The party swiftly looted the gnolls' bodies, securing their Loot Tokens. As anticipated, none possessed a key to the locked door. They also rifled through the various nests in the dormitory per Malik’s instructions, uncovering over a dozen gold coins — a valuable resource used to upgrade certain Buildings — hidden among the blankets they used.
Speaking of the nests, there were twelve in total. With six gnolls defeated, at least six more lurked somewhere in the dungeon. In addition to them were the boss and an unknown number of elite monsters. Low-grade dungeons like this didn't house a large number of monsters overall, since they were designed for beginners.
Before moving on, Elena allowed the party time to rest, recognizing the need to recover their Stamina before engaging in another battle. During this respite, Elena retrieved her Quarterstaff to employ the Meditation Skill. The last gnoll she’d fought had damaged more than just her Health; the Quarterstaff had lost over ten Durability. Each parried strike diminished it by one, while the heavy strike that had shattered stone had taken five Durability.
To repair the weapon, a Woodworker was necessary, but Elena doubted her luck in acquiring an Artisan with that Discipline anytime soon. Alternatively, a Woodworker’s Apprentice could make partial repairs if her territory had a Workshop, unlockable only after upgrading the Arch of Champions. Vigilance in combat would be crucial to her avoiding a complete loss of combat effectiveness if the weapon broke.
Once rested, they chose to explore the room opposite the dormitory since, considering the known layout of the dungeon, it was less likely to be the boss room. There was only a single monster inside the room, a gnoll with patches of red fur and small horns. It was sleeping when they burst in, so despite being an elite monster it was killed instantly. This was exactly the kind of advantage that came from stopping the gnolls earlier from warning the others.
Aside from its unique appearance, the party was able to identify it as an elite enemy because it took more hits than usual to kill. This gnoll also had a key in one of its pockets. Although they couldn’t be sure that it unlocked the door in the entry hall, it was highly likely. There were also four nests for them to loot which provided the party with seventeen Gold.
An adjoining room, cleared by the party, revealed another elite adversary and an extraordinary feature — a rectangular pool filled with swirling blood.
“Do you know what this is, Malik?” Elena asked while examining the podium at the head of the pool. There was a book on the podium written in some foreign language that clearly didn’t originate on Earth. Although she couldn’t read it, the book had a few diagrams depicting a gnoll draining several humanoids’ blood into the pool then bathing in it.
“If I had to guess, this is the unique facility of this dungeon. Although I’m not sure exactly what it does, my guess is that it's a way to create a special troop type,” Malik said while examining the corpse of the elite gnoll they had killed. “You can see that this gnoll is partially demonized, which is probably related to this pool of blood. We can probably expect that the boss monster is also demonized to some extent, which gives us some information to work with when planning our raid of the boss room.”
“Is it usable now? We can probably figure out how to use it just from the diagrams in this book. If we can’t capture enough gnolls, we could use those captured civilians to make up the numbers,” Elena suddenly felt enlightened. “Actually, that's probably why the gnolls have them in the first place.”
Malik shook his head with a sigh.
“We’ll only be able to use a dungeon’s facility after we beat and then occupy it.”
“A pity,” Elena said. She would need to occupy this dungeon as soon as possible in the future. From what Malik had told her, it was quite the process. Not only did you need to build a path all the way to the dungeon, but you also needed to station a soldier in the dungeon for fifteen days, during which other Lords could snatch it from you.
“Let’s go unlock the room in the entry hall now,” Elena said to the party. The elite gnoll in this room also had a key, and it was identical to the first one they found, meaning it was almost certainly the key for the locked door.
As for why she had decided to backtrack instead of exploring the last door in the intersection outside the dormitory, it was because the locked room was less likely to be the boss room. Boss rooms were typically situated in either the corners opposite the entrance or the center of a dungeon. Based on what they knew of the map so far, the boss room was far more likely to be behind the door in the intersection than the locked door.
The locked room turned out to be a combined storehouse and study. There were dozens of crates of supplies in the room and the back was a raised dais where a single elite gnoll was engaging in some form of prayer, an enemy that was swiftly killed.
Most of the supplies were food and water but that was just fine to Elena since those were things she was in need of. Although they could hunt beasts for Meat, until she built a Canteen ther was no way for them to cook it so they weren’t allowed to eat it. Water was even harder to come by as they would need to go fetch some from the various streams in the area or kill a monster and hope it dropped some.
Although it would take several days for them to die of hunger or thirst thanks to the rules of the afterlife, if Citizens didn’t have anything to eat or drink their Loyalty would rapidly decrease. Although Elena hadn’t confirmed if it was possible, she was fairly sure that if a Citizen killed their Lord they could replace them. As such, low Loyalty had to be avoided at all costs.
The other door in the storeroom led to a curved hallway. Right outside the door was a normal gnoll, and halfway down the hallway were two heavily drunk gnolls. All three were easily dispatched by the party. Their coordination was getting better thanks to their experience fighting together.
The hallway had four doors: the one to the storeroom, one across from that, a door to the intersection outside the dormitory, and a door across from that. Malik had guessed that the two unknown doors connected to the same large circular room which was likely to be the boss room. As such, they rested in the hallway so that they could enter at full strength.
Elena also used this time to check her system pane. She’d reached the first milestone in experience after killing one of the drunk gnolls and had her Survivability increased by one. Each point of Survivability would increase her Armor by one and after reaching five points she would gain a special skill. Gaining a stat point also raised her maximum Health by 1 and her maximum Stamina by 10.
When they were ready, they burst into the room. It was massive, almost thirty meters in diameter. In the center was a slightly lowered square area with pillars on each corner. In the center of that was a well and an elite gnoll eating something out of a bowl. On the wall to the groups left was stairs to a raised platform on which another gnoll was cooking something in a massive pot. On the wall opposite them was a raised pathway that covered a quarter of the wall. On each end there was a large black dog covered in flames chained in an alcove. In the middle of the raised passage was an entryway covered in a cloth curtain.
Having known beforehand that there would only be two gnolls, the party split into two groups. The first way Elena on her own took care of the normal gnoll by rushing up and swiftly beating it to death. The elite gnoll was killed by the rest of the group. Malik fired three arrows in quick succession into the monster, then Carmen and the civilians hacked it to pieces. Neither monster had been prepared for a fight so they were easily disposed of.
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Right as Carmen finished off the elite gnoll, a deep guttural roar sounded from behind the curtain at the other side of the room. A massive gnoll, more than twice the height of the others, stepped out from behind the curtain wielding an enormous axe. It had long jagged horns coming out of its forehead and was deep red. It also had more pronounced fangs than the other gnolls.
When he saw the dead bodies of the other two gnolls, the boss let out a blood curdling howl then released a wave of sickly energy at the party. When the energy hit her, Elena felt her strength rapidly fade. She’d been jumping down from the platform at the time and nearly fell flat on her face. If she hadn’t been trained to fight while drugged she wouldn’t have been able to catch herself in time. Carmen had been charging at the boss and tripped due to the sudden lack of strength while Malik’s arrow flew wild.
Seeing the boss charge towards the fallen Carmen, Elena hurriedly pulled a paper slip out of her pocket, then tore it while staring at the boss.
In that same instant, a massive clap of thunder could be heard as the boss was struck by a bolt of divine lightning, charring its red fur black. Although it didn’t die, it was stopped in its tracks, giving the rest of the party time to recover.
Malik was a professional. Once he saw the boss falter, Malik instantly fired an arrow into its eye. Although it wouldn’t deal more damage, it would limit the monster’s vision. Carmen also reacted quickly. She pushed off the ground and quickly stabbed the boss before retreating to avoid a powerful slash of its axe.
The boss looked aggrieved that it hadn’t been able to squash the ants that had moments ago been helpless before it. It was confident in its strength but having lost its momentum, the boss tried to break away so that it could free one of the two large dogs, allowing it to join the fight.
Seeing this, Elena immediately ordered the two civilians to attack and block the monster’s path. Without hesitation, the two charged forwards and slashed their swords uselessly against the monster’s thick fur.
With an angry bark, the boss slashed downwards at Jamal and split the man’s body in two, tearing it apart at the chest. Elena felt complicated emotions when she saw that. It wasn’t that she felt bad, Jamal hadn’t died after all, merely re-entered the cycle of reincarnation, and even if he had, how could someone like her feel bad about killing someone? No, her emotions came from how despite the clear fear and unwillingness on Jamal’s face, he had charged forwards as if he hadn’t cared for his life. Was this the effect of his Loyalty score? It was more horrifying than she had thought.
Having been delayed by killing Jamal, the boss was quickly pinned down by Malik, Carmen, and even Elena who had reached the monster. Not all of their attacks landed, but they were able to somewhat handle the boss’s movements.
Knowing it was dead if the situation didn’t change, the boss turned towards Elena with its muscles bulging wildly, its veins like earthworms. Having been prepared for this, Elena dodged behind the other civilian, Isabella and ordered her to block the attack.
She darted forwards, holding her sword with both hands like a shield in a futile attempt to preserve her life in the face of the powerful attack. When the axe collided with the blade, it split the latter in two, shattering it into countless fragments. The axe-head continued on its path, cutting off Isabella’s arm at the shoulder. She didn’t die, but there was no doubt that the injuries were too severe. She would bleed out within half an hour.
Elena captured the opening left by the rebound of the gnolls attack to dash into its blind spot before unleashing a combo of strikes using her quarterstaff. On the third hit, the boss’s body twitched, collapsing like a puppet that had lost its strings. Although none of the blows had been fatal, once it ran out of Health the rules of the afterlife dicated that it would die on the spot.
With the boss dead, there was only one thing left to do: claim the Dungeon Clear Token. It would spawn in the very last room of the dungeon inside a chest. Glancing back at Malik, Elena gave him a look before pulling herself onto the walkway at the other side of the room and slipping past the curtain.
Malik and Carmen stayed behind to deal with the aftermath of the battle. The large dogs were slaughtered by Malik while Carmen collected the Loot Tokens from the various dead enemies. Finally, Malik shot and killed Isabella. She wouldn’t make it until the infirmary was finished and entering the cycle of reincarnation faster was better than bleeding out slowly.
The room behind the curtain was an oddly shaped bedroom/study. A massive pile of blankets was piled in one corner, the boss’s nest which Elena searched and found twenty-six Gold. There was also a table and a desk on the other side. The table had various bowls and scraps of food. The desk was the most interesting. There was a notebook that Elena suspected was a journal, and a small chest.
Elena pocketed the notebook, then opened the chest to take the fist sized coin from inside. As soon as she touched the coin a notification appeared in her vision.
[Gnarsh’s Domain: Cleared]
[Clear Time: 2 hours 22 minutes (No Bonus)]
[Clear Rate: 100% (+3 Draws)]
When she left the room she found Malik and Carmen eating bowls of the strange stew the gnolls had been eating. When he saw her, Malik put down his spoon and pointed to a third bowl of steaming stew next to him.
With a plop, Elena sat down and sniffed at the bowl. The stew’s aroma was thick with an herbaceous and almost nutty smell. She could see mushrooms of some kind and succulent meat from an unknown creature mized in. Tentatively lifting the spoon, she dipped it into the bowl and scooped up a steaming portion.
As she brought the first spoonful to her lips, Elena was greeted by a surprising burst of flavors. The meat melted in her mouth, tender and succulent, while the mushrooms provided a crisp and vibrant contrast. The textures danced on her palate, creating a symphony of sensations that left her pleasantly surprised.
The velvety broth coated her tongue in a slightly sticky residue that tasted of herbs and fat. Hints of subtle spice teased her taste buds, and with each subsequent spoonful, Elena found herself enchanted by the harmonious blend of flavors. As she continued to indulge in the mystery stew, she marveled at the monsters' culinary mastery.
Elena smiled with satisfaction. If this was what the afterlife had to offer, good food and good fights, it was far closer to heaven than some stupid angels and clouds. Even if she failed as a Lord, as long as she could become a Champion she’d have no regrets.
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What remained of the party arrived at the base late in the afternoon, arms full of loot pulled from the dungeon and with the rescued Civilians in tow. There had been hundreds of resources stashed in the dungeon but they were only able to carry a few so Elena prioritized Meals, Water, and Iron. It wasn’t much but it would be enough to last until she was able to loot the dungeon again tomorrow.
The first thing she did when she got back was start the specialization process for the Standard-Grade Tent Maria had finished building. Elena’s Health had been constantly decreasing after having the Bleeding status inflicted and she was currently at six Health. Any delay introduced unnecessary risks.
Maria had finished all of the queued construction while the party was clearing the dungeon and was currently resting, so Elena had the rescued Civilians handle the construction process. They had the Exhausted status which meant their Stamina was reduced to a tenth of its normal value, but there were enough of them to finish the process even with that restriction.
In order to cure them, Elena needed to do three things: feed them a Meal, treat them with first aid, and allow them to get eight hours of sleep in a bed. The first was settled with the food they brought from the dungeon. After the Infirmary was completed, they would be able to settle the second requirement. The last requirement would also be settled tonight as there were enough beds for everyone in the Territory thanks to Maria’s hard work.
While they worked, Maria also queued up the Canteen specialization and four more Tents. Of the requirements for upgrading the Arch of Champions she only had three left: build a Canteen, build an Infirmary, and have 100 Gold. The buildings would be finished early tomorrow morning. It would be sooner but Civilians couldn’t do construction work at night so the building process would be automatically halted at 20:00. As for the Gold, Elena had 57 now, and after redeeming the Loot Token’s she had, she was confident in reaching the target value.
With the territory’s chores taken care of, Elena left the Command Center and walked over to the Arch of Champions. It was time to redeem the Loot Token’s she’d gotten from the dungeon!