Chapter 053: Discovery
Layer twenty included even more Decemvirate warmachines. Scouts were still a thing, but they were now secondary in importance. Few of them skittered on the edge of the halls, or tried to sneak close enough for sudden salvoes. We almost lost Vaera to them. Five of those little assholes suddenly jumped into our view from their hiding places and fired at him simultaneously. His shield held barely, but before they managed to finish the job with the second salvo, Leria leaped in and acted as his living shield until he recasted his defenses.
There were several new warmachines introduced by the Dungeon Master. All of them surprisingly deadly.
Light Warmachines could be described as an ovoid, silvery metallic body moved around by four spider-like but quite massive legs. It could run surprisingly fast, not to mention dodge slower projectiles by jumping sideways. Each of them was armed with two grenade launchers and what could be described as double-barreled self-repeating rifles in a small, rotating turret.
Honestly speaking it was ugly as hell, but it packed a punch.
Second type was Assault Warmachine. Essentially similar, with four spider-like lower limbs and an ovoid body. But instead of a gun it had a… tube. With something pointy inside. When it got close to an enemy (and it tried to get really close), the pointy thing was launched forward, stopping right before it would detach itself, and then quickly pulled back.
I remember similar anti-tank melee weapon from Long War. I don’t remember its name though. Magnetic Blade or something. It worked on the same principle as a coilgun there and was used to penetrate personal exoarmors (or even armored vehicles and light tanks) here… who knows? The thing was, if it managed to get really close and fired this thing at you, it would hurt.
Leria, Lena and Simea weren’t even trying to test how it would fare against Aura Armour. They dodged it instead. Our opponents weren’t too agile, thankfully.
Third type of machine was a Mine. How to make an old magical form of a trap even better? ADD PROPULSION. It was a small round object glued to the wall… until it suddenly fired a small rocket engine and flew right in your face before blowing up.
My hatred for Decemvirate is growing deeper and deeper.
I almost pissed my pants when I saw a little rocket flying right at me, but thankfully my defenses BARELY managed to survive its detonation. They were rare and, curiously, the system considered them mobs, but they were a MAJOR pain.
All of those things, under normal circumstances, would have been a minority. I doubted that forces of Decemvirate ever had more than one warmachine per one hundred soldiers. Pathetically protected fleshy meatshields with self-repeating rifles and grenades. With explosive implants ready to explode their heads if they disobeyed the commander’s orders or tried to retreat.
Some of the Decemvirates expanded this policy. And exploded heads of family members, one per offence. While using their vast propaganda machine to show their soldiers and society just how merciful they were, to leave their warriors a chance to fix their behaviour.
But while these soldiers were a majority, there were… limitations. To properly fight they required at least some level of intelligence. An ‘organic’ intelligence. However to properly imitate for example a human, a Dungeon had to first dismantle freshly dead body to learn how to make one. Which seriously impaired the Drones it kept trying to drown us into.
I tried to dissect one and… surprise! No internal organs. After looking for a while I found small discrepancies even in their external looks. Very small ones, that the average person would miss unless looking reaaally close. Like features of two species completely incompatible in terms of procreation existing together in the same specimen. As if they were made by someone that more or less knew what mortals looked like… but never saw one up close.
The machines were at least easier to recreate.
We managed to push the enemy back quite far, before discovering that there was a fucking FACTORY on this level. Of course, supernatural. Even the Decemvirate factories, with all their happy ignorance in terms of worker safety and mass usage of slave labour and machinery couldn’t produce a Light or Assault Warmachine every twenty seconds.
It took us five minutes of gruelling warfare before we managed to take the factory down. Only then we discovered that the way to the next level was right behind it.
Of course, we managed to switch it off only temporarily. After we leave the area, our existence will no longer work as an anchor for Reality preventing the Master from making serious changes. Which was the main reason why he couldn’t simply unmake the corridor we walked through and bury us in stones or something (which would be insanely costly when compared to using menial workers but still possible).
Thinking back, I realized that the factory itself was a Servant. Interesting. It was at least partially intelligent and was probably also a command hub for local warmachines. The machines stopped cooperating so well the second we broke it, so it was most likely the case.
You could make a fusion of Room and a Servant? Weird. I don’t remember it being an option in the Underlord. It was one of the earlier DFI productions, focused entirely on being a Dungeon Master, the titular Underlord (damn copyrights).
Well, despite everything, we did manage to succeed. The factory was dead (for a while), and we made it to twenty-first layer.
We were getting close.
***
Level twenty one was hell.
Pure, unadulterated hell.
The Master entered previously unseen and unheard of levels of sadism. It was a deathly maze, filled with rocket-propelled mines, Sentry Turrets (and automatic gatling gun emplacements), Light & Assault Warmachine deathsquads, doors that required us to solve sophisticated mental puzzles… one required winning a chess game with a computer WITHOUT A CHESSBOARD BEING SHOWN. IF WE HADN’T HAD SOMETHING TO WRITE ON WE WOULD’VE HAD TO DO THAT IN OUR HEADS.
JESUS. CHRIST.
If not for Simea we would be totally dead. She was good at mathematics, physics, and so on. Unlike me. And even she was strained. We had to circumnavigate a few doors because she made mistakes and they LOCKED PERMANENTLY.
I DIDN’T EVEN KNEW IT WAS POSSIBLE.
JESUS.
No, seriously, what the heck. It was hell. Puzzles were one thing, but the turrets… well, to say it was pain would be understatement. After a while, we mostly tried to run past them or position enemy warmachines between us and them. They were covered in thick armour, so trying to actually break them was going to be long and painful. Even Destroyer Bolts barely scratched them. The best we managed to achieve was bending the barrel with aura-reinforced strength or having Syna use Guide Bullet right down the barrel and collide with the projectile inside.
“Domesticated” Dungeons in most cases employed the so called Killzones, the last several layers considered a forbidden zones for adventurers, which were sort of a moat between their Cores and people that might have bad intentions for them. They were always deadly.
But even the worst Killzones weren’t as sadistically impossible as this. I won’t even guess how much aether the Master spent on constructing this sophisticated death trap. IT WASN’T EVEN NEIGHBOURING THE CORE! WHY. It had to cost… like… an equivalent of millions of ambries in aether (Dungeons operated on a different scale than us normal mortals).
Two whole days of perpetual massacre that I want to forget. Curiously, there was no Servant guarding the way down. When we finally descended to the level twenty two, we immediately made a collective sigh of relief.
It wasn’t finished.
The Dungeon must have expanded recently and it was still furnishing the newly carved tunnels. It was weird for the unfinished space to include two whole levels, hmph. This expedition is getting weirder and weirder. Was the Master of this place extremely paranoid?!
The few daemons and machines he sent against us were a mess of creatures from all Layers, probably assembled in hurry. And even this finished quickly.
Huh.
“What happened?” Simea decided to comment on that. “I’m not saying I don’t like the fact that we’re finally being left alone, but… after several days of this, it’s just too quiet.”
I smiled. Leria felt it as well and smiled too.
“And what happens when a person that literally lives off control over others is threatened to lose their control?” I decided to enlighten my wife. “Last desperate attempt to remain more or less in control. Negotiations.”
what do you want
A table opened in front of us. Different than those of our RPG system. Looks like Dungeon Core wishes to speak.
Thankfully he does know how to speak. That’ll make things easier.
If I knew anything about Dungeons and this type of personality, he still had a plan C to this plan B. Even as we speak he was amassing creatures by liquifying inhabitants of upper layers, preparing for a last stand. I wasn’t sure if we were ready to take him on if he did so, and it also might not be the best idea to force him into a corner. He decided to sit with us on the negotiation table, which was good enough.
“We want to strike a deal with you.” I spoke loudly. “Many of your kin make deals with mortals as us, and we want to do the same with you.” Let’s suggest that he isn’t the only one - many Dungeons have such misconceptions, especially when they grow in the middle of nowhere - and that this is something the others found beneficial.
deal?
“Yes. Well, it goes like this. You cease killing everyone who enters you, as long as we were the one to send them. If they lose defensive magic, they lost the raid and should remove themselves from the place. If they don’t, kick them out. Install teleporters every five or so floors that allow to go back or teleport down if one already reached them. Let us take things from you and do not attack people when they rest. If people try to go too far and get swarmed by things that kill them before you call them off, it’s fine but no overdoing it. Five last layers are completely off limits, you can put whatever murderous things you wish there and kill everyone that is stupid enough to go in, so that nobody can reach your Core.” More or less the basic rules of every ‘domesticated’ Dungeon.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
for me
“People we send will help defend you from other outsiders. We will bring things we kill and find outside to you so that you can disassemble them and learn. People that go inside you will feed you magic, much slower than if you killed and ate them, but they will return many times and bring friends. After you grew complicated enough, we’ll show you the world around and work as your intermediaries with other people.”
Which was a pretty euphemism. Sooner or later he was going to become a properly manifested Dungeon Master… which in most cases meant having libido. For now he was essentially asexual, but later on… well, the Dungeons did reproduce more or less the normal way, right?
Plus he might like getting supplied with wine and tasty food. I mean, who wouldn’t?
no
… Unexpected. Did we come all the way for nothing?
might reconsider need help
A Dungeon on the very basic level of intellect, still working mostly on instincts, asks for help?!
“What is it?”
something came imprisoned on two-one too wrong kill for me
So… the layer twenty-one was a prison where it sealed something… ‘too wrong’? And that’s why it was such a murderous maze? Explains a lot. It’s expansion surge through layers twenty-two, twenty-three and twenty-four (it probably included only a Dungeon Core room) was caused by… fear? It simply wanted to get its core as far from the thing as it could?
Just what was there?
“Are you sure we can kill the thing? If it scares even you…”
yes it imprisoned where you didn’t not strong but wrong kill it take out and burn don’t want to assimilate
So… it isn’t powerful, just… ‘wrong’? For a Dungeon that was ok with eldritch remnants of the Tzikimi and the mundanely evil Decemvirate? So much it doesn’t even want to assimilate it? Do I REALLY want to go there?
Ugh. We didn’t go that far to retreat right now empty-handed, right?
“Alright, we’ll do it. Just make sure to keep your creatures from attacking us. And don’t think of double-crossing us if we emerge from the battle weakened. We are prepared for that.” And let’s leave him wondering what I meant about that.
***
The Dungeon sent a scout machine to guide us to the area of layer 21 that we neglected to search as we fought through it. The turrets and other machines ignored us, and the doors opened… nice change.
The Dungeon seemed… disturbed. When we got close (at least that’s what I presumed, the scout couldn’t tell us how far we were), the Decemvirate biome began… glitching? Pipes and crates seemed to bend weirdly, in a way that was completely unlike the rest of the place. One turret had its gun turned upside down. Pieces of other biomes seemed to intrude upon the place.
Was it interrupting with the Core’s control over the Dungeon? Partially overwriting its commands? Sure, on the small scale, but it was still strange. Impossible, as far as I knew.
Ugh, why does we keep running into impossible things?!
Scout stopped before particularly bulky set of doors. He looked towards us, before he started walking back.
Alright, so I guess it’s here.
“Everyone ready?” A choir of confirmations. “Leria, open it up.”
***
What the heck is that thing?!
Gfsdfxz
Category: Fzhfaenjgre
Type: Gsdjfngrez
Threat Grade: Gdsfzg XXXVII
Fsfsfnaprgrg agaepg gaprgnladjf xvcvmbn aawerjp fnurtpw ewfsd fnfjpawefur fapdnfn fadfnuraf asfjnalenl alfjrhfdal sfarn fudfhafl fjd dafar dj anjflfe l jafkernf dsafaf g jf apawef nargnlakd fg! ghfjan fjsdfnald.
Yeah, that was really fucking helpful. God bless you, DFI, for being useful at every point of our adventure.
It was… grey. Four stick-like legs, a large but mostly oval body, a long neck at the very front of this body that went… well, it was placed similarly to a neck of a brontosaurus. The head, however, seemed like a ball with a glowing point on one end. Maybe four meters long from the end of its ‘hull’ to the top of its head?
This greyish tissue… it wasn’t natural. It looked… like the fallen from Long War. A ‘species’ of aliens created when certain transcendent ancient aliens took over a sea of grey goo that devoured their planet. It was greyish as well, seemed slightly amorphous and too smooth to be natural.
It detected us immediately. It’s neck bend and the glowing point on its head faced us.
It fired a spell right at me. A silverish lance. It was physical, it hit my Bend Reality and almost scattered around, changing into liquid on contact.
Weird. Very weird. It caused a lot of damage, almost breaking my outer defenses… but I still couldn’t figure out what school of magic that was. I never heard about anything even remotely similar.
Our warriors leaped in. The thing reacted by splitting itself. Two smaller, roughly humanoid forms emerged, engaging our fighters in close combat. Their description was glitched as well.
Destroyer Bolt caused negligible damage. Havoc Bolt? Even worse. Arcane Bullet and Dragon Fireball caused literally no damage. I could also see the enemy warriors suffering next to damages from physical weaponry. The swords, spears and daggers went through them like through the liquid, the wounds closing themselves immediately.
It was pushing us back. How do we kill that thing?!
The major enemy gathered power and fired an orb made from something similar to his own body. It detonated mid-air, scattering bits around.
The bits started eating through my Bend Reality. I had to switch it off, so that it fell on the ground, before recasting. The other afflicted did the same. Jesus, are they really nanomachines?!
I mean, the AI that vanquished the Xyls did use them, I even saw them in action in World’s Requiem, but they weren’t supposed to dismantle HEXES. Especially ones like Bend Reality, which was literally a distortion of space. You can’t dismantle that! And the ones we faced now worked like a thousand times faster than those already considered the apex of technomaturgy of this world!
It is beyond insane. I didn’t even feel any eldritch power in it, it was just plain wrong. It shouldn’t be here! It made no sense!
Ugh.
Alright, keep yourself composed. Focus. It’s weird, but you already faced a lot of weird things. Your friends are tough and can hold the ground while you make a plan. Focus. Test its defenses.
Death Magic? Nope. I don’t think it even has lifeforce.
Doom Magic? Nope.
Fire and Arcane Magic is out, as Vaera and Syna already proved. Physical force is a nope.
“Lena, use your magic!” After few seconds I knew that Shadow Magic wasn’t working as well.
What if it has no vulnerabilities?! I’m going to run out of mana ten times over before I bring it down with Destruction Magic, the only type that seemed to cause even slightest bit of dam…
… Wait a second. Destroyer Lances and Havoc Bolts are thaumaturgies… but entire Destruction Magic originates in powers of Destroyer, essentially a Satan equivalent of certain background religion. Sure, it’s no longer theurgy - Imperium would probably burn anyone stupid enough to try casting Destroyer’s theurgies - but the roots are still there.
Maybe…
I cast Overtyrant’s Holy Bolt at the main enemy. It went straight through him… because a second before it hit, the enemy changed its form and added a hole going through its insides. To avoid any contact with the bolt! Theurgies!
“Leria…” I start shouting.
“I got it!” She screamed back, interrupting me. Holy Smite hit the nearest enemy warrior and…
He disappeared.
It was the closest equivalent to immediate cessation of existence I ever saw. Even Void Magic wasn’t that thorough. The second the sword touched him, he… like, imploded into nothingness. Just how vulnerable are they to it?!
Enemy main body splits, creating two more warriors. I caught it in the middle of the change, with another Holy Bolt connecting. The part of it, maybe twenty centimeters in diameter, simply stopped existing.
Leria murdered another warrior… and I got a weird idea.
I fired Depraved Promise at the main body. The effects can be compared to the enemy suddenly jumping to a final form of a disease being a combination between ebola and black plague. Blisters. Massive bleedings of something that seemed like deactivated nanomachines that no longer obeyed its commands. Almost visible pain.
Theurgies. It is vulnerable to theurgies as a whole. And especially vulnerable to Transcendentals, an apex form of theurgies. It doesn’t even matter what sort of god is their creator and power source, it just has to be connected to one of them. Which completely doesn’t make sense.
Dafuq is this thing?! Maybe a servant of the fifth god of Pentagram… but if it could create servile daemons, we would be already neck deep in End Times. And it doesn’t explain the glitched appraisal.
At least I think I know why it couldn’t dissolve the doors and flee, the Dungeon itself was a direct creation of Gods, it must have had traces of theurgies left in it. Enough to make them partially resistant to the thing. But why it even came in, to the worst possible place for it?!
Ugh, so many questions, so little answers. Not to mention the fact that it should already devour our warrior’s weapons… but it didn’t. It made literally no sense. Oh, fuck it.
I fired more Depraved Promises. Leria soon murdered all of its warriors and proceeded to Holy Smite the main body. Not long after, it finally ceases to move.
Then it dissolved. Just like certain asshole owner of Lena did, long time ago.
Mysteries intensify.
***
We returned from the room. Dungeon promptly contacted us and informed us that he is willing to cooperate. We got ourselves a semi-infinite source of many useful thingies - which would be a nice foundation for Conquer The World plan if not for a fucking inflation. And the generally sensible market economy that can accept only a limited amount of said thingies.
Still, it was a place to send trainees to. That could, in the same time, get us some ore, alchemical ingredients, sellable things, food (never tried the demon hornet’s honey, maybe it’s time to expand my horizons?)... pretty much everything. Calling it progress was the understatement of a century.
Now, time for research.
Avhar Khan [P]: Vasyr, sorry to interrupt you (I’m underground and I don’t even know what hour is it xD you might be even sleeping, I’m really sorry for that) but I have a question. Important one.
Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Sure, what is it?
Avhar Khar [P]: We just had an encounter with a weird enemy. Glitched description. Looked like made from nanomachines, and could literally dismantle defensive spells. Insanely vulnerable to theurgies. Any idea what this thing was?
Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Oh great, another one. Did you kill it? Did you lose anyone?
… I don’t like this. Is this a beginning of some high threat grade world invasion? We aren’t ready for that!
Avhar Khar [P]: Well, yes, it’s dead. And no, we didn’t lose anyone. Tough fight, but after we figured out its vulnerabilities… when I say it was vulnerable I mean REALLY. FUCKING. VULNERABLE.
Vasyr Mirenir [P]: Good… I got three more reports about encountering similar “Glitches” as we called them. One from Crimson Blades group, and two from non-affiliated Players from Ambryxis. The latter are mostly gossips, but I have first hand info about the first one.
Vasyr Mirenir [P]: The group lost two members. A Player and connected NPC.
Vasyr Mirenir [P]: None of them respawned. Both disappeared from our party member list, guild member list and so on.
Vasyr Mirenir [P]: I think they kill us for real.