Chapter 288: Going for a swim
On their way to find another group to fight, the party had stumbled across a ruined building made of stone and a dark metal that had crumbled not from time, but from combat. There were plenty of holes smashed into it, and slash marks on the walls that remained, but that was all that they could find. Other than the chest buried underneath the rubble, and half buried into the dirt with just a hint of its edge poking out for eagle eyes to see.
However when they opened it...
"It’s empty? What the hell is that all about?" Belladonna scoffed, kicking the chest in front of them and shifting it in the dirt slightly.
Indeed, it was completely empty. Not a single coin, scrap of food or anything left inside the chest. It had a lock on it, but the lock had been broken and was hanging off of the latch when they had discovered it.
"Yeah, I heard about this but I didn’t think we’d find anything, especially around these floors. I thought if we could get to the lower floors, we could find some better things to bring back to the real world." Figg commented with a sigh, shaking his head.
When the rest of the party turned their heads towards him, he gestured to the chest and explained.
"There is special loot in the dungeons that can be found, but it can only be found once. Ever. Everything else is instanced, enemies will respawn and even the bosses will. But this loot here, never respawns.
It’s part of the reason that a lot of the guilds are intent on owning dungeons and checking loot. They want this loot, but don’t always want to look for it. If we had paid the toll and this had been full, then we would have had to hand over half of the loot we found in here, and they would have first pick of it too." Figg explained, shaking his head again and sighing, as he could remember the first time that he experienced the horrific tax prices of dungeons like this.
It happened in nearly every game, but Dawd had gods you could swear to, and they would punish those who broke their deals. Usually guilds would send in people to monitor them, or the game system would have some sort of tax system.
That was Dawd’s, and it was truly merciless. Anyone who tried to break the loot contracts they were forced to make, didn’t just lose their entire loot haul, but anything they had on their person as they were smited by heavenly lightning.
Of course, there were ways to get around it, such as what they did.
Belladonna sighed softly as she listened to Figg’s explanation, as she crouched down and looked over the chest once again. It was made of wood, with metallic edging, like any classical treasure chest, which made it stand out in this place of stone. It just didn’t look like it belonged here, or that it was here when the stone house fell. Like it had been put there after the fact.
It was strange that wood like this hadn’t caught fire yet. Figg’s vines were mostly composed of magic and used the local flora, which was resistant to the flames themselves. But this wasn’t made of that same flora, it was just normal, basic wood.
Pouring mana into her eyes, Belladonna activated her mana vision and looked at the chest in a new light. It was shimmering with a rainbow of different colours that radiated from the wood. A variety of protective charms, conjuration magic and much more that Belladonna could not hope to comprehend at her level.
But what was important was not what made up the chest, but what it looked like, and that was an incredibly distinctive sight.
Hopping on top of the building, then climbing a staircase of air platforms, Belladonna climbed high into the air as she scanned her eyes in every direction. A devious smile broke out across her face, as she saw a faint, rainbow light pushing out of the magma right in the middle of one of the lakes of lava.
No wonder that one hadn’t been touched, no one knew it was there and no one was stupid enough to check. Well, almost no one.
Belladonna leapt from the air platform, spreading her arms and flipping in the air, as she landed comfortably in Lilith’s arms as she caught her in a princess carry without having to be told. What a nice sister in law.
Leaping out of Lilith’s arms, Belladonna immediately started to run to the lake, cackling to herself like the true maniacal loot goblin she was, leaving the others to run after her in confusion.
"Do you think she saw something?" Vestra asked, glancing at the others, causing Saige to laugh and smirk to himself.
"Oh definitely. I’ve seen that look in her eyes more than enough to know that she’s on the hunt for something. How nice of her to inform us of her discovery, right?" Saige chuckled, shaking his head as he followed Belladonna through the hellish landscape.
The moment Belladonna drew close to the lake in question, a Lava Serpent burst from the liquid hot magma and lunged for her. Like a ballerina, Belladonna gracefully spun around it in a pirouette before decapitating it with a swipe of her [Shade Claws] and before continuing to the edge of the lake, without so much as a break in her momentum.
By the time the others caught up with them, with Vestra hunching over as she huffed and puffed and nearly collapsed from the exertion, Belladonna was crouched next to the lava with her hand held over it.
"Looking to go for a swim?" Saige said with a chuckle, "I hear that the water is nice and warm for you."
Belladonna glanced over her shoulder at him, the same manic smile on her face, as she eagerly nodded.
"That is exactly what I am going to do. I’m going for a swim. Although... I’m going to need a little adjustment first."
She quickly stood, removing her hand from above the lava, and strode past the baffled cleric and towards Figg. Her hand had been turned to ice once again, but from its time above the lava, it had started to rapidly melt.
Water still dripped from her fingers, which had grown significantly shorter and stubbier as they had melted, as she clamped that stubby fingered hand on Figgs shoulder.
He shuddered as he looked into Belladonna’s eyes, although it was hard to tell if it was from the crazy look in her eyes or the ice water dripping down the back of his robes.
"Figg, did you happen to bring any ice resistance potions with you?" Belladonna asked, her mad smile growing even wider. So wide that a certain Goddess couldn’t help but laugh as she eagerly watched from another realm.
