Grab the core she said, but how does one do that?

And what would happen if we did anyway? Would the dungeon crumble and disappear with all the creatures in it? How many of them existed in this strange dimension? I destroyed thousands and enslaved their deity, but I didn't feel good about it at all.

Still, this insane power coursed through my veins... Memories and random bits of knowledge flooded my brain. I felt stronger than ever, and for the first time, the crystal couldn't explain it to me. The team couldn't figure out how to act around me, but Alex seemed happy.

"I got so worried when I heard the reports." She gave us a short explanation of how she ended up here with Lambert. He had an almost tearful reunion with the Nordhaben girls. Aoi became less confident about chaining them up, trying to disappear in plain sight.

"We had everything under control," I claimed, though that was a lie. Gadurien still wasn't restrained. While Addas calmed down, the future looked grim if we wanted to keep him that way. Sure, he couldn't cast offensive magic on us, which was already a great success but...

"Hey Lambert, so you couldn't wait for us back home?" Omerta teased him once we got our things together. The castle crumbled, and the courtyard looked like the site of a meteor strike. There was no blood or any visceral sign of the previous battle. The fighters couldn't believe it.

"I bet he didn't want to sit this one out," Ember added her part, hugging the magic staff she made. "Or he wanted to get one of these babies. Boy, these crystals are amazing! And now we will have lots of them, look up there. It's all ours."

"I don't know if I leveled up enough to become a magician, but I won't have to worry about getting a crystal for myself." My sister pondered, but the witches laughed it off. Gitaut was the only one who attempted to explain to her how magic affinity works.

"You either have it from birth or not." That was his summary, while the girls attempted to climb to get the crystal. Emi wasn't devastated, only disappointed. She was a tiny brute, more interested in combat than magic, making me question if we were blood-related.

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure, after seeing what you have done here. The Imperial Companies always returned stronger after clearing the old dungeons." Alexandra noted, eyeing the other deities while our party took a breather. We sure needed that, fighting for a while.

"Those dungeons were brand new ones," Lambert added, healing the frontline fighter's wounds. I didn't notice, but Cath and the Princess collected a few bruises. They never complained, but the court wizard was adamant to heal each little scratch on them.

"Right. This dungeon was here for a decade, I bet it had more powerful monsters than any other before." The Goddess of Luck nodded, watching the dragon plushie. "Besides, Emi comes from the same world as Nati. The same rules might not apply to them."

My sister lost interest a while ago, helping the orc and beastmen witches to reach the crystal high on the wall. But that didn't stop the others from theorizing about the possibilities. I remained silent, trying to get a hold of my new capabilities without blowing the entire place up.

"Like Nati never learned proper magic, and you couldn't say that after seeing what she done here." She reminded me, and I shuddered, paying better attention to her words. "But I have to say, I'm proud of you all. I rushed here thinking you got all wiped out but saw the opposite."

"Got it!" Ember yelled, holding up the core like a trophy. It was even larger than I thought, when she hugged it to her chest, most of her torso disappeared behind it. Omerta and Emi let her down, careful not to damage the magic stone, and the shaman with Lambert rushed over.

I blushed at Alexandra's comment, forgetting how my heart always acted around her. And it did not disappoint. The fighting was exciting and the power I gained was crazy, but she still had the same effect on me. It made me happy to see her but I tried to hide it.

"Most of my spells came from the crystal Fenna gave me," I confessed, holding my cheat item close. "And the basics too. I could never learn them through books or explanations. It's not the same when they appear in my head, clear as a day. It was a tremendous help."

"No joke." Ember nodded, walking towards us with our prize. "My spells got way stronger since I started using the copy of it. Although you could say it was the staff and the dungeon's dense mana. In any case, we can now make dozens of crystals like that, and train sorcerers with them."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it to be that huge." Alexandra rubbed her jaw with a strange grimace. "Charlotte will lose her mind once she sees it. And I won't deny that it was a joint effort from the New Order, humans, and people of Nateaser. But we'll better hold onto it in the village."

"I don't belong to any of those, and I fought hard for it too." Aoi made her presence known. Her blue robes were in tatters. She didn't lie about her contribution, but I knew nothing about her still. Other than that she came from Saipole and had a serious beef with the Princess.

"Hah, it would be hilarious, if they started to fight each other now. But I'm here for the show." The stuffed cat toy laughed, reminding me that she still wasn't restricted at all. She settled down with the dragon plushie like good toys, but I didn't trust them either.

Our eyes met with Alex, and she pondered about them too. What would people do when they captured two deities at once? Banish them, or keep them sealed? What could we even do to avoid their wrath? Things would have turned nasty if the Goddess of Luck didn't show up.

"Gadurien, right?" She approached her colleague. "I hear you possessed the Last Princess of Cranta. Didn't your house deem that a violation of the Pact? And you almost attacked my dear friend here. What should I do about you? I don't see restrictive runes on your new shell yet."

"The Pact? You should be the last one asking about that." Geddu pulled her nose up, except the stuffed cat had none. It had buttons sewn as its eyes, and a few whiskers, making her look adorable. "The Cranta Pantheon isn't as unified as you think. I was never a fan to be fair."

"So you want to return to the continent and come with us to Nateaser? Or forsake this shell and go back to wherever your comrades live?" Alex asked straight, offering her a choice. "If you want to join us, I'm not against it, but we'll put some runes on you too, and you'll behave."

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" She shrugged, much more humble than when she mouthed off against the Dragon God. But watching us defeat him and another deity showing up changed anyone's worldview. "I'll take the runes, Addas seems fine with them too."

That was the other problem child, the mighty leader of this dungeon. He sacrificed thousands for vague goals, but his motivations were clearer than Gadurien's. That wasn't reassuring. As the guardian deity of the Appenon nomads, he fought the Inquisitorias before.

"So you mean you'd let me return to the surface too?" He asked, flapping his plushie wings. He was still the Dragon God but in a toy size. I couldn't forget the pressure of his presence though, even with the two runes and the seal, he was dangerous.

"Well, we're taking the core so this dungeon will disappear soon. You either come with us or vanish with it." Our Goddess offered, and the creature considered it with a serious face. Serious for a children's toy, that is. "I won't let you roam free or cause harm to my people though."

"It isn't much of a choice, but you defeated me fair and square, so I'm willing to submit." He bowed, confused about which of us fought him, but I didn't want to correct his mistake. If anything, the mention of the dungeon disappearing and the people concerned me.

"What will happen with all the creatures inside?" I asked, waving for Gitaut to help me out. He had a detailed map of the areas we traversed that marked a few settlements. "They had these cities, will they get destroyed too? Can't leave part of the crystal here to save them?"

"Oh, those?" Addas flew over my shoulder, examining the map. "It was an experiment, but it failed. I wanted to give the monsters proper civilization. Individuality and family, but it was hopeless. They can't procreate, and the best they could do was a weak imitation of the city life."

At least he didn't spend the entire decade murdering the people or having them kill each other. Still, I couldn't understand what his goal was here. He was happy to explain without asking though. If I considered the situation, he was more than eager to talk to us, outsiders.

"I had to control their thoughts to have them lead an ordinary life. But the dungeon's creatures aren't real in the sense of what life is on the surface." He said, shaking his head. "Even if I created children for them, they didn't age so they didn't know how to raise them."

"So you ended up sacrificing them in your rituals?" Aoi concluded, trying to avoid Lambert in the meantime. The court wizard only wanted to fix her robes using his magic, but the Saipole princess had none of it. She didn't trust us, nor did she want our help.

"The ones worth sacrificing, yes." The stuffed dragon nodded, the corners of his long mouth turning down. He didn't mourn the creatures, but the failure of his experiment. "I couldn't start a civilization here, so I aimed to create an army that could protect the one on the surface."

"But the Cerberus, and Gomel's Nightmares..." I noted when they popped into my mind. We saw nothing like them down here, but according to the shaman, Addas terraformed the place. "They all had offsprings on the surface. Didn't they come from this dungeon too?"

"W-what? How?" He didn't expect this discovery either.

"Okay, we'll have plenty of time to discuss that." Alexandra interrupted him, pointing at the purple ceiling. Since my disruption spell, it looked less like the sky and more like a tall cave. "Where would we end up if I punched a hole above us? I don't want anyone to attack Nateaser..."

"Oh, right. I meant this castle to be under the old capital in Cranta Proper, but the planes might have shifted." Addas looked up too. "We could appear north from it, but couldn't be more than a hundred miles."

"That works, I can teleport everyone home from there..."