Soul Merger

Akari watched as her body spun faster than should be possible and clubbed the attacking firecat into a wall of brambles. "Home run," Ibaraki crowed as the three foot long monster collapsed to the ground.

As the oni possessing her took a drink while finishing off the enemy Clara had shot, Akari wondered if Ibaraki enjoyed the taunting or showing off more. She could feel the oni's emotions flowing over her own, but she didn't really have insight into the being's thoughts. Especially given they were only loosely sharing senses right now.

The battle was soon over, with Ibaraki taking another pull from her sadly mediocre sake gourd. The thing never ran out, but as Akari's tastes had improved she began to realize why the oni didn't rely on it. Well crafted alcohol was vastly superior.

Akari took advantage of her detachment from her body to look around at her new friends. Alissa was looking around for other enemies. A bit paranoid but probably understandable for someone so used to soloing. Rosalina was checking everyone for injuries, while Fili and Clara were checking their equipment and the monsters that had been slain.

"Do firecats have anything other than pelts?" Fili asked as she looked over the least damaged ones.

"Not really," Clara said, pulling out a skinning knife. "I hear the twin tailed ones will have gems in their spines, but these ones are trash mobs." Interesting. It seemed animal monsters gaining tails as they became more powerful wasn't limited to the monsters of her homelands.

She sighed internally as Ibaraki relaxed and drank while everyone else did the work of collecting the spoils. She hadn't expected the oni to help but it was somewhat embarrassing seeing her body acting so callous towards her new friends.

At least the labyrinth layer they were in was pleasant. Fireweed Falls started off with a series of meadows and trails bordered by swift moving streams and bramble patches. Pink fireweed flowers covered the grounds, giving the place its name. If it weren't for the firecats and jackalopes it would be a nice place for an afternoon picnic.

As it was, a lot of the company sponsored delvers worked the upper layer, getting food for the town. Poor Alissa had been jumpy around those groups too, making sure not to reveal too much skin. It had to grate on the succubus merge's nerves, much like how Akari got antsy whenever the sunbeams twitched just so.

Soon the others had finished up and they looked over the maps. "We came in from that side, right?" Alissa said, pointing at one of the entrances.

Clara nodded, "Yep.

"Then we should be going down that passage," Alissa motioned to one of the more overgrown paths out. It seemed correct to Akari as well. Overgrown paths were more likely to lead to 'secrets' like cross Labyrinth branches.

Ibaraki guided her body to follow along with Alissa as the party moved onwards. The oni acted like she was just taking a stroll, but Akari could see Ibaraki was a single step behind Alissa, letting the trained thief keep an eye out for traps. Meanwhile Rosalina and Clara took up the rear, while Fili stuck to the middle. Usually the healer would hold that safe spot, but Rosalina wasn't exactly a frail little flower.

They continued slowly along, carefully following the map they'd bought. While lush Labyrinth floors like this were nice to walk through, it was very easy to miss a path as well. None of them wanted to burn several hours retracing their steps after taking a wrong turn.

After about an hour and several violent jackalope encounters, they made it to the branch. A rock sat in the middle of the greenery mocking its surroundings. A volcanic fissure split it in two, creating a passage that sloped gently down. And four guards were lazing about, though they quickly stood to attention when their party arrived.

Meh, talking. You're up. Akari's vision got fuzzy for a bit as Ibaraki released control.

Fortunately she only missed a bit of the lizardkin's sentence. "-so we can determine you are the people who we're supposed to let through."

"Can you tell us anything about the path ahead?" she asked as she fished out her ID. Might as well help Alissa out while she was in control. And giving the guards something to focus on other than her face should do nicely.

The catboy closest to the entrance let his tail swish in thought. "Not much. Heard some hissing about an hour ago but it stopped. Probably steam. What were you looking for anyways?"

"Fire Lizards," Akari said. "Specifically greater ones."

"Ah, should be a decent number once you get down a few floors. Don't think they've been cleaned up for a while." The man grinned. "If you're lucky you can grab what you need and head back this way instead of the long walk up. It'll make it easier to get back to your cabin."

"I certainly hope so. Thank you for your time." She bowed to the man.

As the other guards handed back the ID cards he waved them through. "No problem. Be careful down there."

They proceeded past the guards into the lava fissure, the soft ground being replaced by hard smooth stone. Alissa gave her a look when they were out of hearing range. "Do you have some control over cat people too?"

"No, just the usual power of a smile," Akari replied.

The Lava Tubes were a mess of passages, though according to the maps you could tell where you were based on how sharp or smooth the floors were. The path they were following was ropey whirls and odd patterns, while the passages they were walking by were completely smooth or had jagged chunks.

"Stop!" Akari froze as Alissa threw her hand in front of the group.

They were in front of a dip in the path. The ceiling was low, but still 6 feet. Clara would have issues but the rest could walk through. It was a good spot for an ambush but Akari couldn't see any signs of that.

The other woman carefully reached forwards and waved the air towards her, before sinking to her knees and dry heaving. "Are you okay?!" Akari and Rosalina moved to check on her, but she waved them back a bit.

After a few shuddering breaths recovering Alissa looked at the rest of the group. "Poison gas. We can't get through this way."

"Wouldn't poison resistance work?" Clara asked. Akari had to wonder the same.

"It won't let us breathe," Rosalina said with a sigh. "The poison won't kill us but asphyxiation will. Unless you've got something Fili?"

Fili shook her head. "Nothing I'd want to risk my life over. Is there a way around it?"

They stepped back to look over the map. "It looks like there's another route two exits back. The one with cracked stone." Rosalina said. "It'll take us another half hour and the route's ugly but it should be doable."

"Looks like that's the best choice," Clara said. "I like it better than poison."

Akari and the others agreed. They still had a path to their goal so things were fine. Still it was somewhat worrisome that there were natural poison clouds sitting around this labyrinth. If not for Alissa's skills they might have been in trouble.

Eh I could have dragged you out, Ibaraki said. But it would have sucked. So keep avoiding the death gasses okay? Akari silently agreed.

They worked their way back to the alternate path. The stone here cracked and crunched underfoot no matter how lightly Akari tried to step, and Clara of course couldn't hide her presence at all. The noise made her ears twitch.

"I've decided I don't like lava tunnels," Alissa muttered as they continued along.

"Not my favorite place either," Rosalina agreed. "But if we're off the beaten path maybe we'll find our targets faster. That will give us time to handle other matters. You need salts if I remember right."

"Where are the monsters anyway?" Fili asked. "We should have met some."

Akari considered it. "Probably scared off by the poison. Though we should run into something soon." She tried to peer into the darkness beyond their lights, but nothing really stood out.

Then there was a very loud crunch that caused everyone to flinch and look back at Clara. "Sorry," the minotaur woman apologized. "Think the floor had an air bubble."

Then the whole area shuddered and lurched as another loud crack sounded. "An earthquake?" Akari prayed it was something small, because a large quake here could kill them all even if lava didn't decide to re-enter the tube.

"Shit!" Alissa spun around. "It's a trap! Head back!"

The cracking turned to a roar as the slab they were standing on started sliding down. The shaking and bouncing left Akari on the floor, where she got an excellent view of the rusted rails the trap was grinding down. But all she could do was hold onto the ground and wait.

With a final jolt the slab hit the end of its track and then went into freefall. Heat washed over them, and for a moment Akari got to imagine all the ways the trap could kill them. And then there was a final impact. A remarkably soft one, accompanied by a cloud of dust.

"Is everyone okay?" Rosalina asked as she pulled herself upright.

Akari followed suit and was glad to see her friends were all doing the same. They'd all weathered the trap well. "I am fine, thank you." "Still alive." "I'm good." "Alive and annoyed."

Looking around Akari's heart sank. The slab had landed on a large patch of black sand. A patch surrounded by dull red magma. She knew this area from the maps, though she hadn't expected to see it. "We've fallen to the fourth layer."

"Shit," Alissa remarked. The others nodded grimly.

A labyrinth's fourth layer was always open. Massive areas with larger connections. And it's where larger monsters spawned. Only large or very well equipped parties dared go through these layers.

And now they were lost somewhere in this deadly maze.

Ah good. Should be some fun fights now. I'll tag back in.

Akari tried to take some comfort from the oni's confidence, but it was hard. Getting out of here would be difficult. Getting out with everyone alive would be miraculous.

She started praying. The gods might not think she was worthy of being their vessel, but hopefully they'd offer her some aid. Because they needed as much help as possible.