Edited by: Flubbykin
Together with Blanka, we started running toward the closest exit. The number of beasts was overwhelming- unnatural even. Though the corridor had only two holes on each side serving as entrances, weird creatures never stopped appearing - the realization hit me like a truck moments later.
The monsters were not appearing in the corridor - the corridor was made of monsters.
Previously the corridor must have been a cavern. These creatures had the ability to stop their metabolism and pretend to be part of the environment - rocks, walls, boulders. When they sensed potential pray walking past them, their metabolism would get one powerful kick, that process required a ridiculous amount of energy… so all these creatures must have woke up hungry. Very hungry.
In berserk rage they jumped on us, yet, as I could tell watching specimens far, far away, the hunger they felt was so overwhelming that these which were too far away to sense us with heat vision started biting one another - speaking bluntly, if we would merely leave that place, they would all kill themselves. One-time-triggering trap. How many individuals were there? I had no idea. I only knew one thing - too many. Too many to deal with. Not fighting was the only way to win that battle.
We jumped into the next room chased by dozen or so more monsters. Me, Blanka and Sebastian. Kaito didn’t make it. Lost in a battle rage he didn’t respond to my commands. Or - to be frank, he didn’t notice them in heat of battle. In a cacophony of broken bones and torn flesh he couldn’t hear my calls, and the thick mana didn’t let me send magical impulse - or maybe I did send it, but it couldn’t reach him, it blurred into nothingness in the aura of this place.
The notification about Kaito’s vessel being destroyed popped out in front of my vision, yet I quickly ignored it. There was no time for this now.
As soon as we got far enough, we stopped, turned around and readied our weapons.
Death of the remaining creatures was swift and elegant, a thing that can’t be said about the rest of the monsters that remained behind us. The carnage started and the sound of creatures feasting on one another could be heard even here, resonated by an echo.
It was so very tempting to throw an empowered version of fireball back into the corridor - I could almost taste the experience points I would have obtained by the chain reaction of explosions. I was sure that it all would count as if it was me who killed them… but, I didn’t know if this dungeon has any other escape routes - if I did that, I was risking that the whole passage would collapse and we would be trapped god only know how deep underground.
I cursed under my nose retrieving my spear off monster’s carcass, before bringing it up and down in rapid motion getting rid of monsters’ blood of my weapon.
* “What the hell is this place…” Blanka whispered catching breath.
* “Exactly my thoughts.” I agreed with her awe.
* “This place is unlike any other dungeon…”
* “This time, I have to disagree with you. Not so long ago I have been in a similar place… too similar.”
* “Care to elaborate on the subject?”
In a single moment, warrioress calmed down. She knew how vital information it was.
* “A few weeks ago together with Giselle, we explore a dungeon just like this one. Monsters inside of it were all chimeras, yet strange ones, unnatural. Normal chimeras of the lowest tier are affected by the environment or random mutation. Existence of two specimens with the EXACTLY same trait is almost impossible. Here and there they looked… as if someone designed them, despite differences between two individuals the pattern is more than obvious. Almost as if someone was breeding them and selectively picking traits. Also… one more thing. The dungeon needs three vital traits in order to be called one - dungeon heart - the energy core containing a pattern of development, dungeon guardian, the vessel that protects the heart - usually the strongest monster dwelling in the room before the heart, and its territory. In the last case, the guardian and heart were one.”
* “What do you mean?”
* “The crystal was flesh-wrapped and it identified as a dungeon. It was intelligent, learning, talking.”
* “Talking!?”
* “Not exactly. It learned from me and Giselle, recorded our conversation, found the meaning behind the words and then kept recording and playing back words we spoke to one another in right order making a full sentence, sometimes missing a correct word and using similar one… If I remember correctly, it also was obsessed with evolution, in a different way, but still. That dungeon was using biomass of creatures it killed to create new things, redesign its new body. This dungeon is selectively breeding…”
* “That… could be just a coincidence…” Blanka’s tone betrayed she was not believing in what she just said and merely taking into consideration all possibilities.
* “I don’t believe in coincidences, I have been dealing with kings, mages, merchants, and gods just enough to know how everyone wants to shape reality. Also, two highly irregular dungeons that appeared out of blue in such a short period in such a small distance? Plus the magic density of those places? No, it smells like powerful, dark magic.”
Yes. Now I felt that. The tingling sensation on my skin, as if the wind was caressing my arms about to cause goosebumps. It was black magic, skilfully hidden. Whoever it was, he wielded at least the title of a grand magus.
Even Daralon couldn’t hide his magic this skillfully, not so much magic at the same time. I felt as my stomach jumped to my throat from excitement. I was just ramming through the experiment field of some crazy magician, and how would that someone react knowing I am destroying his work that god-only-knows how long he or she has been preparing?
I know how I would react if someone would break into my laboratory and destroy the tank in which I was purifying liquid of weeks. No, I wouldn’t kill him. Instead, I would make him repay the damages by testing some more risky potions on that particular person.
Right now, I was only hoping that owner is not home… or that he/she has a bit different approach in dealing with unwanted guests than myself.
* “You are sweating….” she noticed
BECAUSE I AM FUCKING TERRIFIED!
* “I just realized into what kind of shit we have just stepped into.”
Blanka was much faster to join the threads than Giselle, I didn't have to explain to her all my thoughts, after a moment or two her grimace turned ugly as she must have reach similar conclusion as I did.
* “Let’s… let’s burn this place down and leave it as soon as possible,” she whispered.
I would rather find the fastest way out and started heading toward the opposite part of the continent. But, Blanka and her stupid sense of duty. Can’t lie to myself either - Giselle wouldn’t let me live if she knew I just retreaded leaving so many people in danger.
* “One hour break,” I ordered while dropping my backpack on the ground and starting to look for some food and water
Her whole expression was asking something like “exactly who and when made you a party leader?”, but in the end she said nothing and with relief she did what I said.
That single hour passed faster than we expected, we were already exhausted, not as physically as mentally - being on guard all this time looking if the walls were about to turn into monsters and nervously gazing toward the ceiling if some colossal boss creature with detection-negating abilities was about to jump on our heads took its toll. We slowly started to seeing shadows as shapes and hearing distant echoes as something that was happening right next to us.
And traps. The regular and obvious, but the deeper we headed the more sophisticated they got. One trap would start appearing after another as if wanting to kill you moment after you lowered your guard, or two traps being combined - hiding one another or boosting their total efficiency.
I don’t know if it was just a good fortune, but thanks to her unbelievable talent in detecting magic, Blanka was able to spot the traps few moments before stepping on them - what betrayed them was… total lack of clues.
The places were magically calm, almost barren, and in those mana-crazy dungeon lack of anomaly was an anomaly itself. Someone was trying too hard to hide them making it almost too obvious.
.. well, that could be just another trick to lower our guards and don’t react while spotting an actual anomaly.
What.
Is.
This.
Crazy.
Hellhole?!
For the first time in months, I was actually afraid, no, the heavy feeling in my chest, the tingling sensation on my back.
I NEVER felt this way. Not in the previous dungeon, not in a tower of despair, not in the lair of Snake Queen.
Now, every life I devoured, every animal living within me was crying, telling me to run.
This was the first time I realized that my life did not belong to me, but to a whim of another being. Even in front of Snake lady, I knew that I can lie my way out if I only used the right words.
Fear and desire to survive sharpened my senses beyond understanding. I heard the blood circulating in my veins like a waterfall, I felt the breath of Blanka as a raging storm… I heard monster corridors behind us finishing their feast.
And I heard something ahead of us. Deeper. Close. One or two rooms ahead. That SOMETHING was big. Very big. Yet not moving at all. No, it wasn’t just waiting, more as if it was… immobilized?
Of course. The hive queen or whatever it was. The one spending its entire adult life in one place, in a single spot making a new egg every few seconds.
We were about to resume our journey, when from corridor ahead a single creature crawled out.
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Both of us jumped back in position, yet the monster did not attack.
It look like some weird hybrid of turtle and lobster, its corroded body had a problem keeping a balance.
Great, another hybrid of reptile and arthropod.
The monster lowered its rear body exposing its soft belly toward us and pushed its most colossal limbs as far from its main body as it was only possible - attacking from this position was impossible, it completely dropped the balance and if it wanted to actually hit us, it needed to first withdraw limbs back.
* “What… is it doing?”
* “Showing it has no ill intention,” I answered without delay.
* “We have just carved our path and now it has no ill intentions?! These creatures are clearly intelligent, what are the chances it’s an ambush?”
* “Fuck.”
* “What now?”
* “It also did happen previous time. When with Giselle we got close to the guardian’s room, the dungeon heart tried to turn us back and later negotiate.”
* “How did it end?”
* “We had a fundamentally different approach to life, especially life of humans.”
* “Mind speaking more clearly? I am not in a mood to guess what do you mean.” she hissed annoyed.
* “It offered treasure if we would retreat and let it continue to harvest lives of creatures around the dungeon. Animals monsters and humans.”
* “It didn’t like your refusal?”
* “Not really, no.”
* “What do we risk if we would take its invitation?”
* “In worst case scenario? That in case of battle we would have to fight not only with the guardian itself, but also all the monster that we wouldn’t slaughter. We would be attacked from both sides.”
* “What do we risk if we would continue by killing everything on our way onward?”
* “Pretty much same thing.” I hissed “... we could always pretend we agree with it and return with reinforcements… But…”
* “But?”
* “The creatures insectoid trait is obvious. If the hive boss is a queen, she may leg an egg every few, maybe a few dozen seconds. If we would return tomorrow...:”
* “Do the math for me”
* “Let’s say it lies three eggs per minute. It gives 180 eggs per hour. multiplied by 24 hours a day it gives over 4000 individuals.”
* “Is that even possible? What with hatch time?”
* “Their metabolism is boosted beyond belief - they are undergoing forced evolution - these creatures are not meant to live long, merely few days - they gather food, bring it to the nest to feed youngling and queen and then die serving as yet another food source…”
* “Creatures behind us were different.” Blanka noticed
* “Hive guardians. They were meant to serve a different purpose…”
Or that’s how I would plan it if I was planning the dungeon defense.
* “So… if we would back away now… everything is doomed?”
* “Now you are being overdramatic.” I laughed, though it was a more hysterical laugh.
* “... we should take their invitation, and eventually try blowing everything from inside. I will buy you just enough time to cast your most powerful spell, if you would aim for the ceiling above us, it should collapse the whole dungeon. At least the world would be a bit safer…”
What the fuck is wrong with all of you people sharing hero syndrome?! You are free to throw your life away however you please, I feel a bit too attached to mine to do the same, in the end I have had it since birth.
But… if she is already suicidal, then maybe I should boost her confidence? Play this card and keep her going on highest battle capability? Yes, I will use her enthusiasm.
* “Sounds like a plan. Ladies first.”
This time she throws me an angry glance. I respond with shrugging my shoulders and smirking.
We started slowly approaching the monster with weapons lowered to the belt level. As we got closer, it turned around and started leading the way. We walked past monster-filled rooms, they all were looking at us with madness and hunger in their eyes, yet were not moving from its spot. They were doing everything in order to not provoke us, we respond to doing the same.
The rooms clearly served different purposes, they were covered in this weird biomass-like structure that was pulsating under our legs. Here and there some structure was formed on the ground - a crater, a cocoon beating like a heart… what for? I have no clue. And once again, I prefer not to leave my guide’s side.
The last room was largest. Shaped into perfect sphere few dozens meters tall.
And here I could see for the first time what this whole cave was. Or used to be. A temple. Old and forgotten, yet I clearly could notice altars and structurals bows which were now covered in weird biomass… and eggs.
Lots of eggs. Eggs everywhere.
Eggs on the ground, eggs on the walls, and even hanging from the ceiling like grapes. Colossal, orange and red pulsating semi-transparent disgusting grapes.
One… Two… Three… Four… of them… Looks like more than five. Yeah. definitely more than five.
Five thousand of course.
But, let’s focus on the center of the whole room, shall we?
Most of the hall was occupied by an abdomen. Disgusting, egg-filled abdomen. From one end of the abdomen every now and then an egg would be popped out, quickly grabbed by some smaller monster and carried away and attached to the empty spot in the hall.
On the other end, the abdomen was ended with…
… woman.
A normal, human woman.
A woman it is. Yeah, a woman. Bronze hair reaching the bottom of her back, slender waist, pale skin, petite, yet beautiful bosom. One could call her pretty.
If not the fucking insectoid part that was starting in the place where the “most vital” part should be located!
She appeared to be dreaming, hey eyes were partly closed and she didn’t move at all until we got much, much closer.
* “I welcome you, unwanted guests, in the temple of thoughts,” she said opening her eyes
She wasn’t mad. That’s a good start.
* “Thank you for your hospitality… though my mother did not teach me to try to murder every guest that comes into my house.”
I tried to act casual.
* “Millennia ago, this was a sacred place of my people, we come here to meditate and contemplate over possible ways of development for our nation… Yet, the doors were shut. To be granted an entrance, you had to prove yourself. Now, this once noble place is a ruin, riddles that one had to answer are nothing but memories and dust. Still, as a priestess of progress, I have to obey the old laws and test you. You did well. Or, just enough to peak my curiosity, unlike the others before you.”
She mentioned the previous adventurers that never returned, does she?
Her gaze was cold.
* “Temples are usually build to worship gods, not ideas or concepts…” I noticed carefully.
* “Not for our people. Before us, the savage people worship gods, we grew past the need of their protection and decided to abandon it. We focused on progress to become something even greater than gods ourselves…” she stopped talking for a moment.
* “But gods didn’t like it?” I ended instead of her.
* “Indeed. Gods offer nothing but lies. They tell us they want our well-being, our progress, but they have everything planned out. They want us to progress THEIR way. Their path. It’s not development. It’s slavery. Back in our days we did similar things with animals and monsters looking for new, cheap labor force - we selectively bred them growing attractive traits. As a wise nation, we quickly noticed, that gods were treating us no differently than a labor force. We served their purpose. Like cattle. Like horses. This is the reason we stopped worshiping them. To create our own, unbound development.”
… Did they create their own creature? For labors?... This sounds weirdly famil… Wait!
* “You… you are one of the Ancient?”
Ancient. Race of constructors. The one that created teleportation-gates? The one that created most efficient golems that works even now? Millennia after they perished?
The same whose ruins are so rich in still-working artifacts that each time one would be discovered they ensure a magically-technological leap?!
* “That’s how you call us now? A fitting name… our time is long gone, but not our ideas, not our ideals nor goal.”
* “But… your downfall happened in times so ancient… that we can’t even speculate if it was thousands, or hundreds of thousands of years ago!... how did you live that long!... how did you fall…”
Melancholy bloomed on her face.
* “The gods decided to end our world. Flood. Iceage. Plague. Death of Sun. Meteorite hitting the planet. They have many ways of doing that. But, our world was still too young. They couldn't just destroy it, it was against their rules - whatever they are. Yet, at the same time, they needed mortals to chose the other evolution path. So they did the same thing when our creatures grow undesirable trait - they destroy the race and return to shaping the previous generation - we weren’t the only thinking-race, but we were the most advanced. We decided not to interfere with development of those more savage than us, so they didn’t even notice that we were gone. Gods focused back on reshaping those still primitive races to carry on their fate as their slaves… And guessing by the tain you carry, they succeed.”
She wasn’t angry for me being a priest. She was… sad. Depressed even.
* “Back to your question - the way we were eradicated - we had grown too proud. Gods fooled us, were indirectly blessing us with gifts of knowledge - scraps of information that forces our researches toward constructing a particular tool fueled by magic. We build it without realizing its real purpose… or actually, it was exactly what we asked for.”
* “And what did you want?”
* “Transcendence. Being able to exist as a mere concept without a material vessel. A power with will, yet no needs.”
* “You wanted to become… gods?”
* “Yes and no. Gods are bound to rules cast on them on by even more powerful being. We wanted to break the cycle - to become their peer without their restriction. And we achieved it. We became vessel-less… we became ghosts. Bound to the places. Astral slaves used by gods to fuel their temples… But, I think you already meet one of us, didn’t you?”
Reanimator in Tower of Despair - speaking in riddles monster that was an overseer of the whole damn place…
… the one I released while breaking the seal protected by Seraph.
What… is this madman's game?
… am I a pawn without even realizing it?
No, no, no. I am just speculating. Something is going on around me all this time.
The seal was broken with a pendant given to me by Heira.
I… I…
* “I see that you have already noticed. The world is not what it seems. Your other question - how I manage to
* “You… became one with one of your experiments?”
* “That was the only way to protect myself, well, the only one I found at that time. To choose one of two slaveries - slavery of mind or slavery of flesh. I chose the second option. It appeared less… humiliating.”
* “Why are you answering my questions?”
* “We are in the temple of thoughts. And I am its priestess. My other title was - the High-Teacher. It is my duty to answer the question of those which are hungry of knowledge.”
She smiled, like a mother proud of her child’s progress.
* “Why are you acting now… and what do you want to achieve creating these... creatures?”
* “The tool we constructed was something on a completely different level, beyond your understanding. Merely changing my genome wasn’t enough to hide from it. I had to hide my presence and life force as well - and to do that I hibernated myself. I have been sleeping for countless millennia… and now, I was awoken by somebody else. She bent me to her will. It’s a tragicomedy. I sacrifice so much in order to avoid slavery, just so I would be enslaved by the first person I met. Well, it may not be as bad as it seem - the goal we are trying to reach is very similar. Maybe I should see it as possibility?”
* “What goal?”
* “To do same thing that the gods did. Start anew the evolution process. Elevate mankind on pedestal and drop gods to their knees. We have been wrong all along - we have been chasing for perfection of the mind forgetting that it requires a vessel, otherwise it will corrode and corrupt. Then, when our bodies would already be perfect, we shall use The Mirror again…” she smiled “... you are carrying the taint of gods without actually being enslaved. You have clarity of mind and strive for knowledge. You would be a wonderful adept of the technomancy… shame you were not born in times of our greatness… But, you still can gain so much. What would you say - I could really use an apprentice. You would learn how to build portals and equipment boosting magical abilities of the user. You would become a...”
That was… most likely tempting. Not even because of the promise of power, but simply because I would also avoid fight which outcome I couldn’t predict (or, actually, I could predict, but the prediction was not very optimistic)
* “Tell me more about The Mirror.”
Blanka looked at me shocked. By now she was sure that I would take her offer.
* “I won’t...” she smiled “... We would have plenty of time to talk about it once you became my apprentice, if you are asking about it now… it means you do not plan to cooperate.”
She didn’t even need a second to see through my intentions.
* “Sorry, I am afraid that the mass extinction of humanity isn’t really my thing.”
* “You are saying as if I was a villain. What I want is…”
* “...Forcing everyone to live according to your vision of reality.” I disturbed calmly “... if that what you tried to achieve as a whole nation, then I already see why gods decided to interfere.”
* “Oh, you are supporting their decision?” she wasn’t even shocked.
* “This Mirror, whatever it is, must have required colossal amount of energy. I have seen your generators, even though I can’t completely comprehend how they work… it’s obvious that you didn’t have technology to support something that would turn entire nation into godlike beings. What did you want to use as a fuel? Heart of the planet?”
Zulvurion. The Prometheus. First Ember and Last Spark. The prime God dominated by Aira and forced together with other prime Gods to create a world. It was the only being that I could think of as a proper fuel.
* “That was the original plan. We found something better. Something that gods are desperately trying to hide.”
* “And that is…?”
* “Something that can store the power of countless beings. A perfect absorber. You.”
And without any word, without any command, the monsters in the hall attacked.