The Witch
You have entered the dungeon.
The ice pillar came crashing down the instant the message appeared.
With a hiss, falling shards struck the floor and sublimated into pale vapor. From within that dissolving mist, a woman rose slowly to her feet.
"Ten years…"
"What?"
"Ten years. That's how long I've been trapped in this goddamn ice."
Thought she was just cursing. Choco watched as the woman swept her hair back. Dark strands like dying leaves spilled through her fingers, and her eyes held no focus at all — an emptiness that sent a chill crawling up the spine. Those same eyes locked straight onto Choco and Yeon.
"So it's you. The ones who pulled me out of the seal."
"You are the witch, then?"
"That's right. I'm the witch. Witch Gejina. Though I have to say, I'm impressed you figured that out."
I simply read the dungeon entry message and put it together, that is all. Choco thought as much, then tilted her head.
"Hold a moment. Gejina, you say? The Gejina of Gezina's Forest?"
"That's right. I'm the master of that forest. If you recognize the name, I take it the place is still standing?"
"It still crawls with Kobolds, if that is what you mean."
"Ah. Those mutts."
The witch — Gejina — chuckled under her breath.
"Interesting little things. Never thought they'd break the seal on my staff after that damn fox bitch took it and start slinging magic."
"Were you not sealed? How do you know what has been happening outside?"
"Because the mana told me."
She swept aside the pulverized remains of the mana stone that had shattered against the ice pillar, scattering the dust with her foot.
So the mana stone passed along its memories when it broke? What an impossibly convoluted piece of world-building.
"Anyway. Mind handing that over?"
"Handing what over?"
"My staff. The one you're holding."
"Ah. This thing."
"Yes. That."
A staff of two dark, interwoven branches, a hollow gouged where the mana stone had sat. As Choco lifted it, Gejina reached out.
"Give it to me, and I promise the reward won't disappoint."
"A reward, you say. Why not name it first?"
"Ordinarily I'd offer to share some power, the way I did with the Kobolds… but you look plenty strong already. So how about your companion?"
"Uh, me?"
Yeon blinked, startled at being singled out so suddenly. Gejina nodded and spread her arms.
"The way you handled those Kobolds was quite impressive. But you know there's a world of difference between being able to use magic and not, don't you?"
"Uh… I guess?"
"I can fix that. If you'll allow it, I'll help you use magic."
On the face of it, it was a generous offer. Learning magic without spending a single coin — and from a witch offering to take you under her wing, no less. Most people picked up magic from spellbooks, though if you had built a name for yourself or had the right connections, you could study directly under the mages of the Magic Tower. The latter path meant stronger spells and faster mastery: the difference between grinding through a textbook alone and getting private lessons from a celebrity instructor. It was a tempting proposition. It would have been, at least, if Choco had not been standing right there.
She stepped in front of Yeon and addressed Gejina.
"We have power enough. It is not needed. There is something else I would ask of you."
"Not needed? You wound me, saying it so bluntly. Sure you don't want to think it over?"
"What is there to reconsider? This one is here."
"…Well. If you put it like that."
Gejina huffed through her nose and folded her arms.
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
"I would hear of the one who sealed you."
"Ah, that fox bitch? I don't know much about her either."
The reaction was lukewarm, to say the least. After ten years in a block of ice, Choco had expected her to start frothing at the mere mention of the name. Gejina caught the look and let out a short laugh.
"What's with those eyes? Surprised I'm so calm about it?"
"…Does it show so plainly on this one's face?"
"Compared to other humans, yeah."
How is it that every last one of them can read me so easily? Choco grumbled inwardly. Gejina shrugged.
"Well, thinking back on it, she was an irritating piece of work. Barged in out of nowhere going on about being a practitioner, saying she'd come to put down the wicked witch who was stirring up the region… Shameless bitch. What did I even do wrong?"
"A witch is a wicked thing, is she not…?"
"What century are you living in? 'Witch' is just a word for a female mage. And all I did was rile the monsters up a little."
"You riled the monsters up…? Wait. Then the monster wave from years ago—"
"Yeah, there was some collateral damage. Sue me."
She said it as if it were nothing.
"Thanks to that, I made some real progress on my mental interference magic. I was this close to finishing it, too — if that damn woman hadn't shown up and wrecked everything…"
"…That sounds like wickedness enough to me."
"Progress in magic always demands sacrifice."
The way she delivered that piece of sophistry, utterly unashamed, made Choco shake her head. She was beginning to understand why that practitioner had come after her.
"So. Do you know where that practitioner went?"
"How would I know? I got sealed in an ice pillar and blacked out on the spot."
Fair enough. Choco clicked her tongue in disappointment — and then Gejina let out a small ah. Choco pounced on it.
"Have you remembered something?"
"It just occurred to me — she had such a pretty tail. I really should have pulled at least one of them out before she locked me up."
"…Unbelievable."
Choco could only mutter in disbelief, but Gejina kept going.
"This cloudy gold, glossy as anything. Looked more valuable than any luxury fur I'd ever seen."
"And why tell this one that?"
"Because I'm making you an offer. Leave one behind and walk away — or die here and lose them all. Which'll it be?"
"What? Wh—!"
In the split second Choco's attention slipped, the staff wrenched itself from her grip and flew into Gejina's waiting hand.
Binding magic?
Having reclaimed what was hers, Gejina smiled — a dark, velvety thing.
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice, little brat?"
"Brat… How long have you known?"
"Since the moment you stepped into this place. The way you reeked of the same energy as that woman — it was nauseating."
Her face twisted with genuine disgust, then smoothed back into something almost pleasant.
"Of course, you're a fox just like her. But you did break my seal, so I'll be generous. Leave one tail and walk out of here — or die where you stand. Your choice."
"Choco, her level—"
"Nnh…"
The nameplate bloomed into view the instant Gejina turned hostile, and Choco let out a small groan. Unlike ordinary monsters, this one carried a title in front of her name — a Named. The gap was too wide to call her a proper boss, but there was no denying she was dangerous for a single target.
After a moment's thought, Choco released the transformation that had been hiding her ears and tails. The enemy already knew. There was no sense wasting spirit power on a disguise.
"Oh my. You have three as well? That other one had three too."
Gejina's eyes curved as she took in the three tails unfurling behind Choco's back. Choco gave a short, dry laugh.
"Is that so? Then someone of your caliber should be easily handled. That practitioner seemed to seal you away without much trouble, after all."
"Listen to you talk. However weakened I may be from the seal, a brat like you—?!"
Gejina cut herself off and threw up a barrier, yanking her staff into a guard — just as Choco closed the distance in a blink and brought down the sacred relic Tara had given her.
A slender rod about a foot long, white ornaments dangling from one end. A weapon known as the Exorcism Wand.
A sacred implement imbued with divine power to drive out evil spirits.
Highly effective against wicked things.
A sharp crack rang out as a fissure split across the barrier.
"You crazy bitch!"
"What? Did you not expect a mage to close the distance?"
She brought the wand down again. The barrier shattered like glass — but Gejina was no longer standing in it. She had already slipped a meter back, gasping, and her voice tore out of her in a shriek.
"Why the hell is a mage fighting in melee?!"
"Tsk tsk. Harbor such prejudices, and it is no wonder you fall to a mere three-tailed fledgling."
"Kh…!"
Choco gave her own shoulder a couple of lazy taps with the Exorcism Wand, sauntering where she stood, and Gejina's teeth ground together. She could not rush in the way she had a moment ago. That brief exchange had been enough to tell her this was not an opponent she could afford to dismiss.
Weakened by a long sealing or not, Gejina's barrier was not something that broke easily. She had tempered it and studied it with the single-minded will to survive. Piercing it was no simple feat, no matter how strong you were. Even that fox woman had failed to break through and had struggled for a long, humiliating stretch.
And this brat had shattered it in two swings?
Gejina stared at the wand in Choco's hand, her eyes bloodshot. A faintly reddish aura clung to the rod; a pair of pure-white paper-like streamers hung from the tip. There was nothing else remarkable about it. And yet her barrier had broken — broken under a purely physical blow that carried not a scrap of mana.
My barrier… destroyed by that cheap stick…!
Her grip tightened on the staff until her knuckles stood out. If only the mana stone had been intact, a stick like that would have been—
"How long do you intend to stand there glaring?"
"Fine! Let's see how long that composure lasts!"
Goaded by Choco's bored tone, Gejina slammed the tip of her staff into the earth. In the same breath, Choco swept the Exorcism Wand sideways and shoved Yeon clear.
"Hyeek?!"
A sudden, gentle pressure against her stomach lifted her off her feet, and Yeon let out a thoroughly undignified yelp. That shove was the only reason she was still alive.
Sky-Piercing Vines
Where Yeon had been standing, wooden spears erupted from the ground in a violent burst, sharp as awls. Had Choco been a fraction slower, they might have been treated to a piece of installation art with a human being as the medium.
Yeon landed lightly, as if she had never been startled at all. Choco glanced at her, then turned back.
"A rather entertaining trick."
"Shame. If you hadn't dodged, the show would have been much more interesting."
Gejina sneered as she said it, but she was rattled too. Sky-Piercing Vines was her original spell, and it had no cast time. Drive the staff into the earth, force the growth in an instant, and impale your enemy from below — most targets were dead before they even registered what had happened. The side effect was that she could not use the staff for a while afterward, but that hardly mattered when the spell killed nearly everyone it was aimed at.
And this fox had read it the moment it fired and shoved that girl out of the way?
What the hell are these fox women?
The one who had sealed her had not managed to dodge either — she had thrown up a hasty shield and tanked it — but even that had been a blow to Gejina's pride. A sure-kill spell that had never once missed had now been stopped twice.
Even Gejina had to admit it. This little fox brat was not someone she could take lightly.
"…All right. I lose. You're no easy mark either, are you?"
"Surrendering already?"
"Surrender? No. I'm humbly acknowledging my own inadequacy."
Gejina drew her mana up and lifted one foot.
"Because this is where it actually starts."
A single stamp. A violet pulse of mana rolled out from her, flooding past the witch's chamber and swallowing the entire boss room.
For a moment, it was as if sound itself had been snuffed out. Choco glanced around, then met Yeon's eyes. Yeon only shrugged, looking just as puzzled.
For all the theatrical flair, nothing seemed to have happened. Choco cocked her head and looked back at Gejina.
"What exactly did you—"
The ground began to shake.
At first it was so faint she almost missed it. Then it built, and built, until keeping her feet became a struggle.
"An e-earthquake?!"
"No. This is—"
It would have been easy to mistake for a quake. It was not. Something was coming up from below — not one thing, but many, a vast and rising movement.
Then the floor at the center of the boss room caved in, punching a massive sinkhole into the stone. And through that hole, things began to climb.
Ants. Soldier ants, with pincer jaws and ashen-white chitin, pouring upward without end. And behind them, larger shapes heaved themselves into the light — ants without the soldiers' murderous mandibles, but with bodies the size of houses.
Queen ants. Not one. Not two. Three of them.
"Where did these numbers even…"
"Leftovers from some old research. Well? Still having fun?"
Gejina giggled at the dazed look on Choco's face.
"Now then. Let's both get serious."