Dungeon Robotics 74.1

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Chapter 13 (74.1)

Louella

The wind rushed by as I made my way to the locations I wanted to use for portals. The rush of flying was helping me coop with what I’d just done. I still couldn’t believe I’d just declared myself a Queen. Chloe must have gotten to me more than I thought. Regan’s voice suddenly echoed through my mind. 

“It’s dangerous for a new Queen to travel alone so I sent some guards. Don’t worry they can keep up with you.”

There was a flash of light and two figures emerged in the air on either side of me. Regan’s children, Anubis and Vetur, joined me in the air. Anubis was using large black wings that blocked out the sky. Vetur was flying with a large dragon made from solid ice. The air felt colder just being within a few dozen meters of it. 

“Your highness. We’re here to escort you,” Vetur said managing to make a bow while standing on top of the dragon. 

“Wrakras and Julie busy?” I asked. Those two were the ones that Regan usually sent to guard me. I think it was a little to both annoy me and since they were quite deadly. 

“They have been placed over at Steel Spire until Father can change them,” Anubis explained.

“Change them?” I asked with a little shock. 

“Yeah. Lady Alara doesn’t take kindly to them being necromancers and partially undead.”

“I hope he doesn’t change them… doesn’t change Wrakras too much. I actually am used to him now,” I said. 

“I don’t know the exact process. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Anubis said. “I’ll go on ahead.” He flapped his wings and accelerated ahead of us. 

The flight was rather quiet after that. Vetur didn’t talk much and only answered if I asked a question. Giving up after the third try, I concentrated on the sky ahead of me. I figured it would take just about nine hours to reach the site. An amazing feat of speed. Considering it was a trip that would take about a week for most people. Even with a tier two horse or beast, there would be monsters and other dangers that could waylay a traveler.

That wasn’t to say the sky was free of danger. We were about half way into the flight when a swarm of monster birds decided to try there luck. They were massive things that used a combination of their enormous wings and air magic to stay aloft. They were surprisingly fast as well. 

“Keriols,” I groaned seeing them rise out of the forest. 

I came to a stop with Vetur and Anubis. There appeared to be at least fifty in the flock. Anubis and Vetur drew their weapons and readied themselves. This would be my first time at aerial combat. It would be nice if Gulv was here, I could supercharge him and send him into the flock.

Focusing, I built a charge along my body. Arcs of lightning jumped from one spot to the another on my body. I nodded to the two then we charged the flock. Moving Helios around, I made nimble movements once we intersected the flock. Every time my staff’s blade sliced into one of the birds, lightning would thunder between us. A charred body would then fall from the sky. 

Anubis was death personified. Each swipe of his scythe would bring two or three of the beasts down. Blades of darkness flashed around him. Even when one of the birds managed to bring a claw down on him, his body was phase to shadow and it would pass harmlessly through him. 

Vetur was just as deadly. His ice dragon would freeze anything it touched. Then the rider himself was launching spells that turned the birds into statues of ice. He didn’t have to worry about harm, everything that came near him died. 

One pass was all we needed to destroy the flock. Anubis got the most kills, with me next. Vetur came in last but I felt it was more he didn’t feel like they were worthy opponents for him to try harder. It reminded me that Regan was dangerous but so were the many things he creates in those halls of his. 

“Barely a workout,” Vetur said as we regrouped. 

“Don’t worry my brother! There are plenty more enemies out there. From what Father said, most will be coming to us!” Anubis said laughing as he dismissed his scythe into shadow. 

“What would you two do if the battles ever stopped?” I asked curiously. 

“Don’t say something so frightful!” Anubis said with shock. 

“Indeed,” Vetur said turning his dragon and continuing the flight. 

A few hours later we reached the site. The first bottleneck into the pass to the valley. Spanning roughly a kilometer, it was the only spot that was even remotely defendable. Normally, the kingdom would have already established a fortress here, but EbonyBlade, the fortress defending the northern pass, was of more importance. 

I found a clearing that would be about where the keep of the new fort would be and did as Regan instructed. Once the portal was established, I wanted it to be in the most defended part of the fort. I’m sure Regan will add all sorts of defense measures, but I wanted to help out myself. Nearly an hour later, I finally had a picture of the spot I was at. The process was more draining than I anticipated. 

“If you are done. We should return,” Vetur said walking over. 

“Hold on. EbonyFalls is only a few hours from here. Maybe we should set up a spot near it for a preemptive strike. I don’t plan to always be on the defensive,” I said looking into the distance. “The last thing Thonaca would consider is a force appearing basically out of no-where next to one of their cities.”

“That seems a little dangerous,” Vetur argued. 

“Only if we’re not careful. Since the Wave, everything has in a chaos. We should be able to sneak in and out. Hell, we don’t even need to go all the way to the city,” I said.

It might be months from now, but I know that we would come to blows with Thonaca. Whoever struck first would have the advantage in the coming war. We could potentially stop the war from happening if the King was able to truly see the level of our power. I tapped my bracelet. 

“Regan. Can I borrow these two for a few more hours?”

“Yeah. Though I need them back by tomorrow night,” Regan sent. 

“Done.” I turned to the them. “I have permission. Let’s go,” I said taking off into the sky. 

It was another seven hours to EbonyFalls. Even at the dead of night, the city was lit up by magical and mundane lights. We floated several hundred meters above the city as we watched people moving about. I was impressed with the number of people still awake at the late hour. Mostly around the inn and taverns. The force watching the walls was also considerable. 

Named for the black cliffs surrounding the city, it sat in a basin that formed natural walls around the city. They had been modified to serve as actual walls. The city spread out over three kilometers. It was one of the biggest cities on the continent and would have been the capital of the country had it not been for the undead hordes to the north. 

“Where would you like to set the teleport?” Vetur asked. 

“In the city if we can. Outside if we can’t.”

“Do you purpose we go through the gate?” he asked looking at the city.

“Let’s aim for a deserted section and land there. I have reports that many of the protections that used to protect the cities have stopped working since the Wave. If we trigger an alarm we’ll just flee,” I said.

Looking closely, there was a district next to airship tower docks. It was mainly warehousing. I pointed and we aimed down for the spot. When we passed about a hundred meters above the city, I felt a thin layer pass over me, but it shattered almost as soon as we touched it. I looked around quickly but didn’t see anything to indicate that we’d been detected.

“It appears Ezal’s information was correct,” I commented as we landed in an alley behind a warehouse.

“That is a very critical weakness in this city’s defense. Father could easily destroy this city in a matter of minutes without a strong barrier in place,” Anubis said shaking his head.

“I feel like even with a barrier your father could easily destroy this place,” I said.

“True,” Anubis said with a chuckle.

“Now. Where to set this?” I said leaning against the wall. 

“The sewers,” Vetur said without hesitation. 

“Good idea.” 

We made our way along the alley until we found a grate. Each of us were easily able to pry it off, but Anubis took care of it. Jumping down the smell nearly knocked me off my feet. With my enhanced senses, I was able to get a stronger dose of the sewer. Gripping my nose tight enough I almost broke it, we made our way deeper into the sewer.

As we walked, Anubis would release blasts of shadow. A rat the size of a small child would usually collapse to the ground twitching. We walked for about an hour searching for a good place. Eventually, we actually left the sewer and ended up in what looked like catacombs. They were well over a century old. 

“Here should be good,” I said looking around the room we came to. It was more a cavern then a room. Large pillars held the ceiling. It appeared to be an old temple. A large set of doors were on the back wall, but the room was empty. Nothing had been here for a least a decade or so. Though it looked as though a battle had once taken place here.

Pulling another mana stone from my bag, I concentrated on the location. Knowing what I was doing, it only took me half an hour this time. Replacing it in my bag, I nodded to the others. When we made it back to the surface, the sun had already risen. We each removed the filth from our bodies. 

“Vetur and I could probably make our way through the city without too much trouble, but you Anubis, would stick out like a sore thumb,” I said looking at the two. 

“Not to worry, Lady Louella,” Anubis said then shadows condensed around him. The next moment an amazing looking man stood in front of me. He looked like he’d been craved by a god’s hand. Somehow, I both drooled and had my mouth go dry at the same time. 

“Is… Is that how you see yourself?” I asked trying to breath normally. 

“Only the best form would be worthy for one such as myself,” Anubis said, pride leaking into his tone. 

“It… it is… very nice to… to look at,” I said having to turn away.

“Thank you for you compliment,” Anubis said with a bow.

We left the alley shortly after that. I made sure to keep Anubis in front of me. Not so I could stare at him, so I could keep him out of trouble. Was what I told myself the whole time. I wasn’t the only one affected. Women and even some men would turn and stare at this gorgeous man that was walking down the street. 

EbonyFalls was a beautiful city. The streets were the same black material that made up the crater. Buildings of all kinds lined the streets. A person could feel the age of the city by observing the architecture. I hoped that Vaihdetta was this grand someday. Should I rename the town itself? I considered with a thought as we walked. 

The city was beyond crowded. Refugees lined the streets looking like they’d lost everything in the world. Shouting and yelling were commonplace as people tried to scratch out some sort of survival. Good thing Regan was helping us, or it wouldn’t be long before the valley turned into something like this. 

We made our way to the gate. People were streaming out with little problems. It was the last hurdle for us to get out. It was also where I expected something to happen. After ten minutes, it was our turn through the gate. The, female, guard took a hard look at Anubis. I thought she was going to force him in for questions with how hard she was staring at him, but we made it through. It looked like they were happy to have people leaving rather than entering. 

Once we made it back to the forest. We took to the sky. Flying was uncommon but we shouldn’t draw more than a curious glance from most passersby that happened to see us. Now that we’re out of the city, there was little anyone could do to stop us anyways. 

I thought I would be tired after being awake for a day, but all the cloak and dagger made me excited. We had a twelve-hour trip ahead of us and I was actually looking forward to it. I wanted to get back to the valley, to Vaihdetta. 

Darr

General Gersa was welcoming, after about a week that is. The undead had basically stopped attacking after two nights of us guarding the entrance to the dungeon. We got a message from the Boss that they had defeated Alara and had taken the area. The necromancers in our area likely fled. We found several maps in the ruins of the town that pointed to locations of interest. 

We were currently in the cruiser over what was known as Dersien City. It was almost a hundred kilometers from the pass to Thonaca. We had observed it for over five hours. The results were that it was just a nest for undead. Something in the city was creating new undead at a pace that shouldn’t be possible by necromancers. There weren’t any readings of a dungeon core, though, so it wasn’t that. 

“Put in that my recommendation is the bombings, or blasting from space,” I ordered the officer as I walked away from the observation window. 

“Yes, Ma’am.” 

“Turn us about. Head for the next location,” I ordered taking a seat.

A few hours later we were following the northern coast looking for our target. A map in one of the ruined buildings claimed there was another dungeon out here. However, there wasn’t any indication of the sort. If it was smart it would have reacted to the necromancer presence and hid itself. 

“Ma’am! Detected high level mana reading!” 

“Where?” I asked. 

“Forty kilometers north from current location,” the officer said then paused for a second. “It… its forty kilometers north and two hundred meters down.”

“Pull up the map,” I said standing up. A red dot appeared at the coordinates that placed the location in the ocean. “Compare the old map with ours.” The two maps overlaid each other, and we found the coastline had shifted by nearly thirty kilometers. 

“Ma’am. With the current equipment on board it would be difficult to penetrate an underwater dungeon,” an officer advised. 

“I know that.” Boss Regan and Boss Tony had only given me the mission of meeting with General Gersa and lending aid. I still wanted to deliver results. I felt I needed to do so to make up for the pardon that Boss Regan gave me. Just the thought of being cast out of the dungeon scared me. “Send a report. The Boss will want to know about this.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.”