The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 128: Digging up Trouble

Chapter 128: Digging up Trouble

After my gentle persuasion, the guard, Darragh, decided to cooperate again. 

Now, was there the chance the stick would go up his butt again and would begin to be rude and defy me again? Yes, and if he did, his chances of returning home would be reduced to zero.

“Well, time to dig!” 

“You want me to dig here..? The guard asked. 

Time had passed, and now it was already night. I hadn’t talked to any of the other Nelatta since my earlier conversation, but I had a feeling that if I went back now, I was sure I was going to be brought into one. 

“Yes,” I stuck a stick into the ground right where I wanted. We were far enough away from the city that they couldn’t see us, but close enough that I felt I could find something. 

Going in, fire blazing and Starlight weapons in hand, did sound nice, but I knew I should be at least somewhat prepared, so I wanted to see if we could find my hypothesised underground location with a less expensive entrance. 

You’ve become quiet again, Espr. Did my little backslap hurt you that much? Or the fact that I am closer to the exit than you would like to the problem?

(“ I have no problems ”)

Is that your first just straight-up lie? Probably not, I think, well, you have technically lied a few times, even if you don’t like to at all. Still curious if it is just your personality or if something kind of prevents you to a certain extent.

(“ Why do you insist that I have a problem? ”)

Oh, cause you are totally acting like you do.

I was purposely poking at Espoiramissa, they had annoyed me plenty recently, and it was time to stab back while I had the chance, as they surely wouldn’t be in this dizzy state forever.

So, what do you think my chances are of finding something below the sand?

(“ I have found reacting to these questions of yours a waste of time ”)

That’s the stuff! Dig, and keep their heels deep in the ground. Hahaha… 

Yes, I was enjoying this. Immensely. 

Well, I’m going to let my new recruit dig a hole, and while that happens… hmmm… what to do, what to do? I could try absorbing some more mana, looking for another good spot to dig, or even deal with all the talks with the Nelatta now

(“ … ”)

At least one of my jobs was indeed very successful.

I did plan on doing at least one of those things. Any extra bits of mana I could absorb into my body, the better. 

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]

Level 264 | Awakened

Mana: 111% Starlight: 95%

With a lot of effort, I had managed still to be over a hundred percent of my natural mana. A great achievement, I say, since everything constantly wanted to leak out. It was still a bit less than the total amount of mana I had before the injury, and the level decreased, but in case of emergency, I still had more mana recovery items remaining.

The guard was walking around in a circle, trying to plan something out. I had seen him use his magic to move the sand as part of a test, so I knew he could do something, but I also knew it wouldn’t be that simple. The sand under our feet was mostly regular sand, but there was a little bit of the mana-disrupting golden sand mixed in. That meant using magic on the sand itself could be tricky, but there were at least ways to kind of deal with it. How the guard would deal with it was up to him; I didn’t care how he decided to dig the hole.

I ordered, “Keep digging until you find something, and if you do, come and find me; I will be nearby.”

“How… long do I have to dig for?”

“Until you are done or it becomes morning, however, I will allow you, if you choose to do so, to continue working during the day.”

“But that’s a–” 

“If you so choose. Please, I am not forcing you to do so.”

He decided to keep digging.

All good! Time for me to fuck off and get my other shit done.

I thought about my options again and decided to head back to the meraimaka. While any conversation with Cole-Ra-Cu could lead to something irritating, I chose to risk it because there was also the chance I could hear some juicy information. Though in all honesty, I was simply going to say goodbye to him for the last time.

Partway through my journey back, I felt the ground shake, and I immediately jumped away.

“GARRRRR!” 

A large crocodile-shaped skeleton beast erupted from the ground. It appeared to be a Kelrara, but unlike the previous ones I had seen, this one's outer body was completely covered in golden sand. 

“You’re not supposed to be around right now; it’s night, after all.” 

“Gerrrrraaaag!” The golden Kelrara screamed at me. 

Is this a variant? Or does the world know what I am doing and have prepared countermeasures…

I would need to return to Darragh quickly then to make sure he was safe in case something attacked him as well. I preferred to have him not die yet.

Sand flew up as the Kelrara charged towards me.

“Yeah, yeah, big scary threat that you are.”

The visual differences between this and the regular Kelrara were something I was concerned about. The regular Kelrara had the golden sand act basically as blood that controlled the monsters, while this one had that same sand covering its whole body. 

If it were just the regular Kelrara with a shiny plating, then my precious strategy of puncturing a hole and letting it ‘bleed’ out would work, but if that weren’t the case, things would become tricky.

[Star Arrow].

I created five dense arrows of Starlight. 

Time to see how tough this thing is.

The beast charged towards me like a raging bull; the dangerous golden sand flew off in sprinkles with its motions, threatening to touch anything that stood nearby.

I threw myself out of the way of its charge, but it turned quickly, and its base speed could catch up to me easily, and the sand spray made it hard to stay in close-range dodging.

Truly an annoying foe, but–

My [Star Arrow] flew from above into the beast’s back, and after a moment of being stuck there, it exploded, creating a larger hole.

Nothing yet.

The beast’s jaw slammed shut, gulping down part of the desert with its bite while I dodged at the last second and fired three more arrows into its body. 

A small Starlight shield stopped the sand from falling on me from its natural movement, but being this close didn’t sit well with me. However, I needed to examine the damage up close. The first arrow made a decent wound, but nothing was bleeding yet.

The next three arrows exploded as well, creating three more large holes, and with them, I could see a small amount of sand starting to fall out. 

A ball of soft fire was created in my hand [Solar Bomb], with what I believed was the right amount of power put into it.

The Kelrara swung its body into the air, ready to body slam the whole area.

I laughed, “Catch.” I chucked the [Solar Bomb], and it collided with the beast.

Boom

“GARRRRR!” It screamed from its bones as it was sent tumbling, and the sand within exploded out of the four holes I had created.

Looks like I was partially right.

The beast certainly didn’t ‘pop’ as easily as the other Kelrara I had killed, but it still shared the same weakness. I just needed to shake the container a little bit, as well as make the holes, before the sand fell out. 

The beast tried to get back up and attack, but it was too late; it had already started to slow down, which made dodging its last few helpless attacks easy. Once that was done, the beast was absorbed into the sand like all the others, but the process was noticeably much slower this time. 

“Well, it's dead. Strange…”

I jumped up onto a tree and looked into the distance to see where Darragh was digging. 

Well, he is still safe… The fact that he didn’t even notice the fight makes me question his capabilities as a guard.

I was far, but not that far away. The fact that I could still see during the night was a good indicator of that.

…I’m going back to the city…

I left his fate in his own hands.

When I neared the meraimaka, I noticed that Cole-Ra-Cu was on the wall, waiting for my return.

I leapt onto the side of the wall and launched myself up with a few bounces. “I will assume you are wishing to speak with me.”

Cole-Ra-Cu spoke, his words sombre. “I have heard about what’s been done.”

“It was something that had to be done.”

“No. It had not. There are ways to save.” His words were firm. “You are from the same family.”

“No, we are not. My family is small and doesn’t include every member of my race.”

“You need to be connected; only then can you be protected.”

“It’s not that simple, Cole-Ra-Cu.” I knew I stood at a cultural divide, but I was patient. I was still thankful to him for teaching me, so I chose not to slap back at his wrong words. “My world isn’t like your small meraimaka; even a hundred meraimaka wouldn’t cover it. Not even every Nelatta who has lived, being around all at once, would even make a scratch in the wall that would represent the total number of my species.”

(“ Getting sentimental about your time here, you are being ever so kind ”)

Found a chance and immediately put your hand in the basket? Wow, you really are desperate, but to answer, I am allowed to be kind.

(“ Even though you know what outcome awaits them? ”)

That is all the more reason why I should be allowed to.

“You… are allowed to stay here,” Cole-Ra-Cu spoke as his hands rested on the staff he had brought with him. “I know heart is in the right place.” 

“I appreciate it, but I cannot; I need to return home.”

“That is a hope that should be abandoned. None ever find it. Because it doesn’t exist.”

“That’s for me to find out,” I said, but then I asked. “Why are you so invested in all these strangers?”

He spoke from his heart, “I’ve seen so many remnants of a lost world, and the remnants of those remnants. I wished to see something survive alongside us. I thought maybe this time, we had that chance.”

“Maybe in another timeline.” 

“What?”

“Just saying, it means it could’ve happened, and maybe it did for a different version of us, but we have to live with what has happened.”

“I see. In another timeline, then.” His aged, scaled mouth chuckled.

I thought about speaking to others, but I just spoke to Lu and Al-Roo not that long ago. That wasn’t a goodbye, but I best end that conversation on a happier note. 

I was ready to leave, but I was curious. I had been curious about so many things about their people, but there had been many I hadn’t asked yet for one reason or another. “I do have another question: are you happy with how your people live?”

“Since this may be the final time. No. Once I was, but the sands changed us all.” His eyes wandered to the vast ocean of sand, and the city with the majority of the houses empty behind looked at his back. “Would you like to hear why?”

“No, I felt it.” I replied, “Thank you for the time here. Tell Lu she could be a little annoying, but that she’s a nice Nelatta, and that I’m glad we met.”

He smiled, “It’s been a pleasure. May you find your way.”