Chapter 39: The Charlie Force
The Charlie force split into two groups: one to occupy the dungeon and another to creep toward the forest’s edge closest to the Twin Cities. There, the second group would wait for word from Alpha force and Bravo force advancing on either side of the Gordu Forest.
According to reports, this dungeon was larger than the previous, so a slightly larger group was assembled. Granted, that other dungeon provided almost no resistance; they established a presence on every floor without much in the way of opposition. Still, dungeons could be extremely unpredictable. One moment you’re stomping a long jackalope into the floor, the next you’re surrounded by multiple monsters with abilities that complement each other. Adventurers weren’t the only ones who realized you could die if you dropped your guard in a dungeon.
The Commander of the dungeon group had not been given instructions to take any particular action once they reached the boss chamber. Only once they reported successfully seizing the dungeon’s interior would sealed orders arrive from headquarters. The Commander suspected his orders would depend on how things proceeded in the conflict with the Twin Cities.
Normally in charge of a joint Battalion, the Commander’s forces this time were modified to suit the mission. This group maximized foot soldiers and mages but minimized cavalry and other special units. Even career adventurers were sprinkled throughout. They’d do whatever’s necessary to minimize the threat posed by a dungeon.
Right before deploying, the Commander read through various briefing materials including the latest available intelligence on both dungeons. Although little of note was written about the dungeon in the Upper Gordu, the dungeon further south was strange. The Union had verified information that the dungeon was designed and being used to train newbie adventurers and staff members. Nar Union Guild officials testified that they were not aware of any precedent for such an arrangement. Dungeons could not be controlled so directly. As far as the Commander knew, the Empire had been working on that harder than anyone and with no success.
Guilds controlled the dungeon’s level of danger by limiting how much experience it gained. If it only had a few floors, the monsters it spawned couldn’t be high level. Of note, the briefing materials stated that the Lower Gordu Dungeon had gained quite a few levels in very little time. Although not explicitly stated by any higher-ups, the Commander suspected that the dungeon’s propensity for leveling quickly was one of the driving reasons for the Union taking such rapid and decisive action.
Well, the dungeon’s rapid growth was about to come to an end. The Union wouldn’t allow their dungeon to become and stay possessed by some other run-amok dungeon in Holy State territory. Whatever, the Twin Cities Guild had done, they’d be confessing soon. This situation was the perfect casus belli for striking back at the Union’s obnoxious and overly-pious neighbor. The Church and its aristocratic allies throughout the Holy State’s major cities were a thorn in the Union’s side, inhibiting their economic growth and prosperity. From the slave trade to other commodities and even military arms and supplies, the interference and meddling had gone too far. The Commander realized the problem likely went much deeper than even he was aware of.
As they reached the Lower Gordu Dungeon, the Commander started barking out orders. He’d remain above ground with a small detachment while the rest of his forces marched into the dungeon using the same strategy that worked so well in the Upper Gordu. Once word arrived that the occupation was complete, he’d proceed to the boss chamber himself and wait for a messenger to bring a communication.
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After a few hours of hiking through the dungeon, some of the soldiers were uneasy. Many of them had helped capture the other dungeon earlier, but back then the ease with which they captured everything didn’t bother them. The dungeon wasn’t opposing them, but it wasn’t trapping them either. This felt different.
Similar to last time, they encountered few if any monsters. That much was fine. The strange thing was the design of the floors themselves. They were needlessly complicated, but only in one direction. Every intersection, trap, or feature seemed to funnel the intruders deeper into the dungeon, right in the direction they were trying to go. Rather than having difficulty reaching the bottom, the challenge would be making it back out.
The soldiers diligently maintained maps as best they could, but they were struggling to notate all the strange situations they had encountered. They weren’t trained to deal with this. For example, they entered a strange circular room which rotated, only occasionally revealing a door they could exit from. What exactly should they draw in the map? Which direction had they even proceeded? One of the soldiers insisted that they had moved vertically, but couldn’t specify whether it was up or down.
Then there were all the cliffs, boulders, and other uneven surfaces they had to climb down. In many case, it wasn’t clear whether or not they would be able to climb back up later without special climbing equipment, most of which they didn’t have with them. Dungeons didn’t generally cause such concerns, the few adventurers among them insisted. The mappers tried as best they could to notate which routes could be used to return, and which should be treated as one-way. This was complicated by the dungeon sometimes changing from one moment to the next. Just as soldiers stood on one surface, it would drop under the weight, causing a rumbling sound elsewhere. Without a way to get the surface to rise to its previous level, the soldiers wouldn’t be able to reach the top again.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The journey was especially concerning for the mages. Most of them were in poor physical condition when compared to the soldiers. Trekking through a cave-like dungeon involving tremendous amounts of climbing was beyond some of their capabilities. Once again, it wasn’t that they couldn’t get down to the bottom, but coming back up…
They’d simply have to take their time and work together when exiting. So long as nothing crazy happened to necessitate a sudden evacuation, they’d help get their physically weaker comrades up and over any obstacles. If necessary, they’d send some of their most nimble scouts out of the dungeon to acquire more rope and other equipment. Thoughts like these reassured the soldiers, but it didn’t completely eliminate the nagging feeling that something was very wrong here.
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DM was pleased with how things were progressing. The intruders were advancing at just the pace he expected. Further, they were spreading themselves out well throughout the dungeon, making them easier to divide and conquer later. In addition, they hadn’t discovered any of the secret areas yet where he stowed monsters and other surprises.
He could tell they were underestimating him but, to be fair, their force was considerable. Under normal circumstances, a dungeon of ten levels or less would likely have no chance of stopping such a massive army. Under normal circumstances. DM was quite confident at this point that he was not a normal dungeon master. Hell, he wasn’t even all that normal in his previous life. Only now, the distinction was entirely in his favor.
Disguising himself as a treasure chest in the corner of the boss chamber, he executed his usual ruse. Summoning a T2 tentacle monster, he placed it next to the console. Last time he tried this, Alenia had seen through everything and destroyed the monster. DM thought it was much less likely that the arriving soldiers would so easily distinguish a random tentacle monster from the famous tentacle monster dungeon master. If they attacked the fake dungeon master, their intentions would be entirely laid bare. It was almost a moot point by now, but he’d at least give them a final chance to avoid his wrath.
As the lead parties drew close, DM realized he had been way too focused on his dungeon. While paying attention to the immediate threat was understandable, he needed to multitask better, such as by cycling through his infected targets and maintaining situational awareness of the happenings outside the dungeon.
Seizing on the vision offered by a few people inside the Twin Cities, he noticed a degree of panic beginning to spread. Switching to Vulp who was still observing the Lord conducting his various business, DM learned that the Union was already actively setting up a siege with the first wave of arriving soldiers from the northeast. That was surprisingly quick. Their aim was apparently to get this conflict over with before the distant regions could reinforce the eastern trade city. Whether DM would do anything about it or not would depend heavily on how these next few hours went.
Next up was… Vera? He’d forgotten to pay attention to her. Not that he’d had any time to tutor her recently anyway, but wait, why was she in the forest? The location looked like the area surrounding the dungeon entrance, but he must have been mistaken since that area was currently occupied by—
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Alongside the sound of metal piercing flesh, Vera looked down at her thigh and then collapsed to the forest floor. Had an adventurer loosed an arrow and missed their target? For a few seconds, she kept her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to cope with the pain spreading all along her leg. After several deep breaths, she twisted her face in the direction the arrow must have come from and opened her eyes.
An archer was walking towards her, but he wasn’t dressed like an adventurer, and he wasn’t alone. “Them’s priestess robes?”
“Obviously.”
“What’s some church girl doing all the way out here?”
“What do we do with her?”
A few soldiers discussed Vera’s presence among themselves.
“Bring the Commander over.”
“Let’s have a little fun with her.”
“Absolutely not!” the Commander cut in as he walked over. “We’re professionals. Nothing like that will happen on my watch.”
“Y—Yes Sir…” a disappointed soldier acquiesced while others looked relieved.
“First, tell us who you are and why you’re here.”
Vera noticed that nobody was offering to help her as she writhed on the ground in pain. “I’m Vera. The Church sent me here to investigate the dungeon, but I wasn’t expecting to see soldiers here.”
“Did you encounter any other groups of soldiers as you approached this area?”
“No…”
“Ah.” The Commander had a sudden realization. “We sent the other group southeast so they’d emerge from the forest as close to the Twin Cities as possible. This girl probably approached from the south to minimize her time in the forest, so they may have missed each other entirely.”
“Sir, should you really—“
The Commander cut his soldier off with a glare and then addressed Vera again. “Why is the Church of all places having you investigate a dungeon?”
“We were… following up on rumors of an unusual dungeon master. The Church was interested to learn if he was friend or foe.”
“And what’s the verdict, Miss Vera?”
“I—I’m not in a position to pass judgment like that, but I entered the dungeon before and learned about the revolution of the planet around the sun.”
“…What?” It wasn’t just the Commander; everyone had dubious looks on their faces.
“Commander, she’s not right in the head, I think.”
“Perhaps. But just to be safe, send word into the dungeon for everyone to be on the lookout for mind-altering effects.”
“Yes, Sir.” One soldier ran off.
“So, what did you learn about, uh, the revolution of the planet?”
Vera dutifully explained the basics of why the planet orbited around the sun as well as the governing equations. After a few minutes of this, the Commander responded with a mocking tone.
“How interesting…”
Vera gulped, getting nervous that nobody had offered to help her injured self yet despite her obviously being a young Church girl.
“Well, we need to get back to work.” The Commander made a gesture of some type to one of his subordinates, who nodded. As the Commander turned to walk away in the direction of the dungeon, the subordinate stepped over to Vera.
Without a word, the man drew a sword and plunged it into Vera’s chest a second before a T3 fireball struck him from behind.