by Nikita Thorn
They burst out laughing.
“You might be right,” said Kiku. “Since, well, he obviously doesn’t have it, I mean this pair…”
“No wonder he needs his whole army of minions to do his dirty work,” Mairin said. “And now they’re at it again, out here trying to steal your treasure.”
“He must be really desperate for that matching named sword,” said Seiki. “I still think a whole army is a bit much? Now it’s going to escalate into a full clan war.”
Ippei sighed. “All that for the rare chance that you’re actually going to find the treasure? How can you even be sure that this is the correct instance?”
There was nothing in the poem to identify this particular cave, or even that it was a cave at all.
Kiku shrugged. “Fuyu said the seller was pretty sure it was here.”
Seiki gave a start.
“Fuyu?” everyone said almost at the same time.
Kiku seemed taken aback by their expression, which ranged from surprise to mild horror. “Oh, yeah, we bought the poem from Ichikeya. The seller said it was here, but they couldn’t find it. They couldn’t even find the instance, so they gave up and wanted to sell off the poem for pretty cheap. You see, Fuyu even got me this.”
She took out a piece of hand-drawn map from her chest pocket, not that dissimilar to the one Seiki had in his possession although much less detailed. Seiki did not fail to notice, however, that the rocks that marked the beginning of the path toward the cave were shown as plant-covered boulders, and the tree as a broken trunk, like how they appeared now. The fact that it was a crafted map marked Made by [unknown], gave him inexplicable qualms, but, again, it could be a perfect coincidence that the player who had drawn it had stopped playing and deleted their character.
Kiku proceeded to explain that she and several of her clan members had ridden out to investigate the cave in secret. After a message from Fuyu warned them about the Rogami Clan, the rest of the clan agreed to summon their units and ride slightly north to lead the Rogami off the trail, leaving Kiku to look for the treasure.
“It could have been Fuyu who tipped off the Rogami.” Seiki showed her the post message looted from Rieko.
Surprisingly, Kiku simply laughed. “Fuyu? No way. She wouldn’t do that. It’s a Mumei message, so it could have been anyone trying to frame the Ichikeya. And if it was really Fuyu, she would have told them about the location of this cave. And why would she warn us about the Rogami if she’s helping them?”
“She’s playing both sides then,” said Mairin. “Whoever wins, Ichikeya wins.”
“And this seller…” said Seiki. “Was an anonymous seller?”
Kiku nodded.
That answer somehow bothered him, but again Seiki could not pinpoint why. They soon decided that regardless of whoever tipped off the Rogami, there was nothing the clan could do now that they had successfully made it into a private instance. And trying to guess Ichikeya’s intention was going to achieve nothing but waste a Friday night; so their best chance was to continue with what they were here for.
“Well, so to find the treasure, we have to clear the dungeon first, I guess,” said Mairin, looking down the tunnel.
“If it’s even a dungeon,” said Ippei.
“What else could it be?” Mairin said. “It’s like a group instance, right? I mean… what’s the difference anyway?”
Ippei thought about it. “Dungeons mean as long as one member makes it past the end boss, you beat it. But since this is Seiki’s class instance…”
Mairin immediately understood him. “So we’ve got to keep Seiki alive at all cost.”
Kentaro smiled. “Noted.”
Seiki looked at his friends, not quite sure what to say, but then he realized that there was nothing that actually needed to be said at this point, so he simply gave them a resolute nod. “I’ll try my best to stay alive.”
Yamura grinned. “You know, right, that we’re only doing it for the 40K XP?”
“Yes,” said Kentaro. “So if you don’t beat it, we will be very upset.”
“And if you beat it, your six kakigouri debt is forgiven,” said Mairin.
Seiki laughed. “In that case, I’ll have to try very hard.”
“I’ll scout ahead!” The kitsune popped into her fox form and started dashing down the tunnel.
“Let’s be a bit careful here, okay? We don’t want to pull the whole instance,” Ippei shouted after her.
With the white kitsune leading the way, the group slowly proceeded into the instance. Judging from the fact that it was multi-playered, Yamura predicted that there would soon be hordes of monsters rushing toward them. But after a few minutes, there were still no sign of movement.
The flickering wall torches were spaced out just enough to give constant light through the passageway and it reminded Seiki of the cavern under the Shogun’s Palace, where Okamoto once made an attempt at the nobleman’s life. When he told his friends about this, Ippei wondered if it was something more of a puzzle rather than a straight fight.
“Maybe this thing is a maze and it’s a hide-and-seek,” said Mairin. Her guess was not that far-fetched, considering that was how it had started out with Okamoto at Mani Shrine.
“So, we’re looking for either a young man in light blue, or a… demon spy.”
“Demonic Agent,” said Seiki. “Or maybe Shousei. Or, uh, actually a thief girl who’s disguised as a boy. I think they’re all heading here.”
“Do we expect to find them alive or dead?” Koharu had stopped walking and was staring ahead. “Because there’s a dead person right there.”
Slightly ahead of them, in a dark spot between two torches, was a pile of rags bundled up against the cave wall, definitely man-shaped. The obake girl pointed it out, before quickly retreating to the back of the group.
To Seiki’s relief, it looked nothing like any of the NPCs he was searching for. Feeling that it was his responsibility to take the initiative, he slowly approached, his hand on the hilt of his sword. The dim light made it difficult to make out much detail, but after taking a few steps closer the label finally became visible: Dead Shinshioka Soldier. Lootable.
“Careful. Something’s wrong with that body,” said Yamura. “Is it… burned?”
Ignoring the ryoushi’s comment about the living dead, Seiki crouched down beside the dead man. He could see now why it had been so difficult to spot it in the first place. The body was completely covered in tar, which hid much of the Shinshioka’s red on his uniform.
Mairin trotted up beside him. “What’s this black stuff?” Turning into a fox, she took one sniff at it and immediately turned back into her human form. “Poison, I think,” she said. “How did he get it all over himself like that?”
Making sure to touch only a dry part on the man’s shoulder guard, Seiki dispersed the body with three fingers, instinctively holding his breath as it went up in white smoke.
“White smoke, good guys, black smoke, bad guys, right?” whispered Koharu from somewhere behind them.
In the body’s place was now a post message on a red official paper.
Attention: Lieutenant Kato. Minor Demonic Clan activity spotted in the Renkan Mountain caves. Please send forces as soon as possible. – Commander Iwasaki.
Seiki read it aloud to his friends.
“This is looking promising,” said Ippei.
Koharu brightened. “Lieutenant Kato?”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” said Ippei with a chuckle. “The message didn’t get delivered, so your Lieutenant Kato probably isn’t coming.”
“But why even put it here?” asked Kentaro. “And they even killed someone for it. Poor guy.”
Ippei smiled. “Scenery.”
The houshi shook his head in disapproval at the reply, and Ippei casually switched out his Jade Steel Sword for his Hikari.
Seiki understood now what the samurai had meant. “The body is to warn us that it’s going to
be the Demonic Clan, and so if you have light weapons, equip them now.”
“Oh, I see,” said Kentaro. “But a dead demon would have achieved the same thing?”
“No, this is also to warn us that no help is coming,” Mairin’s voice was ominous. “Since we’re shut in, the only way to leave is to beat it or die.” She, however, sounded inexplicably happy about the fact.
Seiki was already wearing his Shinshioka set, and had no need to switch. The two obake quickly changed their obi into identical ones with red and black trimmings, which was most likely what obake had for their set. Kiku also slipped on a red beaded bracelet, and Mairin thought for a moment before switching out her charms.
Kentaro handed each of them two bottles of potions, and they agreed that since they could not risk surprise encounters, Mairin would continue to scout ahead in fox form.
They kept as quiet as possible as they followed the white fox further down the tunnel. After the first few uneventful minutes, Mairin paused for a second, before turning sharp right and disappearing into a crack in the cave wall.
She returned after a little while, looking a little confused.
“Enemies?” said Yamura.
Mairin shook her head. “I found a… floor lamp.”
They followed her to the crack, which was only wide enough for one person to squeeze through. Hidden within, half-buried in a pile of broken rocks, was a small white stone shrine with a slanted roof, with a serene golden light glowing in the middle of it.
“A tano shrine?” said Seiki in surprise. The shrine was identical to the ones in War Games, except that the light on this one was golden instead of white.
From his friends’ expressions, none of them had any explanation for that.
“An unlabeled War Game?” The samurai sounded hopeful as he squeezed through the crack and produced one of his Paper War Cards, labeled Inscribed Card of the Cleric – Houshi Card of the Honor Deck. “Let’s see if we can get ourselves a little health buff.” The card, however, refused to catch fire, and after a few seconds Ippei gave up and put away the item.
“Or maybe it’s just a floor lamp,” said Mairin doubtfully. “Scenery?”
“Recycled skin, then,” Yamura said with a frown. “Okay, that’s lame.”
Unable to make sense of it, they continued down the corridor, before Mairin quickly discovered another opening on the left. The white fox stopped dead in her track, and as the group came to a halt, Seiki could hear soft rustling noises coming from ahead.
“We’ve found something,” Mairin whispered after taking a quick peek and tiptoeing back to them. “It’s a room. Looks like a library, and there’s a demon guy working on scrolls, most likely a mage.”
Seiki was not sure why he had expected to find Okamoto right away. “So only one demon?”
“Yeah, with only eight thousand health,” said Mairin.
Considering that Seiki could do nearly a thousand points in damage given the right circumstances, even before Blood Rush, eight thousand seemed very low.
“And he’s called a… Demonic something,” Mairin added.
“Demon?” Saburo’s voice piped up from behind, startling everyone.
Seiki turned to look, and almost gave a start.
The whole corridor behind them was now filled with NPC troops, all crammed together. His four villagers were on one side near the wall, squeezed between Ippei’s and Yamura’s men. Behind them were Koharu’s four purple-clad girls and another dozen or so pale-looking men and women, who must have belonged to Kiku’s unit.
“That was creepier than the dead body,” said Koharu.
Mairin laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of your own troops?”
“Well, when they sneak up like that…”
Yamura examined his men. “Where did you come from?” One of the archers said something in reply about being summoned.
Ippei mused silently for a while. “So it is some kind of a War Game, since we have our troops here.” He sounded a little uncertain.
“I think…” said Seiki. “This place is probably the Demonic Clan’s stronghold. We clear it, and maybe at the end we’ll get to Okamoto.”
Ippei nodded thoughtfully. “Like the Siege of Awahara.” He was probably referring to a high-level War Game Seiki only had a vague impression of. “Makes sense. Foxy, can you see if there are further mobs down the corridor?”
They moved to the edge of the entrance to the room, where Mairin, in fox form, crouched as low as she could. Seiki and Ippei had their hands on their weapons, ready to defend her if she was spotted, but the rustling noises of paper from within the room continued undisturbed.
The corridor ahead was in a wide curve left, and Mairin disappeared for quite a while, before she returned. “Nothing close for us to accidentally pull, but I didn’t want to go too far.”
“Okay,” Ippei said. “Yamura, once we pull the demon mage, can you have archer troops on the other side of the entrance? This is in case he tries to run down the corridor and pull more, or if he calls for reinforcements, we won’t be completely unprepared.”
Yamura nodded and turned to signal his men.
“Maybe some of them can help us burst?” said Seiki. “Since we don’t know what we’re dealing with, it might be smart to get it over with as quickly as possible.” Eight thousand health seemed deceptively easy, and he was quite sure there must be a trick somewhere.
“Good call,” said Ippei.
“I don’t have a Command Slot,” said Yamura. “My guys can only do one thing at a time.”
The samurai thought about it. “Okay, shoot into the room first. Then we’ll… Hey!” he cried in alarm.
Seiki turned just in time to see Koharu’s pink sleeves disappearing into the room, and her voice rang out. “Excuse me, mister, uh, Demonic Scrollmaster. Have you seen a young man in blue who goes by the name of Oka—”
Her sentence was cut short by a yelp.
Ippei cursed. There was no more time for planning, and Seiki drew his sword and rushed into the room. Ippei was on his heels, followed by Mairin, who—in her fox form—quickly outsped them.
The room was almost an oval, deeper than it was wide, carved into the mountain rocks. Lined with chests and shelves, all of which were overflowing with documents, it looked as if its owner had just moved in and had not had time to put everything in order.
Against one of the wall was a large writing desk, where an alarmed Demonic Scrollmaster [Level Unknown] now stood, his form the shade of shadows under his all-black long kimono. His red eyes narrowed as he detected the intruders.
Koharu was still alive. She had dived behind one of the chests, a bit of her health missing.
The demon was holding no visible weapons. But he immediately reached for one of the many identical scrolls on his desks. Mairin in her fox form was charging ahead, preparing to jump at him, and Seiki could hear his own unit running into the room, their short iron tantou drawn as they prepared for combat.
The demon’s mouth opened, letting out a quick phrase of distorted gibberish as he rolled one scroll open. The squiggly lines on the parchment flashed blood red.
There was no explosion, and no noticeable sensation on his skin. Yet, Seiki felt an invisible wave of cold rush through him, taking a tenth of his health. Koharu let out a gasp, and Seiki glanced behind to gauge the damage. All his friends and the troops were similarly affected by the area spell and had lost about the same percentage of their health.
Perhaps in alarm, Mairin had unleashed her Kindred Spirit, which suddenly filled the room with sparkly foxes. Letting loose a Slide, Seiki dashed through one of them, straight toward the demon, who quickly gathered an armful of scrolls. Seiki struck out with Sweeping Blade, but the demon disappeared from sight in a large puff of smoke.
“What was that pull?” cried Ippei at Koharu.
“He’s a scholar. I thought we should try reasoning first.”
The samurai grunted. �
�We never negotiate with the Demonic Clan.”
Despite the chaos that had broken out, Seiki could not help chuckling.
The demon had materialized at the other end of the room and pulled another scroll to read from. Again, the health reduction wave washed over them, killing two of Mairin’s spirit foxes.
Koharu winced. “Uh, I thought… the true path between the ink brush and sword might suggest that we try both ways?”
“At least, we now know diplomacy doesn’t work,” said Kentaro.
“Diplomacy never works with demons,” said Ippei, before turning to yell. “Shoot, Yamura!”
A hail of arrows burst from the doorway as the ryoushi ordered his troops to release. The Demonic Scrollmaster once again dispersed in a cloud of thick smoke and teleported further away. The first of the arrows, however, managed to take a little bit of his health.
Evidence that the enemy was not immune to attacks was always heartening. “Spread out?” Seiki suggested. If the demon stayed within the room, with good positioning one of them could always land an attack.
His unit had caught up with him, and Seiki willed them to stay close as he ran deeper into the library.
Koharu had put down Nether Chills around herself and her troops. Kiku had positioned herself and her unit near the middle, Fading to avoid damage as the Demonic Scrollmaster once again read from another one of his spell documents.
“Can you shoot the scrolls off him?” said Mairin, who was chasing the demon around. “He’s reading from them to activate the spells.”
“I’m trying to.” Yamura let loose two arrows. “But he’s fast.”
“I’ll try a stun when he comes close,” said Seiki.
It took some willpower to stand still and not rush after the demon. After two more disappearances, the Demon Scrollmaster appeared at the edge of the room, less than two feet away from Seiki, his hands already pulling open a new scroll.
Seiki burst forward. He stabbed his Hikari down beside the demon, sending the shockwave from Vertical Spike around, before drawing his sword up in the familiar combination of Focused Strike and Upslash.
