The Skeleton Admiral, my highest ranking undead pirate, and the boss of my ninety ninth floor, every enemy cut down by his cursed cutlass is raised as a Death Champion under his control, and when they cut down a enemy they're raised as Death Squires under their control, his dual flint locks possess limitless ammunition. Sadly I didn't build my dungeon to defend from the breach, a flaw in my design that I will have to correct in the future. Nor was his curses effective at raising the already undead, another flaw I will have to take into account after killing this brute. Even without the special effects of his weapons my admiral was still able to cut down almost every one of the enemies to appear before him.
B-Ranks receive their classification for their ability to fight entire armies, which usually means that they're gifted with some kind of wide reaching Area of effect attack that lets them stretch for miles, in terms of close combat power this usually means that they're not much a fighter, in the narrow corridors of a Dungeon this specialisation is crippling, and that was on fine display here. Even then? As soon as the fire users were cut down the blessing from the 100th floor meant that they would be frozen to death instantly so loot drops abounded. And then you have something with the unending endurance and stamina to chase down each and every individual member of the enemy forces and cut them down, and even worst he was not only a undead but also a Wendigo.
"Why are you fighting me!?" I asked this through the hiss of my Admiral. "You're supposed to be one of Lucifer's!"
"Shut up and Fight!" The Troll laughed as he ordered my Admiral to battle, swinging around the massive war hammer that he had been using since the battle had begun, and then my Admiral had been crushed to powder. The
Genmu had a bag of holding on his back, which he was now using to pick up the loot drops that rightfully belonged to me!
"We should wait until the others have respawned before we continue any further." The Turtle was smashed in his face by the Troll's hammer. Having received his 'shut up and move' notice the turtle snake collected the last of the loot lying on the ground, the cursed cutlass of my admiral. Then the troll entered the 99th floor proper, stepped on a nail which pierced his foot and hit a nerve in the exact wrong place that he would feel it and by the looks of things boy did it hurt!
"OWWW!" Chernobog, God of Bad Things eat your heart out!
"Right then. I'm going to go back to the dragon and escort the rest of the raid team here." The turtle still looked sore about the unjustified face hammering.
"Feel free to join us when you're done goofing off." The Snake head followed up with the bag in his mouth.
And then the Troll responded with another scream of pain. The stubborn pyromancer was beginning to notice that the door wasn't really going anywhere or refusing to bend or break, meaning that he would likely have to go back and rest for a while, and so naturally of the two of them along with the fire spitter had decided to leave my dungeon floor first, followed by the turtle. Their mistake. With No one on my hundredth floor left I channelled magical power and spewed the winds of hell out.
Get off of my ship you blasted lizard!
The winds howled, and the self proclaimed Ouroboros was pushed off of the remains of the ship that he helped destroy as the familiar feeling of a shift took place in my dungeon. Instancing, Bless Genmu's heart the bloody turtle snake. Now that just left me the task of disposing of the traitorous troll rampaging in my halls...
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[Dungeon Keeper: So Leviathan's ship has been rebuilt?]
[Ouroboros: From what I can tell yes, if I Had to guess the cause I would say instancing]
I remember that one, it was the Blessing that Lithilas told us to get if it ever became available. Dungeons fighting against humans was like a man taking on a swarm of ants, individually the ants were weak, together though they could overwhelm the man. Then what's the easiest way to deal with the ants? The answer was simple: divide the ants into individual but manageable groups and stomp on them, and that's were instancing came into play, something about using time and space manipulating magic to overlap multiple parallel versions of the dungeon to tackle individual groups of adventurers.
I think back to Leviathan's rapidly expanding floors, he shouldn't be getting expansions and blessings at the same time, unless he's received permission from the gods he's renting them out to in order to make changes. I can imagine what kind of job they've given him though. So then currently my previous plan of launching a two part siege on Leviathan is out of the question. And even worse than that the bastard is still trying to run away from me. Treyni has figured out how the bastard is moving around, though I'm not sure how he figured out this idea. He stuck a corkscrew into the water, a Corkscrew that until Treyni clogged it up with sea weed had been spinning around to propel him forward. If I had to guess the other side of the corkscrew has a gear poltergeist attached to it to make the thing spin, and from there propel the ship forward.
The Bastard stole my idea for monsters after I used them to kill his Fallen Angels! Well that's fine. Just terrific! Levi are you up to your full strength yet?
"I am strong enough for this!"
The Spatial Jellyfish is capable of flight, it was also one of the primary components of Levi's body. With the Spatial corridor Levi was no longer anchored to my dungeon, so she could move freely, hence with a few adjustments she took the form of a giant Spatial Jelly fish and lifted the entire third floor of my dungeon, a mass that was equal in size to a few city blocks, into the air above Leviathan. Get away from my dungeon you pirate bastard! Levi dropped, turned into a Island Turtle in mid air, Leviathan's storm blessing desperately attempted to push her away, but she slammed down on Leviathan anyway, breaking one of the Pirate Bastard's ships in the process. Leviathan ripped his way out of Treyni's sea weed bonds and ran away with his tail fin in between his legs. That said I'm not going to leave you be peacefully either.
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[High Ranking Administrator Dungeon Keeper has issued a Quest to All Dungeons: Leviathan has Returned]
[The Pirate Bastard has breached back into this reality, you all can ignore this like it isn't your problem, but I know that some of you can't, so in the mean time I want those of you who can help to help the ones who can't just run away, I've got tonnes of B-Rank Schema's for all of you who participate, and the adamantine globe that has given me the number one spot on the administrator boards to the guys who can kill the Pirate bastard for good, have fun!]
I looked down at the message that the Dungeon Keeper just posted across the world. Well, not having to put up with the punk was nice while it lasted. Ah well I think I'll arrange a hello gift for my old sparring partner, a few volcanic eruptions should do it. Dungeon Keeper? Isn't that the newbie that we got a message about to set up shop around? Whatever, getting a promotion in the admin ranks seems like a good way as any to kill time.
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Curse you Leviathan! I should've known that Bastard Keeper would've half baked it.
Quickly I had my iceberg begin to move for safer territory. If Keeper was the first one to find out about him then I'll just go in the opposite direction for now. I need to regroup with Coral and Fort if the three of us are to stand a chance.
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[Ouroboros: That was a ballsy move you pulled there Keeper]
[Ouroboros: Are you sure it's wise to just put your admin right's up for a bounty like this?]
[Dungeon Keeper: I don't get anything for having high ranking admin privileges, besides I only give away my rights if someone else kills Leviathan before I do, and I have someone in mind for the job]
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Charles recruited priests to work on healing Levi's soul damage, after a couple of days she'll be back to full health in the mean time I talked with the other cores.
"The long and the short of it, is that we seem to lack close quarters combat power. The only one who has been able to get anything done was that undead troll that was left behind. So we're putting any plans to evolve new monsters on hold until we can increase our close quarters combat power." I explained to the hoard of possessed monsters that were gathered in front of me. "Anyone who knows how to use magic will follow me to learn from the mages from the city, everyone else stay put and train to fight." To my surprise Solarius was the first to approach me. "So finally ready to learn?"
"It beats being used as a Power Farm." Solarius stated looking at me bitterly.
"You have a can do attitude and I'm all for it!"
So our dungeon workshop continued like that for a while as Leviathan left my dungeon in both this world and the next. I sincerely doubted that he was going to leave us alone permanently, only that he didn't want to keep working on building himself up where I can see him. The Troll still wasn't back yet though, which could mean that he's massacring Leviathan's forces, or it could mean that he's been taken prisoner by now. All that I was certain about was that he wasn't dead. For now, meagre as it might be, I began sharing my knowledge of magic with the other cores, or rather I had Leonaidas do it. I on the other hand had a pain in my brick-house walk into the town. I approached the town on horseback, the third that I've managed to burn through on my way over. I would prefer Silver but the Centaur was still being held hostage inside of the Dungeon's revive system, one of many things that I would have to address.
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I carried with me the fruits of my labours, expired as they may be. The blasted ring has already disappeared from my inventory, and I suspect I know why, and why all the books that no one has touched in over a century have all been spontaneously dusted off as well. I at least have the good sense to keep a promise after I've made a deal, I shouldn't expect more from a dungeon that has managed to connect to the realm of Traitors. But his orders were clear, and it was out of his hands now. And even if the kill order was still on he would have fifty other cores that he'd have to go through to do it. He might be able to sever the connection to the realm if he can kill the Hel-Giant, but that was a temporary measure and I knew it.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
And it managed to just get worst in the mean time, because that giant skeleton stupidly standing off to the side there looks like the bone giant that made up the first floor, that giant tree looks like the second, and that looked like a bunch of war ships that were sailing away. Oh boy I cannot wait to hear about the explanation that they got for this. Surprisingly the city looked intact, considering the mountain that it was supposed to be built around had got up and walked away, even a cursory survey of the city revealed that what buildings had been destroyed were shot at from a distance based on the distribution of the rubble. Finally I found someone with answers.
"Leviathan revived!?" I was astonished. Did that irresponsible dungeon not bother to dispose of the leftovers from that bastard after he killed him? I thought he was supposed to have eaten him in the process.
"It was quite a surprise when it happened." The Scribe twirled his gauche mustache as he talked. "First a huge mountain suddenly appeared in the bay, and then it started to fall apart as various metal ships came out of it." Metal ships? Building a ship out of metal is possible, or so I've heard but I'm not a shipwright so I wouldn't know, but what I do know is that they're rare, Leviathan never had metal ships before meeting the Keeper.
"For one thing, I've fulfilled my bargain with the Keeper." I stated as I chose to change the topic. I would be making a more detailed report once I knew the Keeper didn't decide to eat any of the people I brought with me when I went to first demolish the dungeon. "I have what the Keeper wanted, now take me to wherever the blasted thing is located." The two of us took the elevator down to the fourth floor, at least that was still where it was supposed to be. A familiar figure appeared before me dressed in bronze, the ringlet armour was completed now, as was the helmet and both gauntlets, a spear was at it's side with a red cloth resembling a flag attached to it. The Ring that made a fool out of me.
"Imagine my surprise when I learned that all of the books on dungeons across the sea that haven't been touched in over half a century didn't have a single spec of dust on them." I stated as I glared at the I armour I knew was just a ring puppeting it around.
"The master is busy Giant Slayer, what business brings you here?"
"I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. Even though I suspect you did plenty of that yourself." I shook the storage ring on my hand and out was dumped maps, books and scrolls. All utterly useless to this Dungeon, now would he keep his end of the deal.
"The spawn point for this floor is this way, I suggest you tell your friends not to cause anymore trouble." The ring led me down one of the corridors, where I was greeted by the sight of several unfamiliar figures.
A Harpy with a lamia's lower body and wearing the robes of a priestess. A usapi type Demi-human but with the antlers of an elk. A freaking cloak with a flat two dimensional eye floating in a mass of shadows. And those were just the ones I could wrap My head around.
"Your taste in monsters has gotten more bizarre." I bluntly informed the core of my opinion concerning his new additions.
"I thought I felt something unpleasant in my halls once more." The Keeper informed me, interrupting whatever he was doing with his new monsters. "Take five. I have to deal with this jerk." The fire entity rose to his feet with a jet of flame as the other monsters left for elsewhere. "I'll have you know that they're not my monsters. They come from the other cores that I connected to after breaching Helheim."
Horror compounds upon horror. The fiery entity narrowed his eyes at me as if sensing my discomfort. With a wave of his arm my various people that he took captive appeared from the mana as if he had taken them out of storage.
"Our demolition warrant has been rescinded, you are all to return to the city to await being transported away." Humiliation compounds humiliation, as one the crowd of centaurs, Demon and Dragon-kin all moved to leave, and I turned to leave with them.
"Not you." The monster of fire and ice on the other hand moved to stop me and I gave a glare to let him know exactly what I thought about him. "I can sense your displeasure plain as day in here. What I don't know is why that is." The Fire Frost Fiend began circling me, I circled him back.
"You managed to teleport your dungeon using the Raid system into another dungeon as a means of attack. You turned your floors into monsters and gave them the ability to act independently of you. You had one of your bosses pretend to be a loot drop and smuggled it out of the dungeon, then managed to somehow smuggle it back ahead of me. You managed to subordinate at least fifty cores to yourself in another dimension making yourself practically invincible in the process. You somehow fused with a genie thus giving you the ability to leave your own dungeon. You somehow subverted and twisted the blessing of a god so that you could store people as you would an item. Now I find out that you're teaching your new subordinates your own chaotic thought processes. A dungeon that it was thought that you killed has some how managed to come back to life and is now resuming its war path after a significant increase in strength. Worse of all I have no idea what else is going on inside of that head of yours." I outlined each of the achievements of the core, not those belonging to some ancient monster like Lithilas or Marrowind or even the Ring of Fire but rather a core barely reaching it's first year of age.
"You don't like me because I'm efficient?" The Fiend asked as if my reasoning confused it.
"I fear you because you're chaos in the fiery flesh. I look at your Giant and I see cities trampled to ruin under it's feet. I see the tree and I imagine nature itself revolting. I see the monster in the bay and I imagine the ocean ripped out from where it belongs and drowning continents. I see your spy masquerading as a soldier and I imagine entire states plundered of their secrets. I see the hole you punched into reality and I imagine countless others just like you spreading across this world like a massive flower of destruction. I see you and I see cities burning. You are an abomination, and I regret not having anyone there to bind you when I had the chance. Now I know better for next time, shackle the prisoner before he is executed." I raise my hands and gesture to myself as the fine example of the very point I was making. "See? Someone else who has become more dangerous just by knowing you." I watched the pseudo avatar glare at me.
"I killed Leviathan." The Core boasted his victory like his latest screw up hadn't reversed it.
"Leviathan was a joke before he met you. He could've sent a tidal wave at the coast line and surfed it into the mainland in order to get to more dungeons but didn't. Why? Because he was too busy pretending to be a pirate sailing the high seas and picking off coastal and underwater dungeons. That's the thing about you souless abominations, you aren't actually capable of making decisions on your own or come up with new ideas, you just work with whatever you absorb or whatever the System hands you. And now because of you not only is Leviathan full of brand new ideas, but he's motivated to try and get revenge. But please do tell me about how well you've stopped him."
I felt something shift, the floor or the dungeon itself it was hard to say.
"You felt that? That's Levi getting healed after the last round with Leviathan." The core explained while he pointed upwards. "As soon as she's done she's going into the ocean to start getting ready for the next round with Leviathan."
"Leviathan's doing the same thing, and he has a lot more resources than you do." I countered flawlessly.
"I'm smarter." The Dungeon continued to apply its flawed logic.
"And how has that worked out for you so far?" I retorted as we went over this again. "The thing about information? It's cheap. It's not like rock or water or plants so long as anyone understands how to do something then all they'd need is the right materials and they can sow havoc. I have to go and alert actual people that a newly elevated sea monster is on the loose so that they can stop trying to go out to sea." I turned around to leave only to be greeted by the sight of something that I honestly wasn't expecting to see.
[Dungeon Keeper is Requesting to Sever their contract with you]
[Yes/No]
"Since being a contracted is so obviously something that you hate then I see no reason that I should put up with you bad mouthing me for the rest of eternity." The Keeper had already turned around to leave. "So long as you understand that if any of you people come in here to smash or bind me again, I'm going to eat them. And then I'm going to find you."
[Yes] I felt the contract sever, like a noose that was tied around my neck that was now cut loose. I have my own house I need to look after and he has his.
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[Contracted Beings 3/4]
I had been wondering about that, it looks like the Helheim Level doesn't add to my contracts count any.
"We should've killed him." I'm not quite sure how Apas knows what a lap pillow is, only that she was giving me one.
"He'll serve his purpose for now, and if I ever have to look at him again I will." I explained as my knuckles rubbed Apas's thigh. "For now we need to consider what we're going to do about them." I looked off to the side, at three eggs glowing with the promise of magical power, mine and Apas.
[F Rank Monster Sphinx Egg-A egg laid from the union of a sphinx and a mutated Ifrit, they promise to give birth to a powerful monster]
"I'm given to understand that there's three ways we can go about this." And I illustrated my point with three fingers in the air, before I lowered only two of them. "First we let them hatch naturally."
"Which will take years." Apas countered my point ruthlessly. "And we'll have to defend them from Leviathan and not to mention Jack."
So that's a no.
"The second is that we use the incubator we created to hatch the dragons. That gives us two options." Holding up two of my fingers I continued with my explanation. "We immediately hatch them into adult monsters so that we don't have to worry about them fending for themselves anymore, or we let them hatch as infants and raise them."
"And Cripple their growth down the line." Apas closed her eyes as she pondered the situation in thought. "Truthfully, we don't know what they would be born as in this scenario. I don't doubt that they would be weaker than me, but that's still a pretty broad definition." Apas closed her eyes in thought. "I've seen creatures who have surpassed me in power before I met you, not because of their intellect, but because of raw savage fury. The Ranks only consider our ability to threaten others. If born as adults our children will only be 'monsters that know nothing' as opposed to 'beings who can learn.'"
"So in other words we can't make an informed decision yet." Saying that, I let out a sigh and stood up. "Alright. Lets go get ourselves informed shall we?" I paused for a moment, and laid back down on Apas.
"What's wrong?" My Sphinx sensed my hesitation.
"Jack was right about one thing. It feels like there's a lot of crazy stuff that has happened to and around me and I don't know if I'm the cause or not. I do know for sure that we need to come up with a way of neutralising some dungeons though." Preferably without creating another absurdly powerful monster in the process. And without eating any other dungeons in the process. That was something I didn't understand, everyone acted as if eating other dungeons was a normal thing to do, but for reasons I couldn't explain I felt nothing but disgust at the idea. Was it my human mind being reviled at the idea of cannibalism? A thought occurred. Lithilas talked about eating dung as if it was normal. Do Dungeons even normally have a gag reflex? I get the feeling that Jewel wouldn't like eating it either but that's because of her sense of aesthetics.
"Talk to the Dragon for ideas." Apas suggested shrugging her shoulders. "He's been at this longer than you have, or failing that get a messenger sent to the city and ask the old man to come here again." Right. Talking to other more experienced dungeons might be just the thing I need. Nodding my head I sat up to leave again but was stopped by Apas's paw. "You've been laying here on a pretty woman's lap all this time and you're not even going to do anything?" Apas asked giving me a pout.
"Didn't you just lay your eggs a couple of hours ago?" I tried to project a feeling of incredulous at Apas.
"Meaning that I'm both stressed out and know that it's a safe day." Apas replied as if her logic was completely infallible. Well we've got time to kill anyway.