All that remained was to plummet through the remainder of the dungeon and kill the guardian before the entire structure caved in on their heads. With the Void Beast's aid, Lieze had no trouble mopping up what was left of the lesser beasts wandering the labyrinth's halls - although Drayya very quickly developed a habit of protesting whenever the creature was placed into any form of danger.
"Why do we have to endanger the cat?" She puffed out her cheeks as the thrall in question punctured the throat of an unlucky Ogre, "We could just use the Gravewalkers for fodder like this."
"First of all, it's not a cat." Lieze began, "Secondly, its natural ability to meld with the landscape is so unbelievably powerful that we would be fools not to put it to good use. And, to put your fears to rest, it's not in any danger of suddenly dying."
Drayya smirked, "You think it's cute too, don't you?"
"No." She turned, "I don't find anything cute."
Drayya's smug smile remained as they forced their way through the rest of the layer. Reaching the sanctum was a simple matter of locating three stairwells - assuming any of them were intact following Lieze's violent Flesh Golem experiment.
When a monster fell to the Void Beast's cruel ambushes, it was quickly risen as another thrall. By the time the layer had been vanquished of foes, Lieze and Drayya were being accompanied by a diverse parade of monsters.
Battle Report:
Greater Slime (x4)
Wall Hugger (x2)
Corpse Lizard (x2)
Skeleton (x7)
Pseudodrake (x1)
Minotaur (x3)
Total XP Earned - 660
[Staff of Thraldom] Stored MP - 2,857 / 3,417
"Good girl!" Drayya dropped to her knees in glee and scrubbed the Void Beast's blood-splattered face, "Very good girl!"
"I thought you said you didn't know?" Lieze peered over her shoulder.
"Who cares! It's a girl now!" She replied, "After so many years of having to put up with rotting flesh and bone, it's nice to have a thrall that doesn't stink of death for once."
"It's melting."
"Well, you can't win them all." Drayya ignored the cakes of sticky flesh adhering to her palms, "Honestly, Lieze. You're always pretending like you don't understand, but I can tell you're more sensitive than you let on."
Lieze continued on her way, "I've got no idea what you're talking about."
Drayya was too emotional for her own good. A similar weakness was apparent in every member of the Order to an extent. But not Lieze. In her mind, she was the paragon of apathy that all necromancers ought to have been striving for. Or, at least - that's what she wanted to believe.
Between bouts of monster slaying, a few of the layer's surviving treasure rooms were plundered for magical items. Between foci for unlearned schools of magic and trinkets on par with the teapots, there was little of value for Lieze to exploit. She made certain to gather every last one, however, knowing full-well their value if the time ever came to barter.
Fortunately, one of the layer's staircases had survived the Flesh Golem's fall. The next floor was similarly unremarkable, but a useful source of unique thralls to raise for the Order's army.
Battle Report:
Hellhound (x2)
Gargoyle (x3)
Dry Angler (x3)
Lesser Void Critter (x6)
Maneater Mantis (x1)
Total XP Earned - 692
[Staff of Thraldom] Stored MP - 2,707 / 3,417
"Ahh! This is too much!"
Drayya grasped her cheeks with both hands as the enthralled Lesser Void Critters danced between her legs. They might have been compared to maggots in appearance, only without the sickly colouration and twitching mouth parts. Lieze had inflated their levels by quite a bit with her [Master Necromancy], but they were still pitifully slow and ineffective in combat.
"Who knew that abominations from beyond space and time could be this adorable?" Drayya grinned from ear to ear, "We should have explored this dungeon sooner!"
"Come on. We've still got another floor to clear before we reach the sanctum." Lieze said, "You can fawn over thralls all you like when we're back in the city."
"Ugh…" Drayya groaned, "Can't you let yourself enjoy something for once?"
"No." She replied curtly, "Let's get a move on."
She made for the staircase. A hand fell upon her shoulder.
"Lieze…" Drayya paused, "What's wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're acting strange."
"I'm not." She insisted, "This is how I always act."
"That's the problem!" Drayya's voice became stern, "You don't need to don a mask when you're with me! We talked about this!"
Lieze sighed. She wanted to be anywhere else. The realm between life and death, or the isolated existence of her untalented years - either were preferable to confronting her emotions. But Drayya had to be so insistent and picky about every little thing, or she would no longer be herself. Lieze had no choice but to respond.
"...I don't want to talk about this, Drayya."
She settled on the most vulnerable, pleading response her heart could possibly manage. It was uttered in the vague hope that it would be enough to put the subject on hold for a few precious hours of abject apathy.
"You see?" Drayya replied, "You're afraid. I can hear it in your voice."
"Is this really the time to be-"
"Oh, no. No, no, no." She shook her head, "You've squirmed your way out of this too many times now. I'm not having it. I'll let you off for as long as it takes for us to return home, but as soon as we're there, you and I are having a long-overdue conversation."
There was nothing Lieze could say to dissuade her. Drayya understood that the only way she was getting through to the girl was by force - that she would resist every attempt at agonising reconciliation for as long as the guise of emotional disconnection was maintained. Lieze was frustrated to hear those words, but at the same time, she anticipated the inevitability of that occasion. Somewhere deep in her soul, she wanted to be yanked away from herself.
"Hah…" She sighed again, "Fine."
"Fine." Drayya's lips curled up, "I'm glad. I don't want to see you suffering like this anymore."
"There's plenty more suffering to experience before we can get out of here." Lieze replied, "I'd say we've found more than enough treasure to make the trip worth it, so let's focus on escaping in one piece."
Drayya was satisfied by that. She released her grip on Lieze's shoulder, and the two of them descended the staircase leading down to the penultimate layer.
Disappointingly, the corridors were devoid of monsters. Lieze could peek out to the exposed shelves of polished stone beyond the ruined perimeter to spot the Flesh Golem's silhouette lingering in the rubbled sanctum. The silence surrounding them thickened.
"If the Flesh Golem fell into the sanctum, then why didn't the guardian appear?" Lieze wondered, "It must be especially small if it was able to avoid being crushed."
"-Or especially powerful." Drayya added, "Maybe both."
With no monsters to delay their advance, it was only a matter of minutes before another relatively intact stairwell was found. As was the case in the previous dungeon, its dimensions were far more grandiose than the steps leading down from any other layer, and descended right towards the sanctum.
"Stay up here, Drayya." Lieze commanded, "I'd like to get a look at the guardian before we engage it. Grouping all of our thralls together in one convenient place is asking to be ambushed."
Drayya folded her arms, "Alright… just don't go doing anything brash."
Between the chunks of rubble and the staircase's dilapidated structure, simply approaching the sanctum was more trouble than Lieze could have anticipated. After climbing over a few dislodged boulders of quartz, she crept into the cylindrical abyss where the Flesh Golem idled and scanned the debris-laden chamber for any signs of the guardian.
"It's not here…" She muttered, "But it must still be alive…"
Something wet and heavy splattered against the ground not a few inches shy of Lieze's feet, causing her to recoil in surprise. From where the colourless liquid had fallen, the dusty cobblestone floor began to sizzle and dissolve.
"What the…"
She watched as another droplet fell. Then another. Her gaze was pulled high, towards the dizzying shelves of quartz and slate making up the impressive sinkhole. Something stirred in the darkness - a creature of such poignant repulsiveness that even the odd glimpse of its features illuminated by distant rays of the sun sent shivers down Lieze's spine.
A cluster of insectoid eyes scanned her with predatory interest, some hidden behind bushels of prickly hairs. Four thrice-jointed limbs attached themselves to the wall, supporting an emaciated body of exposed ribs and taught flesh. A circular, sawtoothed maw offered a glimpse into the creature's salivating gums, from which plumes of acrid smoke emerged like an acidic fog.
Lieze had barely a second to scan the box hovering over its shadowed form.
Gibberling
Level 132 Monstrosity
HP - 28,112 / 28,112 MP - 6,959 / 6,959
BODY - 92 MIND - 40 SOUL - 0
She ducked back into the stairwell just as the monster dislodged itself from the wall, plummeting with the intent to consume her whole. It didn't seem bothered in the least by its violent landing.
Gibberling's HP - 27,250 / 28,112
Blood was already flowing from Lieze's Bag of Holding. She didn't hesitate to dip into her supply of Mercuria for an enhancement, especially as the creature flipped over with a sudden movement and began crawling in her direction with a guttural screech clogged by saliva.
Lieze's HP - 182 / 364
The Blackbriar drank deep of her cursed life as she intoned a [Blood Sacrifice], gritting her teeth to bear the pain while sacrificing half of her HP to empower her next spell by [50%]. Black, roiling Mercuria conjoined with her supply of living ammo to form a [Blood Spike], which found its mark in the depths of the Gibberling's guts as it pierced into the monster's gaping throat.
[Staff of Thraldom] Stored MP - 1,707 / 3,417
Gibberling's HP - 21,250 / 28,112
The attack was powerful enough to stun the beast long enough for Lieze to make her escape. She nearly tripped over her own feet sprinting up the staircase. Drayya was already on her way down to see what the commotion was all about.
"What is it!?" She yelled, "I heard-"
"Go back to the previous layer!" Lieze panted, "It's too fast! We can't fight it in an open space!"
"Wha- can't fight what!?"
Her answer came in the form of a skittering chorus tapping against the stairwell's curved ceiling. She gazed past Lieze to see the Gibberling crawling to meet them. The speed with which its gangly, bristled legs leaped up and down like pistons inspired an instinctually disgusted response from Drayya's mind.
"Oh, Gods!" She struggled to meet the beast's gaze, "What the fuck is that!?"
Lieze grabbed her collar and hauled the girl up to the previous layer.
"Keep moving!" She screamed over the Gibberling's footfalls, "If we split up, we can outmanoeuvre it in the dungeon's hallways! We need to attack it from behind!"
"The Golem's right there! Just smash it!" Drayya replied.
"What - and bring the weight of the entire dungeon down on top of us!?" Lieze furrowed her brow, "I'll act as bait! Take the Void Beast and the Hellhounds and circle around to our rear!"