The morning was normal, as much as as being in the depths of hell could be. Whether being ambushed was a part of it, he was simply thankful that it hadn’t happened that morning. Though he kept thinking about it as “morning”, there was no way to check. Assuming that the moth ocean was a sign of night, and seeing as they were gone, it was morning. The stillness was quite relaxing, to a point where he would go back to bed. He inwardly face-palmed all of a sudden.

  What the hell am I on…?

  He sighed, trying to occupy his brain with random knowledge, trivia and poetic outlooks. When he went back into Pochirin’s body he was, unsurprisingly, the earliest one awake. Though it didn’t take long for them to wake up, he happily jolted to his feet as he saw them groggily eyeing the plum from yesterday.

  Since he couldn’t image Berdrogh climbing the tree, or him for that matter, Kanade was the one who would have to. By now he was used to their morning routines. Being this far down didn’t change that they were in a dungeon; Berdrogh stretched his old bones like every morning and she threw her gear on, though Han was quick to notice she did so crudely. Aside from that, they carefully went back to the grass glade around the tree.

  “How do we tackle this?” They halted before the giant tree, and Berdrogh was the first one to actually bring it up. Seeing as the the wood was extremely hard, her daggers were useless here. Han would have probably used them to climb.

  “I’ve climbed harder.” She said while removing her shoes. Promptly, she ran her finger through the bark, it was seemingly the perfect thickness for her fingers to slip into. Satisfied, she turned back to Han. “Remind me. What were you injured by, Rin?” She asked, despite never actually being told.

  “A branch.” He answered.

  “Where is it then?” Without much thinking Han led them, roughly remembering the spot. If they are where the tentative front of the plum tree was, they went past their initial landing spot to the other side of it, which would be the back.

  They quickly found a dried, bloodied mess. He inwardly shrugged as he didn’t remember there being that much blood. Though another thing grabbed his attention more. Kanade, without flinching, went up to the large red crusted branch and kicked it to a clean patch. Han wasn’t exactly following what she was doing, but the intrigue kept him watching closely, until an unfocused dagger bounced off and twanged in front of him.

  Dunno what I expected.

  “Damn. Can you…?” She tried to ask, but trailed off as Berdrogh went past them.

  “Look what I…” He pulled it from the smushed, vibrant grass which hid his battle-axe. Aside from his happy expression, the axe’s curved edge was anything but cheerful. Instead of a crescent moon sharp edge less than half of it remained, unexpectedly, the handle’s bottom had taken the majority of the force, and with everything combined, it bent in a way that reminded Han of a short-bladed scythe. “Found!” Kanade stashed her dagger after a pitying glance, while Han abstained from saying anything.

  “Swing at it,” She stepped back, as did Han. “I am purely guessing… but let’s try it anyway.” She muttered to herself, clearly too deep in her thought, as Han simply stared at her and scoffed silently.

  That’s… my thing.

  “Uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The nature and all, and the weird energy I’m getting.” He rebutted, and immediately started using the scythe as a cane.

  “Do it. It’s not a part of the tree anymore.” Without losing sight of the branch, she suggested.

  “It’s still connected…”

  “How?” Kanade finally turned to him, confused rather than angry. Since when did he go into that religious side? Han thought, but quickly dismissed himself, there were too many clues to count and the fact that he talked about a priest. Something was happening to him. He sighed and tried to see if they would stop bickering.

  “Spiritually.” He answered, snapping the last of Han’s straws.

  This is taking too much time.

  While he didn’t want to talk trash about him, Han walked up and chomped a piece off, as he had done so before. But then Kanade lunged forward and stuck her hands directly into the spot where he had bitten. He and Berdrogh just watched as the branch released an amber-colored, viscous goo that she immediately scooped up in handfuls. Though, the branch piece he had bitten off had already begun slowly healing back.

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  “Resin. Helps me climb. Good job—“ She said, ignoring the magical branch. The smell of which instantly made Han push down the golf ball down. It was so sweet yet so pungently bitter that it reached inside his skull and shook him awake even more than he already was. Almost like savory smelling salts. Someone took the opportunity to exploit his short daze, Kanade, after rubbing the same horrid tree resin into her hands several times over, for some reason decided to try and pet him. Han recovered just in time and had none of that, dodging her hand. “Ah.” She let out a small, self-aware noise.

  Smart, yet slow. Nice try.

  “I’m… off.” With pause, probably to make one last estimate, she left them beside the red patch.

  “What was that, Pooch?” He paused, watching Kanade approach the enormous tree, who was clearly mapping a route up. Then he caught himself. “Never mind. Maybe one bark for yes, two for no?” They both sat down further back. There wasn’t much either of them could do anyway, so passing time seemed decent enough. Except for one thing.

  “Fuck that…” Han said, shaking his head. Barking was awkward enough, he wasn’t planning on doing tricks for him anytime soon, or rather never.

  “Or we do that.” He cleared his throat and uncomfortably locked eyes with him. ”You’re not a normal familiar, are you?”

  “If only you knew.” Han nodded. Which, to be fair, was a very obvious assumptions.

  “Do you intend to harm either of us?” The next question landed considerably darker.

  “Can’t promise I won’t bite your hand off.” He scoffed and he nodded, but then paused. He hadn’t moved just then. Han had been spouting bullshit to entertain himself, yet his head had nodded on its own before he could. Another question arrived in his mind, seemingly without him even hearing it.

  “Do you plan to kill us?” Han’s mind shut down and simply kept quiet. Yet his head nodded on its own. Han jolted up, leaving Berdrogh sitting down watching Kanade climb alone. In a a second he created a gap of multiple meters. What even was that? A spell? Why was Han so afraid? And more importantly—

  What the fuck is this guy?

  The hospitality he had experienced all this time was gone. He was talking as if he was watching someone die before him, calm and pretty darn certain about it. There had to be an explanation that Han could think of. Could this party have been more filled with absolute nutjobs?

  “Shut the fuck up!” He shouted into nothing.

  “You couldn’t have been more obvious. Even if I can’t make sense of your whimpers and random sounds, I can still see your innocence inside. A turbulent soul.” He spoke, yet it didn’t even mean anything to Han. It was as if neither of them could understand each other.

  “You’re sharing that body, aren’t you?” His words struck him like lightning. All four of his paws stuck to the ground, there wasn’t a thought running through his voidful mind. Yet, Han continued to listen as he continued to talk.

  “That questioning was to guarantee your stance. I had a suspicion back when I touched your back at the goblin outpost; there was a such an unstable disturbance. Of course, I brushed it off. A hound familiar fighting with the forced upon bond nothing more, but then you kept shoving my hammer away from the nearly flushed nail. Hit after hit after hit. Injury after injury. And then! Then you’re invisible? Alright, I thought, must be from a wealthy family or ties to get a rare one like you. The answer was am unsurprising no.” He spoke until he ran out of breath, drew a long one, and trekked on.

  “Then you survive a lethal injury. Multiple times. Alright. And now you’re becoming something otherworldly. Who could have seen that?” He jutted his chin, nudging it toward the branch. “That branch. Shit. I couldn’t put a dent in a seed even if I put my life on the line.”

  “You know how I know?” He turned back to Han with a prideful smile and took out the shield necklace from under his chest plate. “My daughter made this from a piece, a centuries-old seed, and a seed from a fruit tree much like theses ones. We’re surrounded by Yggdrasil’s Saplings.” He glanced back at him. ”Don’t worry Pooch, I’ll gladly keep you at bay. You’re the only one strong enough to find us a way out.” He lay back and began laughing, filling the quiet dungeon morning with his maniacal laughter.

  T-this guy’s insane!

  “Oh? She’s ready.” Berdrogh abruptly stopped and slowly rose up with every one of his years showing. “You don’t believe that I can, Pooch? I’ll show you. HAHA! I’ll show you!” He scoffed and grabbed his scuffed battle-axe. “Now… let’s see.”

  Up at the height of one of the rogue branches, Kanade was hanging by one arm, clutching a strip of loose bark, while her other arm worked with a dagger, cutting the stem of a plum. By now Han’s vision, or rather his mind, had adjusted to Pochirin’s perception, but that still didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised when the plum was bigger than her. It needed a second to register everything, the threat, Kanade hanging up there, what Berdrogh spouted and what he was planning to do.

  “And… here it comes.” As the stem snapped with a crack akin to a mooring line giving way, Berdrogh broke off into a run after it. “True Iron Body.” He whispered, and his sprint subsequently slowed down to a jog, but halted when he presumably reached his position. Han’s eyes jumped between the falling plum and Berdrogh.

  That plum is going to hit like a boulder…

  Shortly after Pochirin’s mouth moved into a smirk as Han intensely watched this event unfold. Knowing that the velocity it would reach, and if he actually stopped it, it would be the single greatest feat of raw strength Han had have ever seen by an NPC.

  “…Behold.” Han caught his whisper. The imminent boulder plum was heading straight for him. The air seemingly moved around it, he could even see it jiggle due to the air resistance. Who could have guessed that a ridiculous scene like this would ever happen?

  “Come on!” Han yelled out. The plum cast a huge shadow upon Berdrogh, but he didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. A madman. He steeled his posture and swung his crude battle-axe. The plum seemed to swallow him whole, blocking Han’s sigh of him. The slosh aftershock didn’t remind him of a fruit at all, the ground shook under him when it landed. Where was he?

  It completely obscured the behemoth that was Berdrogh. He leapt towards him, while doing so saw the plum cleaved in half and Berdrogh laid out in the middle, surrounded by the gooey flesh. Without needing to even check, he closed in on his vitals. His heart beat remained steadfast as ever, so as his lackluster breathing. But Han’s eyes were locked onto something else entirely.

  “That bastard lied.” Han grinned ear to ear as he stared at a large brown seed that was bluntly split in half. Berdrogh surpassed every imaginary measure. He was a smart madman worth keeping around.