[Alfheim Dungeon] Sahas and Nyasa

Sahas the swordsman and Nyasa the priestess. The two had come to challenge the forest space within the Alfheim Dungeon to subjugate the monster 'Nisa.'

Nisa — the name given to a beautiful female-formed creature: a forest fairy corrupted into a monster after being exposed to human sins. Nisa possesses the ability to summon a life-draining space called 'Night' from the veil she wears. This veil is vulnerable to a priestess's holy power, so if a priestess is included in the party, the difficulty of subjugating Nisa drops dramatically.

However, judging their skills insufficient to challenge bare-handed, they diligently killed easier monsters within the dungeon, collected cores, and each purchased one ability before entering.

Sahas, who wanted greater mobility, bought levitation — the ability to step on thin air as if it were solid ground. Nyasa the priestess bought a single-use teleport ability, so she could move when it mattered most.

Problems arose from the very start for the confident duo. The original plan was to sneak between the trees in the forest so that Nisa wouldn't spot them first and summon Night. But the moment they entered the forest where Nisa dwelled inside the dungeon, they were detected, and Nisa's 'Night' was rapidly summoned.

"Sahas! We have to run! Night is opening too fast. If we're not careful, my holy power won't be enough to counter it!"

Nyasa, forced to find a backup plan, grabbed her priestess robes and hair and turned to run. But running in priestess robes was absurdly slow, and at this rate, the ever-expanding Night would swallow them. Sahas, who had been matching Nyasa's pace, looked around and spotted a cave in the distance.

'11 o'clock direction. Running straight, about one minute.'

Having roughly gauged the distance, Sahas asked Nyasa.

"Hey, would it be okay if we got inside that cave over there?"

"Huff, huff. What? Where's the cave?"

"A bit far. Over that way."

"Hff, huff. For now — I can't see it — huff — but at that distance, it should be fine!"

"Okay, excuse me for a moment."

Having confirmed the cave was safe, Sahas hooked his left arm behind Nyasa's knees and swept her up. Then, lowering his stance slightly, he dashed straight toward the cave. In truth, 'dashed' was an understatement — having heard Nyasa say it was urgent, Sahas sprinted at full speed, moving so fast he was barely visible to the eye.

"Aah, AAAH! Sahas, you're going too fast!"

"Don't open your mouth or you'll bite your tongue! And hold onto my neck tight!"

"MMAAAH!"

Nyasa, who had never moved at such speed in her life, felt like she might vomit. Her organs felt as if they had been left behind somewhere far away. But with no presence of mind to ask him to stop, all she could do was clutch the fabric near Sahas's neck and the veil on her own head. She prayed and prayed to God that they would arrive at the cave Sahas had spotted as quickly as possible.

***

"Phew, levitation? This is great. It was hard to run in a forest full of trees and brush, but being able to step on air really adds speed."

"Ugh, bleeegh."

"Nyasa, are you okay? Did I run too fast?"

"I-I'm finbleeeegh."

It was hard to tell if she was talking or dry-heaving. Collapsed face-down on the cave floor, Nyasa's vision was spinning and it still felt like she was running. To think a person could move this fast — swordsmen truly had absurd physical abilities.

"I wish there were some fermented fruit around. Going outside the cave seems like a bad idea, right?"

"Yeahhh......."

Seeing Nyasa unable to collect herself, Sahas handed her the water canteen from his belt.

"At least drink this. Also, what is that? Why is 'Night' opening so fast? And how did it find us?"

"Oh, thank you."

After gulping down water, her expression eased considerably. Having regained enough composure to speak, Nyasa needed to think about their next plan.

"I've never heard of 'Night' opening this fast before either. And being detected the moment we entered the space... Let's do this."

"How?"

"First, Sahas — please leave the cave and get as far away from this space as possible."

"Huh? Then what about you?"

"I'll attempt to teleport directly behind Nisa from here. If I can just grab Nisa's veil, it's over. Once I do, the Night covering the forest will disappear — when you see that happen, come to me and kill Nisa."

At first glance, it seemed like a perfect plan. But even a fool could see what Sahas knew. Nyasa had purchased the ability, but the unhelpful shop hadn't included instructions on how to actually use it. She still didn't know how to teleport. Furthermore, even if she could resist with holy power, he had clearly heard her say earlier that she 'couldn't hold out long with her holy power.' So why was she trying to send only him away?

"No. You don't know how to teleport. I'd rather stay here too."

"I can't allow that. Sahas, you have no holy power, so you'd age far faster than me as your life force gets drained. And protecting two people with my holy power at once would cut down the time I can hold out. In the worst case, if I can't teleport, I'd have to run to where Nisa is — and then we might both really die."

She was right. Currently, Nyasa was the only one who could use holy power, making her essential for taking down Nisa — she had to stay alive. But holy power was limited; protecting Sahas too might drain it before reaching Nisa. Still, Sahas couldn't leave Nyasa alone.

"How about I just carry you at the same speed as before and run straight to Nisa? That way you wouldn't need to use as much holy power."

"The closer we get to Nisa's veil, the holy power required increases exponentially. Alone I might manage, but covering both of us could be dangerous."

"But if I leave you alone, you can barely move! You know you run ridiculously slow, right?"

"If I succeed at teleporting, it'll be fine."

"You don't know how!"

The two began arguing over whether Sahas should stay or go. If there had been a cool-headed rational person here, they would have decided and acted immediately — but all they had was each other and their clouded judgment. While they argued, Nisa's Night crept ever closer, and before they noticed, it had covered everything beyond the cave. Being a forest rich with trees and vegetation, Night had grown even faster after devouring all the forest's life. Nyasa noticed first. Sahas's hair was rapidly growing longer. The moment she saw it, she draped her own veil over Sahas. The rate of hair growth slowed.

"Sahas, this is bad. Night seems to have covered this entire area."

"My hair is......."

"My veil is infused with holy power, so it'll block Night. Keep wearing it. I'll be back."

"No!"

Sahas urgently grabbed the wrist of Nyasa, who had risen to leave the cave. He felt that if he let her go now, she would age and die. Her hair, already long, was visibly growing longer too — nearly touching the floor.

"Let go! I can feel Nisa getting closer. I have to go now!"

"Just try teleporting from here! Try 'something' from right here!"

"We'll both die at this rate!"

"That's better than you dying alone! I'll die with you!"

Nyasa was in agony. She could feel Nisa approaching in real-time, but Sahas showed no intention of letting go. Of course, Sahas's concern was justified. If she approached Nisa like this, she could complete the subjugation — but she would undoubtedly age to death.

"Please, let me go. Sahas. If I wrap myself tightly in holy power, I won't die."

"No, don't go alone..."

"!"

From the effects of Night, Sahas had started bleeding from the nose. Seeing him deteriorating and slumping to the ground, Nyasa first embraced him. Being as close as possible would reduce holy power consumption. But using holy power like this meant she could never walk to Nisa.

'Please, what do I have to do? How do I teleport?'

Nyasa's heart raced with anxiety. The terror that both of them might die to a Nisa they had thought would be easy prey crept over her.

"I will go to Nisa!"

That wasn't it.

"I will move behind Nisa's veil!"

That was wrong too.

"......What's the answer! How do I use it!"

In the end, despite chanting incantation after incantation, Nyasa never found the answer. And in her arms, Sahas had gone limp.

"Please, Sahas...... don't die...."

Unable to find a way in the dark night, she finally prayed to her god.

"God, if you are watching over me — I am fine, so please grant this person a miracle. Please save them......."

But God did not grant her a miracle.

Never having found the method to teleport, she withered away quietly in Nisa's Night, still holding Sahas in her arms.

When no life remained in the forest where Nisa dwelled, Nisa closed its Night and went back to sleep. Not long after it slumbered, the forest within the dungeon grew lush again, waiting for the next challengers.

***

[Deaths detected within Alfheim Dungeon.]

[Generating NPCs.]

[NPC Sahas has been assigned to lodging within Alfheim Dungeon.]

[NPC Nyasa has been assigned to lodging within Alfheim Dungeon.]