Adam
I gave my body a little bit more of a rest after the harshness of the healing. For the next hour or so, I lay nearly perfectly still, carefully controlling my breathing as I let the new damage in my chest settle. With my legs entirely back together, I refocused the healing on my upper body, but I couldn't risk using the sword again to speed it up, so that would take time.
The sound of rapidly approaching clawed footfalls on stone told me that time was up. Carefully, pushing myself to my feet, I tested just how healed my legs actually were. Both legs worked as well as ever. And while a test swing proved my arms were fine, the lancing pain from my chest did throw off my aim. It was something I'd have to be careful with.
Floof entered the chamber at a breakneck pace, just in time to catch my sword swing. I caught a disapproving look in his eyes. He knew I needed to heal, but I suspected he also knew we didn't have the time. He had been the one just in the fight after all.
“Welcome back. Were those five FungalCaps the only thing you fought?” I asked, looking at the skull Floof was carrying.
“Yeah, that was about it. Floof made pretty short work of them. He's not very talkative, though, yet, is he? Considering how far he's developed for a mana beast, I'm a little surprised. They can usually talk before they can fight like him. Good to see you up and moving. Does that mean it’s time to get our asses out of here? Well, those of us that still have asses at least,” Gren replied, stringing several sentences together in a rapid-fire ramble.
For Floof's sake, I hoped he hadn't been like that the whole trip. Did he always talk this much? Was this just him trying to distract us from anything he was up to? Hopefully this was just Gren's own anxiety playing out in fear of us.
“Floof isn’t as far along as you may think. He’s a native dog to one of the new worlds pulled in with the integration,” I corrected him. It didn’t seem like information there was any reason to try to hide, and once we were back to the Neighborhood it was unlikely it would stay hidden anyway. I doubted there was anything Gren or his bosses, if he found a way to betray us, could make use of.
“Wait, seriously? Huh, oh Floof, I think I owe you an apology. You're actually pretty impressive. Like, crazily so. Started and understand why we never had a chance, more and more by the hour. So big guy, what's next that doesn't involve killing me?”
“We need to get back to the surface. My daughter killed your partner. Which means Ryzel and his forces tried to hunt them down on their return to her home, and I'm a little unhappy about that, as you can imagine,” I answered, keeping my voice firm, making sure that Gren understood exactly what I meant.
“Well, can't say the dog and I found much where we went. There was a lot of walking, and just that end fight with the FungalCaps. But who knows what was past them could easily have been a way back to the surface. Seems like it's a giant maze down here, big guy.”
That was the answer I more or less expected. But it didn't mean they had discovered as little as Gren thought. Floof was likely choosing the paths he chose for a reason, and I had a feeling that reason was his nose at work.
“Floof, what do you think? You wanna head back down that path?” I asked, pointing to where he’d returned from. “Or do you think one of these is a better choice? This one over here. A monster approached from where you were gone. Pretty sure it was another one of the FungalCaps you fought. So it could also be a viable way.”
Floof took another long walk around the chamber, the same as he had before his first journey. Again, he stopped at every single one of the passageways, taking very long and deliberate sniffs. He repeated the process three times before finally stopping in front of the opening that the creature had come in from, his head pointing down at it.
“Well, looks like the dogs made a decision. You good with it, big guy?” Gren asked.
I was. What I wasn't sure I was okay with was being called big guy. Wasn't so much the nickname as it was the familiarity. I didn't like Gren, but if this was all it took to keep him under our control, I'd deal with it.
“That he has. Alright, Floof, you're gonna have to lead the way. I'm still not in the best of fighting shape. I'll handle Gren, though. That should free you up a little bit better,” I said as I leaned down and picked up the skull.
If we were going to keep Gren around, I was going to have to find a better way to transport him. Hell, as it was, I still needed a better way to keep my sword on my back. Or I just needed a way to get the Autonomous Mana Orb unlocked, but considering that was in the second tier of the mana orbs, within the blade itself, that was a ways away.
“Gren, your job is to let me know if you pick up anything unusual or something you think is a way out of here with any of your extra senses. The less annoying you are about it, the more likely I am to remember to set you down before I have to kill any monsters.”
Floof
The moment Floof entered the cavern and found the King, he had already smelled the trail the other creature had left behind. While not identical to the ones he had just fought, it was similar enough that he was sure they were of the same species. The idea that monsters had dared to attempt any sort of assault on his lord while he recovered angered the dog. It was not the behavior of honorable creatures.
The fact that the King was back at his feet was a testament to his strength, given just how badly he was still hurt. This new path that Floof had chosen had been picked primarily because he could detect a hint of running water somewhere in the distance. He had no idea if that would truly lead them back to the surface. But at the same time, it was the only difference he could find between all of the different passages, and that made it a chance he was willing to take.
While he was still very willing to carry Gren and wasn't sure the King should take on another burden, he would not question the orders. It was possible the King knew something of the princess, and that time was of the essence. In which case, Floof would focus every bit of himself on finding the correct path.
Thanks to the King’s mighty sword, the darkness was nowhere near as deep this time. It was a weapon Floof respected. He had always known it was special, even in the times before he had truly awakened to the world.
Whenever he had visited the King in his chambers, the sword had always felt regal in a way that Floof didn't understand at the time. Now, though, with more words flooding his brain every day, he knew what that feeling had been. It was a weapon built for a leader of men.
It was pure magic.
Given that new understanding, it made complete sense to Floof that his father would wield it in battle. Who else could possibly be worthy of it? Perhaps one day, if the Princess chose to train in it, Floof could see that. And of course there was the Prince or the Queen.
Should the time arise, Floof would follow any of them into battle. It was his duty. And one day, he would make sure the entire family was reunited.
Gren
The news of Ryzel's death hit him harder than he expected. Not that he was sure it would actually stick. It was likely that the boss had already recovered the body and was at work putting it back to use. But that didn't change the fact that, betrayed or not, Ryzel had been one of the better friends for a lot of his existence.
Gren had a lot to think about. His life had managed to radically change in the last day in ways he wouldn't have ever expected. Sure, there was always the chance he was going to die when they entered into this arena, but his body being destroyed and being held as some sort of prisoner by some stupidly powerful local just hadn't been anywhere in his imagined cards.
How the hell had they had bad enough luck to find some monster of a local? Were they even the first faction to fall? For all Gren knew, they could have just been the last in a list of factions Adam was dismantling. It would explain how he and the dog got so strong so fast.
That did leave the question of who he stole that sword from. Gren was sure it couldn't have been Adam's. The man, as skilled as he was with the blade, couldn't even seem to use most of the mana orbs housed in it.
He couldn't be sure, not without it being fully activated, but he thought one of those mana orbs was a healing orb. And considering how hurt the big man was, now would have been the time to use it if he understood how. That left Gren with an all-new question, though.
How did a man without a body steal a powerful sword? Or, for that matter, how did he get it back to the boss? He was willing to play the loyal stooge for now, as long as it kept him alive. But there was just no way these idiots would make it long term in an out-of-control integration like this. His best bet was getting what remained of himself back to Grompf. And if he could find a way to take that sword with him, all the better.
For now, though, he would do what he had to to get the three of them back to the surface. Gods, he needed a new body. Gromf wouldn't stick him with one of the goat men, would he?
***
The Growth mana orb was the first that Eighdum decided to put within his sword. It wasn't the first he had created, but it was the one that triggered the idea in his brain. He was reaching a point of strength where one of his biggest limitations was the easy access to the various mana orbs he had in his arsenal.
Switching between them proved time-consuming. And while soul-bonding them did allow for access while they were not directly within his mana channels, it still meant he had to maintain physical contact with them. The growth orb, being as powerful as it was but also the least useful directly in combat, had sparked the idea of finding a mechanism to use them all at once.
The basis for using a sword had come from a man he had seen during a tournament competition. Housed in the blade were three elemental mana orbs, and he'd been able to switch between fire, ice, and lightning magic on the fly. While it wasn't exactly the blueprint Eighdum would use when it came to building the runic blade, it did help when he first tried to explain to a blacksmith what he was considering.
It only took him a dozen or so before he was pointed in the direction of the Forge Scripter Marjara, who would become instrumental in the forging of the runic blade. She had considered the project her greatest achievement and possibly even her life's work. Though she had assured Eighdum that she intended to live much longer, she couldn't promise that second part.
—Memories of Adam Miller before he found Earth