Dungeon Robotics 140

Heeeelllooo everybody! How are you? Dungeon Annihilation Released on Amazon today! For I plan to send it and the DR books owed to my ten+ dollar tiers when six releases. I would normally be uploading an annihilation chapter, but i don't have one written as I am so close to finishing book 8 of DR. Rather then break the momentum I have going, I shall be doing an annihilation marathon either next week or the week after. 

Puppet

I glanced around the tunnel corner. A dwarven patrol marched with little regard for the noise they were creating. A stark difference compared to the other members of the Beneath that we’d met so far. The fire elementals and the dwarves were engaging in a war that challenged everything in the Beneath. 

I could understand the fire elementals. They were relatively mindless and only a higher ranked ones would show any intelligence. I wasn’t sure without some evidence, but I assumed it required a decent amount of mana to either summon or call one of the intelligent ones to his command. Either way, they generally attacked anything that moved.

The dwarves, however, were much more intelligent than that according to the reports and information we’d gotten from the Dark elves and Fallen Rose members. They were almost acting as bad as the elements and were attacking at the slightest provocation. Which was usually just coming into eyesight of them. 

That being said, they had expanded their territory nearly threefold in the last two months alone. I, for one, was taking that with a grain of salt. While the group we met had been trustworthy so far, I wasn’t about to let them dictate who I point my sword at until I have all the facts. 

I motioned for the others to fall back. The dwarves might be making enough noise to drown out everything in a ten-kilometer radius, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. We moved back until the sound of marching was just a dull thub every few seconds.

“If we don’t hurry, we won’t reach the Seal before they claim it as their territory,” Z2 said and I nodded. 

“Yeah. I hate to do it, but we might have to fight our way through.”

“Unless we kill them all, more information about our weapons will be leaked back. They are already able to resist your blade and my bullets,” Z2 commented. 

It was a frustrating fact. Starting with the encounter while taking Louella to Father, they had steadily gotten better at countering our weapons. We’d only skirmished three times total. That was a scary level of adaption but shows the skills and prowess of the dwarves. Either way, it made us reluctant to engage them too much.

We debated for a minute more, but the sound of the patrol faded and we were able to move through the tunnel without coming to blows. Father had requested us to gather information on the Greater Elemental Glourios as well as the Seal that appeared to be his target. It was taking longer than I liked, but we were making headway in penetrating the area.

I wasn’t sure how far down the tunnel we managed to make it before there was a loud explosion from back the way we came. Judging from the vibrations, it had to be the elementals and the dwarves going at it. So at least we had that going for us. Azra quickly created a stone wall to block any effects that might make their way down the tunnel to us.

Soon we came to a fork in the path. I turned to the one person that could claimed they could feel the magical aura of the Seal. As long as we were heading in the general direction, I had no reason no to trust them. “Alright, Lean. Which way?”

He moved up and peered down each tunnel before I saw him close his eyes and concentrate. A second later he opened them and pointed down the left tunnel. “This way.”

“Got it.” I moved over to the wall and used some mana to shift the stone without breaking it. I carefully inserted a condensed transponder before sealing the opening so that it looked like nothing had happened. Father had given me the blueprint to create them and it would allow us to teleport out in an emergency as well as give him the ability to send an army at a moment’s notice.

Moving down the tunnel, we soon started encountering ruined buildings that were carved out of the tunnel wall. We soon felt like we were walking down a street rather than a cave tunnel as the ceiling gradually moved up. It wasn’t long before we were in a cavern rather than a true tunnel.

“We are getting close,” Lean commented looking around.

While I couldn’t detect what, there was a certain… sinister aura about the area. I wasn’t surprised that something evil was sealed nearby. My question was what could generate enough an aura sinster enough to escape the seal and make its way out here.

“I thought there were supposed to be undead,” Azra commented and we all looked at her with narrowed eyes.

Almost if on que, a terrible moan echoed through the cavern. Figures started to emerge from inside the houses as green light started spilling out through the area. While some of them certainly looked like the mortal races I knew of, the ones that had a truly impressive aura looked off in certain ways.

While humanoid, they had large heads, with a range of what looked like gems embedded in their skulls. While it could be a result of their undeath, their hands only possessed three long fingers. Mana practically washed from them placing them well into tier three. 

We backed up carefully as their numbers soon reached into the thousands. One of the undead raised what I had thought was a busted sword, and a particle beam sliced through the air. I barely managed to get a barrier up in time and even then only barely managed to deflect the attack before it burned through my head.

“Fall back!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Azra said leveling her shield in front of us. Undead were spilling from the houses we’d passed but they were of the more traditional variety. Z2 and Natsuko were tearing through them with ease, as Z2 used her sword and speed to destroy their heads, while Natsuko focused on control burst from a machine gun mode. 

I sensed another beam rip through the air and threw a barrier over Azra’s shield to reinforce it just in time. The beam slammed into the shield with enough force to send us flying back down the tunnel. Natsuo quickly created a floating shield out of mithril plates that received another beam attack that rebounded up and struck the ceiling.

Boulders and debris started falling blocking the passage. I helped Azra, who was smoking slightly from the mana overload, up and we quickly made our way back down the passage. Lean was helping Z2 and Natsuko deal with the stragglers that were on our side of the cave in. 

Once we were past the last of the houses, I had Azra collapse the ceiling here as well. We didn’t have much information on whether the undead chased enemies, but given their power, they likely never had to before.

“That beam spell was on par with something father would use,” Z2 said as we took a breather.

“Funny, that’s exactly what I was thinking. Something doesn’t add up here,” I said. I pulled the communication device from my chest cavity.

It took several seconds, but soon father appeared. “Puppet. What is it? Are you okay?”

“Yes, though only barely. We found the outskirts of the Seal. The undead used a particle beam weapon. Nearly lost my head.”

“Spell or technology?” father asked with a serious tone. 

“Sorry. We didn’t have time to confirm. We retreated immediately once we saw that we couldn’t counter it. It was only the out skirts, but the undead were already well into tier three.”

“I see. Very well. Place a transponder and fall back. We’ll deal with the Seal after we deal with Glourios.” The line paused for a second. “I’m glad you’re all okay. See you when you return.”

We nodded then the line went dead. I put the device away then repeated the process of placing a transponder in the wall. Once finished, I felt the link to the dungeon form though it was the thinnest of connection. With a thought, we all teleported back to the new city that was connected to the Beneath.