Eternal Dungeon POV
What are they doing? I question as I watch a three on one fight between what I’ve learned is a group of bandits and the Guildmaster take place. The Guildmaster of the local branch is doing surprisingly well considering that I didn’t think he was that much higher level. I check their tags just to be sure.
Gravity Brawler (Legendary) Level 287
Corsair Commodore (Legendary) Level 242
Corsair Captain (Superior) Level 204
Corsair Captain (Superior) Level 202
Corsair Spellslinger (Superior) Level 201
Ahh I see the difference in Rank along with the difference of levels is allowing him to stand against them. The higher level you are, the larger the difference there is between each individual level. A forty level difference is actually rather insignificant between two one stars but between two three stars? That level difference is night and day. In a one on one fight the Guildmaster would’ve already killed this lady.
Also don’t Corsairs have something to do with pirates and the ocean? I guess the system is using it in more of a privateer sense. That must mean that another country or world power has contracted them to attack this nation. Through my system knowledge I can also tell that each of them have a skill that disguises their Corsair class as a more normal Bandit class. Which is likely the reason that no one else has made the connection to a foreign power yet.
Well whatever, this doesn’t involve me. I don’t particularly care which nation my entrance is in so long as they don’t restrict entry too heavily. After all I’m the one who makes the rules here and I am certainly not anyone's property nor will I be beholden to their laws.
Right as I’m about to turn my attention back inwards I notice something strange. The tugging sensation that was on my aura is emanating from a large box that is currently being carried by two of the bandits (these ones aren’t corsairs, likely local hired help). I also notice that these two bandits are with a group of about 14 others and being led by a Bandit Lieutenant. Their level ranges are between 80 and 100, with the lieutenant at level 100.
What makes this group even more notable is the fact that they are currently rushing into my dungeon entrance while the rest of the bandits and corsairs hold off the guild. Strange what are they doing rushing to my dungeon in the middle of a fight? Don’t tell me they have some stupid plan to try and kill or mind whammy me. If it's anything like that it's completely doomed to fail.
True cores are invulnerable to everything but direct soul attacks, and even against those the system gives us protection. I highly doubt some random group of bandits/corsairs that only have a midrange two star leader have access to soul attacks in a world where they're banned by the System itself. I mark the group of bandits as they enter and begin observing them, so long as they don’t piss me off or break any rules I won’t go out of my way to murder them.
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Bandit Raiding Party, First Floor of the Eternal Dungeon
“Come on fellas! Push Forwards!” I shouted at the group assigned to me.
My orders came right as our senior members created an opening in the Guild's defenses for us to rush through. Sixteen of us make it inside before the opening closes, luckily the two assigned to carry the `device` made it in. We push deeper inside away from the fighting so as not to be caught by stray skills or spells.
We rush down the large stone pathway, keeping our eyes open for any threats. Nothing jumps out at us and we manage to make it to a large open plaza where I stop everyone to regroup. I start ordering the men who made it in with me into a formation and checking all of their skill sets.
Unfortunately I’m the only one with mage skills, that means it’ll be my job to activate our secret weapon. A shame, as if we had more it would increase our odds of success. All that matters is that we do our best and then get out to meet up with the boss.
“Alright fellas, we need to rush through this! We gotta finish up as fast as we can while the boss and captains hold off the local Guild Master. Forwards!” I rally my soldiers to charge into the dungeon.
We vastly outlevel everything on this floor and crush all the weak monsters. Once we beat the boss I have everyone start searching for the entrance to the second floor. We search . . . and search . . . and search.
“Damn It! Where the hell is the entrance to the next floor!” I finally shout in frustration.
We’ve done nothing but look for this stupid entrance for a whole fifteen minutes! We’ve wasted a massive amount of time and haven’t even gotten past the first floor! Is it possible that there’s some secret requirement like the eclipse dungeon? I’ve heard of dungeons that have doors that only open up during really specific times or under certain conditions. Shit! We should’ve done more information gathering! We went in blind assuming it would be straightforward.
The only things we could learn about this new dungeon were hearsay from the random villages we raided. I hear loud explosions back near the entrance along with the shouts and screams of combat. We’re taking too long! I start to panic, not knowing what to do. Do I fall back? Call the mission a failure? No can’t do that, I’ll be flayed alive by the boss. Do I activate the device here? It could in theory work, but the odds increase the further in we get.
“Lieutenant! I found a hidden passage downwards!” I hear the shout of one of my men
My expression lights up and my panic starts to subside.
“Excellent! Everyone, let's go!” I shout to the scattered array of men searching through the surrounding area. I then turn towards the one who found the passage “Lead the way!” I order as we all follow him towards what is hopefully the second floor.
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Eternal Dungeon POV
Wow these guys are stupid. I mentally bump up my opinion of the Guilders after seeing how moronic these bandits are. I didn’t think it was possible to be boneheaded enough to completely miss the giant stone plaque affixed to the colossal tree in the middle of the floor, shows what I know.
Seriously, none of them even got the token! I mean I can respawn any creature that dies inside my aura regardless of if it has the token or not, but that's besides the point. The tokens are how I keep track of each individual without being forced to do it manually. I built the tokens specifically to automate a bunch of the features. Features such as: Respawning, progression tracking, reward tracking, trading, and oh yeah . . . the doors.
I had to manually make and open a `secret passage` to get these idiots off of my first floor. The only reason I even did it was because of a level 10 group that had just finished shopping at Chip’s shop and were about to leave. I didn’t want the bandits finding and killing them after that group had worked so hard to level up. I’m all for some pvp, but it should stay within designated areas for it.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The bandit group are now wandering through a pitch black tunnel that twists and turns dozens of times before dumping them on the second floor outside of the town. I don’t want these guys anywhere near my spiritkin at their levels. The only creatures I have that might be able to fight them are my shield and sword, Aika and Bellator.
“My Chosen, hear me. A group of intruders will be arriving on the second floor in the borderlands to the northeast. Go and wait in ambush for them to arrive, I do not want them progressing past the second floor.” I order my Chosen and am pleased to hear them both promptly respond in agreement.
Good. With that ready I now need to work on making some prison cells. I don’t plan on letting these mortal’s go to waste . . . When did I start thinking like that? Hmmm? I suppose I have slowly been losing touch with my humanity due to being a dungeon core.
I split my focus so that I can create dungeon stone holding cells, watch the bandit group, and perform some introspection all at once. No need to stop everything just because of a minor moral crisis. I suppose if I’m considering this a minor moral crisis then my humanity really must be slipping.
I begin to delve into my own memories checking for when my outlook on mortals changed. There I go doing it again. Why mortals? I mean I guess I myself am immortal so it makes sense to a degree, but it's so demeaning isn’t it? Has my mental state been changed by the lack of human body or the lack of human interaction? Probably both. I do remember the System saying something about mental states, but that was only regulation to stop me from freaking out.
I pulse my mana in motion similar to taking a deep breath. Ok calm. My thoughts are becoming too fragmented, new streams keep splitting the further I question myself. I need to recenter myself and focus on the now. Introspection can come later, I have all the time in the world.
I remerge my stream of attention back with the others and quickly finish up the holding cells. Once that is complete I return the majority of my attention to observing the bandit group, leaving small streams of thought to deal with other minor tasks and observations. My quickly increasing ability to split off multiple thought processes is another thing I’ll have to examine later. For now I focus on the unwanted invaders.
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Bandit Raiding Party, Second Floor of the Eternal Dungeon
I was ready to punch a wall. We had been walking for far too long with nothing happening. No monsters. No Traps. No anything. Being on constant high alert was making everyone irritable and jumpy, not good in a low visibility situation such as this. We only had two people that could create lights and we forgot to bring torches. This meant we were walking with traces of light illuminating the bare stone walls of the endless tunnel.
We had been walking for almost 20 minutes and I had already been forced to break up three altercations when two of my men wore down each other's nerves too much. I’m pretty sure if we didn’t get out of here soon I was going to be in the midst of a riot where everyone tears each other apart. I know bandit groups don’t exactly have the best discipline or loyalty, but this is just extreme. It’s like somehow all the worst men ended up in my dungeon excursion group.
Right as I’m contemplating bashing in the skulls of another overly prideful pair of idiots I spot a light at the end of the tunnel. I breathe a sigh of relief at the new stimulus that signals the end of this monotonous tunnel . . . hopefully.
“Look lads! We’re almost there! Once we’re out of this tunnel we’ll get payback for that tortuous walk!” I shout in an effort to refocus their anger onto the mission objective.
The loud chorus of shouts tells me that my efforts are effective as we pick up our pace and run towards the exit. As we burst into the bright light of a new open space I find myself temporarily blinded by the sudden change in brightness. It takes several moments for my mana enhanced body to clear away the spots before I can see again.
Just in time for me to barely dodge the bladed edge of what appears to be a whip made of razor blades. The blades pass close enough to my face that I see parts of my beard get shaved off. Those blades are razor sharp just like they look, noted.
I flip backwards following the movement of my backwards leaning dodge and using the momentum to end in a battle ready stance. I may not have had the most training, but the captains showed me a few tricks. Not only that but I’m the highest leveled one here sitting neatly at level 100 with a Greater rank class.
I snap my gaze up to look for the owner of the bladed whip only to stagger for a moment as I see it's a young woman with orange fox ears and four tails with different colored tips. She’s wearing a type of clothing I’ve never seen before, an elegant cross between a southern style robe and a battle dress that’s covered in elegant decorations and brimming with mana. I try to check her tag but find that it's blocked, likely due to her keeping her mana suppressed.
“If you think you can fight me without mana you're in for a quick death girlie” I taunt her trying to get a better read on her strength.
Her slight frown deepens into a scowl, her eyes narrowing with hints of danger. A sudden twinge of my danger sense forces me into a forwards roll to dodge an unseen threat. I feel the ends of something incredibly sharp barely miss the back of my skull as a large chunk of my hair is shaved off. If this fight continues like this I’m going to end up bald.
I turn to gauge my second opponent only to take several steps back as I detect the mana rolling off of the creature before me. I gulp as its tag manifests above its head.
[The First Eternal Warrior] Bellator Aeternus (Mythical) Level 50
A fucking Titled Mythical Rank! The fact that it’s level is half my own is barely reassuring. A Mythical ranked creature can fight beings on a higher star rating! Much less someone in the same star level as them! I’m so fucked. Wait no, I have backup! Even if it's Mythical I have 15 other ready soldiers who are all higher level than it, we still stand a chance!
I disengage further out of reach from both the massive Mythical rank cat and the whip wielding woman. However as I turn to call out to my soldiers I find them all completely engaged in combat with a horde of Superior ranked prowlers that have a few Legendaries mixed in.
Shit. Useless bastards don’t have strong enough combat skills to finish their fights fast enough to help me. Looks like these two intentionally isolated me since I’m both the highest level and the leader. I need to do something. I’m the only one who can activate the device so I need to survive for the sake of the mission.
My eyes wander over to the device entrusted to me by the boss. Its box lay discarded to the side of the fighting. I need to activate it now, I stand no chance when outnumbered and outranked. Maybe if I had another hundred levels on the cat, but even then I have no idea what the level or rank of the fox-eared woman is. My gaze moves from the sealed box containing the device to the two creatures who attacked me.
We enter something of a stalemate simply staring at one another, none of us making a move while we size each other up. The sounds of combat and death in the background slowly fade out as my focus intensifies. I have a single skill that will help me here, as soon as I start it I’ll likely be attacked by both opponents. One of them appears to be an assassin type and the other a control brawler.
I start channeling my mana while simultaneously leaping towards the box. As soon as I move both my opponents vanish. The Fox eared whip wielder appears inches in front of me, her mana now unleashed.
[The First Eternal Protector] Spiritkin Chosen (Mythical) Level 50
She swings her bladed whip towards and I activate an instant cast skill while still channeling my initial one. My body is flung midair so that I’m able to dodge her strike while still progressing towards my goal. My eyes widen in shock however when her bladed whip unnaturally curves mid-motion as though it's a living creature, the blades moving just enough to send a nasty slash through my side.
As I’m almost to the box I notice the Mythical cat appearing behind me, materializing from thin air. His jaws are opened wide and his paws outstretched in a grappling motion typical of most large cat pounces. I manage to finish my initial skill channel just moments before my throat is torn out.
My entire body turns completely intangible for exactly half a second allowing me to pass through the massive cat and becoming tangible again in time to stop on top of the box. I feel the wind get knocked out of me as I land on top of the large box and I feel shallow puncture wounds on my throat where the attack almost killed me.
I manage to recover from my own shock at still being alive before my two opponents do. I immediately start channeling my mana in the exact way I was shown, feeling it drain rapidly into the box as it activates the pre enchanted item. A still living severed dungeon core.