Azaria: The Doll Dungeon 14

Morning everyone! 

Chapter 14: Diving Take two!

Azaria

After the euphoria of the energy passed, I stared in horror after the party that was leaving my dungeon. I wanted to rush out and apologize to them for killing their friend. Even though I knew they probably wouldn’t believe me. I slumped down on the piano bench and felt the ethereal tears roll down my cheeks only to vanish once they left my body. It was like the world was telling me I wasn’t even allowed to cry for them.

Starburst appeared near the space I was in seemed to connect to the dungeon. It made me wonder why he seemed to be so much more connected to the dungeon. “Well done, girl! That went a lot better than I expected! And to think you are unique as well! You just aren’t going to stop surprising me, are you?”

I sniffed and looked over to him. “Unique?”

“The music! It’s a type of magic unique to dungeons and even then its exceedingly rare! It causes all sorts of negative effects on anyone inside your dungeon.”

I glanced at my status to see if it said anything about it. 

Azaria Paris

Age:18

Level:1

Race: Dungeon

Type: Doll 

Sub-type: Goddess’s Chosen

Aether: 16,578/105

Floors: 2/1

Skills: Creation

Deconstruction

Summon (7/102)

Teleport Matrix (1/1) 

Enchanter’s Melody

Achievements:

God Killer – Killed a God, albeit a weak one.

Undefeated – Remain undefeated. Enhances abilities (1.15*x) X being the number of attempts on the dungeon. X=1

Checking over my status, I found that quite a few things had changed since the first time I’d looked at it. For one, I could actually see maps of my floors. I even gained a new achievement. I felt it was a little premature since they were turned back at the first room of the first floor, but it counted for the magic.

“I think… it is called Enchanter’s Melody,” I finally replied to Starburst.

He neighed as he considered then nodded. “We’ll have to keep an eye on it. Some skills can be just as dangerous to the user as they are to the enemy.”

“I under…” I started to say only to feel another group of people enter my dungeon. “More people are here. This party is even larger than the last.”

“And they’ll be more prepared after the first party told them all about what happened.”

I nodded just as I felt my body start lose touch with that section of the dungeon. Starburst also went back to his room on the first floor. I turned on the bench resigned to have the magic make me play music when I noticed another instrument leaning next to the piano.

I reached and picked up the violin with care. It was exactly like the one my parents got for me on my birthday last year, or two years ago. A famous artist used one, it was an electric violin. I only hoped the magic would account for that. Delicately wrapping my fingers around the bow, I took a deep breath as a song came to me. Like last time, my mind’s eye went to the party.

There was seven of this time. They all appeared to be well prepared with one even being in a full suit of armor. There weapons looked deadly, and their faces all had serious no joke looks. A woman in the center in bright red robes directed them like a well-oiled machine. 

Taking all that in, I played the first note. Its harrowing beauty echoing throughout my dungeon. The lighting shifted to a darker spectrum. Something inside me told me that the party would be more likely to make mistakes while they listened to the music.

“If we weren’t in the middle of a dungeon. I would say the music was beautiful,” said the man in the suit of armor.

“We know it causes some sort of effect on people. The first party swears they wouldn’t have failed on the first room if that was not the case.”

“Those losers. They should have known better than to attempt a new dungeon with only four people.”

“Enough. Let’s be the first to claim whatever treasure might be present in this place.”

The party moved forward carefully with the scout type checking the door like the first party. He pushed them open and nothing happened. He glanced inside the room then leaned back out. “The nutcrackers are gone!”

“Great. It has multiple patterns,” said the leader. “Check the traps. Mark what we’re dealing with. We’ll give a copy to the association later.”

“All of it?” the scout asked with surprise in his tone.

“Of course not! That said we can’t not give them something. We’ll give them an edited version.”

“Ah.” Everyone laughed then proceeded into the room. Even in my trance, I found this group displeasing. I knew the world had changed, but had human decency fell so far. The tune of the music changed with my displeasure and the tiles in the first room started to flicker. The party was already well inside the first room.

“What’s going on!?” the leader shouted at the scout.

“How the hell should I know!?” he shouted back.

One of the tiles turned pink just as what looked like an archer stepped on it. A spike of rebar that I’d pulled from the train shot up and through the man’s leg. With his scream the room settled down and went back to normal.

A man dressed in white was about to rush to him when the scout held up his hand. He tested the path over to the injuried man and the man in white rushed behind him. It only took five or so seconds for them to get to the injured man, but the entire time he was screaming bloody murder.

“Hold still!” The scout swung his dagger and the rebar was cleanly sliced. He handed the impaled man a piece of cloth to bite down on and pulled the rusted iron the rest of the way out. The man in white placed his hand over the wound and healed it.

“This place is just getting more interesting by the second,” said the armored man.

“Hold on,” said a woman with the most modern outfit I’d seen so far. She did use a staff though. She waved it while saying something that sounded like gibberish. All around party, stones started to rain down. Traps started firing left and right. 

Rebar spikes, the needle pressure plates, a few axes from the ceiling, and arrows that fired from one wall to the other. That trap actually managed to score a hit on the man that had already been impaled once. To make it even worse, it was his other leg at that.

After the man was fixed up, the leader turned to the party. “Left, right or up?”

“Let’s head left. That’s technically further down. Maybe the boss will be in that direction?” said the armored man. Everyone else just nodded. I was starting to wonder if anyone else could talk.

The scout led the way, but there weren’t anymore traps until they got to an actual room. There were painting and decorations on the walls that one party member tried to take only for it to fade to Aether. Apparently, that was just how the magic worked.

“Now that’s cute!” the woman how used the stone spell squealed when she saw a group of penguin soldiers after they opened the door to one of the rooms. The other women, even the leader appeared to swoon over the penguins that was until they pulled out their swords. 

It was seven humans versus the ten penguin soldiers. Almost out of a will of its own, the music changed again. It took a high tempo as if it was tailored to a fight. 

The penguin soldiers rushed at the party as the door slammed shut behind them. Starburst made me make that a standard thing for most rooms. This battle didn’t go like the first one. They were much more organized and in control. The back up against the wall with armored guy taking the front and another man with a large shield standing next to him.

The four people in the back readied themselves as three of them started chanting and the man that had been impaled twice readied arrows. He looked quite ready to launch them at that. Though, I guess being stabbed twice usually would cause someone to have a bad day. 

There also appeared to be a level difference. The three mages sent their spells flying and turned my poor penguins into a skewers or kebobs. The defense of the party was also solid and my penguins weren’t able to do anything against them. I had to watch as the poor penguins were reduced to stuffing.

After it was over, I think the second defense guy was the only one that got hurt and even then it was only a scratch. While I was happy no one died, I was still upset that my penguins were torn apart. I couldn’t decide how I should feel.

That was how all of Stella’s rooms went. The last room of the Left wing was her room. She sat in a chair with a fan covering her face as the party entered the room. She had nearly a legion of penguins in front of her. Twenty total in fact.

“Peasants. Bow before me and I’ll let you live,” Stella said closing the fan on her hand with a loud snap.

“These kinds of dolls always freak me out,” said the second shield wielder. The armored man nodded next to him. 

“Go my soldiers. Kill them!” Stella waved her fan and all the penguins glowed for a moment before they all appeared to grow buffer and slightly taller. Their swords started to glimmer in the light from the chandelier in the room.

To increase the tension, whether on purpose or not, the melody coming from my own hands took a dark turn. Gaining a haunting tune that would have sent shivers down my spine when I was a human. It sounded so beautiful to me now.

“Damn thing is throwing something new at us,” the leader shouted.

The mages in the back chanted their magics as the archer launched arrows into the charging penguins. They would strike the penguin but not actually do any damage, them being made out of plush. The hit penguins did look annoyed though.

The two defenders rushed forward and made to block the coming penguins. The first five slammed into the two shields and managed to push them back several inches. The penguins’ swords managed to make cuts in the metal shields. Given long enough, they might be able to break them. 

The mages finished their chanting and three spells flew into the group of penguins. One froze in place, while two caught fire. Stella ordered her penguins to disperse before more could ignite. She then pointed her fan towards the party. The fan glowed purple then it appeared as if nothing happened.

“Fight for me, little puppet,” Stella called with a warm voice.

The party was waist deep in penguins when the scout started to laugh manically and sank his daggers into the back of both defenders. He immediately snapped out of it, the spell lasting less than five seconds. He was just too skilled for his own good. He was soon mobbed by penguins as the defenders lost their ground. Three swords sank into his chest and stomach. 

They didn’t even have time to react to the sudden change of events. It basically turned into a blood bath. Two powerful feelings waged war inside me. The desire for them to all die, and the desire for it to stop. 

“My mistress wants me to stop so I will stop,” Stella said suddenly. Her penguins backed away from the party. Only two of them survived. The leader who managed to create some sort of barrier around her, and the man in armor, though he was probably going to bleed out if he wasn’t helped soon.

The door opened behind the party and the leader fled without even helping the armored man. I watched her go and couldn’t decide how I felt about her abandoning her party member. Was that normal for divers? Had humanity fell so far.

I watched the man bleed for a few moments before I turned my attention to the fleeing woman. She had already reached the entry hall. I don’t know if she forgot or was too panicked but she stepped fully on a trap tile causing an axe to fall from the ceiling slicing her in half. Her barrier must have expired.

I thought it was going to be a full wipe for the party when I saw the man managed to pull something from his belt. He drank a yellowish green concoction and remained lying in the middle of the hall breathing heavily for several minutes.

A good hour later, he limped out of the dungeon. After that no one else came in for the night. My ethereal body throbbed with energy from the deaths. I took several deep breaths to try and calm the feeling down. 

Hoping there wouldn’t be any more people for the night, I threw my hand into the arm. “Time to talk to Lance!”