I worked on another engraving on some random wall within my domain with more focus than I should have for such a simple task, but it helped to clear my mind from all the emotions I had been going through lately. Yana leaving to go find his sister was something I understood he would do eventually, even if I hoped she would just come home with everything going the way it was. Instead it still made my dungeon feel empty with his leaving, even though I knew it was going to happen. So, my dungeon was becoming for more elaborate in the weeks since he left, or at least it felt that way. Even with the orb gone I knew I could do more with my abilities than the System wanted me to. Yet, the desire to make another special child just wasn't in me right now. They took a lot more out of me than I thought, and I also found that my feelings towards even the Queens wasn't as distant as I thought.
When that human group came to invade my home and body, I had given the Queen the ability to do as her own instincts told her to do, and it had lead to a great win and even some interesting developments. Yet, the damage the humans had dealt to her own creations filled her with anger, even if the Queen just crossed it as "For the Colony". At first I had read through the books I had, and the new ones that Yana had been slipping to my scavengers. All the books about dungeons were about the valuable treasures they held, and the glory that adventurers gained through diving their depths. Which just made me more annoyed at Yana for leaving. I had no one to talk to except myself, and the few creatures with enough of a mind to do so. Which was basically the Queens and the developing creature I made for the dragon fight. Both had more of a dungeon core mind than I felt these days, so I didn't bother since I knew what their own reactions would be.
So, here I was etching some circles and lines onto another wall, in a corner that would never get seen by anyone but me. The pattern was soothing to me though, the lines and whirls of the engraving seemed to pull my mind apart so I could just drift.
----
"Alright, we need to confirm the Shaman's words about this place." a man in heavy metal armor said to his group as they stood at the bottom of the first floor's stairs, "We got past the castle with stealth, but he said that this floor was more open and the creatures would be harder. So we need to keep to the walls and use [Airwalk] or [Float] in rotation to keep us off the ground." A feminine snicker came out of a spot of the wall that rippled.
"So, what we did with the castle and most of the trip here, Boss?" The voice said, the title said with a tone that implied exasperation. The armored man looked sharply at the ripple, giving the impression of a rebuke without words.
"It is important enough for me to repeat, and so we don't slack off. The local forces tried to do a test dive only to get trampled on the first floor. Even if they went in with their heads, they were all over level 20. Which means we all need to keep FOCUSED." He continued, with a strong emphasis on the last. Then, he walked, slightly off the ground, to the large double doors leading into a maze. What revealed itself in the bright light was not a wide open, green field with flowers. It looked to be a scene from the end of a human war. The area was wide with mostly dirt and mud in long trenches that were the walls nearest the doors and leading out into the killing field. A slope showing the trenches on both sides, and the cloud and smoke covered skies looked like a fireball battle was just fought here. Yet, it was the sounds of crying and random explosions that sent chills down the man's spine, as well as his party.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
"Did...did the Shaman do this when he was here?" The female voice said, her form fazing into normal sight at the shock of the land before them. Three others appeared in their own ways to look out at the blasted and blighted land.
"No, dungeons don't keep damage around, they fix everything into a perfect bland. Though the Shaman did say this place was abnormal for any dungeon. I doubt it would leave a place like this, so it has to be intentional." The big man shook his head at the path ahead, and it was clear that they were supposed to travel through the trenches to the next floor. Which could barely be seen off in the distance as a gray foothill.
"Well screw walking through that death trap." One of the others said, before jumping up to the top of the trench's walls. Just as soon as he did, an explosion rocked the space, and a moment later there was only carnage where he had stood.
"Well there goes the hope that we could run the walls." Another of the party muttered with a tone of worry, the healer wasn't the most physical after all.
"Chin up, Andros." The armored man said towards him, "I am sure stealth will still play a massive roll here, and we will just have to be careful. Like I said in the beginning, Arthur didn't listen to that." The words made it clear that he was using the man's death as a way to remind everyone of why he was put in charge of this mission in the first place, and the dripping viscera and blood gave weight to those words. It was common for dungeons to have rules, but they were usually enforced with lights, sounds, and sometimes penalties to loot. Not the outright death of someone without any warning at all. Dungeon's couldn't be killed or damaged but could be controlled, which is what they were sent to do if possible. A dungeon with this much power would be an ideal candidate for a hideout, so long as they could clap the collar to it's core.
----
The surge of power from the death of something not mine in the dungeon startled me out of my carvings and to the second floor. It seemed like I had some guests to entertain, and perhaps it would help me get out of my own mind for a bit. One of them had jumped onto the no man's land, and taken an explosive mana charge to the chest. His death was what alerted me to their presence, and i found it odd that they weren't detected leading up to here. So, I thought back to my own perceptions for the last bit, and found no trace of them at all. Which concerned me since they were in my domain and body. I should be able to see and hear them the moment they cross that barrier in the world to my own. My anger started to boil as I watched all of them enter some kind of stealth or invisibility, and once again my perceptions of them seemed to slide off and vanish. I KNEW they were in the maze, and yet I couldn't sense them at all.
I took a moment to stew about the problem before I thought back to a lesson that I had given Yana not that long ago. It was about how mana could be condensed to create real things for a while, and most of my body was some kind of condensed mana form. Even the natural stone was just far more condensed than a mind could go, so I began to weave air into tighter and tighter coils. Of the main elements of mana it was the one least likely to be bypassed by another magic. Bodies took up space so they would move the air around them even in small ways. This would just make those small ways more noticeable. As the air patterns began to spin themselves I released them into the narrow walls of the trenches to watch it bounce around, and saw four forms where the wind passed around for a few moments. Then, I tagged them with a sliver of my own mana so I could tack them, and so could my monsters.
I hated being tricked.