Chapter 12

-Core Room-

After the initial excitement of having adventurers visit his dungeon, things became much more relaxed for Steve as he got more used to it. After a few weeks it became a daily routine where the adventuring parties would start coming in at the same time each day with new parties entering a short time after the previous party had either left, entered the next floor or died. Though to be fair entire groups usually didn’t die unless they entered the second floor. So far only a few groups had entered that floor and lived to tell about it and that’s only because acting on Nova’s recommendation, Steve added an exit from the first floor entry room out of the dungeon. The reason behind this is because Steve didn’t want people backtracking through the floors of his dungeon and so had set up one way doors from the stairs leading between floors.

The first group who entered the second floor were stuck there as they realised they weren’t strong enough to proceed. Unfortunately there very presence prevented Steve from altering the floor to allow them an escape so after waiting for two days in vain for assistance they attempted to complete the floor and were wiped out. It was at this point Steve learned just how the adventurers knew when they should enter the dungeon. Apparently the Overmind itself will not allow multiple groups to enter the same floor of a dungeon, though depending on the extent of the dungeon, it will allow larger groups to enter. Unfortunately it did nothing to limit the individual strength of those entering but Steve was happy enough with things as they were.

After each group was finished with a floor Steve would repair or replace any damaged minions or traps and create new loot. Even if none of the adventurers died he would gain more Animus than was required to reset the floor, though not by too much. When an adventurer did die though he would get a big surge of Animus. At the end of each day Steve would take the leftover Animus he had gained and work on his third floor and fourth floor. Unlike the first two floors that were relatively cheap to build the layout, Steve found it more expensive to dig out rooms and hallways. Steve asked Nova about this but although she knew that this would happen, she did not have an explanation why. At first Steve assumed it was because he had decided to make these two floors act like a single large maze with passages that would lead between the two, but Nova assured him that the increase in cost would have happened regardless. With nothing he could do about it Steve just decided to accept it and would take his time.

Right now Steve and Nova were in the core room and were watching two groups of adventurers at once while Azrael was resting in the room Steve had created for him. One group, a bunch of novices as far as the two were concerned, were currently getting overwhelmed by the skeleton forces on the first floor. Steve assumed that the information about the layout of the first floor had long since been shared amongst the adventurers as nobody was surprised by his set up anymore. Occasionally however a new group would enter the dungeon apparently too cheap to buy the information and would end up in this situation. So far two of their number had fallen and the rest were desperately trying to fight them off. As another fell the last two seemed to give up entirely as they turned and ran from the room, leaving the bodies of their comrades behind.

In most cases when an adventurer died it would be just the one and after the others finished the fight, they would take the body out of the dungeon with them. On the rare occasions when an entire party fell or some died and the others were forced to flee as happened this time, Steve was able to take the bodies himself. Initially he had tried to simply absorb them as he had done with the animals that died within his dungeon but found that although he could absorb their gear, he was unable to absorb the bodies.

“Looks like we have another three bodies to go into storage.” Steve said as the last two novice adventurers sprinted up the tunnel to the surface. Steve mentally directed his minions to collect the bodies and move them to the boss room. From there Steve opened the passage between floors and had them bring the bodies to his core room and then deposit them in the room he had added to the side. Steve had created a dozen large sapphires and infused them with mana until they began to emit a deep blue glow emitted a cold aura and placed them in the room to help preserve the remains.

“It is incredibly frustrating that you won’t tell me why I should keep the bodies.” Steve said to Nova.

“It is not that I won’t tell you but more that I can’t tell you.” Nova replied. “You will learn soon enough I’m sure so don’t worry about it.”

Steve gave a loud sigh causing Nova to roll her eyes at him. “At least I gained another level after that fight.”

Congratulations! You have gained a new level, you are now level 19.

“That’s great news Steve! Maybe if this other group die you will get to level 20.” Nova said with a grin on her skull.

“I’ve long since given up hope of getting these guys. They have been coming in here every few days since all this time and not even one of them have died yet! They are much too careful, this is the 5th time they have been down to the second floor and so far they have only been to one of the furthest rooms once.”

“That's true but now that they know treasure chests are present in those rooms I’ll wager you will see them attempt it again today. Plus the information of better loot will lure in more of the other adventurers who aren’t ready for the challenge.” Nova said in a cheerful tone.

-Dungeon Second Floor-

Francis, Sardel, Zela and Zask were currently sat taking a short break after the fight with the Wight boss on the first floor. They had faced the boss multiple times now, learning its strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge and the levels they had each gained in the dungeon allowed them to defeat the boss quite easily. So long as Francis and the golem were able to keep the wight focussed on them, the others could quickly circle around and assault it from multiple directions. While this put a lot of pressure on the two tanks, knowledge that they would be able to rest and recover after the fight on the second floor was a big plus.

“Ok guys. Is everybody ready to continue?” Francis asked while standing up and picking up his gear. Having seen just how effective the boss’ Celestial shield is at blocking attacks both mundane and magical, Francis had decided to use it for himself. Similarly he had begun wearing the Celestial armour the boss dropped. While both were much heavier than the leather armour and small wooden shield he was familiar with, the increased defense was just too good to pass up. He had also decided to keep one of the Celestial blades at his hip as a backup weapon after having his mace knocked out of his hand during a fight had left him in a precarious situation. Although he had taken the time to practice with the blade, he was not particularly adept with it just yet.

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“Just been waiting for you, ya pansy.” Sardel said with a smirk.

The rest of the group got up with nods of their own and moved forwards ready to continue. Apart from Francis the only other one to make use of the Celestial gear was Sardel. She had taken one of the Celestial shields and cut it down into three pieces which she had then attached to her constructs three torso segments. While this did slow it down somewhat and limited its flexibility a little, it added an extra layer of protection, specifically one that could cause spells to bounce off of it.

“So where do you want to start, zombies, ghouls or zombies and ghouls?” Francis asked the others.

Zela shuddered for a moment at her memory of the last time they came down here. “NOT the zombies and ghouls at the same time. Last time that damned ghoul nearly tore off my tail!”

The others grinned at her outburst but didn’t comment on it.

“Fair enough. Lets just go with the zombies then, they seem the easiest to defeat and all three of these first rooms seem to have the same loot anyway.” Zask said before gesturing to the leftmost hallway.

Before moving into the hallway Francis tied his mace to his belt and took out his sword. Previous fights had taught him that unlike the skeletons, the zombies and ghouls were better faced with a slashing or piercing weapon than a blunt one. Weapons in hand they then proceeded down into the hallway towards the next room. From previous visits they knew what to expect from each of the first three rooms and that each of those rooms had another three hallways leading from them. They suspected that the boss would be found in one of those rooms but so far they had only completed one of those rooms so far.

As they approached the end of the tiled hallway they could hear the shuffling and moaning of the zombies in the room ahead. They stopped so that Zask could prepare and cast his protection spell encasing each of them in a bubble of light for a moment before it shimmered out of existence. Francis took a second to look over each of his comrades to make sure they were ready, getting a nod back from each before moving forwards into the room. Like the other rooms in the dungeon this one was a wide room with a reasonably high ceiling and like all of the second floor, had a tiled floor. The walls and ceiling were smooth grey stone that provided a soft luminescence lighting up the dungeon. Patches of quartz could be seen growing in places around the edges of the room, larger and more numerous than can be found on the first floor and with greater portions infused with Celestial energy.

Shambling around at random in the room were the five zombies they were expecting to see. Each was truly a ghastly sight to behold and the rotting stench coming off them was enough to make Sardel, with her sensitive nose, gag without her even getting close to them. They looked like the decayed remains of humans except for their curiously bland and identical features and each was clad in the exact same rotted pants and tunics. When they first reported the presence of the zombies to the Adventurer's Guild there was some concern that the dungeon had been reanimating the fallen adventurers but those fears were soon put to rest after a quick description of them.

They had fought this pack of five zombies once before and learned that as long as you kept moving it you could avoid being bogged down and overwhelmed. The five spread out as they entered the room to give each of them space to maneuver leaving Francis and the Hunk o’ Junk in the centre to attract the most attention. The moment they stepped into the room the zombies all stopped at exactly the same moment before turning towards the adventurers. After a seconds pause they then began shambling towards them, moving at a pace just a little slower than a jog. Sardel and Zask used this brief time well with Sardel using her mini SARDEL to fire some ball bearings at high speeds into the approaching zombies while Zask prepared his tried and true Light Ray spell. They both focussed their attacks on the legs of their targets to help limit their mobility. Before the zombies could cross the distance to them Zask finished his incantation and made a motion with his staff causing a beam of light to flash forwards melting a hole in the knee of the zombie closest to him forcing it to fall down and began crawling towards the group. At almost the same time Sardel managed to inflict enough damage to the leg of her target with much the same results.

Before either could do anything else the remaining three zombies had reached Francis, Zeza and the clockwork creature. Having experienced the surprisingly strong attacks of the zombies on previous fights, Francis and Zeza made sure to be as light on their feet as possible and began making quick attacks while backing away in small circles. Zeza found this approach much easier due to the range provided by her long spear, which was much more effective against these creatures as opposed to the skeletons upstairs. Francis had a harder time due to all of the armour weighing him down but he was able to wield his Celestial shield to good effect preventing the zombie from getting a good grip on him. The golem on the other hand did not even try to evade the zombie and instead used both of its weaponised arms to club and slash the zombie it was battling. While this left it open to attacks from the zombie, the fact of the matter was that the golem was not yet advanced enough to attempt to defend itself in such a manner.

With both of their targets on the ground and crawling at slow speeds Zask and Sardel were able to focus their attacks on the zombies heads. After a dozen or so more shots from Sardel her zombies head was left as a pile of shattered bone and bloodied meat while Zask’s zombie took another two Light Ray’s to vaporize its head. As with all of the undead they had faced so far, once the head was destroyed they collapsed into a ‘true death’. With their enemies defeated they each then moved to assist Francis and Zeza.

Although the fight hadn’t been going for more than couple of minutes, the constant need to dodge and avoid getting too close was starting to take its toll on Francis as he could be heard breathing heavily. Zeza on the other hand seemed to be having fun with her fight as she could be heard laughing as she danced around her opponent, jabbing it with her spear all the while. With the aid of Sardel and Zask they were each able to to quickly incapacitate their targets before finishing them off.

Meanwhile the golem had just about finished off it’s foe alone. The zombie it was fighting had numerous broken bones, gapping holes in its flesh and a sizable portion of its skull caved in. The golem itself seemed to be moving ok but it was clear it hadn’t come through the fight completely unscathed having a few dents and a small crack in its new armour, though it had clearly come off better in the engagement. A few more attacks later saw its foe shuffle off the mortal coil as a direct cleave to the next saw its head completely detached from its body causing it to flop to the floor in defeat.

“Woo! You go you amazing hunk of metal!” Sardel shouted in celebration towards her creation.

The rest rolled their eyes or smiled at this display while the golem in question simply stood still not responding in any way.

“Good job everybody, that went much smoother than last time.” Francis said while trying to get his breathing under control.

“Ding Ding Ding!!” Zeza shouted with a huge grin on her face.

Zask looked to her with raised eyebrows. “You leveled up? Congratulations!”

“I’m so happy we came to this dungeon.” Sardel said while giving a high five to Zeza (or a low five from Zeza’s point of view). “Leveling up has been SOOO much easier than chasing down monsters in the wild.”

“Plus all the shiny treasure!” Zeza replied happily.

“Speaking of, let’s collect the quartz and then we can see if we just got lucky last time or if all of the next rooms have treasure chests.” Zask said with a greedy flint in his eye, a look shared by the rest of the group.

They collected up the quartz and moved towards the leftmost hallway again, ready to continue the fight.