Azaria 2 - 9

Good Morning Folks!

Chapter 9: Eat this Neo!

Azaria

I really ended up spending the entire night out on the roof on my manor. The sun broke over the horizon, shining off all the buildings. The glass in the high-rises making them glow almost magically. I paused when I considered that it might actually be magic in some cases. I floated up and stretched more to change my mood than anything physically relieving.

Glancing over to the tents that marked the entrance, I doubted I would see anything different from the last couple days. I was in for a shock when I saw actual divers lined up like before my dungeon was bought. The feeling I got almost scared me more than they did. I was excited.

I narrowed my eyes at the groups, but they looked identical. As in, while they wore armor and robes like before, they obviously had a uniform setting. A logo sat on the breast of everyone. Night’s Hammer. Maybe it was Neo’s group? Either way, it looked like the entirety of the parties entering the dungeon would be from this organization.

Studying them, I saw that each group appeared to be composed much the same way. A total of ten people with two defenders, a smattering of what looked like fast paced fighters, and three to four mage types. The wore helmets so I could see what sort of people but from how they were lined up, there were well disciplined. In all, it felt like the army was about to march into my dungeon.

At least it looked like Neo himself wasn’t about to try the dungeon. He gave me more than the heebie-jeebies and I knew with just a glance that he was a monster. I’d rather not get further on his radar until I had the power to fight back. Sadly, that meant all these people had to die.

I sank through the roof and moved to where Starburst was practicing. He appeared quite skilled, but that was coming from me. I really couldn’t make heads or tails of some of his moves, but that might be the point of them. I had considered asking him to train me, but I was sure that that was a fight that we weren’t ready to have. Not when we just started getting along.

“Starburst. It looks like they are going to let people into the dungeon today,” I said when he paused. He was able to see me, unlike most of the other dungeon inhabitants. I think it had something to do with him being a former god, but that was just speculation at this point. I had asked before, but he gave me a non-answer.

He huffed with some annoyance. I could tell it was directed at the people outside. “It is about time. I thought they were trying to starve you.”

“Too bad for them then,” I said with a smug grin. My latest floor had hit the water table. I was getting a constant influx of Aether, though I wasn’t sure how long it would last. We were near the mountains, and a lot of water made its way down to us.

“Exactly. It is still good to absorb souls. Your manipulators are good, but there are times when a power entity is worth a thousand soldiers.”

“So far, I haven’t really seen that,” I replied defensively. I liked my manipulators. My luck had been the one to create most of them. That told me they were the right path to take.

“You saw Neo,” Starburst said simply.

I screwed up my face in annoyance but nodded. That monster could likely walk right through my minions. I wasn’t even sure he would notice them with how strong he was. “Maybe that will be my next monster. A high-powered single force,” I commented more to myself than Starburst. He nodded in appreciation, likely because I was at least listening to his advice. “The real question is where to put you?”

“Near your core. I made sure to infuse the new unicorn boss with my memories of fighting and combat. He will be a decent stopgap, but the divers have already proven they were able to get past him even when I was in the driver’s seat. We should expect that your top floor is negligible going forward.”

I made a sour face despite myself. “That makes sense. I really hate knowing those three are going to start dying regularly,” I said thinking of Lucy, Stella, and Jelly, the new unicorn boss.

“With death comes strength. They might die, but they will still have their memories. Unless you actively restrict their strength, then the divers will have to constantly up their game.”

I felt my connection with the manor grow dim. The divers were starting to enter the dungeon. I sighed before I moved to the music room. Zaria was already there waiting for me. Though, when I thought about it. I was sure that she spent most of her time here.

“We’re going full power from now on. These people think they can buy me. Let’s show them that it’s going to really cost them,” I said grabbing the violin off its stand.

“Total annihilation it is then,” Zaria replied, her hands gliding over the piano waiting for my que. I turned my mind eye on the party as I pulled the bow across the strings falling into my trance.

~~~

I came from my trance to find pieces of bodies being slowly absorbed in the bear maze. It appeared Tenderheart could make his minions explode. The party found that out much to their surprise when they managed to subdue one. Not just the party, but a large chunk of the maze had turned to rubble. Needless to say, no one survived.

“That went well,” I said looking at the dungeon. They had made easy work of the upper floor as Starburst had warned. They had even known about the bears and how they transformed, but when one of them tried to use magic to keep it in its teddy bear form, it ended badly for them.

Before I would have felt bad, but this time I felt like they got what they deserved. I whipped my hands like I had just finished cleaning up a mess. I didn’t have much time to feel jubilant though as the next party started into the dungeon less than half an hour later. It looked like they had some way of knowing if a party fell.

Grinning mischievously as an idea came to me, I waited until the next party entered my dungeon. When they were inside, I changed the lanterns outside that burned a soft yellow lift to glow a dark green light. There was some shouting near the tents, but it died down quickly since there was nothing obviously dangerous about it.

I turned back to the second party. They were a bit stronger than the last one, but overall much on the same level. They cleared the first floor in almost record time. Their magic appeared to have been specialized with dealing with the girls and Jelly. I ignored that, mainly since there was nothing I could do about it and watched them enter the second floor.

The defenders walked side by side blocking most of the space in the pink tunnels, while the mages cast light spells to see. While the party hadn’t said much, I did hear the comment that they felt like they were in a little girl’s playhouse. That might be the truth, but this little girl had killed more than a few people.

They soon came to a teddy bear that waddled toward them with its arms out. Tenderheart always made them go for the manliest looking man in the party, since they usually had issues with hugging a teddy bear. This time, the man was one of the defenders. I heard a groan, but he shifted his shield to the side and kneeled while holding out his arms. The teddy bear climbed into his arms and I was treated to the sight of a man well over six feet and two hundred pounds hugging a cuddly teddy bear.

The teddy bear soon had enough and tried to get down. No one had gotten this far before, and he reacted by squeezing the bear harder to hold it. I shook my head and after a few heartbeats of struggling, the bear started to expand. The man panicked and threw the bear where it grew to the size of grizzly. With a roar the battle started.

The bear charged into the party’s defenders, who to their credit managed to stop the enraged bears charge. It reared back and began hammering on the shields with paws that weighed as much as each man. I could see them sinking into the stone with each hit.

A fire ball and icicle flew over the defenders to hammer into the bear’s upper torso. The bear’s hide managed to deflect the icicle, but the flame burned its fur for a few seconds leaving a nasty bald patch. Further enraged, the bear’s claws extended, and it swiped hard enough to send the right defender into the wall with a metal clanging boom.

The party quickly adjusted as three people rushed in, using long swords to stab at the bear. More magic flew in over their heads to deal even more damage to the bear. A pained filled roar much louder than the first left the bear, but the divers paid it little heed as they continued to try and bring the beast down.

The stalemate lasted for only another ten or twenty seconds when the sound of paws slapping stone echoed around the party. Before they could react, two bears burst in from behind the party and steam rolled through them. From there, it was basically a massacre. The three bears finished off the party then the two new bears tended to the first one’s injures almost like real animals would.

“Two down, two to go,” I stated to Zaria with a sinister grin as I turned the lanterns outside to a bright red before they dyed down a calm white light.

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