Dungeon Annihilation 2 - 18

Good Morning everyone! Hope you all are ready for the week. For us in the USA. Well. Hopefully civil war doesn't break out. Sadly sort of serious here.

Regan

Following behind Julie, we soon came to a secluded area of the town. It was the warehouses of the airdocks that had recently been constructed. I wanted to shake my head at the cliché of it but kept it inside. It wasn’t their fault that Earth movies generally used these places for the other side of the law transactions.

“They are just up ahead. I told them I was bringing the rest of the force that had been sent,” Julie said right before we turned down an alley.

“Good. Though, given their trade, I’m sure they are expecting a trap,” I retorted with a snicker. It would be foolish not to expect betrayal at any moment. We approached slowly and I was taken aback when I saw the child sized figure stand up. They were likely a dwarf.

We came to a stop a few meters from them. The figure looked us over before turning a glare on Julie. “Who are these people?” he spit on the ground as if disgusted. “They don’t possess the holy mana.” I grinned at that. For the necromancers to call unholy mana, holy. Though I was sure part of it was on purpose to piss off the goddess Lelune.

I stepped forward and gave a small bow. “My apologies. Allow me to fix that.” With a thought, unholy mana began to roll off me in waves. Not only was it well above what Julie could create, it was also purer in essence. I’d learned a lot from my brief trip to the north.

“You! That mana. What are you doing down here?” the messenger asked in bewilderment.

“Well. I have my reasons,” I replied standing up. “Let’s just say I’m self-taught. Now then. Who do I have the honor of speaking to?”

The messenger seemed to hesitate for a moment before he pulled his hood back to reveal his face. My eyes widened for a second before a grin spread over my face. A gnome. According to the information I had managed to gain on them they lived in a floating city of the coast of Thonaca, much to the chagrin of the Lecazar Empire.

They were wrapped in much mystery as no two people appeared to have the same idea about them. Other than that they were powerful enough to alter wars when it was in their interest. I was able to gather one bit of information though. They were more technologically advanced then the rest of the kingdoms. I really wanted to visit them.

“Is there something on my face?” the messenger asked with narrowed eyes.

“Ah. Forgive me,” I replied with a small head bow. “It is my first time meeting a gnome. I have quite a few questions that I am more than dying to ask you.”

Understanding bloomed on his face. “I see. You are not the first, so I understand.”

“Introductions then. My name is Earle.”

“Yoshida.”

“Then Yoshida. I would like to know what the necromancers have planned. I cannot make proper plans without this information.”

“And I’m sure you understand that I cannot just tell you this information.” Yoshida crossed his arms like I was an idiot to have even asked.

“Oh, I quite understand that. I just wanted you to know what information I am seeking.”

Yoshida narrowed his eyes at me. “What are you…” The ground exploded under him as tendrils wrapped around his body. Collars locked around his neck and arms. He immediately started to scream and I motioned for Set to act. A barrier of darkness covered the alley and even the sound stopped dead at the border of the dark.

“I am glad that the necromancers appear overconfident,” I laughed patting Julie on the shoulder. “Even with us being weaker, surprise attacks still work nicely.”

Red and black sparks were jumping from the gnome as he continued his struggle. The collars worked as a sort of battle of wills. For people of weaker tier level it was barely noticeable as my will was quite literally tied to my tier level as a dungeon. As I had to control hundred or even thousands of monsters on a daily basis, I would barely notice the resistance.

On the flipside, when trying to capture someone higher level it was a much more prolonged event. Not only were their bodies built differently and thus able to handle more pain. Their mental strength was usually at a higher level as well. Even now, the gnome was able to break a tendril or two during his thrashing while fighting the influence of the collars.

In the end, I would be the winner. My mind was just on a different level as a dungeon core while Yoshida’s was constantly being hurt by the increasing pain caused by the collars. If he didn’t surrender soon, his mind would break leaving him an empty doll that would be all but useless expect for the memories stored in him.

“Give in to the master, messenger. None will escape him in the end. He is the true lord we’ve been waiting for!” Julie exclaimed taking a prayer pose next to me. She even dropped to her knees. I grinned as I placed my hand on her head like one would a loyal dog. I could almost imagine a tail wagging rapidly behind her.

“Cassin… is the… true master!” Yoshida snapped back still fighting. Tier three was truly impressive for him to last this long. I glanced at the night sky, well, we had plenty of time before sunrise.

~~~

“Look Yoshida, I don’t want to kill you. I hate to waste good tools.” I only got a grunt in reply. Sighing, I stabbed my rapier forward for the thirtieth time. There was a muffled groan of pain as I pulled it back out of his arm. I never expected tier three to be so hard to tame, I could only conclude that the dryad had been a different case due to her mental instability. I would have to adjust my plans in the future.

“Master. Morning is almost upon us,” Set said drawing my attention.

Sighing again, I looked back to Yoshida. “Very well.” I sheathed my rapier then held my hands out. A collar formed dangling from each finger. “This is not going to be fun for you.”

With each collar I latched, Yoshida’s mental strength suffered a blow. He was already exhausted from the night of torture. If he allowed himself to rest for even a moment, he would succumb to the enslaving magic. Frankly, I was impressed but if I’m impressed with an enemy that means they were too dangerous to keep around for long.

When I attached the seventh one, I finally felt his mind break. I clicked my tongue as that meant he was definitely going to be useless in the future. I hated wasting a tier three tool. I stood up and kicked the man over before turning to Set and Julie. “When you get back to the dungeon, interrgiate him for everything that you can think of. I have the meeting with the countess before I can go back. Fuck. An entire night wasted.”

“As you wish, master.” Set gave a bow before I waved and teleported them back to the dungeon. It cost a bit more mana without a marker, but better than dragging a half dead gnome through town.

“Come on, Raven.” I growled and we left the warehouse area.

We were halfway through town when the smell of coffee grabbed my attention. I knew it would be lacking compared to Earth’s, but the aroma was too powerful to resist given the night I had just had. I dragged Raven over and bought a cup. It turned out to be quite expensive at a gold piece a cup. I couldn’t resist asking why.

“We get the beans from the far south. Just the transportation costs alone would blow your mind.” She handed me the cups, and I handed one to Raven. She looked surprised. Given that she was a slave before, she had probably never had the chance to taste something like coffee. I handed the shopkeeper the gold.

Taking a sip, I was both delighted and disappointed at the same time. It was truly coffee with all the bitterness and nostalgic flavor of earth, but it still lacked that kicked that Earth’s coffee offered. “Do you have any beans to sell?”

“Want to make some coffee while in the dungeon or on a quest?” the shopkeeper asked with a grin. She moved to the back and returned with a sack. “Here. One platinum coin.” I grinned and flipped the coin to her.

“Thanks!” A little side project into genetically altering some coffee would be a nice way to kill some time.

With the annoyance of last night washed away by the side trip, we made our way over to the countess’s manor. Some of the Golden Dawn stood guard outside. If I remembered correctly, they had recently sent for a battalion sized force. With the lord being a countess, she now had the ability to have a standing force as well. It might be a good idea to infiltrate these forces later with some operatives. It would make keeping updated on their movements easier.

“Please inform the countess, that Earle the adventurer is here,” I stated to the guard.

“One moment.”

A few minutes later, I found myself sitting on a couch across from a sleepy countess. Made I should have brought some coffee for her, I thought with a chuckle. Well she was the one that said sunrise, so I came at sunrise. Even if you couldn’t technically see the sun yet.

“Damn. I’m never setting the time so early again,” she commented with a yawn as a maid brought her a cup of tea.

“I don’t mind setting our next meeting for after sunset,” I said with a wink. As an afterthought, I began using some mana to stimulate how Lust attracted people to her. I wanted to see what sort of effect there might be outside the dungeon. I made sure to keep it to the lowest possible setting.

I grinned when the countess blushed and cleared her throat. “That will be quite alright. How about we get straight to business?”

“If we must,” I replied leaning back in the chair. At least she has enough control not to jump into my arms. At tier two, she should have some decent mental defenses to resist such a weak attempt on her facilities.

“Sir Earle. I want to hire you. You party has proved themselves quite formidable in the dungeon and during the competition.”

“Thank you for the praise. I do want to apologize once again for nearly killing you during your last dive.” Her eye twitched and I took that as a victory. For some reason, I really enjoyed teasing this woman.

“You’re quite alright. I know that dungeon diving is dangerous under normal circumstances. In that dungeon, you’d be insane to relax your guard.” She took a sip of her tea. “In fact, the host has met me a few times. I can’t help but feel that the mind controlling the dungeon isn’t normal. Deranged might be putting it softly.”

I rubbed my chin. I was surprised she had brought up meeting the host. From what I understood, if the church thought she was influencing it then she could be sentenced to death. I decided to play along. “Judging on what my party has seen in that place, I would agree with you. Has anyone reported about the fifteenth-floor boss?”

“No…”

I grinned showing the fangs this form has as a dragonkin. “It is going to be quite hard for standard people to get past. We’ve only seen it from afar, and still felt its affects.”

“Which are?”

“Greed,” I said snapping my fingers. “Uncontrollable greed. When you see the boss from a certain distance something inside you awakens that makes you want to possess her. It was quite dangerous, thankfully, Set is able to use illusion magic to some degree and was able to break us from its charm.”

“Gives the name Tower of Destruction all new meaning,” the countess replied with a chuckle.

“Oh?”

“Adventurers will likely encounter something that will be their destruction. Whether it is Pride, Wrath, Greed, or something else even higher in the tower.”

I grinned and leaned forward. “Then I wonder what mine will be.”

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