly wrapped around her and drew her close, pulling the Goblin into a tight embrace. She drew in a shuddering breath as a sense of powerful safety enveloped her. She curled up in Rain's arms burying her face in his chest, tears rolling from her eyes and wetting his fur.

"Everything will be fine, I promise, I will always protect you," whispered Rain, his body curled around Opal.

Lyra stood and stared at the embracing monsters. What was this? How were they so... caring? Were these two really monsters? The sheer amount of protective affection radiating from Rain was bothering her, this wasn't right.... This wasn't right....This wasn't right... Lyra blinked as a thought slipped into her mind, something new, something unexpected, something uncomfortable.

She wanted to be cared for like that.