Learning about the dungeons from Lyner had opened up his eyes. Just like Relestia who ask about the dwellers of the dwarven city, Kairos asked about why the monsters here are called crawlers, and he found out that the place is filled with snakes, worms, spiders, lizards, and other things that crawl around. He suddenly felt very lucky that he had no phobias of those things.
“Lyner, there is one more thing I’m not sure if you’d know. My familiar is the Apoidea Queen, and she seems to be really taken with some nectars found in your forest, do you happen to know why?”
“Ah! You have an Apoidea Queen? You are really fortunate! Those are really really rare. And it’s no wonder she likes the nectars. Our forest thrives because of a celestial spring, its streams flow from the Elf King’s palace throughout our land and its waters imbue the plants with celestial properties. It is also how the elves gradually became long-living.”
Kairos gave Lyner a wide-eyed astonished look.
“Are these things you can tell an outsider?”
The boy laughed innocently, “I think you are more than just an outsider. You’re an otherworlder aren’t you?”
Kairos easily admitted.
“Well then, it is safe to say you have no real roots here. Why would someone who would care to stop for a stranger and say all manners of encouragements and have no roots in this world try to make use of trusted information to harm us elves?”
“I have heard that the elves are the ones who threatens the peace in this world when I was summoned here,” Kairos said, revealing that he was one of the summoned heroes the human kingdoms brought over. Technically, Kairos came by accident, but it was the summoning that made him appear here rather than another realm.
“And you believed that?”
“Of course not.”
Lyner laughed again but seeing Kairos adamant about hunting fifty crawlers and earn his teleportation token, Lyner told him about all the monster spells to watch out for. The boy did not forget to add that it will be better for Kairos to join a diving party that is at least familiar with the dungeons least he got lost.
Kairos thanked Lyner and hurried in the direction of the dungeon, and in mere minutes he found the entrance right next to the village inn. When he peeked through the doors, there are many hardened elves exchanging stories and drinking ale – much alike what he saw from a dwarven bar. It is safe to guess that this small settlement may have been built here to suppress the monsters of the dungeon.
Unlike the dwarves that like to dig out square boxes in the ground to live in, the elves prefer their buildings to be woven by magic. A crystal dome that looked like a shimmering bubble from afar covers the entrance to the dungeons. If monsters were to surface, all the elves in the village would be able to see them, and the crystal dome that is reinforced with magic will prevent escape. Furthermore, the crystal itself is a spell amplificator – like a gem embedded on a wizard’s staff that can be used to focus magic. The elves can simply direct their magic through the crystal dome and decimate any monsters that attempt to break free. Although this is just a small settlement that houses less than two hundred elves, the crystal dome made their dungeon even more secure than the one Kairos saw in the dwarven city.
Kairos did not enter the crystal dome nor try to enter the dungeon. Instead, he headed to the tavern and looked around for divers who were forming parties to hunt for monsters. He looked for a stand on their tables with a green wooden plate that indicates a recruiting party but was dismayed to find all the stands had red plates instead. It wasn’t surprising, since the monster outbreak made the dungeon too dangerous for the normal groups. It took an hour of waiting before a new party entered the inn.
The moment they came into this place, every person in the inn quietened down. It is not because of how strong this new group seemed, rather, it was the opposite. They are all adolescents, not much older than the boy, Lyner.
To come to this village when it is plagued with a monster outbreak, it is unlikely these children are here for sightseeing. Very soon, everyone’s guesses became reality, as the group found a table and placed a green plate onto the table’s stand.
Kairos did not hesitate to approach. Although most of them seemed barely more than ten years old, elves look deceptively younger, and it is likely that they are in their twenties. Moreover, there are a couple of veterans in the mix. Still, even in their twenties, the young elves will behave childlike because they are affected by their bodies that are still in the middle of development. Elf children as matured as Lyner are actually rare.
When Kairos came to their table, the elf who looks to be the leader, scrutinised him. Although Kairos is wearing the standard leather getup of an adventurer the youthfulness on his face caused the elf to scrunch up his face.
“Know how to use that weapon on your belt?”
“Somewhat.”
“For your own sake, I hope you are not lying to get in the group. We will not help if you get yourself killed. Ever hunted in a dungeon before?”
Kairos shook his head, earning a mocking look from the elf. By human standards, Kairos is already an adult, yet to not have taken a step in a dungeon before, it is likely that he was an apprentice to some tradesman or an errand boy. The elf looked around for a better candidate but there are too few experienced divers foolhardy enough to test their mettle against a monster outbreak in the dungeons.
“And learn to speak up to your seniors the next time, boy,” the elf chided, “I won’t have time to look in your direction every time. The children these days, no longer remember the etiquettes of the good old days.”
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After a dramatic sigh, the elf pointed Kairos over to stand with the younger elves.
Unlike their leader, these elves are bubbly and chatty. Very quickly Kairos learned that this is a group of students here on a field trip. Although schools are usually held in a controlled environment, it is not uncommon for classes to be in the elements and let the students exercise their adaptability. But to risk their lives in an outbreak where even professional divers would refuse to tread, Kairos cannot understand what their school is thinking about.
After another hour of waiting, five more divers joined the team. At first, no one in the inn bothered to take a second look at this group, but when the leader revealed that he is a Circle 8 Arcane Swordsman, and that there are several Circle 7 spellsingers in the midst, more divers became willing to be party of this expedition. It was only until then that Kairos realise why he was accepted despite being thought to be an amateur.
As expected, a school will not easily stake its reputation. On the other hand, to send students to a dungeon during a monster outbreak, Kairos cannot imagine the madman who approved this. Still, to mobilise Circle 8 and Circle 7 mages for this is a grand gesture. Whichever academy they came from must have significant resources.
The leader of the group changed the plate on the table from green to red, indicating that they are no longer recruiting, and then he started briefing everyone. The procedure was nothing special, but Kairos learned that the school they came from is the Royal Elf Institution, a place only for the rich and powerful. Now, no one will question why there are so many experts ushering the children.
Kairos quickly got to know the elves on this mission. Coincidentally, they are considered equalled to human twelve-year olds, the age where Kairos first stepped on the battlefield. At that time, it was supposed to be a training environment with less uncontrollable elements, but it still spiralled down into a dangerous melee against the warlike orcs.
To have children go to a place where an outbreak is happening for any form of training, seemed like madness. One must consider that the Saint Cadets Academy is the top school of Saint Empire and is backed by the royals. Even with such resources, the academy dared not send children to such dangerous places.
No. Considering that the dungeon is a much smaller place compared to the training grounds that Kairos went to, and that his class had over three hundred students while there are only twenty over elves, it might not be too unimaginable. After all the academy had send students to ore mining before and that was a place where the number and type of locale monsters are not measurable.
Despite just graduating from the academy this year, Kairos suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him and he started looking at the elves like they are the new lower classmates he had taken care before. He sincerely hoped that the outbreak will not go out of hand, or at least the custodians could handle whatever the dungeon throws at them since he is unfit to do so. Just making sure his wounds do not come apart is enough of a headache for him.
…...
Back in the dwarven city, after the letters that Kairos had prepared reached dwarf smith Edgar, dwarf king Hogard, and the gnome king, chaos ensued.
The master smith had the worst news, to be told that he had lost his eldest apprentice. Not only had Von Von accompanied the old dwarf for decades, but she was also his companion on the path of blacksmithing and had the passion comparable to any dwarf smith. Kairos had given him the entire picture of what happened and told him of the threat of the cultists that dwells below the city. Instead of feeling fear, Edgar Silverforge felt a rage that he had not felt for ages. Dwarves love their drink, love the wild fires of a furnace, the sweet tinkering of hammer on metal, but regardless which craft a dwarf maybe – brewer, smith, or miner – they are a race forged of rocks and flames and their tempers simmers like a volcano’s lava. The master blacksmith slammed the letter into his table. His palm pressed the paper into the wood, embedding it in the middle of his handprint.
The cultists of Nyarlathotep thought they killed a random elven dungeon diver but not knowing she was the apprentice of the greatest forge master in all of Axis Mundi. Edgar Silverforge is more than happy to let them know the consequences of incurring his wrath. These foolish addled-brain cultists will soon know why even kings dare not disrespect him. The only thing that is any sort of consolation is Kairos’ promise that Von Von’s spirit is still with him. An unbelievable statement, but somehow the dwarf believed in his youngest apprentice.
News soon spread in the streets that Edgar’s eldest apprentice had fallen victim to the cultists that terrorised the city a few days ago. The master blacksmith promises to forge a blade for anyone that could provide information of her murderers or the black churches, and a full set of weapon and armour for the one who apprehends any of the leaders of those cultists.
One must know that rumours of Edgar Silverforge working with the doll master, master sculptor, metalwork controller, and gemstone dictator had already become yesterday’s news. The items he promises will not be made by him alone, but with the help of the four other artisans.
Besides the hefty prizes for the heads of those cultists, Edgar vows never to help anyone who dared to side with those gutter rats. That alone meant little for those who cannot afford to pay the best dwarven smith for his weapons, yet all the rich and powerful people of Axis Mundi from every race took his words very seriously and they too followed suit.
Anyone found helping a cultist will find it hard to buy even a dagger from any merchant that still wants to operate their business properly.
Yet this is not the only news that the people heard from this incident. The dwarf king and the gnome king were both told extensively about the presence of the chimera, the tree man, the insect person, and the dark shadow that kidnapped Relestia. For their own survival, the dwarves and gnomes had to be mobilised to prevent this threat from the darkness. Every individual, starting from the ministers down to the most common folk had to be checked and had their religious beliefs affirmed. It doesn’t matter if they would praise the sun or believe that love is the origin of all creation, but if they thought that death, destruction, and madness are things to worship, the kings will not simple say that all faith are to be respected and let things go awry.
Hogard Goldplate, the king of the dwarves, received an additional letter – one that is not any less disturbing as the one Edgard Silverforge received.
He is told that his granddaughter, Sparrow – although still alive – had her body overtaken by a cultist. Whether the dwarven princess had been a cultist all along, or was recently replaced, or it had just been a case of split-personality, Kairos had not made any guesses in his letter to the king. All Hogard know is that the chap claimed that he had secured his granddaughter’s soul and she is now resting in a disembodied state floating within the lad’s consciousness. The king could understand every word, but when they are put together in a sentence, he felt his head is going to explode.
At the very least, the actions taken by the king of dwarves, though not as far-reaching as the master blacksmith’s, was just as swift and utter upon the cultists.
At the same time, a pair of electric green eyes sparkled into life as a being taller than the tallest man slowly stood up.
The deliverer, Leo Stout, had also received a written letter – to activate the combat puppet that Kairos and the five masters had been working on. Although the puppet had yet had its energy stores optimised, it is ready to search and destroy any threat that Axis Mundi has to offer. This puppet as the first of its kind will soon have its name known as the War Golem Mk 1.