Dungeon Annihilation 10

Morning Guys! I hope the weekend is going well for everyone!

Chapter 10

Regan 

The attack guild, as I came to find out was their name, managed to reach the third floor before they pulled back. My goblins and traps managed to take out three of them. Not a bad number considering I expected them to walk over my weakened goblins. My goblins were still better than their wild version but not by much.

It was an hour before nightfall when I noticed something interesting happening. A group of people rode in with sacks tied to their horses. When I looked closer, I saw they were actaully people that were bound and gagged. They were dragged up the much smoother path and roughly shoved through the entrance to the dungeon.

“Offerings?” I mumbled. The adventurers I captured a while ago never mentioned anything about their society doing such activities. Was I misinformed? “Set.”

“Yes, master?”

“What do you think?” I asked her directing her attention to the group of what looked like humans that were struggling to undo the bindings after they realized they were inside the dungeon.

“Criminals. It is common for cities to throw the dead of criminals into dungeons. That is better than risking them coming back as an undead.”

“Are undead that big of an issue?”

“More like the necromancers have grown that much in power. From my memories, most city-based cemeteries have a full guard on them.”

“Interesting. I’ll have to look into finding one of these necromancers.” I would like one a bit higher level than the one that helped create me. I got a good idea of the starting point of the magic, but a few more hints would have helped out a lot.

“I will keep my eyes out for any signs of them,” Set said with a bow.

“For now, what to do with these guys?” 

“Shouldn’t we just capture them? Throw them with the rest of the prisoners.”

“You are looking too short sighted. If I help them, they will help me,” I said with an evil chuckle. There were some materials I would love to get my hands on.

“I see. Oh, they are moving further in,” Set replied pointing at them.

I mentally grinned. Good move away from the entrance. I want to talk to you in private. In a world of magic, you could never know how well a person could hear and the soldiers that brought them were standing guard outside the dungeon.

“Surround them. Do not attack,” I sent to all the goblins on the first floor. The group of men were walking along with one of the motes of light on the floor. I mentally paused it making them come to a stop.

“Damn it! This is your fault! I said we never should have accepted that deal!” one of the men whispered harshly pointing at another of the men.

“Shut it! You spent the money just like I did, so I don’t want to fucking hear it!” the man shouted back. So bandits that were paid to do a job who failed and were captured. Rather cliché but whatever. 

“Do you want to live?” I asked in a low whisper to the group.

“Who’s there!?” 

“Do you want money?” 

“Answer me!” the man I pegged as the leader shouted looking around.

I decided to use a spell I hadn’t tested yet. The Avatar spell. It would last a few hours but from the sensation I was getting it would drain quite a bit of mana. I mainly just wanted to test it out, but it would be useful during my talk with these individuals. 

In a spot a few meters from the group, it acted as if all the shadows were being drawn into a single point. Like an ooze, the barely centimeter radius ball started to expand until it was about my height as when I was human. I could feel the body that I now possessed. The spell finished and my feet set down on the ground. 

The group had started to flee until they found they were surrounded by my goblins. I ignored them though and raised my hand to eye level. “This… this is fascinating.” I closed and opened my clawed hands getting a feel for them. Unable to resist, I created a mirror out of water using magic. “I suppose that’s accurate.”

I moved my hand to the large hole where my heart should have been. I could see clear through it. My body was also indistinct as if someone had taken an eraser to the lines. Finally, a red crown floated slightly above my head. It appeared to be composed of mana, but I couldn’t tell what type exactly.

“Very impressive, master,” Set said floating around me as she checked out my body.

“I have to agree, but enough about me.” I turned to the group who cowered next to a pillar. “I will ask one more time. Do you want to live?” No one replied. Surely, I wasn’t that terrifying for a world that had monsters and undead. I waited nearly a minute but still no one replied. “Very well.” I reached forward and almost instinctually, my arm shot across the distance and wrapped around the man that had whined early on. With a jerk, I meant to pull him towards me, but I ended up snapping his neck. “Last chance.”

“I want to live!” they all shouted at the same time.

“Good!” My shadow congealed around the corpse and absorbed it in seconds. “You will follow my goblins up to the sixth floor where you will stay in a cell for a few days. We will talk about your employment afterwards. I’m sure the village will forget about you in that time.”

“Yes,” the leader said with only a small quive in his voice.

“Yes?” I asked pointing a shadowy claw at him.

“Yes master!”

I clasped my hands together though they didn’t make much noise. “Very good. I’m glad you learn so quickly.”

~~~

“So, this Baroness Louella is a bought noble, meaning she paid for her rank,” I said to clarify.

“Yes, master. Many nobles start out as such. With enough gold you can buy the rank from a higher noble. Due to a recent war, there are several openings for vassals for many of the nobles.” I nodded even though Hedo, the bandit leader, couldn’t see me. 

“Her position is stable as long as she consolidates enough good will. I suppose killing her would just cause another noble to take her place,” I mumbled as I thought the situation over.

“Yes. Likely one with much more backing as a dungeon is invovled. The Lecazar girl is safe due to the magical contracts she signed that made the land hers until her death. While she lives no one can touch the lands without her permission.”

“Pretty smart, though a rather dangerous move.”

“Yes. I don’t think the girl realizes what she has on her hands.”

I turned an eye onto the man, the only one willing or able to talk to me. “You don’t sound like a bandit. Sad life story?” I asked with a snicker. I had taken to forming a shadowy skull when talking to the man as it helped not only me direct the spot my voice is coming from but gave Hedo something to look at. 

“Was a soldier. Found more profit in banditry,” Hedo said with a shrug. 

“Hedo, I think we’re going to get along just fine,” I said, the skull giving a chilling laugh. 

It looked like I’d entered this world at a good time. The planet had been stagnant magical and technology wise for the last thousand years. A war took place that pushed the world back centuries. With the right push it could go in any direction.

“I’ll be back to ask more later,” I said before I moved up to the top of the tower. The sun was about to break over the mountain. As the light crested the mountain the soldiers left the dungeon entrance and went back to the town. “What new victims will be entering today?”

I didn’t have to wait long as half a dozen different parties started emerging from the woods. Two of the parties started to clear the trees to make a larger meeting area. I had to admit, magic was nice as several of the people were able to take down trees in a single strike. 

Terra mages started leveling the area while fire mages reduced the trees to ash. While they worked the other four parties made their way up the new path that led to the dungeon entrance. Every party that walked the path, devoted some of their mana to making it smoother. Eventually, people shouldn’t have any issues getting up the incline.

The four parties gathered around the entrance sharing the little bit of information the first party gathered on the dungeon. It was all pretty basic and straightforward. Traps and monsters, stay alert, watch your back, and whatnot. I wondered why people needed to be told things more than once if it was basically their job. 

Personally, I was hoping one of the parties would make it to Pride today. I wanted to see him in action. He appeared to be getting bored of taunting people from the dungeon entrance. Though, we’d been busy enough that I’d had him stay in his boss room. It wouldn’t do if the boss was absent when a party reached the destination. 

A few hours passed as I watched the parties. Two wiped almost immediately after entering the dungeon. More for stupidity than anything else. One party’s scout had clearly stated that there was a trap but the back most member must have been hard of hearing as he stepped on the trigger and an arrow not only went through the skull of the guy responsible, but through the woman standing next to him as well. 

The other party faired better for a while but fell when they were ambushed by a group of goblins on the second floor. The vanguard fled before the battle even began. I went ahead and captured that party, while some of my goblins hunted the runner down. 

The party was added to the growing population of the cells. As it was, if there were no parties in the dungeon, I would be gaining roughly six hundred mana an hour. Not a bad number, though I only had Set to go on for that information. I planned to get that number higher but wanted to be careful about it. Wouldn’t do to make any higher powers pissed off at me.

The third party made it to the third floor. They scored a goblin with a gold coin in his pouch and started to celebrate. Instead of proceeding further, they retreated with cheers and words of visiting the pub and wishing there was a brothel in town. I didn’t harass them as I wanted word to spread and attract more victims, I mean, guests to the dungeon.

I turned to the final party in the dungeon. Their fortunes had been less than the third party’s, but they had still made a nice pile of silver had they wanted to retreat. I focused more closely on the party and found the leader wanted to try for the boss room. 

A man that had the features of a tiger gestured grandly to the rest of his party just at the exit of the third floor. “Ten gold for information on the boss! We could live like kings for months!” 

“Yes, but we could also be walking to our deaths,” a woman said placing her hands on her hips. 

“We know what we’re doing,” he scoffed at her. “Goblins, Mary. Even with their bone armor, they are no match for our tier two weapons. I told you it was worth getting them.”

“He’s right Mary. This has been a walk in the park for us,” said another man clasping her shoulder.

They were right. I had underestimated the different tiers of weapons. Whatever their weapons were made out of was much better quality than the junk the other parties had been using to this point. I didn’t worry too much about it as the next set of floors was an entirely new ballgame. 

The party discussed for a few more minutes, but eventually the woman Mary gave in. She was the only one that wanted to turn back. The party continued to clear the floor with realitive ease until they reached the promised boss room. Another of my shadow gates covered the entrance clearly marking the place.

Over the gate I had added a phrase for anyone about to challenge the boss. ‘Abandon your Pride. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ I had found a way to wrap it in a magic script so that it would be translated to this world’s language. Anyone that I could speak to with the dungeon magic should be able to read it.

“It appears the dungeon is a poet,” the leader said with a laughing. The rest of the party laughed as well, expect for Mary. Her eyes had widen when she read the message. Before she could say anything, the party plunged into the boss room. 

When they emerged on the other side of the portal there was some gasps of surprise at the sight that met them. One of the party members looked over the edge and stumbled back in surprise at how far it went. 

“Got to love dungeon magic!” the leader said looking around with an impressed look. 

The party composed themselves as they saw Pride standing halfway along the bridge. “Be thy humble or proud? I shall be the test of you sin!” he said drawing his weapons. 

“A humanoid. That’s rare, no, a goblin,” the leader said observing Pride.

The leader got a grin on his face as he saw that Pride was just a goblin. He brandished his sword and shield and the party of five moved forward as a well-trained unit. Mary generated white light around her hands, ready to heal any injuries that might occur. The mage and archer also prepared themselves, while a lancer moved slightly at an angle of the leader.

Pride gave them a face splitting grin. “Pride always makes the first move! Only that is acceptable!” he shouted as he charged the party. He crossed the distance in a flash, bringing his sword around and scoring a gash on the leader’s shield. 

The leader didn’t just take it. He swung his own sword to strike at Pride, who had already rolled away after the strike. As he came up out of his roll, he swung his sword deflecting an arrow. He twisted, aiming his rifle at the archer. With a boom, there was a flash of white as the archer was nail to a post by a length of bone.

“Derrik!” Mary shouted as she moved to help him. 

“Bastard!” the leader shouted as he renewed his attack of Pride. He nearly abandoned all defense and attacked like a beast, his sword almost moving faster than a normal eye could follow. Pride grinned as he parried each swing with his own sword. He suddenly kicked the leader putting several meters between them. 

A fireball landed where he’d been standing, blasting the leader against the railing. Pride pointed his rifle at him and with a bang, a length of bone protruded from his chest. The leader fell over the railing in almost slow motion. 

“Pride has taken the first kill. As it should,” Pride said looking at the rest of the party. The mage channeled mana and sent fireball after fireball at Pride who dodged the sweeping strikes of the lancer. The lancer managed to score a few nicks, but Pride was much too nimble and eventually managed to dodge the strike and buried his sword to the hilt in the lancer’s stomach.

With a glance, he fired his rifle at the mage, putting a bone spike through his skull. With the fight at an end, he walked over to Mary. She was still healing the man. She had pulled the spike from his chest, but there was quite a lot of blood loss. 

Pride pointed his rifle at her. “Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”

“I care not for my own life. Please spare him,” Mary begged placing her head on the ground. 

“Very good. Leave,” Pride said then walked back to where he had stood before the fight.

“Thank you,” she cried then moved to help the man as they limped out of the boss room. When she lifted her head, she found herself outside the dungeon. Not something I had planned but decided would leave for people that meet Pride’s judgment.

“Not bad for a first fight,” I said to Pride.

“It is only natural for Pride to win,” he replied. 

I laughed at his overconfidence. “True.”