Chapter 71: Interspecies Relations

Sunday, April 16th, 7:51 AM

Dungeon Ciara

[Unbelievable! How could a Dungeon summon us as minions while harboring goblins?] The black-and-green spider, who was half Nita’s size, bristled across from Leeft, with whom she would share my second floor. Her front pair of legs were raised, and her chelicerae were open wide, showing not one, but two pairs of fangs.

For her part, Leeft narrowed her eyes in a predatory manner to leer at the first enkelyn I’d summoned as a minion. Drool escaped from the corner of her mouth.

[I don’t know how things were on Gaia, but you’re on Earth, now. You are both here to help, and I expect you to be friendly with one another.]

Leeft cocked her head. “Why must we be friends with food?”

[I’ll give no quarter to goblin savages.] The spider spat something past the goblin, who tensed. Whatever it was sliced a small branch off a redwood.

[Stop it, both of you. Do I have to seal you off in your own little chambers until you decide to listen? Don’t make me come down there.]

I had the Palomar tiger who’d arrived with Leeft growl at them to punctuate my words.

“Not will anger Creator-Dungeon!” Leeft seemed to forget her grammar as she dropped to her knees and pressed her head against the forest floor.

The spider said, [I am grateful for my salvation from those hells-damned Dakanians, though I seem to have found myself in yet another position of slavery.]

[You are not slaves. But we are fighting a war to save Earth, and I don’t have time to watch over the two of you like children. Lord Auronox granted me the powers of a Dungeon to keep another Dragon from destroying my world.]

[Lord Auronox?] The spider cowered, tucking her legs in. [The world… is contested?] She sounded horrified.

[Yes. Two Dragons have sent forces to fight over my world. There was no magic here, before. Now, there are at least two Dungeons. Possibly three.]

[Three Dungeons on one world?] The spider sounded terrified, and she balled-up even tighter.

Leeft looked up. “Creator-Dungeon, this one did not know. Until enemies of the Crystal Lord are dead, Leeft will fight alongside her food.” Her face twitched as she spoke.

The spider sighed. [If that is the case, then we have no choice. Our fates are tied to yours, after all. I ask that you free more of our people. Enkelyn lack the brute strength of goblins, but we wield potent magics.]

“Fragile, tasty bodies…” Leeft purred, with a predatory showing of teeth.

[Right. So, what’s your name? This is the first time I’ve met an enkelyn, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect.]

[I am Misha. Oh!] Misha’s dark green and black body glowed and increased in size, as she became a match for Nita.

Leeft’s eyes widened. She stood and took a large step back from Misha.

Misha unfolded her legs and tapped about, then groomed one of her front legs by drawing it between her fangs.

[I have grown? Ah, I see. I’ve heard of this. If one is bound to a Dungeon, your name is lost unless the Dungeon gives you one, and that grants power. But I don’t understand. I only told you the name I was given in Fuutsuba.]

[I allowed you to name yourself, as I have done for Leeft and the other goblins.]

[Named goblins? Are you mad?] Misha shrieked.

[Can we set aside the misgivings you two carried over from Gaia, please?]

[No! Goblins are horrid creatures who would consume everything if not for the presence of stronger species! Do you know nothing of the world?]

Leeft growled, but both of them backed away when I had the Palomar tiger snarl at them.

[Misha, we are not on Gaia, so knock it off. Leeft, stop threatening to eat another sapient being.] I’d had enough, and my tone was harsh.

Leeft cowered.

Misha asked, [How far are we from Gaia? From home?]

[Ah, that’s a good question. I don’t know the exact distance, or how to put it into words. But it’s so far, that even Gaia’s sun can’t be seen from here—except as a single point of light among the countless stars that make up the Andromeda Galaxy.]

Misha tilted her cephalothorax to one side. [I am not familiar with this word, galaxy.]

I explained. I hoped my rough figure of one trillion stars was somewhat accurate to describe how many there were in our neighboring galaxy. It sounded correct, based on what I recalled.

[That number is… hard to comprehend. I understand the concept of a thousand thousands, but to go so far beyond that…]

[We can leave it at that, for now. I’m curious to learn more about enkelyn. Where were you born, again?]

[Hatched. Mammals are born.] Misha raised one of her legs in a manner that somehow mimicked an index finger to punctuate her point. [I was hatched in the kingdom of Fuutsuba—one of two remaining safe havens for my people on Gaia.]

Misha told me how enkelyn on Gaia had been hunted almost to extinction by the various human kingdoms, who viewed their existence with contempt.

My assumption that enkelyn referred to spider-people turned out to be wrong. Enkelyn were any and all arthropods possessing true sapience and the ability to speak via telepathy—though Misha claimed the vast majority were terrestrial insects and spiders.

After I sent Leeft back to her people, I summoned another enkelyn. At first, I was confused because I thought a red Devilfly hovered before me.

[I’m free?] A high, feminine voice exclaimed.

The new enkelyn raced toward the tree tops, three times as fast as my Devilflies could manage.

[Yes, you are free. Welcome to my Dungeon.]

As she landed, this new winged enkelyn said, [I—oh…] Her posture deflated. [I’ve been captured again,] she wailed.

[No, you haven’t. I’m Ciara. Welcome to your new home. What’s your name?] I did my best to sound hospitable as I cringed inside at the reactions these enkelyn had to being summoned. It seemed they had it even worse than the goblins.

[Rose.] She glowed and grew, reaching twenty-five centimeters in length.

[What’s happening? Oh! You really are a Dungeon? I’m… I don’t have—to go back—inside that jar?] She sobbed.

Unlike Dragonflies from Earth, this Dragon Fly had a tiny draconic head with compound eyes and sharp teeth.

[No, Rose. You’re free.]

Once she’d finished crying, I introduced her to Misha, which calmed her down, despite Misha being a massive spider. By the time I finished, there were forty enkelyn of forty different species. Eleven spiders and twenty-nine insects in total. Every single one of them had been captured and enslaved or put on display as if they were a mere curiosity.

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[You need to know some things about your new home.]

As I explained their situation, they were unhappy about the goblins and horrified to know there were thousands of humans at the opposite end of my second floor.

But I had a solution.

[There’s one human you all should meet. She’s like family to me, so please treat her well.]

Grudging acceptance was the general consensus among the enkelyn. They seemed grateful, but their apprehension over humans was palpable.

[Soybean, I need you at the bottom of the second floor, please. By the bamboo lake.]

Siobhán wiped her brow and set down the weapons she’d carried to Mike’s forge near the basement. “Okay,” she replied. She opened her mouth to tell Mike, who waved her off with a shrug.

Nita dropped down from the ceiling and became a spider pendant as usual.

[There are new sapient minions I’ve summoned, and I think you’re going to love them. They’re all arthropods.]

“WHAT? Insect people? Are you serious?” Siobhán accelerated from a fast trot to a dead sprint as Nita managed the swaying of her breasts.

[Not just that. You’ll see.]

When Siobhán arrived, the crowd of enkelyn stood and hovered in silence.

“Hi! I’m Siobhán!” Siobhán walked right up to them and waved with a bright smile.

None of the enkelyn spoke.

“Uh, ProfCon, they’re not talking to me, and it feels a little awkward.”

[This human forces one of us to hang from her neck?] said Misha, jabbing one of her front legs in Siobhán’s direction.

“Forces? Why would I do that? Nita is my companion!” Siobhán hugged Nita protectively.

[I have never seen her species,] said one of the spider-Enkelyn, who had ten legs instead of eight. His lengthy abdomen was dark blue, appearing handsome beside his jet-black cephalothorax and banded, blue-black legs.

His enormous front-facing eyes shone with soft blue light as he tapped his way forward. He froze, then turned to face the other enkelyn. [She sees us as equals. This human likes us…]

Misha scoffed. [Filthswine fodder! No human would ever—]

[She does. I can sense the presence or absence of affection in others, Misha. This one harbors only the desire to be kind. I have never encountered a human like her, before. It seems we have truly come to another world.] He came forward to look up at Siobhán.

Siobhán reached her arm down. “If you like, you can climb on me. I don’t mind.”

[It seems you already have a passenger.] Axis stayed where he was.

Rose came forward to hover near Siobhán. [How can a human trust us so easily, when she’s outnumbered? I sense only E-Rank strength from her, and yet…]

“I’ve never met spiders or dragonflies who could talk. This is amazing!” Siobhán squealed.

[You’ve never seen an enkelyn before?] asked Misha.

“What did you say you were?” Siobhán blinked as her mouth fell open.

[I asked if you’ve never seen an enkelyn,] said Misha.

“No, I haven’t. But that explains my class! Lord Auronox made me an Enkelyn Ally.”

[It’s perfect for you, Soybean.]

“I know! So… I wanna learn everything about Gaia!” Siobhán clapped as Misha asked her about Nita.

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Tsunami waves were down to less than 100 meters in height by midday and the snow had melted off in the mountains, but it was still far too dangerous for anyone to venture out at my location.

The sailors in the makeshift shelter I made in the mountains had all recovered, and a few had already been awakened to a class.

Unfortunately, all I found across the rest of the mountains were bodies that had washed ashore. Soil and trees were stripped away by the powerful waves, causing mudslides in numerous locations. It left a precarious path for those sailors to traverse back in my direction once the waves quieted down.

To make things safer, I shaped a well-lit new human-sized tunnel from my second floor, with an opening in plain view of their shelter, inscribed with the text:

11km to the Dungeon. ->

Many others have survived and are awaiting your arrival. The admiral has sent some marines along the tunnel to meet you. They should arrive within two hours.

-Ciara (The Dungeon)

P.S. - I’m glad you all survived.

The first five sailors approached my new opening together, and one of them shouted, “Captain! Sir, you need to see this.”

Back in one of the workshops, Mike and a team of naval engineers who’d all been awakened were hard at work testing various materials. Mike had become adept at sensing when a metal was close to its limit for mana infusion, and so, while some things hadn’t turned out all that well, they’d avoided any catastrophic failures.

Joe was tasked with training enlisted from the Navy and Marine Corps, more than half of whom had awakened.

The Adventurers Guild was largely preoccupied with potions and sorting out armors. Humans had been forbidden from attacking goblins by the President, and my goblins were barred from attacking humans by me. I hoped that would minimize problems as the Adventurers moved in large armed teams to kill some of my Palomar tigers for their hides.

My instinct wasn’t pleased about it, but I knew the cats wouldn’t recall any trauma, so I let them do their thing.

The sailors from the wrecked frigates reached the second floor by evening, and as the waves ebbed down to only forty meters in height, I absorbed all the shipwrecks I could find. I also reabsorbed the shelter and closed that tunnel off, but I left the imbued fruit trees alone.

By morning, the waves were a mere eight meters in height—still tall enough to devastate my area.

Two human chefs awakened cooking abilities. The wide smiles their food elicited afterward didn’t last long in light of the current situation, but at least it was something positive.

Once the waves had settled down to near normal by dawn on the fourth day since the tsunami first struck, I cleaned the area again. Before opening my Dungeon, I handled construction in a way that would make it easier to evacuate in the event of another emergency.

First, I rebuilt the Crow’s Nest. This time, I used enchanted stone. It was twice as large as before, with an extra set of bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a terrace where people could eat overlooking the harbor and ocean.

Next, I fashioned barracks of enchanted stone that raised the effective surface of the land by six meters starting near the castle. Their interior design was nearly identical to what the humans had made, and once furnished with enough beds, the twelve large barracks structures would be able to house eight thousand people with twelve to a room.

Below each of the barracks, I added an escape tunnel wide enough for six people across. Those joined together and opened to the fruit orchard near one of the bathrooms.

My housing had been demolished until only their basements remained. I rebuilt them from enchanted stone, with a sleek design that I thought might survive better if struck by a tsunami. As before, they had fireplaces, restrooms, and kitchens.

Once the immediate area was clean, I opened my Dungeon’s main entrances again, and people started their march to the surface.

As soon as they were far enough from the shelter on the second floor, I relocated their beds to the barracks at the surface.

Since the city’s streets had been scoured away, I reshaped everything out to a full three kilometers around my Dungeon in every direction. New streets were anchored to bedrock. Foundations were laid for houses, soil was deposited for trees and other plants, and I added an enchanted ten-meter wall to surround everything, along with covered guard towers spaced every 50 meters apart along its entire length.

I also raised my Castle up on a hill of its own, growing an extra four floors above my original basement.

While the humans got to work settling into the new barracks, I reshaped Schwan Lagoon to the best of my ability, planting grasses, bushes, and fruit trees.

By mid-morning, helicopters returned en-masse to the rebuilt airfield, and the carrier group was just visible on the horizon as they headed toward us.

“I don’t know how we can thank you, Ciara.” The President covered his mouth as dozens of ships drew closer and helicopters landed with hungry people who dashed for the fruit orchard as fast as their shaky legs could carry them.

[Just help me defend our world. We’re all in this together. I want to find out who did this to us—to all of us across the entire Pacific rim. And I want them dead before they can do it again.]

President Thomas took a deep breath as he gazed across the bay. His eyes grew hard. “Don’t worry. Our enemies have spoken, and we will answer.”

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Floors: 5

Minions: 591/600

Residents: 12/20

Denizens: 2.37M

Traps: 10/25