If normal people were in my situation, they’d probably fear for their lives. A healthy response, to be fair, but it wasn’t a very interesting one. I had no interest in living a boring life, no matter how life threatening it was. Sure, if I really wanted to, I could probably retreat somewhere safe. Have my flying monsters collect those that couldn’t scale the cliff quickly and just leave the way I came. Hell, I still had a large amount of Depths’ core remaining, and could probably evolve some more wings on my monsters to make for a safer, faster retreat. But like I said, that wasn’t interesting.
To me, the only way out- the only way to be truly safe, was to be the strongest. And that meant eliminating the threat.
So you were an assassin? I ask.
Yes. Damian responded from his position kneeling in front of Mimi.
I thought about it. No wonder the other dungeons didn’t attack Depths. With how well you blend in with the darkness, and how fast you move, you could be anywhere at any time. If a dungeon tried attacking Depths, you would just swoop in, kill the offending boss monster, and let the other dungeons take care of the now weakened offender.
Truly, your genius knows no bounds. Damian praised.
I would have blushed, if he was like, 30% more attractive. I brushed aside the compliment. So why didn’t Depths do that from the beginning? If you just killed all of the opposing boss monsters, what would stop them from steamrolling through the dungeons, conquering the whole of the lower caverns entirely?
Nothing but time. Damian responded. My pathetic, previous master was preparing for exactly that scenario. They already had control over the air, with their monopoly on the flying creatures within the cavern, but they were weak. They used the war between the great dungeons to empower their armies, entrusting the fact that I would be able to deal with all of the largest enemies as they became relevant to the war effort.
Hm… I considered his words for a while, watching as my two mutated guppies dragged yet another body into the new core room.
Owyn and Mr. Vernant set upon it quickly, using Damians knives to skin the creature. It used to be a batkin, about the size of Grant, but now it would be nothing more than a tool for Mercy. Mimi opened her hatch, allowing Grant to stick Mercy’s core inside. Mercy touched the skeleton that laid inside, freed of its muscles by Mimi’s children. The skeleton shook and twitched, eventually coming to life. It stood up, crawling outside Mimi’s shell to collect the next body, which it promptly dumped into Mimi’s hollow shell for her children to consume all over again.
As Mimi’s undead army grew, so too did her core. The previously dice sized core had doubled in length, and was steadily growing even now. She would probably become the size of a cuboid baseball by the time we were finished preparations.
I gently fought to gain territory from her, feeding her mana in the process. Her reward for animating yet another undead.
Can I keep some with their flesh still attached? Mercy asked. I was silently proud of her grammar. The use of more words made her sound far more intelligent than the dungeons that still talked like cavemen.
Soon. I responded. We need just a little more leather. How’s the dragon doing?
It doesn’t have much energy left. Mercy responded. It’ll probably die in a minute or two.
Let it. Grant, go to it. As soon as it dies, I want Mercy to resurrect it. It can keep its flesh.
Got it! Grant saluted my core in Mimi’s hands before leaving the core room.
I teleported up to the highest point of my dungeon, staring out over the rest of the cavern. Or, I’d like to imagine so anyway, since I couldn’t actually see outside my territory. I felt that being up here was appropriate though, since this was the closest I could get to Subsonar for conversation. I could talk to him from anywhere, but this just felt appropriate.
What’s the status?
Subsonar spoke in his soft whisper. With the furthest dungeon definitely not participating right away, the two next to it have defined their attack forces for when the two closest to us begin their assault. The two closest are in the final stages of finishing their division of labor.
Remind me again, I ask him. What were the themes again? Going clockwise from us.
The dungeon to our left is an unthemed one with a three headed snake lizard hybrid-
Hydra. I said instinctively, the image forming more concretely in my mind.
The dungeon after that is spider themed, with a giant tarantula as its boss, and a smaller one as its champion.
I glowered in its direction. I needed to know how it tamed insects. If I could, I’d save that one for last.
The rearmost dungeon is ratkin based, and seems the most technologically advanced of the bunch. You nicknamed this dungeon Grove, because it is the only one that grows trees. The ratkin are numerous, and wield wooden spears as weapons. Their boss monster is just a large rat, but unlike the others, it has several champions as underlings for the boss. They seem to value numbers over anything else.
A high priority target. I comment.
The fourth dungeon is the other unthemed one, also with a giant rat as its boss. This one has extra limbs with long claws. Unknown champion. The final dungeon, to our right, is the lizard themed dungeon, with the many limbed lizard with sword and shield hands. Champion also unknown.
I clicked my tongue. I wish the lizard dungeon was on our left. Then I’d be able to call it Lefty Lizard. Oh well, guess our direct opponents should be Lefty and Lizard. Good enough. What’s the distribution of numbers like?
Subsonar continued feeding me information, all of which I simply absorbed, trying to internalize all of the information I had on me right now. Numerous strategies came to mind, and while final preparations were being made, I simulated each one, trying to find the optimal outcome.
Just because I like things to be interesting didn’t mean I was stupid. Nor did it mean I was suicidal. I still wanted the best outcome for myself, but how exactly would I go about that?
Some humans entered my domain.
I quickly teleported to the upper cave system, watching as a not insignificant number of knights walked in, shield first. After the first dozen and a half or so, three knights wandered in, carrying three human bodies. Dead, judging by their lack of mana. And stripped entirely naked. Following these knights came three priests, two of which I recognized. From Abby and Owyn’s descriptions, these would be Franz and Tabitha. If it wasn’t for the brewing war down below, I might have risked allowing Damian a chance to separate their heads from the rest of their bodies. Another deterrent however, came in the form of a seven foot something giant of a man. He wore priestly robes of a more intricate make than that which Franz wore, and wielded a staff so large it was halfway to being a log. The giant black shard at the end must be a core fragment. Damn thing looked sharp enough to act like a spear.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The giant man swept his arms out wide as the knights continued deeper into the room, approaching the cliff.
“Oh Lucid! We, the Church of Will, give you these gifts! We have heard of your troubles gathering feed for your people, and so we grant you these resources, made of our own flesh, to appease you!”
The three bodies were unceremoniously dumped off the side of the cliff. I paid them no mind, only distantly hearing the thumps that sounded as they landed on the ground below.
The large man bowed slightly as the knights retreated. “Please, see these gifts as signs of our good will. We truly wish to be your ally. However, not everything comes for free.”
He straightened up. “By this time, you must have learned for yourself exactly how useful us humans can be. We carry powerful wills of our own, and our bodies are extremely useful from the beginning! Our hands wield tools like weapons, and can craft even more. Our armor protects us from the worst of injuries, meaning we can fight for longer without stopping! On the surface, we are the ultimate life form!”
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering where this sales pitch was leading to.
The large man bowed again. “We wish to give ourselves to you. May we humans become more useful to you by serving you directly! All we ask is that you come to the surface with us, where our facilities lie in wait to be used by you. To encourage your constant expansion, we, the Church of Will, have laid out incentives for your growth! Every five rooms you grow, you will encounter five humans, ready to serve you! To further show you our sincerity, we give you these two humans for you to use as you wish.”
Two battered looking humans were shoved into my territory. Both men, without their shirts. They looked bruised all over, and one was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, where his lip had obviously split from contact with an armored fist. They laid moaning on the ground, tied at their wrists and ankles.
“These two are fighters.” The large man warned. “Farmers, or so I am told. Their bodies are used to hard labor for long hours of the day. They are strong, and will serve you well.”
And with that, he gave a bow. He talked further, but I summarized it as him just saying goodbye in corporate. I ignored him for the most part, floating over to the two farmer boys. They looked to be about my age, maybe a little older. Under thirty, that was for sure. And it didn’t take a genius to know what happened for them to deserve such treatment. Setterton must finally be under attack, and these two were some of the ones on the front lines.
I teleported down to the bodies that laid at the bottom of the cliff. Despite the lack of clothes, due to body shape alone it was obvious that one of them was a knight, while the other two were villagers. In fact, the two villagers looked related. Father and son? Or perhaps brothers? It didn’t matter. Not that detail anyway.
I feel an influx of mana when Mercy’s long dragon dies.
The priests leave, and their knights soon after. I watch them go with a blank expression.
Hey Lucid? I don’t have enough mana to resurrect the dragon. Mercy’s voice comes from far away.
I pay it no mind, and absently feed Mercy my mana.
Would this change my plans? Would I have to speed things up in order to help Setterton? Did I even need to help Setterton in the first place? Technically, I owed them nothing. I could back out of my deal with Owyn and Mr. Vernant. I wasn’t an asshole, so I could just let them go free when they wanted to leave, but…
The last of my mana was given to Mercy. Without warning, Mercy’s will slammed into mine, backed with the full weight of all the mana I had given her.
HA HA! I FOOLED-
My will engulfed her own, devouring the mana she threw at me without restraint. In this world, I supposed this would be the magical equivalent of picking someone up by the throat and slamming them against the wall. I teleported beside a very confused Grant, who seemed confused as to why the dragon wasn’t moving yet. I watched with a sidelong glance as he took Mercy’s cube off the body to inspect it.
I released Mercy.
We dungeons did not need to breathe, but if we did, I suspect she would be gasping for air. I regarded her cube for a little while longer, considering my course of action. I did note that the mana I had received from her attack was ever so slightly more than what I had given her. I suspected that during the battle against Depths, she had gained mana for herself, and was holding it in reserve while I fed her some of mine. That would mean that mana transfer rates were not 1:1. Some mana was lost during the exchange.
Subsonar reported in from above. The Lizard dungeon is on the move. Thirty two lizards. Sixteen bipedal, and sixteen grounded types. Lefty reacted too, sending a mismatch of about fifty monsters.
I nodded, giving Mercy back the mana I’d absorbed. Get that dragon moving. And summon your horde, you’re going on a mission.
Yes… sir. Mercy said quietly.
I teleported to the core room, where Damian was still kneeling. Some rough and ugly looking armor made of batkin and ratkin skin laid at his side. Owyn and Mr. Vernant were silently working on some armor for the two surviving guppies, which really just amounted to sheets with holes for the arms. Better than nothing.
Leave them. I told them. They didn’t react. Obviously. I turned to Damian, commanding him to speak.
Damian stood, picking up his new clothes as he did so. “Lucid wishes to tell you that it’s time. Gather your weapons and give me back mine. You two will go with Grant and Mercy. Ensure that Grant stays alive, and kill anything that isn’t already undead.”
Owyn and Mr. Vernant look up at Damian, then back to each other. Damian claims his knives from them silently.
“I have been tasked with an assassination. It is your duty to defend the cores. Do it well.” And with that, Damian walks out of the ruins of the fort. His wings flare open, stretching the holes in his vest where they poked through. He leapt off the ground and took to the skies, leaving my domain behind.
Mr. Vernant walks back to the crossroads cave to collect his sword and new armor. I had two perfectly good sets of knight armor, and I’d be damned if I wouldn’t use it. The armor was my payment to the two humans for their service as mercenaries for me. Owyn was already wearing the lower half of his armor, and didn’t seem to want to wear the upper half. He just collected his bow and arrows and headed straight for the battlefield.
Well, he would have, if he didn’t pause at the exit. He gave a half turn to see Bottom Dweller picking his teeth, leaning against the stone fortifications.
“You’re… not going to help?”
“Nope.” Dweller gargled.
Silver yawned above them, stretching their wings as wide as they’d go. They stood on the roof of the remains of the fort and stretched like a cat. The two guppies walked by Owyn, entering the fort to have Mimi put their unfinished armors on as best she could for them. With only some holes for arms, they’d likely just act like capes. Hopefully they wouldn’t get in the way.
Owyn spun around to see Rab standing nearby. “You too!?”
Rab looked offended. Protect!
I chuckled, passing on a message through Dweller.
“Master says we’re the backline. We’re protecting Mimi and the core.”
“So you’re not going to fight!?”
“I didn’t say that.” Dweller pushed off the wall. He rolled his shoulders, and Silver joined him on the ground. The two guppies and Rab soon joined him, all facing the same direction.
Lefty’s army entered my domain. Mercy and her undead horde of about twenty odd skeletons plus the huge dragon could deal with Lizard’s army. Dweller, Rab, Silver and my guppies would deal with these fifty alone. Hopefully.
Owyn heard the monsters before he saw them. Battle cries sounded out from both the left and right, but at least on the right some sounds of conflict could also be heard. He nocked an arrow. “Aw fuck…”
Mr. Vernant burst out of the fort, wearing the chestplate of the armor but nothing else. “Where’s Grant!?”
Dweller pointed his mace in the general direction of Grant. Mr. Vernant just nodded, sprinting in that direction wielding his giant sword in one hand, and his light baton in the other.
Subsonar crawled down the wall to get a better view. He wasn’t really equipped to fight, but if things really went to shit, he would be my ticket out of here.
I took a deep breath in. And out. I forced a excited smile on my face as I joined my ground forces.
Alright boys. Time to kick ass.
A horrifying screech drowned out all sound across the entirety of the cavern. Aside from the undead, who pushed into the Lizards thanks to the sudden distraction, all heads paused and turned to the direction of the sound. It was the fourth dungeon.
First one down. Damian reported.
And their champion monster was just slain.
Their boss monster would be next.