Chapter 5: Worms &Greater Demons & Liches—Oh My
With Grace on her way north and everyone else journeying west toward the capital, DM momentarily turned his attention to Sasha’s party. They were traveling the central region in the Empire, checking out the dungeons and asking around at the local Guild branches. So far, they hadn’t seemed to have learned much, but at least they weren’t attacked by any wyverns recently.
Although the Union and Empire were DM’s primary focuses, he gave a moment of thought to yet another nation: The Grand Duchy of Crystrand. The border with the Grand Duchy was only a couple day’s travel south of the Twin Cities. Both the Holy State and the Empire shared a long border with the Grand Duchy, although DM hadn’t heard much about what that country was like or how its relations were with its two neighbors.
Grummanonth had said he sensed a dragon to the south. Given the layout of the continent, most likely the dragon was situated in the Grand Duchy. Also, the dragon to the north was either living somewhere in the Nar Union or was well to the northeast in the Eranamean Theocracy. To DM’s knowledge, the continent only held these five nations. The other dragons Grummanonth mentioned must have existed on some other continent to the east. DM would ask about it when he had the opportunity.
“DM.”
“Ah, Grummanonth the Moonwalker.”
“As you saw, I’ve planted the seeds for a mutually beneficial relationship between this dungeon and the Nar Union.”
“Yes, Grace is a bit odd, but I’m sure she’ll deliver your message. I suspect she’ll take on a similar role for your dungeon as Olivia currently does for my own.”
“I apologize for implying that you and I are at odds; however, I believe that to be the best method of thawing relations between the dungeon and the Union.”
“No, not a problem, Grummanonth. Please feel free to pretend whatever you need to regarding our relationship so long as, in reality, you and I are still cooperating and coordinating our efforts.”
“Thank you for your understanding,” the dragon replied telepathically. “Also, do not forget that I cannot monitor you or your activities as you monitor mine. You will need to tell me anything I need to know.”
“That’s true. I should tell you the details of my relationship with people I’ve encountered so far. After I do that, you’ll probably see why I have no moral problem with misleading others about the nature of our relationship.”
DM proceeded to explain what each member of Kat’s party was up to recently, including their secret associations. He also covered events until now regarding Sasha’s party, Daphne’s party, and Barney. Perhaps he was being a bit too trusting of the dragon, providing so many of his secrets, but DM felt he couldn’t afford to hold back. Grummanonth was currently the only being capable of understanding him, and he had a wealth of knowledge, clearly.
“Thank you, DM. The more information you share with me, the better we can establish ourselves as the dominant power in the central region of this continent.”
“You mean, if we were further north or south, we’d be competing with the nearby dragon?”
“Precisely. We should remain cautious about expanding too far from this region, though.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. For now, I have my eyes on a nearby dungeon over the border in the Empire, but judging from what happened the last time I conquered a dungeon, I’ll need to proceed cautiously.”
“I’m perfectly content with the outcome of your last acquisition,” Grummanonth remarked from the bottom of his newly-acquired dungeon. “I will say, taking control of yet another dungeon would be beneficial.”
“Oh? What are the benefits?” DM had ideas, but he didn’t know for sure.
“With each new dungeon you control, the odds of opening up a slot for a dragon increase.”
“A slot?”
“Have you noticed that you can only summon one dragon right now?”
“Oh…” DM honestly hadn’t tried summoning a second one. One seemed like enough, given how intelligent and proactive Grummanonth was.
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“Each dungeon you possess has a chance of gaining the ability to spawn a single dragon. The Upper Gordu Dungeon may gain that ability as it receives more experience, or it may not. Obtaining another dungeon doubles your chances or more. I don’t know the exact formulas involved, though.”
“Oh, that reminds me!” DM thought back to the creatures Kat’s party could summon. “Do you know why the girls are able to summon monsters after being in contact with them for a while?”
“All I know about that is that only one monster can be attuned to an individual at a time. Not all monsters can be summoned in that manner.”
DM had to ask. “What about dragons?”
“Well… It would use up one of the slots we were talking about earlier.”
“So I’d have to dismiss you in order to teach someone to be able to summon a dragon all by themselves?”
“Indeed. Unless one of your other dungeons can spawn dragons.”
“How would one of the girls change what they can summon?”
“If they minimize time with their monster spawned or don’t summon a monster for a while, they’ll eventually lose compatibility and need to re-attune. I don’t know how long it takes.”
“Will the dragon lose its memories every time it’s summoned?”
“Hm.” For once, Grummanonth did not immediately reply with an answer or an admittance that he didn’t know something. “I’m not sure.”
“Rare for you.”
“Indeed.”
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Although a bit late, DM decided to try summoning the other creatures he recently unlocked. In addition to dragon, the available creature types were worm, lich, and greater demon.
First he summoned a worm. It was nothing like the worms on Earth. Larger than even DM’s current form, the worm was massive and could burrow beneath the floor. Although not that helpful to DM in the dungeon, he thought the worm could be very useful out in the real world under some circumstances. He modified the dungeon slightly so that the worm could make its way outside.
Once in the forest, the worm succeeded in burrowing into the ground. He could probably instruct the worm to emerge in the middle of the Twin Cities if he wanted to, but there was no point in doing that now. The hardest part was navigating the worm after it submerged. The further from DM he sent it, the less precise its understanding of where it was. He actually lost track of time while playing around with the worm but eventually moved on.
Next was a lich. Like the other summoned minions at T1, it couldn’t speak, although it was clearly one of the more intelligent monsters at his disposal, despite just being a skeleton in a fancy robe and ceremonial headgear. It didn’t carry any useful items for DM to absorb, but it could cast T3 elemental spells. He wrapped an appendage around it.
>Ice Spear has increased to T3.
>Lightning Bolt has increased to T3.
>Air Blast has increased to T3.
>Earth Spike has increased to T3.
Dismissing the lich, he summoned a greater demon. In addition to its superior stature compared to a lesser demon, it carried a more impressive sword.
>Absorbed sword (T3).
>Gained 10 STR.
>Poison Touch has increased to T2.
He noticed that each greater demon spawned with a different strike ability enchanted onto its sword. He repeatedly absorbed their swords and dismissed them, getting most of his touch abilities up to T2. He couldn’t get the strength boost multiple times, but he’d have been surprised if that worked anyway.
>Slow Touch has increased to T2.
>Berserk Touch has increased to T2.
>Mana Touch has increased to T2.
>Health Touch has increased to T2.
>Paralysis Touch has increased to T2.
>Stone Touch has increased to T2.
>Confusion Touch has increased to T2.
>Sleep Touch has increased to T2.
It took a surprising amount of time to randomly summon greater demons with swords that had each of those abilities. Essentially, he had to keep rolling a 9-sided die until all nine numbers came up, except he wasn’t sure how many sides the die even had. Ultimately, he gave up after 40 or so swords.
Satisfied with his new creatures, he cycled his vision to Barney’s and saw that the undercover agent wanted to speak. Barney was walking around a city though so DM would have to wait.
Eventually, Barney stepped into an unoccupied alley, at which point DM summoned a tentacle right in front of him. The tentacle gestured towards Barney and then disappeared. Barney got the hint and proceed straight to his inn, where he was promptly charmed.
DM learned that the Union was doing a much poorer job of keeping information confidential following the failed invasion of the Holy State compared to before the attack. The loss of so many soldiers, not to mention virtually all of the adventurers that volunteered to participate, was causing panic throughout the southern regions of the nation. Rumors were running wild that the Holy State would counterattack and that monsters would be among their ranks. Some citizens were even escaping north to avoid the looming conflict.
Of course, DM had a front row seat to all of Lord Davidson’s conversations on the matter, courtesy of Vulp, so he knew the Twin Cities had no immediate plans for an offensive. Certainly, the meetings in the capital would address how to retaliate in response to the Union’s actions, but he was looking forward to seeing that for himself. He just hoped that the girls he targeted with infect didn’t get their statuses discovered in the capital. Then again, even if they did, they could just play dumb. If the only crime DM was responsible for was supposedly infecting anyone he could get his tentacles on because he was bored, he’d probably get off with a warning.
DM had Barney transcribe a short message providing an update to himself and then released the charm effect. Barney would continue monitoring sentiment in the southern regions of the Union. Eventually, Barney would need to come up with a better cover story for why he was there, not just to seem less suspicious but also because he would need the money.
DM turned his attention back to the caravan approaching the capital.