Dungeon Delver’s POV:
Three adventurers were currently sitting around a campfire in the midst of their dungeon adventure. This trio was led by their resident swordsman, Eric, who had been practicing with the blade for a few years now, from his small town’s retired dungeon delver. With him were his two childhood friends, Renee, who had always been dexterous with his hands, and Lerissa, the girl gifted with the art of healing magic. These three always admired their town’s resident dungeon delver and his wondrous tales of adventure deep into the continent’s dungeons filled with unimaginable treasure. After a few years of training, their mentor told them they were ready to take on the dungeon located a few dozen miles away from their town. However, they were warned of the dangers ever-present in a dungeon. Believing in their hard work and training, the trio nodded and made their way straight to the dungeon they’ve been imagining for years, ignorant of the cruelty their world can create.
…
After a few days' travel, the trio finally made it to the entrance of ‘The Hill-Valley Depths’. The first floor was the easiest portion of the dungeon, perfect for beginners and the intended training ground for their mentor. At worst, the toughest trap would make a delver sick for a day or result in a minor cut. The strongest monster at the end of the level was a singular stone golem placed before the entrance to the second level. Monsters wouldn’t form groups greater than three and were easily manageable by a cautious group of villagers, let alone a decently trained group. However, this simplicity was what led to their fated bid for survival against a singular wisp.
“Damn, this is way too easy. We can definitely handle the next level if the toughest monster we’ve seen so far is a wimpy ass stone golem. It didn’t even land a single hit on me,” exclaimed Eric. Renee would then add his input.
“Yeah, I think we have a pretty good chance against the next floor. I think I’ve gotten a good handle on how the traps work here, so as long as we're cautious, we could leave with some good materials. The stuff we’ve already got could get us a few silver pieces, but the next floor could get us up to a gold piece.”
Lerissa, the healer, tried to be their voice of reason.
“Wait, instructor Garrus told us to only train on the first floor. He said we weren’t ready yet for anything past that.”
“C’mon, Riss, we were strong enough to make the first floor a walk in the park. If old man Garrus saw us, he would give us his approval without a doubt. Plus, we’ve got you in case anything goes wrong. And Renee’s always been good at running away, so he could get help if something really bad happens.”
“He’s right, we did make quick work of the- Hey, the hell do you mean I’m good at running away. I’m the one who has to make sure your muscle brain doesn’t walk into the world’s most obvious trap and get the runs for a week.”
“I only stepped in one trap, and it only gave me a scrape. Rissa healed me right up after, and I was as good as new. I was strong enough to hold back the monsters trying to get to you and Rissa.
“Alright, alright,” interjected Lerissa, “we can keep going. Geez, what’ll I do with the both of you, bickering like kids.”
“Sorry, Lerissa, but you know how Eric gets when he tries to impress you,” said Renee with a smirk etched across his face.
“What, no, I'm not! This is just how I normally am. Why I oughtta-”
“Stop it!” Hitting both of the boys on the head with each hand, Lerissa finally got them to be quiet. “That’s enough out of both of you. Anything more and we’ll turn around and go home. If we run into anything too strong or dangerous for us to handle, we’ll turn around to go back to the first floor. Got it?”
“Alright, Rissa, I swear. Geez, you’re supposed to be a healer, why are you so ready to hit us?”
“Fair enough, I’ll keep an eye out for anything too dangerous and make sure nothing gets the jump on us. Please heal me when Eric messes up, though.”
“What do you mean by ‘when’. We’ll be fine as long as I fight and you watch out for traps and ambushes. So please heal us, Rissa, if we mess up.”
“Ughh, so shameless, but I guess that’s the best I’ll get out of both of you. I’m here, but don’t rely on me too much; my skill level isn’t high enough to mend bone or anything as serious as that.”
Finally coming to an agreement, the trio made their way down to the next floor.
…
[Unnamed] POV:
Okay, I have the group of young dungeon delvers in my sight. I’m just floating a few feet away from them, glowing occasionally like a normal wisp to blend in. They haven’t even bothered to look at me, or any wisp at that, so they must really view wisps as entirely inconsequential. I don’t blame them really, a wisp can’t normally do anything, and a standard torch is enough to outshine a glowing wisp. Well, most glowing wisps. At max output, I can easily outshine a torch, probably enough to blind a person for a good couple of minutes. My plan is to use my strongest ‘Glow’ in someone’s face while the others are distracted and there are monsters in the area. Here, there are small groups of lizard-like monsters crawling around the walls and ceiling. From what I’ve seen, they tend to rely on attacking in a pack and biting with their sharp teeth. I think some of them even have venomous bites or some kind of toxin. One of them managed to get a bite on the swordsman, but it was quickly healed by the healer before it could spread past the bite. As long as the healer’s here, anything that results in a nonlethal injury would just be a waste of time for me. Even if a monster got to them after being healed, I don't know if I would get any experience from that. I just don’t know how loose the rules on fight contribution are, and i don’t want to lose this chance for good EXP. Therefore, I think I will try to incapacitate the healer first and deal with the rest in whatever way is most convenient. Eventually, I got my chance. In one of the tunnels, the trio came up to a spike trap that they needed to disarm to advance.
“Hold up, Eric. Give me a few minutes to disarm this and protect my back. I can sense monsters stalking us at the edges of the torchlight.”
“Got it. Rissa, stay between us and watch the ceiling.”
With a nod, the healer got into position, behind and to the side of the guys so they could both have enough light to see their respective jobs. If they had the time to grow and didn’t let their pride get to their heads, they could probably grow to be pretty strong. Unfortunately, that would be a loss for me, so I really have no choice in this. It’s them or me. Nothing else to it. I have to do this. When the rogue starts to work on the trap, I begin to float towards the healer. My plan is simple; I’m going to blind and startle the healer to drop the torch. When she does, the rogue will mess up on disarming the trap. At best, he’ll get killed by the falling spikes, at worst, he’ll barely manage to get away with a treatable, but still serious enough injury. Then, in pitch-black darkness, the healer and swordsman will be surrounded and ambushed by the lizards in wait. Even if it goes wrong, at least one of them should fall to the monsters, maybe one of them sacrifices themselves to save the girl. The dudes have been really protective of her, even though she’s probably the most competent one of the bunch. Enough stalling, I’m running out of time. Finally, I’m right in front of the healer, and all I’ll have to do is use my skill at full power to kickstart my plan.
“Oh, hi there, Mr. Wisp. You guys usually don’t get very close to us. You must be a very brave wisp.”
With an outstretched hand and a smile on her face, she began to gently pat my ethereal flame with a mana-covered hand. She showed me kindness, even though I should just be a useless, decorative piece in a hostile world. Why did she have to show me kindness? I froze, unable to go through with my plan, until I remembered my conversations with Chaos. I can’t let this get in the way. I still have so much higher to reach, even if I forsake my right to call myself human.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh!?!”
And then my body shone, with as much light as my skill could muster. There is no turning back.
