Hyperion Evergrowing-Chapter 205: Surfacing

A team of four, three volunteers from local villages and one guard, were slowly making their way back to the advanced camp with tired steps and weary eyes. They had been away for longer than the recommended time, but the team had gotten lucky that no dungeon movements had trapped them or majorly altered the ravines they were traversing.

Unfortunately, a pack of three small earth elementals that moved on all fours like dogs with malformed limbs were stalking them, but the group lacked the means to fend them off. Their hunched stone bodies moved easily through the twisting passageways, out manoeuvring the humans and cutting them off.

“We need to find an alcove and rest.” A young man with a mop of sandy hair that was already receding groaned as the party backtracked once again to avoid the danger. “Ty needs to get off his wounded leg.”

“If you think the monsters will give us the chance, feel free to take a nap.” A woman snapped, her sword was bent where an elemental had fallen on it.

“At least we haven't run into anything but the things currently stalking us. The dungeon seems lighter in activity than usual.” Another woman said, her steps spry, full of energy despite the hours of climbing, crawling and fighting she had endured.

“Don’t jinx us.” The blond man said.

“Don’t be such a baby-”

“Quiet!” The woman with the broken sword snapped. “Do you hear that?”

“It sounds like someone is beating a drum against a wall. Is the ground shaking?”

An instant later an ivory fist punched clean through a solid rock face only a dozen metres in front of them. The party all screamed and raised weapons, scrambling back to put space between them and whatever had broken through the wall. All except for Ty who just screamed and fell over, the man’s leg giving out as he tried to retreat.

A bone white monster with the shape and stature of a tall man pushed free of the hole it had created, golden eyes glowing through the cloud of dust that partially obscured their features. It waved its hand, clearing away the floating particles of debris, revealing a face masked in smooth, unadorned wood. Another, smaller figure emerged from behind it, this one also wearing a mask. Then another, this time maskless, and another.

The party of humans stood frozen in fear, then shock, as not monsters, but two dozen people from the elite subjugation force spilled out into the tunnel.

“Bloody hells.” Ty said, wincing. “I damn near pissed myself.”

The masked adventurer knelt before him and wordlessly placed a hand on the wounded man. He hissed in a breath of surprise, then relief.

“Where is the advanced camp?” An older man in ornate but dented armour barked, making the group of four jump.

“Um, that way, uh, sir. But there are monsters and…” The now healed man said, trailing off as the shorter masked figure vanished in a blur. A heartbeat later the sound of rocks shattering echoed through the cavern. “Never mind, it's just that way. I think.”

===

The expedition departed the dungeon a day later. They marched up the natural steps leading to the surface in high spirits, many sporting several new levels, skills and in some cases new classes. Many laughed and joked, the relief of finally being able to see the sky again lifting their spirits as much, if not more so than victory.

Leif could feel their bubbling emotions as he followed at the rear of the adventurers, soldiers and volunteers. Even without looking he could make out the snaking column of ascending humans, the weight of their minds, auras and lifeforce painting a clear picture for the Scion.

While he understood their cheer, and even felt much of it himself, Leif couldn’t help but notice the underlying grief and sorrow many in front of him were feeling. While the dungeon had been subjugated, though not destroyed, he knew the official death count was thirteen. And that was just those who had descended to face the dungeon, he knew that many more fought on the surface against beasts displaced by the break, and the dungeon spawned monsters that now roamed the mountains.

In a way, Leif felt as though he had failed. These people had died because he hadn’t been strong enough to subjugate the natural phenomena personally. It was irrational in a way, but not totally unrealistic. He had almost done it, and if he and Lucia had discovered the dungeon a week or two earlier, he wouldn’t have felt compelled to rush. He may have been able to prevent the break altogether, though maybe that was wishful thinking.

Leif had grown prodigiously since his first evolution back in the wilderness in the northern countryside of Varan. If he compared himself to the very best of humanity, he was almost a decade ahead of what many would consider optimal leveling speed. And that was with him having spent ten years as a barely conscious tree.

Being terrifyingly strong was comforting, but in a sense it was also unnerving. There was no way he was unique, at least in terms of relative power for time spent leveling. Just what other inhuman entities existed way out there in the wider world with skill sets and physiology that matched, or even exceeded his own strength.

The enslavers came to mind. Leif wasn’t sure exactly what level the awakened ant that had rained destruction down onto Far-Reach and Pherin had been, over one hundred surely, but how many more like her were out there, lurking just beyond humanities borders? Were there more armies preparing to invade for gods knew what reasons. But there was more, what of the undead, or the orcs...

Or the blight. He thought, reaching up to haul himself up a particularly steep step. Leif wasn’t sure what the more sinister half of his monstrous origins were, but considering that at least one member of the species had been close enough to human territory to make his rebirth into a plant possible, it was likely there were more.

These were not original musings, far from it. Over the past months of travel he had had more than enough time to get lost in his own mind, the winding forest trails and rolling hills that disappeared day by day as they journeyed north put Leif more often than not in a contemplative mood. At least when the dangers of turbulence or that of sparsely populated areas didn’t require his attention. Needing neither sleep nor much rest gave him far more spare time to just think, and he considered it the largest boon of his new life.

Leif turned and glanced back down into the depths of the earth. He felt something brush against his awareness, tingling against the back of his perception. It was most likely the dungeon itself, or perhaps the earthen Mana, the will partially animating it. Whatever it was, it seemed far more still and weary than only days prior. The stone walls of the ravine twinkled, and a faint breeze rustled the edges of his ragged cloak. There was a cheer as the first person stepped up and out of the darkness.

===

It was a crisp, early morning that greeted the subjugation force as they began their descent of the Varan mountains. A faint blue mist hung in the air, slowly dispersing as more and more sunlight shone between distant peaks and filtered down into valleys and across slopes.

Leif felt his body relax all at once as he climbed the final step, and for a moment he felt a spike of alarm as he tightened his [Willpower] and control over his form with [Wood Manipulation]. It felt like every inch of him wanted to expand, to reach skyward and soak in the first light of day. But those were tree instincts, and they wouldn’t serve his current situation. Eventually he slackened his mental grip over his body, confident that he wouldn’t accidently sprout an extra arm.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Half a dozen partially eaten carcasses met the group an hour outside the dungeon, the large, almost person sized birds with long crooked necks and sharp bony protrusions from the tips of their sizable wings flew off in a series of panicked squawks and shrieks as soon as they saw how outnumbered they were by the approaching adventurers. The piles of torn sinew and blood were thankfully not human, instead some variety of bear and two cubs.

A few minutes later a [Scout] spotted a pair of big cats as long as horses and with white spots miring their slate grey fur that were watching the subjugation force from a nearby ridge. Piercing green eyes bore down onto the subjugation force, making several of the weaker willed among them shudder or flinch back. The beasts were a known quantity among the mountain range, and they seemed to melt into stone only to appear elsewhere a moment later.

It was a nerve wracking handful of minutes as they were silently followed down the mountain, at least until a hammer of lightning fell from the sky with a deafening crash, sending the two beasts fleeing back up the slopes.

The third encounter of the morning was infinitely more positive. A group of twenty men and women at the base of the foothills were taking hammers to a scattered pile of rocks, shattering them down into smaller pieces and carting them away. It was immediately apparent what they were doing, by taking apart the destroyed earth elementals they would delay their reconstitution, perhaps indefinitely.

Two boys, barely in their teens, worked among those breaking apart stones, and Leif watched as Silas and the three youths he had taken into the dungeon move in their direction as the two groups began to mingle. There was laughter and celebration, and someone kicked a head shaped rock so hard it flew off a nearby cliff. In pairs and small clusters they quickly finished the work, then started making for a surprisingly large camp a kilometre or so off in the distance.

Leif followed until they reached the campsite, but he didn’t enter, instead he stood back and watched, having no reason to join the growing celebrations, especially considering the lacking state of his disguise. He needed time to get things back to how they should be, not to mention the fact he needed to remake much of his arsenal of weapons that he usually had stored within his ring.

But he wasn’t the only one keeping their distance. Lucia sat on a small boulder, her mask in her lap and her legs crossed. She watched the camp with a mix of trepidation and hesitation, and he could sense deliberate control over his aura. He stepped over to the boulder and stood with his arms crossed, his head almost reaching her shoulders.

“You can go be with them, you know.” He said after half a minute had passed, looking off in the same direction she was.

Lucia shrugged. “I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to celebrate a victory you helped make happen?”

She scoffed. “I didn’t do anything.”

“We both know that’s not true. Don’t underplay your contribution.” Leif laughed.

“I didn’t do anything compared to you.”

“Such a fair comparison. You should stop drinking water because fish are better at it than you.”

She half heartedly swiped at his head, but he moved before she had even fully begun the motion, making her hand miss by an inch. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Should you stop running because some people are faster than you? Stop eating because some people can eat more? Stop fighting because others are stronger?”

Lucia glowered down at him. “I didn’t say anything like that. I’m just pointing out- Hey!”

Leif plucked her mask up with his mind and made it hover over her head. When she reached for it he simply moved it higher. Lucia jumped to her feet and snatched for the smooth piece of wood that he had repaired a few hours prior, but he made the object swoop down, spin around him once, then land in an open palm made of amber coloured energy.

“You didn’t.” Leif admitted, spinning the mask, then balancing it on the tip of a golden finger. “But you felt it. Stop feeling inadequate, we’ve talked about this so many times over these past few months.”

She sighed, muttered something under her breath, then flopped back down onto the bolder. “I was just being realistic.”

Leif made the mask vanish into his spatial ring. He sensed the spike of anxiety that his action caused, and gave the girl an assessing look. “Lucia, do you remember back when you asked me to make you this mask?”

She flushed and covered her face with her hands. “No… Yes. It was like two months ago.”

“Fifty one days.” He corrected. “Anyway, reasons as to why aside, do you remember what I made you promise?”

“Yeah…” She mumbled. Leif waited until Lucia continued on her own. It took a minute, but he could feel her mustering herself, and he didn’t prompt or rush her. “That by putting it on I would work on being the best version of myself. That I wouldn’t use it as an excuse to lie to myself or others.”

“And so when you tell me that you didn’t contribute to the dungeon subjugation?” He asked leadingly.

“This is dumb.”

“Are you selling yourself short? Again”

“You’re dumb. I hate you and that stupid mask. I only wanted it for aura training anyway.”

“That’s my partial lie, don’t steal it.” He joked, poking her aura with his own. It was like parting a bubble with a finger, so he didn’t press too hard. “But since you can’t admit it, I guess I’ll need to tell you. Lucia, you did a good job spreading word and guiding everyone to the dungeon.”

“They already knew most of it!”

“You did good, kid.”

“Stop that.”

“If you acknowledge it I will.”

She tried to kick the side of his head, but he blocked her strike by summoning the mask and catching her foot with it. He returned it to his ring a moment later, much to her annoyance. Her wooden sword appeared in her hand and she stabbed at him, but he mentally commanded the object, tugging her attack off course and making the weapon zip upwards, striking her in the forehead with the flat of the blade. The impact made a small thwap, though it hadn’t been hard enough to actually hurt. Lucia recoiled in surprise and lost her balance, tumbling backwards off the boulder.

She landed in a pile, cursing and spluttering. The girl launched herself at him around the boulder, but he blocked or parried her with little effort. After a few moments she started laughing, and it was like a dam breaking.

“Ready to admit it?” He chuckled, grabbing her arm and spinning her away.

“Not out loud.”

“Hmm.”

“That’s the best you’re going to get. Saying it is embarrassing.”

“My student is such a disappointment. I’ll have to return to the Academy to get another one.”

She threw a rock at him. It struck him right on the forehead and bounced off his own mask. Leif shook his head as if saddened. “And this is how she treats masks. Kids these days, so little respect.”

“You’re the most annoying tree in the world.”

“Most can’t talk, so I have a sizable advantage.”

Lucia squinted at him, then kicked her wooden sword up off the ground and caught it. She lowered her stance, then lunged. She made the weapon vanish the instant he grabbed onto it with [Wood Manipulation]. Instead she punched at his middle, but he caught her with one of his real hands. Lucia struggled to pull free, but he kept her in place.

“Do you want your mask back?”

“Yes please.”

He raised a hand, then dropped the wooden object onto her head. “Very well. I shall return to you the mask of self improvement and happiness.”

“That’s not what it’s called!”

“I made it, I can name it.”

Lucia pouted, but her expression was quickly hidden as she adjusted the mask to cover her face. She brushed herself down, then orange eyes met his own. “Where are we going now? What are we doing?”

“That’s a good question.” Leif said. “There are some things I need to do in this country before we go west, and truthfully I’m not sure how long it will take. For now though, we’ll stay a few days with the subjugation force, there’s some information I want, and I can probably get most of the supplies we need from the camp.”

She shrugged. “Ah, okay.”

“Something wrong?”

“No, it’s fine. I want to get to Roy, but if he arrived where you said he should, then he’s probably safe.”

“We’ll get there eventually, don’t worry. In a few months I can teleport us there, but I’d rather not if I can help it.” Leif said, turning to the camp. “Now then, do you think you could go get me a new cloak?”