Project Ragnarok: Chapter 4

'Title is subject to change. Note to self: DO NOT write anything at 3 in the morning.'

They were outnumbered. The monsters spawning in the dungeons of Svartalfheim were stronger than those in Alfheim. Gwenhwyfar found herself forced against the back of Tsukiyomi, her rapier prepared to deflect any attack. On the far side of the battle field, she caught glimpse of the rest of the party -- Eustace, Laevateinn and Mondschein -- cornered by another mob of gnomes. Not the Alfheim-type of gnomes, but real gnomes, with green glowing eyes and lengthy ears and ugly faces. Tsukiyomi cursed under his breath. One jumped at her with its sword, a curved blade similar to those of pirates and thieves. Before she could even react, the enemy fragmented into a million pieces, and disappeared into the darkness of the multi-floored dungeon. "You okay, sweetheart?" The Spriggan asked.

Gwenhwyfar scoffed, thrusting her rapier into another enemy, causing it to disintegrate. "Sweetheart your ass! We have to get to Lae and the others!" But it seemed the more enemies they defeat, the more keep spawning into their exact location. At least, as a complete party, they surely could find a way to get out of Svartalfheim. A ring of light gathered around the Salamander, and she muttered a quick spell. As soon as the proper words of power had been gathered, flames erupted from the ground, swallowing the fleet of enemies all around them. "Let's go before another mob comes again," she told Tsukiyomi, running to the rest of the party despite the significant drop in her MP.

"Rai, wait--"

There was a quick sound of rustling leaves and breaking twigs, but all was too late, as the guild captain found herself engulfed completely by darkness, her entire body plunging deeper into the dungeon.

Unlike Alfheim, its dark counterpart, Svartalfheim, is a full-time dungeon and is the home to the dark elves and the best smiths of the Æsir. It is also an eternal spring of the best smithing and refining materials, the reason why their party is here in the first place. Eustace wanted to collect a horde of them for guild and personal use, but it seemed as though they underestimated the dungeon itself. The home of the dark elves were much cunning, dangerous, and tricky. It is easy to get lost in multitude of swamps and forests and the dim light.

And, well, for some odd reason, it had more traps than imaginable.

"Looks like she's waking up..." A faint voice registered in her ears, almost meddling with her sleep. It was of someone she didn't recognize. Although it didn't sound like it belongs to someone harmful. The Salamander's eyebrows furrowed, her eyes squinting ever so slightly as she adjusted to the bright light pouring forth. Realizing how different the environment was in split second, Gwenhwyfar quickly sat up, only to be met by a sudden arrival of pain after hitting her forehead with sheer force against a foreign object. She groaned in pain, lying back down.

"Agh..." A similar long, pained groan from the same voice came along with hers. "That's a hard head you have."

The pain slowly beginning to subside, she caught herself staring right into the eyes of a man in a long blue coat, with spiky golden-blonde hair. "I should say the same for you!" She snorted, as she forced herself to stand up, only to end up toppling over the complete stranger as her legs horribly failed her.

“Forcing your legs like that would only injure you further. If I were you, I’d be smart enough to not do that.”

Gwenhwyfar kept up the tundere-façade. "You’re not my mom. Who are you even?”

"At least say thanks first," the blonde grunted. "This is the fifth floor of Svartalfheim, a safe zone." Fifth floor? Then she fell all the way from the third? What- "I'm Galant. And you?"

"Gwenhwyfar."

She swore to all the Æsirs she caught him staring at her the moment she told him her in-game name, like it brought back a distant memory. He then shook his head, much to her confusion. Huh, this Galant person is weirder than she thought. His odd antics aside, she needs to see how her party had been doing. Although they did have a back-up plan in case things don't go according to the original plan, she can't sit still lest she knows how they are. "Merlin, generate dungeon map location of Tsukiyomi and the others." The AI, in its pixie form, rose from where she sat on her shoulder and began to work on the order. A map appeared right before her, displaying a cross section of the Svartalfheim dungeon. A small circle continued to move about in the third floor, eventually arriving to the next one. It obviously endowed the symbol of the Spriggan race.

Tsukiyomi.

Tsukiyomi hadn’t climb back up yet.

“Tch,” she eventually said in annoyance. “Disobedient perv. Told him to leave if something goes wrong.”

Galant stifled a rather small scoff. "That's your backup plan? An odd one, if I may point out."

“'''No, you may not. I do not seek your humblest opinion, Galant, sir,'''” hissed the Salamander. Man, ten seconds after meeting a new player and her blood is exploding like big bombs. What is this person’s problem with her, anyway? Had she ever done anything wrong to him? Nothing she could remember. God, why is she being treated this way?! “And I don’t remember requesting your presence either.”

The other’s eyes narrowed at her. Bring it on then. But no words came out of his mouth, other than a “Fine. If you have questions, I’ll be close by.”

She was too busy minding him that she didn’t even bother digesting in her surroundings. Unlike the dark swamps that they had been in on the first three floors, the safe zone was a lovely field of green grass and of course, flowers – a complete antonym, indeed. Galant was settled down under the shade of a sturdy tree. Ah, but going back to Tsukiyomi… Gwen took another glance at the map, but said Spriggan still haven’t gotten away from the fourth floor. A short healing spell fixed the pain in her legs, and at the very least, she was able to limp her way towards her only companion. “I do have a question though.” He cocked his head to one side, but did not stand up. Only when he did open his eyes did she continue her question. “A friend of mine is stupidly venturing in the fourth floor, probably in hopes of finding me. About how long would it take for him to do so?”

“Impossible…” Both Merlin and Galant said in unison.

“Odd enough, there is no way to reach the fifth floor through the fourth. The fourth one is directed straight towards the sixth, and this safe zone is only connected to sixth floor. Your stupid friend would have to survive the dangers of the sixth floor and be lucky enough to even find the stairs to here,” he explained. When Merlin nodded in agreement to what he had said, she was hopeless. Seeing her distress, Galant rose and spoke, “I don’t have time to linger here any longer. Since you look like you are a strong player yourself, I suppose you can go alone, yes?”

“HA!” She scoffed again. “Leaving a damsel on her own? Some knight you are!” That wasn’t exactly what she wished to slip past her lips but—

Damn.

Finally, his lips stretched to a small smile. “I’d let you stick close then. But don’t expect me to protect you all the time.”

“I just need company until I find Tsukiyomi and hit him dead. You can go on your merry way afterwards.”

With the stairs back to the sixth floor visible in her fiery red eyes, she trailed behind him, one hand on the hilt of her rapier.