Dungeon Annihilation 3 - 8

Good evening! Sorry for the late chapter. But better late than never, right! Also, I know several of you are leaving after today, so I just want to say good luck. I know the economy and job situation is rough out there. For those of you canceling for such a reason, I wish you a good hunt in the market! I'll be here continunong to create stories so feel free to come back whenever!

Louella

I leaned back behind my desk sipping some wine. I was enjoying the moment. Probably too much, but I couldn’t help myself. The nobles that had tried to walk all over me the last few days were sending me gifts and revised requests for their rents. It was taking all I had not to break out in laughter at it all.

“IF I had known the presence of the dwarves would change their tone so much, I would have had Thrad ask for an advanced unit to be sent,” I commented to Ezal and Raven.

“I think this might the first time I’ve ever seen so many nobles revise their position so quickly at once,” Ezal noted as she checked a parchment. “With our last guest, that was all the nobles currently in the valley.”

I tapped the desk then remembered one of the people that gave me trouble recently. “I noticed that Sir Hector hasn’t presented himself yet.”

“I’m not sure of his situation. He hasn’t made any problems in town though of which Commander Yin is grateful.”

I nodded than glanced out the window before leaning my head in my hand on my desk. The town was coming along nicely. I was pleased that taxes from the dungeon were now to the point to keep the town financed without borrowing more from the dungeon itself. After the last boss fight where the host changed Greed, I have been hesitant to ask it for anything.

I had even been hesitant to dive the dungeon which was really starting to affect my cultivation. Losing a few days could really impact you down the road. I needed to confront the fear in my heart, as well as the source, the dungeon host. The only way to do that was to dive back into the darkened halls.

We had gone in twice since the Greed raid, but only to check out the Envy floor. Without proper temptation, something told me the host would more or less ignore me. To it, I was likely nothing more than a useful ant that entered to feed it. I decided to myself that I would have to play it more careful from now on but that couldn’t stop me from challenging the dungeon.

“Ezal. Get the party ready. I want to dive the dungeon tomorrow.”

She gave me a concerned look. She knew of my qualms. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. We can’t allow our power to wane. There are plenty of people that would be more than willing to get rid of me.” I glanced back out the window. There were plenty of people on the street at this time of day. Whether it was shopping for their next meal, heading to the town center, or even the dungeon, they all had a purpose. I was the one the built this up from the dirt. I wasn’t about to let anyone take it from me. “We can’t rely on other nobles, and the dwarves forever.”

The rest of the day passed with nothing of note happening. It was almost too quiet if I was being honest. I spent part of the night just trying to fall asleep. Needless to say, Earle didn’t visit me. Tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep somewhere after midnight. Grumpily, I woke up when the first rays of sunlight lanced across my face.

“Good morning, mistress.”

“Ezal… Morning.” I yawned or groaned in reply. It was hard to tell which it was.

“The party said they would be ready to go for a dive this morning when you’re able.”

“Good. Let’s get some breakfast then make our way over. I could do with some exercise today.” There were days that I would sit at the desk from dawn until dusk. If I didn’t want to turn into those nobles that were rounder than they were tall, I needed to get out and about when I could.

“Very well.”

An hour later, we found ourselves with the rest of the party outside the dungeon. Cassie had managed to get away from the guild to join us, and was looking quite chipper. She was nearly hopping up and down with her strange level of excitement.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked coming off ruder than I meant due to my lack of sleep.

“Ivan was murdered,” she commented.

“Yes. I’d heard about that a few weeks ago,” I replied rubbing my face to try and get more of my sleepiness away.

She scoffed at my lack of enthusiasm. “He was blocking the teleport matrix to the Gothic City. The first report is finally in. We’ve had an increase of almost two hundred percent of people making it further in the dungeon. Monsters are one thing, but adventurers usually don’t want to slaughter slaves. With him finally out of the way, people that could have gone further can finally dig in.”

“Oh. I hadn’t really considered all that.” Everything kept changing on a daily basis. It was sometimes to keep track of what was going on around me.

“I’m sure getting engaged can be a little distracting,” Cassie said with a nod as if she understood everything.

“Yeah. Yeah. Let’s just get a move on,” I retorted, rolling my eyes. I was getting used to people commenting on the engagement by this point. Most of the nobles that changed their tone once the dwarves moved in, had certainly made sure to remark on it. It likely wouldn’t be long before people started requesting things to be brought before the marquis through me.

We walked through the entrance of the dungeon before turning to head for the teleport matrix. In fact, most of the adventurers that were entering were heading that way. Only a single party kept straight. I supposed if you had one of the tokens, the obvious thing would be to use it.

Mary leaned against a pillar as we joined the que for the matrix. “I feel sick.”

“Are you alright?” Flin as placing a hand on her back and rubbing gently. He leaned in and tried to whisper but failed to keep it low enough. “Is it that time of the month?”

“No!” She said with a growl before covering her mouth. A few deep breathes and she seemed to recover. “Sorry. Its passed. I’m better now.”

“Are you sure?” Ezal asked. “Its not safe to dive the dungeon if you are feeling unwell.”

“I’m good. I promise. It must have just been something I ate,” Mary said waving away our concern. I wanted to say something, but she was an adult not to mention a priestess. She could manage her own health.

With the episode over, I turned back to Cassie. “How many active adventurers are diving now?” I asked as we waited our turn.

“At our last count… it was two thousand four hundred thirty-two. With new parties coming in daily. The guild decided not to raise the difficulty level with people coming back every now and then. The death toll is estimated to be half of what was first reported. Still high, but much more understandable.”

“That many parties,” I murmured in surprise. I had thought we’d lose most once the tournament was over, but it sounded like most if not all stayed. That was good news for business in the town and for the dungeon. It had asked me to bring people to the dungeon. I couldn’t wait to see what the town was able to do in the future. The image of a grand city flashed in my mind that rivaled either of the capitals. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

It was finally our turn and we used the teleport matrix to head to the Envy floor. “I wish we could get a few of these in town,” Cassie commented with a stretch as we moved out of the way.

“I wholeheartedly agree.” Glancing at the platform, I seriously considered having a few of the mages get their asses down here to study the platforms, then remembered who the leader of the mages was. If she hadn’t already ordered it then I would be very surprised. I added interrogating Jacqueline to my list of things to do.

The sound of blacksmithing and bright lights met us as we stepped from the matrix room. Other parties were going in and out of workshops that lined the streets. Just from the matrix room, one could see that the floor was massive. Easily a size larger than the mines before it. The buildings and streets were constructed in such a way that made the town outside look like a bunch of children had built them.

“Its always amazing, no matter how many times I see it,” Tez said loudly to be heard over the noise.

“Yes. It is quite the sight, but we’re not here to shop today. We need to find the entrance to the next floor,” I shouted back.

I lead the way to a shop we found last time we were here. The oni as they called themselves that ran the shop was named Nazir. I’m not sure why, but something told me that he was important. From what we’d found out during our previous visit, he was the only one that had a title and the other oni on the floor looked at him with a sort of twisted respect.

When we arrived, there was a line outside his workshop. At least thirty adventurers waited patiently to get into the shop. I considered using my authority to pass the line, but there was a good chance the dungeon wouldn’t look too kindly on that. With a sigh, we moved to the back of the line.

“His weapons really are the best,” Ezal whispered to me as we waited. I fingered the handle on my wand and nodded. An HOUR later, we finally got into the shop. There was even a line behind us, though it only grew to two more parties. That was still almost thirty people with the current rules in place.

“Nazir! We’re back,” I called once we were inside the shop. The standing rules were that only one party could enter the shop at a time, so we didn’t have to worry about being overheard.

“Girl. The Lord Kami has little time for me to engage with you. Tell me your business and begone,” the three horned red-skinned oni demanded from his anvil. He hammered a piece of steel so fast that it moved before our eyes. It was almost memorizing to watch. “Girl!”

“Ah. Sorry. I wanted to ask you again about the entrance to the next floor,” I replied breaking out of the trance.

“Already told you that the Lord Kami has a puzzle in place.”

“I know. And I have a feeling that you are part of that puzzle. Tell me, what do we have to do?”

“Why do you say I am part of the puzzle?”

I pointed behind him where some sort of writing graced a banner hanging on the back wall of his shop. I had never seen the language before but there was a sort of elegance to it. It both felt deep and light at the same time. Almost like the few strokes carried the words of five thousand years. “That. None of the other shops have that.”

He turned with a raised eyebrow but snorted. “Fair enough. To get to the next floor you have to pay.”

“Pay?” Was it in gold or mana? Maybe both? God, I hoped it wasn’t a blood sacrafive again.

“Mana. Behind the banner is a stone. Once you fill it enough, you will be given a token to activate the teleport matrix.”

“I see.” I moved over to the banner and carefully lifted it. I knew respect was going to play a part and wrecking the banner would be spelling our own deaths. When Nazir saw my actions, he nodded before turning back to the anvil and his work.

Placing my hand, I channeled my mana into the stone and almost cried out at the sheer amount of mana it was going to take to fill it. I emptied nearly my entire pool and only got it to three percent. Breathing heavily, I stepped back and motioned for someone else to take a turn.

“Looks like we won’t be able to reach the next floor today,” Ezal said between gasps of breaths once she was done with her turn. I nodded not wanting to waste any energy speaking.

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