Book 3: Chapter 46: Patch 8.0: The Temple in the Forest

“What’s wrong?” Fenrir asks, walking over toward the stairs.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cassiel says, stopping in front of him to block him from getting any closer. She knows what sort of thoughts he’s going to get if he sees what’s down there.

“You’re making me really curious now,” he says and takes a step forward.

Neither of them notices the crack in the ground underneath them.

“You’re just going to cause trouble if you see it!” Cassiel shouts, stepping closer to him until they’re practically butting heads.

“I just want a peek! What, is it going to be like an awesome tentacle monster or something? Or a new decoration for The Shoebill?”

Cassiel looks away.

“It is one of those! But, if you really don’t want me to see that that badly, I guess it’s alright.”

“G-good, bastard.”

“Anyways, let’s…. go!” Fenrir shouts, trying to run past her!

“H-hey! Bastard! Wai—”

Both of them moving at once on fragile ground causes the flooring to give in, dropping both Cassiel and Fenrir into the depths of whatever may lie below.

A thick cloud of dust blows upward from the hole and causes the rest of those aboveground to cover her mouths and cough. Even Rock and Shogun choke on the dust before it settles.

“Fen! Cass! You two alright?!” Oleander shouts, trying to see through the dust. He doesn’t want to walk anywhere in case he accidentally falls down as well. Nobody can see just where the hole is nor how large it is.

“Shogun! Bro! You guys alright?!” Rao shouts after Oleander does.

The visibility eventually increases enough to actually look around without getting eyes full of dust.

Shogun and Rock are both standing on the other end of the drop, looking down into it. Shogun rubs up against Rock’s side when he hears her whining.

Oleander and Rao walk up to the hole and look down it. It’s deep enough that neither of them can see the bottom.

“Shit,” Oleander says in his normal voice, “my vines wouldn’t be able to reach that far, and it’s not wide enough for your fox to fly us down.”

“You – you have different voices?” Rao asks Oleander. It’s his first time not hearing Oleander talk like a cutesy little girl.

“Come on, there’s no way that other voice is my real voice. Only girls from those shows that Fenny likes actually sound like that. But seriously, how are we supposed to get down there?”

“No idea… think we could just drop down? If they survived then we’d probably be able to. Right?”

Oleander tilts his head, thinking about it, and then shouts down the hole, “Fen! Cass! You still alive down there?!”

No response.

“Bro!” Rao shouts even louder. “There’s still so much I have to learn from you!”

“That was way too dramatic.”

“But I’m serious!”

Oleander sighs and rubs the back of his head. “Well, this isn’t the first time that Fenny has gotten himself into trouble and needed me to save his ass.”

“I think I should just jump down. It’s just a game and I’m a big dude, and I’ve got muscles, so I’ll probably be fine.”

Oleander grabs Rao and pulls him back when he sees him step up to the edge of the hole. “Don’t be stupid. There’re stairs right there we can go down.”

“Bro, I’m going to be real for a second here. Can you stop calling me stupid and insulting me all the time? I’m sorry that I did something I shouldn’t have, but you’re really making me feel like shit.”

“That’s the point… but alright. Did you learn your lesson?” Oleander asks. Rao may still be annoying to him, but when somebody honestly opens up like that and says how they’re feeling, Oleander can’t help but respect that.

“I did. I promise. I just thought… since it’s a game and all, and – alright, I’m not even going to try to make an excuse for it. It was a shitty thing to do and I’m sorry.”

Oleander sighs. This damn man isn’t supposed to be likable. “I forgive you. Let’s figure out how to go help the others now, alright?”

“You’ve got it, bro! Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do whatever.”

The two walk over toward the stairs and look down them. A few tentacles start sticking up from the darkness, pointed at Oleander, but then they look to hesitate.

They all look like they’re pointing at his crotch.

A couple of seconds later and they retract into the darkness.

“What’s wrong?” Rao asks when he sees Oleander’s twitching brow.

“I’m not into tentacle stuff like Fenny is, but it looks like those tentacles need to learn some manners,” Oleander says. “Help me gather some ingredients. Look for thorns, flowers, vines – stuff like that.”

“On it!”

It was only a few minutes ago that the hole in the temple’s floor opened up.

Fenrir instinctively grabbed onto Cassiel to try and protect her despite her having heavier armor than him, so he took most of the damage as his body smacked against rocky walls before crashing into solid ground.

He was barely able to see. His vision was almost entirely dark and he felt as if he was hanging onto the final strands of life that he had, but Cassiel immediately got to work healing him and saved his life.

However, before he even had a chance to thank her, they were set upon by a group of undead monsters and forced to flee deeper into the tunnel that they found themselves in.

“Shit,” Fenrir says, stopping against the wall now that they’ve gained some distance from the monster. “Sorry, Cass, I should’ve listened to you. Now we’re in trouble and I’m slowing you down.” He can barely walk without being in intense pain and limping.

“It’s not your fault. Neither of us were expecting that to happen,” Cassiel says, helping him stand up and constantly checking around themselves. “I’m just happy I was able to heal you in time.”

Fenrir would have thought that she’d sound pissed off, but instead, she just sounds relieved. “Thanks, Cass. You’re amazing as per usual.”

“Th-thank me later. We need to figure out how to get out of here.”

At least there are somehow-still-burning torches along the walls to light the way, though they only provide dim lighting that does not expose all of the tunnel.

“Let’s keep moving. We can’t stay here,” Fenrir says.

“Yeah, but now I’m starting to hate your height. I could help you walk in real life, but you’re too tall to lean on me here,” Cassiel says with an annoyed huff.

“I’ll just use you like a walking stick,” he teases and places a hand on top of her head.

“I’m trying to be nice since you’re hurt. I’m going to stop being nice if you don’t take your hand off my head.”

“What if I do this?” he asks, petting her head and stroking his fingers through her hair.

“Ba-bastard, now’s not the time for that!”

“You’re not telling me to stop.”

“I’m going to cut your hands off.”

“You’re so violent. I’m going to have to—”

The sound of bones rattling and rotten flesh being dragged along the ground can be heard approaching.

Fenrir and Cassiel look at each other, look down the direction of the tunnel where horror sounds aren’t coming from, and get back to fleeing.

“By the way, I just noticed something. You don’t seem that scared right now even though you were terrified of that horror movie,” Fenrir says, limping next to her and leaning on her as much as he can.

“Shut up! I wasn’t terrified. And… it’s different when I can actually defend myself. Characters in those movies are always so stupid. They don’t know how to defend themselves, they put themselves in danger, and they lack all common sense. I trust myself to not be an idiot, so I don’t have anything to be afraid of,” Cassiel explains.

“That’s… actually pretty good logic.”

While walking, Fenrir starts knocking all of the torches they pass by off of the walls.

“What’re you doing that for?” Cassiel asks.

“Undead usually don’t like fire, so it might slow them down, and it also means that we’ll know we’ve already been this way in case there’s like a loop or something like that. Gotta be logical and trust ourselves not to be idiots, right?” Fenrir explains.

“I – I would have been doing that if I didn’t have to help hold you up!”

“I know, Cass. I know.” He plants a kiss on her head. “Thanks for helping me, my smart, beautiful, logical girlfriend.”

“I – I said this isn’t the right time for that…”

“Is there ever a time when it’s not the right time to compliment you? I mean, I do love you, so it makes sense to me that it’s always time to give you praise.”

Cassiel mumbles and makes odd squeaking noises before stuttering out, “Di-did you hit your head o-or something?”

“Oh yeah, it’s killing me right now and I felt a huge bump on the back of it, but I still mean everything I’m saying.”

“You’re – you’re romantic at the worst times…”

Despite her words, there is a wide smile on her face and she’s trying her hardest not to get distracted by internally fangirling over her love.