Dungeon Robotics 9 - 24

Hello all! Sorry for the mess up. I recently rearranged the chapters in my master document and forgot to take that into account. third times the charm!

Puppet

“My tower!” Rens yelled as we pulled up to a large structure that was missing more than a few chunks. I was amazed that it was still standing. I checked the monitors to make sure that we lost our pursuit before I motioned for everyone to get out. We unloaded with our weapons drawn since the dwarves were prone to leaving traps.

“Which way?”

Rens gestured and made for the tower. Through the use of a complicated series of switches, he quickly unlocked a hidden passage on the ground floor. As we made our way down the tunnel, we encountered a section of the barrier that was being maintained above us. Rens placed his hand against it and gave a series of magic pulses. A few moments later, the barrier shifted enough for us to enter.

Running through the tunnel, the ground continued to shake from the assault on the barrier. They might have the best mages in the Beneath, but I was sure they couldn’t hold out much longer. “What did you guys do to make the dwarves hate you so much?” Z2 asked as we ran.

“Fuck if I know! We’ve always been good trade partners to my knowledge!” Rens retorted.

“Whatever the case might be, it looks like the city is about to fall. We need to get to your people then get them to a safe place,” I commented bringing the discussion to an end. We could theorize all day long, but we’d be no closer to the truth than a minute ago and it was only wasting energy that could be otherwise better spent.

The tunnel ended at what looked like an old warehouse in the city. The architecture was similar to that of the cities on the surface having a medieval feel if you asked father. There was quite a bit of damage, but part of it looked older than a few hours. Asking Rens, he said it was due to the Terra wave a few months ago.

The street we came out on was empty, but noise could be heard to the north. The people were hopefully all gathered for better defense at the city center or something similar. As we checked out the surroundings, something hit the barrier with tremendous force. The shield protected against the blow, but the shockwave could still be felt.

“Looks like our time is running out. Rens, get us to the people that make the decisions. We need to get them out of here.”

“Right! This way.”

Running for all we were worth, we made it to the city center in record time. Just from a quick count, I put the number of people gathered in the plaza two or three hundred thousand. Not a small amount. It severely limited our options on getting these people away from the city.

“Z2. We need to contact father.”

“I already tried. The barrier is preventing it.”

“Then I’ll be making a field decision. Do you agree?”

She didn’t hesitate to reply. “Father would try to save them.”

I grinned knowing she was right and sped up. The people around us were all putting off ridiculous levels of mana, but they all looked like the world was ending. I guessed that no matter what culture, there were those that just couldn’t handle situations like this. There were still those that looked up as we passed with guarded eyes.

Inside a massive castle that spanned from floor to ceiling at least five hundred meters, we were guided to where the lords were assembled. I noticed a few empty seats though I didn’t know if they were always empty or the lords that were supposed to occupy them had already fallen.

“Masters and lords! I have returned from the surface!” Rens announced as we stepped into the meeting chamber. The lord that Lady Louella met and the only one I knew, Lord Ferinight looked up. Unlike the first time I met him, he lacked much of his powerful aura.

“Ah. Wanderer. Returned in time to join the city in its fall.”

“Lord Ferinight. Surely all is not that far gone!” Rens cried though from the looks all the lords gave him, it was truly that far gone.

I hated the defeatist attitude in the air. It reminded me of the people from Tearfalls when they were being sieged by the undead. At least it took weeks for it to manifest in them. This was just sad. I clicked my tongue getting annoyed. “Are you going to sit here and let your people die or are you going to do something about it!?” I shouted pushing past Rens to address the lords.

“What would you have us do?” Lord Ferinight asked with a sigh. “The dwarves are able to move as if the stone was water. I don’t know how, but their magic is nearly four times as powerful as before. We were evenly matched before… Now you’d be asking us to walk to our deaths.”

“So you decide to sit here and cower while waiting for your fate to come to you.”

“We’ve tired! Everything!”

“You can flee! There is nothing wrong with running away if it means your people get to live another day.”

Lord Ferinight dropped his head in his hands. “There is no where to go! All the other cities have suffered the same fate or have abandoned us. Why else would they not answer our sendings?”

“Did you forget a new power in the Beneath?” I asked. “We could offer you asylum.”

Lord Ferinight looked up and I saw hope in his eyes for the first time since coming to the meeting room. “You would welcome us?” He asked. “No. But all of us going into a dungeon would overwhelm it. The dungeon would go insane from the sheer amount of mana it would have to cleanse.”

“Trust me. Father is about the only dungeon in the world that can house your people and be perfectly fine,” I said waving him off. “Plus, isn’t it better to take a gamble that might allow your people to live then sit here and await your sure destruction.”

“You have a point…” He turned from me to look at the other lords. “All in favor.” Needless to say, it was unanimous as all the lords agreed.

“Rens. You know these people best. You’re now the official leader of Fallen Rose until the situation changes.” A regal looking woman announced from next to Lord Ferinight.

“Are… Are you sure, Grandmaster Gulori?” Rens asked stuttering a little.

“I’m always sure.”

“As you command then.”

With that decided, we moved back out to the plaza. Other than some forces that were protecting weak sections of the barrier, most of the people were gathered already. While Rens dealt with his people, I moved to the center of the plaza and began setting up a transponder. I would have to modify it a bit to handle so many people, but thanks to the upgrades father gave me, I had plenty of mana to spare.

A few minutes later, everything was ready. I had set a continuous channel back to the city in father’s dungeon. It would allow for the transporting to happen much quicker. There was only one problem. The device couldn’t work through the barrier. Not completely, at least. I was able to get a signal set, but if a person tried to use it, they might be torn to pieces before they arrived when they went through the barrier.

“Puppet. Everyone is ready. We have packed the minimum in supplies like you asked.”

“That’s good. We have a problem though.”

“What is it?”

I tapped the transponder with my knuckle. “If you want everyone to be alive on the other side, ourselves included, we’re going to need to do something about the barrier.”

“If we take down the barrier, we’ll only have… ten minutes before the Khal Todur forces over run this place.”

“That’s about what I figured. I do have an idea though.” Rens gave me a look and I just patted his shoulder. “In situations like this we have to be… creative.”

~~~

“This is insane.”

I laughed at Rens’s extremely unhappy look. “Probably. Everyone ready?”

“Yes. As soon as you tell us we’ll lower the barrier.”

“Alright.” I glanced around at everyone then nodded. “Let’s do this!”

The shield crystal at the top of the city started to spin rapidly before pulsing as all the mana remaining in the crystal started to flow back along the magic circuit. The barrier collapsed instantly and the connection to father’s dungeon snapped into existence. The crystal began to glow a deep crimson.

Shouting, I ordered people to start going through the portal that opened. A few dozen people could go through at a time. I knew we were going to be running through, so I set the destination to randomly spit people out in the fields around father’s Beneath city. The crowds rushed forward with the women and children going through first.

“Now. Let’s see if your plan works,” Z2 commented next to me.

I glanced back up to the crystal. It was going from red to black as it appeared to start drawing in even the light from around it. The crystal needed a few more minutes, but it should be ready before the enemy forces reached us.

Azra suddenly leapt in front of me, her shield leading the way. A large boulder slammed against her, before it was blasted to pieces by the barrier on the shield. A gift from father. “Come on girl. Is that really the best you could do?” a voice came from the shield.

“Shut up or I’ll have master seal your mouth this time,” Azra retorted. I really wish father hadn’t made it so that the shield could speak out loud. It was a vulgar existence named Skjold.

“Never mind that. Where did the attack come from?” I demanded looking around in the direction the boulder flew from.

I saw a batch of dwarves riding what looked like a golem. The artificial creature was able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. There appeared to be a few more behind them. If they reached us, they would slaughter the citizens that were barely able to defend themselves.

“Finally, a time for me to shine,” Natsuko said dropping to the ground. “I’ve wanted to fire this baby since the old man gave it to me.” She placed her new rifle on the ground as two spikes shot out, bolting it in place. She pulled a cord from her back and inserted it into the weapon before it started to glow.

Azra blocked two more boulders in the mean time, each getting closer to being able to do some actual damage with their combined speed and mass. Natsuko pulled the trigger to her rifle, and two jets of steam fired from the sides of her weapon. The projectile managed to crack the buildings on either side of the street as it traveled faster than a blink of an eye.

As I watched two golems that were in line with each other exploded as the round hit them dead on. The dwarves that were on them were no longer anywhere to be seen. Never thought I’d see a weapon that could break the sound barrier so easily. Natsuko gave an evil chuckle before she sighted her next target.

Checking our progress, the city was about sixty percent evacuated. The crystal was almost ready to go as well. I summoned my drones and had them blockade the other streets since it was only a matter of time before the dwarves tried a less direct approach. Much like I though only a few seconds after they reached their positions, the drones began unleashing machine gun fire into the streets as the dwarven forces marched closer.

Observing everything, I felt we were cutting it too close. “Rens. I’m going to increase the power to the portal. Get your people through quicker.” I moved over to the transponder and placed my hand on the device to pump in my mana. The portal grew a meter or two and allowed more people through.

I could only keep it up for a few minutes but either way, we would be over run before I ran out. The portal suddenly grew nearly triple in size and I found the Grandmasters from the city pumping mana into the device. That sped things up and in only two minutes the rest of the people were through.

There was a loud crack sound from the crystal and I urged the grandmasters through. Once it was just my party, I nodded and they ran through the now much smaller portal as well. I released my hold on the transponder and turned to take in the dwarves that were nearly on top of the plaza. They likely wanted to seize the device and chase after the fleeing people.

I was amazed by the amount of sheer rage that was on their faces. It was like they had lost all their rationality. I moved next to the portal, then saluted them before dropping back into the portal. “Until next time!” The crystal above us ruptured sending a wave of pure energy straight down. The blast continued to flow along the street like water following the path of least resistance, blasting away the dwarves’ forces.

Finally, the transponder couldn’t take any more and was flattened. At least I got to see the scene through the camera. Back in father’s dungeon, I looked around to make sure everyone made it through. Other than a few injuries from people getting tossed out onto each other, everyone was alive.

I sent a message for some automata from the city to come render aid. Mainly in the form of food and shelter. I didn’t want to let them into the city without father’s permission, given that his core was relatively close to this location. Even if I helped them, I wasn’t about to lay bare all our secrets.

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