Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Vahn continued running towards the exit, but as he had spent more than two hours on the floor he was nowhere near close enough to escape his pursuer. He was now able to feel the dense structure of the dungeon tremble as dust particles began raining from the cracks in the ceiling. Vahn's mind was racing to come up with a solution, but there was nothing in his inventory that could slow the 'monster' down.All the confidence Vahn had been building in the last two months couldn't prevent his mind from collapsing due to the fear he was feeling. The closer the presence got, the more dread spread in his heart and mind as Vahn felt death inching ever closer. Vahn wasn't afraid of death itself, but he couldn't help but have regrets considering everything he would be leaving behind.Though he was still growing accustomed to this world. there were several things he had already grown attached to. The places, the people, and especially the food; all of these things were irreplaceable to the current Vahn and he feared that no matter what worlds he might visit in the future, he would never be able to reclaim what he lost by dying now. All the promises he made to the people he cared about, all the hopes they placed in him...Vahn was afraid of losing them all...As a last resort, Vahn found a large rock stratum and tried to conceal himself. He willed his domain to the smallest possible size as he wedged his body into the crevasse and infused his [Stealth] skill in an effort to hide his presence. Vahn held his breath as he felt the vibrations of the rocks against his body. Every lumbering step of the creature caused the entire floor to rumble in its wake.After twenty seconds, Vahn finally caught sight of the monster that had been pursuing him and his mind went completely blank. The 'monster' was more like a 'nightmare' in comparison to anything else he had ever seen. It had a long skeletal body more than 10m in length with several boney appendages adorned with claws that easily cut into the dense bedrock of the dungeon. Its head was a ghastly visage of a dragon's skull while its eyes seemed to be able to shatter the confidence of anyone that gazed into them.The monster that had been pursuing him was considered the most dangerous entity in the dungeon and has led to the death of thousands of adventurers since the creation of the dungeon. It was a Juggernaut, the dungeons automated defense system that spawned only when a severe amount of damage had been done to the dungeon's structure. From the moment it spawned it would slaughter every single adventurer on the floor until the dungeon had been restored.Vahn didn't know how strong the creature was, but the compendium listed it as an SS-Ranked threat even S-Ranked Familia had to seriously prepare for (A/N: Loki/Freya Familias). That meant it would be able to pose a threat to core parties that consisted almost entirely of ranked 4-6 Adventurers. And that is if they all fought it together...As Vahn was alone, encountering a Juggernaut meant certain death if he was found.The moment the Juggernaut entered the room it stopped. It used it's eerie glowing eyes to sweep the room where its 'prey' had vanished. Vahn could feel a weird sensation like some kind of filament was being spread through the air. It was probing the entire room and even began to inspect the area where Vahn was currently hidden. As the strange 'sensation' came into contact with his domain it seemed to stall and move slowly as if it was searching for something. Vahn had no idea if his domain had tipped it off, but he continued holding his breath and praying.Vahn could 'see' the invisible sensation extend tendrils that tested the area inside his domain. In the distance, he could see the Juggernaut had stopped and was staring off into space like it was lost in thought. Sweat began to build upon Vahn's brow as his lungs began starving for air. He managed to resist the temptation to draw breath until the point his body began to change from the pain that was beginning to build in his lungs.The tendrils continued to inspect the crevasse where Vahn was located and crept within 50cm of his position. As there was nothing else beyond his location, Vahn would be unable to flee any further into the crevasse. The only thing he could do was hope that something else drew the Juggernaut away before it found his hiding spot. By now his form had changed entirely into his white-tiger transformation as his vision began to fade. Darkness slowly crept into his sight and Vahn knew it wasn't long before he lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen...Vahn felt something 'snap' inside his mind and a powerful pulsation erupting from his chest. The 'eternal flame' began trying to nourish his body by absorbing oxygen through his pores and diffusing it into his blood, but the rate was far too slow to make a difference in the current situation. The tendrils had crept to within 20cm and the Juggernaut remained idle in the center of the room. Vahn had no hope that it would leave so he took a drastic action.Vahn equipped his bow and had Sis purchase the strongest arrow he could afford. Within his inventory, a single black arrow appeared simply called [Yi] 10,000OP. Vahn knocked the bow and began to infuse as much mana as he could into the arrow which slowly took on a golden hue displaying the relief of a man surrounded by ten suns. As Vahn channeled more of his 'source energy' into the arrow the suns began to turn black at a very slow rate. Before Vahn was able to make a single sun go dark his body was almost completely drained of energy.He loosed the arrow while willing his [Call of the Reaper] to activate. The moment the skill took affect the arrow seemed to turn invisible as it traveled silently through the air towards the Juggernauts head. Vahn's eyes tracked the arrow in slow motion as the darkness continued encroaching into his vision. The arrow passed completely unnoticed by the creature until it was mere millimeters away from striking the bone-like skull.The moment before the arrow made contact, the Juggernaut sensed the presence of death but was unable to identify the source before the arrow collided with the side of its face. A powerful energy erupted like a small sun before immediately collapsing into a gravitational well that seemed intent to devour everything around it. The Juggernaut screamed in pain as it tried to escape the pull of the miniature 'black hole'.The tendrils immediately vanished and Vahn launched himself from the crevasse. The Juggernaut saw the human and knew it was the source of its current predicament. It screamed a shriek so shrill and loud that Vahn collapsed to the ground before picking himself back up moments later. The Juggernaut was still trying to escape the effect of the arrow that seemed to warp space was around the impact area and distorted the image of its body.Vahn noticed that, even though it was unable to move, only small parts of the Juggernaut were actually being damaged. He couldn't stick around and see the outcome since, if it was not killed, he would die soon after the effect ended. Making his way towards the nearest corridor, Vahn continued to run towards the exit. It was known that a Juggernaut couldn't leave the floor it spawned on, so Vahn was determined to escape by reaching the stairs.Several loud shrieks sounded from behind and the dungeon seemed to stress from the terrifying reverberations. The walls began to distort as several monsters spawned in an effort to slow Vahn's progress. Pushing his [WIll of the Emperor] to its limits and swallowing a [Sensu Bean], Vahn began cutting his way through the crowd of monsters. As he was still in his white-tiger form, his agility was much higher than normal and he was able to evade the majority of monsters by vaulting off the walls.Suddenly, Vahn felt a powerful tremor pass through the dungeon floor which stunned both himself and the monsters. Everyone collapsed to the ground, but Vahn was able to recover before increasing his pace even further. He knew the Juggernaut had most likely escaped and he hadn't made nearly enough progress towards the stairs. It had been less than a minute since he separated from the Juggernaut, and even with his fast pace, it would quickly catch up to him.Vahn quickly looked at his quest log and noticed he had spent 99,700/100,00OP. He had less than 300OP to spend before he automatically failed his quest and lost access to his system shop for an entire year. Gritting his teeth, Vahn struggled with the idea of purchasing more [Yi] arrows to buy time or if he should leave his fate to chance and try to buy a stronger piece of equipment.His thoughts were suddenly brought to a halt as a powerful collision sounded at his back. Looking behind, Vahn could see the Juggernaut missing half its face as it stared at Vahn with absolute hatred in its eyes. Even with the severe injury, its speed wasn't reduced as it used its powerful limbs to grab the wall and lurch itself forward.Vahn was out of time. Even if he wanted to purchase an item it wouldn't change the result of the situation. Using the only option available, Vahn leaped towards the Juggernaut. Surprised that its prey would take the initiative to attack, the Juggernaut actually hesitated slightly. The memory of that arrow was fresh in its mind and it thought the small, insignificant creature had another trick up its sleeve.The Juggernaut used the wall as leverage to spin rapidly in the air and swipe towards Vahn with its whip-like serrated tail. Vahn drew his [Lion's Pride] and cut towards the incoming tail as he attempted to slide under the attack. The moment the blade made contact it cut several centimeters into the tail before getting caught and ripped from Vahn's hands. The winds trailing the tail left several lacerations on Vahn's arms and his body began changing into his black-turtle form as the wounds slowly started to close.Without turning his head, Vahn retrieved the now bent blade that had been lodged into the dungeon wall using his domain. He continued sprinting forward as the Juggernaut repositioned and tried to crush the now fleeing target. After Vahn failed to severe its tail, the Juggernaut believed he had no other means of resistance and attacked without further hesitation.Vahn could feel death drop from above as a shadow began to press on his position. He jumped, twisting his body in mid-air and crossing both arms that were now covered in the black scales. The spear-like claws of the Juggernaut collided with his defense and Vahn could feel both of his arms fracture from the impact. One of the claws managed to pierce his defense and penetrated his left lung and shattered several of his ribs.Carried by the force of the blow, Vahn was jettisoned towards the direction he had leaped previously. The Juggernaut noticed what he was trying to do and screeched before launching himself towards Vahn. Vahn used what remained of his strength and oriented both of his broken arms towards the Juggernaut. Lifting the middle fingers of both hands, Vahn mouthed the words through his blood-croaked mouth. 'Fuck You'With that parting gift, Vahn fell into the hole behind him. He dropped down into the darkness and saw the Juggernaut stop, unable to enter after him. It screamed at the top of its lungs and began hurling rocks towards Vahn who was quickly descending to the 14th floor. Vahn bit down on the [Senzu Bean] he had kept in his mouth and tried intercepting the rocks as his wounds rapidly healed.Each collision was like being hit by a sledgehammer as Vahn used the increased defense of his body to resist the blows. He could feel his just-healed bones begin to fracture once again as a vibrant red light began appearing from cracks in his body. Heat began to well up from within and Vahn could feel the 'eternal flame' in his chest dancing in anticipation.As he continued to fall, a rock far larger than the others fell towards him with a frightful velocity. Even if Vahn could deflect it, he would be crushed by the rock the moment he landed on the floor below. Instead of simply defending himself, Vahn punched out with all his might towards the giant boulder. The moment of collision seemed to affect the cracks that had appeared in Vahn's skin. His arms felt like they exploded as a crimson flame began to burn from his body. The powerful shockwave carried through the boulder before splintering it into smaller shards.Seeing it's final desperate attack had failed, the Juggernaut loudly screeched towards the boy that had escaped its grasp. Vahn, on the other hand, was in a daze as he stared at his body that had begun to burn with an intense flame that also incinerated all of his equipment. Feather-like flames had emerged from the cracks in his body and generated a terrible heat that had even caused the surrounding walls to heat up with a red glow.Vahn twisted his body so that he could see the approaching ground. Though there were several small rocks still following his descent, he would deal with them when the time came. As he had already fallen for several seconds, his velocity has already reached a lethal degree. Vahn trusted his instincts as he pointed both of his arms towards the approaching ground.Responding to his intent, the feathers on his body came alive and large amounts of crimson flames began to erupt from the palms of Vahn's hands. They continued forward as pillars of fire that instantly melted the bedrock surface of the dungeon floor. Vahn continued channeling the flames until his body fell into the molten pool of rock and disappeared.The pool continued to burn brighter and brighter until the yellow-orange molten rock took on a crimson hue. As the crimson glow moved further towards the edge of the pool, the heat began to spread to other rocks in the surroundings and the dungeon appeared as if it was melting before a head popped out of the surface of the pool.Vahn walked out of the molten rock bare naked and with a relieved expression on his face. He looked upwards towards the hole he had just fallen from. "One day, I will kill you and the person who created you. I will burn this dungeon to the ground and all the terrors contained within. I will burn it all."Saying his piece, Vahn turned around and started walking deeper into the 14th floor. He made it about ten steps before the flames on his body extinguished and he passed out, still naked, onto the hard floor of the dungeon.(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Flame Emperor','Consecutive Close Calls','Extinguish the Sun : [Yi]','Poor Hephaestus')

Vahn opened his eyes and noticed he was surrounded by an endless expanse of darkness. His body felt heavy and weightless at the same time; it was like he had fallen into a deep abyssal ocean and continued descending further into the darkness. Vahn struggled to move his body, desperately attempting to resist falling deeper into the abyss.A powerful sensation could be felt welling up inside his chest. Heat began to expand to dissipate the cold that had been permeating throughout his body. His body almost felt like it was 'thawing' with the heat as he slowly regained the ability to move. Starting from his fingers and toes, until spreading to his arms and legs. As he regained functionality in his limbs, Vahn tried swimming upward against the pressure that had been weighing him down.The heat continued building within Vahn allowing him greater freedom of movement. His heart felt like it was pumping with a mad intensity and his chest began glowing with a crimson light. The light spread from his heart and began to extend to the rest of Vahn's body. As the intensity of the light increased, the darkness around Vahn began to lose its power to restrain him. Vahn doubled his efforts and started rising to escape the pressure.The further he moved up, the less restraint he felt against his body. An excitement began to build within Vahn as his desire for freedom grew to a breaking point. The echoes of laughter began to sound in his mind, and Vahn recognized the voice as his own. No sound came from his lips in the vast emptiness of this space, but he could feel the intent behind the laugh sounding fervently within his mind.Suddenly, the crimson light in Vahn's chest took on a golden hue as it erupted from his body. Vahn ceased his struggles and roared powerfully through the darkness. Flames emerged from his body that formed a sphere of inviolable territory that banished the encroaching darkness. The flames continued to expand until, from an outside view, Vahn's body now looked like a small sun floating through endless space.Vahn bathed in the warmth of his own flames and enjoyed the powerful feeling pulsing through his veins. From around his body, several images began to form within the domain of flames. Starting from their eyes, four creatures formed within the void and looked at the dazed human before them. Their eyes had a reverence contained within as they all lowered their heads towards the boy.Vahn looked curiously at the four creatures and understood what they represented. They were the forms of his [Rakshasa Body] and were a white-tiger, black-turtle, virmilion-bird, and azure-dragon. Each had an awe-inspiring majesty and radiated with infinite power...a power which submitted itself to Vahn. Smiling, Vahn reached out his hand to the closest creature, the white-tiger, and placed his palm on the 'king' symbol of its forehead.A powerful rumble came from the tiger's body as it opened its eyes toward Vahn. Vahn stared into the azure blue eyes and felt like its depths exceeded even the expanse of the void he had previously thought to be infinite. Within the eyes, Vahn saw life, death, wisdom, and an insurmountable pride that formed the core of the tiger's being. But, even with all these things, it still looked towards Vahn with expectation and obeisance.Vahn smiled and whispered with a powerful voice that tore through the void. No sound came from his lips, but space around was filled with a single word, almost like an irrefutable claim recognized by creation itself. "Báihǔ."'Hearing' its name, the tiger raised it's head and roared. Space around completely shattered as the darkness formed shards like broken glass that dissipated into nothingness. A white expanse began to form around the domain Vahn had established. Looking around, Vahn felt an immense pride welling up inside him as his consciousness began to fade. He looks toward the other three creatures that had the same expectation on their face as Báihǔ previously.He stared into each of their eyes in turn before his mind faded completely. The next moment, Vahn was waking up on the cold hard floor of the dungeon. All around his body there was a black, foul-smelling substance which covered the majority of his skin. Vahn's nose scrunched up after smelling the odor, so he pulled out his [Decanter of Replenishment] to clean his body.Afterward, as he was still naked, Vahn pulled out his spare equipment and adorned it on his body. He was now wearing his normal equipment as his fire-proof stuff had been incinerated by the crimson flames that had surged out of his body. He looked towards the ground where he had fallen which had now formed into a smooth, somewhat glassy, black color.("Sis, that was the third form of my [Rakshasa Body], wasn't it? Such powerful flames...") Vahn felt like the flames weren't natural as even his 'eternal flame' didn't seem to have such power.(*That is correct Vahn. The third form is that of the Zhūquè, or the vermillion-bird. It seems to enhance your bodies regeneration to an incredible extent while greatly increasing your offensive capabilities at the cost of your defense.*)Vahn nodded, he had noticed that the fractures in his arms had been rapidly regenerating during his fall. Now, his body was completely uninjured and he even felt a powerful energy coursing through his veins. Curious, Vahn inspected his body using his mental energies and found the source of the new energy. The golden colored 'eternal flame' in his chest now had a crimson hue to it and burned with a much greater intensity than before.The 'eternal flame' seemed to notice his presence as it began to dance around excitedly with unbound jubilation. Vahn could feel a 'happiness' coming from the flame as it seemed to be thanking him. Vahn smiled, imaging happy feelings of his own, and directed them towards the 'eternal flame' to let it know he was also happy seeing its change.---Vahn was now on the 14th floor with no easy way to progress. He now had just 300OP left to spend before he would exceed the quest limitation. As he had entered the dungeon with the intent of completing the quest, Vahn didn't want to turn back after his first major setback. Now that he had avoided the danger, he felt it would be a waste to return empty-handed.Van began to weigh the benefits of advancing and retreating. If he pressed forward he would be able to gain a larger amount of OP from stronger monsters, but there was an obvious risk factor involved. Retreating would allow him to inform the Guild of the existence of the Juggernaut, but it would also draw a lot of attention to himself as the person who submitted the information. Even Vahn couldn't imagine how a Level 2 would have been able to survive after encountering such a monstrosity...While he was stuck trying to make a decision, Vahn decided to inspect his own stats. He had experienced a great amount of danger and managed to survive against the odds. With his new [Rakshasa Body] transformation, it was very likely the skill had increased as well.-------------------------------------------------------------------------[[Stats]]Name: [Vahn Mason]Age: 14Race: Human, *sealed*Parameter: [Danmachi: 1-4]-Level:2(2)-Power:1001+(E498)-&gt;(C609)-Endurance:1108+(C665)-&gt;(S914)-Dexterity:887+(F372)-&gt;(E470)-Agility:940+(E449)-&gt;(D551)-Magic:1611+(B750)-&gt;(S949)Total:5547+(2734)-&gt;(3393)Soul Strength: Tier 2 (Hero Soul)[Karma]: 1,022[OP]: 182,037[Valis]: 171,630-------------------------------------------------------------------------[OP]Spent: 99,700/100,000Sure enough, exposing oneself to danger and surviving had a large influence on his growth. He still had a long way to go, but Vahn was grateful that he had at least obtained something for his troubles. If only he had been able to kill the Juggernaut somehow...Vahn shook his head as the thought entered his mind. The Juggernaut was far stronger than even Tsubaki; the fact that he was even able to wound it was almost unbelievable.Thinking back to the incident, Vahn was very satisfied with the outcome. [Call of the Reaper] was far stronger than the expected, and even the Juggernauts enhanced senses weren't able to detect the arrow before it was too late. If he had been stronger and possessed enough energy to charge that arrow, it was possible Vahn would have been able to kill the beast before it was even aware of what happened. That [Yi] arrow had a terrifying power, and Vahn knew he hadn't even scratched the surface of its full potential. The fact it cost 5x more than his [Runic Tamahagane Blade: A] was enough to indicate how powerful it was.A thought suddenly occurred and Vahn asked Sis to display the arrows information. Since he had purchased it, even though he hadn't inspected it at the time, he should still be able to access information related to the arrow. Sure enough, an information window appeared in his vision and Vahn read the details of the arrow.---[Yi]Rank:S-SSSSlots:0P.Atk:0M.Atk:0Use: Energy can be infused in this godly arrow to create the depiction of 10 Suns. Each Sun increases the Physical and Magical attack by 1000 points. Further channeling energy into the arrow will extinguish the suns and increase the arrows might. P.Atk/M.Atk + 10,000(number of suns extinguished). This arrow is restricted by the worlds 'laws' and cannot exceed the strength of four suns.---The stats of the arrow were incredible, and given the 300% damage increase from his [Call of the Reaper], Vahn must have hit the Juggernaut with an attack ranging between 20-25k total power. He was able to infer this due to the fact he had almost extinguished a single sun by about 70%. If he had been able to channel just a bit more energy, Vahn believed he might have been able to kill the Juggernaut if he was lucky...Vahn decided that once he finished his weapon quest, he would purchase several [Yi] for emergency situations. Unlike other arrows, they seemed to be single use but Vahn couldn't help but respect the awesome scene he had observed earlier. That single arrow managed to severely wound a creature near Level 7 even though Vahn was currently only Level 2.As he continued to inspect his stats and items, Vahn noticed a peculiarity in his skill section. His [Rakshasa Body] had increased from F to E, but there was new information listed within the description that caught Vahn's attention.---[Rakshasa Body]Rank: Innate, (F) *Innate skills cannot be identified. Attempts to do so will result in a backlash.*[Passive]: Provides a large increase to pain resistance. Allows the body to disperse internal forces. Increases bodies natural regeneration by a moderate amount.[Active]: Increases power and endurance based on damage received. Moderate stamina consumption.[Actiive]: Allows the user to instantly activate awakened forms.Awakening: [???]0%,[???]10%,[???]31%,[Báihǔ]100%---Vahn was surprised at the vast improvement, but considering it was an [Innate] skill, it wasn't that difficult to imagine it had limitless potential. If Vahn had to wait until he was near death to make use of the skill it wouldn't be very helpful. Now that he could activate it whenever he wanted, it would greatly enhance his combat capabilities.Focusing his mind, Vahn began channeling energy into his body. He could feel a burning sensation on his back and could hear a word whispering within his mind. The sensation in his back began to grow as the voice repeated the word over and over. Vahn understood he had to repeat the name, so he muttered, "Báihǔ".The moment the word left his lips, his forearms and legs immediately grew a flawless white fur with black stripes. Unlike the previous off-white color, it was now an unblemished and pure white with a stark and beautiful black color. The claws on his hands seemed far more powerful and the muscles in his body felt both taut and stringy at the same time. Vahn felt like his body was full of explosive power, and he tested it out by launching himself forward.The ground shattered at Vahn's feet as he moved nearly three times his original speed and almost crashed into the wall 20m opposite of his starting position. Using his enhanced senses and flexibility, Vahn bent his body like a bow and sprung off the wall leaving indentations where his feet had landed. He spun several times in the air before landing nimbly back on his feet.Vahn was amazed at his own acrobatic display, as he had never really been focused on agility as much as his other stats. The light feeling of his body and the flexibility of his bones left him in shock. If he could sustain this form whenever he pleased, Vahn felt like even most Level 3s wouldn't be able to fight against him.With an idea popping up in his mind, Vahn smiled while channeling his [Will of the Emperor]. He infused flame elemental energy into the domain and began absorbing it in large quantities into his body. The stark white hair on his body began to glow with a golden luster as the palms and claws of his hands began to radiate with an intense heat. Vahn took a deep breath and adapted to the enhancement of his body and senses.He suddenly opened his eyes before kicking away from the ground with his maximum strength. Vahn could feel his body pass through some kind of membrane as the air exploded around his body. Using his fierce momentum, Vahn smashed his fist into the hard bedrock walls. A powerful energy erupted from his body and channeled itself into the wall where, nearly an entire second later, it exploded.The explosion caused the wall to fissure with a web-like pattern as the ceiling above gave in after losing its support. Vahn jumped backward and waited for the dust to settle before staring into the empty space beyond the wall he had just destroyed. With his perception, he had been able to sense a corridor parallel to the one he was currently in, and now Vahn was able to spread his senses into the now open room.Several monsters, including Hell Hound and Almiraj, were startled by the sudden collapse of the wall and stared with red eyes towards the intruder. Seeing Vahn emerge from the hole, they immediately began attacking. Vahn smiled and spread both arms wide as if he were accepting their challenge. The aura radiating from his body caused his hair to dance in the wind created by his domain as he bent forward and dashed towards the monsters with his bare hands.After a few minutes, Vahn had cleared the entire room and earned 611 OP for his efforts. He smiled and stared towards the ceiling before shaking his head. Now was not the time to retreat, instead, Vahn decided to venture further into the dungeon and continue towards the 18th floor. He would be able to rest there before working on completing his quest. Doing so would allow him to increase his strength even further, and he could use the time to work on awakening his other forms. If Vahn could get to the point where he could channel the flames of the vermillion-bird, he felt like there were few things that could stall his progress in the future.(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Dump : Dump','Maybe it's not a phase','Milan's Intuition','RIP Hephaestus')

As Vahn awoke from his nap, he made his final preparations before entering into the 13th floor. The structure of the dungeon changed yet again and now the walls, floor, and ceiling were all made a pale black bedrock. It was much denser than anything found on the upper floors and Vahn also noticed it seemed to absorb what little light was emitted from the ceiling. There were rocks strewn about all over the ground making passage and combat more difficult.This was Vahn's first time entering the 'middle floors' so he proceeded with caution. The monsters starting from this point were almost all Level 2 or higher, and those that weren't attacked in such great numbers they posed a threat to even experienced parties. If Vahn dropped his guard there was a very real possibility he may die from this point onward.After traveling forward for about ten minutes, Vahn began to worry. This entire time he had yet to encounter a single monster, and even his domain wasn't detecting any presences. He continued with increased caution until he came across an anomaly. The route he had taken led to a dead end where it looked as though the walls and ceiling had collapsed. Though it wasn't uncommon for the dungeon's layout to change over time, as this was the main route on the map it was odd to find it in such a state.Vahn inspected the collapse and found traces of burning that scared the surface of some rocks. Someone, or something, must have used a large scale explosion magic to collapse the tunnel. The question on Vahn's mind though was why someone would do such a thing. He decided to backtrack and look for a secondary route or else he would have to wait for days for the dungeon to repair itself.After finding a connecting tunnel, Vahn made his way and released a sigh of relief when he detected the presence of several monsters ahead. He had started to worry that something unnatural had occurred in the dungeon and didn't want to get caught up in something beyond his level. Pressing forward, Vahn came across a room filled with a pack of black dog-like creatures with glowing red eyes.They were currently fighting over something, and from Vahn's perspective, he was able to identify the source of their conflict as a corpse. Some poor adventurer had become an unwilling meal after losing their lives in the dungeon. His brow furrowed as he drew his sword and engaged the mongrels.The Hell Hounds noticed his approach and immediately charged at Vahn. They were incredibly agile and possessed a mouth full of sharp pearl-white teeth marred with the flesh and blood of their victim. The closets hounds to Vahn hurled themselves at his limbs to try and cripple him.Vahn sidestepped and bisected the fastest one with his sword in a reverse slash splitting the Hell Hound from bottom to top. Using his fiery golden left hand, he grabbed the neck of the second Hell Hound who tried snapping its jaws and flailing about. Vahn crushed its windpipe before throwing the corpse into the group of rushing Hell Hounds.They had surrounded him by this point and were trying to maul him from every direction, but Vahn was able to use his power and agility to leap out of the encirclement. He collided feet first into a wall before vaulting into a more advantageous position near the corpse of the Adventurer. Vahn took a moment to inspect the body and nearly vomited as a reward for his curiosity.The mutilated corpse was missing several parts, but Vahn had been able to identify it as a young woman with blue hair. Though he assumed she may have been pretty in life, now her body was a mess of flesh and mangled tissue. The throat had been chewed through and each limb had long been removed from the body. One of the things the mongrels had been fighting over previously turned out to be an arm.Vahn was filled with rage as a cold sensation spread through his mind. He started pushing his [Will of the Emperor] to the extreme and infused a large number of fire elements into his domain. The golden light that had been spreading began to consolidate till the point Vahn's black tamahagane blade now shone with a golden luster while radiating a terrifying heat.The Hell Hounds began to cower as they growled towards the golden figure. The heat emanating from the body of their prey caused an instinctive fear to build inside of them. It was almost as if the roles had reversed and their natural predatory instincts had completely dispersed. The only thing they felt was fear, but the compulsion of the dungeon and their core would now allow them to flee. The golden figure stared directly towards them as a chill ran down their spines almost as if to contrast the heat."You will not die easily," Vahn spoke the words with an icy fervor. He gripped the sword in his hand before going on his rampage. Instead of killing them as quickly as possible, he made sure to only target non-lethal areas. Fortunately, even if he cut limbs or severed parts of their body, the wounds would instantly cauterize and leave the monsters struggling on the ground. Vahn continued cutting away at the pack of demons until they were reduced to mutilated messes on the ground.After sating his wrath, Vahn turned away from the struggling creatures without finishing them off. He knew they would die after enough time passed, and wanted them to experience the excruciating pain of slowly burning into nothingness. He turned towards the corpse of the female adventurer and frowned before a voice sounded in his head.(*Vahn, you shouldn't let them suffer more than this.*) Sis gently spoke the words in his mind.Vahn was confused, baffled even. He couldn't understand why Sis wanted him to put such fiendish creatures out of their misery. Seeing the wounds on the adventurer, Vahn knew she hadn't been dead when they started tearing her body apart.(*Vengeance itself is not a sin, but if you allow them to suffer just to appease your mind it will result in the accumulation of negative karma. You shouldn't develop the habit of enjoying suffering, even it is the suffering of cruel and evil creatures. You must be righteous and firm in your convictions or else the meaning behind your actions will cease to be noble.*) Sis slowly explained each word so Vahn could process them.He knew she was right, as she often was when it came to things like this. Vahn could not bring back the girl, so his actions weren't saving anyone. The only thing he got was personal satisfaction and other negative emotions. Vahn continued mulling over the words but decided it wasn't worth it to allow this situation to develop further. He sighed before turning towards the writhing creatures.After slaying them all Vahn felt a melancholic emotion from within his body. All of his earlier actions felt so meaningless now that he had laid them to rest. There were various emotions building up inside of him and he felt like he had been unable to release them now that he had killed everything. Vahn gripped the handle of his sword tightly and felt frustrated before Sis once again spoke to him.(*You should bury or burn the body Vahn. No person deserves to rot here and become food for the dungeon and its inhabitants. Let her rest peacefully knowing she will avoid that fate.*)Vahn released his grip on his sword slightly and looked towards the dead adventurer. She seemed to be less than twenty years old and yet died here long before her life would have naturally come to an end. It was tragic, and he felt pity after hearing Sis's words. Vahn approached the body and began to feel nauseous but he held back the urge as it would be too disrespectful given the situation. He felt like if he threw up he would be dishonoring everything the woman represented in life.Bringing his palms together, Vahn gave her a short eulogy. As someone that had transcended life and was reborn in another world, Vahn knew her soul would return to the gate before being reborn into this world. He prayed that she viewed the 'Kaleidoscopic Wheel of Karma' there were a greater number of happy memories than sad ones.After his prayer, he searched for anything that could be used to identify the girl to leave with the Guild staff. If she belonged to a Familia or party, they would find and return the articles to any living family or friends. When he was done, Vahn finally cremated the body after wearing his [Plague Mask] to avoid the smell and fumes. He stood silently and watched the fire burn until the body had ceased to exist.Vahn looked towards the charred area of the dungeon floor and swept his hand to generate a wind to disperse the ashes. He looked at the Guild ID he had found in the pouch on the woman's waist."Rest in peace Natalia Moore. May your next like be a peaceful one far away from this dark place."---Continuing his way through the 13th floor, Vahn came across several groups of monsters and many signs of battle. He also found and burned the corpses of five additional adventurers, many of which were found in the same large room where Vahn slew more than forty Hell Hounds and Almiraj. There was even a Dungeon Worm near a giant hole leading down to the next floor. Vahn wrapped several explosives into a bundle before tossing it into the mouth of the monstrosity.After leaving the site of the large battle, Vahn began to ponder what exactly had transpired. For such a large party to be in the middle-floors, they had to be veterans lead by second-rate (Lv 3-4) Adventurers. It was almost like they were an expeditionary group that had gotten ambushed or caught off guard. For an entire party to wipe on the 13th floor was uncommon as they had more than enough people to deal with most groups of monsters.Suddenly, a thought passed through Vahn's mind as he recalled the cave-in from earlier. Since the path had been clear from the moment he entered the 13th floor, they must have cleared it ahead of him before reaching the same point he came to earlier, the site of the collapse. They too must have detoured to find a way around, but Vahn still couldn't understand what led to their demise.Feeling uneasy, Vahn became doubly alert as he slowed his pace through the dungeon. Not just relying on [Will of the Emperor], he investigated every nook and cranny along the path with his eyes. He even activated his stealth to prevent anything from potentially detecting him. Vahn slowly made his way through the 13th floor and killing every group of monsters with caution, always making sure to keep part of his focus on his surroundings.The further into the floor he progressed, the more uneasy Vahn felt. Tsubaki always complimented him on his instincts, and right now they were sounding alarms inside his mind telling him to turn back. Trusting his own intuition, Vahn began to slowly trace his path along the route he came. However, no matter how far he went the uneasy feeling continued to grow. Impatient, Vahn began to pick up his pace until the point he was essentially sprinting towards the stairs.As his speed increased, the feeling began to grow faster and faster and Vahn could feel a dreadful feeling seizing his body. It was like something had locked onto him and now they were engaging in a game of cat and mouse with Vahn on the receiving end. Vahn began to leave mines along the path he fled in the hopes of intercepting whatever had been following him.After a few minutes, while Vahn was still fleeing, he heard several large explosions sound in the distance. Though this would normally put his mind at ease, Vahn began to tremble slightly as the terrifying feeling actually began to grow. Whatever unseen terror had just stepped on his mines hadn't been defeated; Instead, it just became very pissed off.(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Ruuuuuuuuuuun','Vahn can't save 'em all','Karma is a bitch','Sis is bae')

Chapter 79: Burn