Chapter 15: Clank
A few soldiers helped drag the pedestal over to a large tent, plopping it down just outside the entrance. The morphling was escorted into the tent. Several people were inside, but DM noticed a man and a woman, both apparently in their 20s, who seemed to be in charge.
As far as DM could tell, they were dressed like nobility of the Empire, not that he was an expert by any means. Her dark hair was in a bob, and her facial expression was anything but friendly. She had a refined look, rather than the sexy look of the woman who had delivered a message from the Empire to the Lower Gordu Dungeon recently. The man’s dirty-blond hair was actually longer than the woman’s, about shoulder length, but he seemed more exasperated than strict. He carried a sword and appeared physically fit.
The woman turned towards the morphling. “Oh? Where is it?”
“…What are you looking for?”
“The main body of the monster we invited. It should be quite big.”
“…It’s hiding in the pedestal outside.”
“What?”
“Sister, let’s go look at it.”
“Oh, be quiet Jonathan.”
Apparently, they were siblings. The morphling gestured for them to follow, then stepped outside.
“Jonathan, how exactly could a tentacle monster be hiding in this small object?”
“I never said it was, Karen. Ask him.” The brother gestured toward the morphling.
“Of course I will ask him. Honestly.” She turned to face the morphling. “Where is it?”
“…It can come out at any time, such as when entering the dungeon.”
“Really.” She didn’t seem entirely convinced but signaled a few guards anyway. They hauled the pedestal over to the dungeon entrance. Meanwhile, she waved over a group of adventurers who had been milling around. “Let’s go.”
They stepped over to where the soldiers had plopped down the pedestal. Karen spoke while prodding the pedestal with her fingers. “These adventurers are familiar with the dungeon and will guide you to the boss chamber at the bottom. All we ask is that you seize control and then maintain a suitable training environment for young adventurers. Uh, won’t you come out now?”
“…Very well. Stand back.”
She took a few steps back, as did her brother Jonathan and the adventurers.
The pedestal reverted to DM’s true form, a 4 meter tall red tentacle monster.
The adventurers shrieked at the suddenness of it. In fact, every eye in the campsite was on DM. Even Karen covered her mouth with her hand, but she quickly recovered her librarian-esque temperament. “V–Very good. Let’s go.”
Apparently, she and her brother would be tagging along with DM and the adventurer escorts. This was quite a change compared to the last time DM invaded a dungeon when he had no support. Still, there was one thing missing.
“…I will bring along some additional escorts,” the morphling reported.
“Escorts?” Karen and Jonathan both looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. “I don’t see—“
“There!” an adventurer shouted, pointing up at the sky. Everyone looked up to see a swarm of wasp-type monsters descending from the sky. As they got close, the area noticeably darkened.
“H–How many are there?” asked Karen.
“…58, all LVL 7.”
“Fifty-eight!? At LVL 7?”
“…Yes. I counted.”
Karen and Jonathan made eye contact, not saying anything. The adventurers turned white but didn’t move. The other guards and attendants in the area were already fleeing in random directions.
“…Is that all right?” The morphling pointed in the direction of people running every which way.
“The fools…” Karen answered. “Don’t worry about them. Let’s go.”
DM noticed that one of the adventurers was wearing a large pack on his back. Carrying gear was important, especially when traveling long distances. However, DM thought it a bit odd that they needed to bring so much gear considering a well-equipped campsite was literally right next to the dungeon entrance. He wouldn’t have been surprised if each person brought a light pack with them, but a heavy one?
“…Why does he have such a large pack?” The morphling pointed.
“He will carry all our items,” Karen answered swiftly. “This way, the rest of the group is unencumbered during combat.”
“…Interesting. So your composition here is typically one helper to carry items and then the rest of the party carries little gear?”
“Yes, exactly. Let’s begin.”
“…You’re coming?”
“Yes, it wouldn’t be right for us to invite you in without joining you.”
“…Who is us? The invitation didn’t specify who exactly was inviting me.”
“What’s with all the questions? Isn’t a new dungeon good for you as well? Especially since a dragon moved into that dungeon in the Upper Gordu, right?” Karen revealed that she was quite knowledgeable.
“…You know about that already?”
“Yes, news travels fast. I’m only here to assist so that you can establish the dungeon training facility, as discussed in your invitation, but if you want, I can ask our leaders to come introduce themselves to you at a later date. Is that acceptable?” Her tone seemed rather condescending, and DM didn’t really want to tick her off. This would be a pretty miserable trip through the dungeon if they weren’t getting along.
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“…That sounds good.” The morphling turned to face Jonathan. “…What about you?”
The man held his hands up palms forward, not wanting to get involved. “I’m just here for the scenery.”
DM noticed Karen narrow her eyes at Jonathan’s answer. He wasn’t really sure why she reacted that way, but he could tell she didn’t get any easier to get along with when you got to know her.
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Kat’s entire party was riding in the back of a wagon as they discussed their plans. “That was fun,” she offered.
“Yeah, the capital’s amazing. When you’re free, at least…” Shiba trailed off, remembering a time before DM freed them when they had passed through the capital involuntarily.
“There were so many quests,” said Lupy. “It’s too bad we couldn’t do more. Especially the monster bounties.”
“We shouldn’t keep away from the Twin Cities for too long,” said Vulp. “I got permission for us to adventure here, but I do need to get back. You do too, right?” She gestured to Bandit.
“Yeah. The capital branch didn’t really say much to me. The Guild Master just said that I was Thaw’s responsibility, but Thaw isn’t even around.”
“I kind of want to learn more necromancy,” said Shiba.
“Oh, I need to get back to the church, too!” Kat eagerly agreed, happy to further develop herself as a healer.
“I guess I should check in with Anne when we get back.” Lupy didn’t sound as eager as the other two, but she wouldn’t mind doing some more work for the organization that Anne was a leader in.
“I think my training’s going to only get harder,” said Vulp. “I probably got more attention than I wanted…”
“You’re practically a hero of the kingdom!” said Kat.
“DM was right,” added Shiba. “He said if you were uh, engaged to Rufus that you would be protected from lots of inconveniences? Now that’s really helpful!”
Vulp brought a hand to her chin. “It’s almost like he knew this would all happen…”
“Maybe he can tell the future?” Lupy suggested.
Kat was hesitant to agree. “I don’t think so. He’s smart but he can’t know what will happen…”
“But remember when he told you exactly what to say to the guard the first time we entered the Twin Cities? It was like he knew exactly what would happen!” Shiba offered excitedly.
“True…” Kat couldn’t deny it. “But I think that was different?”
The girls sighed, realizing they weren’t going to be able to figure anything out right now.
“Let’s stop off and see him on the way back.” Bandit’s suggestion was met with unanimous approval.
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DM followed the adventurers. Karen and Jonathan stayed behind DM. The wasps were all trailing behind the party a good 50 meters or so. If DM needed them, they could arrive in a matter of seconds. Otherwise, they were just in the way. After completing the third floor, DM still hadn’t needed them. The first battle of the fourth floor went pretty much the same way as all the others so far.
“Two zombies!” the scout of the adventurer party announced.
“Same formation!” said the leader.
While the vanguard prepared to receive the monsters, DM slithered up right behind them and reached over their heads with two appendages to slap the zombies into the floor.
>814 damage.
>795 damage.
They were destroyed in one hit each.
>Dungeon has reached LVL 12.
>Dungeon Master has reached LVL 13.
>Dungeon Floor 12 now available.
>Equipment Creation now available.
The dungeon that leveled was his primary, the Lower Gordu Dungeon. DM was actually quite eager to check out that equipment creation ability, but for now he had to finish up his current task. Once he seized control of the dungeon he could teleport back to the Lower Gordu or possibly even try out the feature from this dungeon’s console. He wasn’t sure if that would work but he’d find out soon.
“…We still have a few floors to go, but could one of you tell me about the boss?”
The adventurers had cleared the dungeon many times in the past and did not mind answering the question, especially considering how helpful DM had been so far. They explained that the boss was an elemental, and interestingly enough, each time it spawned it had a different elemental affinity. As a result, they needed to be prepared for any element as they entered the battle. It was weak versus any spell that opposed its own element. Physical attacks were less effective, so bringing a black mage was a must.
“Your attacks are so powerful you can probably overwhelm it even without magic…” the party’s black mage stated, seeming somewhat depressed.
“…Perhaps, but we may as well defeat it with magic the smart way.”
The black mage perked up. “Oh, you need me?”
“…No?”
“Huh?”
“Enough chitchat,” Karen cut in. “Let’s continue on.”
They acquiesced and continued on, taking the most direct route to the bottom of the dungeon. At a pace unlike anything the adventurers had experienced before, they reached the boss chamber. An ice elemental sat in the center of the room, waiting for them to enter.
“What’s the plan?” their scout asked, recognizing that this situation was unlike their many previous forays.
“I guess we’ll just do the usual?” the party leader proposed, unsure of how to handle DM.
“Oh please,” Karen whined. “You’ve been carried by our guest all this time as it is. Just let him take care of it.”
“I–I guess…” said the leader. His party stepped to each side to allow DM access to the boss chamber.
As soon as DM slithered through the door, the elemental began casting its first spell, likely ice spear. Its body of odd geometric shapes spun as the spell formed in the air directly over top of it. DM cast fireball T3 from the tip of an appendage. The two spells released simultaneously.
>13 damage.
>1498 damage.
Needless to say, DM was the winner of the exchange. The adventurers all stood stock-still, but the black mage in particular was stuttering in shock. DM’s fireball spell was at the level you’d see a wyvern use, meanwhile tentacle monsters weren’t even known to cast offensive magic to begin with.
DM noticed Jonathan place a shaking hand on Karen’s shoulder, but she just brushed it off and walked into the room behind DM.
“V–Very impressive. Congratulations on conquering the dungeon. Please do whatever it is you need to while we take a break.”
DM happily slithered over to the console as the rest of the party filed into the chamber. Before manipulating the console, he gave a warning via the morphling. “…Keep an eye out in case the boss respawns before I’m finished. Last time I did this, the process took too long.”
“Leave it to us!” Karen agreed, although it was a bit odd that she, rather than the adventurers, addressed DM’s concern. Regardless, DM was extremely interested to see what the console would say once he started using it. He was also bracing himself for the frustration of watching the console perform updates and reboot multiple times like an Earth operating system.
>Updates are available. The system must restart.
Ah, there it was. He waited for the system to restart while the adventurers removed gear and supplies from the large pack.
>Foreign dungeon master recognized. Would you like to claim ownership of this dungeon? Y/N?
Of course! Yes!
>Confirmed. Please wait.
DM waited a few more moments. Karen seemed to be struggling with something unwieldy, but DM figured he’d leave whatever was going on over there to Jonathan to manage. Jonathan seemed like a sane-enough guy.
>Ownership transferred. Would you like to change your primary dungeon?
I don’t see why. No.
>Confirmed. Please select a unique identifier for this dungeon.
As far as DM was aware, this dungeon didn’t have a name anyone used. It was just the dungeon west of Gulukkhath. He found Gulukkhath to be a difficult name, so he didn’t want to adopt it as-is for the dungeon. He decided to just shorten it.
‘Guluk Dungeon’.
DM noticed Karen walking over, likely curious to see how the process was going or perhaps getting frustrated with how long it was taking. He was too busy typing in the name of the dungeon to pay her any mind, and he didn’t want to draw her ire by interrupting his work.
>Confirmed. Publishing updates to the dungeon network. Please wait.
She must not have been interested in the console itself because she stopped a couple of steps short of where she would be able to see the screen. Instead, she reached around one of DM’s appendages. He paused his effort with the screen to look at exactly what she was doing and noticed her wrapping a large collar around him.
Clank.