The quest conditions were abstract, but Viv had a hunch on what to do. Before that, he had to decide who was going to be the floor’s guardian.
The obvious choice was Lyn. He was the strongest one there, and the one that had protected this floor the most, but Viv had much grander hopes for him. It wouldn’t make sense for someone who would one day cast high tier spells to guard the first floor - no one would come here to die in vain.
A hellfire goblin, although strong, would be inefficient to further modify since it was based on a regular goblin. That left him with the goblin warchief. First, the creature had to prove itself before having the chance of being named.
The warchief was worth the same amount of mana as the hellfire goblin - a total of 40 mana. When it was time to summon it, Viv had every goblin gather around in the arena. They all collectively let out a sigh of relief when they found out they didn’t have to fight again.
When the warchief appeared, there was nothing but silence. It towered over the goblins present, and, instinctually, the goblins felt both fear and respect. Its body was lean and covered in scars, though no one could mistake it for being malnourished.
Moving a step up from goblin warriors, it had proper leather armour and two steel shortswords in its hands. As it scanned the room, it glared at Lyn with a wicked glint in its eyes. The two stared at each other as goblins held their breath, wondering what was going to happen next.
Lyn broke eye contact first, taking a small step back. He had no intention to lead goblins, he had more important things to do. The warchief, feeling superior, started to command the goblins with authority.
“Short, stinky goblin. You no good, not fit to be warrior. You are vanguard, you go die first. You, the tall one, you are my bodyguard. Protect me with your life,” it pointed at Artorius, recognizing his strength.
It would’ve continued to command them if Viv didn’t step in. Although unwilling, it shut up and followed Viv’s orders. It would have to be taught manners later, just like the rest of them.
“Artorius, go grab the sword and the shield. I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself. If you manage to defeat the warchief, I’ll forgive your shame and make you the guardian instead.”
He scurried off to grab the loot they recovered from the pit. The process of doing so involved lowering a goblin down using tied up clothes, which meant the goblin would die if it made a mistake. Regardless, they managed to recover the chainmail that was too big for any goblin, the arming sword, and the shield.
Goblin Warchief (D)
A goblin who has survived a hundred battles through any means possible - a leader of minor war parties when a goblin king arises. Skilled in both deceit and leadership, other goblins feel an instinctual sense of respect towards the warchief.
Abilities - Double Strike, Intimidating Cry.
Due to Viv’s title, the goblin wasn’t as strong as Lyn, but it certainly had potential. Viv was debating on whether to try and bring another spell into the interface when Artorius arrived. The goblin looked awkward - both the shield and the sword were too big for him, not to mention he didn’t have any experience wielding them.
“The only rule - no killing allowed. Don’t make me waste mana.”
The goblin warchief scoffed at the sorry display, raising up its shortswords and dropping to a lower stance. Artorius raised his shield straight in front of him. Similarly lowering his stance, he charged straight ahead, hoping to knock the warchief to the ground.
With a quick sidestep, the warchief dodged the charge and slashed at the goblin’s right side. Artorius’ sword met two blades, barely parrying the blow before momentum carried him forward. He quickly turned around, only to be met by another pair of blows.
The warchief gave no time for him to regain his bearings, blow after blow went after Artorius, some being blocked by his shield, the other cutting into his flesh. An onslaught of blows left him no time to breathe. Retreating backwards, he pressed his body against the shield and desperately rushed at the warchief once again.
This time, it was too close to properly dodge. The two of them went tumbling to the floor.
It was a desperate grapple. Both were equally skilled on the ground, and neither of them could gain an advantage. Finally, the warchief tossed him off and scrambled to get to its feet.
Once again, the two stood at a standstill. This time, Artorius took it slow. His arming sword had reach, and his shield was big enough to block most strikes. Any time the warchief wanted to get closer, Artorius would take the opportunity to strike. Once, twice, the battle continued for minutes on end.
And yet, despite all of this, he was still losing. He had numerous cuts he was bleeding from, and the shield was heavy - he was getting exhausted. On the other side, the warchief was only bruised, and as it turned out after this stalemate, it wasn’t only his body that was bruised.
Shouting in anger, its voice went from shrill to guttural in a moment. Resembling a howl or a roar of a beast, it was deafening, the goblins watching having no choice but to cover their ears. Artorius had no such luxury. Facing the cry straight on, he felt as if he was staring down a hungry wolf, ready to pounce at any second.
His hands started to shake, and his vision went blurry. He raised his shield even higher, hoping it would give him protection from what was about to come. It was of no use. While Artorius was shaking, the warchief circled around to his back. A quick stab, the two daggers went straight through his stomach. Just like that, the fight was over.
Artorius turned around to strike back at the warchief, but halfway through the motion, he collapsed. Dropping his shield, he clutched his stomach, but the blood wouldn’t stop.
“Artorius, you lost,” Viv’s voice announced to him.
The warchief turned to the goblins watching and let out a warcry. This time, the goblins bowed down, having seen the second strongest of them defeated. The warchief let out a laugh, which, halfway, turned into a shout of pain.
Still clutching his bleeding stomach, Artorius’ sword swung down on the warchief’s arm as hard as he could. The arm went flying through the air as the warchief howled. It was a show of skill that it didn’t collapse from the pain. Instead, it turned to face Artorius, face contorted in rage.
Its shortsword shone with a red light as it soared through the air. It was so quick that when Artorius’ head flew from his shoulders, his face was still smug from managing to ambush the warchief.
The silence that followed was just as deafening as the shout from earlier. Every goblin had fought and shared a laugh with Artorus. Although he could easily revive, the sight would be forever burned into the goblins’ memories.
“Pathetic,” was all that Lyn said.
Blade was looking to the side. Tamiel shed silent tears. Zagon’s head was still bowed. As for Viv - he contemplated on what to do. Artorius’ life was worth miniscule amounts of mana, but that didn’t mean the warchief could blatantly disregard his command.
“You won, but you also broke the rules. Are you strong enough to take responsibility for that? You have two options - either you die by Lyn’s hands, or you obey me and take punishment. Which will it be?”
The warchief snarled, turning to the grinning Lyn. His entire body ignited, burning with a dark flame. The victorious goblin turned to look at its arm, then dropped to the ground, kneeling.
“Scorch his back, make him scream.” Lyn did so with joy. The warchief’s screams could be heard echoing through the cave for minutes on end.
When it was all done, he re-summoned Artorius to watch the ceremony and to contemplate his shame. He didn’t meet the warchief’s eyes when it went over to gloat, describing its victory in great detail despite its previous humiliation of being burned.
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“Settle down. As a result of your victory, I shall be granting you powers beyond your imagination,” the goblin warchief kneeled, though its eyes were full of doubt.
Withering Touch and Burn Life. Combining both was 75 mana, having been made cheaper by his title. The two spells lit up on his orb and engraved themselves on the goblin’s skin. The goblin looked around, and, despite not being a mage, it felt the torrent of mana centre on itself. The blood dripping from its missing arm turned black, and, bit by bit, the arm started to solidify.
As a new arm began to be formed, the colour from the goblin’s body started to fade, leaving behind only a shade of grey. Its face began to rapidly age, and thick, black veins leading to its arm began to manifest.
The arm was pitch black, similar to that of spilt ink. It pulsed with power, and with each pulse, the black veins spread across the entire body. The process was complete when the warchief was covered from head to toe with grotesque veins.
The once-powerful body was now withered and aged. Its voice, previously shrill, was croaky and slow. “I feel... strange.”
Creature Gained - Cursed Goblin (C)
Despite its body moving slowly, its arm was incredibly quick. It was like the arm had a mind of its own, going from one direction to another, opening and closing as it reached toward other goblins.
“It would be wise to test out your arm first, but I’m someone who believes in ceremony and rituals. As someone who has received my gift, I name you Xeel - the word for victorious in demon’s tongue.”
Once again, his body began to change, but Viv had no intention of seeing it through. He felt the mental link that connected him and Xeel, and he began to communicate with his soul.
“I name you guardian of the first floor, protector of goblins. Your right arm will be a reminder of strength and humility. But, for disobeying me, you must pay the price. I share with you my pain.”
“The pain of injury, the pain of torture, the pain of betrayal, and the pain of loss. The pain of being born and the pain of dying. I’ve experienced it all.”
“I subject you to agony in hopes that you won’t break. Feel this pain and never let your kin experience the same that you did.”
There were no words to describe the symphony of pain Xeel was feeling. He wanted to scream, but his voice was lost. He wanted to run, but there was only darkness ahead. But, in the middle of the darkness, he felt his soul brush over tiny spots of light. Flames so feeble they could be overwhelmed at any time, but they hung on.
There weren’t a lot of the flames, and some burned brighter than others, but they all shared in his darkness. His flame was gone, and it was much to ask for, but he borrowed a piece of theirs, hoping they would forgive him one day. Now, in his soul of endless darkness, a fire brightly blazed, scaring away the darkest shadows.
When he opened his eyes, he saw the darkness stretch out before him. The entire room was plunged into shadow, and when he moved, it rippled beneath like ink. Looking at himself, he was no longer fit to be called a goblin. The darkness had swallowed even him.
Xeel’s entire body, while retaining humanoid features, was pitch black. His eyes shone with red light as he extended his arm, examining it closely. Just like the darkness below him, it rippled every time he moved it. If his body was ink, then the arm was void, absorbing everyone who looked at it. In his left arm, he held a jet black longsword, his raven-like wings sending ripples through the ink pool.
“I might have messed up. He’s too powerful for the first floor.” Viv mused to himself, still admiring the transformation.
Xeel (C)
Sharing the soul of a demon lord, the goblin learned what it was to feel pain. Borrowing power from his kin, he shall shoulder their pain and inflict it on his enemies, dragging the whole world down screaming if he had to.
Abilities - Abyssal Shriek, World of Curses.
There was no one left standing in the room - the others fled in terror when darkness began consuming the room, fearing they would be consumed along with it. Despite that, they all felt when he woke up, they all felt a presence that blazed like an inferno.
Main Quest 06 Complete.
Reward - Awakening, Advanced Dungeon Fairy, Dungeon Gate.
Viv wanted to examine Xeel and test his abilities, but before he could do that, the interface rudely interrupted him. The same black letters from when he first came here drew his attention as something was happening in his soul.
Commencing Awakening.
Awakening soul - no intelligence.
Error
Intelligence detected.
Conflicting protocols.
Faulty soul detected.
Overriding soul.
If anything could make the demon lord feel fear, it was this. Inside the cloudy orb, a powerful force started to squeeze his soul. From the spot where Viv’s soul receded, another one began to be formed.
He had never seen anything of the like. The soul being formed was still small, but it was pure white - something even angels struggled to have. It symbolised innocence and a new beginning, a vessel that could be shaped in any way possible. A necromancer would cry tears of joy at something like this.
But, it was trying to take over his soul - a sin deserving of death. Viv recalled his consciousness into the orb, now staring face to face with the soul. Rapidly, it expanded, pressing up against his soul. Wherever the white touched, his soul would dissipate, being absorbed into the foreign entity.
“A valiant effort. Unfortunately, you’ve chosen the wrong target.”
His soul, previously a blob of darkness, began to take human form. It towered over the white soul, growing wings and a demon’s tail. In his hands formed his signature weapon - a spear of ruined lightning. It crackled, sending black shivers through the sky. The world inside the orb darkened, and the orb began to shake, barely holding on to the pedestal
Flapping his wings, he flew straight into the air. Drawing back his arm, the lightning coalesced into a thick pillar of darkness, thin tendrils greedily licking life out of his surroundings.
“Say goodbye.”
While the whole world was rocking back and forth, the white soul was shivering even harder. It stopped expanding, opting to shrink itself, condensing into the size of a small pebble.
Instead of throwing his spear, Viv kicked through the air, falling down like a meteor. Just as the spear was about to pierce the soul, he stopped. Instead, he grabbed it in his left hand.
“Cage of Agony,” he manifested a spell he knew through sheer imagination. A blood red cage covered in briar thorns appeared around the soul.
Releasing the soul from his hand, it fell down on the ground, howling as the impact made it touch the red bars. Immediately, it retreated to the middle of the cage, careful not to touch any part of it.
“I was going to kill you, but it would be a shame to do so. For now, you’ll stay here until I decide what to do with you.”
Error
Soul overriding success/failure.
Assigning advanced fairy.
After that, no more messages came. To Viv, it almost felt like the interface had given up. Following that, he felt a vortex of mana appear, similar to the time when Viv shared his pain with Xeel. When the vortex faded, a tiny creature was flying through the air.
“Heeeeelllloooooo. My name is Pecan, wonderful to see you, new dungeon! Wait a minute. What the hell is going on here?”
He looked strange. Just like most intelligent races in the world, he had a human appearance, but with some major changes. Two pairs of translucent wings grew on his back, and he was covered with a green mix of chitin and scales, which became darker as it approached his arms. He had two massive ears, three times as long as his head.
Viv had no idea what to make of this creature - fairies were extremely rare, not to mention dungeon fairies. And so, he said nothing, carefully watching what Pecan would do. For safety, he ordered Xeel to approach his orb.
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Something’s gone wrong here. I’ll access your interface real quick and see what has happened.”
Pecan’s head snapped from one side to another, reading something Viv couldn’t see. Halfway through, he rubbed his eyes, pinched himself in the arm, and shouted in surprise.
“This can’t be right. Right here it says Viv Atelair. And here it says you were stripped of the title ‘Demon Lord of Shattered Sky. My god, I’ve never seen a title that powerful before.”
The cat was out of the metaphorical bag. “It is true. You stand before Viv, the ruling Demon Lord. Kneel.”
A million thoughts must have flashed through Pecan’s head, but in his confusion, he still managed to land on the ground and kneel. After he was allowed to stand, he zipped to the dungeon core and pressed his forehead right against it.
“Ooooh, I see what’s happened now. I’m not sure about the first error, or how you even got here, but the second one is self-explanatory. I feel a little bad for the soul, but there was no chance it was going to win in the first place,” he said, looking straight at the cage.
Viv was carefully examining his reaction for any hostility, but the fairy played it cool. He looked conflicted for a few moments, flying back and forth, but finally, it landed on the floor, determined.
“Well, every protocol says that I should report this to the king, but I don’t think that’s going to end well for me. I would rather prefer to exist, thank you very much. So, I will reintroduce myself - my name is Pecan Brightoad. Uh, Your Majesty, I am going to be your guide.”
“Despite this strange situation, I’m looking forward to working with you. I believe that with our might combined, we can create the strongest dungeon. After that, well, I just hope to survive no matter what happens.”