Dungeon Annihilation 2 - 14

Regan

I took in the two ladies in front of me. Raven had gotten some new equipment from the Oni to mark the occasion, while Set had gone all out on her illusion magic. They would be formidable foes for whoever they were up against in today’s tournament. “Are you guys ready?”

Set bowed gracefully. “Yes. Master.”

Raven tightened her grip on her swords with an enthusiastic grin. “Let me show those pigs a thing or two.”

“Very Good.” I turned to Wrath. Technically, Earle should have defeated him to move to the Mine floor. “Try not to kill everyone.”

He snorted before he hefted his greatsword on his shoulder. I knew he could understand everything I said, but for some reason he refused to talk. It wasn’t too much of an issue as long as he followed my commands though and so I left it.

I turned to the third person in my little group. “I want you to find your messenger. Wear this for now. If anyone stops you just say you are part of Earle’s party,” I said handing Julie a jester mask. For some reason, it just suited her.

“Of course, my lord. Though, I should warn they will be well into the second tier. I couldn’t hope to deal with them.”

I ran my hand along her jawline. I couldn’t get enough of her reactions. “I don’t want you to deal with them. I want to meet them.” I dropped my hand and cracked my knuckles before I teleported with the girls to a spot a bit outside the dungeon.

From there we easily joined the crowd heading for the tournament venue while Julie went off on her own. I spotted plenty of adventurers that I had marked during their dives into my dungeon. They were skilled and I was sure they make it deeper given some more time to test themselves. That said, only Ioa’s party seemed to be closest to challenging Wrath soon. I was looking forward to it.

“Sir Earle!”

I turned to find Ivan with his lackies moving toward me. He’d been using all sorts of tactics to keep a monopoly on the Gothic City. While I didn’t mind, I would have liked him to move a bit deeper into the dungeon. If he didn’t risk his slaves, then I don’t get the death mana from their failure. Plus, I had Joseph now. It might be time to cut times with him. I knew Raven was waiting for her chance to deal with the man.

Stepping out of the wave of people heading to the arena, I turned to address Ivan. “Sir Ivan. Come to watch or participate?”

“Watch and bet of course! I have information on good confidence about some of the people competing.”

“Is that so?” I asked feigning interest. “Does that mean you’re going to bet on me then?”

“Sir Earle is participating?” Ivan asked looking surprised.

I played with the hilt of my rapier. “Yes. More of a passing fancy than that I need the rewards.”

“In that case, I might need to change up my bets. As well as beat up my informants.”

I laughed. “Just because I’m competing doesn’t meant that I will win.”

Ivan shook his head. “You’re the only one that’s gotten to the Cuded Mine. I believe in your skills.”

“I see. Well I shall try to live up to your expectations.”

Nodding my head, I left Ivan and we made for the area for the competitors. There were well over a thousand and it looked like the tournament was going to take a few days. That would be a bit annoying, but there was little I could do about it. I was enjoying playing the part of Earle.

The preparations for the beginning of the tournament took a bit longer, but finally a large board was unveiled with brackets for the competitors. I zoomed my vision on it, to find my name. I smirked when I saw that the three of us were in different brackets. We would be able to fight our share before meeting each other in the semi-finals.

On another board had team competitions listed. Those would start later today, but I was looking forward to them too. As an all dark mana party, I was interested to see how effective we could technically be against more diverse parties. My main goal was to experience as much as I could and develop countermeasures for in the future.

As I was examining the board, I felt a strong dark mana aura from next to me. Glancing over, I found a woman in plate armor with a slender sword. She was easily tier two mid, the max level of the participants. Her strength made me want to capture her as my own. I grinned at the find and walked away.

Sending a look at Raven and Set, I said. “Don’t lose.”

Names were called in rapid fire a few minutes later as the tournament got started. When I heard mine, I chuckled as I walked up onto the stage. It was hard to tell from the side, but the stage could hold around a dozen people at a time with plenty of room. I expect the terra mages would adjust the arena later once the fights got to the finals.

Placing my hand on the hilt of my rapier, I stared down my opponent. He was likely just out of his teens. Given the small fluctuations of air around him, most like a wind mage or warrior that used minor wind mana to boost his speed and accuracy. He wielded two daggers from the looks of it.

“All matches. Start!”

I moved my foot slightly as the man charged at me. A gust of wind was indeed helping him run even faster. When he reached about three meters in front of me, solid black spikes shot from the ground and impaled him through the shoulders. His own built up momentum making the damage even worse.

Unlike the other battles taking place, mine lasted barely ten seconds. The audience didn’t even seem to realize that the fight was over and were just staring at the stage in shock. That changed as the warrior screamed, his brain catching up with the pain his body was feeling.

With yells of pain, the priests rushed up on the stage as the spikes dissipated to nothingness. Blood sprayed dying the man and the stage around him in red. It was easy to use the shadows in the cracks of the arena to attack him. I sighed at the weak showing of the first opponent.

I spotted the Countess watching from the judges’ box. I sent her a kiss before I got down from the arena. She had issues with me since I associated with Ivan in this form. I would be missing out on a great opportunity if I didn’t tease her a bit. Sure enough, I saw her grind her teeth in annoyance.

The other competitors looked at me with evident fear and concern. In particular were the ones that would have to fight me to move up the ranks. I ignored them and moved to lean against the wall before taking in Raven’s fight. She had grown after fighting the Hunters in the Gothic City. I was sure she could take on Pride in his first form with her current skills.

She walked onto the stage with her head held high. This was quite the moment for a former slave. I wouldn’t doubt that she wanted to kill most of the people in the audience. They all had the power to stop the slavery running rampant through the continent but didn’t.

With the signal, she charged forward at the archer she was paired against. Her swords spread wide like wings next to her. She easily deflected the arrows sent at her, and shortened the distance between the two of them in seconds. The archer tried to put distance between them, but Raven was similar to a boss monster. Her body was much stronger than it appeared.

Raven caught up to the archer, and brought her leg around kicking him in the leg. The archer crashed to the ground, as Raven brought her left sword down and impaled his leg. Even as the archer tried to forfeit, she brought her other sword around in stabbed him in the back. A barrier suddenly snapped into existence between her and the archer forcing her back.

She slammed her sword into the barrier, managing to crack it before she growled and walked away. The audience were silent for an all new reason as she was declared the victor and the next pair moved onto the stage. I patter her head when she came to stand next to me.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” I said laughing. I noticed a few of the competitors started to slink away.

It took a while before it was Set’s turn to compete. I had wondered if her opponent would just forfeit given our two matches, but they came up once they were announced. Maybe it was due to Set having a staff rather than a physical weapon. Her opponent, a woman that used water magic, also held a staff.

The match started and the two of them just stood there. I sensed Set using mana, but I wasn’t sure of the effect right off the bat. When I noticed her opponent standing stock still with wide eyes, I realized that she was using illusion magic. It lasted for maybe thirty seconds, before her opponent suddenly spat up blood all over her front, before collapsing backward.

The priests once again had to rush onto the stage to the shocked silence of the crowd. There were several flashes of light while the woman convulsed. Using my dungeon senses, I found that her organs were failing. Even with the healing, they couldn’t reverse the damage and she died in a puddle of her own blood.

“Competitor Set! This is your one warning. Murder will not be permitted during the tournament. Using magic of this level again will find you in the jail!”

Set bowed almost ninety degrees. “My apologizes. I did not realize that she was so weak. I shall endeavor to hold back next time.” She turned on her heel after straightening back up and left the stage. Needless to say, most of the people had left from around our group.

“What’d you do, show her all her worst fears until her body couldn’t take it?”

“That’s exactly what I did. As expected of master,” Set replied with a smile.

I chuckled. “As they say. Mind over matter. In this case, quite literally.”

Next:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/43416116

Previous:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/dungeon-2-13-43195141