Hyperion Evergrowing-Chapter 200: Subjugation

In retrospect, Hylon had been too eager to dive headfirst into danger, but in his defense, he hadn’t expected to almost be eaten by a giant mole.

“Hold still, dumbass.” Cerri said, wrapping the gashes on the outside of his right thigh with bandages.

“It’s just a flesh wound. I’m not an invalid, Cerri, I can bandage it myself.”

“I’m the healer, shut it and stay still.”

“It’s skin and muscle, you’re not healing shit.”

She pinched his cheek and pulled, stretching his face. “Ow, ow! Stop it you crazy bi-” Hylon’s words cut off as Cerri twisted his arm. Magically. “You’re supposed to be healing me! That means less pain, not more!”

“I can’t do my job if you’re being an idiot.” She hissed.

Several minutes and countless muttered curses later Hylon stood on his slightly injured leg. He glanced over to the corpse of the thing that lay still off to the side of the stone passage, specifically its half a metre long claws. He shuddered, only a combination of several skills working in tandem having saved him from a much bloodier fate.

He hadn’t wanted the [Guard] class, but he wasn’t complaining about it now. You were right, old man. Staying alive through fights that would otherwise kill you is a sound plan. He’d wanted [Fighter] for the offensive potential, but Silas had insisted on his current path. A more defensive fighting style suited one who fought with a spear, which is something he definitely would have figured out on his own. Definitely.

“Is monster tasty?” Hylon heard Rou ask, and he glanced up to see him crouched over the second giant mole.

“It’s a beast, not a monster.” The masked adventurer said. “Also, don’t eat it.”

“But I’m hungry...”

“You’re carrying our rations, Rou. Just snack on some dried meat or whatever.” Hylon said, wincing slightly as he tested his mobility.

The big lad started rifling through his pack, but paused, his arm buried up to his wrist. “Wh’ts difference between monster n beasties?”

“Not much. They have the same system progression track. Monster’s just aren’t naturally born, or only born with the help of magic.” Lucia said offhandedly. She conjured her strange white blade and did a few practice swings, then made the weapon vanish again.

“Huh.” Hylon said. “I didn’t know that.” He copied the masked adventurer, doing a series of test thrusts and slashes with his spear. “Wait, how do you know about their system progression?”

Lucia froze, and he could practically see her body tense. It lasted for less than a second, coming and going so quickly that Hylon questioned if he had really noticed anything. “My mentor spent time at the Imperial Academy in the Mekrys Empire. He told me.”

“I thought you said he was from Ahle-ho?” Cerri asked, brushing herself down as she stood.

“He… He’s from Varan, but he’s well travelled.”

“I’ll say.” Hylon said. “Most of us have never left the kingdom, or come from just outside of it.”

The masked girl shrugged. “Let’s make our way back to the entrance, then strike out deeper into the dungeon.”

He saluted, Rou copying him a moment later, a strip of jerky hanging out of his mouth.

===

The giant obsidian beetle twitched, then died as Hylon’s spear punched through the carapace between its eyes. He wrenched the weapon free, then backpedaled to fall in line With Rou. The large boy kicked out at one of the attacking creatures, sending it flying off into the darkness.

“Hy, above you!” Cerri yelled, and he glanced up to see a shadowed mass dropping down towards him. He cursed and dived away, but he wasn’t fast enough. Suddenly he felt a vice grip around his arms and legs, and the speed of his dive doubled as an invisible force threw him to safety.

His hands had locked up when Cerri had temporarily taken control, and his spear clattered to the ground. The obsidian beetle landed, the stone ripping below it like the surface of a pond. It Skittered forward, its sharpened legs sending the weapon sliding out of reach. Hylon cursed and drew the short dagger at his side. From experience he knew that he needed two solid hits to the same area to punch through the creature’s natural defenses. [Repetitive Strike] was not a fancy skill, but he was glad he had it for situations just like this.

The beetle dashed towards him, as he climbed to his feet. Hylon’s dagger slashed out, and the beast backed away. There was a crunch from off to the side where Rou had spattered another of the things against a wall. Hylon lunged, pulled back as the beetle snapped at him, then stabbed his blade into its side. Sharpened iron met earth empowered chitin and sparks flew. He became aware of the place he had struck as he scrambled back, like a small weight on his perception.

The beetle rushed forward, and he lowered himself to meet its charge, blade out. [Drilled Stance] helped distribute his weight and prepare for the coming clash. He felt strength flow through his fingers and forearms, the bone being reinforced thanks to Cerri. The beetle’s back split open, and a deafening drone of its wings beating faster than he could see made him wince. But [Combat Awareness] helped him keep focus through the distraction, and his dagger found its mark, penetrating carapace and cutting down into vulnerable tissue.

The beast died, and Hylon let out a ragged whoop of victory. Then death descended as yet another beetle fell upon him. The air to his side rippled, and a streak of white arced over his head, cutting the creature in half. Its gore splattered over his head, and he spluttered as he wiped blood and viscera out of his eyes.

The masked adventurer was like a ghost, flitting between shadows, her white sword appearing and disappearing in a disorientating flicker of light and darkness. Lucia killed a beetle clinging to the outside of Rou’s scrap metal covered arm, moved in a blur to put down a creature Cerri was keeping at bay with a shaking hand outstretched, then vanished further down the tunnel to kill another.

To his eyes, she looked damn near unstoppable, a blur of death that carved through their foes with an ease that made his stomach twinge with jealousy. He spat out what little acrid tasting beetle blood had splattered into his mouth, then took in their situation.

Rou was bloodied from a dozen cuts and gashes, but Hylon knew that the massive boy could take more punishment than that. Cerri shook with exertion, sagging in place, and while she didn’t look visibly injured, she winced with the soul deep ache of skill overuse. They were all exhausted, several hours having elapsed since the subjugation force had descended into the earth-aspected dungeon.

Their eyes met, and he nodded in gratitude, appreciating just how much she was doing to keep them alive. Her gaze flicked over his gore covered features, and he swore that she paled slightly, though it was hard to tell in the low light of the dungeon. Hylon shook his head like a dog, spraying beetle blood and guts everywhere, then he hooked a foot under the shaft of his fallen spear and kicked it up into the air, catching it with a flourish. Cerri rolled her eyes, Rou clapped two meaty hands together, and Lucia…

Lucia sprinted towards them, darkness boiling behind her. “Run!” She yelled, blurring next to Cerri and scooping the exhausted girl up over her shoulder. The masked adventurer didn’t stop, dashing down the passage that led back the way they had come.

A tide of beetles followed behind her, the scratching of hundreds of insectile legs skittering over the floor and walls like nails on a chalkboard. Within the swarming mass of beasts was an obsidian clad behemoth that dwarfed the others of its kind.

“Big un!” Rou bellowed, rushing after the two girls. “O-crap!”

Hylon sprinted after his siblings and the adventurer, [Combat Awareness] making it impossible for him to ignore the tide of creatures slowly gaining on them. He was quicker than Rou, and slipped around the large teen, chasing after Lucia and Cerri.

The dungeon walls seemed to shake, and the passage before them was more narrow than he remembered it being when they had passed it prior. Maybe it was his panic addled mind playing tricks on him, maybe-

Oh shit, it really is closing in. He thought, alarm spiking. The dungeon was shifting right before his eyes, as if the damn thing was trying to trap them in with the mass of flesh eating beetles.

He yelled for them to speed up, and Lucia shot a glance over his shoulder. Hylon almost screamed at her, what was she doing? The masked girl did something, and for a brief moment he felt her dizzying aura rush past him. Unlike back at the temple, it had no adverse effects, at least not on him.

The beetle swarm, practically nipping at Rou’s heels, stumbled, tripping over one another as if struck with a sudden bout of disorientation. Hylon felt hope surge within his chest, then the feeling doubled as Cerri and Lucia disappeared through where the dungeon passage was trying to close. He dashed through a breath later, skidding to a stop to help Rou through, his body turned sideways as his shoulders were too broad to fit otherwise.

A dozen stalagmite of sharpened stone erupted from the ground, and the dungeon trembled as rock melted together above their heads. Hylon held out a hand to Rou as the massive boy slammed into the narrowing tunnel, shattering stone, but getting stuck half way. Rou’s hand wrapped around Hylon’s forearm and pulled, and it was all he could do to not get wrenched off his feet.

Rou bellowed in pain and fear, tears welling in his large eyes. Hylon heaved, but the walls closed in around his adoptive brother. He grabbed the boy’s arm with his other hand, pulling with all his might. So close. He thought, muscles straining. So damn close, only a little more. Please, please don’t die on me.

A second pair of hands wrapped around Rou’s, and with a disconcerting screech of scrap metal against stone he fell free, the passage crashing together a moment later. Hylon was bowled off his feet as Rou fell on top of him, and he wheezed for breath as the massive youth’s weight smooshed him into the floor. There was a groan to his side, and he strained to turn his head, seeing a half askew mask of ivory wood.

“T-thanks.” He groaned out, wincing as Rou shifted his weight above him. “I wasn’t… wasn’t strong enough.”

“D-don’t mention it.” The dark haired girl replied, her one free hand adjusting the mask to cover her face once again.

Huh. Hylon thought. Cerri was right, she really is around our age.

===

By the time they stumbled, exhausted, back to the subjugation force’s advanced camp within the dungeon, a sizable portion of those that had initially entered the dungeon were gathered, as well as some groups Hylon was fairly sure hadn’t climbed the mountain earlier that day. Several well equipped adventurers facing away from them were seated around a bubbling pot of stew, but there was no fire under the large piece of iron cookware.

Magic bullshit. He thought tiredly, collapsing down among the belongings and supplies they had left behind when venturing deeper into the dungeon. Why would anyone enchant a cooking pot? Isn’t that a massive waste of money and power? His hands were shaking, and had been ever since his body had run out of adrenaline, his head and soul throbbed from skill overuse. Hylon felt as if something within him would be on the verge of snapping in two if he had to fight again.

They hadn’t been lucky enough to return without danger after fleeing from the beetles, the four of them having run into a roaming elemental similar to the ones they had encountered on the mountain side. He and his part had been enough to handle it, but in the tight confines of the dungeon, and with the elemental having the home ground advantage, it had been a struggle.

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He wiped sweat off his brow, and his palm came away sticky with blood. I don’t remember taking a hit to the head. He mused, half delirious. Must have been when the elemental threw chunks of rock at us. The cut wasn’t deep, and it had already mostly stopped bleeding.

“What time is it?” Cerri asked as she flopped down beside him. She sounded exhausted, and looked worse.

“Not a clue. Probably around midnight. It doesn’t look like the light filtering down from above us doesn’t care if there’s sunlight around or not.” He replied.

Cerri stretched and sighed, but it quickly turned into a yawn. Hylon yawned, and then Rou yawned.

“Where gramps?” The large boy asked, sitting cross legged on the ground, almost crushing a burlap sack. “I bet he’s hungry.”

“I have no idea.” Hylon said, closing his eyes. “He’s tougher than nails, so he’s probably fine.”

There was a burst of laughter from nearby, but he ignored it. Instead his mind’s eye was fixated on the level up notification from the system.

Level up! Class [Trainee] is now level 10!

For using the skills and techniques you have been taught against the denizens of a dungeon you have gained a level!

+1 to [Might] +1 free points!

You have gained the capstone class skill [Martial Specialisation]!

Congratulations! You have reached the level cap for your [Trainee] class! [Trainee] experience earned is evenly distributed between your other classes!

Foundation tier general classes can be promoted using a promotion item! You may directly promote this class into an Advanced class, or merge it with another Foundation class to create a Union class!

“I did it.” Hylon mumbled, a smile stretching across his face even as he sprawled on the ground. “Finally.”

“You finally figured out how to tie your own shoes?” Cerri asked.

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“Very funny.”

“So… you still haven't?”

He grunted, too tired to rise to the bait.

“Well, well. What do we have here?” Came an irritatingly familiar voice. “Whoever thought letting a bunch of children into a dungeon was a good idea? Say, where is that old failure? Did he finally realise that an invalid playing at being an adventurer was foolish?”

Hylon didn’t open his eyes, but he heard the clink of metal plated footsteps get closer. Why him? Couldn’t the sunflower guild keep to their own business? He had thought he might have recognised the new arrivals to the subjugation force, but he had been too tired to bother checking.

“What do you want, Jed?” He asked.

He couldn’t see, but he practically heard the sneer in the older adventurer’s tone. “How about you give up some of your supplies to your betters? We’ll make better use out of it. For example, we could feed it to our dogs.”

“Hy, this man see’s hungry.” Rou commented, and Hylon winced internally. “If he forgot to bring his own food, we can share.”

“Oh? The fat and stupid one can actually speak? How amusing, I had assumed it was a pet. Say, how many points of intelligence did you need before you had the mental capacity of a three year old? Ten? Twenty?”

“I dun understand.” Rou said, sounding confused.

“Could you leave us alone?” Cerri asked, her voice strained with barely contained anger. “Surely you can see you’re not wanted?”

Hylon opened his eyes to see the smirking face of a man he positively hated. Jed’s adventurer badge in the shape of a sunflower gleamed as if he had spent two hours every day polishing it. Not the only thing he polishes daily. Fucking wanker.

“I could say the same for you and your little band of misfits.” Jed said, glaring down at Cerri. “At best you’re an experience thief. At worst, your death will increase the strength of whatever does you in.”

“Says the man who hasn’t fought anything yet.” She snapped back. “You sound jealous that we’re showing you up, it isn’t flattering. Actually, it’s sort of pathetic.”

Jed laughed, it sounded cruel. Hylon loved Cerri, but he wished his sister knew when to let things go. She had the sharpest tongue of everyone he knew, besides Silas, but there was a time and place to pick one’s battles, and the smug adventurer armoured in as much arrogance as steel wasn’t worth it, no matter how much that fact pissed him off.

“Think you’re better than me?” Jed said, voice low. Then he turned to the other adventurers around the self heating cooking pot. “Did you hear that, fellas? This brat thinks she’s better than us! We who are real adventurers, not some urchins with no parents.”

The sunflower guild adventurers jeered. A handful of other groups in the chamber looked over, but quickly lost interest. The anger already smoldering in Hylon’s chest threatened to flare up, and from the way Cerri clenched her fists, she was equally, if not more furious.

“How about you try and prove it?” Jed suggested, pitching his voice so that it carried. “Feel like taking part in some friendly spars? Some perfectly fair one on one bouts?”

Hylon laughed, but even to his own ears it sounded forced. “Are you seriously challenging a bunch of injured children to a fight? Do you realise how pathetic you sound? And I thought you said you were real adventurers?”

The jeers from around the cooking pot turned hostile, as did Jed’s glare. Hylon glared back, but he didn’t move to get up, he wasn’t sure his legs were functional after all the hours of running and fighting. A figure moved between them and squatted down to fish through a pack. Hylon saw Jed’s glare shift from him, to Lucia’s masked face.

The girl pulled out a small pouch of salted nuts, then stood, not once looking in Jed’s direction. She went to walk off, then paused. “Want some nuts?” She asked her three temporary party members.

“Oh? Who’s this?” Jed asked, sauntering forward. “Another orphan? Or did you trick someone into joining your little group?”

Lucia glanced at the adventurer for the first time, and even with her face hidden, Hylon could practically see the mix of disgust and disinterest radiating off of her.

“Nice armour… Is that a custom commission set? And what’s it made out of, petrified wood? Very unique, I approve.”

“It was custom made.” Lucia said, her voice absent of emotion.

“Nice, nice. How much did it cost?”

“It was a gift.”

“Fascinating… fascinating. Say, why don’t you ditch these… failures, and come work with us? You’re clearly cut from a different cloth, no need to sully yourself. My friends and I are much better company anyway. We could even have some fun.”

Hylon felt sick, he had known the man was as slimy as they came, but this was something else. To his surprise, Lucia seemed to relax, her slightly tensed muscles unwinding and her somewhat defensive stance slipping away. “Ah, I see.” Was all she said.

Jed seemed to take that as an invitation and stepped forward, putting a hand around her shoulder in an overly friendly manner. He blinked as if something had suddenly drawn his attention, his eyes going unfocused. Hylon barely even saw the fist that crashed into the man’s face, Lucia had moved so quickly that her arm was a blur. Jed howled and stumbled back, clutching his broken nose. Cerri shuffled forward and stretched out her leg. The adventurer tripped and crashed to the hard ground with a series of clangs and curses.

“I’d rather die.” Lucia said, orange eyes blazing within the slits of her mask. Jed screamed a series of slurs at her as his party ran over to pick him up. The adventurers shot the four of them death glares, but didn’t start anything as they dragged their man away. Lucia turned back to Hylon and his siblings. “Nuts?”

Hylon stared at her with open mouthed shock. Cerri grinned.

“Yes please.” Rou said.

===

The second day in the dungeon was a grueling, if less dramatic affair. Hylon and his team were joined by a party of five volunteers to hunt down a newly opened passage. They encountered a variant of stone elemental with quartz protrusions growing from their hunched backs like long quills, and the monsters seemed to prefer moving on all four limbs, though they were capable of frighteningly quick bipedal motion.

The monsters acted as ambush predators, drawing the humans into firing lines before unleashing a barrage of stone towards them. The main flaw in the elemental’s plan to kill them all was that one of the volunteers had a [Labourer] skill that allowed him to protect himself, and by extension the rest of them, from falling debris.

The otherwise deadly projectiles simply turned transparent as they approached the humans, passing through them to deal zero damage. Hylon had never heard of such an ability, but when the man explained his twenty years of experience working in a marble quarry he just shrugged and accepted it. Asking others the specifics about their classes and skills was something only done with close friends or family, and nobody pushed the [Labourer] to explain.

In the privacy of his own mind, Hylon suspected that the man had promoted his class once, if not twice. It was a fairly remarkable feat for a non combat or magical class. Speaking of promotions, when Silas had finally returned looking weary, but otherwise unharmed, the old man had advised Hylon to wait on his [Trainee] class promotion. Of all the martial classes, [Trainee] was both the most generic, while also being the most diverse. His newly acquired [Martial Specialisation] skill was an example of such, with the skill having the rare [Adaptable] aspect.

Infact, the only class Hylon had ever heard of also having skills with the aspect was [Labourer], though he suspected [Crafter] or [Scribe] would also be likely candidates. Regardless, Silas had advised that Hylon wait until the skill had gained its full suite of adaptable traits, which in the case of [Martial Specialisation], would require him to fight in a specific way.

If the skill became spear specific, then his odds of promoting into a spear focused class would spike. Well, he would be able to choose what class he picked for his promotion, he just couldn’t pick which classes he would be offered.

They pushed through a series of twisting ravines, light filtering down from overhead as far above them the dungeon’s limits brushed against the outside world. Hylon and the others huddled around their group’s defensive anchor, rushing forward to engage the elementals once they had expended their stone quills.

They advanced, destroying another ten of the monsters, then retreated back to the advanced camp to recover. The tip of Hylon’s spear was chipped in several places, and the weapon’s wooden shaft was missing strips of wood where he had blocked several attacks.

I’ll need a replacement soon. He thought, trudging along at the rear of the group. His spear was nothing special, one of several Silas had stockpiled over the years. But they had handed out most of their weapons to the volunteers, so he wasn’t sure if there would be any spares available. He left the others to go poke around the camp’s supplies, there was a pile of broken weapons, and more than a handful shattered spears. That’s not good. Hylon thought, dejected. He found some cloth strips, and wrapped them tightly around where his weapon was at risk of breaking.

He walked back to the others, detouring to grab some freshly cooked meat wrapped in flatbread that had been prepared by some of the support staff who had come down into the dungeon with them. Hylon wasn’t sure if he would have been brave enough to do so if he were in their position, having to rely on others for protection was not something he had enjoyed having to do.

Rou was entertaining himself with a collection of mostly cube shaped rocks he had been picking up as they explored. The large boy looked up as he smelled the meal Hylon was holding.

“You know, if you carved numbers into each face of that one you could make a decent dice.” He said, handing his brother some food.

“Yeah, I tried. Fingers are too big.” Rou replied, happily taking the offered heal and shoving it into his mouth.

“Give me one, I’ll try.” Hylon said, pulling out his dagger as he placed the food onto a small box. Rou ate another wrap as Hylon sat next to him, concentrating on carving each face of the rock. He got three sides done when he looked up, only to see Rou eating the last wrap. “Those were for Cerri and Lucia.” He said, and suddenly Rou looked guilty.

“Oh, sorry.”

“All good, I’ll get more. I should have clarified. Do you think these numbers are readable?”

Rou squinted. “Maybe?” Hylon moved the small stone so it caught the light of a nearby lantern. The large boy nodded happily, and he got back to work. It wasn’t the best dice, the stone hadn’t been properly balanced. Rou kept rolling sixes, which seemed to amuse him. Hylon tried, and rolled a two.

Well, that’s a bad omen.

He grunted and stood, heading back over to where the food was being served. The lady who was in charge gave him a withering look as he asked for more. She muttered something about growing boys, and gave him three more wraps. Cerri and Lucia were sitting off to the side, the red haired girl chatting animatedly and waving her hands. The masked adventurer could have been asleep for all Hylon could tell.

At least Cerri likes her. He thought. Ever since their escape from the tide of giant insects, Cerri started making an effort to actively engage with the other girl, and after Lucia had broken Jed’s nose his sister had only redoubled her attempt to get to know her. Hylon wasn’t sure if Lucia liked the awkward attempt at friendship making, but it was probably fine.

“Hey.” He said, approaching them with wraps held out before him. “Hungry?”

“What’s in it?” Cerri asked, leaning forward.

“Meat.”

“What kind?”

“Uh, lamb, I think. Maybe pork. Both?”

Cerri grabbed two wraps, then offered one to Lucia. The masked girl looked down at it for several seconds. “Oh, do you not like meat?” She asked. “If you don’t we can get something else.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just not very hungry.” Lucia said, hesitantly taking the wrap. She lifted her mask a little, then took a bite. Cerri tilted her head to try and sneak a peek, then stopped once she realised what she was doing. The masked girl’s foot tapped nervously, and she kept shooting glances around the camp.

“What’s wrong?” Hylon asked after he chewed his own mouthful. He paused. “Oh, your mentor, I’m sorry.”

Lucia shrugged. “I… It’s been two days, he should have found us by now. I don’t know why he hasn’t.”

Hylon and Cerri shared a look. Nobody could survive alone in a dungeon for over a week. Not unless they had an inhuman amount of strength. He didn’t want to bring it up, he didn’t know how.

“We’ll find him.” Cerri said, hesitantly putting a hand on the adventurer’s shoulder. Lucia froze for an instant, then kept eating.

“Yeah. We will.”