Theo had no idea why a dragon would specifically target his avatar. The creature displayed too much rage for being hit with a single fireball. Most of the contestants had attempted far worse. The creature had been zapped and blasted multiple times, frozen, entangled, and ever swarmed by a flock of paper entities and yet it kept chasing after Baron d’Argent.
The dungeon had lost count of how many times the dragon had come near to destroying his avatar so far. It was only through the swiftness ultra skill that he managed to escape at the very last moment. To make matters worse, it didn’t look like any of the avatar’s spells had any particular effect on the creature, either.
“Keep at it!” Ellis shouted. “We’ve almost figured it out! We’ll kill it any moment now.”
Theo didn’t believe a word of it. The moment the mages had realized that they weren’t the target of the attacks, they had gone back to what mages do best—vehemently discussing theories. Even Auggy had proved reluctant to cast any spells, though given how much he knew about the trials so far, it seemed that he was preparing for something.
“Does anyone have a sword?” the avatar asked.
Suddenly, silence broke out. With the dragon constantly trying to devour him, the baron didn’t immediately notice. As the silence continued, he suspected something not to be right.
The dragon spread its wings, swooping down at the avatar’s position. The series of aether barriers that the baron created in its path crumbled like old cookies. It was only near the end that the creature slammed into an indestructible one, stopping its advance.
Not taking any chances, the avatar cast half a dozen more swiftness spells on himself and flew as far away from the creature as possible.
“Hand me—” He turned in the direction of the mages. Seeing them clustered together, looking away in guilty silence, instantly made him stop. “You can’t summon a sword?”
No one responded.
“Not even one of you?!”
“Swords are for heroes and mercenary losers,” Laster said without an ounce of shame. “Why would we waste time learning that?”
“Even Gregord couldn’t summon swords,” Celenia added. “He used staffs and aether weapons.”
“Can you summon an aether weapon, then?” the avatar asked. He would have said a lot more on the topic if it wasn’t for the torrent of fire directed right at him.
Even at his current speed, he only managed to partially evade the attack. The scorching flames went through his legs, melting everything up to his knees. Being an avatar, the only thing that suffered were his clothes, not that Theo liked them, anyway.
Finding himself at an impasse, the avatar resorted to the only spell that he knew would have an effect, summoning an ice golem.
A block of ice appeared in the arena, quickly sprouting arms and legs. A giant entity formed, rising up in search of something to attack. Although impressive, the issue with the spell was that Theo didn’t have the requirements to maintain control of the being. As such, it was just as likely to attack him as anyone else. Fortunately, the dragon was kind enough to make the decision for it, attacking the elemental as if it were Theo’s minion.
Giant masses clashed with a thundering bang that shook the entire arena itself.
In a bout of panic, the avatar repeated the spell. Normally, nothing should have happened. The ultra spell only allowed for the creation of one ice elemental per day—a limitation created by the deities for some, yet unknown, reason. Yet, against all odds, a second chunk of ice emerged.
This was a rather pleasant surprise, especially since the second elemental joined in the fight. Apparently, egos tended to attract each other, causing all three giant entities to battle it out, if only to determine who would have the honor of killing off everyone else.
“I didn’t know you could do that.” Ellis floated up to the avatar.
“I’ve learned a few tricks,” Theo replied with false modesty. “Ice magic isn’t that big of a deal.”
“Not that. You created two of them.”
Theo’s immediate reaction was to discreetly try and cast another spell. Thanks to the Feline Tower’s temporary cure, he didn’t have to worry about mana halving too much. Sadly, the restriction kicked in. Two single day spells were all he could manage at this point.
“Any idea how to kill a dragon?” he asked the cat.
“We’re still coming to a consensus,” Ellis replied. “Don’t hold your breath, though. By the looks of things, it’ll be death by a thousand zaps.”
In other words, no one had any idea. The avatar took a quick glance at Auggy. The old mage smiled back, still holding his battle staff. There were so many things that Theo wanted to ask him. For the moment, though, the dungeon could only come to the conclusion that the man didn’t have a solution, either. If he had, he’d be doing it right now. After all, the way to the fifth floor was through the creature’s death, and with it obsessively focusing on the baron, there’d be no better time to execute even a slow casting spell.
“What would Gregord do?” the avatar mused.
“Against a dragon?” Ellis flicked her tail. “Kill it, probably. He was a hero, after all.”
“What would archmage Gregord do?” the avatar clarified.
The question made the cat think. The other mages did the same. The ice elementals had given them—or rather the baron—a reprieve, but everyone knew that it wouldn’t last forever. Already one of the ice monsters had lost an arm and didn’t seem capable of regrowing it. The other was attempting to freeze the winged monster with an ice ray, but to no avail. The dragon would shatter the layer of ice the moment it formed, barely slowing down.
“The thing is that Gregord had a fascination with dragons when he was a child,” Ellis said after a while. “He didn’t want to kill them, just have one, so… he wouldn’t have killed it.”
That was the worst possible answer. The avatar’s animal handling skill seemed to have the opposite effect on the beast, and beating it into submission was highly unlikely. The only hope was that the two ice elementals would manage to tire the creature to the point that the mass of mages would finally be able to do something about it.
Just as he was thinking it, the dragon sank its teeth into an ice element’s neck, breaking the entire head off in one swift action. The rest of the ice giant froze up perfectly still. Massive cracks spread along the being’s body, causing chunks of ice to fall to the floor. Now, only one ice elemental remained.
“You’re telling me that there isn’t a single spell that could slay a dragon?!” the avatar shouted.
“Dragons are beings of pure magic,” the ebony elf said. “Defeating them with spells is like trying to burn a flame. It’s only possible if the spells against it are stronger. That’s why only heroes are up to the task.”
“You realize that after it’s done with me, the dragon will kill you, right?”
Several mages began discussing matters amongst themselves. By the looks of it, they weren’t particularly convinced or alarmed by such a prospect.
“That’s not true,” Auggy said. “Normally, you’d be right. Dragons tend to devastate whole cities until there’s nothing left. In this case, though, it’ll only take one. Remember how fond Gregord is of luck?”
“Yeah?” The avatar crossed his arms.
“What do you think is the opposite of luck?”
“What’s the opposite? There's no—” The avatar abruptly stopped as the terrifying realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “This is an unlucky trial?!”
“Ho, ho, ho.” The old mage laughed. “Now, you understand.”
The avatar looked at the dragon again. Could the entire point of the trial be to fail the unluckiest person in the group? If the accepted theory that mages didn’t go beyond the fourth floor held true, that suggested that there was more to it. One might assume that the dragon would become weaker after every candidate it killed. If Theo was responsible for constructing a maniacal magic trial, that’s what he would do. And, of course, the universe had chosen him to be the one unlucky person for the dragon to target.
“As for your earlier question—aether blades,” Auggy added.
“Huh?” The avatar stared at him.
“You asked what spell Gregord would use to kill dragons? He used an aether blade both as a hero and as an archmage.”
“I don’t remember reading that,” Ellis commented. “I mean, he knew the spell, but no one mentioned him using it to fight dragons with it.”
“You’ve still a bit to learn, little one.” The old man smiled. “Gregord used it to defeat an arch demon and an abomination.”
The latter was only partially true. Theo, to his misfortune, knew more on the topic than he would have liked. Even so, there was a glimmer of hope in the mage’s words.
Spending over a thousand energy, the avatar cast a spell. A dagger made entirely of blue aether formed in his hand. It was not at all what the avatar had envisioned. As far as he was aware, aether objects were semi-transparently purple in color. This appeared more like a physical shard than an aether item.
The tip and edge were sharp to the point that they caused a minute mana drain as the avatar cut his hand checking.
“Blue aether?” the old mage asked. “You’re quite the show off. Might be a bit short to bring you victory. A blade that length won’t even pass through the scales.”
“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” the avatar replied. The last thing he wanted was to admit that he only had the power to cast aether daggers.
Another loud crushing sound followed as the second ice elemental crumbled. Its assistance could be called minimal at best. A few spots with missing scales were visible on the dragon, but for two ice elementals to have achieved just that, Theo had to reconsider the usefulness of the spell or the energy dedicated to it.
Targeting the dragon’s throat, the avatar threw the aether dagger.
The dragon noticed the attack, leaping away before the weapon could hit him. Possibly, there was some truth in Auggy’s words, and dragons were indeed afraid of aether weapons. If the monster was created by Gregord, that wouldn’t be unusual—he had used such to defeat demons, after all.
Creating another aether dagger, the avatar tried again. This one missed by inches, forcing the dragon to retreat further back.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“That’s your weakness, isn’t it?” the baron shouted as if he’d already won the fight. “Well, what do you say about this, then?” Abandoning his previous approach, he flew straight for the creature, summoning aether daggers as he did so.
Spok was probably highly displeased with his waste of energy. Thankfully for the dungeon, and unfortunately for her, she was fully engaged by a noble lunch at Duke Rosewind’s castle. Three dukes and their families were present, along with a few other lesser nobles of major importance, making it impossible for her to even mumble into her core pendant. Any and all criticism would have to wait until the eating was over.
“Why isn’t your son here?” Duke Goton asked, indiscriminately devouring everything on the plate in front of him. “I would have very much liked to see him.”
“Oh, you will, old friend. You definitely will.” Duke Rosewind smiled, taking a sip of wine. “Avid is dealing with a minor griffin issue. The birds still aren’t fully used to the number of airships in our skies.”
“Yeah, I bet he is.” Duke Goton snorted. “I’ll have to talk with him about that as well. He’s been flying a lot, from what I hear.” He gave Amelia a not very discreet glance. “Have you tried a griffin, Ame?”
The girl’s facial expression combined elements of reproach and embarrassment reserved for children presenting their parents to their friends. If etiquette didn’t demand it, she wouldn’t even have been there.
“Yes, father,” she managed to say. “I wrote to you explaining that I was on a griffin during my second noble quest.”
“Ah, right, right. The curse one.” The duke nodded. “That was a good one, wasn’t it? It put your town on the map, didn’t it, Cecil?”
“Let’s agree to disagree,” Duke Avisian grumbled. “To become a cursed letter nest…” he shook his head. “Utterly disgraceful, if you ask me. You’re fortunate that there was an abomination hiding about. If it hadn’t been for that technicality, you would have lost everything.”
He cut off a piece of roasted fish, took a bite, then left it half uneaten back on the plate.
“I believe I specified that I cannot stomach sweet water fish,” he said with a frown.
“Oh, my,” Duke Rosewind said with fake concern. “I’ve no idea how this might have happened. Must have been a mixup in the kitchen. You’ll have to forgive them. They’ve come from all over the kingdom, so not all of them might be familiar with the local language nuisances.”
“I’ll immediately go and rectify the mistake.” Spok made an attempt to stand up.
“Oh, nonsense, my dear.” Duke Rosewind quickly stopped her. “No need to worry. There are bound to be a few hiccups before the big event. After all, we haven’t even officially started. After all, we’re all friends here. Who else but close friends would come to visit so early?”
Duke Avisian let out an annoyed sigh, but didn’t argue.
“The city has grown a lot since my last visit,” Lady Godot changed the topic of conversation. “You must tell me what artisans you used. To achieve this after rebuilding it twice would make anyone envious.”
“Thank you, Lady Goton, but it’s mostly my baron’s doing.” Spok adjusted her glasses. “Being a mage comes with certain benefits.”
“So, I’ve heard.” The woman looked at her husband. “A pity that the baron isn’t here, so I could talk to him about it in person. I trust you didn’t tire the man, dear?”
“Nonsense,” Duke Goton said. “The man’s quite the character. I won’t hold him being a mage against him. If nothing else, he’s been a good influence on Ame. Isn’t that right?” He grinned at his daughter, whose face was fighting to keep from turning pink.
“The glowing gardens are especially magnificent,” Lady Goton calmly continued. “They must be fascinating during the night.”
“Not as fascinating as they were,” Duke Avisian said, taking a sip from his wine, then placing the glass back down. “They used to shine a lot brighter just a day ago, but are fading away. A shame since they were one of the few passable things in this entire town.”
“Really? Oh dear,” Duke Rosewind reacted in identical fashion as he had before. “Well, we can’t have that. I’ll be sure to discuss the matter with the gardeners right after we finish.”
Spok remained quiet, but deep down, she suspected she knew the cause of this anomaly. It hadn’t been lost on her that the dungeon had gone into another energy spending spree. Given that he was facing a dragon, it was expected that he’d resort to more powerful spells, but siphoning energy from the glowing plants was a step too far.
“So, Duke Goton, what do you think of the adventure guilds? Since Amelia has already become a celebrity, maybe some of your other children would like to join any of our guilds?” Duke Rosewind asked. “On an honorary position, of course. I’m aware of how busy you must be.”
“Cecil, you’ll never change,” the other duke laughed.
The conversation shifted to other adventuring politics, the state of the kingdom, and the “good old days” as things usually did. Spok did her best to keep her stoic expression, all the time counting how much energy Theo was wasting.
“Spok,” Viscount Dott said in what he would consider to be a whisper. Everyone else at the table could clearly hear him, but etiquette and politeness demanded that they pretend they didn’t. “Have you found a solution to my warehouse problem?”
Being a vital member of the inner council, the man was placed directly beside her. Normally, the arrangement would be completely different, but since the wedding ceremony hadn’t officially started yet, Spok remained nothing more than Baron d’Argent’s steward.
“Warehouse problem, sir?” the spirit guide turned towards the viscount.
“Didn’t Elric tell you about it? The freezing spell in one of my new warehouses isn’t working. When I went to check, it wasn’t cold at all. There’s no way that would keep any fresh produce. The food would rot so fast that even the griffins won’t tough it.”
“I see your concern, sir.” Many things came to mind. The prospect of rotten fruit stinking up half the city wasn’t at all appreciated. “It must have slipped Elric’s mind.” More likely, the viscount’s subordinate had chosen not to tell her. “From what I was told, all your warehouses were in perfect order.”
The spirit guide checked. From what she could tell, all the warehouses—or even the buildings—in the city were in perfect order. On closer examination, though, there was one which remained oddly empty, as if someone’s magic was interfering with the dungeon.
“Have you added additional protection spells, by chance?” Spok asked.
“Of course. The cost of my investment is significant. I wouldn’t want griffins or some low-life adventurers sneaking in to steal my merchandise.”
“Of course, sir. We couldn’t have that. Well, I suspect the magic of the spell might be interfering with the baron’s freezing spell. I’ll personally look into the matter at my earliest convenience.”
“Good, good. And don’t worry. It’s your wedding, after all. I won’t be making the order for a few days at least. I still have to get an airship. Do you believe that the sneaky gnome wouldn’t sell one to me? Insists that I must rent it from him.” The nobleman snorted in disapproval.
“Scandalous, sir. We do, indeed, live in challenging times.”
“Indeed. At least there’s someone sensible at the table.” The viscount nodded in approval. “Well, one and a half,” he glanced at the head of the table. “That fox Rosewind was sensible to get you to marry him, after all.”
“I’m sure you’re just as good a judge of character, Viscount.” Spok took a sip from her wineglass.
And while the conversation continued, on the fourth floor of Gregord’s tower, the battle between the dragon and Theo’s avatar continued. Considering the amount of energy that he had used up so far, one could say that he was in a far worse state than the creature; not that it was apparent to anyone. Other than still being barefoot, the baron seemed to have the upper hand. He had inflicted an impressive number of wounds, even if each individual wound was little more than a scratch.
Dragon and avatar flew through the air above the arena, engaging in vicious battle. Barely a speck compared to the monster, Theo would continuously cast indestructible barriers and massive chunks of ice to shield himself from the dragon’s fangs and fiery breath. At the same time, he’d use telekinesis to direct his aether daggers into any unprotected spots he could see. The dungeon was able to tell that the attacks caused the dragon pain, though not enough practical harm. Even if taking a death by a thousand cuts approach, the fight was going to take days.
The dragon roared, sending a torrent of flames straight at the avatar. In the past, Theo had attempted choking the dragon, throwing daggers in his mouth, or even filling his mouth with ice. All these merely managed to anger the creature further. Clearly, dragons were created with the sole purpose of being anti-mage predators.
“Switches!” the dungeon shouted, his voice echoing throughout the entire shipyard. “I need something from you!”
The gnome, who was in the process of creating his latest greatest creation, jumped up, startled by the sudden shout. In his experience, dungeons had a tendency to be cranky, but none acted as abruptly as Theo.
The aether torch he was holding moved erratically, slicing through a set of meticulously crafted and expensive gear wheels, ruining a mechanism that had taken weeks to design and execute. A lesser soul would have succumbed to anger or depression, but Switches was someone who looked on the bright side. Every destroyed experiment was merely a stepping tone to further success. Still, he couldn’t help but feel slightly saddened looking at his ruined creation.
“Did you hear me?” the dungeon asked.
“Yes, Boss. I was just… doing nothing important.” He turned the aether torch off. “The next airship will be ready by tonight, as promised. I’ve increased the cargo area and—”
“Not that!” Theo snapped. “I need a sword!”
While the smile remained on the gnome’s face, he could only blink in silence several times.
“A what?” he asked after a while.
“My legendary sword. I want you to send it to me.”
“You want me to use an airship to send just one item?” Switches asked. “That’s some healthy ego, Boss! I fully approve. I can get the airship done in half an hour. It might have a few minor issues, but it’ll fly and since we don’t need to worry about passengers, I can—”
“No! I need the sword now!”
The gnome’s smile vanished.
“Err, I know you demand perfection, but that’s a bit much, even for me. Maybe I can redirect one of the ones in the air. The people inside might complain a bit… I’ll just have my assistant give them some knick knacks in compensation.”
“I don’t want any airship! You still have the hero scroll, right?”
During the dungeon’s last noble quest, he had convinced Liandra to give her single hero scroll to Avid. The plan was for the young nobleman to find a mana gem in the cursed treasury, then use the hero scroll to send it to the dungeon’s main body. Since Switches had dropped into the scene and used a workaround to acquire the mana gem, the scroll had remained unused and, thankfully, still in the dungeon’s possession.
“Sure, sure,” the gnome said, with a slightly guilty expression. “It’s here somewhere.”
“Find it, wrap it in the hero scroll and send it to me!” Theo shouted as his avatar sent another aether dagger flying right at the dragon’s left eye. Unfortunately, it didn’t hit its mark.
“Okay, Boss.” Switches nodded, then turned around. “Assistant!” he shouted.
Within moments, the alchemist popped up from the entrance as if he had been standing there all along.
“Go through my sketches and find the baron’s hero scroll,” the gnome said with absolute authority. “Oh, I may have scribbled some sketches on it. If so, copy them before bringing it here.”
“At once, chief!” The old man nodded and rushed off.
“Chief?” Theo couldn’t help but ask.
“Short for chief engineer. I decided to promote him to senior assistant.”
There was no point in pointing out that the gnome only had one assistant. All the rest were low paid heroes, who acted as temps, and artificial constructs.
Three agonizingly long minutes passed. Whatever the gnome had done with the scroll wasn’t at all good. Theo observed the alchemist go through stacks of notes in a room that had so many it put most bureaucracies of his previous life to shame. Even if the scroll was there and still functioning after the gnome’s abuse, it didn’t look like it could get the legendary sword on time. Not only that, but the dungeon just realized that he had no way of determining where his avatar actually was. Hero scrolls required specific instructions, which at the moment were lacking.
“Not to worry,” Switches said, while whistling an annoying tune. “He’ll find it any moment now.”
The dungeon found himself at a crossroads. He could continue wasting energy to maintain his fight until the scroll was found, or he could gamble it all on one powerful spell. Having seen the results of either approach in his previous life, Theo decided to do both, so he spent a tenth of all his available energy to cast a memory spell.
So far, he’d only done it before, but he knew from experience that it was perfectly combined with ice magic. As the dragon flew towards his avatar with the aim of devouring him, Theo cast his spell combination.
An enormous block of ice encapsulated the dragon mid-flight. Normally, that wouldn’t even phase the creature. This time, though, there didn’t seem to be any reaction. The frozen dragon remained perfectly still, while the ice block floated in the air for several seconds, before falling to the floor with a loud slam. Cracks emerged on the transparent surface, but unlike all previous ice cracks, these were strangely precise, spreading along straight lines as they created what appeared to be a three-dimensional maze.
Relieved that he was no longer the target of attacks, the avatar floated back down.
“What did you do?” Laster asked.
The avatar was just about to make a highly non-censored comment when he found that everyone was staring at him with a combination of awe, envy, and fear.
“You cast a Memoria’s Tomb?” Ellis asked, eyes as wide as buttons.
“Of course not.” The last thing Theo wanted was to explain where he knew the spell from. “Just an advanced ice prison,” he lied. “I can only use it once per day, so that’s why I was saving it for something big.”
For close to ten seconds, no one reacted.
“Blue aether daggers and now this,” Auggy said. He wasn’t laughing this time. “You’re a lot more than you seem.”
A stone slab rose up from a part of the arena floor. It was followed by several more. Slab after slab rose up, each higher than the last, forming a very peculiar stairwell leading to the ceiling and the floor above. Somehow, Theo had completed another floor trial, keeping his avatar in the process.
“Found it!” The alchemist shouted back at the shipyard. “I found the scroll!” he waved a piece of parchment that could well be the hero scroll or one of the gnome’s material lists.
Of course you would, the dungeon grumbled to himself. Precisely one moment after I no longer need it.