Dungeon Annihilation 3 - 11

Good Morning! I'm not sure yet, but i think I'm going to make fridays Annihilation. That would let me upload all the series I'm currently working on weekly with too large gaps between uploads. I'm keeping a good pace right now, (trying to get ahead of schedule), so lets hope i can keep it up.

Chapter 11

Regan/Earle

Looking the statue over, I saw that while it might still be running, it was close to failing. The limbs were already stuttering as it turned toward me. I was confident that I could take it down, but if the battle got too loud, it could draw the mortal guards.

“Surrender… Surrender…” the robot golem said. I noticed it seemed to start to break down after the first sentence.

“You probably don’t even know what to do if I did surrender,” I said shaking my head feeling pity for the statue.

“Prepare…” There was a pop as the voice box or whatever was letting it speak went out. The golem appeared to still keep trying to speak, but it finally gave up when it drew its sword. I could see some maintenance spells set on the blade and I couldn’t understand why they didn’t do the same for the other systems on the golem.

I took advantage of the damage golems to shift my form to completely entangle the statues. It struggled, but as they was in a state of complete disrepair, I barely noticed it. A mortal might have trouble with it sheer size and with my body up against the plating, I found that it had some sort of anti-mana coating that would prevent most spells from affecting it.

Their movements sealed for the moment, I focused on one of the golems and sent my tendrils inside the device. At its center, I found a large mana stone that pulsed slowly. I’d rather not destroy the construct. It warranted research, plus if it disappeared from the halls, the locals might throw a fit. I wrapped the core with my tendril and focused on the workings.

The magic circuits were sophisticated. Again, the thought of how a race could once reach this level of magic and technology then fall to the state they were at now just baffled me to no end. Even a war torn world wouldn’t fall so far as long as their were still teachers and instructors. From the looks of it, the gnome race got off easier than the other since their city still remained.

Shaking the thought away for the time, I concentrated on the magic runes and spellwork in front of me. With it being almost identical to a program, it took me just a few minutes to understand it and then rework it. Gradually, the struggling golem relaxed as it came under my command. When the blue glowing crystal turned green, I slithered off of it then moved to stand in front of it.

“State your designation,” I had repaired the golem’s vocal systems while I was inside it. How else would I ask it questions.

“Guardian A117. Model T1A2. Tasked with protection of the Library.”

“How many of the guardians remain?” I asked since it would be good if I knew how many more times I might have to do this.

“Checking… Reporting… There are twenty-seven active Guardians.”

That was more than I expected. “Do you have a network or a link that you share with the others?”

“Affirmative. It is currently operating at five percent of its optimal capacity.”

“That degraded, huh.” It was a risk, but if I could use the link to spread a sort of virus among the golems, I could take control of them all at once. “A117. I will be using the link to send a data packet to your fellows. Can this be done?”

“Affirmative.”

“Good. How many of them have people near them?” I asked. It wouldn’t be good if it freaked out and caused a problem for me. Not that the gnomes would likely even understand what the problem was.

“Only two currently have people near them. The individuals are in the King’s complex.”

I closed my eyes as I thought about it then shrugged. If the king caught on so be it. I will just cause his city to fall to the bottom of the ocean. I had already rigged a few bombs to the underside of the city once my aura reached it. Besides, once I take control of the golems, there wasn’t much they could do against them. I rubbed my shadowy hands together. “Then let us get to work!”

Stretching out my tendrils again, I latched onto his core then created a high-density magic script that would use the link to overtake the others on his network. I wanted to be quick and precise. Thankfully, the golems were all almost in the same shape as A117. Some were in even worse shape.

With a mental flick, the packets were sent over the mana link and downloaded by the other golems. Having A117 as a blueprint, the script was easily able to bypass the security and reprogram the golems in seconds. Only a few managed to react, and it was mostly along the lines of twitching or moving a limb slightly. Nothing that would be noticed unless a person were staring at the golem.

“Upload complete. All guardians accounted for,” A117 reported.

“Good. Continue as if nothing has changed. I will use you when the time comes,” I ordered pulling my arms back.

“Yes, High Commander.”

I tilted my head at the title, but figured it was a title from the gnome military. With the golems taken care of, I looked beyond them to the massive room in front of me. The archives. There was plenty of information here that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on, and it was all up for grabs.

“Time to get to work!” I cheered rubbing my hands together. Snapping my fingers, several dozen Cyber oni appeared in front of me. “Download all information in this room.”

“Yes, sir!”

I glanced at the golems. “A117. Don’t let anyone in here for the next couple hours.”

“Understood.” He reached out and placed a hand on the panel next to the door. There was a sound before the doors slid shut with a slamming sound. I grinned evilly and nodded in appreciation. He got me. I turned back to the archive and made for one of the terminals before taking a seat in front of it.

The gnomes had computers, or at least magic data interfaces. From what I saw of the rest of the city, it was a type of lost technology for them. They were only present in this room. Out of curiosity, I accessed the database and did a quick search to see if it showed how to make them. I had to take a deep breath at the short sightedness of the gnome race when it came back with nothing more than when and who had been the one to create them in the past.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Any fool can look up instructions. If they were available, they would be more widely used around the city.” With a shrug, I created a mana crystal that was compatible with the system and started downloading everything.

The Cyber Oni were busy going through the books and files on the shelves around the room. With their cybernetic implant, they could quite literally record a book with a glance. If their processing speed was high enough, they might even be able to read that fast. The database back in Neon city was growing by the second which amounted to saying my personal power grew by the second.

A few hours passed and we were nearing the end. The database had already been copied and the Cyber oni were almost done with the shelves. “High Commander. The princess approaches. Should we impede her?”

“No.” I turned to the oni. “Pack it up. We’ll continue next time.” I had full control over this area. I could easily send people down when no one else was here. The oni gathered around me and I teleported them back to the city. A117 opened the door while I moved to a shadowed alcove. I wanted to get an actual look at the princess.

A group of gnomes strode through the door. While four of them were dressed much like a Japanese samurai, two wore kimonos. A young woman, and an elderly man. I had to admit that the princess was quite the looker. She reminded me of a priceless doll that you left on the shelf and only admired.

They sat down at a small table and one of the guards fetched some tea. There were facilities for making it in the archives. “Princess. Have you felt that the mana has changed lately?” the old gnome asked.

“I have. All the flows have changed recently. I can’t make heads or tails of it. What do you think Tsuzuki?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t have the sight like you. It is hard for me to make a judgement. Tell me what you see,” the gnome named Tsuzuki said.

I happened to be able to see the princess’s face and was able to see when her eyes shifted. I could also see the various manas that made up the world flowing in her eyes. A grin split my face though no one could see it. Let us see if we couldn’t make things interesting for the little princess.

“All the mana is flowing toward the tower. Where before it was loose and uncollected, now there is a great pillar rising into the sky.” I looked around after shifting my gaze to the mana sight. My sight, whether due to my time on earth or something else entirely, condenses the mana flows and sources to look almost like data streams. Thus, it was hard for me to picture what she claimed she saw.

I wanted to see how much she actually saw. I focused on my core and changed the flow of mana in the direction she was looking. I made it take the form of a face with large fangs. I tried to focus on what a demon or devil from Earth might look like.

“What the!?” she gasped, backing away quickly.

“Your highness?” I made the face laugh before it burst into moots of mana that flowed back into the streams. “What is the matter?”

“There…” She took a deep breath and calmed down. Impressive, I figured she wasn’t a princess for nothing. “There was a face. It looked very sinister. It was melded with the mana.”

“Is such a thing possible?” one of the guards asked glancing at the old man.

“I will need some time to look into this,” he said.

Apparently, their morning was ruined, as they soon left the archives. That was disappointing as I had wanted to mess with the girl some more. I guess I would have to save it for next time. I teleported back to the neon city in my main dungeon. What was almost a callback to my old world, hundreds of Cyber Oni were hard at work going through all the data we grabbed from Jade Wind.

One of the Oni came up to me as soon as I appeared. “Kami.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He didn’t say anything and just held out a tablet. A few selections from the archive were displayed. I quickly read them over before I started to laugh. Today had been fun!

There was a surge of mana from the Garden. Looking I found Louella and her group. It looked like her bodyguard had broken through finally. One of her guards had been injured well past what the local church could handle. It would be best if she brought him to the cathedral otherwise he would die.

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